OT September Chit Chat

[Pegakafarmgirl]

Hows it going ?,, going here,, things are dueable,,

Tomorrow we load our horse trailer up with our youngest son's furniture and take him to where his new IT tech job is,, bout 2 hours north of us,, going to miss him, but also thrilled for him.also will try to catch our grandsons football game on the way home

Canning finally {?} done ,, we put up so much salsa..hot/mild/smoky and sweet, 4 different kinds,,

My brother has lymphobia cancer,early stages of it,, he had one round of chemo, handling it well,,Joe{hubby},, his sister is real sick,, her platelettes {sp} keep dropping to fast and a constant nose bleed,,they are giving her solumedrol, and its helping

later then

[agate]

Peg, I'm so sorry you have more serious illness in the family. Those medical people can pull rabbits out of hats and do all kinds of magic tricks to cure people of some disorders. I hope they'll work some magic with your brother and Joe's sister too.

Your youngest son will be 2 hours away? Too bad he won't be closer.

Grandson's football game? That wouldn't be Thain, would it? But he was just born!

[Pegakafarmgirl]

Peg, I'm so sorry you have more serious illness in the family. Those medical people can pull rabbits out of hats and do all kinds of magic tricks to cure people of some disorders. I hope they'll work some magic with your brother and Joe's sister too.

Your youngest son will be 2 hours away? Too bad he won't be closer.

Grandson's football game? That wouldn't be Thain, would it? But he was just born!

he is 9,, acts like his dad,, hahah ,,grandpa is taking him hunting {youth hunt} in a couple of weeks..>> deer hunting

[Howie]

Agate, I'm with you, Thain was JUST born! No wonder my back hurts!

[Howie]

Good morning all! Tomorrow is the much awaited payday! I just ate oatmeal for breakfast, the last of that, and will have a Compleat's meal later with a buttered Texas toast. After that, I won't have a crumb of food left!

Never again will I let myself fall into such tough times. Next time, I'm going to eat the cats!

[Virginia]

Peg, sorry about your brother and Joe's sister. That is a lot of, not so good, stuff going on at one time.

I agree with Agate and Howie, Thain was just born. They sure start them out early with the ball.

Two hours is not that bad for your son to be away. At least it is close enough he can come home most any time he wants.

Howie, glad the food has held out - just barely. One way I make sure my money lasts through the month, is that I take out a certain amount at first of month for food, and just running around stuff. I take out a certain amount of that each Friday and not before. A friend of mine taught me this many years ago. She said it was one way she kept from going broke and always had the basics met. I thought it was a good idea and I have just continued to do it to this day.

[agate]

Virginia, are you saying that you make sure you set aside some funds that will be there for you at the end of the month? That sounds like a good idea.

I always keep enough cash on hand so that if I need to use a taxi in an emergency, I'll have it there. And if I run out of money in my checking account, that cash is there. And in a pinch there are the laundry quarters. Sometimes I have $10 or $20 in laundry quarters sitting here.

[SalpalSally]

September the month I was wed! Favorite month!

Happy September everyone!

[Virginia]

Sally, Happy Upcoming Anniversary!

Agate, many years ago I asked an older friend how to save money. She told me what she did was she took (at that time) $100.00 per week out and tried to see how much she could have left at the end of the week. She said it was like a game to her. She left the rest in her checking to pay all her bills. She bought her groceries and had her spending money out of the $100.00.

I started doing the same thing. It takes more money now of course. I count how many Fridays there will be in a month and take out that much in cash at the first of the month. Then each Friday I take my money out of the envelope where I keep it and that is my grocery money and spending money for the upcoming week. Everything else is in my checking account and I can pay bills on line, use a debit card or credit card for other things that I do not consider things I should take out of my weekly cash.

I have through many years gotten so use to doing this that I am very careful not to spend any of my spending money before I take it out for the upcoming week.

All this sounds silly I know, but I only make one trip to the bank per month and it is something I got use to doing when I really needed to save money. Back then I was putting myself on a budget. Now I could do it by using my debit card and credit card more, but I seem to do a little better with money. I know exactly what is in the bank from my monthly income without having to think about food and spending money.

I think most of us have our own little ways of budgeting and this has worked for me. When I was working I didn't tell anyone I did this because I knew they would laugh at me, but back during that time it helped me save a little. Sometime if I am careful it will build up to a point that I have $200.00 to $300.00 extra in my billfold. At that point I will think about what I need as far as makeup and that type thing and just go buy it without having to take anymore out of the bank.

Another thing that I do is I always keep a yellow sticky on my desk that list all my bills. I pay my electric bill on an average so it stays the same for a year. Each time something is paid I check it off. I know that I have to save for my car insurance, house insurance, house taxes and any work that I have done on my house.

Anyway, it just keeps me straight. I have always made a budget even during the years when my husband was alive and there were no money worries. I think it was just something that, for me, was how I started out and became a habit.

[Cat Dancer]

Wow, September already! Where did the summer go. Kids back to school, Labor Day weekend, fall in the air. Went here from blazing hot two days ago to possible FROST in northern Wisconsin tonight!! FROST!!

I'm still here. Still struggling with physical therapy. Have to remind myself I've really only been fully out of bed for 2 months. Previous to that for two months was totally bedbound, and for several years, there, partially bedbound-- in bed at least half the day. So...if I look back..I'm doing good. Just not as good as I WANNA be.

Budgeting is always burdensome...but necessary. I use the "envelope" trick: have one envelope for each of the necessities or "fixed expenses", assuming a once a month payday), put in that envelope how much needed for each -- like, gas, electric, rent. Mark on the envelope the day due (or the day the check has to go in the mail). Then an envelope for anything I know will have to be done, like house repair, or car repair. What is left gets divided by four, one for each week. When the week envelope is empty...it's empty. I make do til next week. If there happens to be some left over, it gets moved into the next week. At the end of the month, if there is anything left over, it gets moved to savings. Some weeks I may not open the envelope at all, but spend two weeks envelopes in one grocery run. When I get groceries, I always buy something extra..can of beans, or soup, or hash, or something that is non perishable (or freezer safe), set it aside, so if I come up short at the end of the month, there's something in reserve. Then replenish at the earliest opportunity. And so on.

I'm thankful now that I don't have to be this rigid in my spending..but I still reach for envelopes to be sure I have taken care of the essentials before I head off somewhere "fun".

[Virginia]

I think I might have tried the envelope route back when I was really young, before marriage, etc. I think as long as most people do not impulse spend they can make it even if their budget does not allow for a lot of things they would like to have. But I have always had some kind of budget even when money was absolutely no problem. How else can people know what they have to spend and on what?

Cat, I cannot believe you are even saying the word FROST!! Temperatures are to be much milder here for a couple of days, but that is because a hurricane is passing close to our coast. We are due to get 4.75" of rain sometime between tonight and tomorrow night. That is here in central N.C. where I live. I don't recall what the coast is going to get.

Keep talking to yourself and encouraging yourself Cat. I think you have done and are doing marvelously well. We are all very proud of where you have made it to. Have you gained any weight?

[Virginia]

I wonder where SuzeQ is keeping herself these days. Hope she is doing something interesting.

[stillstANNding]

September the month I was wed! Favorite month!

Happy September everyone!

Me too, Sally!
Love & Chocolate,
ANN

[Pegakafarmgirl]

"phew",, back from moving our son,, and unloading the horse trailer,, we had a hitchhiker, who snuck in and took a nap,, Echo, the cat,, beautiful Calico tomcat, they rescued,,we had him in the front seat sleeping on the floor board,,on the way to the football game,, our son, brought a pet taxi to take him home in,,such a sweet cat,, oh and they won their game,,lol

[Howie]

A winner AND got a cat, that's what I call a GREAT day!

Well, it was payday, and I got everything done, but CVS wasn't open yet. So after I have a few cups of coffee, I'll go there, and maybe the store again. I have 2 things on my list so far, but could do without until next week.

So rise and shine....or just rise. Have a GREAT Friday!