Send Earnings

There should be a law against plagiarizing yourself. This is a total rip off of this post! Do I get jail time or a time out?
Anywho, I just found out that Send Earnings has the same new feature as Inbox Dollars. Its called cash tasks. You can pick up a few extra bucks or should I say quarters for clicking on or checking links. I have been doing it for a few weeks and it really helps push you to the $30 payout faster.
Just a thought and thanks for coming to see me,
SonyaAnn

Is Anna Like her Mother?

If she saw that title, we would have a full on fight. She is doing well at EIU and getting into the swing of it all. I don't think that she has missed us at all. And to be honest, she wasn't here much. But when she did show up, it was a whirlwind of activity and friends. We were a pit stop for her.;)
I know she is gone but it hasn't sunk in completely. I keep thinking things like when will she be home so I can make dinner. And then it dawns on me and stings a bit.
Anyways, back to the question! She seems to be budgeting her money. At least, that is what she tells me. She hasn't charged anything on the credit card and has been making the most of her cash. She has even been searching out deals! Maybe I was a good influence on her! That is so hard to believe.
I just hope that a life time of frugal wore off on her. I keep thinking about the old credit card commercial where the parents show up at their kids dorm room and the kid is partying and wearing scuba gear. All charged on their credit card! I'm pretty sure that I would be arrested but it would make for an interesting blog story!
Thanks for stopping by and I'll let you know if she goes on a spending spree,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday

And my beautiful booger for the day is Kristy from Kristy's Stitching World. Stop over and see what she has whipped up!
Have a wonderful weekend,
SonyaAnn

Don't Forget!

While you are out getting all of the lovely school supplies and the children are pouting and the parents are all smiles, don't for get to get one of these...........
To you it is a mere pencil box, to me it is a gift from the gods. I keep all of my coupons in here. Just an idea if your couponing method isn't working. I think couponing is an art form that takes a life time to perfect. I have too much time on my hands!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

And this is all kinds of messed up! Go here!
Have a great day,
SonyaAnn

Free Money!!

Since Anna is away at school and I'm planning on cutting every corner I can and then some, I have been looking for a way to make a few extra pennies. And some might say that it is a waste of time to do something for such a small amount of money, I say POO!
Inbox Dollars now has a new way to make money. It's called cash tasks. And while you won't be able to retire on the money you make, it would be quite easy to make a few extra bucks a day. So go check that out and if there is anyone out there that hasn't signed up for Inbox Dollars please use my link.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

The Actual Numbers!

I'm not sure if anyone is really interested in these figures but I'm going to post them on the off chance that someone will use them as a guide and to help keep me organized.
So here is the break down for one semester at EIU.

Activity Fee 102.03
Athletics Fee 103.65
Biology Course Fee 25.00
Campus Improvement Fee 232.00
Computer Network Fee 48.00
Grant-In-Aid/SEDS Fee 144.72
Health Service Fee 90.90
Legal Service Fee 5.22
New Student Program Fee 100.00
Room/Board - Fall 4127.00
Student Insurance Fee 109.95
Textbook Rental Fee 159.20
Tuition, UG, resident 4064.00
Union Bond Revenue Fee 212.03
Total $9523.70

That is a disgusting number!!! And here is how we are going to be breaking it down.
$9523.70
-$250 for the fall enrollment fee
-$150 for the housing down payment
-$1742 for the Fed Direct Subsidized Loan
-$ 800 for the Federal Pell Grant
-$1425 for the IL MAP Grant
total $5156.00 We are lucky that my inlaws will cover this in the beginning, soooo lucky. And the good thing is she will end up getting more money as she goes along. Here is the break down once we start paying for it.
Including the housing and the enrollment fee the total for the year is
$11112
-$3500 Anna works
-$5200 child support
-$2000 tax credit(still hoping for more)
-------------
$412

God, I hope those numbers are close. But I think that it is still a good idea to post these because I can come back later and see if they match up. There are still quite a few variables in there that I have not added in. Like getting her home, how much she will really make at her job, and spending money. The good thing is her cousin had that job when she was at EIU and that is what she made. We are so lucky that she was able to get the job! And we are still up in the air on the tax credit. All I can do is keep crunching numbers and complaining.
Thanks for once again letting me vent/worry/complain on your shoulder,
SonyaAnn
PS-I don't usually add an update but I had to leave Donna Freedman's comment front and center. I laughed until it hurt. And I love the way she is always trying to help someone pay their bills!!!!!!!!!

Donna Freedman said...

Maybe her roommate will pay her to go away for a few hours, if you know what I mean... ;-) She could pay all her fees that way and still have enough to treat her roomie to a soda on their way to the STD clinic!

Friend's Friday!

And my booger for this lovely Friday is Jonnie from MoM of BoY's with ToYs! Pop on over and check her out!!!
Have a great weekend,
SonyaAnn

Bad Day Box!

With Anna going away to school, I thought that I would make her a gift that would make her feel better when times got rough. Yes, there are times when I can be nice to her.
I took a simple photo box that was marked down and added some ribbon and a huge bow. I normally would have spray painted a shoe box but I'm running behind on time lately.



I knew that I wanted to do something like this for a while so I started collecting little trinkets that were on sale a while ago. There is some nail polish, a movie, a little bowling game, some bath stuff. Nothing that was too expensive but just a little something to put a smile on her face.
I also have been asking family and friends to write her a little uplifting and/or funny note to add to the box. That way when she has a bad day she can take out a present and a note. Awwwww, I can be sweet sometimes, can't I?
I think that I'm going to make one of these every time that someone is going away to college. It won't cost that much and will be original.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

Hmmmm, don't know what to do with this Chinese commercial? It's hard to believe that someone thaought this was a good idea. There is a joke in there!
Have a wicked Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

Another Problem!!!

Well crap! I really have a dilemma. The Focus is almost dead. Is it worth it to try and resurrect it?
Here is where we stand on everything and it may seem pretty clear cut but there are some other things at work too.
The Kia is our "good" car. It is a 2004 Amanti and it is a sweet ride. It is paid for which makes it even nicer but it gets terrible gas mileage. TERRIBLE! Maybe 20 MPG, it looks great but my heart sinks every time I have to step on the gas cuz I know I just spent $7. It has about 78000 miles on it. So it is no spring chicken.
The poor white, once smashed, 1999 Chevy lumina is still going strong. It has a new transmission but has 158000 miles on it. On a good day, we can get about 22 MPG. This is the kid's car. Yes, I know to hell with the kids in desperate times but still. Anna is going away to college so she doesn't need a car so I should just drive it. The problem is in about a year and a half, DJ will need a car. Well not need a car but we gave Anna the car to drive to school(1.5 miles away) if she stayed on the honor roll(which is going to pay off because she will be getting college scholarship money) and had a job to pay for her car insurance. I can't do for one and not the other. I just won't do it.
And then there is the Focus. I'm thinking about just calling it the f*** us car. We are $1200 in repairs and no closer to fixing it. It has a brand new motor in it and the body is in really great shape. It also gets over 30 MPG. It will need a transmission in the near future. I really don't mind putting money into the car but I'm not going to waste money on a dead car either. No one can figure out what is wrong with it. At times, it thinks its a race car and the engine races out of control or it isn't getting gas at all. We have had it to transmission places, mechanics and the Ford dealer. No one has a clue. Everyone is just throwing parts at it, us included. Den is a car guy and is at a loss. A friend said he will stop over and list all of the codes that it is spitting out. Even though this has been done half a dozen times, Den is going to go over everything. He said he will try and figure it out and see if it can't be fixed for a few more bucks. Famous last words!
So here is the problem, it is costing us $100 extra a month in gas for Den to drive the Kia. I see that as wasted money and would rather that money go towards a car. If we get another car, we would have to finance it. And I would hate to have another bill especially when Anna is going to college and we don't know what kind of impact it will have on our budget. A new car also means higher car insurance. Getting rid of the focus will drop our car insurance a bit(maybe $30 a month) but not enough to cover the extra money for the gas. Please help! I know I should be able to make a decision by now but I seem to be stuck. At what point, do you give up on the f*** us and say no more money?
Thanks again,
SonyaAnn

In and Out!

What a great title for one of my posts!! I'm going to be hard to get a hold of this week. DJ starts high school. We are doing a lot of last minute packing for Anna and I'm praying that we don't have a repeat of our last trip to EIU! I would say that there is no way that it could be worse than our last trip but then you all know my luck and I won't be saying that!
I have a question that may start a serious fight. I am NOT saying that I'm going to do this, we probably will not. It is just something that I have been pondering for a while. Is it really a good idea to be paying 3 extra house payments a year? If you need a refresher on our budget, go here. Our budget is as tight as you can get it. It is to the penny. That said, I often leave out the fact that we max out on Den's retirement and we make 3 extra house payments a year. We are so broke because we choose to put every last penny towards the "right things." We also have a really good plan if Den becomes unemployed.
I'm not saying that we will be able to keep up the extra 3 payments a year. It is looking like we will be burying the focus pretty quickly. And we will eventually need another car. But until then we will continue to pay extra on the house. But is it wise to pay extra on a house that is losing its value. We owe $125,000 on it(the same that we bought it for, yuck!) we have been here 15 years and have had to refinance it a few times. We rolled in some debt and here we are. If I had to do it over again, I would not do it the same but here I am. At its peak, this house was worth about $200,000. Now not so much. A house right down the street from us is going for $139,900. So is it wise to sink money into something that is losing its value? We plan on staying here so I guess the answer is yes, it makes sense to pay off this bill. But wouldn't I come out ahead if I put that money in savings?
This is just a question but I think that it is worth looking into. Try not to stroke out when leaving a comment! I have such smart people stop by that I figured if I wanted a correct answer, this would be the place to ask it. You all are like my magic 8 ball!!!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday

And Linda from My Kind of Cooking is my booger for the day! How appetizing is that! Thank you for stopping over to see me and have a great weekend!
See you Monday,
SonyaAnn

Sonya's Favorite Places!

It is still nuts around here! So I thought that I would list a few of my favorite places that I like to visit when I have free time on the computer. Which is not happening lately!!
These are my addictions-


I love Wags is a great site to plan out your attack for freebies!

The same goes for CVS!



I just love to poke around Hip 2 Save and see if there is anything that I can use that is on sale!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!!!! Have fun with this one.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

I Got Nothing!

I'm running around like a nut job! So what does this picture have to do with anything. Nothing! I just found it funny. I didn't want your visit here to be wasted! I had to have something for you.
DJ has freshman orientation and we are trying to get Anna packed up and ready to move out. So my time here will be a bit sparse, not cuz I don't love you just duty calls. I said duty!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Be Kind!

I just know that I'm going to start a fire storm by posting this one. Yes, it's a lot of money and I believe in education. Nice comments only on this post! I'm posting this to help anyone that has a child going off to college, trust me I would have bookmarked this page if some had put it out there. Sending a child away to college has so many scary variables that this may help ease a bit of that. And this is the scariest part about it, the bill! This is the break down of how we are going to pay for EIU for Anna.
Side note-Den found out a few years ago that he had had a child before we got married. She was 9 when he found out. The mother didn't know who the father was so Den was not a part of her life. The child thought this other man was her father and didn't want anything to do with Den. I don't want to post about other people's lives but the mother had just had a nervous break down and the state was involved. The little girl found her little brother in bed, he had passed because of SIDS. It was a very sad and touchy situation. We let her mother take the lead, right or wrong. But the little girl had just lost her brother, her mother was not well and the only man she knew was not her father anymore and she couldn't accept it. It was a mess. And now you know just about everything about me! Once again be kind with the comments!
So here is how this first year will break down, I think. You should also know that the first year will be the year that your child gets the least amount of money. They give out more the further along they get. My guess would be is that they want to make sure that they give it to the ones that are going to stick around, I'm probably wrong so don't quote me. Anna will also qualify for scholarship money for being in the honor society but not at first. UGH!
1st year-
$9500 tuition
$9400 room & board
$1800 books & misc.
--------
$20700 TOTAL

It is a pretty upsetting number! But you have to remember that you have to break it down. That will help calm your stomach a bit!

$20700
-$1600 PELL grant
-$2850 IL Map grant
-$3500 Loans Anna will be taking out
------------
$12750

So we have $12750 to go.

$12750
-$3500 She will have to work(has a job waiting) and this isn't including any $ she makes in the summer.
-$5200 Child support back
-----------
$4050
Now here is where it gets tricky! We will be getting a tax credit. My FIL is a CPA so this is an educated guess. We should be getting anywhere from $1000 to $3600 back on our taxes. He said that it should be around $2000. I'm going to try and cover the rest and I promise there will be a lot of complaining on my side. We are very blessed that my inlaws are helping too. They are going to cover what we can't until Den get s the child support back. I'm also going to clean a few extra houses. I think between everything we should have it covered. It's just looks like the first year will be a killer after that we will have the child support back and the tax refund and we should be fine. Fingers crossed.
$4050
-$2000 tax return
---------
$2050
If I break that down by week, it's $39.42 a week I need to come up with. I just hope that my numbers are correct. Say a prayer for us and stay tuned!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday!

I'm changing it up a bit again, my booger for today is a website not a person. It's Hip2Save, if you haven't been there before you need to check it out. And have a great weekend and thank you for coming to see me!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Who Knew!

Remember the table Den built for the game room.
And the finished product.
I saw this at Life Hacker. We are en vogue. Who knew it could happen? And check out
Life Hacker its has some great ideas on saving a buck!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

We Have a Winner!!!

Thank you so much to CSN for the wonderful $40 giveaway! They are welcome back anytime!;)
And the winner is thanks to random.org...........
#53
Congratulations to Mary Ellen
I'll be contacting you by email!
And thank you to everyone that entered,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

This one is funny!
Have a wicked Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

I Cheated Again!

We had a graduation party for Anna and DJ. I would love to post a few pictures for you but I didn't even take one! We had 50+ people and I never stopped running. I was told over and over it was a great party but not from where I was standing or should I say running. The grand total for food, beer, the "tent" and everything else that goes with it was $850. Sluggy don't stroke out, my in-laws picked up the majority of the tab. I think we spent about $200 and most of it went for out "tents". We were going to rent a tent and chairs but even with a discount(laughable) it would have been $260. Being tight, I searched for an alternative. We bought 2 carports for $78 each at Menards and borrowed the table and chairs from some dear friends who took them from their cafeteria at work.
The tents fit perfectly and no one knew the difference between a carport and a tent. I had two people ask to borrow them too. Maybe I should go into the tent business!!!
Just a thought,
SonyaAnn
PS-Don't forget about the CSN giveaway!!!!!

Quick tip!

I hate going to someones house and the bottoms of my socks aren't perfectly white. It happens to the best of us and I'm sure that no one is really looking but it still bothers me. So when I get a new pack of socks, I hide one pair at the back of the drawer and use it only when I'm going to someone's house. Yes, I think about things like that. Hmm, is this a frugal hack or a personal appearance tip? My grandmother would be so proud!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn