Maismom's every day life

I started using pennies in my penny jar.

I have a bunch of pennies in a good size jar, and didn't really think about it for few years.

Then, I realized, these are money!! (Duhh....)

The problem was, I have a rather thin wallet that does not allow me to look for small change so easily.

So, I started carrying a coin purse, and put a bunch of pennies in it.

Result:
Bought a stamp 58 cents.
Got rid of 8 pennies.

Bought a couple of newspaper. $2.12. Got rid of 12 pennies.

Bought a coffee and gum. $4.12.
Got rid of 12 pannies.

I used up most of my pennies I carried around in no time!

This is much better than Coinstar or whatever that charges so much to convert coins to bills.

I took a day off today to stay with my DD. She just had her wisdom teeth removed. (All four of them!!)

She was so out of it when she came out of the doc's office, and went straight to sleep after we got home. Good thing doc's office is only five minutes away from my house.

My husband was home for lunch, so I went to Walgreen's to pick up her medicine while he was home with her. The cost of medicine was $41.98 and paid with the gift card. Good thing my gift card was loaded with rebate.

I also bought some more Kellogg cereals because the sale ends tomorrow and they had a good stock for the "Special K with red berries." My DD seems to enjoy this cereal. I bought two boxes on Monday and she finished one box already. I bought four boxes and paid $6.85.

I only had one $1 off coupon left, and used a $2 off from $10 purchase coupon that was in the mailer. For some reason, $2 coupon gave me 15 cents off extra even though there's no tax on food items in CA.
So, $10 ($2.50 each x 4 boxes) - $1 - $2.15 = $6.85 and got $5 catalina back.

Final price, approx. 46 cents per box.

I went to the dentist and, of course, he found a couple of new cavities. I know he's telling me the truth because I can see them myself. Also, I need to replace one of my crowns. That sucks because it's expensive and my insurance only covers 50% of the cost for crowns. The gal at the dentist office told me she will send me an estimate.

Also, my daughter will have her wisdom teeth removed this Friday. They want 50% of expense paid up front, even though they will get some $$ back from the insurance company. The total cost is $2,040 and we need to pay $1,095 this Friday. I think we should get about $300 back, so final cost should be about $800. I wish I would've known she will need to have wisdom teeth taken out this year. I could have double coverage from both my husband and me. (We work for two different companies and both of them offer pretty good benefits.) I didn't cover her under my husband's insurance this year because we normally don't need much for her dental work. Just regular cleaning.... Well, lessons learned. I will get ourselves double coverage for dental next year.

I confirmed the balance of our boat loan. ZERO!! Yeah!!

Now, the only debt payment we have is our home loan. I'm so glad we can use this money ($270 per month we used to pay towards boat loan) for the saving for our daughter's trip next summer.

She is going to NYC and DC to participate the summit of international affairs organized by the organization called "People to People." It's a good chunk of money (approx. $3,000 plus spending money) but my husband and I thought it will be a wonderful experience for her.

It is an investment for her future.

Went to another Walgreen's and got some Frosted Flakes this time. I wanted to buy Frosted Flakes yesterday, but the Walgreen's I went only had one box, so I got Smart Start instead. I had never tried the Smart Start kind, but figured it's a good chance to try them since they're free.

I used up my $10 rebate limit, so I only got 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes, and paid $3 for them. (75 cents each.) Not free, but it's ok. My daughter needs them for her breakfast anyway.

I finally found a deal I want to do this week. Kellogg has a rebate going on for $10 for 10 products. And Walgreen's has a pretty good price for them.

Buy
4 cereals $10 - $2 coupons - $5 catalina = $3
4 crackers (or cereal bars) $10 - $2 coupons - $5 catalina = $3
2 Pop Tarts $4 - $1 coupon - $1 catalina = $2

Final price will be $8 and get $10 rebate for them. $2 profit!!

I went to my university during lunch time and paid 2nd installment for Fall semester, and bought a parking permit.

Installment $346.50
Parking permit $108
Total $454.50

I heard daily parking permit is now $5!! It's such a rip off.... School is forcing people to buy a semester parking permit this way.

Stopped by Togo's on campus and bought a college meal. 4 inch sandwich, a cookie (or chips) and a drink. Paid $4.99.

I was glad to see this menu because 6 inch sandwich is little too big for me and 4 inch is the perfect size!!

Now, I need to check and see if they have the books for my classes.

This summer seems to be slow on good deals. Or, maybe I'm not in the mood for deal hunting after taking vacation for almost three weeks.

Maybe still in the adjusting stage to my normal daily routine.

Looking around for good CD rate, though. I'm glad interest rate is getting higher : ) Good news for savers.

I came back from my vacation on Tuesday. Still recovering from jet lag.....

I spent about 20 days in Japan and it rained almost every day. Rainy season came late this year, normally it ends in the beginning of July. On top of that, a typhoon came early, and an earthquake hit while I was there. Now I remember what I had to deal with!! All kinds of natural disaster!!

The weather really sucked, but it was nice to see my friends and family. Also, food was sooooo good!! I had different type of meals every single day and still could not cover everything I wanted to eat. Japanese do it right when it's about food.....

I was checking Walgreen's ad for next week. Boost are free again next week. That's too bad I don't drink the stuff.... Theragram M is still giving out $10 catalina for $12 purchase. I was glad to see mayonnaise are sale for $1 each. I was getting low on them! Time to stock up!

Since I got some nice comments for my "Deals I did on Saturday", here's how I really did it.

First of all, "catalina" is the coupon stores print out when you check out. I'm sure you have received these but never paid any attention. Next time you go to grocery shopping, pay attention to what your cashier gives you. Sometimes they are just advertisement, but these are called "catalina."

Anyway, Walgreens now have catalina machine. They had Kotex deal a couple of weeks ago, "Buy $10, get $10 savings for next shopping." I bought $10 worth of Kotex products and got $10 catalina back, thus, free Kotex. I did this several times and stocked them up. After getting Kotex, they had vitamin deal. I bought $12 worth of vitamins and got $10 back. So far, $2 out of pocket and a bunch of Kotex products and two bottles of vitamins. I still have the catalina of $10 that the store printed from vitamin deal. So, I took that $10, and bought the things I listed in my blog. So, yes, to be really accurate, I paid little more than $15 for 10 packages of Kotex products, two bottles of vitamins (130 counts), 24 bottles of water, 2 packages of Hefty garbage bags, and 2 cans of Cutter spray.

For Safeway, General Mills is giving out Free Milk everywhere in June. (Buy 3 GM products, get a gallon of free milk, buy 6 GM products, get two gallons of free milk.) Safeway had some good in-ad coupons for GM products a couple of weeks ago. I bought two boxes of Nature Valley cereal, two boxes of Cinnamon Toast crunch, two boxes of fruit roll up and paid $8 for them. Then, I got two Free Milk catalina it has $4.50 value. The beauty of this catalina is it gives us an overage. Two gallons of milk is actually less than $6 at Safeway. (It's cheaper when you buy two.) So, I bought two gallons of milk for $6 and gave $9 worth of catalinas that gives me $3 overage. I used this $3 to pay for other things I bought. So, Yes, to be really accurate, I paid $11.84 for 4 boxes of cereals, 2 boxes of fruit roll ups, 2 gallons of milk, 2 bags of red seedless grape, a package of celery, a melon, and a red onion.

I went to Walgreens, bought 24 bottles of water, 2 packages of Hefty garbage bags, 2 cans of Cutter (bug spray.) Paid $3.

Then, I went to Safeway, bought 2 gallons of milk, 2 bags of red seedless grape, a package of celery, a melon, and a red onion. Paid $3.84.

I love having catalinas & coupons.

I drove my daughter and her friend to the band camp in San Jose. It's about 150 miles away from where I live, so I drove more than 300 miles in one day. That's a lot.... It cost about $30 for gas, and I gave her $60 to spend during the camp. She shouldn't need much money since the camp fee included meals. But, just in case.

I saw the camp schedule and it is busy. Their days starts at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast, and ends at 10:00 p.m. I think she will like it because she is the type of person who needs to be entertained 24/7 LOL

I will be getting my tuition back this Friday's paycheck. Yeah! I need to turn around and pay for next semester's tuition by July 2nd, so it really helps to get the money back before the due date.

College tuition is going up and up and up. My daughter will be going to college in three years, so my goal is to get my degree before she graduates from high school. She hasn't made up her mind about the school she wants to go to. Sometimes she mentions about UC Berkley, sometimes school around Boston. (She loves Boston for some reason....) I hope we can support her school choice when the time comes.

It was hilarious!! He has such a good sense of humor, and this is how business people should be.

Our management can learn a thing or two from Mr. Buffet.

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2006ltr.pdf

I should not write too much detail here because this is about my in-laws.

Let's just say, I don't have much sympathy to people who ask for money help because they didn't prepare themselves.

I feel bitter about these people because I had to struggle myself because I lost my father when I was young. I worked hard, saved hard, and never asked other people to help me for money. I always kept my emergency fund, so I don't have to bother other people. If I can't do something due to lack of money, I simply won't do it.

So, it really bothers me when people call us and ask for $$. I'm talking about the person in her 40s, not a teenager. And, she has a husband, not a single mom. My husband felt really sorry for her, so he sent her some money but I just don't understand it. By the way, the last time my husband saw her was 15 years ago.

I'm not talking about her in particular, but people who expect other people to help them in general. I know there are some catastrophic event. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the situations they could prepare for it, but they didn't. I just don't get it.

As you, fellow parents, all know, kids are expensive!! We only have one, so we tend to overspend on her. I guess I'm not complaining. At the end, kids are "priceless." Am I right?

Here's this week's spending for our daughter....

Band camp $480
Sunsplash summer pass $60
Book for summer reading $20
Reeds and sheet music $50

She just told me she was accepted to play for the local youth symphony orchestra. We need to pay for membership that is about $400. Then, she was nominated to go to students' summit next summer. The cost is $2300, excluding airfare, so at the end, it will be about $3,000 plus. Its installment is due soon, too.

I have to say, she is a nice kid, and very talented. So, I'm telling myself this is a good investment.

Man.... we only have one and costing this much! I don't know how people with five kids survive!!

I changed my commuting route yesterday to go to a couple of Walgreens. I expected to see empty shelve for Kotex, but they were there!!

I used my gift card to pay for them, so my out of pocket is none so far. Maybe I should do this a couple more times to stock these up.

Now, I have to think about things to buy with my catalinas. John Frieda shampoo is on sale and they also have rebate. Sales price 4/$20, and the rebate is $10. I have 2/$3 coupons, so using two coupons, my out of pocket will be $1 per shampoo or conditioner.

These shampoos are more than $6 at the regular price. (Hard to believe there are people actually pay this much....) Maybe I can give it a try.

I haven't bought any of FAR items at Walgreens this month, so I can buy these items and get rebates for them, too.

Kotex products are FREE this week at Walgreens.

They have 2/$10 deal and you will receive a $10 catalina that's good for next purchase.

The beauty is, you can roll (use the catalina to next Kotex purchase) your catalina.

After stocking up enough of them use the last catalina to buy rebate items, such as Rimmel foundation. You can get your $$ back that way with 10% extra if you choose to receive it in the form of gift card.

I love Walgreens : )

MSN Money had an article "Brown Bag challenge." Well, I'm a brown bagger myself.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ConsumerActionGuide/TakeTheBrownBagChallenge.aspx

Here's my meal plan for today.

Breakfast: Nature Valley Oats'n Honey Cereal & Milk
General Mills is offering free milk everywhere this month with their product purchase. I bought $8 worth of their products, and got 2 gallons of milk for free. ($9 worth.) My family use milk a lot, so to me, it was free General Mills products with my milk purchase. Well, we buy milk anyway. So, my cereal is free while my milk is, let's say, 25 cents.

Cost of breakfast: 25 cents

Lunch: Left over from last night's dinner

Cost of lunch: zero

Total cost of today's meal at work: 25 cents

Since I made my last entry.

Recently, I reached my major financial goal. My 401K savings exceeded 100K.

This is a big milestone for me.... to bring the number to 6 figures. My first goal was to save the amount equivalent to my annual income. (which wasn't hard because I don't make much LOL) Aaaand, I set another goal to save 100k. It really helped that I saved 20% of my gross income for three years. After those three years, I had to improve my cash flow, so I'm only saving 6% now. (With 6% contribution, I can fetch company's match.) The stock market was down during years I saved 20% of my salary, so I guess it really helped to boost my balance.

My next target is 250K. I know it will take a while, but I will do it!

I finally reached $1000 mark. Well, at least in the book, including pending rebates.

A couple of more software rebates came in last week.
Software A $20
Software B $30
Longs Drug rebate $16.97
Samsung rebate for my husband's monitor $40
Total $106.97 deposit

Current balance
Bank A $619.9
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $140
Sofrware sale pending $8.06
Total $1053.28

As I wrote in March, I got a promotion. Then, I became extremely busy in April. That's my excuse of not updating my blog frequently LOL

Well, this software rebate idea has been a pain. 8 out of 10 rebates had some type of problem. These rebate centers are doing terrible job!! Losing paperwork, not validating document, etc. I had to make several phone calls to make sure I receive my rebate.

Finally, I received a couple more rebates. I still have $190 outstanding.

Software rebate $15 & $20 = Total $35
Rite Aid rebate $12.99
Tax e-file rebate $15.95
Game rebate $3
Total deposit $66.94

Amazon payment deposited $24.21

New Software sales $8.06

Current balance:
Bank A $512.93
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $190
Software sale pending $8.06
Total $996.31

$3.69 more for $1,000!!!

I didn't have any addition for a while, but finally my software was sold.

Sale price $26.99
Commission -$6.27
Shipping credit $3.49
My take $24.21
This is going to be added to total.....
Only $43.69 to reach $1000!!!

Current balance:
Bank A $421.78
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $225
Software sale pending $24.21
Total $956.31

Well, it's official. I signed the offer letter. I got a promotion.

I like my company. It offers an awesome benefits, medical, dental, 401K, tuition reimbursement, FSA, and I'm taking advantage of all of them. But, my job really sucked. It was totally a skill mismatch. My current job is too passive for me (meaning I had to wait for other people to move first, then I report what they've done.) Finally, I got a job that is more pro-active.

The offer for my salary wasn't as good as I thought, but I accepted it. It's a big incentive for me to be able to leave my current job without leaving the company.

March has been a pretty good month.

I've been answering a reserach from Cairo.com. They said they collected enough data and finished research. I just received $80 check from them for completing all of my survey questions.

$10 Colgate and $1.5 Orajel rebate also came on Friday.

That's $91.5 addition to my rebate account!

Current balance:
Bank A $421.78
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $225
Total $932.1

I received my first software rebate ($40) for Best Buy free software deal. Thanks, Microsoft! (The rebate was for MSN Money)

Current balance:
Bank A $330.28
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $225
Total $840.60

I didn't receive much rebate last week, so there was no activity for last ten days.

Finally, panding sales of $57.79 was credited to my account and added $15 to it.

Bank A $127.49
Pending sale credit $57.79
$10 from vision insurance (they said I overpaid.)
$5 from research company
New balance $290.28

Current balance:
Bank A $290.28
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $265
Total $840.60

Another software was sold. Again, it was totally not expected.

Actually, the buyer paid more than I did. I paid $29.99 for it and listed the software for $40 because I didn't want it to sell till I get my rebate check. Well, it was sold already. I should do price check more often.

Sold price $40
Commission - $8.22
Shipping credit $3.49
Final profit $35.27

Current balance:
Bank A $217.49
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $265
Software sales pending $57.79
Total $825.60

Just went to deposit some rebate money.

$5 Sonokot
$15 Playo (not sure what it is, but I think they're for DVD disks I bought on Black Friday)
$19.23 Rite Aid
Total $39.38

Also, one of my software was sold..... which I didn't want to happen yet LOL
I wanted to receive my rebate check before they sell, so I thought I set the price high. This way, nobody will buy them yet. Well, one of my software wasn't priced high enough. It ended up being the lowest price listed and sold over the weekend. Crap... I should have priced higher. But oh well....
It was sold for $25
Commission - $5.97
Shipping credit $3.49
Deposit to my seller's account $22.52

Current balance:
Bank A $217.49
Bank B $285.32
Software rebate pending $265
Software seles pending $22.52
Total $790.33