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Archive for November, 2007

A couple of deals

November 29th, 2007 at 08:50 pm

Rite Aid: Harshey's candies are 5/$10 and there's $5 rebate. There's man. coupons $1/2, so use two coupons and make them $3 for 5 bags of candies.

Safeway: Cheese Nips are 10/$10 and it's qualified to get $6 off Nabisco promo. I just bought 6 boxes of cheese nips and they ended up being free.

I also bought some Aquafresh toothpaste. They are also 10/$10 this week, and I used .75/1 man. coupons to make them 25 cents each. I don't need any of them but will donate them to the program for underprivileged families.

Unexpected spending

November 27th, 2007 at 11:36 pm

And this is a really sad one.

We ordered flowers for a funeral that will be held on Saturday. Our friend's daughter passed away two days ago. She was 17 years old and had been fighting with leukemia for more than 2 years.

Chemo worked for the first time, but the cancer came back. She caught phenomena and did not make it this time.

It is really sad to experience loss of such a young person. I really feel sorry for her father who was very close to her, and loved her so much. I don't know what to tell him...

I'm very thankful that our daughter is very healthy. I cannot imagine losing a child. Just a thought itself almost makes me cry.

Not so much going on

November 26th, 2007 at 01:51 am

I didn't do much today. It was pretty low key, quite day.

I went to Safeway this morning, got 2 gallons of milk, 2 loaves of bread, 5 boxes of granola bars, a case of water, and a newspaper. I also got my latte, there.

At Safeway, I bought 4 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars. Sale price is 4 for $10, and the register takes another $4 off when you buy 4 at once. So, the final price is $1.50 per box. Not super great, but cheap enough since my DD takes them for her lunch.

I also checked Rite Aid's ad for this week, and they're running "Spend $100 and get $20" promotion starting today. I hope they will have some good rebates going on in December to make the deal sweeter.

Eating leftover

November 25th, 2007 at 03:46 am

We've been eating leftover all day today. Leftover ham for breakfast, turkey for lunch, beef dish, mashed potato and veggies for dinner.

I still have more ham and turkey I don't know what to do with!!

Turkey day meal

November 22nd, 2007 at 03:58 am

We are visiting out friend's house tomorrow, and I was assigned to do some appetizers.

I am planning to bring:
Clam Dip
Onion Dip
Guacamole
Three types of chips
Veggie sticks
Garlic cream cheese & Basil spread
Bre cheese
Salami & Cheese on Crackers

If these are not enough, I also can make some Bruschetta. I have some basil and tomatoes anyway....

I already made clam dip and onion dip today. I will cut up some veggies tomorrow, and make garlic cheese spread.

I hope people will like my appetizers.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Busy weekend

November 19th, 2007 at 05:44 am

This weekend was really busy one.

I had a class yesterday morning, and another commitment in the afternoon. We will have a guest from Japan next week, so I had to clean the house.

My DH and DD went to the field show for DD's Marching band yesterday, and didn't come home till 1:30 am.

Today was another cleaning day. And, I will have my cost accounting exam tomorrow, so I was studying here and there, finding some time between chores.

I managed to go to Longs and Target. We were out of paper towel, so I really had to buy some.

Longs
Viva paper towel $6 x 2 ($3 rebate)
Eggs (one dozen) $1.19
Alagio shampoo $3.99 (FAR item)
Healthy gums rinse $7.99 (FAR item)
Two newspapers $.99 x 2
Used $5 off cpn from Entertainment book
Tax $1.52
Paid $23.67 and will receive $14.98 in rebate
oop $8.69

Target
Shower curtain liner $9.99
Daisy sour cream $1.27 x 2
Less Target coupon .75 x 2
Less manu. coupon .50 x 2
(Final price is 2 cents for 8 oz tub)
Rayovac AA & AAA batteries
$1 x 4
Less Manu. coupon $1 x 4
Tax $1.01
Final price $11.04

NSD

November 16th, 2007 at 04:49 pm

Yesterday was no spending day : )

Lunch: Left over chicken dish
Dinner: Pork cutlet, salad, kabocha-pumpkin flitter, rice

I will do some shopping today as we are really low on laundry softner. Actually, we're using our last box. I will go to Walgreens and buy 8 boxes of Snuggle fabric softner. I just received coupons I ordered yesterday for the softner.

$1.99 x 8 = $15.92
Less .60 x 8 = $4.8
Receive $5 catalina
Final price $6.12. 76.5 cents per box.

I also need to buy DH's deodrant. He is VERY particular about the deodrant he uses which I can hardly find any deals : (





Price is up and up

November 14th, 2007 at 05:04 am

Some people were talking about the increase of food price in their blogs. Yes, they're up.

I just came back from Safeway, and prices are higher than before.

Milk is now $4.49 per gallon. I always buy 2 gallons at once because my husband and daughter drink milk every day, and I get discounted price if I buy two. Price for two is now $6.39. It was less than $5 not too long ago.

I mainly bought meat and vegetables today. I have enough stockpile for other items. I still spent $54.71 which is a lot for me.

This includes Tri Tip value pack ($13.89 at $3.99 per lb. Regular price would have been $26.07.), stew meat $2.99 and Pork loin $3.34. The value pack of tri tip will make at least four meals for us.

I should sit down this weekend and plan out the meals for the week.

$3.29 a gallon

November 13th, 2007 at 12:07 am

I stopped by AM/PM which is the cheapest one, and their price is $3.29 a gallon. I filled up and paid $40. This will last me 4 days for commuting, 33 miles each way.

I stay in the office during my lunch time these days because I don't want to use any extra gas.

This morning, one of TV news was talking about possibility of gas price hitting $4 a gallon. Of course, higher gas price bring everything else up, including grocery.

There's no public transportation around here, and even they had one, I will not use it because my office is located in one of dangerous places in the city.

Maybe I should set up a saving account to get myself a Hybrid car.




Finally made it to Walgreens

November 11th, 2007 at 03:07 am

I finally stopped by Walgreens today. I bought a couple of Thera Flu products, and paid $2.06 for them including tax. I really needed them because I am catching cold. Actually, I am writing in my bed. It's not too bad yet, and I want to get rid of the cold before it gets worse. I don't have time to get sick!!

I also bought two Glade flameless candles. I saw a TV commercial advertising for BOGO coupon on their website. So, I printed it out and use it with $4 off coupon. I paid $5.36 for two including tax, and will get $6 rebate from Walgreens.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Latte

November 8th, 2007 at 10:37 pm

OK. I needed a break. I ate dinner at the university cafeteria last night and bought a cup of pumpkin cinnamon latte this morning. I will get paid tomorrow, so I thought I'd give myself a little break from being so tight.

Gas price has been going up like crazy. It's about $3.25 a gallon around here. I drive over 60 miles every day, so it really hurts. I used to have a carpool buddy, but she moved away : (

I really need to go grocery shopping today. There's nothing in our fridge now. Since I have been pretty busy, I wasn't in the mood to do anything. No deal hunting, either. I haven't been to either Walgreens nor Rite Aid this week. Maybe I will make a quick trip tomorrow....




Saturday class

November 4th, 2007 at 12:26 am

We got our operations management exam back. I scored 93%, and it was the highest in the class. I'm happy, but he doesn't curve. That means I cannot slack off for my final exam. I don't have to write any more papers for the class which is a relief.

Stopped by Walgreens and got a new type of Purell for free using $2.5 Walgreens coupon and $1 manu. coupon. I have three more manu. coupons, so I will go there and get three more.

I should just walk there since the store is in a walking distance. I need little exercise anyway.

How I .....

November 2nd, 2007 at 08:19 pm

.....saved 100K in my 401K in 7.5 years.

And, I don't make six figure salary. My wage was $18 per hour when I started with my current employer 8 years ago.

Method:
1. Pay yourself first
2. Set a clear goal
3. Challenge myself and be creative

1. Pay yourself first
I like saving money this way because any money I have in my bank account is my spending money. If it goes down to zero, no more spending. And, I don't stress out like "OMG! I have no savings!" I do have savings, and it is done before I know it.

2. Set a clear and measurable goal
My first goal was to save equivalent to my annual salary. The balance grew very slowly first, and it took me almost 4 or 5 years to reach this goal. After I achieved my first goal, I set my second goal that was to save 100K. It took much shorter time to achieve my second goal. Now, my next goal is to save 250K. I don't particularly set the deadline for it because I still have almost 20 years till I retire.

3. Challenge myself and be creative
I set my contribution percentage at 20% before tax and made myself used to the income after the deduction. Since cash flow was always tight, I became frugal and creative. I started packing lunches instead of buying lunch, look for coupons for anything I do, borrow instead of buy, sign up for survey, etc. When there's a will, there's a way.

I'm sure anybody can save money if I can. There was another blog about "10 things you need to do before you turn 40" or something. Yes, I used to go to exotic places for vacation, I have the real watch, I have real Louis Vuittons, and I used to pay $300 for a pair of shoes.

I changed my mind-set from finding a pleasure from material things to finding a pleasure from challenging myself. Saving money to me is like playing a game, a game to reach larger balance in my net worth. Like I said, I could do it, so anyone can do it. Really.

Busy means no spending

November 2nd, 2007 at 03:38 am

I have been so busy lately. All I do is go to work, go to school, and come home. I cannot believe it's almost Friday.

Here's my week recap for spending.

Monday: I took my friend out to lunch. She helped me by editing my papers for college classes. I promised her I will buy her lunch because she helped me so much. I used an Entertainment cpn that was about to expire. $8.20 for both of us.

Tuesday: I had to go to San Francisco to renew my daughter's passport. So, this was the biggest spending of the week. Fill up on gas even the gas tank was half full, because everything is so much more expensive in bay area. Gas $22.76
BART from Richmond to Embarcadero. $7.40 round trip.
Toll $4
Grabbed a coffee cake and a cup of coffee. Approx. $5.

Wednesday & Thursday: NSD.