Maismom's every day life

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.

I shopped at Walgreens A LOT this month. So far, my spending at Walgreens is almost $100. I bought some items we needed, and some will go to my stockpile. I am reviewing my list and many of these were needed items, such as DH's deodorant and hair mousse. He is very conservative about products he uses, and only uses the kind I cannot get for free : ( My DD take a bottle of water to school every day, so I bought 2 cases of Aquafina. She also needed poster board and index cards for her school work.

My out of pocket was $92.38 but it includes sales tax and CRV $19.52. So, $72.86 is the amount spent towards products and $15 of it is Starbucks gift card. I treat myself a latte every Friday morning, so I'm using this GC for it.

Anyway, here's the stuff I bought from Walgreens this month.

Price before coupons and rebates $354.2
Final oop $92.38 (includes $19.52 sales tax.)

1 $15 Starbucks gift card
1 Contact lens solution
1 Deodorant
2 Aquafina water (24 bottles)
4 Boxes of Kleenex
1 Listerine mouth wash
1 Colgate toothpaste
1 Body butter
1 Gainer lotion
1 Garnier hair spray
10 package of Olay bar soap
2 packages of Zest soap
2 hair mousse
3 Herbal essence shampoo
3 herbal essence conditioner
6 trial size Herbal essence conditioner
2 Sunsilk Hair lotion
24 trial size Panteen shampoo & conditioner
3 Poster board
1 Index card
6 bags of M&M (14 oz)
20 Trident gum
2 Orbit gum
11 Hunt's tomato sauce
7 Thai kitchen Pat Thai noodle
2 Windex
3 Energizer battery
2 Durano
1 Ajax
2 Glad wrap
1 Vitamin D
1 box of greeting card set
2 Wrapping paper
2 Hallmark tissue
4 Gift bag
1 120 ct. cotton
3 Bubble mailer envelopes
3 Glade flameless candle
2 Lighter

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.

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."

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!!

I went to lunch with my friend yesterday. She told me her father lost his house and lives in rental now. From what she told me, her father and his wife (her stepmother) deserve to lose the house. They stretched themselves to the limit, and they knew what they were doing. My friend told me her stepmother knows the system and use it for her advantage. I don't know any detail how her stepmother did it, but they stayed in their house for one year without paying any mortgage by taking advantage of grace period to vacate the house or something. (Like I said, I have no idea how she did it. My friend told me her stepmother filed bankruptcy and every time she submitted paperwork, the grace period was extended, or something like that. Please don't quote me on this. I really don't know how the system works about bankruptcy.) Anyway, this is second time her stepmother filed bankruptcy.

My friend knew about her father's financial situation, so she told her stepmother not to get anything for Christmas last year. Of course, her stepmother went out and bought gifts for everyone. Things people do not need. My friend's husband got a shirt he will never wear and went straight to Goodwill. Her daughter received shoes she didn't like. So, my friend had to lie to her stepmother that they were too small, and find out the store step mom bought the shoes from. At least, she could exchange the shoes with something her daughter would wear.

Wow...... Good thing is my friend is not like her father, and is careful about money. I met her in Statistics class in community college. She is working on degree to become a speech therapist, and was just accepted to grad school.

I guess some people are totally fine losing their homes. Maybe, they don't care. Like her father, they find another place to live and move on..... But... will they ever learn about financial responsibility??? btw, my friend's father is 65 years old.

According to Yahoo Finance I read yesterday, we are officially in recession. Dah....

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/104627/Most-Economists-Say-Recession-Has-Arrived-as-Outlook-Darkens;_ylt=AuRUZbxvw8Ly01pTe_AjbSRO7sMF

I was watching news this morning, and they were talking about the price increase of milk, bread, and eggs. I guess we are ahead of media as we already discussed about the egg price increase. They were saying the price of eggs doubled in a short period of time which I personally observed. I think people should visit SavingAdvice if they want a scoop about personal finance LOL

By the way, I still have $44 worth of Walgreens catalina I need to use. I spent $48 on things I can roll, i.e. FAR items. Boy, I didn't think spending money can be so difficult LOL Since I bought most of FAR items for this month, I will spend the rest for something I can hardly get coupons for, such as nice wrapping paper. I know Aquafina water will be on sale next week, so I am planning to get three cases or so. There won't be much going on next week at Walgreens for me, but it will be a good week for Rite Aid FAR deal. I will be hitting RA for sure.

We have a daughter. She's sophomore in high school, and she is a good kid. Never missed a day of school, very personable, and works really hard. She doesn't know which university she wants to go, yet. But, I know it will not be a community college. While there is nothing wrong with earning lower division credit at a community college and transfer to UC or CSU (which I did), she says she is working too hard to settle for a community college. It is true. She spends most of her days studying, planning for student body activity, practicing instrument, or helping basket ball team stats.

Frustrating thing is, sometimes, what she wants to do and what she can do aren't the same thing. She wants to place herself in advance classes, but she is failing her math class. She is taking pre-cal/trig and seems that it is just way too much for her. She has been a B student in her Algebra and Geometry, so I was little concerned when she took pre-cal this year. I didn't think she had a strong enough foundation, but she was placed in pre-cal class since she passed Algebra II last year with a B. Well, she has been struggling as I predicted, and my husband is really upset about her bad grade.

I kind of feel sorry for her. When I did trig in my high school days, I didn't get it. And I didn't care, to be honest. I understand how frustrating it is to spend hours and hours studying and still get failing grade. I went to talk to her math teacher and she thinks our DD has an ability to pass. Well, then, why she keeps failing? I heard only three students in her class are passing. That doesn't sound right.

My DH may have a talk with the principle and find out what our options are. I'm not really concerned because she already has completed graduate requirement classes for math. But we just don't want her to damage her GPA. At this point, I don't know what to do with this issue. It's pretty frustrating.....

I find some similarities between managing money and managing relationship.

- You need to pay attention.
You pay attention to people you like and cultivate relationship. You pay attention to money and money will grow.

- You invest your time.
Developing good relationship takes time, and accumulating financial stability also takes time.

- Sometimes you need to keep distance.
If you're always together and too close, relationship may suffer. You also give some distance with your money and give it some room to grow.

- There will be some ups and downs.
Like marriage, we experience ups and downs in our savings and investment.

- If you treat the person nicely, you will be treated well in return.
If you treat money with care, it will reward you with a nice return.

In general, people who are managing their relationship well seem to be financially stable, too. It's just my observation.

I suppose some of you had a lot of fun getting Register Rewards for P&G products last week at Walgreens. Trial size worked like a charm and I ended up getting $92 worth of RR. (My out of pocket was $65.36, so I made $26.64 from this deal.) Unfortunately, 99 cents trial size were wiped out, and I could score only once. Still, I could find 1.39 trial size that gave me about $3 profit every time I bought. So, that was nice. What do I do with all these mini shampoos? I will donate them when holiday season comes. My office donate household necessities, i.e. soap & shampoo, to homeless people every year.

I used $4 to buy one of FAR items, and thinking what to get with the rest of $88. I may have problem buying gift card because it's $4 coupon and says one per order. We will see. I was planning to buy some Windex this week since we're running low. I have a couple of BOGO coupon for antibacterial kind, but I heard Safeway has them for BOGO this week, so it's cheaper to get theses at Safeway. (free....) I need to sit down and figure this out. It's only Monday, so I still have a whole week to think about it.

I'm leaving work at noon today because I have an exam for my accounting class tonight. It's about capitalization & depreciation. The teacher was really nice and held a review session yesterday afternoon that helped me a great deal. Very nice teacher. I hope his exam is as nice as he is LOL

I went to have my crown (for my tooth) done on Tuesday. After insurance and deductible, my portion was $559.50. Ouch!!

However, as I wrote before, I paid it with my FSA debit card. So, I don't feel much pain in my bank account. Money was already funded through FSA contribution. I love my FSA debit card.

I stopped by Walgreens and bought some P&G products. I heard trial size is working for Register Reward deal, so I gave it a try. And Voila!! It worked like a charm. I bought 6 trial size shampoo & conditioner, paid $8.34 ($1.39 x 6) and received $12 coupon that is good for next shopping trip. I am going to use the coupon to buy March FAR items.

And, I couldn't resist.... I bought two bags of M&M candies. I know, I know. It's not good for my wallet or teeth. But, it was $1 for a 12.6 oz bag!! (2 for $3 after Walgreens store coupon, then, add 2/$1 manufacture coupon makes them $1 each.) I'm sure you will understand ; )

If you have Walgreens near you, check it out. They have Olay soap for sale. When you buy 2 of them and pay $4, you will get $4 off coupon for next shopping. That make them FREE!!

Soaps are great item to stock up because there's no expiration date : )

February coupon & rebate savings $304.47

Safeway's Savings Rally was a huge contribution factor. Also, this includes some restaurant coupons we used when we went out for dinner.

$304.47 will be added to my EF.

Feb. interest was also paid to my EF account. $5.19.

These will bring my EF balance to $2,310.53.

I stopped by Trader Joe's on Saturday to pick up my usual.

Bananas, 19 cents per pound.
Fuji apples 49 cents each.
Sourdough bread $1.89 a loaf.
And a dozen of eggs...... I saw the price and skipped. The price of eggs has gone up AGAIN! It used to be 99 cents for a dozen of eggs not so long ago. Then, it went up to $1.19, to $1.69, and now it's $1.89. I know I'm talking about very small amount of money, but all of you know how quickly these 80 cents here and there add up. I decided to buy eggs at Longs Drug this time because their eggs are still $1.49 for a dozen. I need to go there to pick up new rebate book anyway.

Grocery prices are definitely going up as gas price goes up. Do you feel grocery price increase, too?

I totally forgot about $5 coupon form Office Depot that was only good for three days (Feb. 24 to 26). Good thing I read one of posts in HCW, and it reminded us to use it.

I stopped by three Office Depot on the way home since I had three coupons. One near my office, one right off the free way exit, and one near my house.

1st store
A case of water (24 bottles)
$5.99 + $1.20 CRV = $7.19 - $5 coupon Final $2.19

2nd store
Two 1/2 binders (I needed them for my tax document) $4.49
Gum (filler to make it more than $5) $1.29
Tax 0.04
Total $5.82 - $5 coupon = 82 cents

3rd store
A box of envelop $2.99
Brown wrapping paper for mailing $2.99
Tax $.07
Total $6.05 - $5 coupon = $1.05

There's Rite Aid next to Office Depot, so I stopped by to get cheap Halls. Rite Aid is selling them BOGO, and I had a BOGO coupon. As expected, my cashier didn't know how to handle duplication of store BOGO and coupon BOGO, so she called her manager. The value of coupon was $2.29 which is 20 cents short from the sticker price. So, I was ready to pay the difference, but the manager said "Don't even bother." Then, gave me two bags of Halls for free. Yay!

DH and I went to nice Korean BBQ dinner last night. Ohhh, it was soooo good! I had $20 off coupon for the restaurant, and the tab was $64, and I gave $10 tip for the waitress. After using the coupon, we paid $54. ($64 - $20 + $10 = $54.) The dinner was definitely worth the money.

Since we spent quite a bit for the dinner last night, I am making cheap dinner tonight LOL

Whole chicken $2.43 and I only used dark meat portion. So, half of $2.43 is $1.22
Green pepper 58 cents
Onion I don't know.... I bought two bags of onions for $2.99. So, it's about 20 cents or less.
Two cans of diced tomato $0.12 x 2 = 24 cents
Knorr soup mix I found this in my cover that was sitting there for a long time..... I guess it was like $1 at max. knowing my shopping habit.
Total $3.24 for a clock pot full of chicken dish (Main dish)

Side dish: Green giant veggie. 57 cents + Rice Roni (free) = 57 cents

Grand total $3.81

I know we won't finish everything, so left over will be my lunch.

I went to Safeway this morning to get my coffee and a Sunday paper as usual.

I limit my spending at this Safeway because I don't like some of their cashiers. But this morning, I found a girl who used to work at Starbucks (This Safeway has Starbucks in its store) was at cash register. She is really nice and friendly, and I like her.

So, I decided to get 25 cans of Del Monte tomatoes that I originally planned to buy at the other store. Of course, I went straight to her line, and asked her about the change of position as she was scanning 25 cans of tomato. She told me she got a promotion and now works as a higher positioned cashier.

Good for her, and good for the store!! It makes a huge difference at retail stores if employees are customer-service oriented or not. By promoting this friendly girl to cashier position, this Safeway store gained my business.

By the way, here's the deal I did this morning.

25 cans of Del Monte Tomato products
$1 each x 25 = $25
Less $1 off when you buy 12 Del Monte products coupon x 2 = $2
$25 - $2 = $23
Then, I received $20 off coupon for next shopping trip.
So, $3 for 25 cans.

I was having too much fun doing Safeway's Savings Rally deal last week. I stocked up on Rice Roni, Pasta Roni, Fruit Snacks, Potato chips, Chex Mix, Pop Corn, Cooking Oil, Bleach, etc..... My pantry is so full and the deal doesn't end till next Tuesday!! I will get some canned tomatoes that are $1 each. I think I have a couple of $1 coupons for 10 cans of Del Monte product, so I will get 25 cans of tomatoes for $3. That will last for a while.

I need new contact lenses (I use disposable kind), but my prescription expired. So, I went to check my vision yesterday. The exam was $109 and my co-pay was $10. And I ordered four boxes of contact lenses, two boxes for each eye. They were $147.92 and insurance covered $67. My portion for contact lenses, $80.92. I paid $99.92 with my FSA debit card.

I really like this FSA debit card system. It is so much easier than sending paperwork to the FSA processing company and wait for a check to arrive. I set $3,000 aside this year for medical expense, so I have enough fund to cover upcoming medical expenses for my family and myself. Fortunately, we do not have any major health problems, just dental and vision related items, and regular health check-up. But as you all know, these cost can add up really quickly.

Well, speaking of dental expense, I just received an estimate from my dentist for a crown I am planning to do in March. Estimated cost is $998, and insurance will cover $438.50, so my out of pocket will be $559.50. I am glad I don't have to stress about this money as it's funded in FSA already.

I had a great time shopping at Safeway today.

They're running a promo called Savings Rally and you will get $20 coupon that is good towards next purchase if you buy 25 participating items.

The best deal without coupon maybe Pasta/Rice Roni that are $1 each. Buy 25 of them ($25) and you will get $20 back, makes them 20 cents each. I had six $0.50/2 coupons, so I bought 12 of them.

I also bought 2 bags of potato chips, 2 bags of Chex Mix, 1 box of pop corn, 2 package of Tava drink, 2 bottles of Clorox bleach, 4 boxes of Betty Crocker fruits snack. After coupons, the total was approx. $24 and I had $10 off coupon I got from Sara Lee deal last week. My out of pocket for this shopping was $14 and received $20 off coupon for next shopping trip.

Safeway promotion often doesn't work as advertised, so I was really happy the deal went through as I planned!

It's lunch time, and I'm eating BBQ sandwich I made.

I bought a rack of port spare ribs that were 50% off at Safeway, and paid $6.98 for it. I also bought a bag of buns (8 ct.) that was 79 cents after promotion. I cooked the spare ribs in my clock pot with a couple of onions, Cattlemen's BBQ sauce, and some maple syrup. It was our dinner last night and we still had a lot of left over, so I brought some to work for lunch.

The maple syrup I used is a gift from someone we have never met.

In December 2006, I was checking my bank account as usual, and noticed a deposit of $1,000. I asked my husband if he knows anything about it, but he had no clue. So, we called the bank and asked for a copy of deposit slip which we had really hard time to read. The only thing we could figure out was the deposit was made somewhere in East Coast (I forgot what state it was...) by Mr. A. We have no realatives in East Coast, and had no idea who Mr. A was.

We told the bank this deposit is a mistake even though deposit slip had our account number, and asked them to reverse the transfer. But the bank (BoA, by the way) could not do anything about it. They told us to take the money out and write a check for Mr. A. Well, we don't know who he is or where he lives! Plus, why do we have to go through all the trouble??? We didn't do anything wrong.

So, my husband googled Mr. A and found his phone number!! (How did we survive before Google???) DH called the guy and asked him what this money was about. It turns out the deposit was for his son who is in service and lives in CA. His son is married to a Japanese girl whose name is very similar to mine, and she has an account with BoA.

Mr. A told us he went to the bank and asked a bank teller to help him fill out the bank deposit slip. The bank teller searched in the system and found me instead of his son's wife! Well, the bank teller wrote down our account number she got from the system, and the money was transferred to our account. Boy, it's scary or what!!??

This money was a Christmas gift for their son, and this poor old couple had no idea we received the money instead of their son. Mr. A also contacted the bank after DH called him, and the bank gave the money back to Mr. A and transferred to his daughter-in-law's account. Few weeks later, we received a bottle of maple syrup from this old couple.

I've been spending quite a bit for grocery these days. I went to a Japanese grocery store to buy a bag of rice last week. I'm very particular about rice and always make a special trip to the store. While I was at the store, I bought some other things regular super markets don't carry. At the end, I paid $48. Ouch!

Today will be no spending day. I baked some muffins yesterday, and I brought one for my breakfast. I also bought a bunch of lunch meat and sandwich rolls at Safeway taking advantage of Sara Lee/Hillsher Farms deal. Lunch meats were free, and the bread was 72 cents for 6 ct. Not bad. I made a sandwich for my lunch using the stuff I bought. It's too bad Safeway ended the promotion one week earlier than they originally advertised.

People are talking about upcoming promotion at Safeway. I need to keep my eyes on the deals. Can't wait to get new store flyers tomorrow.

I found one annoying thing when I was reviewing my online bank statement. I bought a couple of pizzas last Saturday because my DD's friends were spending a night at our house. The receipt was $15.27, but the amount charged to my ATM card was $16.38 that is $1.11 more than the value on the receipt. Unfortunately, I threw away receipt after I wrote down the value in my price book/spending record. I remember someone was talking about a similar experience in his/her blog, but it was a good $1.11 lesson for me not to throw away receipts until confirming how much was actually charged. I think the person thinks nobody will come after for only $1.11, but I will say something next time this type of thing happens to me.

Yesterday was almost no spending day. I decided to go to Rite Aid and pick up a couple of feminine products that are almost free after coupon and rebate. They were $3.50 each, and I used two $2.50 off coupons, and will get $2 from rebate. Tax was 54 cents. So, actual spending for yesterday was 54 cents.

I will not spend anything today, so it will be no spending day today.

Pay January CC bill. Check!

I changed my CC from United mileage to Chase reward. $850 January ending balance paid in full, and this amount includes DD's airfare to NYC/DC this summer, $650.

Organize tax related document. Check!

I made a binder for 2007 tax and organized all the tax document I obtained so far.

Some more things to do today.
- Check tax software at Staples, and free software deal
- Gather up all the recipts for my FSA reimbursement for January
- Make a shopping list for this week

January coupon savings total $166.76
January rebate savings total $98.90
Total $265.66

$265.66 Transferred to my EF

Previous balance $1,730.06
+ Interest $5.15
+ $265.66
New balance $2,000.87 : )

I went shoppint at Rite Aid and Walgreens, and bought:

Rite Aid
7 Soy Joy $1.39 x 7 = $9.73
Less coupon $1.39 x 7 = $9.73 Free
L'Oreal Hair Color $8.99
Less coupon $2 Rite Aid q. $2 man. q.
Less rebate $4.99 Free
Shampoo $2.99
Less coupon $1
Less rebate $2.99 $1 profit
Laundry Soap $5.99 for two BOGO
Less rebate $2
Tax $1.39
Final oop $4.38

Walgreens
Softsoap body wash $4.49 FAR
Lip Stick $5.99 FAR
Energy drink $4.49 FAR
Clear care $5.99 FAR
Shampoo $3.99 FAR and less $1 coupon - means profit
3 Energizer battery $1.99 each after Walgreens & Man. coupons $1.99 x 3 = $5.97
Chap stick $2 RR $2 free
Tax $2.40
Less Walgreens coupon $5/$20
Final oop $2.37

I had enough GC balance to pay for all the FAR items, so I didn't have to use my cash

Yesterday, I stayed in the office all day, and went straight to school. Thus, No spending day. Oh, I returned one item at Rite Aid and got $8 back. So, it was positive in terms of cash flow. I bought some FAR (free after rebate) items at Rite Aid last week, and noticed one of them didn't ring up correctly and didn't qualify for rebate even though it was the qualified item. Somebody must entered wrong information in their computer. It wasn't something I desperately needed, so I just returned it and got my money back. New rebate period started at Rite Aid as well. I'd better check and see if they have anything good.

I'd better start working on our tax soon. All the paperwork is piled on my desk, and I haven't really organize them, yet. Tax time is also good time to get some free software. Staple normally offers tax software bundle deal this time of the year.

I was going to go FAR item shopping during lunch time, but it's raining..... again..... I guess I will just stay here.

I spent some money socializing with my friends on Saturday. One of my friend's friend is a Mary Kay consultant and I was invited to do a make over. I actually had a good time and learned something about make up, like how to apply mascara. I bought eye make up remover and acne solution for my DD. Total $22.

Then, I went out with my friends for a drink. We ordered bruschetta and pot stickers, and I had a cosmopolitan. My share was $12 which isn't too bad. Everything tasted good and we had a nice girls' talk.

We were really low on fruits and vegetables, so I went to Trader Joe's. I really don't care if things are organic or not, but their price is very reasonable. I bought 4 Fuji apples, bananas (19 cents per lb.!), a dozen eggs ($1.19), chocolate taffy cake (full size cake for $1.99), a package of tomatoes, a bag of tangerines, a bag of green beans, 3 green peppers, a package of mushrooms, a package of bok choy, a bag of small red potatoes, a loaf of sour dough bread, and paid $23.81.

Walgreens started new rebate period yesterday. I didn't buy anything for Walgreens rebate last month because there wasn't much. There are some good ones this week, and I am planning stop by after my class tonight.

Looks like I have to change my class planning. I was going to take two accounting classes, but I could only get in one of them, so I need to shuffle class planning.

I originally had a seat in international accounting class, but swapped when I found tax classes was added. Well, guess what? The tax classes got cancelled.

To make a long story short, I will be taking financial accounting and a computer class that I need to take anyway. I wanted to take this computer class during summer because this class is on Saturday, and I didn't want to use my Saturdays for school anymore.

I guess I have to do what I need to do to get through.

At the end, this could be a good thing for me because our budget season starts February, and it will be a lot of discussions and meetings until April or May. If I took international accounting, I would have to leave my work at least by 4 p.m. because the class starts at 4:30 p.m. That may be pretty difficult to do.

So, I'm trying to tell myself it was meant to be. Plus, extending my graduation by one semester isn't a big deal, after all.

This has been a slow day at work which is good. I don't need any surprises that causes extra reconciliation work to do.

I checked my 401K and it is down 8K since Jan. 1!! What will I do? Nothing. LOL I increased my contribution this year to take advantage of down market, and hoping this will pay off 10 years from now. I am not quite retiring, yet.

One annoying thing happened about my school, though. I signed up for the international accounting class on Tues & Thurs, starts at 4:30 p.m. Sometimes, it is not easy for me to leave work early, so when I found the school added a tax class that starts at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, I jumped on it and dropped the international accounting. Well, guess what? The school cancelled the tax class, and now I am in the waiting list for the international accounting class I originally had a seat. Grrrr!

As for money, today is going to be a no spending day.