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I had a $5 Reward that was going to expire at Famous Footwear so I stopped in. I found these Sketchers on clearance for $10.00 each, and clearance was BOGO 50% off! So after the clearance, sale and reward they were just $5.00 each for $60.00 shoes!



Sketchers Energy Lights Shoes (Bought 2)
Regular Price $59.99
-$49.99 Sale Price Each
-$5.00 BOGO 50% Sale
-$5.00 Rewards
Final Price + Tax = $5.32 each!!
(Marked $20.00 each for rummage sale)
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Well we had to add some debt to our race as we purchased a new vehicle to fit our growing family!

I AM PREGNANT!!!!! WITH TWINS!!!!

After 11 years of dealing with infertility, I am finally expecting for the first time in my life! We are over the moon happy!!

Babies are expected around Jan/Feb 2019. We had another ultrasound a few days ago and both babies look great and are right on track. Only issue is I did test positive for gestational diabetes, but that was...
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In addition to the new teaching job, I got offered more responsibility with my editing job. I am adding an hourly position which will consume about 8 hours per week. I took this because it is interesting, and the teaching job could end at any point. However, I will have practically zero free time.

Since I want to keep saving more for retirement, replace my car and buy a home within the next two years, every extra dime will go to these goals.

After I get a couple paychecks,...
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The slow payer paid! I will mail the item out this morning. There are two more bids on other items which will bring in another $10.

I had to pay my Netflix fee yesterday, so variables went up to 126%.

I transferred a $14 cashback reward from Discover to my bank account.

I've pretty much decided that I will cash in my $200 bonus from Wells Fargo as an Amazon gift card and use it for Christmas shopping. I haven't done it yet, though.

The mystery shop at the car dealer...
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A fine sunny day, so I line dried the laundry. Then I went for a walk and on the way bought myself a packet of chips. What I gain on the swings I lose on the roundabouts. I shall have to tighten the purse strings to save for Christmas. I am actually thinking I will be buying gifts in India and giving them when I get back.
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Saving on Phone and Internet
So recently I dropped my Frontier (formerly AT&T) phone line and took a chance on Magic Jack. I'm happy with Magic Jack, although I notice if my computer is not turned on, neither is the phone. I now have 4 phones working with it and my annual bill for it will be about $40 a year, as opposed to my $62/mth for combined phone and Internet with Frontier. A big improvement.

So today I decided to see if could do better with the Internet; since I dropped...
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An update, since I'm sure you are curious.

Our area still has yet to go through the brunt of the storm. We are getting a lot of rain and the wind gusts are getting stronger. The worst is expected over the next eight hours or so. We still have power, but we appreciate any prayers for us and all who are in the path of the storm.


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I’ll have to write a longer post later, but the student loan pay-down goal continues. I’ve gotten a few extra checks recently to throw at it:

Side project payment: $250
Comcast refund: $20
Rental deposit refund from old apartment: $935
Total: $1205

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We drove about 60 miles to a dealership to look at my pearly white "dream car". In the end, it was a little scraped up and just wasn't the "one".

But... there had been a couple of cars in Napa (near where we were). At this point the blue was looking better and better, and we started talking about having a nice dinner in Napa. I was relaxing and starting to feel much better. I just needed a nice "date" with my hubby.

On the way to the Napa dealership, I was trying to...
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There have been a string of serious health issues in my family the last few weeks. My mom, who is now 92 and lives with my sister half way across the country was in the hospital for 2 weeks. She's back home now, but it was dicey for a while there. There was a lot of uncertainty about if I should travel there, and it was a lot of "wait and see" but just when I was planning to go she turned the corner and rebounded. Then my sister-in-law had a hospital stay, she's also OK now thank...
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It's been so difficult adulting recently. On the one hand, our financial situation is probably the best it's ever been. On the other hand, we still have light years to go, so it feels impossible. To be fair, we are not even remotely gung ho about the debt payoff, so I guess that I can't get upset if I'm not actually willing to commit to the sacrifices.

A random list of financial things:
- I moved our baby emergency fund of $1000 out of our checking account and in to savings....
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We ended up pulling the trigger yesterday.

To be clear, we are replacing a 2005 minivan. Though it's the newest car we have ever ditched, we just aren't "big car" people and have been scheming to ditch the van most the years I have blogged here. Early on it had been more of a plan to make a lateral car change (which we have certainly done in the past, no big deal). I'd say last time we almost pulled the trigger I was surprised how "in demand" older used cars were. In the...
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I sold an item yesterday for $25. It will go out in the mail today. My total is now $482, according to eBay, but they must be counting the payments for postage, because my total is $344. Big difference.

Still waiting for one payment. There is another item that has a small bid on it.

While I was in the process, I was saying to myself I would never do this again, but now that I am in the rewarding part of it, I realize that I will -- not with such a big group of things,...
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I looked at my watch this morning and thought it said 8.45. I hurriedly caught the bus, looked at my watch again, and found I was in town an hour early. I couldn't think of anything better to do than have a coffee in a breakfast cafe. Not only did it cost $3.50, because I haven't drank coffee in ages, it tasted disgusting.
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I've said it before, jobs tend to fall in my lap. It happened again. I was on the website looking for what was available for subbing next week. There was a note that one of the local high schools was looking for an English Teacher/long-term sub. I called and within 2 hours had an interview with a follow up interview today. I got the job. I start on Tuesday. It could go a few weeks or all year. That is up in the air. The pay rate is double what a regular day-to-day sub gets.

I...
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I had a lot of EBs to use so was super happy to find all of this 75% off summer clearance at CVS. My Mom was with me to grab all of these, so we will split the cost and the profits. We have a lot going on right now, so feels good to have $0 in EB to keep track of.



Badminton Set (Bought 2)
Regular Price $7.99
-$6.00 Clearance Price
Final Price + Tax = $2.12 Each
(Marked $5.00 each for rummage sale)

Basketball Set (Bought 1)
Regular Price $9.99
-$7.50 Clearance...
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Nearly all snowflakes (extra or found money) go towards our Big Goal.

I transferred $24.39 from PayPal earlier this week that accounted for a couple small eBay sales.

I redeemed $38.88 with Chase Freedom rewards, and $29.29 from US Bank rewards.

And our furniture sales add $355 to the total.

The money adds up!

P.S. Sunny here and a bit breezier than normal. We aren't expecting the worst until tomorrow morning, which for us may be 50mph winds and lots of rain....
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I made another sale on eBay for $7. The $15 payment has still not been made, so now I'm waiting on two payments. The $15 sale occurred two days ago. Does anyone here, more experienced on eBay, know what you do if someone wins a bid but doesn't pay or make contact with you? I would like to relist the item if she isn't going to buy it.

I went to Sam's yesterday to buy bubble wrap. Since it's Sam's, there is only a BIG container available, but I shelled out the $13, since...
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HI all

This is more a journal entry.. My friend Lisa died suddenly this week. She was 59, had a heart attack Sunday PM, CPR for 40 minutes, went to the ICU. They cooled her down so her brain could 'recover'. It apparently never did or was too damaged. She had a 2nd heart attack, never woke up, they removed life support and died yesterday. Very sad. She was one of those people who was the light of the room. Makes you realize how short life is or can be and we never know when...
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Today I yielded to my New Zealand middle aged female rite of passage and had my hair cut short. A friend did it for me so it didn't cost me anything.
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