But it didn't work out. *sigh*

I had to call the doctor's office to have them call in a new prescription since my refills ran out. The nurse asked if I wanted a 90 day or 30 day so we tried for the 90 day prescription since it would work out to cheaper in the long run and if insurance refused it it would automatically revert to the 30 day no harm no foul.

I was a little nervous about this refill because I had forgotten to give myself some leeway between when I ran out and when I got the refill and literally took my last pill this morning, I take one in the morning and one at night. So I ducked out of work briefly to go pick it up, figuring that if there was any problem at the pharmacy the doctor's office would still be open to fix anything.

Got to the counter and wound up actually being helped by one of the pharmacists instead of a tech. He looked high and low and couldn't find record of my prescription anywhere. I explained that I couldn't autorefill it and had the dr's office call that morning around 9:30 and the light went on, he remembered taking the call but wasn't sure what happened after that. So I got to wander the store for 10 minutes hoping that when I went back there would be a refill for me.

I got back just in time, as I got to the front of the line I heard the pharmasist call my last name and put something on a shelf. *phew* Unfortunately it was my regular 30 day because my insurance doesn't do 90 day. Ah well, I'm not really complaining but it sure would have been nice.

I have a dr apt tomorrow, it'll be interesting to see if I get started on new meds.

Tomorrow's Tuesday Deposit will probably be my last this year. I got paid on Sunday for the 17th and the 24th. I have one potential babysitting gig on Friday but it might get canceled. So I'm packing up my change (all but enough to do 10 loads of laundry) and will be depositing that into my regular savings account when I go to the bank tomorrow. It's not much but I'm curious to see how much change I can actually save in a year, especially since I'm using cash for groceries now. Which means I need to clear out my change since it's end of the year roughly.

We had our work Christmas Pizza Party today and nothing was handed out by way of 'bonus'. Usually we get a Costco Cash Card with $50 on it. I was sort of counting on that to buy stuff for Christmas Eve Dinner. But I'll make it work out anyway. I wont' be going shopping until I get paid on Wednesday. There's still time for it to be handed out too, like possibly with our paychecks on Wednesday. Just have to wait and see I guess.

I walked into the store with a list and $19 in my wallet. Walked out with $31 in groceries put onto my debit card and still have the $19 in cash. *sigh* I have a few things coming up that I need to bake for so I picked up the ingredients and it was a little over my budget. I have decided to pull out the cash from my wallet that will make my register not be in the red anymore and stash it away in my box for Tuesday Deposits so my register will be in the black come Tuesday.

I do have money in the account, it's not like I spent money that wasn't there. Just it's earmarked for other things. So I'm not really in the red but I turn Quicken into an Envelope system by taking the money earmarked for certain things and creating a future payment with that money. Then I look at the ending balance not the current balance to know where I stand with things.

I did know I was going to spend a little more grocery wise because of the holiday but was hoping I could still fit it mostly into my budget. I can't wait for the Christmas Party on Monday to see if we got Costco Cash Cards again. That will be huge in funding Christmas Eve Dinner.

I am excited though. I now have enough ingredients to make two kinds of fudge (chocolate and butterscotch) and two pumpkin pies with gluten free crusts. I'm going to have fun this weekend.

This is the week of birthdays..

Sunday went out to eat with a friend for his birthday. His parents wound up paying so I didn't.

Last night I went out for a friend's birthday. Since the party was starting so late I borrowed my roomate's bus pass instead of driving. I hate trying to find parking in the district of town where the bar was at anyway. I just bought tea because I couldn't really have anything else. A friend was the bartender (didn't know he worked there til I got there) so I tipped him pretty well all things considered. Spent $3.50 total. I have a bunch of blank cards at home so I just grabbed one for the birthday card and inside wrote that my gift to her was a free night of babysitting. It's something she'll use and needs. Valued at about $25-30 since that's about what they give me when I sit for them.

Another friend has a birthday on Sunday. She really likes music but even more mix cds made by people. For my home communities' Christmas party we were instructed to make a mix cd of our favorite songs instead of a White Elephant gift. (although the 'wrapping' for the cd can be something white elephanty so long as money isn't spent on the 'wrapping'). That way we get to know people in our community better by their choice of favorite music. I will be putting together my cd this weekend and last night thought that it would be cool to get a copy to my friend for her birthday. I'll use another blank card for the belated card since it will be late and to cover all bases I'll send her an e-card on her birthday from Hallmark.

All in all I think I survived this round of birthdays quite well.

I went to the dollar store last night and found the exact box I was looking for to put the only gift I bought this year in. That was a nice bonus. And found that they had Nestle hot chocolate there. I'd slowly stocked up on it when the nearby Walgreen's had it for $1 for a box of 6 packets and had gotten used to having a mug of it every day at work. I hadn't run out of my stash yet but I only had about a week left so I picked up a box since I was there.

Tonight is women's community and I've been so excited about watching the gal open her gift that I completely forgot until this morning that I'll be getting something to. That's totally secondary right now. I found what I think is the perfect gift. Just really hoping I'm right. One of the gals moved nearby me so we're taking turns carpooling since the house we meet at is about 8 miles away. Not terribly far but it doesn't make sense to each drive when we live so close.

And just because I'm so excited I'll tell you what the perfect gift is. In addition to exchanging names we also filled out a little questionaire to get ideas of what people like/want/etc. The gal I got wrote that she collects stationary and that her favorite flower is a Peruvian Lily. So I google'd pictures of the flower, found one with just a single flower and a white background, edited the photo to add her name (first, middle initial, last), and uploaded it to Vista Print to be printed on the front of 20 blank notecards. And at the dollar store I found a cardboard box, kinda like a cigar box or those older style school pencil boxes and they fit perfectly in there. I wanted to find a box that doesn't necessarily look seasonal (this one just is green with big red dots) but she could refill it as she gets more stationary. Plus it protects the ones I gave her. I am sooooo excited to see her open it I can hardly stand it. Granted I did pay more for shipping than for the printing because we're exchanging gifts today instead of next week because people are gone next week for the holidays, but I didn't want to spend too much more than $20 total and all told it came to $24.

My favorite band is coming to town in February. My usual habit when that happens is to buy tickets for the local show plus any in the surrounding areas (ie within a 3 hour drive). Actually, for the local show I usually volunteer to work the merch table so I get in for free and sometimes get free merch and then pay for the rest of the shows. I am showing a lot of restraint however because my family will be in town when the band is and will not be travelling out of town to see them.

For the Portland show though I will be buying two tickets ($18 each) when I get paid Jan 5th. One for me and one for my dad who's been wanting to go to a show but they don't play near him anymore since he moved. If he ends up not going I don't think I'll have trouble selling it. But if he does go I don't want to be stuck behind the merch table. I got into a friendly arguement with a friend from Seattle though about why I wasn't going to the Seattle show. But in the end I prevailed and said I would see her at the Portland show (she travels to see them too).

Which led to a conversation about The Rock Boat. The Rock Boat is a 'floating music festival'. It's a cruise where about 30 bands play, usually about 4 sets over the coarse of the cruise so if two bands you really want to see are playing at the same time for one set chances are you can catch them at another one. The band I like were on TRB last year and will be again this year. I knew it was not a wise decision to make since I'd have to charge it so aside from drooling, I haven't tried working out how to go.

But next year, if they're on it next year, I might actually be able to swing it and not charge it. They stagger the payments over time so you don't have to come up with all the money right away. $99 when you register, couple months later $199, couple months later $199, couple months later the remainder. If I beef up my EF I think I can not only swing making the payments like they suggest but with my newly formed savings habits can recoup the loss nicely. Of course, the cruise itself is only part of the cost. There's also airfare to/from. Hotel possibly for two nights (night before launch, night after return). Money to do stuff in port. Seriously I'm thinking probably about $1500 total. Probably less but I prefer to overshoot. My friend from Seattle and I are talking about sharing a cabin, probably just a double occupancy. Yes, the triple and quad cabins are cheaper but our sanity is also a factor. We've traveled together and know we get along in close quarters.

Anyway, it's something for me to think about. They don't make the announcements as far as what bands will be on board until around March.

Did my bills/budget this morning and I have $58.04 left after all is said and done. There are a couple of things on my 'Christmas List' now to buy so I'm going to keep that money out and available. Anything over $20 when my next paycheck arrives will go straight to savings.

I did put $10 into ING (auto transfer) and $10 into Wells Fargo (manual transfer) since those are budget amounts. And I received a $10 check yesterday from Certified that once deposited will go to Emigrant for a total so far of increase to savings of $85. I'm definately on my way. I can live with that for now.

Weekend was a blast. The place we rented was cute and tiny. We had just enough room to sleep and hang out. Probably wouldn't have lasted too much longer than we did though, good for weekend jaunts. I got paid back for a chunk of what I spent on food. I had put $13 from my own cash into the pile of things to deposit so that took care of my part. I had $10 in my account from one gal to pay for the wood stove except we didn't actually use it so that went toward's her $14 and she'll give me the other $4 on Thursday. One gal wrote me a check for $14. One gal had bought about $15 worth of food for the weekend so she balanced out. That leaves two gals that need to give me money and about $32 outstanding total.

I spent $5 on our way back at the cheese factory and $5 once I got home towards the Christmas Tree that my roomate bought. The gal who's car I rode in wouldn't take money for gas.

This morning I fought hard to wake up and wound up sleeping in over an hour. Fortunately my 'wake up time' is way way early so it didn't exactly hurt me however when I got out of the shower I found a text from my brother K asking to borrow $100 for rent. By the time I actually got the message I'd have to leave right then in order to not be late for work because I had a deposit to make into my account before withdrawing and depositing it into his account. So I didn't make breakfast, I did grab a slice of cold pizza though to eat in the car, and I didn't make lunch, but I did grab a granola bar and two clementines.

I made it to the bank, deposited $193.39 out of which I took the $100 to drop in my brother's account (at a different bank that's fortunately only two blocks away from mine). But then I remembered that I didn't bring lunch and would need cash for that too. So I pulled a $20 out of the ATM, I'll pull $20 less tomorrow for food money.

So now I'm $132 short for this next check. I'll get $32 back later this week which is good, but the $100 will be a while. I'll have extra cash on my paycheck tomorrow which hopefully will absorb the whole short amount, plus I'll be getting a check from my roomate tomorrow for rent and her part of utilities. I was really hoping though to put a good chunk away into savings. $55 of what I deposited today came from childcare and survey so that did go into my Emigrant account. If nothing else, that account will grow exponentially.

Then of course there's the unplanned for Christmas gifts. The gals I went to the beach with decided it'd be fun to exchange names for giving gifts. For someone who didn't plan on buying any gifts this year that means it'll have to come out of tomorrow's paycheck as well. I don't mind, actually I have a great idea and I've set my own limit on how much I want to spend but we'll see what happens. And I need to talk to my roomate and find out if we're exchanging gifts this year. We haven't in years past but since she's out of school now she's really going all out for the holidays this year. So another potential gift to buy. Fortunately my family decided to not exchange gifts this year.

I'm planning on doing something for Christmas Eve Dinner but I think I can take care of my portion of it by using the Costco Gift Card that I get from work for Christmas. Assuming we actually get them this year. I'll ask people to bring a dish as well so I won't have to come up with everything. It should be fun.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see how December turns out for EF growth. As long as I can at the least make the minimum expected deposits ($155/mo) then I'll be happy. But if I can do more I'll be very happy.

At least in my opinon. When I was decluttering over the long weekend I found a certificate for $20 off at McCormick & Schmick's. Now, there's nothing on their dinner menu for less than 14 (not in the main entrees anyway) so it's not someplace I frequent. But I had promised to take a friend out and when I found that the certificate didn't expire til the end of the year (I'd gotten it back in September for volunteering for something and expected it to be past it's use) I decided what the heck, I'll use it. Plus I owed her a few bucks from something else so this made us square.

We decided on the location on the waterfront and man what a nice view. I love love love looking out over the water and seeing the city lights. Granted, we were on the side that I generally like to look at but still, lights are lights and the bridges look cool at night too. The seating areas were at different level raises, where the two people tables were was in the middle so we had an unobstructed view of the big floor to ceiling windows looking out at the lights and water and city. The tables may have been set for two but they weren't tiny. Just the right size and the chairs were like small armchairs, cushy but didn't take up a ton of room.

My friend always gets fish and chips, and in anticipation of eating fish and chips tonight I'd worked out an extra 30 minutes this morning. Total bill came to $29.90. After certificate, only $9.90 plus I left $6 cash tip out of my leftover gas money. It was totally worth it. The food looked small portion wise at first but when I'd finished, I was full. And I didn't eat that much bread to begin with either before the meal. I even left a few fries since I knew it would be too much.

We sat and talked probably for longer than we should have but they didn't try to rush us out of there. Overall it was an awesome experience and I think if I ever had a special occasion to celebrate where money wasn't an issue, I may go back to that exact location. Plus I got to hang out with my friend, something I haven't been able to do for a while. I'm out of town this weekend, she'll be out of town next weekend, and we both are busy in the inbetween time.

I have $11 left over now from gas budget, will not be needing to fill before Tuesday when I get paid again. I have $12 left over from grocery, will not be needing more food for at home before Tuesday. That gives me $23 to spend on food and gas for this weekend. We're all pitching in to pay for that so it's not all on me or anything. Between the 6 of us going I'm sure we can get by with not spending too much. But we wanted to have a 'dress up' dinner and have fondue so that's potentially pricey. I'm so looking forward to getting away and not really having anything planned.

Looking at my budget last night I realized that I am on paper always at -$80 every month. This doesn't really show up because my on paper budget is based on the amount I was getting before I dropped my 401k down from 8% to 3% and before I changed my withholdings from 1 to 2. I actually balance out right now. Come January I will be moving my withholdings back to 1 because this was the first year of testing my theory on how to basically not get a refund but also not owe on taxes. On the one hand, I know I'll be ok because of how my pay/budget plays out (on the 5th there's always extra money from being on call, and on the 20th I always hold out money for things that I can't pay for all of out of the 5th) but on the other I don't know what my new 'pay' will be until January 20. I don't like those kinds of unknowns.

Of course the other potential bright side to this is we get yearly evaluations and raises in January so there's the possibility that my raise will have kicked in by then. But still. It makes for a long hard look at my budget. Fortunately I really do have some wiggle room as what I pay on some things is more than required so for a couple months I could get by. Plus I do have extra money coming in, at least $25/wk from one job and an as yet unknown other weekly amount. But I don't want to stop the momentum.

I splurged on some tea yesterday. I love rooibus (sp?) tea. It's not caffinated (I'm supposed to avoid caffiene) and has a very nice flavor. A friend of mine gave me a $5 off gift cert for an online tea company and I bought their sampler pack. I have a loose leaf teapot waiting to be purchased at Amazon for when I get my next $20 Amazon gc. But in the meantime, the tea's on it's way. It came to $9.75 and came out of my 'Personal' money.

I met a friend for breakfast today. I went low key (and healthy) and got oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar, soy milk all mixed together and a couple slices of apple and banana on top. It was only $4. I had water to drink and left a dollar tip. After grocery shopping yesterday and eating out a couple of times already I have $57 left to last til the 5th. Next shopping trip list has already been started but nothing is necessary yet so I'm going to go on Saturday. Although, I am picking up Papa Murphy's pizza for potluck tonight, that'll be $7 and will come out of my grocery budget.

I'm not preparing Thanksgiving Dinner. I am bringing a dish though, the ingredients that I needed were picked up last night. I'm hoping there'll be some leftovers I can come back home with (of my own dish that is). If not, that's ok too. Small price to pay for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I filled up on gas and have $17 left over as well. We'll see how long the tank lasts. I am going to just wait til it gets to half (really 3/4ths the way my tank works) and put the rest in at that point. The way gas is going up it'll probably take it all. But I don't have much by way of long distance driving to do for a while at least.

I picked up the yummiest bread. I'm working really hard at exercising and eating healthy with the overall intent to loose weight but that's not the direct motivation. Someone mentioned that sprouted wheat bread is better so when I was at Trader Joe's I picked some up. It's only 90 calories, .5 gram of fat, and 2 grams of fiber per slice. It is heavy but it doesn't taste nasty like I've experienced before. And it costs about the same as the other Sara Lee Delightfuls bread I was getting before. It's twice as many calories but the rest of the numbers are the same. And according to http://www.traineo.com I'm not eating all the calories I should be anyway.

I'm really curious to see what my numbers look like at the end of the month. So I'm waiting with baited breathe to be able to post new numbers. It's all a waiting game for me. I wait for the next paycheck. I wait for the next Tuesday Deposit. I wait for the end of the month. So I guess technically next I'm waiting for another Tuesday Deposit.

I dropped $161 into my bank account today. $10 for something I'll be paying for for the beachhouse trip and $151 for CC2. I actually made the payment for $153 because when all was said and done there was $22 and change left in my bank account and I like to just leave a $20 and change cushion. I requested the dividend check from CC2 today so I should see it potentially by the end of next week, definately the first week in December. I'm going to laugh if CC2 is completely paid off by the time I get my hands on that check.

Phase One. Eliminate CC2.

Statement balance difference: -$398.71
Total Payments: $650.00
Total charges and fees: $251.22

The charges were expected and extra was paid from EF to cover them. I expect that the New estimated payoff date will actually be correct. I am hoping to pay the entire balance off before the next statement, but there'll still be a little interest that had acrued so it will be January before I see a $0 balance.

Prior estimated payoff date: 3/20/2006
New estimated payoff date: 1/20/2006

Phase Two. Build up EF to $1,000

Between the three accounts, taking out the expected expenses and adding in regular budget amounts my savings has decreased by $177.96. However I'm not that dissapointed in that number considering I spent $273 so it's bouncing back nicely.

Phase Three. Pay off as much of CC1 as possible by 4/15/2010.

Statement balance difference: -$317.08
Total payments: $523
Total charges and fees: $205.92

I am no longer using CC1 to pay bills.

Previous potential balance by 4/15/2010: $6,665.47
New potential balance by 4/15/2010: $6,096.99

Only $1,309.74 to go before things get back to normal on this card.

---

CC2 update.

This week so far I have the following in hand:

30.00 friend paying me back for something
26.00 Certified check
30.00 babysitting
-----
86.00 Confirmed payment

25.00 Childcare on Sunday
60.00 Brother making a payment
-----
85.00 Potential

171.00 Possible payment. This makes me Very Happy since the balance is about $258.

I will be requesting a dividend check for $58.39 on Monday. But I don't kow how long that will take to get here.

---

Old habits die hard. Today we're supposed to all get together to celebrate our birthdays. All four of us were born in November. Plus one of my SIL's has an October birthday that I missed. Well, SIL's debit card number got stolen and $500 was charged to it before it was caught. Then Brother P's check was $300 less than they were expecting. They get paid weekly. They bought a house this past year that's about 50 miles one way into town. So it's quite a hike for them to come. So they won't be joining us. Then I talked to Step Bro and they're not doing so hot either, but they're still coming. Other Brother is the one I've been bailing out recently so I know he's not doing the best, but he did just get paid so he's ok right now. All told, I'm the most financially stable of the four of us. So this morning the thought entered my head, I'll just pick up lunch for everyone. Which of course, means charging it. Then I stopped, stepped back and realized, that's part of the reason I'm in debt to begin with. Not the entire reason, but definately a good chunk. I will Not be doing that after all. I have $12 in my wallet for lunch (I pulled the $7 out of the dollar jar to make it be $12), shouldn't be a problem since I always drink water and I know I can find something on Red Robins menu that after tip won't be more than $12. I will probably be going out to lunch tomorrow after church. I have $7 in my bank account that should do nicely if the occasion arises. If it doesn't, I'll go home and eat. I'm meeting someone for coffee today and I'm going to suggest Starbucks because I have a $5 gc for there. I get paid on Monday, the pending deposit already shows up in my bank account today so I know how much it's going to be. Looks like just enough to cover everything. Unfortunately, nothing really extra to throw at CC2 but I can live with that.

Stopped by the store today to pick up salad mix (bogo) and bananas. That's the last of the needed grocery shopping until Monday (payday). I have $15 in my wallet from leftover grocery and $7 in my wallet from leftover gas. My gas gage is at about a quarter so tomorrow when I pass by one of the cheaper gas stations I'll put the last $7 in. I don't want to pull what I did last time, filled up with 13.17 gallons and I have a 13 gallon tank. Plus I have a little bit of extra driving to do this weekend so better safe than sorry in my book.

Tonight I'm going out, dinner and a movie. The movie is $3 to get in, the slice of pizza at the movie will be $3 and change. That'll leave me with $8. Saturday is our 'celebrate all birthdays at once' lunch at this amazing and cheap italian place. $8 should cover mine. If it doesn't, I'll have also along with me the $7 I have stashed in my dollar jar.

I'm fairly certain I'm ok as far as everything else is concerned. I got a clinic bill for $12, I'm going to send in $20 because I'm still waiting for my Echo to get settled and I know I'll owe a good chunk for that. But I'll mail the payment on Saturday, it will get to the clinic before it's due but it won't get processed before Monday when I get paid and will come out of my Medical portion of the budget for that paycheck. That way I don't touch the Medical savings account I just set up.

I'm still feeling a little anxious. Like I'm forgetting something. Like I should have kept out the $25 cash I got for babysitting, instead of depositing it and applying it to my CC2, just to have as a cushion. But I know if I had done that it would just have been spent so I know I did the right thing.

I have $7 in my checking account and there's always the EF if absolutely necessary. But I don't think it'll come to that. I was sort of hoping some of my extended family would be coming to the birthday thing, they have a tendancy to pick up the tab for everyone. Is it bad to wish they were there partially because they pay for things? I really do want to see them too, that's not the only reason I'm dissapointed.

First the eh news. I realized that I missed my SIL's birthday back in October. On the one hand I could argue that they could have invited me out to do something (if they did celebrate it) and since they didn't, I wasn't obligated to buy her anything. On the other hand, I'm a nice person and the past two birthdays I've gotten her something so there's no real reason why I shouldn't this year. All of the siblings are getting together next weekend for a 'celebrate all November birthdays in one shot' meal. I have gifts for my two brothers and one step brother and now my SIL as well.

I bought her a cd ($13.99) plus two envelopes that serve as cd gift wrap ($3). I already had bought one of my brothers a cd a while ago for his birthday. Total spent at cd store: $16.99 (we don't have sales tax in OR)

Then a friend of mine came by who's been sort of housebound. Partially by her own choice. She doesn't work and since I had a rare weekday off I called her so we could hang out. We went for a walk and decided to go get dinner. Originally I'd suggested Coldstone, because I have a coupon for a free dish of ice cream. But she needed real food so we went to cheap mexican instead. I ate too much, but the food was cheap. Total spent at restaurant: $3.95 for a chicken quesadilla paid for by grocery money.

Since we'd eaten more than our fair share we took a longer route home, and stopped by Fred Meyer's because I wanted to see if this bag I'd noticed there was any cheaper than the last time I'd stopped by. Granted I now have no money for it but was in the area. I found the bag, now 30% off instead of 25% off but still more than I cared to spend. My friend said it didn't look like me and was too small for what I wanted anyway. I actually agreed with her for the most part, glad that I now didn't have the temptation of buying the bag. Only before we left we wandered over to the hats and I started trying on funny ones. I am a hat person. Hats look good on me. Even the crazy ones that I would never wear. We found a simple one that actually looked really really good. I thought it was 25% off which would make it $9 and in a moment of weakness I bought it. Total spent at Fred Meyer's: $8.40.

The cd store total was already more than what I had left of my play money for the payperiod. Which means the rest of it and the FM purchase came out of my cushion. *sigh* I now have $7.76 in my account instead of $20. Or will once everything that's supposed to clears.

The only good news in all of this was...when I went to pull money out of my grocery funds for dinner, I noted with delight that instead of the 1 $20 bill I thought was left, there were actually 2! So I'm definately good for food for the rest of the pay period. The stuff on my list right now is just restock and the list is short.

Post #2 of the day.

I miss having a laptop. When mine died it was a very sad day. I had decided that when the time came to replace it I would get a Mac. I do need a computer for work, and work has kindly lent me (possibly given but I'm treating it as lent) a desktop to use. It's older, clunky, takes forever to do things, is noisy so I hibernate it when I'm not using it, has only one working USB port out of four, etc. Not to mention the fact that if I ever do get another job, they'll probably want their computer back. Or not.

Anyway...

I got to thinking about it, especially since I'm really close to closing out Phase One of my Three Phase Plan (you can't tell cuz I won't be updating it til the next statement comes out but I'm very excited about the potential). What I'm thinking is, after I finish Phase Two (savings accounts totalling $1k), perhaps I could buy a laptop.

The small MacBooks run just $1099. It's not razzle dazzle but it's functional. Of course the one I really want is the black one but only one of the higher end ones comes in black.

I wouldn't touch my savings but rather could do a balance transfer on CC2 (that'll be empty) and have six months to pay it off at 6.99%, vs applying for Apple Credit and hoping for 13.74%. Whatever isn't paid off in 6 months of me putting every extra dime onto the credit card will be paid for out of savings. Total would actually be more like $1348 because I'd want the extended warrenty. Knowing my luck with computers, and how long my last one lasted, this is a necessity for me.

But it really is a want more than a need. I'm trying so hard to pay things off and changing habits (ie I rarely by books or dvds anymore) but having a functioning computer that is Mine really is an important thing to me. It's something to think about at least.

I signed up a while ago (saw the link on another pfblog) for this mail survey thing where they send you international mail and you enter in the date you received it so they can track transit time. The first month I got an email saying to look for an email with payout info but I never saw it. I also thought that since it was my first month, perhaps I didn't do enough to qualify for payout.

Fast forward to this month when I got another email stating to watch for a payout email and I still didn't see it. I gave it about 5 days then I emailed them and inquired about it.

Today I got my payout from both months, so $40 total. Only instead of paypal like I was hoping for, they use 800giftcertificate.com I debated about getting dining certificates, then realized that a] I'm trying to eat healthy and that's hard to do eating out and b] I don't eat out that often at least not at the restaurants available to me.

I had decided to just go with Macy's because I could use some new clothes and figured $40 would at least get me something there but I checked the list of places one more time in case I missed something.

And there it was...Amazon.com The clouds opened, the sun was shining, and I now have $40 to spend at Amazon. The reason I'm so happy about that is there's a couple things I've really wanted to get, specifically dvds of the workout I currently do at home to replace the video tapes that I'm sure aren't going to last much longer. However, from the cover it looks a little different than the workout I have and I didn't want to spend the money and find out it's the wrong one. I've tried some of her newer workouts and I don't like them as much. (Walk Away the Pounds by Leslie Sansone).

If they're not the ones I wanted, and not ones that I like, then it's not as much of a big deal if it wasn't really my own money that I spent it on. I'm waiting til Friday to actually buy anything since I'm curious to check out their Friday Sale. I never check it out because I rarely have money to spend. But now I do!

Perhaps in the future I'll still get the Amazon.com gc's but spend it on food instead. Hmmm.

Because some friends and I are going to a beachhouse, and I sent in a check for the whole thing while they are slowly paying me back, my paycheck today is very confusing. Even for me. So here's a rough summary.

All bills have been paid.
$100 is being held out for 'Medical' because I'm anticipating a bill from the clinic and it hasn't arrived yet. Plus I have a dentist apt next week and I don't know if I'll have to pay anything.
$134 was left over to pay on CC2 but that payment is on hold pending transfers from online savings accounts.
My step brothers allotment has finally showed up so was able to pay an extra $100 on CC1.
$20.24 has been left in the bank account as a cushion.

My tires cost more than anticipated, $197 instead of $140. I did put them on my card and pulled the money out of all three savings accounts to cover it. I think I pulled evenly so as to not completely drain any one account. It'll be interesting to see how much I can build back up by the end of the month. I paid this with CC2 and will make the combined payment of $344 (paycheck extra, tires and Target) as soon as the money transfers from my savings accounts.

My hair cut and color ran $55 and I left him a $20 tip. I am so in love with the color. It looks awesome. And it should blend well so that I can wait another year to get it done again. But I had to pay with a check (fortunately a friend mentioned she'd written a check when she went to see him but couldn't remember why) because he's had trouble with the credit card machine so he doesn't use it.

I also spent another $12 at Target and silly me grabbed CC2 instead of my debit card. I needed more shampoo/conditioner since I was completely out of conditioner for color treated hair, and my shampoo for color treated hair was almost gone. Plus I got some other product that hopefully will tame the flyaway always sticking up hair. And...and...I splurged a little because their dollar spot had some of their asian line on clearance for 75% off. So I got a sake set (little container and cups), two sets of two tea cups, and a vase for $0.62 each. I rarely spend like that but thought perhaps I can keep them to give as gifts when the occasion arises.

Since today is payday I'm going grocery shopping. I have a growing list that I've been building all week in anticipation of needing it by the time payday rolled around. We don't get the paper but we do get the food day which has the ads. I was thumbing through Safeway since I shop there and Trader Joes most often, and found their 'buy 10 items mix/match and get $10 off instantly'. Now if their placement of that announcement and the items below it are correct (ie that the items below are the qualifying items) then I think I'm going to make out like a bandit. They have cake mixes, $1.98 each, buy one get one free. And cookie mixes 2 for $3. I could get 6 cake mixes and 4 cookie mixes for under $2. But I'm going to verify when I got to the store what items fall under that category. Since it isn't something I normally buy I don't want to stock up on a 'good deal' and not have cash at the end of the payperiod for things I really need.

I deposited $128.38 into my bank account today. $30 was my friend's portion of the beach house we're renting, I'm mailing off the check tomorrow as I technically have enough in my account for it to clear but am hoping that I'll have everyone else's portion before it clears. Total cost for the rental is $185 to be split between 6 people. The $98 has been applied to CC2 and the $0.38 will stay in the bank just because.

Now, my deposit for CC2 was short by $25. I got cash last night for my childcare work (that's normal) but I decided to give it to my brother. He gets paid on Friday, which is good, but I'm not certain he has enough in his bank account to last him til then. He got hit with three overdrafts last pay period and that really cut into him. I'd hate to see it happen again. He didn't ask for the money and I'm trying to avoid him having to ask for rent by pre-empting the possible overdrafts. He's also expecting a check from our other brother for $100 (payback from a loan) it just hasn't arrived yet.

But the way I look at it, I still had $98 to throw at CC2. Since I was only really expecting $50 from my usual childcare gigs I felt that was still a good chunk.

I picked up my brother so we could say 'until we meet again' to our great aunt this morning (she hates saying goodbye but she's moving to southern california today) and my car started acting up. That does not make me happy. We were at an onramp to the freeway that had an up incline. Every time the car ahead of me would move forward one car length I would follow. But since we weren't moving that fast I wouldn't let off the clutch completely. Not every time, but some of the time it would sound/feel like metal scraping metal and nothing would happen right away. I liken it to when your brakes get bad, like really bad, and you can feel it engage and try to stop but it doesn't right away. Except this was with the clutch not the brake. *sigh* I'm debating about calling my shop to see if they have any ideas but I hate not having enough information. And I really can't handle any work to be done on my car right now. I can barely handle the tires I'm putting on this week.

I finally got a payout from one of the PTR sites. I don't think I'll be doing that one anymore. Took me almost a year to get enough for a payout because I didn't really try to refer people. And once they changed their website format I started getting less offers to click on. Plus that payout included the $10 they give you to start. Not worth it for me. I was waiting til I got my check, I got it, now I'm going to delete my account. They also take out a 'processing fee' so instead of getting the $25ish I earned I got $23.35 or something. Feh. But it's money I wasn't planning on so it'll go in with this weeks deposit/payment on CC2.

I went to the store today on my walk home from the gym. Picked up the things on my list to restock plus found some thin cut pork chops with a 75 cent off sticker on it making it under $2 for the package. They went straight into the freezer since I have more than enough food already waiting to be eaten for dinner.

I found I was incorrect in my grocery figure. I actually had $23 in my wallet. Sweet! My grocery money all goes in the same place so I know exactly where it is but I hadn't actually pulled it all out to count it. My total came to $11.01 after they took off the 'club card' savings. Saved a total of $6.69. I'll take it. I was going to have to wrestle with $0.99 but there was a penny on the counter so I still have $12 left. Next week all I'm planning on needing to buy are bananas. I buy them in small bunches, 4 or 5 at a time. I only eat one a day and if I buy any more then they go bad too fast. I don't really care about freezing them to make banana bread or banana milk shakes.

I don't know if I'll go out to eat on Sunday or not. If I do I'll limit myself to spending $5.

I am stoked for the boost in my CC2 payment next week. My childcare job on Mondays will be ending Nov 13th so I won't have that coming in anymore. Not that something else won't potentially replace it but for now it's going away. So I want to pump as much onto paying off the card as possible. My potential payment right now is looking like $113. I have two babysitting jobs this weekend plus the two childcare jobs plus the check I got yesterday. Awesome. And then I get paid in a week and it's my check with extra money on it.

Post #2 today.

Dropped off prescription they said it'd be 20 - 25 minutes. Glanced at my cell phone to see what time that would be. Picked up a hand basket and wandered over to the wine aisles.

Found the exact brand/type that my friend said was her husband's favorite. I know absolutely nothing about alcohol, I don't drink it often, and I know even less about wine. So I'm very nervous about buying it. Which is why I asked specifics. Best part? It was on sale, regularly $12.19 on sale for $7.99. I glanced at the gift bags they have hanging in that area, didn't see any I liked, looked at the price and decided he could live without the excess wrapping.

Walked through the store and found the cleaning supplies. In the past I've used Tilex brand mold/mildew but it was almost $5 and the Lysol brand was on sale for $2.99.

Found my way to the cold remedies aisle and Zicam was on sale for $8.49.

Did quick math in my head. I have $9.45 left in personal fund (in the bank) and had planned $10 (in the bank) for prescription. The total in my basket comes to nearly $20 so I could pay with debit card and pull $10 out of my grocery cash to pay for the prescription. So that's what I did.

The actual total that I put on debit was $19.47 so I did dip into the cushion by $0.02. When I get home and record it I'll just mark the personal fund as empty.

Picked up the prescription and got a little tap on the wrist from insurance because I was getting more of the same before my 30 day supply was up but the pharmacy noticed the change in dosage so pushed it through anyway. The best part is, the prescription I filled was enough for 1 pill twice daily but for another two weeks I'll still be on half a pill in the morning one full pill at night. So that'll make it stretch more than 30 days.

I'm fairly certain I can make it the rest of the week with just $21. Providing I don't go out to eat on Sunday, which does happen usually. But...I have a coupon for a free burger at Red Robin so if I can convince people to eat there instead....

I have $31 left for groceries and $21 left for gas. The tank will not need any more before the 3rd (my next payday since the 5th is a Sunday). But I'm trying to pretend it's not there.

I'm taking in a Rx to get filled today (they up'd one of my meds so I need to get it filled early). Hopefully they'll do it without saying that it's too soon to get it. Although it is a new dosage so it'll probably be ok. But that's why I'm taking it in today. I don't need it til early next week but if there's any complications then I have two days to have my dr work it out. I already counted it as paid in my budget so the money's in the bank waiting to be actually applied.

While I'm at Fred Meyer's I'm going to pick up a bottle of wine for my friend's birthday. I have $9.45 left in my personal money fund and I think I can get away with spending a little over that on the gift. I also am going to get some more Zicam and some mold/mildew cleaner since bleach isn't doing the trick. Depending on how much it all costs, I may just put it all on the debit card and dip into the $20 cushion.

The $31 has to last me through restocking fruit, picking up ingredients for potluck dish, restocking staples for lunch, and going out for coffee once next week. I was going to say going out to lunch as well but I forgot that day got switched to Friday which is payday. I'm sure it's enough money but I always worry about it. I am totally set though on breakfast and dinner for a while so that's nice.

I was more concerned about the $31 when I was going to buy Zicam ($8-9) and vitamins ($12) out of it as well. But I can't find the vitamins in stock so I'm just going to wait til next payday. And I'll use money in the bank for the Zicam.

I was going to wait til Thursday to get gas. But I was in the neighborhood of the cheap gas station I usually fill at unexpectedly yesterday so I just filled then. [Shell station at $2.359 for regular] I don't like seeing my tank get below half but sometimes it has to be done. However, this time isn't one of them! So only spent $19.57 to fill the tank that should get me through til next week payday (Friday). I had the exact change so stopped her from topping it off. I haven't decided if I'm walking to work today or not. I have plans afterwards that make it a little silly to walk to work, walk home, then turn around and drive. But on the other hand, I have plenty of time to do just that and otherwise I'd probably just come home anyway before leaving again. Hmm. We'll see.

I was running errands to kill time yesterday and stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up things I forgot on Satuday. It was on my way so it wasn't that big of a deal to stop. Chicken Burritos? Out. Vitamins? Out. Lemon Sorbet? Out. Ok so the last was just a semi impulse thing so that's ok that they were out. I have enough Vitamins to last til next week but I'd rather pick them up before I run out. And the Chicken Burritos are nice to have on hand for that quick dinner. Fortunately I still have some roast/potatoes/carrots left over (4 servings) and I think some Chili in the fridge so it's not a necessity just one of my staples. Sorta seemed like a waste of gas. Oh well. If I do drive into work today I might travel to one of the other bigger stores in the area in hopes of finding what I'm looking for.

I have $41 or so left over for food stuffs. Vitamins is part of my food budget and that's $12 for 2 months supply. I also need more Zicam. I really do think that's the only thing keeping me from getting a cold when I feel like one's coming on. I have one more tablet left after today. That's another $9 but it's for 25 doses and usually I only have one per day that I'm feeling crappy when I wake up. Or one before I go do childcare at church just in case. I can't take anything else for colds with my heart condition so I'd rather fight if off before it starts.

I got all the money I was expecting ($140) but my payment today will only be $120. I got a call from one of the gals I've been babysitting semi-regularly for yesterday. She asked me to babysit on Sunday, no problem although there was a party I was going to go to but I'd rather make a couple extra bucks. Then she asked if I wanted to buy a Chinook Book. Her daughter's preschool is selling them as a fundraiser. It's $20 and is sort of like the Entertainment Book except it's only for this area and has mostly local businesses in it. Well, ok I think they've got one for Eugene as well but still it's way more local than the Entertainment Book.

Anyway, I told her I'd buy one. She's been supporting me by calling me to babysit, so I can support her daughter's school. Plus it's a great way to try new places that I don't even know exist. She'll be stopping by this morning to pick up the money since she needs to turn it in by the 26th. I am hoping I can get the book itself before the 1st but I think that's pushing it. Ah well that's ok.

So, today I'm still making a hefty non-paycheck payment on CC2.

Post #2 today.

I called the place that my friends recommended to get my hair cut and just asked their prices. I figured it'd be out of my range and from what I remember from last year, I spent about $140 and I didn't want to do that again.

The gal on the phone said it would be $55-60 depending on the stylist. I thought that was just the highlights. Nope, that included the cut. Shoot, I can do that. It's a little more than I'd pay elsewhere but I only do it once a year. And it's less than if I went back to the other place I went to last year.

Now I just need to touch base with my friends that live out that way to see if they can get together afterwards so I make more of my trip out there.

I just spent $3.15 at the store. I bought bananas and milk. I like to have a banana when I first wake up because I'm usually So Hungry and it helps take the edge off. Then I can wait to have breakfast for a little while. But they go bad so fast that I only buy 4 or 5 at a time and today I ate my last one. The milk we have in the fridge is almost bad, trying to use it all up before it goes bad but in the mean time (since I haven't checked it this morning) I picked up a half gallon to make sure we have some that's good in the fridge. Between my roomate and I we don't really drink a lot of milk and we alternate buying it.

That leaves me with $9.72 and I still need to buy oil for my car. It won't cost that much, I plan on buying 3 quarts which at most should be $6. But this is my cushion money, I'm really dissapointed that I had to break into it. However the bright side is, I'm not pulling from Savings and I'm not charging.

Speaking of pulling from savings, my savings accounts are going to take a hit next month. For my birthday I am going to get my annual hair cut and perhaps some highlights. I only do it once a year so I don't mind getting it done at the salon. If it was an all over color I'd do it at home. I don't know how much it will cost, I have the number to a recomended 'hair god' so I'll check his prices. I know I can go to Master Cuts and get it for reasonable but it's my birthday so I want to splurge a little. Last year though, I spent $140. I can't really justify that this year. I know the guy charges $25 for a cut, which is annoying since it's really just a trim because I'm growing out my hair. So if the highhlights are more than $50 I may just bag it all together, go to the beauty school and get a cut for $3 (with coupon) and go to Master Cuts for the color ($25). Even with tip it shouldn't come to $50.

Then of course there's the tires. I can only put that off for so long and I decided that I would just get them in November because that's generally when the rainy season starts here. That's going to be at least $140 for two and I have looked around to get the best price but I have specialty rims which require specialty tires. *sigh* This is the first time I've had to replace them since I bought the car a little over three years ago.

I think I can handle the hit to savings though, it's grown since last month so it should be able to cover everything without draining it completely. Since I have three savings accounts and I'm a silly math person, I think I'm going to withdraw from each account using a weighted average so in a sense, each account will be withdrawn from evenly.

Or maybe it's 4 days. I get paid on Friday so however that works out.

Gas. No worries there. I do have a dr's apt today to drive to and a couple other meetings during the week but not so much that it'll use up what's left of the tank. I have a $10 Shell card in my wallet which is good since I used my $10 cash last night that was left over from my gas budget this month to pay for my roomate and I to go to the movies. So I still have $4 in my wallet for gas at least.

Food. I used the last of my food budget, just barely squeaking by. I had $25 in my wallet and my total came to $24.22. Unfortunately, I left the sour cream out (I pulled all the to be refridgerated stuff out of the bag, set it on the counter, but then when I actually went to put it away somehow I didn't notice it and it stayed out all night) and I need some for a recipe. So I'll need to dig into the last $12 in my bank account to get a tiny bit of sour cream and probably some oil for my car too.

Extra money earned last week. I didn't get paid last night because the pastor forgot to bring a check with him so I'll get paid double next week. No big deal, just means that the $25 won't get applied to the credit card before the next statement. As far as I know, I'm doing child care tonight which should be at least $25 possibly $30. I'm expecting a PTR check for $25 and a Pinecone survey check for $5 at some point, however if it doesn't show in the mail today it won't get applied til next week as I've decided to only visit the bank once a week on Tuesdays before work. I need to put my paperwork together and mailed off today for the theater check I did so I can get paid for that.

Money from step brother. Still hasn't shown up in my account yet. But I don't know if that's because the wrong information got submitted or because I'm impatient. He says the money has been taken out of his paychecks already so that part is working. I'm going to wait til tomorrow after I get to work, if it's still not deposited I'll give him a call and see what's up.

Dollar jar. I borrowed from that this weekend because I knew I was going out to eat with some friends and to the movies with my roomate. I had $8 in there. I spent $5 on breakfast after church and $3 at the movies for pizza. Perhaps not the wisest expenditure of money but I didn't charge it.

I had $11.10 in my Personal Fund yesterday. Today, it's all gone. I went out last night and bought a housewarming gift for a friend of mine, cost $7.80. But then went out to dinner and that cost $11 including tip. I went ahead and used my debit card since I only have $40 for the rest of the payperiod for food and I'm going to borrow $6 from that to go to the movies tomorrow night (I'll get reimbursed but not til later). So instead of having my $20 cushion in my bank account, I'm down to $12. That's ok though. I think.

My gas tank is still relatively full. I haven't heard yet about when I might be doing the customer training but it's definately not this week. I'm pretty excited about having $10 left over from my gas budget and not having the tank be almost completely empty when I get paid. I'm actually going to walk to work today even though I have something to drive to after work. I think I have enough time to walk home, eat a quick bite, and get to my friend's house all in an hour. Totally do-able. And even if it's not, chances are someone will be later than I am.

I'm no longer just paying interest in my high student loan!! That'll teach me to skip a payment just cuz they tell me I can. Tsk tsk.

I expect next month to be more on par with what it will actually be. Out of a payment of $259 only $50 went to principle this month. But at least my numbers will start looking better NetWorth wise next month.

I'm going camping this weekend. Really looking forward to it. I think I'm going to take my babysitting money from tonight and use that to pay for the campsite (there's a bunch of people splitting the cost so I don't know how much it will be but not more than $13, plus I'm getting a ride out with friends and we're sharing food) and breakfast on Sunday.

I'm so tired right now. Coffee sounds really good. Even though I should avoid caffiene.

I was going to strive really hard to not have to put any more gas in my car until payday. Then today I got asked to go do some customer training at a local site that's about 70 miles away. I am seriously on E, was going to put my last $6 in tonight and avoid driving as much as possible until payday (Thursday) but I'll be going up to do the training on Tuesday or Wednesday...

So what I think I'm going to do is put the $6 in tonight like planned and take $25 from one of my childcare gigs on Sunday or Monday nights and put that in my car for gas. When I get back I'll submit an expense report and get reimbursed for like $0.40 per mile. When I get the check for mileage, I'll put the $25 into wherever it was going to originally go and do something else with the rest. That should work. And I won't have to pull from other monies to make it happen.

I have done only one project so far and I wanted to do another. With my trip to the coast this weekend (I'm actually leaving tonight after work since book club is next weekend instead) I thought it'd be nice to have a knitting project to work on.

I made my first ever anything on my trip to Croatia. You can see me here starting it (well you can't really see but this is a picture from the night we stayed in the lobby of SeaTac and that's when I started it)

http://www.goingthere.net/gallery/Travel/P5270019

There are other knitters on the trip, I'm the one on the far right.

And then here I am at one of the airports on the way back almost done:

http://www.goingthere.net/gallery/Travel/IMG_4338

I wanted something to go with it. Everyone knits scarves. I don't want another scarf. I have a beautiful one that my aunt knitted for me. So I'm making wristwarmers instead. You can see the ones I'm going to make here:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html

The trip to the yarn store cost me a pretty penny, only because I dont' have the right needles yet. So I know if I continue it won't be so costly. It was $19.95 (out of my $30 set aside for 'personal') for double pointed needles, tapestry needle, cable needle, and yarn. We'll see how it turns out! I know I'll have trouble when it comes to the thumbs but that's ok. I have two great friends who knit beautifully that can help me out once I get there.

Of course, I realized last night that I'd messed up somewhere. I was using the tail from the start as a guide for counting rounds. Since I'm using four needles instead of three it actually works out ok because the last needle is the only one that I complete a set of stiches on. But, I got halfway through my third round and there was the little tail. Umm. So I think I'm going to take it out an redo it.

Incoming:
1204.69 Salary
-6.55 left over from last check *
-------
1198.14

Outgoing:
100.00 Rent (save for October)
93.17 Insurance
250.00 CC1**
60.00 Student Loan
35.00 Savings
121.00 Personal Loan (save for October)
100.00 Food
60.00 Storage
170.47 Timeshare (hopefully not)
65.01 Electric (equal pay plan)
40.00 Gas (car)
30.00 Personal play money
50.00 Croatia Trip***
-------
1174.65

Leaves: 23.49 when all is said and done

* I sent in a check for $20 for an application fee in March. Turns out I didn't need to pay it, but they've not returned my check nor cashed it. So I pretend it's still there but allow myself a $20 cushion before pulling extra cash from savings. I was not overdrawn.

** Part of that payment is made up of my Cell bill and Cable bill money. If the timeshare does go away I will pay cash for my cable bill this time around (not due til Oct 9 so it can wait) and next month pay cash for both. The goal is in October to still be able to pay $250 towards CC1 while paying cash for the other two bills.

*** Went to Croatia in June for a mission trip. The plane tickets were more than anticipated so teammember wound up charging the difference. We are trying to figure out ways to raise the last of the money due ($5500) but until then we each pitch in monthly towards the minimum payment. Teammember says I don't need to contribute for a couple months because I keep giving her double what she asked for initially from each of us. I tell her to take all she can get to throw at it. I'm working on her though, she did call and get the interest rate lowered by 3% and as soon as the new house she bought craziness settles down we're going to start looking at other options to perhaps transfer the balance to a lower interest rate card.

Soon as I hear that the transfer has processed for my timeshare I plan on taking that $170, putting $61 towards the cable bill, $30 to pay back a friend for ticket she bought me, and $80 towards CC2. Plus my brother gets paid tomorrow so any money he starts paying me back will also go towards CC2.

I need one new tire. Which really translates into two new tires. I know I really should replace all four but I just can't do that. Two will just about break the bank. The rims that my car came with are specialty. Which means the tire is not standard and costs a little bit more. Considering that I've had the car for three years and haven't had any tire trouble that couldn't be easily fixed, I consider myself lucky.

When I got a flat fixed at Les Schwab they showed me how one of the tires really needed to be replaced. I had him look it up to see how much it would cost. For two tires it'll be $140. I checked around and it seems to be an average price.

I really should get the new tires before the rainy season hits full on. It's been raining the past couple of days but then it'll be nice for another week (if the forecast is anything to be believed). So it's not a necessity yet. But by the end of October I definately need to get them.

I have $162 in my local savings account (the rest is in ING). So I have enough to cover the cost of the tires, but it will definately drain my local savings. Something I really would prefer to avoid. If I wait til end of October, I should have $222 in my local savings which would mean pulling money out for the tires wouldn't totally spend every dime I have.

I wish I got the paper so I could see if/when my size goes on sale. But for now, I think I'm going to wait.

A few weeks back I was at dinner with a friend who started going through her wallet. She pulled out three gift cards for movie rentals (two for blockbuster, one for hollywood) and handed them to me saying she'll never use them.

One of the blockbuster ones had definately expired, it was just for a one free rental. The other blockbuster one says I have to go into a store to check the balance. How annoying. So I don't know if that one has anything on it. The hollywood one had $5.06

This past weekend a friend of mine and I decided to veg and watch a movie so I pulled out the hollywood gift card and said I had that bit covered. The movie we rented was a new release ($3.79) but was also on the return early get a dollar credit deal. I dropped it back off that night after we watched it.

So...my gift card now has a balance of $1.27, plus I should have a $1 credit at the store. Doesn't quite make a second free rental but it gets it pretty darn close. So long as I use it in the next 24 months that is.

Now I just have to happen to be by a Blockbuster when they aren't busy to check the balance on the other card. If there's nothing on it, I want to chuck it.