Layout:
Home > Category: Personal Finance

Viewing the 'Personal Finance' Category

You Hear About Things Like This...

March 14th, 2015 at 12:38 am

but I've never had it happen or know anyone that it has happened to. I woke up yesterday morning and logged onto my local bank account. There was a deposit of 215,000.00 (and change) showing being made the evening before. There was no hold on the money all funds were available. I never made this deposit! I called the bank and the lady said she'd try to figure it out and call me back. About 45 minutes later the money was gone, no trace of a deposit and I never heard back from the bank. I bet someone was in BIG trouble....can you imagine if someone withdrew the money? There was no hold on it, the lady on the phone even commented on that....weird.

Vanguard Mutual Funds

July 18th, 2014 at 02:14 pm

I've been wanting to invest in Vanguard for a couple of years now, actually longer but never did, for what reason I'm not really sure.

I finally opened up an account this morning and transferred 10,000.00. I'll set up an automatic transfer of 3,000.00 per month to go there. I've just been keeping my money in my savings account but it doesn't earn much interest in there.

I get a monthly allowance from my husband of 8,000.00 per month and he contributes to an IRA for me every year also. I've been hesitant to post exactly how much money I receive from him as I didn't want to give the impression that I'm a spoiled princess, I realize just how blessed I am as I've spent many years struggling as a poor (financially) single mother. I mainly use the money he gives me to help others in need. I help my family, as most readers know I lost my mother to cancer in October and my father is in the end stages of lung cancer. Had it not been for my husband I'd not have been able to stay with them and help them and to spend their last days with them.

I try not to get tempted and just spend willy nilly, I've been frugal for many years and those habits have stayed with me.

I sell on eBay to make extra money as my goals are to still be frugal so that I can help others and to be a good steward of the blessings that I believe God has given me.

I'd really like to make enough extra money to not have to touch the monthly allowance so I could invest all of it. I will keep working at it.

Do you invest monthly?

My Husbands Hired House Keeper

June 25th, 2014 at 04:23 am

My husband has decided that since I'm gone all of the time that he needed to hire a housekeeper,
I occasionally go home a few days if I can find someone I can trust to stay with my Dad, but it just doesn't happen much,
I do agree with him, someone needs to clean his restroom, he is a rancher and you cant believe how his shower looks after he's been out in the pasture all day! Plus he is just not one to clean.
He found a lady through my sister in law, she works for her and another couple who live on the same road as us. We live 30 miles from the nearest town so she has to drive a good way.
The job just requires dusting, changing beds, sweeping, mopping, and vacumming area rugs. I have a steam mop so mopping is very easy to do on the hardwood floors and theres a fluid in the same steam mop that shines them. It really isn't a lot of work, as far as the rest of the house goes we are very neat and we pick up after ourselves. Id like to have someone do baseboards and ceiling fans, the stuff I really dislike doing. We don't leave dirty clothes or dishes for her to clean.
After she worked the first day my husband asked the sis in law how much he should pay her for 5 hours and she said 150 dollars. That's 30 dollars an hour! She refuses to use the steam mop or the vaccum I think it might be because she thinks something might go wrong with them. After she cleaned last time I went home for a day and there was dirt all under the rugs and in the spare bathroom. I just would think that for that price she could sweep vaccum and mop!
My sister said she would do it for that price and I think I'll take her up on the offer because she does know how to clean.
Does anyone here use a housekeeper? What are the rates in your area?

Garden Producing and Ebay Profits

June 25th, 2014 at 03:58 am

We have been getting produce from our garden for a month and a half now. We have lots of green beans, okra, black eyed peas, tomatoes, onions and bell peppers.
Our watermelon is starting to produce, they just need to get bigger, I can't wait, I love watermelon! I love making a full meal of veggies that we grow ourselves, nothing like cornbread, black eye peas and onion. The taste of home grown is so much better than store bought. I made some omelettes with the bell pepper and onion and they were delicious.

I've made 667.00 dollars this month so far on eBay which isn't bad considering everything I've sold has been in the last week. I've done very well this year. It gives me something to keep busy with while I'm staying with my Dad during his illness.

My father continues to go downhill little by little and he is now taking liquid morphine for the pain. I wish there was something I could say or do for him. I know it must be scary knowing you will die any day. I felt the same with my mother, that was the thing that got to me most. There is just nothing to say that makes anything any better. It just still doesn't seem real that both my parents had cancer at the same time and we will lose have lost them both in such a short time.

My grand daughter is also in the hospital for salmonella poisoning. It is very dangerous in infants and she will have to stay in the hospital for two weeks on an I.V. If you believe in prayer please say a few for my family!

Many Changes Good and Bad Financial and Otherwise

April 23rd, 2014 at 03:09 pm

So much has happened since I last posted in December. The kids and I went on our NYC vacation and we all had an awesome time. We made the most of every minute of it and really hated for it to be over. It was a once in a lifetime event. We were so blessed to be able to go and to stay a week.

In February my father and sister had an auto accident on the way out of town to a dentist appointment. They hit a spot of black ice and slid head on into an oncoming truck. My sister broke a rib and had lots of bruising but was okay and up and walking. My father was knocked unconscious and had a broken sternum, two broken vertebrae and a broken leg. He had just finished his chemo treatments for cancer and this ended up really setting him back. While in hospital he developed two blood clots in his lungs and one in his leg. He stayed in the hospital for a month.

After coming home and getting another pet scan he found out that the cancer has already come back in the same areas plus several new ones. The doctor said according to her experience she thought he had maybe another two months. It has been almost that.
All four of us children are here staying with him.

He received 12 thousand dollars for his truck from the insurance company which is what he bought it for about 7 years ago. We were very surprised. However his PiP only paid 5300 dollars toward his medical expenses. The hospital bills were around 61,000.00 . Crazy! Thankfully he has V.A. benefits and medicare as his secondary ins. He shouldn't end up paying too much out of pocket.

I became a grandmother on the 4th of April, my daughter ended up having a C-section as her blood pressure was out of control and the amniotic fluid was not at the level that the doctor thought it should be. I have a new grand daughter named Jossalyn who was born with a full head of black hair. Of course I think she is beautiful.

Life is good, staying on budget and counting my very many blessings.

Greedy People

October 31st, 2013 at 09:30 pm

My beloved mother passed on last Friday Oct. 25th. She finally gave in to the cancer after a long hard battle. She nearly made it to her 68th birthday, she missed it by 2 weeks.

It's amazing how people/family act when there is a death. I have a sister in law who takes what she wants from my parents house without permission from anyone. My mother had lent her van to her one day and she never bothered to bring it back. My poor Dad doesn't like to confront anyone so he doesn't say anything. Her own car is broken down and has been for four or five months, she claims she cannot afford to repair it. What worries me is that if the van breaks down she won't be able to afford to repair it either! It will be my father's responsibility.

She tried to go through my parents financial business and I wouldn't let her, I am my Dad's power of attorney for medical and financial decisions etc and I just don't think she needs to know any of that. I don't want her asking for money from my Dad as he has cancer also and pays 20% of his hospital, doctor and chemotherapy bills. He will need what very little money he has for him to live. There's a possibility that he might live for a year or two, of course it could only be 6 months also but no one knows. He has around 35 thousand dollars and that isn't much!

I'm still staying at my parents home with my Dad and will until I know he's able to care for himself or until he passes on also. It's hard to see the decline in health and very hard to see someone you love deteriorate in front of your eyes. The silver lining in all of this is spending time and getting to know my parents and become closer to them in the time they have left.

I've been doing well keeping track of my finances and have been writing all transactions in a small notebook for cash spent and updating my checking register instead of just checking online as it forces me to write down every transaction on that account.

Expensive Last Six Months

August 20th, 2013 at 10:48 pm

I made a long post a couple of days ago and didn't save it and when I hit save and publish it disappeared. How aggravating!

It has been hard to be frugal lately as I've had a lot of expenses. I still stay with my mother since she has terminal cancer so I still go back and forth from my home to her home which is about 70 miles from one another. I've started staying with her 5 or 6 days a week instead of driving back and forth. I was driving our full sized truck and the fuel costs were astronomical. My husband bought me a new Volkswagen Passat and it gets around 45 miles per gallon so that is much better and much less expensive. It's diesel so it costs more per gallon but in the long run I save much more than driving the truck. He paid cash so no payments thank goodness.

I cook what my mother asks for so I don't really watch my grocery spending like I should. I want to be able to make her everything she asks for or order out for what she wants. It's gotten to where now she really doesn't ask for much, she's losing her appetite. It's been 10 months since she found out she had terminal cancer and they gave her about three months then to live. She did really well up until last month but now seems to be going down hill fast.
I'm thankful for the time we've been able to share and that we have gotten closer over the last ten months.

My daughter got married on August 7th and I paid for her entire wedding. All in all I spent about 5 thousand dollars for 50 people to attend. That included the church and reception hall fees, gifts to the organist and pastor and my sister in law for doing all decorating, flowers including and boutonnieres, corsages, food etc. That also included jewelry for the bride, her dress, veil, shoes and bridesmaid dresses. It was a beautiful wedding in a church that's over 120 years old. There were lots of compliments from people that attended. I think it was just as beautiful as any wedding that costs 10 or 20 thousand dollars.

Three days after getting married my daughter found out she is expecting. I've already been planning baby item purchases! I can't wait, I'll be a first time grandma!

I've spent tons of money also at the dentist and dermatologist, I still have lots of expenses to go, so far I've spent around 10 thousand dollars. Dental implants aren't cheap! The price is ridiculous! Plus I travel about four hours to get there. Because of the oilfield in a lot of towns in Texas to get a hotel in the town that I go to would cost 250 dollars a night. Price gouging! The people who make very little money cannot even find housing in some of these places in West and South Texas.

I'm hoping things settle down pretty soon financially.
Thank goodness I have such a loving, understanding husband!

How has everyone here been doing?

Money In Money Out

December 13th, 2012 at 04:52 pm

I've made 60.97 selling some clothing on eBay in the last day. I used to sell quite often but then a lady ended up with my expensive dresses and the money too and I took a couple of months off from doing it. I was just disgusted at that point, she got away with about $260. Hopefully that won't happen again!

Sent my brother $700 dollars, he called and asked for a loan, he doesn't ever ask me for anything so I decided to go ahead and do it.

We made tamales for our ladies church ministry group and we ended up selling and making 20 dozen at 7.00 a dozen. We still have orders to fill so we will be spending Sat. making more. It is an all day affair even if you have the meat prepared the night before.

Staying busy, going to my parents for the rest of the day, my mother has a doctors appointment and then going to clean her house but am going to come home tonight so I can list more clothing on Ebay.. Gas costs when I go there are about $30 round trip. Thats why I usually stay a few days and get my groceries there in a bigger town as there is nowhere around me with a decent grocery store.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Careless mistakes due to stress

December 9th, 2012 at 10:16 am

I have found myself not paying attention to what I am doing with money lately and also not checking receipts and being over charged on many things.

My mother has terminal cancer and I spend my time between her house and my own. I stay at my parents house three to four days a week and then home the rest of the time. My parents live 70 miles from my home. It is very stressing worrying about a loved one with a terminal disease. I'm so thankful I don't have to work a full time job and try to manage that as well, I just don't know if I could do it.

Just in the last week I have been over charged $87.00
for prescriptions, I didn't even notice until I had left the pharmacy and had to return for a refund. I've been charged twice for the same thing and didn't notice until later. I can't account for my money, who knows what I've bought or where I've put it. I found a one hundred dollar bill at the bottom of my purse that I didn't even know was there, normally I'd know every penny that is in my purse.

I hope by using this blog I can keep my mind focused more on keeping up with this and not over spending in areas where I've really gotten careless.

Hello!

December 7th, 2012 at 03:07 pm

Hello! Love the site, have been lurking for years and enjoy reading the blogs. I look forward to finding ways to cut my spending and make money in order to give more to church and community.

I am interested in ways to reduce my grocery spending and spending in general. I look forward to being a part of this wonderful community!