Last Monday's post described how I ROCKED my finances the previous weekend. The weekend is where the bulk of our entertainment spending occurs, thus it's very important that my wife and I's communication is at it's best in order to stay on budget.The more I thought about it, that concept seemed like a great recurring post to have to help me stay accountable for our weekend spending. So, here we go with installment #2 of How I ROCKED My Finances Last Weekend:Straight Cash, HomeyIf you browse the personal finance blogs with any regularity, you've heard the advice, "Pay with cash" more times than you can count. I've never done it. My debit card had hypnotized me into thinking that using a debit card is the same as paying cash. The logic my debit card (or at least the voice in my head that I give to my debit card) throws at me is that purchases paid with a debit card come right out of my checking account, so when the checkbook is reconciled I'm forced to deal with how much was spent. Which is true, but the point is that too often I have the "I didn't think our spending would add up to be that much!" moment. So, this weekend my wife and I actually tried it paying for everything with cash. I withdrew our budgeted weekend entertainment money, and used cash for every single purchase.It worked spectacularly. We talked several times during the weekend about how much things would cost and made decisions based upon cash in hand. It felt so good to communicate openly, honestly, and frequently about our finances. BTW, leave a comment if you can identify the origin of the subtitle. Hint: I'm from Minnesota, and I'm a HUGE Vikings fan. First person to comment with the right answer will be my favorite person for the entire day.Half Of FridaysOne of the weekend's expenses was a budgeted trip to the salon for my wife. Every Friday, a local radio station has a "Half off Friday" sale for gift certificates to a local business. A few weeks ago the certificates were for my wife's favorite salon. We were able to snag two $50 certificates.. So, not only did she have $100 worth of salon credit she could use that was already paid for (and thus didn't have to come out of this weekend's budget), but we only paid half price for them!  Tori Goes Shopping
The award of the weekend for completely ROCKING our finances has to go to my 9 year old daughter, Tori. Last night, her friend down the street asked if she wanted to go with her family to the mall. There was a store that was putting their summer clothes on super clearance, and her family was going to see what kind of deals they could find.
Due to the success of our cash only weekend, we had $20 left from the budgeted weekend entertainment money. I gave it to Tori, and off to the mall she went. She returned with the clothes pictured. The prices on the tags added up to $69.75.
She paid $19.46.
 Then, they went to a furniture store because her friend's family is the market for some new furniture. Apparently the store was having an open house, and was giving away Christmas ornaments. My daughter came home with with one of them and declared she had gotten our family's ornament for this year - we buy one ornament every year that has special meaning with respect to some event for that year.
A family working their way out of debt getting their traditional yearly ornament for FREE at a furniture store open house.
Appropriate, don't you think?
The Weigh In:
- Weight: 190.5
- Weekly change: +0.9
- Loss YTD: -25.6
- Goal: 178.0
Goal check in: Work out every day:Worked out all 7 days!- Sunday: 4 mile run
- Monday: 5mile run / chest, bicep, tricep strength training
- Tuesday: Spinning / legs, back, shoulders, core strength training
- Wednesday: 7 mile run
- Thursday: Spinning / chest, bicep, tricep strength training
- Friday: 4 mile run / legs, back, shoulders, core strength training
- Saturday: 4 mile run
No eating after 8pm:Accomplished 4 days.Keep Food Journal and adhere to Weight Watchers Points:Didn't do this at all. Just can't seem to get this going. Increase chest press ending set max to 240lbs:Easily, maybe could have done 245.Increase bicep curl repetition weight to 100lbs: Absolutely! Start doing pull ups:Did assisted pull ups on Monday and Thursday. For whatever reason I'm notstrong enough yet to pull my full body weight.Analysis: So much for positive momentum. UGH. Again, not to sound like a broken record, but lack of exercise is not the issue. It's my food consumption. I need to get it back under control NOW, or my hard work is just going to continue slipping away.Goals for next week:Work out every dayContinue NO eating after 8pmJournal Food Consumption, use Weight Watchers documentation and stay within “points”
 Secret Agent Gear About a month ago Julie from The Family CEO posted an article calling for people wanting to be secret agents for Nielsen in a home scanning opportunity in which, if selected, a scanner is sent to your home. Agents earn points, which can be exchanged for prizes through their online catalog, by scanning the family's purchased items Whether it be mystery shopping, or Swagbucks I'm always looking for a low effort side hustle to put a little something extra in my pocket. Thus, without much hesitation I put my name in to be considered for the program.
 Is it a Cell Phone? A few weeks later I got a notification that they were indeed looking for agents in my area, and that I had been selected for active duty. My scanner arrived late last week, and I spent some time reading my training manual, setting up the scanner, and doing a bit more research concerning the mission that I suddenly realized I signed up for without much contemplation or knowledge.
Setup:
I plugged in the scanner's home base, and connected the ethernet cable from the unit into my wireless router. My scanner started charging, and it seemed to be able connect to my network without any problems. It needs to be plugged in either to an internet router, or a phone jack in order to transmit your data.
Note: You are sent the appropriate super secret agent equipment model based upon your answer to questions during the registration process
 Disguised as a Calculator
Scanning:
The scanner can be put into a practice mode which allows the scanning of items and for secret agents to get used to using the device without transmitting that data back to HQ. I have to select the store shopped at AND enter the prices for the items. I didn't really expect this, and it adds a lot of time to the process.
Points:
From what I read, 150 points are earned for each week's worth of data transmitted. If this is true, it will take a LONG time to earn enough points to redeem for anything of any value as most of the products are thousand and thousands of points. The good news is that there are online surveys to participate in to earn extra points. As with any other points/reward programs, the more you put into it, the more you'll earn.
 Rare Picture of Agent Gear Being Used In the Field Conclusion:
Setup was easy, scanning is a bit more work than I had expected, but the number of points earned per week seems to produce a long road to redeeming them for anything of value. The surveys may help, but at this point I don't have a good feel for how often the surveys are available, or how many points you get on average for a survey.
So, officially, the jury is still out. I'm still hopeful program will prove to be worth participating in, therefore I'll give it the old college try and see how it goes.
I'll do an update post in a few weeks to let you know how it's going, just in case any of you are thinking of becoming a secret agent for Nielsen as well.
 Clean stairs and hallway! I rocked my finances in so many ways this weekend, I just HAD to share!Carpet Cleaning - Continued!A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how the carpets in my home needed cleaning, and how I borrowed my neighbors carpet cleaner to save money. They allowed us to keep the cleaner (as they were not going to use it any time soon) and we have continued to clean other areas in our home. This weekend Vonnie did the upstairs hallway, and I did the stairs leading to our upstairs. I LOVE the look of freshly cleaned carpets...especially since it cost me an additional $0 out of pocket since we had all the supplies we needed.
 The little engine that saved me $81 Winterizing the Sprinkler System:
Having a service come out and do it would cost me $81 ($9 a zone x 9 zones). I'm not sure why I even started it up this year I as can count on my hand how many times I used it. I didn't want to spend the money to water my lawn this summer, so I sure didn't want to pay to have it winterized. So, I borrowed my neighbor's air compressor and blew out the lines myself.
Mystery Shopping
The main company I shop for announces new shops on the last day of the month, so I usually schedule the shops I want to do for the following weekend. I did three shops over the weekend, and have my reports all submitted. I won't hate getting a check for $47 right before Christmas next month at all. I may even pick up an extra shop from a new company that I registered with.
 This will make for happy girl on Christmas morning Christmas ShoppingMy daughter's new addiction is the SIMS game she bought with her allowance a few weeks ago. There are a ton of these games available, and she's already starting to talk about saving up and buying some others. My wife looked on Craig's List and found someone in the area selling 6 SIMS games for $35. They're normally $20 a piece. We told our kids that a major part of their Christmas present haul this year would be our neighborhood trip to Wisconsin Dells in January, so there will likely be less presents under the actual tree. This gives us 6 individual presents to put under the tree for Tori for only $35!
 I was ALL IN with my finances this weekend! Entertainment
Friday night the family and I stayed in and did a family snuggle on the couch. Saturday night was men's poker night down the street at the crazy Australian's house. He's actually British, but he sounds like he's Australian due to the large amount of Australian soap operas he watched when he was a kid. In any case, we played two games of Texas Hold 'em tournament style, each one had a buy in of $10. We played from 7:00pm to 2:00am. I didn't win either game, but $20 for 7 hours of entertainment was well worth it.
No Restaurant Challenge
Did we eat out this weekend? Um, hellz no.
Friday: Fish sandwiches and french fries
Saturday: Sliced skirt steak, shrimp and fried rice
Sunday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn
I ROCKED my finances this weekend....how'd you do?
 The Weigh In:Weight: 189.6
Weekly change: -0.4
Loss YTD: -26.4
Goal: 178.0
Goal check in:
Work out every day:- Sunday: 4 mile run
- Monday: 4 mile run / chest, bicep, tricep strength training
- Tuesday: Spinning / legs, back, shoulders, core strength training
- Wednesday: Overslept. If I don't workout early AM, it doesn't happen
- Thursday: 4 mile run / chest, bicep, tricep strength training
- Friday: 5 mile run / legs, back, shoulders, core strength training
- Saturday: 8 mile run
No eating after 8pm: Accomplished 4 days.2 days had a “light snack” after the deadline.I completely biffed it one evening and strapped on a feed bag about 10:30pm. Keep Food Journal and adhere to Weight Watchers Points: Started strong for the four days, then tapered off. Rockin' my notebook again today. Analysis: I really feel like my momentum has shifted in a positive way. I'm exercising regularly, I'm getting stronger (as noted by my readiness to increase the weight on some of my exercises), and my marathon training is going well. I believe I'm increasing muscle mass and seeing a (slight) weight loss. I'm committed to doing my food journal this week, even if it tells me I'm eating too much. Goals for next week:- Work out every day
- Increase chest press ending set max to 240lbs
- Increase bicep curl repetition weight to 100lbs
- Start doing pull ups
- Continue NO eating after 8pm
- Journal Food Consumption, use Weight Watchers documentation and stay within “points”
See you next week, when we'll see what the food journal says. I'm primed to have a great week!
I entered the world of Twitter in late November 2010, and one of the first personal finance bloggers that I latched onto was Brad from Enemy Of Debt. He was just finishing up his challenge of trying to go the entire month without eating at a restaurant. My wife and I gave it a shot in the month of December and while we weren't able to stay completely away from restaurants, we could count on one hand the times we walked through the doors of convenience. Frequent visits to restaurants have started to creep back into our lifestyle, so when Brad announced that he again was having a No Restaurant Challenge for the month of November 2011, I knew that we had to do it. I'm steaming mad at restaurants, their prices, and how much they've again begun to suck out of my funds. It's time to do something about it.It's time to join the Occupy The Kitchen movement!That's right, for the month of November, I'm joining Brad's challenge to go restaurant free. I'm going to occupy my kitchen each and every day. There are two things that have to be in place in order for my family and I to be successful in our quest to be restaurant free for the month of November: A plan and a reward. The Plan: Menu Plan: Make up a menu plan for the week. If you don't plan ahead, it's just too easy to get in the car and go pick something up. I have my own system for menu planning you can read about in what was my very first guest post ever. Stock your shelves: Once you've planned out a list of meals for the week, go get the stuff you need. Your menu plan makes zero sense if you decide to make tacos, but don't have any hamburger in the fridge. Make kick ass food: If your menu plan contains only PB&J, spaghetti, and frozen pizza, I'll give you until the weekend before you're at Applebees ordering up a Margarita and some fajitas. Plan to eat meals that make it worth it to eat at home!It's OK to spend more on groceries: Read that again. Seriously. If you spend $30 more in groceries, but don't spend $100 going out to eat, guess what? You WIN! Prep: If I know we're having chicken alfredo the next day for dinner, I'll cook the pasta and the chicken the night before while I'm helping the kids with their homework. The next evening, if I can say to my wife, “We're having chicken alfredo and it'll be done in 5 minutes,” guess what the chances are that we're going out to eat that night? A Big Fat Goose Egg. The Reward:I need a new computer. I have a desktop that is so old it is begging for death, and a laptop which has something going on with the fan that makes it sound much like a table saw at times. I'd like to chuck them both out and replace it with a decent, middle of the road desktop. Between the discount I can get through my employer, or the fact that the holiday sale season is almost upon us I ought to be able to find a computer that will fit our needs and be budget friendly. I don't know if I can save enough in a single month to pay purchase a new computer, but I can at least get a good start with the goal of purchasing one by Christmas. Are YOU up to the challenge? Head over to Enemy of Debt and check out the details of the challenge and join In the fun.And occupy YOUR kitchen!
My debt has taken me to places I would have never imagined.Like laying in bed, staring at the ceiling wondering where the money will come from to pay the bills that are due. Or, sitting at the computer desk late at night, transferring balances from one card to another to “save” a monthly payment.Or telling my family I don't feel well to avoid going out to eat because it's easier than telling them we just can't afford it. Or Baltimore, Maryland.It started with an email on a Tuesday morning from the social media manager at Care One Debt Relief Services, for which I am a customer blogger. Eight days later my wife and I found ourselves on an airplane headed for Baltimore to be a part of their rebranding effort. We were excited to finally meet in person the members of the social media and marketing team that I had been corresponding with respect to my blog posts since March of 2010. We had a layover in Atlanta where we met Tammy Bradford, one of the social media team members who was also flying to Baltimore. While we sat together waiting for our flight, we discussed everything from debt, to her being a pastor, to my wife's uncomfortableness with flying. After boarding the flight, and while on the runway, the pilot announced that the Baltimore airport was temporarily closed due to weather in the area. He also announced that we would be sitting on the runway for 45 minutes until the next update was available. My cell phone rang immediately. It was Tammy, asking how Vonnie (my wife) was holding up. That's just the kind of person she is. When we finally arrived in Baltimore, we made a quick stop at the hotel to check in and freshen up before heading to a restaurant where we were to meet others for a welcome dinner. Upon arriving at the restaurant, the hostess led us through the dining room. I could feel my heart start to pound as we took a left turn and entered a back room. I quickly scanned the crowd and found several familiar faces that I had previously only seen in pictures. I have a handful of life experiences that trigger an instant emotional response whenever thought of. The instant in which I entered that room is one of them. From Ali Landow's warm smile which instantly calmed my nerves, to Suzanne Coblentz coming from the back of the room and throwing a hug so tight it nearly squeezed the wind right out of me, to staring at the ever cheerful Suzanne Cramer across the table once I sat down, it was in an almost dreamlike fog that I met the people I had been interacting with virtually for the last 18 months. Sitting at the table, I couldn't help but just sit there for a few moments looking around the room, soaking in the entire experience. Care One, and the Debt Management Program that we are enrolled in, has saved my family from almost certain financial ruin. They have also given me the opportunity to share my story in their user community. I felt overwhelmed to be in a room filled with the people that has made all of this possible. The next morning we went to Care One's office for a tour, as well as to film customer testimonials. As we walked through the facility being introduced to other employees, I was shocked to find that many of them recognized me from reading my posts. We settled into a conference room where Katie, one of the other customers present, filmed her testimonial first. Reading another's debt story is inspiring. You get hope from reading that you are not the only one that has made mistakes, and if they can fight their way out of debt, so can you. However, physically seeing Katie sitting in a chair, hearing her tell her story and how she has changed her life took inspiration to a whole new level. At various times during the taping of the testimonials, the Care One representative with us was visibly moved by our stories and how we had been affected by debt. She apologized saying that she couldn't help it because she had become attached to us as people. Think about that. How many companies that you purchase services from connects with you such that they become attached to you as a person? Next we drove to an advertising agency for a photo shoot. While waiting for my time slot, Care One's founder and CEO, Bernie Dancel, sat with my wife and I and talked with us about our situation, getting to know us both as customers and as people. As we talked, I noticed some of the other people in the conference room rolled their chairs closer to listen to our conversation.Once the photo shoot was complete, we were driven back to the airport to catch our return flight. We had a layover in Chicago, where my wife and I grabbed some dinner. Sitting in the O'Hare airport eating deep dish pizza and watching the season opening NFL game, I inhaled deeply and tried to process the last 36 hours. The thing that kept resonating in my head is how many times I heard the phrase, “I feel like I know you,” from people I was meeting for the very first time. I also reflected on the fact that was exactly how I was treated. Not as someone they had just met, but as a friend, or as part of a family. On October 10th, Care One launched their new look website with the theme, “We've been in your shoes.” Many of their employees have also been through their own journey out of debt. I thought back to that phrase I heard so many times during my trip to Baltimore: “I feel like I know you.”It all made sense now. They do know me, because at a different time in their lives, they were me. Sometimes I feel like there is a reason why I am having to go through this journey out of debt. My debt has certainly taken me to some very low places that I don't ever want to visit again. But my debt has taken me to some interesting and positive places as well.I want to share those thoughts with you, so my next few posts in the Care One Community during the month of November will be a series of other positive things that have come out of my experiences with debt. Be sure to check those out the next few Wednesdays.
It's amazing, the places my debt has taken me, where has your debt taken you?Postscript:Check out the video "Bernie's Story" on Care One's You Tube Channel, where my wife and I can be seen talking with Bernie at the 51 second mark, and then a bit later is a picture of myself, Katie (another customer), and Bernie. This is also where my customer testimonial will likely be placed eventually.Also, check out my new snazzy twitter profile background featuring one of the pictures from my photo shoot!
 The Weigh In:- Weight: 190.0
- Weekly change: +0.2
- Loss YTD: -26.0
- Goal: 178.0
Goal check in: Work out every day:Hellz Yeah!Increase Chest Press workout to end at max weight of 235lbs:With heavy metal ripping my eardrums to shreds, on Thursday I successfully did the following chest press routine for the first time:135 x 10155 x 8175 x 6195 x 4215 x 2235 x 1135 x 10Increase long run to 9 miles: Had runs of the following distances this week: 4, 6, 4 and 10. Did Spinning 2 days 1 day of “other” non-impact (bike, elliptical, stair stepper combo) NO snack crackers: Not as bad as last week, but not perfect No eating after 8pm: Accomplished 5 out of 7 days. Analysis:I'm more puzzled this week than angry. Looking at what I accomplished with respect to my goals, having a weight gain just doesn't add up. I suspect that I am gaining muscle, as the weight I'm lifting the highest it's been in about 10 years. But I also believe that I'm not paying as close attention to my meal portion sizes as much as I used to. So, this week I'm pulling out my weight watchers points system documentation, and dusting off the food journal.Goals for next week:- Work out every day
- Continue NO eating after 8pm
- Journal Food Consumption, use Weight Watchers documentation and stay within “points”
Ever onward....
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away
There was a young hero who loved Lego Star Wars
He saved his bounty and sought to assemble a powerful fleet
That would be the envy of his allies and enemies
After many battles,
Our young hero found many of his ships were no longer useful
Instead, he had his eye on a powerful Jedi device called “iPod Touch”
With which he could rule the Middle School Galaxy
Failing to sell part of his fleet to raise funds
The hero had all but given up hope in acquiring the Jedi Device........ We had put my son's unwanted Lego Star Wars sets on Craig's list and had success selling the smaller ones. But the real money was in selling the larger sets. The trouble was, he had made some modifications, and no longer has the boxes. Both of which make them not very interesting to your average Star Wars fan.But here we had an email from a potential buyer agreeing to purchase the remaining sets $140. It was somewhat less than he was expecting, so he instantly declined. I urged him to take some additional time to think about it, as I suspect his emotional attachment to the Legos was causing him to place too high a price on the Legos. Together, we tried to determine the current fair selling price for his items, but it was difficult given the modifications, lack of pieces, and no longer having the boxes. As far I could tell the offer is very fair, and not far below the maximum he could ever hope to get. We started talking about value. I told him that the decision was ultimately his, since the Legos belonged to him, but asked him to consider what had more value:- Continue to have possession of the Legos (which have been sitting on a shelf for months)
- Having $140 in his pocket
Selling unused and unwanted items is a very popular way to reduce clutter, and earn some cash. In order to be successful, however, the items for sale have to be priced correctly, or the items will end up back on the shelf. As mentioned, the decision is his, but personally, I would take the money. My son shouldn't think of what he “lost” by not getting as much as he thinks they're worth, but how much he gains by selling them. And $140 would go a long ways towards acquiring a powerful Jedi device.
 The alarm goes off, and I slowly pull myself out of bed at 4:30am to start my day. As I stumble through the darkness out of my bedroom and towards the stairs my toes land in a cold, wet, pile of some sort of mushy substance. I turned on the light to confirm what I already knew. One of my cats had again eaten too fast, and hurled up a kitty land mine in the middle of the hallway In addition to my binge and purge loving felines, I also have young children that are prone to dripping ice cream, dropping chip crumbs, spilling soda, and dragging in salt and sand laced snow from the winter wonderland I live in 6 months out of the year.Last weekend the state of my home's high traffic areas had reached critical mass, and my wife and I decided it was time to shampoo and clean the carpets. We were looking to clean the following areas;- Two main living areas
- Walkway of our bedroom
- Upstairs hallway
- Area in front of our mechanical room (where cats' liter box and food reside)
- A total of 20 stairs
I compiled some options and prices for doing the job:
Option #1: Professional Carpet cleaning companyCost:Rooms: $109.95Hallway: $ 10.00Stairs: $ 35.00-----------------------------------------------Total: $154.95Pros: No work on our part except writing the check, done in one dayCons: Most expensive, need to have someone home during the work day Option #2: Renting a Carpet Cleaner:Cost:Rental for 24 hours: $ 24.99Carpet Shampoo: $ 12.99----------------------------------------------Total: $ 37.98Pros: Less expensive than hiring someoneCons: We have to do the work, work must be done in 24 hours or pay extra Option #3: Borrowing Neighbor's Carpet CleanerCost:Carpet Shampoo: $12.99---------------------------------------------Total: $12.99Pros: Least expensive, can be completed on our scheduleCons: We have to do all the work, equipment is not professional gradeMy wife and I went with option #3 with it being the least expensive, and the most flexible. By putting in about 6 hours worth of effort on Saturday, and another couple of hours on Sunday, we completed the cleaning we wanted to do. The carpet looks awesome, and our house just feels cleaner. Additionally, we didn't use all of our shampoo, so our neighbors are letting us hold on to the carpet cleaner and do some additional work next weekend too! We have a installed a new rule that all food must be eaten at the kitchen table. By doing so we can at least eliminate food stains on our freshly cleaned carpets.If only I could find a way to avoid having to play Black Ops every morning as I walk down the hallway.
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