Maismom's every day life

Transferring $191.92 I earned from selling textbook at Amazon to EF.

Previous EF balance $1,538.14
Addition $191.92
New EF balance $1,730.06

I heard about the $800/$1600 payment from the government, and it reminded me so much of what I had experienced in Japan when their economy tanked in early 90's. It was a very similar situation. Real estate price went crazy in mid 80's, and people were buying real estate left and right. Banks loaned money to anybody and everybody. After that, there was a huge bad debt which banks had to deal with, and the government was trying so hard to re-bump the economy.

They did similar things. Lower interest rate. Yap. Japanese prime rate has been so low, my friends' mortgage rate is 2 to 3%. Yes, 2 to 3%. Keep in mind, interest rate for savings is like, 0.1%. My friend who moved to Bay Area a couple of years ago told me he was shocked to see "interest" in his bank statement that he hadn't seen for years.

Giving people money? Yap, done that too. The government paid about $200 per child, and I received $200 check for nothing. My friend has 4 kids, so she received about $800. Did it energize the economy? Of course, not LOL Their economy still hasn't fully recovered today.

I know we cannot conduct a simple comparison between US and Japan economy because I think US economy is much more flexible and dynamic. But I think it is interesting to see some similarities in economic downturn

I took care of a couple of plastic issues today.

One is cancelling my United Mileage card. This has $60 annual fee and it is due in February. I was going to cancel it last year anyway, but forgot about it and paid annual fee. I cleared the balance last week and called them today to cancel it. Sales rep. was pretty nice about it and closed the account right away without bothering me much. Maybe it's because I told them I switched from their mileage card to reward card. Technically, they didn't lose a customer.

Another one is my flexible spending account card. I thought the benefit company will send me new FSA debit card this year, so I threw my old one away. Well, it turns out that the card was good till its expiration date. I called the benefit center and requested new card. I really like debit card system because I don't have to worry about paperwork.

Stop by Safeway and grabbed:
2 boxes of oatmeal
2 boxes of granora bars
6 boxes of oatmeal to go
$2 each $2 x 10 = $20
Less $10 promo
Less $5.70 in coupons
Paid $4.30

Stopped by Rite Aid to buy some FAR items. There are some free stuff that are good only till tomorrow.

I bought:
Electrasol $2.99 (used rain check from last week.) less coupon $2.25 Final price 74 cents.
GE light bulb $2
Organic shampoo $5.99
Hair serum $7.99
Hair glaze (kind of highlights, I guess) $7.99
Flu reduce $6.99
Tax $1.62
Total $33.32 and I will receive rebate $32.46. Oop 86 cents.

I've done a couple things to fulfill my new year's resolution.

Saturday: Went to get my pedicure. Check!

Sunday: Went for a walk for an hour. Since I could not go for a walk this week, I combined and made it for an hour, instead of 30 min. Check!

Now, I'm planning to do a couple of deals at Safeway. There are several deals going on at Safeway, and some are really good one.

One is breakfast deal. Buy 10 item and get $10 off. Quaker products are participating products and they are $2 each. That means, the price will be $1 each after buying 10 items, and can even lower using coupons.

I already bought 10 boxes of granola bars for 50 cents each. I still have coupons for oatmeal and oatmeal to go. Oatmeal will be 30 cents per box after promotion and coupons. That's pretty good. We still have some left from last Quaker deal, but expiration date for oatmeal is quite a long time.

Campbell's select soup is another deal I’m looking at. It is part of “Buy 10 and get $5 off” promotion, and the price is $1.5 each. After buying 10 of them, the final price is $1 each, and I can use five of .40/2 coupon that will bring the final price to $8, 80 cents per can.

I don’t feel like going anywhere now. So, I will stop by the store tomorrow after work.

Here's some pictures I took when I was in Hawaii.

We went to whale watching and a bunch of dolphins started racing with our boat!! They were so playful and cute.







Also, we saw an ocean turtle when we went to north shore. Waves were huge in north shore side and I actually saw a surfer doing pipeline! It was awesome.

I came back from Hawaii last night. Now, I'm back to work, back to reality.

Hawaii was just great. Last time I visited Hawaii was about 12 years ago, so, I totally forgot what it was like till I arrived there. I didn't need any long-sleeve shirt even in winter. It was about 80 degrees every day.

I stayed at my friend's house, and she took me around Oahu. It was so beautiful, and we had a lot of fun. Since I got home late last night, I haven't even unpacked my suitcase. I will post some pictures when I have time to download them.

One thing I was surprised was Hawaii is so Japan! There are more than one Japanese TV channel, many Japanese restaurants (some actually from Japan), and Japanese grocery store. I ate Japanese food, read Japanese newspaper, and watched Japanese drama. It wasn't like this last time I was there. Since food is very important part of life in Japan (Japanese don't eat to live, they live to eat), my friend told me their transition from life in Tokyo to Hawaii was easy. Well, she is a white girl from California, but she spent more than 10 years in Tokyo, so she got used to life in Japan, I guess....

As for money, yes, I did spent quite a bit for the trip. Airfare was little over $400, and bought some souvenirs for my family and friends. But, I didn't have to pay for hotel and a car. I think I saved more than $1,000 by staying at my friend's house. I am very grateful that she took time to show me around between driving her kids to school and other activities.

Also, spending time with my friend was priceless. We talked, talked and talked LOL We amazingly didn't run out of things to talk about. It was like a slumber party!

I arrived Honolulu this afternoon.

Ohhhhh, it is paradise. The weather is just perfect, and people are walking around with T-shirts. I'm sitting in my friend's living room and feeling totally relaxed. She drove by Waikiki beach and it is beautiful as usual. It's amazing how ocean is so clear.

I really don't have any plans to do anything. I just want to relax and enjoy the nice weather, I guess : )

My back pain is almost gone. At least I can move around. Thank God!

I am leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning, so I really wanted to get rid of my backache. It made me realize being healthy is so important to do anything! I was going to get a pedicure on Saturday, but could not go because I couldn't move an inch. I felt I wasted a whole day that really sucked.

I managed to get several copies of newspaper yesterday, though. It was such a great coupon day.

We are low on Nyquil and I was looking for a deal. 6 oz. Nyquil is $4 this week at Walgreens and they're having "Buy $20 and get $10 back" deal. There was $1.50 coupon yesterday. So, I am planning to buy 5 Nyquil.

$4 x 5 = $20
Less $1.5 x 5 = $7.5
Less $10
Final price $2.50 for five 6 oz. Nyquil.

By the way, all of my grades are posted. I got an A for Cost Accounting, Operations Management, and Tax. But, stupid A- for my Philosophy. I wrote a really baaaad paper for the final. I mean it was so bad that I received a D!! I have never ever got a D for my paper before. That shows Philosophy is not my thing. I hardly studied for the class so I shouldn't complain for A-.

Now, I am preparing to get my tuition reimbursement. I am getting $1,561.60 back for my tuition and books for last semester.

Yesterday started really good after stormy Friday, then it went downhill....

I went for a walk for about 35 minutes after I got out of bed. My new year's resolution was to go for a walk twice a week and I did it for my first week in 2008. Check!

After I came home, I started scooping leaves in our pool. It took me a while to scoop all these leaves, and what I didn't realize was I twisted my back while I was scooping leaves.

I started feeling pain in my back and could not even move in the afternoon! I had some chores I wanted to do, and was invited to our friend's birthday party. But I could not do any of it because I couldn't move one inch. Ohhh, it was just terrible.

It feels little better today, but I am still careful and not moving around much. I want to go and buy some newspapers, though. Today's is a great coupon day and I really don't want to miss out.

I'm hoping this pain will go away completely very soon.

Our weather is CRAZY today. It was scary driving this morning to work. I had to hold on to my steering wheel and maintain control of my car. I just talked to my daughter and she told me our fence just fell down due to heavy wind. I heard the wind should die down a little by noon, but I don't know. I was thinking about avoiding free way when I go home but I also heard many signals are out. So, I guess I will leave work early and drive slow on free way. There are accidents everywhere and the traffic will be pretty bad anyway.

Walgreens have free Dimetapp this week. (They're $4 and you will get $4 off coupon good for next purchase.)

Wyeth rebate is still good till the end of this month and the limit is 2 per household. So, you should be able to make $10 if you get 6 of them. I know I won't use the medicine because my DD is too old, but I have friends who have small kids. So, I think I will just give them away.

By the way, their holiday items are 75% off. I went to shopping splurge and spent $7 : )

It's time to get my free credit report. So, I went to annualcreditreport.com and reviewed my credit report. I do this every four month to take advantage of free credit report from three agencies. (For example, I pick TransUnion in January, Experian in April, then Equifax in August.) I normally skip knowing my credit score because it cost about $8. My concern is accuracy in my account information, so I don't bother about the score. At least, not this time.

Reviewing my credit report is also a good reminder to close accounts I don't really need. I may close my Nordstrom account because it has been inactive for at least two years now.

I set up 5 resolutions, and 2 of them have number goals.

For my $5,000 EF goal, I will use my ING savings account. Currently, I have $1,538.14. So, I need to save $3,461.86 more in this account. That's $288.49 per month. Hmmmm... How do I do that? Let's see.

For my auto care account, I will use my Sharebuilder account for this. I know stocks are not suited for such a purpose, like auto care, but I kind of made up this account just a sake of saving for something. Maybe I should rename it for "just because" account. Anyway, I will be investing $100 per month for this account.

I'm back to work. I wake up really early, like 4 a.m. and could not go back to sleep. So, I decided to get up around 5. Prepared and packed my breakfast and lunch, changed, and left home about 6. I normally leave home between 6:30 and 7, so it was early for me. I stopped by Starbucks and got some regular coffee, not my usual caramel latte. I found their brewed coffee is less expensive. (Well, of course....) I paid $1.65 and the gal filled up my coffee mug. Well worth the money.

It took only about 30 minutes to get to work because there was no traffic (it's 30 miles driving), and I got a nice parking spot close to my office building. I guess it's good to be an early bird sometimes.

I'm planning to leave work early since I came early. Probably will go and check out a couple of deals at Walgreens and Rite Aid.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2008 will be another successful year for
all of you.

It's beautiful in Sacramento area this morning. Very cold, but beautiful blue sky.

I went for a walk this morning and returned DVD. Hollywood video is about two miles away, so I walked about 4 miles this morning. First accomplishment of this year : )

Then, I applied for Chase freedom credit card that is offering $100 cash back and 3% cash back on my purchase. I have no CC balance because I pay off every month. So, I will add this Cash rewards to my EF when I receive it.

Off to a good start for this year.

I watched the New Year's countdown in NYC. Well, it's only 9 p.m. in CA when it happened.

I also called my mother in Japan, and it's already afternoon on January 1st over there.

OK, I'm ready for 2008 LOL

I've been thinking about New Year's resolution, but could not really come up with one. Let's see....

While healthy finance is important for me, looking good is as important : ) Especially after turning 40, gravity is such an enemy LOL Luckily, I do not have weight problem. I've been 115 lb. for 16 years since my DD was born, and wear size 2. HOWEVER, I know my body is becoming "softer" and some body parts need to be tighten. So, I will be focusing on taking care of our finance and myself.

1. Save $5,000 in EF.
2. Save $1,000 for car care fund.
3. Keep record of coupon savings.
4. Go to pedicure once a month.
5. Go for a walk for at least 30 minutes twice a week.

Now, I'm really ready for the new year.

I stopped by Borders to get a pocket diary for next year. Calendars are 50% off after Christmas.

The store is having a great sale that regular priced books are now 25% off, and there was a bargain book corner that were 75% off.

I found "Millionaire Women Next Door" that had a price tag of $3.99. They took 75% off from the price, so I paid $1 for a new hardcover book.

I also bought "Hitler vs. Stalin" because my DD will be doing some research about WWII soon. The price of the book was $1.75.

So, my final price for two books and a pocket diary was $8.30 including tax, and they gave me a 30% off coupon for 1 book or CD.

I got a raise. It was around 3%, I think.... I barely remember because I really didn't care. OK, let's say my raise was $100. 25% will be taken away by tax so I only see $75 of it. Making $100 more is actually making $75 more. Sucks.

I coupon because couponing stretch $$. If I reduce my grocery bill by $100 using coupons, that's pure profits to me. In order to make $100, I actually have to earn about $130 considering tax effect. So, saving $100 by using coupon (or other saving methods) is actually same as making $130.

Of course, I am not complaining about my raise. It is nice. I turned around and increased my FSA contribution for next year, so I don't have to pay tax on my increased portion of my salary, and I can recoup money I used for some rebate items.

Grocery shopping day today. Some highlights.

1st store:
Lipton onion soup mix was 99 cents per box, and used .75/2 coupon. I still have some sour cream I bought from Target that were 2 cents each after coupons. Makes cheap onion dip! I bought some other things, mainly cheap canned goods, paid $10.57 for 11 items.

2nd store:
I had a rain check for Post cereal, $1.50 per box, and used $1/2 coupon makes them $1 per box. Got 6 boxes.
Cornish game hen (twin pack) is 99 cents this week, and I picked up the one priced $3.19. Used $2 off coupon, and the final price was $1.19 for two game hen. For some reason, I got a catalina for free Lysol wipes last time I was at the store, so I got it for free. Their store brand salad is BOGO and the price is $3.49. Used two $1 coupon and the final price is $1.49 for two bags of salad. I also bought 2 gallons of milk, a dozen eggs, etc.

All and all, my final spending for two stores was about $30.

I spent all day cleaning carpet in DD's room. We have two dogs, and sometimes there are "accidents" and it happened last night. She tried to spot clean, but we could still see the spot.

So, we decided to rent a carpet cleaner from Home Depot. It was time to do deep cleaning, anyway. We moved all the furniture from her room, and cleaned the carpet. It looks pretty good.

Today's spending: $35 for the carpet cleaner.

I really need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I clipped coupons today while I was waiting for carpet to be dried. I made a shopping list the day before yesterday when I got store fliers. Time to go shopping : )

I was reading Money last night, and found SavingAdvice.com was in "The 28 Best moeny websites." (It's in P.68 if you have the magazine.)

I wonder if we will have more members joining us : ) I think it's great that this website is viewed as the place to get real personal finace advice.

We are here to help! Right? LOL

I always hear about people's debt from student loan. I've been going to college since Fall 2001, and working on my B.S. in Business Administration, concentration in Accountancy. So far, I have no student loan, and I will not have any.

I earned my A.A. degree from community college. Tuition was so cheap, especially when I went back to school in 2001, one unit was only $8. So, I paid $24 for my history class LOL My textbooks were so much more expensive.

I paid my own money for first two years or so. It wasn't a big deal at all. I was taking two classes per semester, so the cost was less than $500 per semester. Since I was in my 30's and always worked full-time, I had enough saving to cover the cost.

Then, I applied for tuition reimbursement program at work, and it was approved. My employer pays up to two subjects per semester, for tuition and books.

I don't know how much my out of pocket expense was for my community college days, but it was really cheap because my employer paid most of it.

Then, I went on to the State University where tuition is much more expensive. It came really handy to be in the tuition reimbursement program. I didn't pay a dime for my first semester because I only took two subjects to see if I can handle both work and school. Since I was doing ok, I took more classes and paid my own money which was about $500 per semester for tuition.

Now, I'm at a point I can take only two subjects per semester and will graduate in a reasonable time frame. I know I will have to take three classes in Fall 2008 or Spring 2009, but that will be the only semester I need to pay my own money. The rest is covered by my employer.

All and all, I think I will spend about $3000 (or less) of my own money to get my upper division done.

So, if someone is working full-time, and thinking about going back to school, I recommend to look for a company with tuition reimbursement program. It's also tax free money for an employee.

Actually, this is one of main reasons I am staying with current employer LOL

I finished my finals last Tuesday. Yesterday was the last work day of this year. 2007 is almost over.

I am still waiting for my grades to be posted. Two of four subjects were posted today, and I got an A for both of them. I am selling my textbooks and posted them in Amazon. Two of them were sold alreay and I made little over $100 already. Not bad.

As for my $200 spending plan, I decided to go to Hawaii LOL Aloha air is offering an insanely cheap price of $180 one way from Sacramento to Honolulu. I booked the flight in January, and paid $413 for it. So, my $200 went towards half of the airfare.

I have a friend in Hawaii, and staying at her house. I've been wanting to visit her for a while but I could not justify to pay $700 or $800 for airfare. I can live with $400, though. I can't wait! I LOVE Hawaii.

Since I don't have school nor work, it gives me some time to clip and organize my coupons. I am staying away from stores as much as I can this time of the year because it's just too crazy. I will hit stores after Christmas when everything will be 50% to 75% off.

I had a rain check from Walgreen for Purell hand sanitizer for 50 cents, qty. 5. I had three coupons, two $1.50 off and one $1 off. So, it's a money maker.

50 cents x 5 = $2.50
Coupons $4
Profit $1.5

When I went to the store, all Purell had $1.00 peelie coupons on every one of them!! This is the moment "I should've asked more quantity on my rain check......"

At the end, I could only used on peelie because the cash machine beeped, but I'm not complaining. I made $2.50 by buying them. I also bought a make up to not make the total negative. The make up is the free after rebate item this month, so I got all these for free.

I will go to Rite Aid today to get some batteries. I need D size battery for my Roomba's lighthouse. (It prevents Roomba to go to the area you don't want it to go.) They have $2 off in-ad coupon for Duracell batteries, and they have $8 rebate on $20 purchase. $20 also go towards cash back rewards Rite Aid is running this month. I have rain check for Taster's choice coffee. We are running low on coffee, and the price was $4.99 last week which I have the rain check for. I have $1 off coupon, so the final price is going to be $3.99.

I love rain checks.

I visited my friend last Saturday. She was taking a test to be a certified QuickBooks person because they need more income, she said. The story she told me was scary.

Her husband had a grandfather who lived in San Jose, Cal. Having a paid-off house in San Jose automatically makes people a millionaire. Her husband counted on inheritance when his grandfather passed away. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and the money went to his father. Oh, let me rephrase it. Her husband did not get as much as he expected. He got a decent chunk of money, if I remember right, almost 100K.

The thing is, both my friend and her husband cannot manage money.

They originally had 2000 sq. ft house. They have 3 kids, and the house was "too small." So, they bought a bigger one. But, they didn't like the location. (Well, they picked the lot!) And, they bought another huge house, counting on money coming in from inheritance. Actually, they got some money because they put a beautiful pool in their backyard that had to cost more than 40 or 50k. But, that was not enough for them.

Her husband tried to talk to his father who inherited the rest and ask for the money, but his father is not giving him a dime. I don't blame him. Where does it end? They need to learn to be responsible, and I would do the same if he was my child.

She told me their mortgage plan in one of those interest only type, and after five years, the payment will go up. They have only 2 years left. If they switch to 30 year fix, their monthly payment would be $5,000!!! By the way, she does not work.

I could not find any word to tell her. What can I say other than, oh my god.....

12th was my B.D., and I told my husband I want a Roomba for my B.D. We went to Linens n Things today to get it. Ohhhhhhh! I wish I bought it earlier. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

I'm still debating how to spend MY $200. One idea is to go out and eat sushi or something. I won't do anything till my finals are over, though.

My 401K is doing good, not as good as last two or three years, but still good for me as long as it is growing, not shrinking. The account balance grew about 20K this year.

I received my incentive pay-out letter. After paying tax & 401K contribution, I still get about 2K. Nice thing is the pay-out is on 12th that is my birthday. I feel like I received a nice birthday present.

Here's the magic number. 20K growth in 401K, 2K bonus, so, I decided to give myself $200 reward. I mean, "I can totally waste it if I want to" kind of money. Saving and investing is out of picture. It has to be fun and rewarding. What would you do with $200?

By the way, the rest of my bonus will go towards my tuition for next semester ($1300), and $500 will be spent towards holiday gifts for my family and friends.

I stopped by Rite Aid and bought:
Fusion razor (Free after coupon and rebate), Vive shampoo & conditioner (Free after coupon and rebate), Vicks Early defense (55 cents profit). I also bought Nyquil whish we were out. I got a box of Puff tissue for free using buy two Vicks products get one Puff free coupon.

Also went to Target, and bought a long sleeve T-shirt, $9.99. No coupon for this one. I simply needed a long-sleeve white shirt. 5 tubs of sour cream, 2 cents each after Target coupon and manu. coupon. Coffee Mate, $1 after .50 coupon. And 3 Revlon nail clippers, free after coupon.

My cashier told me I cannot use both Target and manu. coupons. I didn't argue because the line was getting longer. I went straight to customer service counter and asked for a manager. He came over and said, "Yes, you can use both." Thank you!! I'm glad somebody knows about the store coupon policy. He instructed the customer service girl what to do, and she gave me $2.50 back. Yay!