debtfreeme

Reading MMMMB (Monkey Mama’s Monkey Money Blog) made me realize that I have not pulled the report I get from AMEX monthly since the end of June. Pleasant surprise my scores went up to 784, 780, and 780. Yeah!!

Does anyone know how long items stay on your credit report? I am looking for the accounts I closed, student loans consolidated etc to drop off but they seem to last longer than I thought. Do they not come off at 7years? I’d like to have the report print cleaner that it does.

Another question, when I went through running my financial number for a possible mortgage a couple months ago I knew my credit scores were in the high 770 and low 780’s but the mortgage guy said my numbers were around 740-750. Does anyone know when the discrepancy in the numbers? His for all three credit reporting bureaus were 34-50 points lower than what I saw and I am trying to determine why.

My weekend was very quiet and pretty non spendy. I spent $25 on dinner for Friday for two of us, groceries Monday were $45 (saved 67%) and I think that is it. Most of that was fruit and veggies. I am planning to eat a lot of fruit and veggies this wee. It just all looked really good. Then I realized it was Monday and the farmers market was today although turns out I never got to leave the office for the market after all.

I have class two nights this week but one is a late class so I can still come home and have dinner before I have to go. For tomorrow’s class I need to pack something to eat for dinner ahead of time. Might only be a PB&J sandwich but at least I will have planned for it.

I am applying for two new state examinations and a new job today after work. One exam is a promotion for me (the next level in my current classification) and the other is a similar level to what I am now. It will allow me some flexibility to apply to other jobs in the agency I want to work. The job is with my former boss here so here’s hoping I ace the interview (his boss and bosses boss will also sit in because he was my former boss.) I actually requested it (at his urging) because they want to hire internally but the job description is 75% of what I am doing now AND is working back with people in this agency. I already have relationships with those people, I know their foibles and strength and can work with the as I know how to approach them. What better to say, Look I already have the relationships. Let’s get to work instead of building relationships for a year and making no progress.

And I will have my three year anniversary being here at the end of the month!

So not gonna happen.

I took my sister (and two of her kids) and my ex Andrew to go and see it. Andrew is an architect so while we were looking around the inside he was inspecting the building grounds and area for damage.

While 6 of the units are owned three are rented out. Most people living there are "educators" whatever that means. The grounds are not well kept for the hoa fees and a lot of work needed inside and out. Too much to be real. There is obvious water damage in the kitchen but two of the people who lived there never heard anything about flooding. Then I looked around the side at another condo and found unfinished French drains which mean lots of water issues that are not being taken care of in the community.

Such a disappointment but it needed too much work for me to live there and too much work (finishing work) to be rentable to students or others. Andrew did some rough estimates and just the items we saw (kitchen, bath/laundry, windows, fixing the previous owners construction mistakes etc.) was around 35k. I was so lucky drew called to see if I wanted to have dinner tonight before he leaves to return to Espana. We even called his dad and sent some pictures via cell phone and his dad said: NO WAY! So while it was worth the visit there is just too much to do.

Meeting the neighbors was good but the one I would have shared a wall with was...um...well let us just say the aroma of his condo was interesting...and leave it at that. He was helpful but not what I would want in a neighbor.

So…a big bust on this one.

I am going to look at a condo today with my sister. It is a one bedroom one bath deal in a complex with only 9 units. I am seriously considering it because I think the resale value will hold as it is one block from the major university in our town. I can pay it off in less than 10 years and if nothing else it could become a rental property being so close to the school.

It has a washer/dryer set up in the unit and the area seems nice: pool, gazebo, bbq pit area etc. the unit is listed at 116,500 which is quite cheap. I think it was a fore closure and now the bank just wants to get rid of it. The agent said she might be able to talk them down to 100k which would mean my payments would be about 600/month at 6.25 interest. Even if they want the full amount the payments are only 725 a month. It is something to think about but at this price it will go fast. It needs a new kitchen area and the bath could be updated a bit but overall it looks ok. There is even a fireplace but I can’t tell from the pictures if it is real of gas. Laminate wood looking floors were put in a few months ago and there is a covered parking space provided as well. The only thing is, they were built in 1978. the price per square foot is 156 and ideally i'd like to get it to around 100. (ha!)

I really want to be out on my own and not sharing a space any more. This is totally affordable and won’t stretch my budget at all. We’ll see how they look.

Edited for correct date.

Today was busy in the AM but then slow and relaxing for the afternoon and evening. I was up early for a massage which helps keep the stress and migraine headaches away.

Then I went and purchased books for my classes this semester: $200 and I grabbed two donuts on the way home. I balanced my check book, transferred the money for the books I had to purchase so I can pay the credit card on Monday.

We recently went from cable to direct tv. May I say that I am enjoying direct tv quite a bit. The movie channels have a lot to choose from (we are not sure if we are keeping them. It would raise our bill $15 but it would make it easier for me to stay in.) Our cable source was horrible and half the time I could not get out local channels or the NBC CBS ones I enjoy watching. With this satellite I can see them all in my room clearly! With the dvr thing it is so easy to record the shows I like to watch for the entire season. I really only follow 6 shows: ER, Medium, NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI (original) and one other I can’t think of. Last season there was no new show I watched for the entire season. I started a couple and got bored. This season looks like maybe a couple of shows will catch my interest. I am more interested in seeing the last season of ER. Many of these shows come on too late for me but it is nice to watch them on my time. I wish I could down load them to y I pod for the gym that would be really helpful.

Tomorrow is pretty quiet. I need to go grocery shopping, make a deposit at the bank, pick up a prescription, get gas, call my mom, clean out my car and wash it, return something to IKEA, finish my book, find my school stuff for classes Monday. Maybe meet my sister at her house and play with the kids. Lots to do and I know I have lots of time but I really want to just veg. I think I can get most of that done in two hours and then kick back and relax and maybe watch one of the movies I recorded today for the times when we don’t have HBOish channels.

What a week…the had been rumors for weeks that my direct supervisor was leaving our office. People were asking when he was announcing his last day. He has been out on medical leave this week and called me yesterday to say that today would be his last day but that he is out. Everyone on my team found out weeks ago but I find out yesterday. Shows real grown up behavior right? And people wonder why I say that we are not a team, morale is low and that there is no communication. Anyway, he is leaving and I am relieved. He tried to give me lots of complements and told me he appreciates me and my hard work, I am brilliant and intelligent, and don’t forget that I am good at my job and he respects me etc. I just said thanks and moved on. I just don’t really believe him, or didn’t realy until he said he would hire me if he ever had a job opening. Considering how we didn’t get along that surprised me but I don’t think I would considering everything that happened.

I did not get the job I interviewed for last week but I lost to an internal candidate so I don’t feel too bad. There are two jobs I am applying for Monday. One is a promotion but only a raise of about 300 per month. The other one is the same pay grade but both get me out of where I am now and that is all that matters. (And free parking!)

I have spent very little money this week until yesterday. SLH being in town and treating to lots of things meant no real spending Mon-Wednesday. Yesterday I got my hair cut and highlighted. I love it and it feels good but it was very expensive. I needed to go to someone I trust and that I have seen good results on other people including my sister and my nieces. I just love the color and she helped to remove the red I had in my hair for the past year or so and gave me the blonde highlights I love. The stylist kept remarking how soft and luxurious my hair is and such great condition. She actually called over other stylists to show them. The secret? I never style it and almost always let it air dry unless it is winter and below 40 degrees when I leave the house (which is rare). I use no products or anything. Now for this new cut I might have to use a little bit of something to help it keep some shape and keep the bangs in place. Yes, bangs. I have not had bangs in probably 10 years. It is much shorter (but still long) and in a cut I can let grow out and just get the bangs trimmed (free!) at the shop. So there goes the cheap week I was having.

Tomorrow I have a massage, lab work to get done for the doctor and then off to buy school books for the semester. Not cheap but needs to get done. I recycled some bottles today or $3.66 that is going into my vacation account.

Sunday is pretty quiet and I am not sure what I am going to do. I just realized that next weekend is labor day weekend. Anyone have any plans for next weekend?

This post might go along with one that BA posted and others have posted in the past few weeks: dating and money and relationships.

I ended my two year relationship this past April. Andrew and I are still friends and talk weekly but our lives are just going in two different directions. He currently lives in Barcelona and has spent most of the past 24 months there for work. His company is transferring him to Hong Kong in October for 18 months then to NYC for what he hopes is a permanent move. He works on large construction of hotels and conference centers as an architect and engineer and loves what he does, but he is never here in the country.

We always shared expenses for things except for when he bought me a ticket to visit him when he first moved to Barcelona, (he paid for the whole trip because I had just returned from visiting my sister and could not afford a second trip that quick with out canceling my next trip to see her and her family.) He makes 3-4 times what I make but I always tried to make sure that we were equals in other ways. He always said just because we make different salaries does not mean that we can’t still have fun. He did not care about paying for things we did and it only bothered me sometimes that I could not pay as often as he did as we were having fun and he honestly did not care. We are and will remain friends.

I have been spending some time with the kid-equivalent of the woman I rent a room from. I have lived here for 2.5 years because it is convenient to all I need and want to do and has great freeway access. He is a nice guy but we are not dating as there is no real chemistry but we talk and laugh and have a great time. There is hardly any dead time because we just talk for hours. Ironically we went to the same college and had classes in the same building but never met. He recently returned from 13 years in NY state so he is getting accustomed to California and seeing his family more than once a year.

In July when he was up he wanted to see something in the area where I grew up and I volunteered to show him. He drove (about 100 mile round trip in a truck with horrible gas mileage.) I bought dinner (less than $25) because he drove and he kept trying to give me money but I refused. He said, next time it’s on me.

Fast forward to this past weekend, he mentioned he still owed me dinner. We talked and decided either state fair or sushi. We decided on sushi because I had little interest in going to the fair this year. Had great sushi (I love Mikuni!) and he paid. He wanted to go to XXX for dessert. I said ok, thinking I would at least pay for what I drank or ate but he would not take any money from me and when I tried to pay the waiter took his money over mine. 5 hours later at midnight I get home. We had a great time and I tried again to pay him for my share and he said the whole evening was on him. The whole evening was about 4 times what I paid.

Last night we went to the state fair and had a great time. The only thing I paid for was parking and that was only because the parking attendant was outside my window and I had the cash out. He paid for entrance fees, dinner, drinks, etc. The only thing I purchased was the funnel cake he wanted as we were walking out $3 and proclaims it better than what he got in New York! I only paid because I was quicker on the draw than he was with the cash.

I tried to leave him money in the truck last night when he was not looking with a simple thank you note. It was back on my car this morning which means he found it and came back from the hotel to return it after midnight last night or early this morning.

This is driving me nuts that he won’t let me pay for anything. We are going to go and see Sheryl Crow near where he lives at the end of September. We both just mentioned we wanted to see her this weekend but both have plans we can’t get out of and don’t relish the trip to South Lake Tahoe, getting hotel rooms etc. He called this morning after I got to work and said he can get great tickets for the show for us. Of course we have to buy them together to ensure we are sitting together but he won’t tell me where they are or how much they cost so I can reimburse him the expenses. What do I do? I am sure the prices will be on the ticket, but how can I get him to accept the money?

It is just a strange situation to be in, as we are not dating and I don’t get those vibes from him and I am not sure I would want to be dating him either. But we do have fun.

Comments and input requested please!

Today was pretty quiet. I slept in and had lunch at home and then went to see the movie swing vote. I thought it was pretty good. Typical ending of everything closed up nice and neat but still was enjoyable. I enjoyed it and it was worth the time and money to sit and do nothing. I also really like Kevin Costner as an actor and I felt he was great as a total slouch who grows up in the end.

I had dinner with my sister and her family. Her husband cooked fish, hash browns, cut up melon, srimp (which I tasted to be polite but don’t think I would eat regularly) and a great green salad. Elmer can really cook! It was great to have dinner with them and a great meal. The kids swam after dinner and I left about 7:45 to come home. I still had laundry to do and at least get hung up so that it can dry by Tuesday.

The kid equivalent is here (btw he is 41). He is staying in his towable trailer out by the lake that has no water. Here in CA we are really short of water. This is not new news as we can all see the lakes are bone dry but the powers that be in the government just this last week put out requests to conserve water. Why were they not released months ago? Just take a look at Folsom lake… no water!! I will never understand government.

My house mate did something pretty stupid and it really angered me. She came home last night at 6:30 and turned on the hose to water down an area where she wanted to put a tree today. The directions said to soften the dirt with water. She then went upstairs and did not come down until at 9:30. I went downstairs at 7:15 to make dinner and the water was still running and was now going down into the street. I moved it and watered the back yard because with the contractor person being here it would not get done until Wednesday. When she came down I mentioned that I moved the water and finished it off. She looked at me confused. I said the water you turned on and left running? She said oh I forgot it was running! I needed it to make the dirt soft. I just looked at her and could not believe that she forgot she turned the water on. She was going to have waster GALLONS of water and since I pay for 1/3rd of it, it was coming out of my pocket. This is one of the reasons why I took over watering two years ago. She would just turn it full blast and lose gallons and gallons of water. I make sure it does not go over the flower bed areas and leak anywhere down the alley ways. Since I started doing it our water bill has dropped by over 50%. That seems like good incentive to know where the water is and how much is going literally down the drain.

Time for bed for me! I am up at 5:45 tomorrow.

I stayed home today and spent no money. I was going to go watch my nieces and nephews tonight so my sisters and their husbands could have a date night but we decided to reschedule for next weekend. So I did not have to drive the 50 miles round trip (saved gas) and I did not have to fill up my tank like I need. This saves me money at least until tomorrow when I get gas instead, but one more day is good. I am trying to make sure that I don’t go below half a tank but I am almost empty, I can go about 75 miles more.

There is a good movie on TV tonight that I plan to watch and enjoy. I am also going to go to bed earlier then I have been, maybe flipping between the Olympics and the movie.

It was hot here today and the ac has been on all day. Ug, I do not want to see the cost of the bills in a couple weeks, but the summer has been reasonably cooler than normal and we have not run the ac very much, only a couple hours in the evening then off. My house mate would run it all night and day (says it is better for the aging equipment) but I am not going to pay to run the equipment that much. We could be running the whole house fan if she would just fix the cord that starts it. That takes up only 15% of the energy the ac uses but she still has not fixed it. I am looking forward to the cooler fall weather as our bills drop substantially in the fall and spring with no ac or eat running. I only want to pay $150 per month to her for utilities and in the fall and spring I build up a nice cushion with her for the winter and summer months it is kind of like budget billing with the utility companies. That way my budget for housing stays the same each month with no changes or surprises.

She needs to be better about giving an accounting of the money. When I first moved in it was 5 times a year. We saw the bills and what we pay broken out for each month. Lately because of her personal issues it took a year of me nagging her. She only did it because we lost a house mate and she needed to closer account and be able to show a perspective house mate the monthly previous totals.

Her kid equivalent was coming up for the weekend to work on the house but changed it to Sunday –Wednesday. I was so relieved. After the week I had with mom’s issue and ER visit I really wanted a quiet weekend day without hammering, painting, etc happening around the house. I really wanted the peace and quiet.

Tomorrow should be pretty quiet but I need to go to the grocery store and pick up things for work this week for lunch and dinner, put gas in the car, maybe something fun and cheap, hitting a book store to read a book and not buy it?
This is my last week before school starts and I want to have a nice relaxing week after work. I will be in classes three nights a week for the first 8 weeks then I will only have class one night a week but still have the online course. I am taking a voice class again, a class on weather and a real estate course. I really want to learn CA laws for real estate as I prepare to buy a house in the next year or so.

I bought season tickets to the Broadway series here in town. I think this is something I am going to figure out how to do every year. I take my mom and we have a lunch out, a matinee performance and a lovely day together. She loves the theater like I do so it is a nice, fun activity. Our tickets are on Sundays at 2:00. Our shows this year are: the drowsy chaperone, he color purple, avenue Q, Frost Nixon, and the lion king. I really want to take my nieces and nephews to the lion king but will have to see if I can afford it. The shows are the Broadway touring casts so really excellent. It is an expensive set of tickets but worth the time with my mom and she really enjoys it. I just figured out that the tickets I bought this year totally a little less than 1% of my salary for the year. Add in lunch and I am probably at 1.25% to me, worth it.

It has been a while since i last updated here goes:

The new neighbor has two weiner dogs that bark incessantly when she is not home. I have called the city on her twice (and will do more if she does not do something). She moved into the neighborhood in May and told neighbors that if they don’t like the barking they can move. Some of these people bought new thirty years ago and she treats them like this? She even told me in a letter if I don’t like dogs to move someplace without animals. I love dogs but it is irresponsible, inconsiderate and rude neighbors I don’t like. This has got to stop, anyone know about suing neighbors who won’t keep their dogs in line? The neighborhood association won’t do anything they just say, call the city. If this happens again tomorrow I am going to report them as abandoned because I have not seen her at the house in almost a week. Help if you have an advice about the dogs.

I interviewed for a good job at the agency I want to move to. Not sure if I will get it but my former supervisor was on the panel and he is listed as one of y recommendations. There might be politics at play with internal candidates or something. I hope to hear Monday. The job I really want has come open under him but there is no job posting yet that I can apply to. It would be funny but my whole section from my office has moved to this new agency and works together over there. It would be nice to get back together with them.

Money is ok. I have been spending more than I should but I know I have it and am not adding to debt. I needed to upgrade the ram in my computer as I have vista and it took 5 minutes to turn on and off and forever to do anything. I upgraded to 4 gig and the computer is working marvelously. The best part, I installed it myself. Am so proud of me! Anyone know if I can sell the 2 512 pieces I have and how much they would be worth? Monkey mama, does your husband need any?

Mom had an emergency episode on Wednesday and ended up in the ER. She is home now and resting. They think she had a gall bladder attack but she has no gall bladder (removed 30 years ago) and other tests came back with elevated enzyme levels. More testing next week to determine what is going on. It was scary to get that 330 am phone call and I made it from my house to the hospital in 48 minutes. She lives 40 miles from me. I did not speed much but if I had gotten pulled over, I would have fought it. At 330 am there was no traffic and I think the officers were on lunch breaks.
I think my boss is leaving. Of course based on our relationship I would be the last to hear. I won’t miss him but I am desperate to leave as well, so I am more jealous than anything.

Niece is engaged. Will have 18 month engagement and they have been together for more than 4 years. She is 21 he is 22 and they make a very good couple I just think they are both to young and she is very immature for her age. She works a dead end job and he wants to go to the law enforcement academy next June when he graduates from college. Something else to save for.

I am looking around for a part time job I can take up for the weekends. I live near a mall and I think having a part time job will help me to reach a goal I have by my 35th birthday next July. Am looking around and will start applying all around tomorrow.

Counting change: $156 since I last deposited it in July 2007. This is my vacation fund for the trip to Ireland this November. I also found 50 Euros from my trip a year ago to put toward the trip money needed while there.

I am house-sitting for ten days so that is $300 more to go toward vacation. I am half way there with my savings for my portion of the trip. I know I will have some birthday money coming this month from my Dad. I also have some money in an envelope marked vacation at home but I am not sure how much is there, probably about $100 or so.

I also have an additional $500 at home that is just my savings of any $1 bill that come across my path (not always just when I seem to have a lot of $1 bills.) I might use that for the trip or not. I have to see how I feel a little closer to it.

Got a letter from my student loan company, no payment needed for July as deferment papers went through. I can use what I was going to put there toward vacation. I am only $194 away from my vacation needed. I have some extra sitting in my checking account from other sources (surveys, cat sitting etc.) that I can put toward vacation. I should have my vacation paid for before the end of the month! Then all I need to do is save money for rental car gas, food and any thing I want to buy to bring home which will be no problem. Everything else is already planned including toiletries, misc items, clothing etc.

I do need a different coat as the one I have I received my senior year of high school for a Christmas present. I graduated in 1992, you do the math. I can no longer water proof it or anything. It is ok for running around when slightly chilly but no longer good in rain or cold. Maybe it is time to give it away?

I bought new mattresses. The old ones were killing my back. I’ll try these for a month and if they don’t work then I’ll go back and buy the other ones. (I had a hard time making up my mind.) The second pair is slightly cheaper so if I return these then I get the difference returned.

The sad news is the bed frame I wanted to buy from IKEA is on back order and I have to wait 4-6 weeks until it comes in with the size I want. Ugh. I should have bought it in April when I was there and they had one. I have wanted this frame for 4 years and it is nice and sturdy but also not expensive. A nice wrought iron frame will look good in my room.

My car insurance is due in August and I have the entire amount saved plus the estimated amount of my renters insurance which is due in February ($300). I will continue to put away $180 a month for both in August so that I am covered in insurance through 2010.

My nephew’s birthday is Monday of next week and I have no idea what to get for him for his 11th. He really wants an I-pod (not from me!) or more video games so maybe a game the family could play. I have another birthday happening in September for my niece who is turning 5 (going on 20!). I think she will be easier.

My 5% raise is coming through this month. I am excited but I have just applied for a federal job in my area. I hope to at least make it to the interview part. I know I could do the work (indeed I do similar stuff here at my current job but at the state level not federal level.) I could be debt free except for student loans in less than a year and with student loans in less than 4. I would have to travel for extended times for unexpected emergencies but I could buy a house here in the area and still pay off debt. Crossing my fingers!

I have 800+ saved for Christmas and birthdays this year. I am hoping that I can do what I did last year and do the shopping ahead of time with money from each monthly paycheck but if I cannot then I have money set aside. I am still saving monthly for this as well. I had 3000k there last year but I took 2500k out and used it for debt.

I registered for two classes for the fall: Voice and Real estate. I want to buy a house but I want to know more the language and what an agent needs to know to prepare to buy. It is only an 8 week class two nights a week. I am wait listed for the geography course I am interested in taking. I take 6 units a semester to put my loans in deferment and to study those things for which I didn’t have a chance in college. I still make the payments to my loan company but this way there is no interest accrual against my loans. And it keeps me busy and out of the house. I have met a lot of really interesting people this way too.

Called about the trip. The prices have doubled since i saw it listed. She actually said " oh that was ofnr 48 hours only at that price." Really? Why is it sill listed at that price now? ugh.

The blog has lost it's name and it will not let me ut a new one in. when i do and click update it just erases it again. what is going on?

The blog has lost it's name and it will not let me ut a new one in. when i do and click update it just erases it again. what is going on?

So my mom and I are looking at going to Ireland in November the week before Thanksgiving and maybe staying for 10 days or so. (I found a great deal for 6 nights-7 days plus a 3 day optional extension during the off season for about $990 including airfare and B&B stays so we are considering it.)

Anyone have any must do’s/don’t miss experiences to suggest? I have traveled throughout Europe but have never had the chance to get to the UK or Ireland.

I am very excited to try this out and go someplace new. I have dreamed of going to Ireland for a long time but could never make it when I had a free place to stay with my sister and her family and an easy way to travel the continent. Now that she has moved back to the US I want to branch out. While my real dream is to stay for longer than 10 days, this would give us a quick over view of the country. But I need to save money for a longer trip and I have heard the train situation is a little different from Europe, sometimes difficult to go East to West or vice versa without going through Dublin.

At least we have time to plan a trip and really get a good idea of where we want to go. I am sure that we will take a circle through the country either clockwise or counter clockwise, my mom has no really idea what she would like to see but we have 5 months to plan if we decide to do this trip.

I really want to go to Northern Ireland as well if we had time. I know the train from Dublin takes about three hours and what a great way to see a bit of the country without having to drive all the time.

This will also be the first time I will drive on the left side of the road. I am a little nervous about that and pray I won’t end up in an accident with cars, busses or sheep.

I am really excited to hear some great Irish music. I love the Irish music and wish I could understand Gaelic. It seems to be a pretty melodic language although very different than anything I have studied in my life.

I know it can be relatively cold (~41 average temperature in November/December) but the price, my work schedule and timing for fmaily events it just makes sense to go at this time.

I think I am in the process of buying a condo. I really don’t want a yard to deal with and this condo seems like a good deal. 2 bed/2 bathrooms (separated by the entire condo, almost like two master suites!) 1230 square feet. Now I really want one on the bottom floor because I have bad ankles and I fear the day I break one again (don’t ask how many times!)

Listed price brand new $239,990 as it dropped $70,000 last week because they want to close them out. Third largest floor plan in the complex and attached two car garage with lots of room and storage.

Now, they are offering an additional 10k drop in price if I have 3% (no problem) plus another 10k toward monthly fees (about 250/month), hopefully toward closing costs or something else I can’t remember right now.

Monthly payment around $1390 plus $250 HOA fees plus $250 property taxes plus $69 for insuring all contents and everything from the walls in for the condo. Lots of feature to save energy. One good thing, it faces the sun most of the day, great for winter, harder to keep cool in summer without good window coverings.

This is the model so that means that lots of people have wandered through and I know they will clean the carpets, but is it ok to ask for new carpets or hard wood floors? Complete cleaning of the entire condo (I mean good deep cleaning)? Throw in a washer/dryer and refrigerator? Or at least credits back to get them?

How do I adjust my withholding to reflect the property taxes and mortgage interest I am paying? (I am currently withholding at 0 on 60K a year because I like getting back money at the end of the year.) To keep them at zero I’d have to drop my 401k ad 457 plan deductions for a while (four months only). But how do I know where to push the withholding to, 2? 3? 4? (Mortgage interest will be about 1200 a month for the first couple of years and I have no real write offs other than that.)

I will be advertising for a house mate and since it is bottom floor, two car garage I’d allow someone to park in the garage or use part of it for storage for an extra house fee. Rooms for rent in this town go for about $500/month plus I would ask for half of utilities.
What do you think? Any accountants out there can give advice about buying a home and withholding questions?

April was a hard month. My car was in the shop twice to the tune of 2000. I had half that in saving for car repair and I charged the rest. I managed to pay it off by the end of the month but I ran into other issues this month called: buy me buy me syndrome. It seemed every time I went someplace something there ended up walking out with me. I am back on track for saving now but the end of March and April was really hard.

I started a new repairs account and already have 400 there. I opened a house down payment account and dropped 500 plus my stimulus package check of 600 plus a little extra I had left over from Wednesday’s paycheck and I am already at 1400. That feels pretty good right now.

I have had to sing several other pieces in class and they were ok but I still missed the words in one of them. I lose my concentration part way through then get lost in the song until I can get back on track. Ugh.

surprisngly the concert went really, really well!! None of my family could be there because of lots of little issues but I think that helped me relax and do better.

I did fine until the very end when I spaced on the words and just said the same words for the end of the previous verse. No one noticed.

Lots of applause, cheering and great comments. My instructor came up after the concert and gave me a big hug. She was so happy as was I.

One little girl came up after and asked for my autograp. It was a nice feeling and I was shocked she asked.

It made me realize that I do miss performing and I just need to get over my stage fright. This kind of theater was perfect. Small, intimate, cozy. It held probably 100 people and was not full at all. The lights were so bright from the stage you could see nothing of the audience. Just shapes and general figures but you could not tell who they were except for the first row.

All in all I am very pleased with it for the first performance in ten years. What I feeling! I forgot how much I missed it.

I upped my retirement withholding another $50 a month. $25 more to the 401k and $25 more to the 457 plan. It feels nice to be putting away more money and it really does not take a lot out of my paychecks. I think this will drop my total monthly income to a number I can live with, still get out of debt and still save some. Once I am ready to make a decision about buying a house I will take away some of the retirement savings for more house savings. There is also the $50 a month I put away to the ameritrade account and the $300 the state takes out for the state retirement too so I am looking at $900 or so a month away right now plus this extra $50.

Someone at work approached me about another job she knew about. It is similar to what I am doing now but would be with a university and hospitals. I jokingly told her, sure for about 25k more a year and she didn’t bat an eye. She said, I think you could ask for even more than that. I was floored. Seems my reputation for getting work completed has gone beyond the office and department I work in. I will get a resume to her right away so they can look it over and tell me yes or no with the skill sets I have.
It is yet another road to try and cross. At least I used to work at this university and am only a few months away from being completely vested in their retirement program.

I am off in my budgeting this month. I am already into the new allowance and this has to last until the 17th but I am already half way down. I can’t figure out what is making me so spendy and wanting to spend money. I also bought a new purse. Now I needed one but I did not need one that expensive. What am I thinking about these days?

Everything else is going good. I had a little altercation with a colleague this AM about something she was doing on work time after being out sick for two days. I told her it was inappropriate and could potentially be a problem for our employer legally for her to be doing this. She got upset and stopped but then I could not find her for several hours. When our boss called looking for her I was honest and said that I had been looking for her for several hours but had not seen her. Covering for an employee like this is not something I will do.

I had to sing again tonight. I did it perfectly during the rehearsal but then in the actual " performance" to a group of students I totally spaced on the words to the third verse. What the heck? I am so frustrated but decide next time I am choosing a piece from into the woods.

I hope things go smoothly Friday. My sister has not heard me sing since I was twelve and she and her family are coming. My niece is really excited about this. But I am scared the nerves will take over again. It has been so long since I performed but I thought it would be like riding a bike but I was wrong, it's not.

Ugh.

Quiet day today. I just made my grocery list out for the next couple of weeks or so. I have the coupons ready to print so I will head out in an hour or so.
I am still thinking about what I can do for my room. I am thinking of restructuring how he room is set up, maybe moving some furniture around to see what else I can do in here. Maybe moving my bed into the middle of the room more and putting up a small book case for a head board type thing. Would give me more storage in mu room and get my bed away from the wall where I can hear everything. Or I could just start looking for a new place to live. Not sure what I am going to do yet.

Having no real plans for the day is really nice. I will have groceries here, make some recipes for the week, pack some lunches and dinners, and then figure out the room thing, at least looking at what I can do in here.

I spent the day with my nieces and nephew for most of the day. I did rehearse 4 songs to try and figure out what I am going to do the concert, or not perform. I'll figure that out by Tuesday.

My nephew ad his first base ball game ever today. Hs did well but they lost the game. After it was over their family, my mother and I went to Red Robin for an early dinner. I volunteer to watch the kids so my sister and her hubby could go and do something. They ran to do a little shopping and then went to the gym together, swim and work out and whatever.
I watched the kids for about 3.5 hours so that they could do that.

I played Sorry with B (12) and M (4) while N (10) played outside for an hour with friends (our compromise) then he came in and the older kids and I played Monopoly. M assisted me with the banker duties (I told her what we needed and she did gave it to me, rolled the dice, moved my playing piece.) Come to think of it, I really didn’t do much except decide what properties to buy! When she began to get sleepy and I asked if she wanted to watch a movie. She snuggled up to me with her blanket and stuffed bunny and enjoyed her 20 minutes of movie. I think she was surprised I asked her if she wanted to watch a movie as I really don’t believe in it except for small times. Too much TV these days for kids in my opinion. The movie had been on about 20 minutes when sis and hubby came home. I really don't believe in the video thing but I know they have a routine bed time thing and that M would not have gone to bed for me any way.

We had a simply fantastic day and evening and my sister and her hubby got some much needed time alone together. It was just wonderful.

I sit in my room and look around and know I need to organize it better. I was so organized when I moved in but over the months (two years now!) I am not. Part of it is when you live in a small room you acquire more stuff over time but there is no more room to put stuff. I used to be good about if i brought something home, something else had to go out but I have fallen away from that recently. I think I am going to move a half book case into the corner where another one is and try to put something else in that corner. Maybe doing some “Feng Shui” make over will help the flow of energy and how I fel about my room. I am going to tackle one corner tomorrow and make it more livable and feel “cleaner and clearer”.

I blame BA and his room make over for this urge!

I had a two hour rehearsal with the accompanist tonight. He is very talented and spent almost twenty years on Broadway and traveling the world. He totally understand singing and acting is a really character himself.

It was a very frustrating rehearsal because I could not remember the words. Tone good, breathing good, timing excellent, personalization of song good. Remembering the words to the song you have known since you were 10, impossible.
I am unbelievable frustrated. We spent an hour after the rehearsal looking at new music and discussing the chance of changing the song. I just don’t know what to do.

Ugh, my dream of singing again is just frustrating me to no end. I am going to spend the rest of the night looking at old music scores and seeing if I can find something in one of them.

Maybe Children Will Listen from Into the Woods?

In my life version by bette midler?

No matter what from nottinghill?

Whistle down the wind from WDTW? (horrible play but love this song)

As if we never said good bye from Sunset blvd?

A light in the piazza from A light in the piazza? (beautiful play)

With one look from Sunset blvd?

Send in the clowns?

Ugh, lots to look at tomorrow. leaning toward children will listen becaus emy famly would enjoy it and it is a nice piece.

I am taking a voice class here in Sacramento that I love but struggle with. Tonight was our second solo performance of the semester. I am struggling with stage fright a bit and tonight I could not remember the words to the third verse. It frustrates me because I sang for years and now, phbt I can remember songs I have known for 15years?

The instructor still invited me to perform at the special pops concert at the college next friday. I said yes and she is a bit nervous I will forget the words again. So am I but I came home and sang it about 15 times and got all the words. I love this song!

I think part of my problem was the accompanist never worked with me ahead of time and theusic sounded very different than what I am used to. The new accompanist plays it like I know it and it flows better. I can't wait to get back on stage and sing again. I loved it when I was younger and miss it so much.

Thrifty Rays blog got me to thinking about life lists. (Have a wonderful vacation Thrifty Ray!)

I’ve created lists for as long as I can remember. I’ve created goals for myself, some that came true some that didn’t. I am nowhere near doing what I thought I would be doing at the age of 33.

Recently that movie the bucket list got me to thinking. I saw it several times with different groups of friends and discussed it a lot after. Then that scene from the move “Serendipity” came to me a few weeks ago at dinner with friends. The scene at the end of the movie where a friend has written another characters obituary. Morbid I know but it has gotten several of us thinking recently about lost goals, new goals and steps we can take to make them happen.

My friend A graduated from college this past December. She began ten years ago and after three years left school to support her husband to finish his. The plan was, he graduates then she would get to go back to school. Never happened! Her realization that her marriage was over was when he applied for graduate school and never told her. When he was accepted he told her they were moving to Phoenix. This did not happen. She left and never looked back. While celebrating Christmas with three friends she let spill that she had applied for a job out of state in the industry she has worked in for ten years. She got the job and moved in the beginning of January.

Why as I blogging so much about this? She has really inspired me to take a look where I am in life and see where I am going is not where I want to be. I struggle with the decisions I need to make and that the decisions may take me away from family and friends again, including my sister who just moved back to CA with her hubby and kids after 20 years abroad.

Then while writing all my goals and dreams I got an email from a friend who has no idea what I am thinking about or struggling with. Here it is below:

Top 100

I want you to list the top 100 things you want to do before you die. Is it too morbid? No, it’s too real because it’s your life.

If you don’t know what you want, why then are you living? If you don’t know what you want then others will dictate your life and tell you to do.

If you don’t know what you want you haven’t looked in the mirror and evaluated your being. If you don’t know what you want, you are someone else’s statistic. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, you’re not going to get it done.

I want you to list the things you want to do and then set out to do them.

Include simple things.
Include your dreams.
Include the possible.
Include the impossible.
Include what you can afford.
Include what you can’t afford.
Include your loved ones.
Include your friends.
Include your past (i.e. I m forgiving so and so.)
Include your today.
Include your tomorrow.

Write it down.
Re-read it.
And then live it.

(Taken from a book titled “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” by Dr. Samuel Kojoglanian also know as Dr. Rap. Dr. Rap is a famous heart specialist.)

It has been awhile for me to post but here are some updates:

I paid 1500 for a car repair on Friday. The lovely gentleman told me all about a special they had ONLY this month that included a buy 3 get one free rebate on struts. My struts were original to the car and I have about 125k miles on my car. One was leaking something so I said ok go ahead. Found out when I read the fine print on the rebate, the rebate is good through October 31. This means I could have waited a month and then been able to pay cash instead of paying 700 cash and charging the rest. (I only had 700 in my repair account but would have had the cash next month with tax returns and pay check.)

When I read that I raised holy hell and now am waiting for the owner of the branch to call me and “see what we can do to make sure I stay a customer.” The guy who told me all this BS said, well we only had 2 coupons left, I didn’t know if we would get more. When I replied it was listed on the manufactures website and a website is listed on the coupon he just said well I didn’t know. Bull! I feel totally taken advantage of and can’t believe it. I am not sure what to ask the owner but I feel like asking for all the labor to be repaid back to me. The parts I can live with, just give me back the labor I didn’t need to pay for until next month.

I took my niece and nephew to the movies Saturday to see the Horton movie. Pretty good and well done I thought. Cute afternoon had by all. I paid for it from the money I made house sitting Saturday night and picking up them at the train station Sunday. ($60) put the rest into the cc bill for the car repair.

I took them and their older sister and her friend for a Jamba Juice (they were at an open gym for gymnastics training and missed the movie). While we were walking to our car I noticed the car net to us had their front windows open a bit and a child in a car seat strapped in while no adults were around. I was shocked that someone would leave their child in car unattended. Luckily the day was cool but I was furious. Since it was parked closest to the JJ I asked the kids (two 12 year olds, a 10 year old and a four year old to get in my car and put their seat belts on. I walked back to the JJ and yelled as loud as I could at the 16 or so people, “Has someone here left their child unattended in their car? I just called the police and I wanted you to know.”

A man slunk off his seat and about 8 people followed him out. I knew they were not with him but I am glad there were other witnesses because I totally chewed him out about it as he got his absolutely adorable daughter out of his car.

He actually told me the following two statements:

"It is not hot, the windows are down and she was safe as the car doors were locked." I asked him to relock his car the way he had before. In front of the entire group now standing there I stuck my hand through the open window and unlocked the car and opened the back door. No alarm. I told him if you unlock the car from within it turns off the alarms for most cars." He went white.

The second thing he told me was that his "daughter was shy and would not go with strangers." I said “really? I talked to her through the front door and she came right over to me and held my hand when she got out of the car. In 30 second you could have lost your daughter for ever.”

Just at that time the police came up, partly because I called and also because someone called and reported a hysterical woman (me) yelling at a man and a child (him). I don’t know what the eventually did but the police took statements from everyone who watched him get her out of the car and me.

The kids who were with me just watched and said nothing until I got back in the car then they said they were proud of me for saying something to him. I was so mad I had to sit there for a few minutes and calm down.

I told the friend of my niece to tell her parents I am not a raving lunatic but I will say something if it impacts a child. She told her mom who called me, all her mom said was thank you for teaching my daughter that sometimes it is necessary to get involved and save someone and that it is not OK to leave her younger brother and sister in the car for, even just for a minute.

For those of you who might have heard about the incident, I apologize for the disturbance!

The rest of the past few days have gone by quietly.

Finally got my taxes done I get back around 600 from fed and pay the wonderful state of California 75. I’m ok with that. I already changed my deductions for state so that I don’t have to pay next year.
I interviewed for a new job last week and they called me 15 minutes after I left and offered me the job. I thought about it for the weekend and turned it down. Now you might be wondering why since I do want to leave my job but it comes down to money. If I took the job I would put myself in a corner with a classification that would not pay me any more money but if I stay in the current classification (and pray I get to move to the head agency who owns this classification) I could earn $700 more per month. This is enough for me to want to stay. The job also had a different retirement system and that would cause me to lose more money each month to that on top of what Ii put away personally.
I also applied for a federal job in the same field but came in just shy of being able to be interviewed. At least it was nice to know I qualified for the position. This time last year they said I didn’t. There are several jobs open in the same category and I applied for them all. Some are outside of California so I would have to move but I think I am up for the challenge.
There is one that would require me to just take the train to the bay area for work I think I could handle that for a while as long as I had a mode of transportation out of there in case of earth quake again. I am thinking motor scooter or something like that. Or possibly just moving down there and renting a room form someone for a while. We’ll see what happens but for every job I apply to I am looking at the area, determining a plan of action if I was offered a job.
Easter is coming and it seems so early this year.
My sister and her husband asked it I could watch the kids for the next 9 Mondays as they wasn’t to take ball room dancing class. They have literally no time together and eventuially that takes a toll oon a relationship. I told them even if they don’t like it to find something else to do on Mondays and soend some time together. I think they will enjoy it and I will enjoy getting to spend some time with the nieces and nephews.
Doing well on the spending front. I am within my budget this month and still have all of next weeks allowance/grocery/gas money so I am really happy. What sucks is that I am on spring break from school and there is nothing playing at the theaters to go an dsee. I finally have time and nothing there!
Found a great little town house. It is a short sale and is relly cute, well maintained, nice neighborhood, kitchen already re done. Just about perfect. It is just not anywhere near where I want to live and the commute would be really bad. With gas approaching 4 a gallon I would have to take light rail to work which is something I already do but this would be my only option and would take an hour or so. I am not liking that so I think I might keep it on the short list and see what else I can find. If I gotthe job at the other state agency it would not be a bad commute of only 45 or so miles and free parking! So I keep waiting to hear from them!!

edited to add: My monthly deposit for surveys is up to $73. I am hoping for another couple dollars to make it to $75 for the month. What a nice feeling it would be!

So I sent the application to the job I wanted in West Virginia. Got the email back that my file was complete and they submitted it to the HR person for review. Today I got the email that said I was qualified for the job but my application was not sent on because there were others more qualified. I called to see how far down on the list I was and they said I was number 5. They send only the four most qualified applications for review by the interview committee? I was a bit frustrated when I heard that. They did say that they will keep my application on file for the next 180 days and if something else came up would I be interested in having my application reviewed? I said yes (of course)! They then asked me about the places where they might have jobs opening up and if I was interested in moving to any of them. I said yes to all. I may not be interested in moving to all of the places they listed but if my application is reviewed it starts the clock all over again on the 180 days.

Now I have to admit I was most interested in this one job because it was just an hour or so outside of D.C. I have always wanted to live in that area, even if it is just for a short time because I love D.C. and have loved visiting it in the past.

I went grocery shopping again on Saturday to Savemart. I wanted some ground turkey and they were all priced 3.99 with a sticker that said they were not 2 for $6. I picked up one and finished shopping. As I checked out it rang up for $5.99 on the receipt. I went to the customer service desk and asked about it because all the ground turkey was marked as one price. They agreed with me that it was confusing, no sticker on the shelf where it was and they refunded the price and gave me one of the others for free. I an starting to like Savemart and hope I catch them at least one a week. (so far it has totaled $8 back to me and free products to boot in two weeks.)

I took my mom to see the 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee play. It was hysterical and we both laughed so much. There were difficult moments and sad moments but mostly it was funny. They even pick audience members to participate before the show. I was interviewed but did no get selected. Everyone is given pretty hard words except for the audience members selected. They were given words like cow, umbrella and jihad. (although the speller with jihad missed on her first try and was excused). The audience members are up there for about the first third of the play and did really well. The last gentleman was recalled several times until he missed the word and they could excuse him and continue with the play. It is adult continent (one song about puberty and if my straight laced pretty conservative mom can laugh, well then everyone else can) but it was so well done and the actors really acted like 10 and 12 year olds. Just really a cute play that I recommend seeing if it comes to your area!

SO… am looking at applying for a job in West Virginia pan handle near DC. It is in my field and something I would love to do but it means moving 3000 miles from my family. It would mean a pay raise of approximately 25k a year. The cost of living indexes are the following:

Cost of Living Indexes (100 is average of USA)

Overall
Sacramento 119 West Virginia 76

Food
Sacramento 119 West Virginia 96

Housing
Sacramento 129 West Virginia 46

Utilities
Sacramento 110 West Virginia 76

Transportation
Sacramento 112 West Virginia 100

Health (care costs)
Sacramento 147 West Virginia 88

Miscellaneous
Sacramento 102 West Virginia 96


Obviously housing, utilities, and health costs are all cheaper as is the overall cost of living in West Virginia. Anyone know anyone living near the area who could give me advice about the area and if it is nice enough to move there?

I have always wanted to live near DC. It would mean being near my dad, whom I have seen pretty much 7 times in my life. But no big deal there for me.

I am at lest going to apply for it and if I get an interview I can fly back to the area and check it out. Houses are very cheap out there which is a nice thing to see compared to CA.

The other check came in today from the investments I sold. It totaled 2500 and some change. This is enough to pay off another card and either save 390 or turn it into one of the last two cards. All together I have paid off 7k in debt in the past month and over 11 k since November. It feels nice to have a lot paid off. There is still more to do but totally do able this year.

I joined a credit program off one of my cc today. I wanted to see what my current FICO scores were, get an updated series of credit reports and see what happens over the next month as a large chunk of debt is cleared off my records. I found out my scores ranged from 767 to 781 (weird how much they differed) and I’d like to see them jump quite a bit in the next year. Before I purchase a house I’d like to see my scores go up to 800. I am hoping with no debt other than student loans my score will go even higher and break that 800 mark. It was worth it to me to check my scores and get those little alerts each month until I get my goals completed. Does anyone know why the scores differ so much? It always seems that Experian is the lowest and Equifax is the highest, why is that?

I mailed off my tax stuff for 2007 to the new tax person. The new person I used last year has taken the next two year off from the business to spend time with his new daughter. This was his part time hjob (to the tune of about 50 hours a week during tax season) so he has turned all his clients over to his sister who runs a similar business. It took me this long to get all my papers this year. I had a health savings account through my previous job and needed to get their approval for some items purchased this last year and it took forever, even with the receipts I sent to them. So…now that this is taken care of and cleared for 2007 I can get my taxes done and find out how much I owe or get back. This year was to close for me to calculate with my rough calculations. I just hope I don’t have to pay anything for either Federal or State.

February was an expensive month for me because I fell off the wagon in terms of bringing my lunch to work. Today I brought my lunch, yeah me! I almost had a no spend day but I just remembered I paid for parking this morning because I was later than I should have been. But at least I brought my lunch!

I went shopping at Save mart tonight. I rarely go there because Safeway is closer and around the corner.

I bought Mozarella and the label read 4.49 but it rang up at 4.99. I went to customer service and there was a long line. I almost went home thinking it is only 50 cents when someone opened up. She went to check the price and discovered I was right. She gave me the product free and returned my $5 back to me. Who knew? This was extremely helpful because I was $12 over my budget for the week but this way I am only $7 over. (But not really over as I bought my favorite cereal for the next three weeks and some extra carrots on sale.)

I'll be going back to Save mart more often and checing their receipt carefully in the future! woohoo!

I made a decision earlier this week to turn in some investments and receive the money so that I can use them to pay down debt. Between the $4500 I have received thus far and the $1200 I have monthly from my budget I was able to pay off quite a bit this month. This is reflected in the ticker to the left. I have one more investment for which I am awaiting the payment which should be about $3500 or so which means I will pay off one more card and a piece of another. This means that by the beginning of April I will have only 1 cc with a debt of about 9k left. Totally do able by the end of the year.
This means that I will have $1200 out of my budget each month plus the amount I pay in rent ($465) to consider for a house payment. Now realistically I want to pay less than $1665 each month for a house but at least it is something I can seriously consider. Here in Sacramento the housing market is bad and getting worse which while horrible for those who made the decision to buy high and sell low or to move into a house they could obviously not afford it is good for me. I am scoping out the market and area to see where I would want to purchase a house and have two specific areas in which I look. Obviously I want it to be in a safe neighborhood as I am going to be living alone (hopefully). I want to be able to afford the house on my own but I would consider taking in a renter to share the house and expenses keeping my expenses as low as possible and trying to pay extra to the mortgage each month.
I am astounded at the government’s ideas to try and help those who cannot afford their homes now. Why purchase a home that you cannot afford and expect that in the future you would be able to afford it? Especially in CA where the COL goes up every year and inflation costs are not met with the raises people receive? Stockton which is less than an hour away has the highest rates of foreclosures in the nation and will decimate the economy in the middle portion of this state. I know the decisions to help are done because to allow more foreclosures would mean an even worse economy but really. I could have qualified for a home 4 years ago even with my debt and that would mean I would receive the assistance of the government now but I made the decision not to put myself out in such a way that would be bad for me in the future. It just drives me nuts.

I am considering trying to find a part time job, even loading groceries or working in a cafe, to pay off everything faster and get to a nice down payment faster but I am seeing homes in the nicer neighborhoods where I want to live come down a lot even to the mid 150k or so region and still dropping.

There is the possibility of taking a contract job for a univ down south trying to start a certificate program in the field in which I work. That would be helpful and rather a large contract. There is also the possibility of once I find a new job doing some contract work with a contractor providing services on the project I currently work. I know the project, indeed I wrote the scope of work and have worked on this project for three years but I can't do any part time work for her because it would be double dipping into grant funds the currently pay my salary. Once I leave this department and move to another then there is no problem of double dipping or any kind of impropriety.
I really hope I can get a new position. I have applied for many and interviewed and been offered but all of them are lower than I currently am so the raise I get as a state employee at one year would be about 1% with no chance of going higher. There is a new position being advertised that I will apply for tomorrow. It is slightly higher but I can move into it laterally so that is good. The best part is that the next level which I would have to promote into off an exam list is one of the highest paying jobs with the state that is not a management role. To be able to get to that area in a couple years is such an exciting idea. I will see what happens with the application and interview. I do have a favorite job that I want to get but if that fell through then this next position would be my back up. We shall see how it pans out.

So far for March I have two survey checks for $5 and one check for $50 to deposit. I am waiting until then end of the month before I deposit them to better track how much I earn in surveys each month. I house sat for two days this week netting $60 which I already deposited. I have another evening later this month as well as several nights this spring and several weeks this summer. All of that will be put toward debt to try and to get out of credit card debt faster.

I loved the movie Becoming Jane. If you get to watch it I highly recommend it. Simply Lovely!

edited to add: checked mail from Saturday and received another survey check for $2 for a total of $62 to deposit at the end of the month.