Penny Pinching Mom

A Housewarming Party Would Be Nice

I was just thinking about how I’ve never had a housewarming party, or household shower, or any kind of gathering in which people bought me stuff for my house. I’ve only been to a couple of them, but it sure would be nice to have one. I guess my family doesn’t believe in them. And Hubby’s family doesn’t do showers of any kind that I’m aware of.

The only shower that’s been thrown for me was a baby shower when I was expecting Pumpkin, thrown by my mom and sister. I didn’t even get a wedding shower- no bridal lingerie for me! Not that I would have worn it- I was way too pregnant at the time.

I’m not bitter about not having a housewarming or anything. The economy is horrible right now, and I’d probably feel bad if people were spending money on stuff for me. Still, it would be nice to have some curtains, new dishes, and such. Maybe someday.

Roses are Pink

I’ve got some beautiful wild pink miniature rose bushes growing all around my house. I’ve been trying to take care of them, but I’m just not a green thumb. I’m surprised that my silk flowers haven’t wilted.

I’ve been pinching off dead blooms and trying to keep them watered. But the last few times I’ve checked them, they just haven’t looked very good. Maybe I need to put some Miracle Grow on them. I don’t suppose it could hurt.

We have some more flowers that I need to plant, but I haven’t gotten around to that either. I hope I can get them into the ground before it’s too late. I’ve just been so busy trying to write (and failing miserably at it) that I haven’t been able to do much else. But if I have my way, we’ll have some pretty flowers around here before too much longer.

He Broke My Chandelier

One of the things I really liked about this place from the time we first looked at it was the chandelier in the kitchen. It’s not fancy by any means, but it’s pretty. Unfortunately, we have really low ceilings, so Hubby hits his head on it daily.

He has been cussing it every since we moved in. I tried to get him to remove the link between the fixture and the ceiling, but he says that wouldn’t work. I think it would, but I’d rather not do it myself. So it hasn’t been done.

A couple of days ago, I was in the living room and heard a crash. I knew what it was without even having to look. We had taken one of the light bulbs out of the chandelier to put somewhere else, and the globe covering that socket had fallen out when Hubby hit his head on it. Grrr.

So now I guess we’ll be looking at indoor lighting options. I’d love to have another chandelier, but I’m not even going to bother. It would probably get broken too, and even if it didn’t, I’m tired of hearing a bunch of griping about it.

Very Angry

I check my online banking regularly to make sure I’ve got the amount of money I think I have in my account. I rarely write stuff down since I use my debit card much more than I use my checks, but I’m never clueless about how much money I have. Especially not when we’re as low on cash as we are now.

So I checked in over the weekend, and much to my surprise, it was showing a negative amount. It was obvious that some of transactions were pending, because the account balance was positive, but the available amount was negative. I nearly had a panic attack. I went over everything in my head that I had put on the debit card, but according to my calculations, I should have been in the black.

I asked Hubby if he had used the debit card for anything, and he said he hadn’t. I couldn’t call the bank to find out what the deal was since it was on the weekend, and they never know anything about pending transactions anyway. So I worried myself half to death all weekend.

I had Hubby deposit enough money first thing this morning to cover the amount of the overdraft (using money that was supposed to go toward groceries) until we could figure out what was going on. The transactions didn’t post until this evening, and when I found out where they came from, I was livid.

The stupid insurance company went ahead and charged the full amount for my, Hubby’s and Pumpkin’s life insurance, even though I turned down mine and Hubby’s. But that’s not all. Since I didn’t have enough in the bank to cover the amount that they wrongfully charged, they charged a freaking $28 overdraft fee! I am beyond pissed right now.

They’re going to be hearing from me first thing in the morning. If they don’t credit my account for the amount of my and Hubby’s life insurance and the overdraft fee, I’m canceling Pumpkin’s and taking my business elsewhere. And they can forget about me switching our car insurance over, which I had planned to do next month. I’ll leave the homeowners’ policy with them for now since it’s paid in full until next year, but I might even switch that on down the road.

It seems like nothing like this ever happens until we truly can’t afford it. But I’m not taking it lying down. If I don’t get my money back, I’m going to be extremely vocal about my displeasure.

I Just Said No

As you’ve read if you are a regular here, Hubby and I applied for some life insurance. We signed up for a policy for Pumpkin too. But money is very tight right now, and the future is uncertain, so we debated heavily on whether or not to keep it all.

We had to let them know about Pumpkin’s first, because hers was approved before ours was. My first thought was to drop hers and keep ours, but the insurance guy talked me into holding onto it. Not so much for the standard reasons people get life insurance, but because it would guarantee that she could get life insurance later on down the road, regardless of any health problems she might develop. I signed for it and deferred our decision on the rest of us until today.

We ultimately decided that we would have to let ours go. As much as we realize that we need it, we just don’t have the money to pay for it right now. Insurance Guy tried to change my mind, giving me some quotes on life insurance rates for lower amounts and all. But we can’t even afford the lowest thing they’ve got right now.

Now if we decide to get it later on, we’ll have to go through the physical and all again. I hate to do that, but if the money’s not there, it’s not there. I’m hoping that Hubby’s new job will offer good life insurance for us both. Then we won’t have to worry about it.

Losing Weight Is Not Easy

Hubby and I both need to lose some weight. The doctor says it would improve his health, and the doctor doesn’t have to tell me that it would improve mine. Knock on wood, I haven’t developed any serious problems as of yet, but I have very little energy. And I know that if I would start working out and slimming down, it would help.

I really wish I could find some diet pills that work. At least to get a head start on things. I find it very hard to stay motivated, and if my efforts don’t produce results in a reasonable amount of time, I tend to just give up. But I’ve got to at least try. I think if I would start losing weight, Hubby would try for the sake of competition if nothing else. And I’d be happy just to see him get down to a weight that would be more conducive to good health.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Another month, another struggle with juggling the bills. We’ll manage, somehow, but I might end up in an insane asylum in the process.

There is a glimmer of hope, but I’m afraid to get excited about it. Hubby is supposed to be starting a new job next month. He will be getting paid more per hour, and getting a lot more hours. And unless there’s something that we don’t know about it, it should be much easier on him. He’s been having a lot of trouble with his muscles, and the job he’s at now involves a lot of heavy lifting, so I’ll be glad for him to get out of that.

I’m very cautiously optimistic. It seems like every time I think we’re going to get out of a rut, we end up stuck right where we’re at. But if all is as it seems, things should improve. I sure hope so.

Selling Stuff

I desperately need to have another yard sale. The stuff I didn’t sell from my last one (which ended up being most of what I put in it) is still at Hubby’s grandpa’s. And now we have a garage full of stuff that Hubby got from that hardware store he cleaned out. So I guess I need to try to set aside a weekend to try to get rid of some stuff.

I have some computer stuff, including a scanner that works great, and some good computer games that I can’t use because my video card can’t handle them. And there are tons of little girl clothes, a microwave, a vacuum cleaner, and much more. Hubby has a bunch of mufflers, a couple of catalytic converters, brake pads, air filters, and a bunch of other odds and ends.

I might put some of it on eBay. If so, I’ll post my listings here. Check back often if you want to find some great deals!

Keeping Cool

The past several days have been real scorchers, especially for early June. I’m happy to be (hopefully) done with the ridiculously cold weather we were having last month, but it has been miserably hot in the house. We don’t have air conditioning, which I’ve grown accustomed to, but the fans just aren’t really cutting it.

Maybe it would help if I got some curtains that would block the light. I’m not so sure that it would though, because the sun is usually to the back of our house, and it’s quite shady out there. There’s nothing to really block it in the front, though.

I’ve been keeping the blinds pulled for the most part, but the windows have had to come open pretty quickly in the mornings (the ones we don’t have to leave open at night so it won’t be so hot we can’t sleep, that is). I hope we get something figured out, or get enough money coming in to buy an air conditioner. I really have no desire to spend another summer slaving away in my office in unbearable heat.

It Could Be Worse

My family and I are lucky to have health insurance right now. As a matter of fact, we only have it by the skin of our teeth. Where Hubby was out of work for several months last year due to his health problems, we were able to qualify for Medicaid. He had his surgery and went back to work three months later, and that put us on regular Medicaid just long enough to qualify for transitional Medicaid, which we automatically get to keep for a year as long as we report our income. Seeing how his current employer is in no hurry to get his benefits started, and he will hopefully be changing jobs before long, we would be without health insurance for a long time if it weren’t for that.

It sucks not having insurance. We’ve been down that road on several occasions. It’s bad enough trying to scrape up enough money for a doctor visit, and then if you need a prescription, that usually costs a pretty penny. But I suppose it could always be worse.

Take my mom for example. She has Medicare, but she has a lot of health problems and has to go to the doctor a lot and is on lots of medication. She ends up paying a lot out of pocket anyway. She needs one of those Medigap plans. They have higher premiums that regular supplemental Medicare plans, but you don’t have to pay any out of pocket expenses. I wonder if she has looked into that?

As for us, I just hope we get some kind of insurance by the time our Medicaid runs out. Hubby is still having some problems, and Pumpkin gets sick a lot in the winter. It’s hard to believe, but lately it seems that I’m the healthiest one in this house.