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About Me:

Savings Queen

2013- TOTAL SAVINGS NEEDED FOR THIS YEAR: $168,050
TO PAY FOR EXPENSES:
Converting Real Estate IRA into Roth (pay .44% tax on $289K in rental house IRA acct) $130,050
Hubby's Jaw Surgery $15,000
(reduced to $7,000 since it's covered)
Emergency Fund $30,000

WHAT WE HAVE NOW:
7/9/13: $166,804 (including rental house account) OUCH! WE WENT DOWN!!
5/22/13: $168,511 (including rental house account)
5/3/13:$163,755.00 (including rental account)
4/17/13: $160,447.67 (including rental account)
4/1/13: $142,719 (including rental account)
3/17/13: $136,131.38 (including rental house account)
2/24/13: $128,516 in savings

WHERE WE ARE ON APRIL 17, 2013: Still need $14,602.33 to meet $170,050 yearly goal by April 15, 2014 ($1,216 per month - 12 months from April 1, 2012 - April 1, 2013)

Savings Goals:
Hubby's paychecks $2,478 X 26 wks = $64,428
My savings $1,500 mo. X 12 = $18,000
By March 1, 2014 hubby and I should meet our savings goal of $175,050 and have $50,097 in extra savings (this will give us an emergency fund of $80,097). Next year we hope to convert the remaining $100K of the real estate IRA into a roth and will need about $45K to do that. We will easily be able to meet that goal during 2014!

WHO ARE WE (money wise)?
I am a wife and mother of two grown sons. I own a business & my husband has a good job and we have done some things right (pd. off mortgage, pretty good 401Ks, more than $100,000 in savings, 9 mostly paid off rental houses (10 units). Previously we used a VISA card but now we are only using our debit card.

Most people would say we are in great shape which we are, however, I also have a tendency to overspend money at times (sometimes I worry I have a spending problem).

I want to learn to appreciate what I have and stop frittering money away. With me it is usually either wild overspending or total frugality. I want to learn to live a more balanced financial life, in the middle.

SPENDING/SAVINGS GOALS:
* Continue to stay off EBAY!!! DONE
* Write down all expenditures DONE
* Continue to use the debit card, not the charge card GOT RID OF CHARGE CARD! DONE
* FIND OUT WHAT WE NEED TO LIVE EACH MONTH! Develop a spending plan. DONE
* Continue to save my DH�s
paychecks and live on mine
DONE
INVESTMENT GOALS:
* Gather all figures for 401K,
IRAs, banks accounts DONE
* Create a Net Worth Statement DONE
* Use real estate (rentals) to produce income of $7,000 a month in income tax free

GOAL: Turn the rental account into a ROTH in 2013 so all rental income will be tax free. This is a BIG savings goal for us! We need $120-$160K to pay the taxes on this 400K account. (we have have to convert 280K of the account this year and 100K next year so we will still have some emergency fund money left)

INVESTMENT GOALS: Get our 401K invested in safe mututal funds
FEB - Created a plan and are dollar cost averaging to get back in over the next six months.

$7.75 a Pound for Lettuce??

January 26th, 2011 at 11:32 am

I am really a newbie at saving money, but the lightbulbs are starting to go off. The most recent?? I normally buy premade salads. I was in Walmart day before yesterday and looked at the unit price on the salad I normally get...$7.75 a pound for mixed romaine!!! The cost made me decide to switch to a head of romaine for just $1.75. After I brought it home and chopped it up, it filled my salad bowl. It was a little limp the first night, but by night #2, it was crispy and fresh.

HIDDEN TREASURE. When I cleaned out the cabinet the other day I found a coffee can size tin of alfalfa sprout seeds I had bought a couple of years ago during a sprout making phase. My first urge was to throw them out thinking they were expired or something. Instead, I tried soaking them and growing them in my two sprouting jars. I am on my third round of making alfalfa sprouts as they take about 3 days to germinate. I LOVE them and they make my salads taste so much better...FREE sprouts!!

SPENDING YESTERDAY:
$1.50 Car Wash
$29.70 Post Office (had to mail and insure the $2K item I sold through Ebay)
$5.04 Starbucks, bought tea for me and a friend (trying to invest in my friendships)
$2.00 12 step meeting contribution
TOTAL: $38.24
WOW! I kind of spent a lot for a day I wasn't planning to spend much.

PLANNED SPENDING THIS WEEK:
* Tea meeting friends at Barnes and Noble tonight
* Having son and in-laws for dinner tomorrow night. Will have parmesean chicken and sugar free ice cream for dessert (made with stuff on hand). Need to buy salad fixings and garlic bread.
* Friday night, dinner with girlfriends celebrating my 10 years of no alcohol!! Will buy one friend's dinner.
* Saturday Night. Using FREE Marriott night certificate (yeah!) for romantic evening with DH. May buy breakfast there for a treat OR we may come home and have home made whole wheat waffles or veggie sausage casserole. I'm sure the Marriott Breakfast will be $25-$30 so I may try to rethink this although our relationship is important and that would be a luxurious treat for us. We are WELL under budget his month so...

I don't usually have so many restaurant meals or teas with girlfriends. Actually I am trying to have more teas or outings with "girlfriends." Being a working mom all those years, I spent most all my free time with DH and the boys. Since I am now an empty nester, I am trying to invest more time and even money in girlfriends. Especially as we get older, girlfriends are pretty important. Since the boys moved out I get lonely sometimes.

Posted in Budgeting, Credit Cards, Debt, Investing, Personal Finance, Retirement, Saving Money, Shopping | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “$7.75 a Pound for Lettuce??”

marvholly Says:
January 26th, 2011 at 01:45 pm 1296049501
1296049501

I made the decision about salad stuff MANY years ago. I usually buy romaine for
North Georgia Gal Says:
January 26th, 2011 at 03:41 pm 1296056491
1296056491

That is incredible about the lettuce. I have never taken the time to figure the cost per pound. Sure makes sense to purchase and cut yourself!
SavingsQueen Says:
January 26th, 2011 at 03:53 pm 1296057185
1296057185

Hi NG Gal. I am starting to look at the unit prices instead of the purchase price for most things. It's kind of an eye opener.
mjrube94 Says:
January 26th, 2011 at 07:23 pm 1296069789
1296069789

You're doing a great job! I've enjoyed keeping up with your blog...
scfr Says:
January 26th, 2011 at 07:58 pm 1296071884
1296071884

Yes, it's amazing what you can learn when you really start scrutinizing the expenses, isn't it? I buy Romaine Hearts by the bagful for salads. I don't mind washing & tearing the leaves myself. On the other hand, I've decided it's worth it to pay the price for triple-washed spinach leaves, because spinach is just so darn dirty! I'm not one to preach "you must do things the least expensive way possible all the time" ... it's all about being mindful of your spending and deciding how much things are worth to you, and it sounds like that is what you are learning to do.

BTW, don't worry about the Post Offic expense. That's really more of "business" expense because you were spending money to make money.

You're doing great.
Savings Queen Says:
January 26th, 2011 at 08:36 pm 1296074164
1296074164

Hi mjrube and scfr, Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am getting a little nervous lately about keeping up my reasonable spending as in the past I have gone through "phases" that I later abandoned. I just need to remember that I need to have reasonable spending JUST FOR TODAY. I can do anything for one day.

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Savings Queen's Personal Finance Journey

A Spending Queen Learns to Change her Spendthrift Ways...One Day at A Time.

$7.75 a Pound for Lettuce??

6 Responses to “$7.75 a Pound for Lettuce??”

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