Even though Pumpkin had to have all of her stuff weeks ago, I thought I would share a few things I’ve learned about saving money on school supplies in my humble experience. So here goes.

• If you’re in dire financial straits (like a lot of people are right now), you might be able to get some or all of the supplies on your child’s list for free. Many churches and businesses have school supply drives for the needy and distribute them shortly before school starts in the area. Check the local paper or ask around to find out when and where such events are taking place.
• Keep an eye on the sale papers. Discount and office supply stores usually have huge markdowns on school supplies when it’s near time for school to start. But they’re usually for a limited time only, so be sure to check the dates. (These sales often coincide with sales tax holidays, so you can save even more money by not paying taxes on your purchase.)
• If you find an outstanding deal on something that your child will use for several years to come, buy in bulk. Pencils, loose leaf paper and notebooks are just some of the things your child will need throughout his or her school career. But don’t buy things your child won’t need just because they’re cheap – crayons, for example, are only needed for the first few years of school, so there’s no reason to buy ten packs of them (unless of course your child goes through them quickly at home).
• If you’re a college student, you can either buy and later sell textbooks when you no longer need them, or rent them. It’s not always clear which way will save you the most money, though. One thing that can help you decide is the date of publication. If a book is hot off the presses, you will probably be better off to buy it and then sell it at the end of the semester, because its value will still be high. For older books, however, renting could be a better option, because it could be worth little to nothing to next semester’s students.

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. Here’s to a great school year for students, parents and teachers!

Fortunately for us, we wouldn’t have to go too far to have a great vacation. From what I’ve heard, the Outer Banks are an awesome place to vacation, and they’re within reasonable driving distance for us. While perusing Outer Banks vacation options, I ran across some very nice Duck vacation rentals from Carolina Designs Realty. Check out this amazing house in the Seahawk subdivision!

It’s plenty roomy, with two master bedrooms with king beds, a queen bed, two twin beds and a pyramid bunk. That means that not only could Hubby, Pumpkin and I go, but we could bring along some friends to enjoy our vacation with. And we’d barely even have to leave the house to have a great time! Its amenities include a private pool, hot tub, game room, grill, cable TV and stereo system. Of course no trip to the beach would be complete without visiting the actual beach, and that would be no problem since it’s only a short walk away.

Here are a couple more photos of some of my favorite features.

This house has plenty of things for both kids and adults to do. Maybe, hopefully, one of these days we can plan a trip there.

Now I’ve just got to keep Hubby from letting it slip. He’s already been dropping hints, just like he always does. Heck, if I were to order her some Bevery Hills flowers today (to be delivered on her birthday), he would probably let the cat out of the bag within a week. So I’m going to have to be super-vigilant about heading him off at the pass when he starts talking about her birthday when she’s around.

I’m hoping to be able to get her a new pair of earrings and a jewelry box to give her on her birthday, then give her the PSP and stuff when we have her party. We’ll see how that goes.

The question is, what else can I do while still keeping the family happy? I’d personally have no problem with getting the satellite cut off, but Hubby and Pumpkin would go into fits. Besides, we’re under contract, and we’d have to pay a hefty fee if we had it disconnected now. So that’s out of the question.

We’re considering getting one of the cell phones cut off and getting a cheaper plan for the other, but the jury is still out on that one. Hubby uses his a lot, and he doesn’t like for me to go out without one in case there’s an emergency. But if we do keep two hooked up, we’re going to have to get a new one, because Hubby’s has just about had it.

And then there are energy conserving measures to consider. I’ve thought about replacing the light bulbs with those compact fluorescent ones, but I’m not sure how much that would help. If I go that route, I’ll probably just replace one at a time as they burn out. We need to fix the temperature knob on the refrigerator, too, because it’s staying way too cold and we can’t turn it down. We could go as far as installing hand dryers in the bathroom and next to the kitchen sink, but I don’t think we will. That actually wouldn’t save us any money, because we dry on hand towels, not paper towels.

If you have any tips for cutting costs (especially in a way that you can see the difference right away), please share in the comments!

Pumpkin and I went in. She had to have a Dr. Pepper slushie, and Hubby requested a Mountain Dew in a glass bottle. Since I can’t have soda, I made a beeline for the juice cooler. A new kind of Snapple caught my eye, and I picked it up to take a closer look. It was noni berry juice, and although I have never eaten a noni berry, it looked pretty appealing. So I decided to give it a try and took it up to the register.

I got in the truck, opened it up, and took a drink. Overall it tasted good, but there was something a little off about it. And right away I knew what that something was. I immediately looked at the ingredients to confirm my theory, and sure enough, it contained aspartame.

You’re probably thinking, “What’s wrong with that?” Well, the fact is, the taste of any kind of fake sugar makes me cringe. I just can’t stand the stuff. And besides, I’ve read a lot of stuff about aspartame and other non-caloric sweeteners that are pretty scary. Scary enough to make me want to stay as far away from them as possible, even if I could stand the taste of them.

Sure, such sweeteners can help you lower the number you see when you step on the scales, and heaven knows I could use some help with that. But I refuse to ingest them on a regular basis, and try to avoid them altogether.

In this case, I actually drank about half of the Snapple, because other than the aspartame, it tasted great. But I won’t be buying that kind again, and if I want to try any other new flavor, I’ll be sure to check the label before I buy.

The exact items covered vary from state to state. Here’s a breakdown of the participating states and the categories included.

• Iowa and Oklahoma: Clothing only
• Virginia: Clothing and school supplies
• Georgia, Missouri, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee: Clothing, school supplies and computers
• Alabama: Clothing, computers, school supplies and books
• North Carolina: Clothing, school supplies, computers and sports equipment

A few other states have sales tax holidays on different dates. Here’s the list.

• Connecticut: 3rd week of August (Clothing only)
• Washington, DC: August and November (exact dates unknown) (Clothing and school supplies)
• Massachusetts: 2nd weekend of August (School supplies, computers, sports equipment, health and beauty aids)
• Texas: 3rd weekend of August (Clothing, diapers, backpacks and school supplies)

School is already in session here in the mountains, so I won’t get to take advantage of the tax break on Pumpkin’s school supplies. But I do plan to finish shopping for her school clothes. To those of you who hit the stores this weekend, happy shopping!

Edit 8/14/10: I’m told that Florida is having a tax-free weekend August 13-15 that includes clothing and school supplies. I’m not sure whether or not it will be a yearly thing. Thanks Mitchsmom!

There’s a Curves gym in town, but there’s no way I can afford to join right now. And even if I could, in the shape I’m currently in, I’d be embarrassed to go. So I’ll probably start out with something simple and inexpensive. Like walking.

Still, I could use some good walking shoes. I’d love to have a pair of those MBT shoes. You know, the ones with the rocker soles that are supposed to improve muscle tone and posture. Maybe someday.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk myself into walking while it’s still so hot out. Fitness may have to wait until the weather cools off a little. But if I can make myself walk every day or every other day for a week or so, it will become a habit and I won’t find it so hard to get motivated.

Take my first job, for example. I worked in the kitchen at a hospital. I started there shortly after graduating high school, and only intended to stay there until I finished college. But it took me several months after I earned my degree to find anything, and although I enjoyed interacting with the patients and thought most of my coworkers were great, I started to dread going to work each day.

And then there was my factory job. At first I rather enjoyed it, because at least I got to use my problem solving skills. Not to mention that the pay was pretty good. But after a while, I got tired of unjamming the machine, loading pallets, placing orders for industrial supplies, filling out paperwork, and lather, rinse, repeat. Some people enjoy work of such a repetitive nature, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but I’m not one of those people.

I have even reached that point in my writing career, as much as I love it. But I believe that depression was a major contributor to that. Fortunately, now that I’m on medication and beginning to feel better, my passion for writing is starting to return. And for that I am extremely grateful. I had been considering getting another J.O.B. since I wasn’t really making any money, but now it looks like that won’t be necessary. Whew!

I’m sure there are plenty of you out there that feel stuck in a rut in your jobs. But with the economy in such a fragile state, and jobs rather scarce, maybe you’re afraid to make a change. If you have the time, part-time freelancing could be the answer. It’s not always easy getting started, but if you’re persistent, you could eventually find that you’re making enough money to leave your day job behind. That’s how I became a writer, so I can tell you that it is possible. It’s something to think about, anyway.

I’ve been checking prices on them, and I’d love to find a good deal on a used one with some games that she would enjoy. If I can do that, I’d also be able to get her some earrings for her newly-pierced ears, and maybe a jewelry box to keep them in. But if I end up having to buy her a new one, the PSP and a game or two might be all we can get her.

I’m also debating on whether or not to throw her a party this year. Of course we’ll be getting her a cake, but I don’t know if we’ll invite a bunch of her friends or just make it a family affair. Or maybe even let her invite a friend over for a sleepover and take them out to do something special. I’ll have to do some more talking to her and think about it.

Seeing how we’re paying a higher interest rate now, most financial advisors would say that we made a very poor decision. And yes, in the long run, we’ll pay out quite a bit more money by going this route. But when you’re having trouble making ends meet in the short run, sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

You see, the finance company we went with is quite flexible when it comes to debt to income ratio and credit history. And right now, both of those factors are not very good for us. There’s no way the bank where we had the truck financed would have given us a loan, even if we were just refinancing the amount we owed them. So we went where we had to go to get the money we needed.

By the time the first loan payment (which is much lower than the truck payment was) comes due, our finances should be in better shape. And hopefully we’ll be able to pay the loan off early, and as a result pay less out in interest. So as far as I’m concerned, we made a good decision. Would you have done the same thing?