Find A Grave Genealogy....A Rant

I've been a member of the "Find A Grave" website for over 2 years now.  (In a month and a half it will be 3 Years!)
I joined once I started getting into genealogy seriously as a hobby.

But I have a love/hate relationship with the F.A.G. site.

I have tired for years now to get a few of my family member's memorials on there transferred to me for upkeep.
Specifically my maternal grandparents and that grandmother's siblings and parents. 
Their memorials were created by a guy who lives in that county of Virginia where they lived whom I don't know personally nor is he related to my peoples.  He's just an avid genealogy freak.

Or WAS an avid genealogy freak.
This person NEVER responds to requests for transfers, nor does he respond to emails AT ALL.
And it's just not me as I've contacted others who have tried to correspond with him and he doesn't answer them either.

I find this very strange because on his member bio page he states, "If a family member contacts me I will gladly transfer their memorial over to them."
This is a down right LIE!

And this guy manages over 4 THOUSAND memorials!  Or rather "has ownership" of that many....he doesn't manage anything.
Clearly he is a memorial Hoarder.  He is standing in the way of correct memorials and loving family members who want them updated and accurate.

And I know he has not passed away himself because as late as last June 2014, he was still taking photos of headstones for other people's memorials!

Now it's not like I HAVE TO have all my dead relatives memorials.
I have written to him with information on these ancestors that needs to be updated and/or corrected on their memorials.
And he sees fit to not respond and/or fix any of the information either!

I have even written to the Powers That Be at F.A.G. to let them know about the problems this guy is causing numerous members.
And their response is to NOT RESPOND to my inquiries.
I tell ya, I am about at the point of making duplicate memorials for these relatives so I can get the correct/proper information out there......even though making duplicate memorials is a no-no.

At least if I did make dups and this guy objected, he's have to actually email me, right? ;-)

I at least went ahead and got some information put onto my family's memorials that he "maintains"(ha!) last week.

There is a feature on F.A.G. where you can submit family links to the person's other relatives' memorials directly to F.A.G. and they will check them out and edit the memorial held by the non-responsive member themselves.  But they won't correct specific information(name, dates, places)just the links to their other family members.

I am just so frustrated I could chew steel!!

Sluggy

$28K Savings Challenge.....January Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account. 

For 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the January report.....

I have posted my January End of Month $28K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,333.33.

I have to report that we finished up January.
The extra amount we ended the month of  January with?.......$1,475.17.

Income

We had $2,152.77 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
But we promised to pay for our Daughter's wisdom teeth extraction so another $807 flew out the door, leaving us with $1,345.77.
 

Other monies received in January totaled $129.40.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts.

This brought us to our gain of $1,475.17.
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this January, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The cable/internet was $39.95.  This is our new "normal" since ditching the cable component.  I am certainly enjoying NOT paying $70.81 that we were paying for basic cable last year.

*  Phone charges were approximately the same as last month.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS
.
*  The electric bill was up $55.47 over December's bill due to heating.  This cost will continue to increase for the next month(Feb is typically our highest electric bill month) and then start decreasing again.

*  The water bill was up $3.04 from last month, mostly due to College Boy being home in Jan. and all those extra showers and laundry.

*  Cash spending decreased by $550 from last month. Yeah!
*  The credit card bill(paid off each month)was down $222.06.  If not for a $1K+ repair/maintenance car bill it would have been half as much. sigh
*  We had some irregular spending too in January--a few small store charge card bills from Christmas spending and the dental bill we paid for the Daughter.

 

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.
 

The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 1 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $1,475.17.

THOUGHTS going forward into February----

Along with the usual bills we have car insurance to pay in February.  The credit card bill should be under $1K(hopefully around $600 is possible at this time).  The electric bill may top $500(using Feb. 2014 as a guide) but we can cover that no problem.
We didn't make our $2,333.33 goal for Jan. but should be able to make it for February. 
Hopefully we can save more than the monthly $2,333.33 goal in Feb. as we have no travel plans no big expenses and car repairs.
But one never knows, do one?

With 1 month behind us we have $1,475.17 down and $26,524.83 left to save in 20015.
Let's just eat this elephant one bite(month)at a time and not worry about the whole pachyderm for the time being.  ;-)

 

So how was your January financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in January?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
 

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate with you or commiserate with you!

Sluggy

What Does a Year of Rite-Aid Purchases Cost?

Since it's snowing today I am sitting here doing book work.
I pulled out my spending receipts/calculations from 2014 for Rite-Aid.

I spent a total of $137.00 in 2014 at Rite-Aid.
That breaks down to an average of $11.42 a month.

For that $137.00(and with a whole lot of coupons and +Up Rewards)I brought home products totaling a regular retail cost of $3,276.52.

Thank goodness I am almost out of +Up Rewards.
I could probably not buy another toiletry for a year and not run out. lolz

Now I'm off to calculate how much we spent on each bill category we paid in 2014.

Sluggy
 

The End of Last Week's Rite-Aid Shops

2 last shops at Rite-Aid for me to round out the week ending Saturday.

On Friday I bought this............

The Jergens trial size were .54¢ moneymakers per pair so I used the overage to cover some of the Dove Men's Bodywash cost, which was $2, meaning I only "spent down" my +Ups by $1(and under $1 OOP).
I earned $12 in new +Ups leaving me $22 +Ups gong into Saturday.
.94¢ OOP and $23.74 in products brought home that trip.


Saturday I did the Big Game snack foods Deals twice.  Sorry no picture. 

I bought 2 pizzas, 3 12-packs of soda, 3 cans of Pringles, 2 cases of bottle water and 1 G2 Gatorade, which came to $30.50
I had $8.50 in Qs which brought my total to $22.00.
I used ALL my +Up Rewards and paid $0.00 OOP.
I earned $10 in new +Ups(2 x $5 Big Game Deal)and a $1 Catalina OYNO Q(earned for buying 2 pizzas, good on any product), so I have $11 in +Ups/Cats going forward.
Zero OOP and $52.29 in products brought home.

The water and Gatorade was for us, the Pringles for College Boy and I will take the soda to the local Food Bank on my next trip.  The ladies there are always looking for "treats and condiments and such" for the clients that the food bank suppliers don't give them to hand out.  I can't drink most diet sodas because they contain aspartame so I'll give these away.
Hubs and I had one of the pizzas Sunday for dinner.  I got cheese only and after I dressed it up a bit with roasted peppers and onions and black olives it was quite good.

Not much worth buying at Rite-Aid this week......another light bulb and some toothpaste for free.  I might just avoid Rite-Aid this week(well the weather might make me avoid it!lol)and spend my +Ups next week if there are things that are a deal that I actually need then.


Sluggy
 

This Week on the Dining Table

The "The Groundhog is a Liar!" Edition ........

 

 

 

The Groundhog out in Punxsutawney LIES!!!  How on earth can he see his shadow in weather like this!  We've had no sunshine in a week.  He's lying or drunk, take your pick.....
Week 2 of snowy days and nights.
Not.
A.
Fan.

Here's what was planned last week.....................

1.  Leftovers(I had soup, hubs had hot dogs)
2.  Risotto with Chicken & Mushrooms  

3.  Leftover BBQ, Coleslaw

4.  Chicken & Dumplings, Carrots
5.  Bean and Ham Soup, Brussells Sprouts

6.  Tuna Noodle Casserole, Veggie
7.  Leftovers

 

And this is what actually happened--

1.  Leftovers(I had soup, hubs had hot dogs)
2.  Risotto with Chicken & Mushrooms  

3.  Leftover BBQ, Coleslaw

4.  Chicken & Dumplings, Carrots
5.  Chinese Take-out

6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers

I didn't feel well so Hubs got Chinese take-out one night(I had Egg Drop Soup)and with so many leftovers the Bean/Ham Soup and the Tuna Casserole didn't happen yet.

Last week I made 2 trips to 1 grocery stores here(just to get some deals) and spent $47.03 on $109.49 reg. retail worth of food.

My spending for January on food is $311.59 for $1202.64 worth of food/toiletries.(Counting Rite-Aid.)
Didn't make my $250 budget goal but a lot less than my usual $400 per month spending.

Leftovers going into this week are barbecue, coleslaw, lasagna, risotto w/chicken, chicken & dumplings, eggplant parm(that I found lurking in the back of the fridge that Hubs didn't finish while I was in VA).

Here is the plan for this week.........

1.  Pizza(frozen that I doctored up), Salad
2.  Leftovers Fiesta lolz

3.  Lobster Ravioli, Salad

4.  Bean and Ham Soup, Brussells Sprouts
5.  Kielbasa on rolls, Green Beans

6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers

The poor Bean and Ham Soup. 
If the leftovers hold out the soup may not make this week's line-up either.
 Can you tell I am not a big fan of this dish. 8-)
 

I can do this plan without buying anything this week.  With this week's weather forecast I might not even get a chance to go to the grocery store either.  Maybe Winter will keep me out of the stores. ;-)

 

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?    

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy