Penny Pinching Mom

Money to Burn

I had a birthday earlier this month. I almost forgot about it myself. It wasn’t until a week before when Pumpkin said something about it that I realized it was so close.

As usual, my mom sent me a card. This year it was a little late, which was decidedly unusual, but she had planned to give it to me when I came to visit and I ended up not getting to go. Anyway, I opened it, and it was a beautiful, ornate card, as usual. But there was something else unusual: There was no check in it.

As badly as I needed the money, I was glad. She is on a fixed income and has a lot of bills to pay, so I’ve been telling her for some time not to worry about getting me anything or sending me money for my birthday and holidays. She had never listened before, but I though maybe I had finally gotten through to her. When she called the next day, I thanked her for the beautiful card.

A couple of days later, I was having trouble getting a fire going in the wood stove. I had burned up all of the newspaper we had, so I went hunting for more paper. I saw my birthday card in its envelope, but I didn’t want to burn the card, so I removed it. I went over to the stove, tore the envelope in two… and something fell to the floor. I picked it up to find that it was a check from Mom. It must have come out of the card when I took it out and remained in the envelope.

It all made sense then. Mom had called to make sure I got my card, because she wanted to make sure I got that money. And I came thisclose to burning it. Nice.

Well, I guess that’s one way to make sure you don’t spend money. Better than weight loss pills for the wallet, huh? I called Mom and told her the story, and she got a kick out of it. Then she fussed on me for not saying something about a check not being in there. Said I should know that she would tell me if she wasn’t going to send one. True enough I suppose, but I guess I was hoping that she finally listened to me. I ought to know better than that, though.

Getting Educated Is a Good Thing

With jobs as scarce as they are today, it’s important for us all to remain as competitive as possible in the job market. That’s even true for freelancers like me. The more you know and the more you can do, the better chance you have of making it through the economic downturn.

So one of the best things a person can do right now is further his education. Those with associate’s degrees (like me) need to go for their bachelor’s. Those with bachelor’s degrees would be well served to get their master’s. And even those who already have master’s degrees can get additional certifications.

In years past, getting more education was easier said than done. What busy professional had time to squeeze in any more classes than were necessary to keep up the certifications he already had, much less work toward a higher degree? But today getting a degree online is an option. Students can study when it’s convenient for them rather than working around course offerings in a traditional college setting.

Saint Xavier University is one school that is offering options for those who want to further their education. They offer a number of master’s degree programs that students can complete almost entirely from home. Take their MS nursing program, for example. Those who have already earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university can take all the courses they need online (with the exception of one weekend of applied campus experience) to earn an MSN Clinical Nurse Leader degree.

Such a degree could open the door for all sorts of career advancement options. MSN recipients can move up to higher paying jobs with their current employers. They can pursue more lucrative jobs with other employers. Or (my personal favorite) they can create their own opportunities as third-party administrators. SXU’s School of Nursing is fully accredited and has been recognized by the National League for Nursing as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education, so you can rest assured that you’re getting all of the training you need to succeed.

SXU also offers master’s degrees in Service Management and Curriculum and Instruction. All programs are delivered by professional faculty, and students have access to online discussion forums in which they can communicate with their instructors and classmates. Each student is also assigned a student services coordinator that can assist him with any issues or questions he may have.

If you’ve been thinking about getting that master’s degree, now is the time to do it. Money may be tight for many of us these days, but financial aid is available. And the flexibility of online courses makes it possible for almost anyone to work courses into his schedule.

Outsourcing

I’ve been trying to come up with ways to be more productive in my writing. Not only so I can get more done and make more money in the short run, but so I can have more time to work on building passive income. I’d love to be able to not freak out when I don’t get as much work done in a month’s time as I need to.

One of the most popular ways I’ve found that people become more productive is through outsourcing. There’s good, sound logic behind it. If you pay someone else to do the things that don’t directly make you money, and use the time you save to do things that do make you money, then you can come out ahead. But outsourcing just won’t work for me right now.

I know, you can start out small, but I can’t even justify doing that right now. The main things that take up my time that could be spent working are invoicing and looking for new work (which I don’t have to do all that much). Heck, I can’t even justify the expense of rubber stamps yet. So hiring someone to do administrative stuff doesn’t make much sense for me right now.

One day I hope that outsourcing will be a no-brainer for me. But for now, I’ll just stick to being a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to my business.

Tags: home business, outsourcing, self employment

I Won Some Coupons!

Have you heard about the Kraft So Good Together Instant Win Game? If not, click that link for a chance to win $15 worth of Kraft coupons. I just won some myself, and it was only my second try!

Lucky? Maybe a little. But I’ve been reading on blogs about a lot of people who’ve won after trying a few times (you can enter once a day). It appears that the odds are pretty good, and according to the message I got saying that I won, there are coupons for free stuff. Definitely worth the couple of minutes you spend on it.

The first time you enter, you have to register with your address and other contact information. But when you go back, you can just enter your email address and birthdate. Easy peasy. So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself some money-saving Kraft coupons!

Edited to add: According to Carrie, you can enter not one, but four times a day!

Tags: coupons, food, Giveaways, kraft, win

Finding Deals Online

As you know if you’re a regular reader (or probably figured out by the name of this blog if you’re not), I’m a mom who loves to save money. Right now, with the economy in the state it’s in and my family’s particular situation, it’s a necessity. But I’ve always loved finding a bargain. I haven’t had a chance to take advantage of any bargains on big ticket stuff in a while, but finding them gives me hope that one day soon I will.

That’s why I love sites like Buy.com. Every day is like a big blowout sale there. They’ve got computers, all sorts of electronics, DVDs, jewelry, furniture, appliances and much more. And they’ve got killer prices on it all. They’ll even tell you if another online merchant has a lower price than they do, so you always get the best price. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

They have awesome weekly and daily deals for us hardcore bargain hunters. For example, right now, I see a D-Link DIR-615 Wireless N Router with a list price of $79.99 for only $39.99, and free shipping on top of that. If I already had a laptop, I would be on that deal like white on rice!

Speaking of laptops, they have a nice selection of those too. Here’s one that I’m particularly fond of:

This Acer laptop looks like it has just what I need. It’s not one of those teeny weenie laptops that you can’t do any serious work on, it has a Celeron dual-core processor (great for multitasking), 80 gig hard drive, Wi-Fi, and a CD burner. And the price is nice too: Only $480.99!

As much as I need one, I can’t buy a laptop right now. But when I can, Buy.com will be the first place I look. Maybe I’ll get lucky and that Acer (or something equally awesome) will be one of their daily or weekly deals by then.

Tags: deals, electronics, laptops

Mmmm, Cookies!

Pumpkin is selling Girl Scout cookies. Actually I already turned her order in, but the troop leader orders lots of extras so they can have booth sales and keep making individual sales. It’s a good thing, because I forgot to order ours, and Hubby gets cranky if he doesn’t get his peanut butter patties.

I like them too, but I don’t usually go as crazy over them as he does. The peanut butter patties are my favorite too, but I also like the lemonades and peanut butter sandwiches. In fact, I don’t think there’s any kind that I really don’t like!

They also have some new cookies this year that I bet will be good. They’re cinnamon crisps in 100 calorie packs. They had something similar last year, and they were great. Maybe I should just get that kind for myself, then I won’t have to worry about buying some diet pills to go along with them.

Anyway, if you know any Girl Scouts, ask them about getting some of those awesome cookies. And if you don’t, be on the lookout for booth sales next month. Buy buying some, you can get a delicious snack and help a great organization at the same time.

Hanging Out With Bargain Hunters

A friend of mine keeps asking me to go shopping with her. Right now I don’t have any money to shop with, but as soon as I do I am so going. She and Hubby’s aunt often go shopping together, and they are both skilled bargain hunters. They’re always finding awesome deals on stuff.

They went shopping together a few weeks ago, and they came back with a bunch of very nice gently used clothes for Pumpkin. I told them they shouldn’t have done that, and they informed me that they got them all for $1.50. Apparently they know of some secondhand store where you can get all you can put in a bag for that price. Cool.

They’re always coming home with different stuff. Most of it is used, but it’s always in really good condition. Purses, silverware, bathroom light fixtures, you name it, they can find a deal on it. They could be a very good influence on me.

Just When You Think You Might Get Ahead…

I was looking forward to Hubby’s payday today. He said he was supposed to be getting a nice bonus because they got all of the work they were supposed to have done by the end of the year completed. Imagine my surprise when I opened his direct deposit report and found that he made less than he usually makes.

Not only did they not give them the bonus on this check, his crew was also rained out a couple of times during the last pay period. So now we’re going to be seriously scraping by for the next couple of weeks. Happy happy, joy joy.

I hope to be getting a check next week, but it may not come until the week after. That’s the only money we’ll be getting until he gets paid again. And by the time I pay the bills that are due, we will have almost nothing left. I’m so tired of this it’s not even funny. Every time I think we might have a little breathing room, something happens that we don’t.

Must not get bent out of shape over this. Must calm down and breathe and remember that things will get better.

When I Grow Up

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wasn’t like most kids, who want to be 500 different things. The first thing I remember wanting to be was a writer. I’m doing that now, and that’s a great thing, but one day I want to be the kind of writer I envisioned myself as then: a novelist. I don’t think it will happen anytime soon, but maybe one day.

I did have a couple of other aspirations. I wanted to be a rock star at one point. Never mind that I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. I suppose I could probably be a decent instrumentalist if I put my mind to it, because I did well on the clarinet for the whole five minutes I was in the band, but I doubt that I’ll ever know.

I also considered being a lawyer for a while. My dad even said that I should have been one (after I was already grown and finished with all the schooling I was interested in). He said my sister should have been a doctor, too. Gee, Dad, didn’t want to live off of your kids or anything did you? (Just kidding. My dad was a great guy, and very self-sufficient, and I’m absolutely certain that he wouldn’t have accepted any help from his kids even if we had all been filthy rich.)

I don’t suppose being a lawyer would be too bad, especially if you were the right kind of lawyer. I would have wanted to be one that helped people who needed it, like a mesothelioma lawyer or something. That would probably be pretty rewarding.

But I’m all grown up, at least everyone else says so, and I’m not really interested in a major career change. I might take some writing classes to improve on what I’m doing, but I can definitely see myself being a writer for the rest of my life. As long as there’s money in it and people are willing to pay me to do it, I’m happy.

No More Health Insurance

It’s not official yet, but I had to reapply for Medicaid this month. I know our income is over the limit (unless they’ve raised it drastically since the last time I checked), and I doubt we’ll fit under any of the special circumstances that are required to have it when you’re over the limit any longer. Heck, we were very lucky to be able to have it as long as we did. We went over the income limit three months after we got it, and just barely qualified to keep transitional Medicaid for a year.

Anyway, I don’t know what we’ll do about our medical needs after the end of the month if we don’t get to keep it. Hubby needs to go to the doctor periodically for a couple of different things, Pumpkin has her stomach problems and allergies, and I have my ADD and frequent sinus infections. I guess Pumpkin will be going to the health department, and Hubby and I will be going to the free clinic. I hate the health department (been there, done that), and I’ve never been to the free clinic, but I once called to get a friend an appointment, had to leave a message on a machine, and didn’t get a call back until several days later.

I went to the doc today about some sinus troubles, and even though I really don’t think it’s an infection, I let her go ahead and write me a prescription for antibiotics. I’ll hang onto them for when I do need them unless it turns out that I really do have an infection. I also got another month’s worth of my ADD meds and some good stuff for sinuses. After being weighed in I thought about asking her for some of the best diet pills on the market, but I didn’t. The insurance would only pay for a month’s worth, if that, and that wouldn’t do me much good at all.

I’m going to check prices on private health insurance, but I know we can’t afford it. Not the kind that will pay for stuff like we need it for, anyway. We might be able to swing a plan that just pays for emergencies when I get back to working at a normal pace, but that would be it. I sure wish our government would become enlightened enough to find a solution to the health care crisis, but I suppose that’s too much to expect.