A few days ago, I received an offer from Discover. Open an online checking account, receive a $50 bonus. Um, yeah, OK. Come to think of it, I would like a free $50. So, I funded that today ($25) and will wait patiently until January for my free $50. It is going to look just smashing when I apply it to my car loan.

My mom came down with a bad cold, so we did not go car shopping or Bingo playing after all. Perhaps the weekend after this coming one.

I love a good concert. I was super excited when one of my all time favorites released a new album last month. I was hoping that meant a concert tour was soon to follow. And, it did mean that! I bought my tickets Saturday to see Bob Seger in March. Can't hardly wait. Treated myself to the new CD too.

I pulled out my most recent paystub to see what I will gross this year. It looks like $54,111.47. My aim is to stash 15% of that in retirement accounts somehow, which means $8,116.72. By the end of the year, I will have contributed 3k each to both my Roth and Simple IRAs. Another $1533 was contributed by my employers to my Simple. That leaves $583.72 to go. Round it up a bit just for giggles, and I intend to contribute $700 to my traditional IRA before the year is out.

I lost my paycheck yesterday. My boss handed it to me about 10:30am as he was leaving for the day. (This was the senior partner. The junior partner normally does this task, but he was on vacation last week).

As usual, I separated the check from the stub, placed the stub in an envelope, which I keep in a file in my desk drawer, entered the amount of the paycheck into my check register, inserted the check into my checkbook, and put the checkbook into my purse.

At lunch time, I went to a CVS to get a passport photo picture taken, went to my allergy doctor for my shot, while there I paid my bill and made my annual appointment at the receptionist's desk, then bought lunch at a nearby Panda Express. At each of those three stops I was in and out of my purse.

Later in the afternoon, when I was doing client banking, I intended to deposit my paycheck while I was there, and discovered that it was gone. Bleah!!

I called all three places, but no one had turned in my lost paycheck.

So on Monday, I get to tell the junior partner what I have managed to do.

So over the past few weeks, I have been visiting dealerships and taking test drives. I have driven a new Kia Forte, a new Nissan Versa Note, and a new Ford Focus Titanium. I had planned to test drive a Hyundai Elantra too before I made my final decision.

I loved that Titanium. All of the bells and whistles, so pretty, and it rides so nice. The salesman made me a very nice offer too. The MSRP on the car is 26,685 and he quoted me 21,301. It is a good price, but still more than I want to spend. Also, the car has the dual clutch automatic transmission. Ford has been putting those in the Focus and Fiesta cars since 2012, and there are a lot of complaints and lawsuits over that transmission. Of course, some people have no trouble with them whatsoever. I prefer to just buy one with a manual transmission in the first place and avoid the whole issue. There are no Focus cars with a manual transmission and the other features I want sitting on a lot anywhere in my area. If I have one special ordered, I will not have much bargaining power to negotiate a better price. Paying 26k is completely out of the question.

Last night I was browsing CarMax's website, and I found a 2013 Focus SE with a manual transmission, the navigation, heated front seats, and moon roof which I crave, in my preferred color (dark grey) with only 18k miles. The "no haggle" price is 14,998. This price is much more what I had in mind. The car is close enough to new that it should provide reliable transportation for many years to come. I have already called and they have placed the car on a 7 day hold. I plan to go see it over the weekend, and if it is as advertised, I intend to buy it.

As you might guess, J is thrilled with this news.

I have applied for a used car loan from Wells Fargo, and I can get 3.69% on a 6 year loan. I like the rate, and I want my minimum monthly payments as low as I can get them. I do not intend to take the entire 6 years to pay off the car.

I still have full coverage on the Accord. My car insurance premium went from about $90 per month to about $140 per month when I added J as a secondary driver. (This is with the pay-in-full-up-front discount). It will double when I add another car and J becomes a primary driver. I will have to cover this myself until J graduates, gets a job, and takes over his share of the insurance. OUCH!

One day towards the end of last week, MrsM180 announced she and hubby had found a new living arrangement. This was something of a surprise, as I did not know that they had been looking. They are excited and optimistic. I am glad for them, but gosh, I am going to miss them. So will J and our canine companions.

The very next day, BF announced his last night at his house is this coming Wednesday. Beginning Thursday, he will be living full-time with me.

This is a lot of change in a short amount of time for an old girl like me. Wish me luck!

Update: His plans have changed already! The contractor wants BF to stay through the weekend to assist with a few things.

I haven't been blogging much these past several months, but now that April 15th is behind us, my life is getting back to normal.

My income taxes are all paid. I sent off $1,200 to my Roth yesterday, and $1,533 to my Simple (employer matching). So, I am looking forward to those contributions hitting my accounts. I am getting close to hitting 200k in retirement savings, which is pretty exciting.

I have decided I want to sell my house and leave this area. I am heading to a climate with high elevation and dry air, which is what my allergy doctor says I need. J will graduate from high school in May 2015, and if the housing market is good, I will list my house at that time. Therefore, I intend to spend the next year sprucing up my house as much as possible.

BF has spent the past two months emptying out his house. It is nearly completely empty now, with just a few pieces of furniture, paintings, etc. for staging purposes. With his realtor's help, he has made a list of things which should be updated/replaced, and has signed an agreement with a contractor. The work has already begun. The house will be listed as soon as the contractor is finished. The appraiser has already been out, and his report estimates the value of the home at 816k. The market is very hot in the area, and BF is hoping there will be enough interest that buyers will try to outbid each other.

Do you recall that I lent BF 6k a few years ago? He had a small mortgage and was on the verge of foreclosure. He sold a car, some jewelry, emptied out his last investment account, and was still a bit short to pay the mortgage in full. I lent him the last 6k. When his house sells, I will be getting my money back.

We have talked off and on about living together. At one point, I was all for it. But now, I am uncertain if it is really what I want to do. He says when the house sells, he intends to quit his job and move down here with me. I have warned him that the job market in my city is very different than the job market in the greater Sacramento area. He laughed and said oh yes, he realizes that.

Mr and Mrs M180 plan to move back to Colorado late this summer. So, it will be back to just J and I in my little house, and possibly BF.

This last week was lots of fun, though busy.

On Wednesday, I attended the company Xmas party of my part-time job. There weren't many people there I knew, but I had a nice evening anyway.

On Thursday, I met a girlfriend for coffee after work. I hadn't seen her in awhile, and we had a good visit.

On Friday, the "kids" and I went to my mother's. My nephew's step-son was playing basketball in my mother's town, the nephew, his wife, and two of their children came as well. We had a nice time visiting at my mom's house.

Tonight I am going to yet another party, this one in the home of some friends of mine. There will be a white elephant gift exchange, which is always fun with this group.

I redeemed 2500 swagbucks this morning! A sweet $25 mortgage chip is on its way to my Paypal account.

I will work Monday, then have 2 days off! Yay.

Yesterday I set up the 2013 income tax software on my desktop at work. To do a test run, I plugged in most of my tax numbers. Bad news (but not unexpected). I owe $1578 federal. I will get a state refund of about $1000 to help (don't have California software set up yet, so estimating).

I asked my boss to withhold an additional $300 next payday, because that will get my balance due low enough that I won't owe a penalty as well.

I also changed my withholding, so will see a little less take home pay. I will have to jiggle my budget around a little bit.

In other news, I got my eyebrows threaded last night, and they look fabulous. I was overdue, and I have my company Xmas party this Saturday. I can't have caterpillars crawling on my forehead.

This evening, I have an email that Swagbucks has deposited $5.00 into my Dwolla account. I logged in, requested a transfer to my bank account, and was advised the transfer will take 2-3 business days.

Since October is waning, I logged in to WF and transferred $5.08 to my mortgage. (Dwolla gave me eight whole cents during the verification process. So generous!)

Swagbucks just got a whole lot more fun for me. Currently, I have enough to redeem for another $5 Dwolla gift card. That will make a fine little mortgage chip in a week or so.

Tomorrow morning my mom and I are driving north to Redding to visit my niece. She lives in Tacoma, WA but is in Redding for a week or so. We will spend the night and drive home Sunday. Should be a fun weekend.

...I will have a lower home insurance bill. Yay!

I received my renewal a week or so ago. As always, the new premium crept up a bit from last time. The bill is $912.

This morning, after reading Monkey Mama's latest blog post, I pulled out my renewal, went to State Farm's website, and submitted a request for a rate quote. I can get the exact same coverage for $695, saving me $217.00

Since I have an impound account for property taxes and homeowner's insurance, I will not see any monthly savings now. But, when my account is analyzed and adjusted next year, I will enjoy some combination of lower monthly payments and/or a refund.

I've been doing Swagbucks for a few months now. (CreditCardFree's tutorial from last May is very helpful). So far, I have purchased 1 $5 Amazon gift card for 450 Swagbucks. What I would really like though, is to redeem for cash.

Today I noticed there is a gift card for a vendor called Dwolla. Dwolla seems to be very similar to Paypal. Dwolla does charge a $.25 fee for transactions over $10.

Currently, $5 Dwolla gift cards are on sale for 400 Swagbucks. I bought one. It will take a few days for Dwolla to verify my bank account info, and a few days for my gift card to be available.

Hopefully, one day soon I will have $5 cash in my checking account, courtesy of Swagbucks and Dwolla. It will make a lovely mortgage chip.

Last night, I met a girlfriend I hadn't seen in about 6 months for drinks, dinner, and giggles. I offered to pay. I spent $30 including a generous tip. (The place we like to go has awesome margaritas for $2. Also, the best chips and salsa I have ever had). We had a great time.

Today I am planning to drive up to Davis to see BF. I will spend the night and come home tomorrow afternoon.

This morning I received $3 from PineCone, which I have made into a mortgage chip.

That's it. Life is pretty exciting around here, isn't it?

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/09/28/reader-case-study-...

My daughter and son-in-law are going to be featured on Mr. Money Mustache!

My daughter started reading Mr. Money Mustache a few months ago, and she and SIL decided to make some big changes. She e-mailed MMM just to let him know, he responded and asked if she would be interested in being "interviewed" for a new feature on his blog, "Mustachian 180s". They have exchanged a few emails since.

No word yet on when exactly it will appear.

Isn't that cool? I know there are some MMM fans here on Saving Advice.

Remember my new Capital One Quicksilver card? My first statement closed quickly, I redeemed my first rewards ($1.95) and requested a check. I did receive the check, deposited it, and sent it off to CurveBall.

Last night I logged on to Capital One's site to eyeball my charges. I had another $109.62 in rewards available. My statement has not closed, but the rewards are available?! That is a new one on me.

The card offered a $100 bonus for spending $500 the first 3 months. The additional $9.62 is from spending (groceries, utilities, the dentist).

I redeemed the rewards and asked for a statement credit. I had an e-mail this morning that I will see my credit in 5 - 7 days.

In other reward card news, my Home Rewards Visa statement closed and I have $21.92 in rewards. I will have to spend an additional $308 on that card so that I can redeem. Then I will take it out of my wallet.

I am home from mom's. I hadn't been home 30 minutes when I heard rocks hitting the side of my house. I go out in the backyard and my crazy neighbor is out there. I asked what he was doing and he began screaming obscenities at me, and saying that my dog is ruining the fence by jumping on it (yes, the fence I paid 100% of the cost). Then he said he is going to put nails in it (unsure if he meant in a manner in which to harm the dog or not) and began hammering very loudly. I admit, I saw red. I said he is crazy, and that maybe a good psychiatrist could really help him. I went back in the house and more rocks hit the side of my house. I put my head out a window and said if he wanted to put nails in the fence, that was just fine with me, but he needs to stop throwing things at my house. He suggested I call the police.

Instead, I got out the laptop and emailed a local video camera surveillance place. I don't care what it costs, I am going to have a security camera installed to record all activity along our shared fence line. If it doesn't prevent further craziness, at least I will have hard evidence.

Update: I just had a visit from the police. Neighbor called them and claims I threatened to have someone beat him up. Also, I sick my dogs on him to attack. (He also claimed this when we were in small claims court). I said both claims are ridiculous. Then I said he was throwing rocks at my house tonight and I think he is crazy. They seemed to believe me. They said he claims my dogs bark at 1 and 2 am. I said no, my dogs sleep indoors, pet door is kept closed between 10pm and 6am, at the neighbor's request. (They asked me this long before the fence incident. It is a reasonable request, I said I would do so and I have). The officers said a security camera is a good idea.

I have been staying at my mom's since Thursday evening. She is feeling quite a bit better today.

Two months had gone by since I last fiddled with my portfolio. That means I was allowed to exchange back into the fund I want to be in. So that is done and settled.

I received my new Capital One rewards card a few days ago. I activated it and provided the info to the those companies which use it for my automatic billing. Today I received an email that my first statement has closed already! The amount due is $130 (my electric bill) and I redeemed $1.95 worth of rewards (via a paper check). I just wanted to see if there was a charge (there wasn't) and how long it will take to arrive. In the future, I will probably choose to have a statement credit instead. The due date is 9/13, which is inconvenient for me (I get paid on the 15th). Since it is only $130 that is no big deal, but future statements will be quite a bit larger. I was able to change my statement closing date to a later date, so hopefully the payment in October will be due after payday, not before.

My mom is having surgery today. It is not a particularly risky surgery, but my mom is 80. Please think positive thoughts for her, pray for her, or release other positive energy in accordance with your belief system. Thank you.

I will go and visit her tonight in the hospital. If all goes well, she will be released tomorrow. I will spend the night with her Thursday, and will most likely take Friday off from work. She is so stubborn, insisting she will not need any help. However, I think she will be exhausted and not up to doing things for herself.

In chippy news, I received $3 from PineCone for my very first survey, and have already sent it off to E Fund. I have not yet been paid for my July hours from my part-time job. Meanwhile, I worked 9 hours in August. The bookkeeper said she will pay me for both July and August next month. How do you like that?

Yesterday I stumbled upon a real estate site I had never seen before. It is

www.redfin.com.
It is quite different from both Zillow and Trulia, in that you choose 5 recently sold homes, and it calculates your home value based on those sales. Since I live in a large (four hundred or so homes) cookie-cutter subdivision, and since there are plenty of recent sales to choose from, I felt this should work great for me.

I chose 5 single family 4/2 1440 sq. ft. homes which have all closed this calendar year. This is the type of home I have; two were even the exact same floor plan! Of course, there is no way to know for sure how the condition of those homes would compare with mine. But still, I think those sales should be a fairly good indication of the value of my home.

Well, the results showed a value of 148k for my home. What great news! Still upside down, but much less so.

I am going to begin using Redfin each month for my home value when I do my net worth.

In budgeting news, yesterday I received my annual escrow analysis. Both my insurance and property taxes have increased, resulting in a shortage. My PITI is going from 1081.63 to 1111.38 beginning August 1. This means I will have to jiggle my budget around a small bit.

Well, my ship is about to sail! Mom and I are leaving early Saturday morning.

This week has been hectic at work and hectic at home. Even so, I have been enjoying my evenings with all 3 kiddos. I am sad that this time is coming to a close once again.

I have picked up a few new articles of clothing for my trip, but not very many because I have had an unexpected expense arise (more below). I bought a lined rain jacket (from the clearance rack), a pair of long jeans (I mostly wear capris), a nightgown, two shirts, and some underthings. Altogether, I spent $92 on clothing for myself.

Last week when we went to the theme park, the house was empty of people. When we returned home, J discovered that his Xbox, a stack of games, and two controllers were gone. He had played one of his games the night before and all items were accounted for. Nothing else in the house had been disturbed, and there was no sign of a break-in. The dogs were both inside the house and fine.

During the last week of school, J reported to me that he had misplaced his house key. He had been playing ball in a park that day, and thought he had lost it there. I got him a new house key, but was not worried about changing the locks as there is no identifying info on his keyring. Well, I think that key must have been used. Nala (nephew's yellow lab) is an excellent watchdog. Therefore, I further think the key was used by someone Nala knows well.

During the last two months of school, J made a new friend, L. L started coming to our house nearly every day, both after school and on weekends. L seemed to never want to go home. I asked him point blank if there was something going on at home. He replied not really, but that usually it was just he and his foster brother (L is in a foster home), they don't get along, and so L prefers to hang out with friends. L was a pleasant enough boy, but I did catch him lying to me once. Another time, he asked me to please lie to a third boy's mother, so that this third boy would be allowed to go someplace. Of course I refused. Both times I explained to L that I do not tolerate lying.

As it happens, L was with J on the afternoon the house key went missing. We have learned that on the day after the theft, another boy D who is a good friend of L, sold a stack of games at Game Stop, identical to J's stolen games. J does not know D well, he has met him a time or two at school, but J has never been anyplace with D, nor has D ever been to our house.

J did confront L, but L denies any knowledge of the theft. Nonetheless, L is no longer welcome at our house. J feels very used and is very upset with L.

I had the locks changed, the cost was $84.66. J found a used console, hard drive, controller, and cables on eBay for $95 plus tax and shipping. I bought that for him. J had borrowed a game from another friend K which was in the stolen stack. I offered to replace that game, but K said he would be happy with $20, so I gave him $20. All told, I am out $230. I told J that I am done, it is up to him to use his own money to replace his games.

In chippy news, I did a wallet sweep today and sent $8 off to E Fund. The $50 credit card reward I redeemed last month has now been applied to my mortgage. And wouldn't you know, I redeemed another $25 just a few days ago. That won't show up until around July 20th.

In family news, last Sunday mom and I drove nephew up to my brother's house. Brother lives in northern California (the REAL northern California, not just north of Orange county ), it is 4 hours each way. Add in visiting time and it makes for a long day. One niece popped in with her husband and their 3 babies (3yo, 2yo, and 1yo). Mom and I briefly stopped by the workplace of another niece. It was a wonderful day, and we'll have a repeat in a few weeks when we go back to retrieve nephew.

Even though I swore to myself I was through with fiddling, I fiddled some more. I am almost at the "3 Fund Portfolio", except I am overweighting mid/small caps a bit.

Here is my new target AA for tax-deferred:

30% S & P 500 Index
20% Extended Market Index

25% International Index

25% Total Bond Market Index

I have updated my "My Portfolio Holdings" page.

How about you, do you find yourself fiddling, even when you have sworn it off?

I have just spent the afternoon at my part-time job. I am done with it now for June. I put in 10 hours, for which I will bill $200.

Work was super crazy this week, the other staff accountant was on vacation. That means I have to do all of her payroll clients as well as my own, while juggling other things as well. Add swinging by the part-time job 3 days this week into the mix, it has made for a long week.

I can hardly wait to return the favor and go on vacation myself.

J and I spent the weekend with BF in El Dorado Hills. BF's office had a flood in the basement a few months ago. While the repairs are being done, they have rooms with a workspace at the Holiday Inn Express in El Dorado Hills.

It was like a mini-vacation. The hotel is inside a large shopping center. There is a natural pond (hotel pool area backs up to it) in the center, with restaurants built all around to enjoy the view (lots of outside seating).

On Saturday evening we went to a venue in Folsom with live music. We enjoyed the music, and J even spent time on the dance floor, shaking maracas. The middle-aged adults were all tickled.

I just loved the pool area. It was so pretty with the pond in the immediate background, and the hills beyond that. It was so relaxing to sit out there.

This coming Friday morning my niece who lives in Seattle will be arriving at the airport. She is going to surprise my mom for Mother's Day. I've got to make certain my house is squeaky clean, so will be doing chores all week. I'm not certain what her plans are, just in case she stays a night or two with me, I want to be ready.

Well, I did clear 4k as I expected. I have made all of my planned transfers.

I decided to send J to camp. In addition to what I mentioned before, I felt kind of bad that I will be going on a cruise and he will not. A cruise? Yes.

Mom has decided Alaska is a go. We have chosen a different (less expensive) trip. I think we are leaving towards the end of June. We have not actually booked yet. It will be just her and I.

My employer's annual matching check was mailed off yesterday. So lots of new money going into my Simple and Roth this month.

I am expecting a third $25 mortgage chip any day now.

I received my statement yesterday, and my local electric company is dropping my monthly amount from $238 to $130. This means I can bump up CurveBall some, and bump up my groceries/household budget some.

My paycheck yesterday was for only 9 days instead of the regular 11, so cash in checking is in short supply this month. As a direct result, I will not increase my CurveBall savings deposit in March. Will start that in April.

I took my car in for a service and 4 new tires. My right headlight was out, as well as my left brake light. And it turned out, I had a hose with a hole, so I had that replaced too. The damage was $738.09, charged to WF Visa and will need to be paid (from CurveBall) before the end of March.

I did a wallet sweep yesterday and sent $8 off to E Fund. I'd have had more, but I paid cash for my round trip cable car ride in SF last Sunday. My Bart ticket, my breakfast out, and my dinner out all went on WF Visa and count towards February's "Everything Else". I'll have February's numbers totalled soon.

I have earned a second $25 mortgage chip. The first one posted 2/20, so perhaps the second one will post 3/20. I hadn't anticipated a second one so fast, but my car insurance, groceries, and utilities added up quickly.

We had a wonderful day last Sunday. I was really due for a good, giggly, girlfriend day. But after 2 weeks, I am missing BF of course. He is due to arrive tonight, we will spend Sat together, then he will head home Sunday. I work Sunday, and he has to be at work Monday.

BF and I have discussed moving in together for the past 3 years. He is finally going to sell his house, but now has his new job. His life is there, mine is here. I don't foresee it happening.

I just tried to update my sidebar with 1/31 numbers. Instead of updating, I lost all of my settings. Notice I now have no blog name, bio, etc.

Don't know what is going on.

It's too late for me, but save yourselves!

UPDATE: Nate fixed me. Thanks, Nate!

But it won't post Feb 1. This little goodie was on my Visa statement:

Congratulations| You have earned a $25.00 rebate which
will be automatically applied to your home mortgage loan
within 4-8 weeks.
Thank you for using your Wells Fargo Home Rebate Card�.

I do so like free money.

And I have never received an alert, but i was able to transfer into Vacation Fund this morning. So, hopefully no more hiccups.

I went through my CD collection at work and chose 2 to sell on Second Spin. I went through my small DVD collection and chose 1 to sell on Second Spin. Those 3 items came to $17.50!

Also, I had a copy of "Rosetta Stone" for Spanish. I have asked BF to list it for me on EBay. At one time he had a side business, buying pallets of merchandise at auctions and selling the individual items on EBay. He has thousands of sales and a high satisfaction rating, whereas I have none at all.

I am irritated at TIAA-Cref. My automatic transfer to Vacation Fund did not happen. There was no message or indication as to why. I can look at my "transfers" list and see the next one is scheduled to happen in February. So, I scheduled a one-time immediate transfer. It didn't happen. I couldn't tell why. So, I sent a secure message on their site. They replied I needed to call. I called this past Monday. It seems the problem is my Vacation Fund account is inactive. They will make it active within 24 hours and send me an "alert". As of this morning, still no alert. I tried to transfer from CurveBall to Vacation (an immediate transfer since both are with TIAA-Cref) and I received an error message. Humph.

Thinking I may just switch back to Ally, although their rate is slightly lower. I logged on to Ally. All 3 of my accounts have 0.00 balances, but all show "active" under the "status" header.(On TIAA-Cref's site, I couldn't find "status" information anyplace.) So, I scheduled three $1.00 transfers from WF checking. If they happen, and if TIAA-Cref still won't let me transfer money into Vacation Fund, I think I will just wash my hands of them. I could call again, but it annoys me that I even have to deal with this. I just want to transfer some money into my account, why should it be hard?

TIAA-Cref was paying 1.25% in December, but are down to .99% now. Ally is currently paying .95%.

Well, I worked 4.75 OT hours yesterday. It would have been a longer work day, but I got a phone call from a neighbor that my dogs were out and about. I left to collect them.

When I got home, I discovered that a board from my gate was off and neatly propped against the fence to the right of where it had been nailed in place. I wonder how my dogs were able to accomplish that? Either they have some amazing carpentry skills for creatures with no opposable thumbs, or a person did that particular deed. Hmmm. I wonder who would do such a thing? And yes, this gate is right next to the gate of the delightful dog-poisoning neighbor.

By the time I had nailed the board back into place, I didn't feel like going back to work. Even so, it was a productive work day. No ringing phone to answer, no clients dropping in, no e-mails requesting this or that, just one payroll return after another.

I have my income taxes mostly prepared. I estimated a few small items, and will correct those entries with actual numbers before I submit. I am getting a state refund of $1,039 (every dollar which was withheld) and I owe $372 federal. I am claiming a 1k contribution to my traditional IRA, and will use my state refund to make it. I will have the federal taxes electronically debited on 4/15.

BF is excited about the recovering real estate prices in his area. A vacant lot across the street from him sold recently. The lot backs on to the golf course whereas his backs on to an empty field. We looked it up on Zillow to see the selling price. 650k. This bodes well for his sale in the spring. He is hoping to get 850k. Zillow says it is worth a bit over 1m but BF doesn't think so.

This afternoon I am off to our local independent movie theater. They are showing Gone With The Wind. I have never seen it on the big screen, so I am looking forward to this treat.

BF was here over the weekend. The change in him is very noticeable. He is out of his "funk", and is more his old self, the fellow I was so attracted to in the beginning. He is getting a lot accomplished with his mom's estate, and was full of plans and details (of things already accomplished) to report. He left Sunday afternoon, as he had to be at work early today. (We live approximately 88 miles apart.)

I don't think I've mentioned before how we met. We were both on Nutri-System. Nutri-System has a website with message boards for support. There is an area specifically for singles in their 40s. People discuss challenges and strategies with their NS diet, and of course chat about their personal lives a little bit. (Kind of like here, only the focus is on diet and exercise rather than finances.) Well, I started frequenting that message board and BF did too. I first noticed BF because he made a remark which struck me as funny. After a few months, BF sent me a private message and asked if I would like to have lunch with him sometime. I thought that might be fun, so I accepted. We met for lunch one day (at a Fresh Choice, very NS friendly) and immediately hit it off. There was a lot of chemistry,and we just "clicked", right from "hello". That was about 3.5 years ago now.

I had kind of lost sight of that man, while he was in his "funk". It's pretty exciting to see him again!

In other news, I transferred $600 from CurveBall to cover my HVAC repair.

I was swamped, swamped, swamped at work today, but I still found time to miss Saving Advice!

I've seen people talk about selling things on Second Spin. I do have a large CD collection. Most of them, I won't part with. However, I was sure I had a few at least I wouldn't miss. Nonetheless, I've never been motivated to try selling them.

Be A Wealthy Warrior's post tonight inspired me to see what I have and don't want that they would buy. I went through my collection and surprised myself. I had about 40 cds I don't really care to listen to! I sold 26 of them tonight. With the extra 20% code my total came to $29.88. And I will have a bit less clutter to boot.

Thanks, Be A Wealthy Warrior!