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Free falling

October 7th, 2008 at 05:49 pm

Stock market is falling again. I guess media is getting used to it. Not much screaming going on today.

I don't even want to look at my 401k balance.

So, I decided not to Smile

Where is the end of this madness?

September 30th, 2008 at 04:35 am

The bail out plan failed. Dow was down more than 700 points. Tokyo is down. Singapore is down. Korea is down. And Taiwan is down.

I checked my 401K. I used to have 6 figures in there. Now it's back to 5 figures Frown

I transfered some of my funds to more stables ones last week. I'm glad I did. Otherwise, the damage would have been larger.

I sure am grateful that I am not retiring any time soon. My DH's co-worker came back to work after his retirement because his retirement fund got hit really hard.

Actually, I'm not worried that much, though. Luckly, both DH and I have stable jobs, and I will receive some bonus this year. I will also keep contributing to my 401K, but I need to pay attention to my fund allocation.

Grocery shopping

September 21st, 2008 at 10:45 pm

Finally, I went to grocery shopping. Going to school 4 nights a week and studying for classes consume a lot of my time. I spent $62.98 and my fridge & freezer is filled with food.

Now, back to studying...

I have two tests next week, and I am stressing out!!

What a mess....

September 15th, 2008 at 04:29 pm

I wrote back in January about my experience/observation about the similar events after real estate boom.

Another similar thing happened: Lehman Brothers. I remember back in 1997, one of major Japanese securities companies, Yamaichi securities went belly up after celebrating their 100th year anniversary. It was a big shocker to everyone. I remember MOF (Ministry of Finance) at that time sent out a letter to financial institutions and asked them to hire ex-Yamaichi people to help them out. I used to work for one of AIG operating companies in Tokyo, and we hired some guys from Yamaichi.

Well, AIG is in trouble, too. I sold all of my stock I bought during my 13 years of employment there. I'm surprised that they got in such a trouble because the company was known for its conservativeness. I guess after MRG (Maurice Greenburg) left the company, something has changed...

I wonder how long this mess will continue.

Today's SA blog is right on

September 11th, 2008 at 05:59 pm

My DH was talking to his brother on the phone last weekend.

The brother had a stepson who was deployed to Iraq and came back, suffered from depression, and committed suicide. Make a long story short, the brother and his wife received $500k from life insurance. This was about 2 years ago.

Well, some of you already guessed it.

My brother-in-law and his wife spent it all. Yes, all of it. For what? I honestly do not know, and don't want to know. It's not my business. Bad thing is the brother has a bad heart and cannot work anymore. He will be on disability. His wife never worked. Sigh....

Today's SA blog is very true, "Education" about money is so important. The brother and his wife have no clue about finance, and don't know how to manage money. I think "manage" is a too fancy word in this case, I should say they don't know how to "keep" the money in the bank account.

Some people just make baaaad decisions.... Sad.

Labor day weekend

September 2nd, 2008 at 08:25 pm

It's hard to believe, but it's September. And, my fall semester starts today.

Labor day weekend was a nice Staycation. I read one chapter from my international accounting class, organized some coupons, watched a couple of movies.

I watched "No Reservation" that my DD recorded in DVR. Very cute love story. Then, DD and I went to watch "House Bunny". It was cute, but just OK.

Walgreen's new rebate started last Friday, and they had $10/$40 off coupon in their website. So, I went and bought FAR items and used $10 off coupon. I ended up making $12 profit with all the coupons I used. I also went to Walmart to use my Kraft Free coupons. I got free hot dogs and Wheat thin crackers. I also bought new All You magazine. Coupons were better last month, but I still find some good ones.



Farmer's market

August 28th, 2008 at 06:05 pm

I stopped by farmer's market this morning.

This farmer's market is on my way to work, and I know they have it every Thursday morning throughout a year. I always drove by without even checking them out. You know how mornings are. I'm in a hurry to get to work.

But this morning, I decided to stop by to see what they have. I'm glad I did because there were some great deals for fruits and vegetables. Needless to say, they are fresh! I was especially happy to find the price tag for tomatoes, 75 cents per lb. I didn't buy any tomatoes this time because I just bought some from Trader Joe's, but I will definitely pick some up next week.

I bought 4 green peppers for $1, and five pears (including three Asian pears) for $3.30. They also had some yummy looking peaches and nectarines for $1 per lb., so I'm planning to buy some next week.

Back to school stuff

August 27th, 2008 at 06:38 pm

I added all the school related fees, and it's $504!! No wonder we are so broke....

Marching band fee $180
PE clothe $25
Theater tech fee $22
School picture $58
Year book $60
ASB fee $75
AP test $84
Total $504

At least, I didn't spend much on school supplies. We still have a bunch of index cards that were dirt cheap at Office Depot. and I bought some notebooks from Staples that were 5 cents each.

Talking about school, I'm going back to school next week, too. I will go to school from Monday through Thursday.... It sucks... On Wednesdays, I leave my house around 6: 30 p.m. and won't come home till 9:30 p.m. I only have 5 more classes to finish my B.S., and I am doing 3 classes in fall. So, I will just suck it up and do it. They are all accounting classes. Fun..... Audit, Advanced Accounting, and International Accounting. I started reading International Accounting book and it is actually interesting stuff. It talks about different approaches of reporting by countries and mentions how German company would report lower profit in their financial reporting than American company would do. I work for a German comopany and always wondered about that. (Germans like to "hide" their profit, and want to report nice linear growth curve.)

I guess I will spend my Labor Day weekend reading textbooks.

One more reason I hate paying tax.

August 27th, 2008 at 03:33 pm

This is in today's MSN money.

Taxpayers give fat cats $20 billion

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/TaxpayersGiveFatCats20Billion.aspx

Free Sprite

August 26th, 2008 at 05:29 pm

There are a couple of free items at Safeway this week - L'Oreal Vive shampoo & conditioner and 2 litter bottle Sprite.

I paid for the shampoo at in-house Starbucks when I was getting my coffee. And the cashier asked me where I got BOGO coupons. I gave her a couple of coupons because I am well stocked with them. I was buying them to use overage to cover my bread. She told me she works so hard and get paid so little, and said "These decent kind (L'Oreal) are expensive." It is so true. Their regular price is $4.99 a bottle. If she makes $10 an hour, one hour of hard work will be for a couple of bottle of shampoo and conditioner. That sucks. She was so happy and gave me high five, and that made me happy, too. It is nice to know some people actually appreciate coupons.

I haven't bought any Sprite so far, and sale cycle ends today. So, if I want free Sprite, today is the last day as the coupons expire on 8/31. They are Buy 3 get 3 free, and I have a lot of BOGO coupons. Store pays for 3, and coupons pay for 3, thus, free for me.

As for household finance, August has been very expensive with school related expenses. Fees, fees, everywhere.... On top of that, everything came more than usual. Gas & electricity bill was over budget, water was over budget, and we had to pay for our car insurance. Gee..... I guess we will have a nice and quiet staycation on Labor day weekend.



Best $6 I've ever spent

August 25th, 2008 at 07:31 pm

I bought a water pitcher with filter at Walgreens the other day. It was $10 and I will get $4 back by rebate. This is one of the best $6 I've ever spent. My DD does not drink soda, and mainly drinks water.

One day I looked at two large trash bag full of plastic bottles to be taken to recycle place, and then, saw an ad for a water pitcher at Walgreens. I went to the store that day and got the pitcher. WAG even had replacement cartridge for free (FAR in August), so I bought it, too.

It has been working great. We only have it for about a week, and constantly refilling it. I'm sure we recover the cost already. Well, it's not hard to do when I spent only $6 for it.

These small things make me happy : )

Smaller size ice cream

August 12th, 2008 at 07:06 pm

I found this article and this is so true.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/105542/The-Price-Is-the-Same;-It's-the-Size-That-Shrinks

I knew the size of ice cream shrunk. I buy Dreyer's Rocky Road for DH, and noticed the package had changed. My DH is one of those people who cannot deal with the change. I could tell he is going to go nuts and say "This is not the same!!" So, I looked and looked in the shelve to find the "original" package.

Well, they were gone, gone, gone. Welcome to the world of smaller size. I have to tell DH to get used to it.

Boat repair & car insurance

August 6th, 2008 at 09:03 pm

Our boat repair estimate came. $700. This was much better than we expected. I can totally live with that. What a relief.

In the meantime, I'm shopping around Auto insurance. Our premium gone up so much because DD (16 yrs old) started driving last year. It's unbelievable how expensive insurance premium is for teenage drivers. We're paying about 3K a year and her portion is 2K!!

I checked Geico and we may be able to lower our premium about $500 to 600 a year.

What really makes me mad is coverage for uninsured drivers. Shouldn't be illegal to drive a car without insurance? Hello???

Anyhow, I need to take care of it in next two weeks as my renewal date is getting closer.

Series of unfortunate incidents

August 4th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

I lost my cell phone due to a series of unfortunate incidents last Saturday.....

It all started from our neighbor wanted to borrow our boat. We don't have any problem with that. The only thing was we wanted to make sure it runs ok because we haven't taken out our boat this year because there's no water in the lake we usually go to. Last few winters have been pretty dry and there's no such a thing "rain" during summer here.

Anyway, we drove to the river instead of lake this time. Everything was going very well. We launched a boat, cruising down the river, looking at gorgeous homes along the river.... Then, my DH felt something is wrong with engine and looked back. Huge smoke was coming out from engine area!! He stopped the boat immediately and opened the cover. OMG..... I don't know what happened, but we knew something went really wrong.

Another boat noticed smoke and approached us and asked if we are ok. Guess what my DH said? "Oh, we are fine." I was like...."NO, WE ARE NOT!!" But, I thought he might have some idea how to go back to the boat launch. Naaah. He just didn't want to ask for help. Damn.

We managed to temporarily park at the private dock of one of those homes by the river. Now, my DH wanted me to look for someone to help us. Geee.... I was really upset and told him "Next time, if someone offers to help, say YES!!"

Well, long story short, I ended up calling 911, and they said they will contact coast guard and will call us back. We waited for a while, but there's no sign of call back. So, finally, I waved an orange flag to send a "help!" signal to other boat, and one boat was nice enough to give us a tow to nearest marina.

About 20 minutes into being towed, a coast guard boat drove by. We told them that our boat broke down and need a help. Guess what they did? They gave us a business card of towing service and told us to call them!! What??

So, cost guard drove away and we are still being towed by other nice boat owner. They told us they will leave us at the sandy beach area where we can wait for towing service to come. Fine.

I called towing service and the guy told me that the towing person will call me back when they come near the area. In a mean time, we arrive at the sandy beach area and my DH asked me to go out of the boat and hold it. I saw a bunch of people enjoying a summer day there and the beach looked shallow, about the knee height. So, I went into the water thinking it's shallow. I sunk. Completely. It was so deep I could not even reach the bottom of the river. Well, I had my cell phone in my pocket and it was gone because I had to wiggle my body to come up to surface.

Now, no cell phone, and I was still waiting for towing service to call me back. How can they reach me now? I wanted to cry.

I asked a teenage boy who was standing there and had a cell phone if I can use his phone. Thank God, he was nice enough to let me use his phone. I called the towing service back and told them to call the new number.

Then, the guy at the towing service told me "By the way, we only take cash." Ha?? I didn't even think about how much the service was. So, I asked him "Well, we don't have that much cash with us. By the way, how much is it?" "It's $120 an hour." I almost fainted. On top of that, he tells me it will take about two hours for them to get here, and the clock starts when they leave. OMG..... I told the guy, just call me when he gets near the area.

Fast forward one hour and half later, finally, the phone rang. It's the towing service guy. "We won't make it there. Our boat broke, too." I said, "That's fine. Thank you anyway." And hang up the phone. I walked over to people who have their boat by the beach and asked "Can anybody give us a tow? We will pay for your gas!!"

One guy was really nice to give us a tow and we could come to the boat launch. But, what a day.... For some reason, I don't believe towing service's boat breaking down, but it's ok. It saved us at least $300 or so.

Now, we are waiting for boat repair place to give us an estimate to fix it. Oh, by the way, our extended warranty expired last year. Sucks....

One class down

July 11th, 2008 at 07:22 pm

Whew! One of my summer classes ended yesterday. The class is called "Perception of Leisure" and I thought it will be just play class, but it was much deeper than that. The class taught student how to design life for a better living, and I wish I had taken this class 20 years ago. This class talks about setting goals and briefly touches about finance as well. I think it's great that the class told student about a ridiculous credit card interest and how quickly it accumulates.

It has been super hot and smoky around here. We had to have A/C on almost 24/7 and I am not looking forward to seeing next utility bill. I'm getting tired of paying so much for gas, too. I wanted to go to Walgreens during lunch, but I changed my mind after paying $50 for gas this morning. I will just stay here and not wasting gas for running unnecessary errands.

Not much progress on my EF. I kind of lost my momentum now. 90K mile maintenance for my car is coming up soon, too. Well, it's cheaper than having a car payment, so I shouldn't complain.

Safeway is having a deal now, but I cannot figure out what to buy from them. This will be my weekend project to figure out the best deal.


It's July

July 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 pm

I was totally slacking off in June. I guess I kind of run out gas for personal finance related stuff. It's new month, and I started keeping records of my spending again.

My DD came back from NYC/DC trip that took us almost a year to save up. Now, we need to start saving for her Europe trip next summer which is about 5K. This kid is so expensive.... Well, I know, I know. We let her be that way.

As much as I complain, I know I'm paying for them because I want to. She is only child I have and I want her to have experiences that are priceless.

NYC/DC trip was about 3K. In this trip, she met all kinds of people from world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and they had interesting background. One girl's father (the girl is from Nigeria) is a General Assembly member of U.N. And another girl's father (this girl is from Mexico) is a diplomat in Brazil. My DD learned a lot from this trip about international affairs and this trip also helped her to narrow down the direction she will be headed. 3K for us is a lot of money, but if we can squeeze it to educate her, I think it is a good investment.

OK, enough about the kid.

Like I wrote in my previous posting, there's not much deals going on. I got a new store flyer on Tuesday and looked through them. I found nothing. One store had BBQ sauce for 99 cents, and there were 50 cents off coupons for them, but the coupons expired on 6/30. Darn!! 2 days too late. I guess I will sit back and relax until killer deals are coming to my way.

Slacking off........

June 24th, 2008 at 03:58 am

I know I haven’t been blogging these days, but it’s been a month??? Where did my time go?

I have been super busy with work and school these days. My department is booking orders left and right which is great, but that means a lot of work for me. I am managing $1M project in addition to our regular business, and supervising a couple of new people. Some days, I don’t have any break all day.

I am also taking a summer class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have a paper due tomorrow, and another one on Thursday. I am writing this blog between writing my papers.

Since I am super busy, not much deal hunting going on. Coupon saving in June is ridiculously low, and I cannot believe how much I am spending on grocery. It shows how much work it takes for couponing. I am ok with it, though. There are no killer deals and I don’t feel I am missing anything. Summer is not the best season for couponing anyway.

My DD is in DC and will be back on Wednesday. She is attending a trip conducted by People to People organization. She is staying at George Washington University’s dorm and she said it is beautiful. She is with a bunch of kids from all over the world and I’m glad she is exposed to different cultures.

She called me a couple of days ago and told me about this kid from Ireland. When he was asked how many rooms are in his house, he said “30”. Then, kids asked him if his family has a boat. He said “No we don’t have a boat……. We have two ships.” And, his name is Richie. (No, I’m not making this up!!)

Another girl is from So Cal and her father is one of actors in “Desperate Housewives.” Kids call her “Hollywood.”

I cannot wait to hear more stories from her when she is back. I wish I could go on a trip like that LOL


Quiet day

May 26th, 2008 at 08:58 pm

It’s been pretty quiet holiday weekend. Since school is out, I have no homework or assignments to do. It feels weird…. I watched a couple of movies that were on TV and my friend gave me a DVD to watch. The title of the movie is “27 dresses” and it was a very cute story.

This morning, I went to Safeway for grocery shopping. I paid $60 after club card savings ($54) and coupons savings ($15.30). I also received two free movie tickets and 20 cents fuel discount. Gas is over $4 around here, so it helps to get 20 cents fuel discount. I found an error in the receipt, though. Onion is supposed to bet 59 cents per lb, or something, but the receipt says $1.69 per lb. I need to go back and have it corrected  I’m so used to going to the customer service counter and ask for a correction because this kind of error happens all the time.

By the way, my DD starts working tomorrow. She got a job at after school program operated by the city. We used to send her there when she was in elementary school. We used to pay them to have her. Now, she is getting paid to be there. She will be making $8 an hour. (Yes, it’s the minimum wage!) It’s time for her to learn money management skill.


Looking back....

May 15th, 2008 at 03:32 pm

As gas and food prices are going up, I noticed media is paying more attention to usage of coupons. I was one of those people who reads an article, and think "That's nice, but I have no idea how these people are doing it."

I remember watching TV long time ago, before I learned how to use coupons. TV news was showing the lady who goes to a grocery store and paid $2 for a cartful of stuff. At that time, I was a coupon beginner, and had no idea how she did it. I thought, I use coupons, but I can never get my total down to $2. How does she do it?? Well, now I know. She was targeting certain loss leader items, taking advantage of double or triple (which we don't have around here), and using multiple coupons.

So, I'm sure there are people out there, like I was, interested in getting into coupons, but don't know how.

It's amazing looking back, how I used to shop. I didn't know what I was missing out until I learned how to use coupons and rebates. I used to think the Dollar store was a good deal. Boy, what was I thinking???

Nice weekend

May 5th, 2008 at 03:52 am

This was a nice weekend.

Saturday: Last lecture of this semester. Our instructor cancelled next week's lecture, so all we have is a final exam on 17th. I'm so excited this semester is almost done.

After the class, I helped my group mate making his homepage for our web assignment. He injured his right wrist so it is extremely difficult for him to type. Since we will be graded as a group, I wanted to make sure his portion is complete Wink

In the everning, I went over to my friend's house and played poker with friends till 11 pm. I lost $20, but it's ok. It was nice to catch up with my friends, and I had a good time.

Sunday: I was going to wake up at 6 and go to yoga class, but could not wake up. (Well, playing poker till 11 pm didn't help.) I finally woke up at around 8:15 (DD woke me up and told me to go to yoga), and went to hot yoga class. I'm still in trial period ($10 for 10 days) so I didn't have to pay today. I sweat so much, and felt pretty good.

I came home, took a shower, and headed to Strings (Italian restaurant) to see my friend. She is a single mom (I've known her since she was single) and have a lovely 4 yr old son. It's been more than a year since last time we met. We caught up a little, but couldn't stay too long because her son was getting bored and didn't sit still. We promised each other to meet more often than once a year.

After lunch, I went to Walgreens. This week is SUPER great deal at Walgreens. I bought 6 Mr. Clean magic eraser and 3 Charmin wipes, paid $22.49 and received $20 coupon good for next purchase.

For next purchase, I bought Edge shaving gel, melatonin (for DH), 4 cans of cream of mushroom soup, and Venus razor. After using $20 coupon, and other coupons, I paid $1.76 and received $6 coupon good for next purchase.

I will be going to Walgreens every day this week!

Ski

April 14th, 2008 at 03:26 pm

I went to skiing yesterday. It was really warm and people were skiing in their T-shirt.

Snow condition wasn't the best, but we really had a great time!





As for spending, actual spending for the day was $12.50 for lunch. Cesar salad and Sierra beer!! Woooo, it was sooo worth it.

I bought the lift ticket before season started. (The ticket comes with the discount card good for various ski resort in Tahoe area.) And my friend gave me a ride because I drove last time we went skiing.

So, it really was a nice day!

Flu

March 31st, 2008 at 04:30 pm

I started feeling bad Friday afternoon. So, I left work little early and came home, went straight to bed. I am still in bed.....

I think I got flu. Finally, fever is gone, but still feeling weak. I called my boss and told her I'm taking a day off. I don't want to push and make it worse.

I know this flu came from my co-worker. He kept coming to work even though he was really sick last week. Grrrr!!! STAY HOME, DUDE!!

I'm hoping to recover by tomorrow. I hate being sick.

Over-qualified??

March 26th, 2008 at 10:56 pm

One of my neighbor was telling me that they don't have any money. I knew she got laid off about a year ago, and haven't found a job, yet. And, she told me that she is "overqualified" for many jobs. Hmmmmm...... I don't think she has a college degree. So, what makes her think she is over-qualified??? A clerk at Taco Bell?

This type of attitude really puzzles me because she is complaining that they don't have any money. But, she is not working. Not even a part-time job. I guess she is not working because she is over-qualified and doesn't want to take ANY job. But for more than a year???

There are many things people do I just don't understand.



Women and money

March 25th, 2008 at 05:58 pm

In general, wives are in charge of household finance in the country I'm from.

How to save money is one of most popular articles in women's magazines. Most of my friends (female) handle money for their family, and give their husbands an allowance.

My parents were same way. My mother was SAHM, and she handled money. When my father got paid, it went straight to her, and she was giving him an allowance.

Most of my friends, as far as I know, handle household finance as well. They pay bills, put money in savings, and make a decision about large purchases. Actually, car dealers won't take a man seriously until wife shows up with him. They know husbands are not the final decision makers.

Also, it is common for husbands to negotiate a raise of their allowance with his wife when they get their salary raise.

So, I was shocked when I came to the U.S. and saw my friend's husband giving her money when we took a girls' trip. I have never seen it before..... I thought it was interesting how different cultures handle money differently between men and women.




Clipping coupons & new glasses

March 24th, 2008 at 05:20 pm

I hope you all had a nice Easter. We were really low key. Yesterday, I did a couple of deal hunting, Office Depot. and Rite Aid, then, came home and clipped coupons & organize them for a couple of hours. I finally found trading card holders at Office Depot. When I started couponing, I learned many people use binder method for their coupon organization and they use trading card holders. When I went to buy them before, they were out and I have been using bigger pocket type (picture holders) that holds less number of coupons.

I was really happy to find trading card holders this time. They were $2.49 each, so I grabbed two packages and added a scotch tape that were on clearance for 25 cents to make total more than $5. After $5 coupon, I paid 25 cents : ) Free coupon organizer for me.

By the way, I went to Lens Crafters to order my new glasses on Saturday. I have a pair but they are almost 10 years old and I can hardly see anything. It was waaay over due to get a new pair. Why did I go on Saturday? Because the expiration date for 50% off lenses coupon was Saturday. I know, I know. My life goes around coupons. Anyway, I checked other deals and coupons, but 50% off lenses seems to be the best deal. I knew there are BOGO coupons, too, but I don't need two pairs of glasses. I normally wear contact lenses and glasses are for night time use.

Anyway, at the end of the day, it saved me $200. Original price $569.95 - $200 = $369.95. Still, a good chunk of money. I called my benefit company on Thursday and made sure that I can buy my glasses with my FSA card. So, the money came out from my FSA fund.

Real people's story

March 22nd, 2008 at 02:50 am

I found this in CNN Money.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0803/gallery.real_stories/index.html

While I felt sorry for some of these people, I think some people are their own enemy.

I don't want to be too harsh on them. I'm not perfect, either. And, make mistakes here and there all the time.

Maybe we should tell them to read Saving Advice.

Day off!!

March 21st, 2008 at 03:23 pm

I'm off today. Ohhh, it is so nice to be in PJ, sipping coffee, and write my blog. It's beautiful outside, crisp air, and blue sky.

I have 10 a.m. appointment for my pedicure. I gave a gift certificate to my friend's B.D., so we are going there together.

Then, I really need to study for my test tomorrow. It is sooo boring to learn about how computer network works. It's a requirement class, so I have no choice but taking the class. Oh well. I just have to suck it up and do it.

I received a rebate check from Longs yesterday, then, I received a bill from Kohls. They pretty much offset each other. I will have about $5 left. It's ok.

There's no coupons this Sunday because it's a holiday weekend. It's a good time to go through old coupons and organize them.

I wish everyone very Happy Easter. Spring is almost here.

$82 lesson

March 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pm

My days have been really hectic, but it is time to sit down and organize my clutter around my desk. I learned organization saves money in a hard way. I totally forgot to pay vehicle registration fee that was due in February!!!! Ahhhhhh!!

I don't know why I didn't pay earlier, but the bill was sitting on my desk with other crap and I forgot about it for too long. Now, I had to pay $82 more for late payment. $82!! That's a lot of money! I am kicking and kicking and kicking myself, and felt really depressed. After I clamed down a little, I tried to think I just paid $82 fee to learn about the importance of organization, and taking time to review things.

I'm still not happy about my mistake at all. But, it is sunk cost and there's nothing I can do about. At least, I should get some kind of lesson out of it, I guess.

Basket for silent auction

March 18th, 2008 at 07:22 pm

My DD's school student body is hosting a fund raising dinner next month. As part of ASB member, she needs sell tickets or come up with a basket for silent auction (required to be worth more than $150.) She was telling me about her ideas of getting a basket together, calling spa places and ask for donation. Yeah, right.... I just told her, "Good luck." Off she went to her friend's house.

Several hours later, she came home, and I asked her "So, how did it go?" She told me either they were closed (she did this on Sunday) or they already made a donation to somebody else. Result: Zero, nothing, nada. She told me "I will never get a sales job!!" Well, good thing you learned early. She changed her plan from putting a basket together to selling more dinner tickets. Wait... I thought she doesn't want to sell anything??? I don't know. We will see.

I told her I can put a bathroom essential basket for her if she really needs it. (Things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.) I know I have more than $150 worth of products I got for free or paid very little. She wasn't really excited about the idea and will try to sell tickets first. I am just preparing for the last minute request, yes, one of those 9 o'clock at night announcement, "Mom, I need xxxxx, tomorrow."

Grocery shopping

March 17th, 2008 at 08:53 pm

I went to a couple of stores to do my grocery shopping. At Trader Joe's, I bought my usual, bananas, apples, tomatoes, and sourdough bread, etc.

I noticed the price of a loaf of sourdough bread went up from $1.89 to $2.29. 40 cents increase from February. Fuji apples used to be 39 cents, but they're 49 cents each now. It is still a good deal compare to other stores. Bananas are still 19 cents per pound. Great price. Two large tomatoes, $2.69 and 4 ct. avocados $3.29. There are usual stuff I buy at Trader Joe's. I also picked up a package of hard salami that was $1.89.

Then, I went to Safeway and bought other things I needed. They have a dozen eggs for 99 cents this week with minimum of $10 purchase. For some reason, the store coupon for eggs scanned 10 cents more, and I paid 89 cents for a dozen eggs. I won't complain.

I also had to go to Pets Mart to buy some dog food. Price on these went up, too! It used to be 58 cents per can, but now they were 62 cents per can. Boy.... I'm really hoping for good coupons from Pedigree. I miss BOGO coupons for these dog food last summer!!




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