Penny Pinching Mom

Not Completely Broke

Here’s some good news: Hubby and I are not completely broke! We were pretty darn close, but he finally sold some of that stuff that’s cluttering up our garage. Yay!

He brought his boss and a coworker by a couple of days ago on their lunch break to show them some stuff. He ended up with something like $30 that day, and brought home $15 more yesterday. He’s also got the three boxes of laminate flooring that we had sitting around sold, just waiting for the guy to pay him.

This is one week when we really, really needed that. By the time I bought groceries and put some gas in this past weekend, we had about $10 we could access for Hubby to run on. I had less than $20 in my PayPal account, and it won’t let me get it out with my card unless I have more than that for some reason, so that was off limits.

We’re not rich by any means, and I’m not going to spend what little we do have taking a chance on finding a weight loss pill that works. But at least Hubby has some money to run on. I just hope he doesn’t blow it all like he tends to do sometimes.

Tired and Unfocused

It has been a rough week or so, as far as work goes. I love writing and the freedom that being a freelancer brings, but I’ve found myself considering a career change. And it’s all because I’ve been having so much trouble focusing.

For one thing, I’ve been staying tired all the time. Maybe not as tired as someone who’s undergoing treatments for mesothelioma, but really freaking tired. I do my best to fight it, but I often find my eyes closing when I try to work. So I have to give in and take a nap. At least those naps haven’t been lasting too long.

But even when I’ve been wide awake, I’ve found myself hard pressed to stay on task. I try, I really do, but I get distracted so easily. I was actually a little ahead on my work, but I ended up behind on it and have had to fight to catch up for the past couple of days. I hate that so much.

Pumpkin starts back to school next week. As much as I’ll miss having her around, maybe that will help me focus better. But I think it’s going to take more than that. I can’t afford to go back to the doctor, so I’ll just have to take things into my own hands and keep trying supplements and techniques until I find something that helps. I can’t afford not to. And at this point, even if I were able to find another job, I don’t think I would perform very well at it.

Getting Gadgetized

For the past few years, I’ve been sorely behind the times when it comes to gadgets. It’s not that I don’t want them (for the most part), it’s that I haven’t had the disposable income to get them. But now I’m taking baby steps toward becoming more technologically advanced.

I guess the first step was my new computer. It came with a DVD+/-RW drive (which I’ve only used once so far) and multi-card reader. And I also ordered a spiffy flat-screen monitor with it. Doesn’t sound like much to all you cutting-edge tech types out there, I know, but after wrestling with a slow and hopelessly out-of-date behemoth of a machine for the past few years, it’s a pretty big deal to me.

This new machine has plenty of memory, so I won’t have to worry about a computer memory upgrade for a while. But I have been looking at some add-ons. I got my first thumb drive a couple of months ago, and I’m loving it. I’ve mostly used it for transferring files from my old machine to my new one so far, but I’m sure it will come in handy for lots of other stuff. And I just ordered a Bluetooth dongle (that word makes me giggle). So now I’ll be able to transfer pictures and videos from my phone to my computer, and ringtones from computer to phone.

I wouldn’t be able to make these tiny splurges if it weren’t for Amazon gift certificates. I get some from a community I participate in, and some from Swagbucks. I’ve seen a lot more tech stuff I’d love to have on Amazon, but I’m trying to save up some of the gift certificates for Christmas. I’d love to have enough to do at least half of my Christmas shopping with!

Free Chocolate Tomorrow

I think I’ve mentioned the Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act before. But if I didn’t, or you missed it, Mars is giving away coupons for free chocolate bars every Friday through September 25th. All you have to do is visit the link and submit your birthdate, name, address and email. The catch? You have to be one of the first 250,000 people to request it starting at 9:00 AM.

You can get up to four coupons total, but only one per Friday. I caught it once back in May, but have missed it ever since. Maybe this post will serve as a reminder for me, too.

Enjoy your free chocolate!

Getting Educated

In a way, I miss my college days. I only went to a community college, but it was a fun two years. I made new friends and lasting memories, and I even learned a thing or two. I had planned to go on to a four-year college once I got my associate’s degree, but by that point education was no longer a priority for me.

I have considered going back to school, but a traditional school setting probably wouldn’t be very convenient for me now. I have my daughter to think about, and there aren’t any four-year colleges located in a place where I could easily commute. So if it does happen, it will have to happen online.

My degree is in business management. If I wanted to get an online MBA, the University of Scranton would be on my short list of institutions to consider. Their program is AACSB accredited, and has a top 15 ranking with the Princeton Review. But whereas most AACSB programs take three years to complete, you can have your degree from the University of Scranton in only two.

Even those who do not have an undergraduate degree in business can get their MBA from the University of Scranton. They may have to take up to twelve “foundation modules,” but some may be waived depending on prior coursework and work experience. In some cases, GMAT test results are even waived.

If I do go back to school some day, it will probably be to take some writing courses. But if I ever do decide to pursue an MBA, I would seriously consider the University of Scranton. After all, one of the richest men in India got his MBA there, so they must be doing something right!

Home Improvement

We’ve lived in our house for over a year now. We knew when we moved in that we’d have to do some work, and we started right away with the roof. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten much further than that.

By the time we got the roof done, the extra money we had from the sale of our mobile home was gone. And money has been tight ever since. We’ve barely kept the bills paid, so doing anything to the house just hasn’t really been an option. We did manage to put in a wood stove, but we didn’t have to pay for that.

There are so many things I would like to do. First on the list is redoing the ceiling in the living room. We had to do a temporary fix when the cheap cardboard tile that’s in there started falling, and it looks awful. We need to waterproof the basement, too. I’d also like to redo the floor in the living room, kitchen and master bedroom. The floor is uneven in all three of those rooms, and once we get that taken care of I’d also like to put laminate in the living room. I’m really beginning to hate carpet.

When those things are done, I can start thinking about things like doing away with the paneling in the living room and the other two bedrooms, adding some metal tiles in the kitchen, and painting the outside. I’ve just had to develop a blind spot when it comes to that awful yellow color, but I’m still set on getting rid of it as soon as practicable.

Whenever I start thinking about all the work that needs to be done, I just have to remind myself that at least we have a roof over our heads. That’s more than a lot of people have right now.

A Week off for Hubby

The Husband has now been at his job for a year. He was planning on taking his week’s vacation on the week of our anniversary, but when he found out that it wouldn’t fall after a payday week, he postponed it. So his week off will be a couple of weeks from now.

I really don’t understand his reasoning at all. For one, I don’t get why he wanted to take his vacation on our anniversary in the first place, because we don’t have any money saved up to do anything. No Florida vacations for us this year, for sure. And then I don’t get why he wanted to wait until after a payday, because all the money he makes will be going toward bills anyway, and we won’t even be able to do anything close to home.

Oh well. It’s his vacation, so it’s up to him, whether it makes sense or not. At least he and Pumpkin can spend some time together. I have lots of work lined up, so maybe they can do some stuff and give me time to get it done.