So yesterday, I didn't spend anything at the Dentist. My tooth is infected, so he didn't charge me, but wrote me a RX.

So, after writing out my bills for February, my debt is under $10,000; and this is what else I found out, after keeping track for the month.

My ING and Savings accounts are going up.

Spent $135.25 on gas, but $20.00 was in gas cards from mypoints.com; and

I opened a Sharebuilder account which I am investing in some stock on Friday.

I spent
$328.66 on Groceries
$110.05 on Fast Food/Eating Out

Extras:
Gym Pants for my daughter $33.92
Prescription for my tooth $26.09
Combination Lock for locker $4.02
Winter Gloves and Shirt $16.50
Boys Snow Pants $8.45
Bubble Mailer $1.05
For a total of $90.06 on Extras

I got everything accomplished for January, like paying my Jeep and Homeowner's Insurances, my Up North Property listed with a Realtor, drywall for my livingroom and cleaned two china cabinets.

My debt owed is below $10,000. But, I have another dentist appointment today that will go on my no-interest credit card.

But, hey, I am getting closer to being done on my teeth, so that debt will stop accumulating eventually and then I can get it all paid off. I mean, afterall, how many teeth can one person have.

I am also still plugging away at paying off my credit card debt. Two of them should be paid off fairly soon and then I can snowball that amount on to another debt.

So all of my regular light bulbs have started to burn out. I have none to replace them with.

I have decided to start replacing them with compact flourescents. The word on the street is, they will save me money over the long run, but are more expensive to buy in the beginning.

This is going to have to be a "replace as they burn out project"

I need to replace 25 bulbs total, but I am starting with 6, at a cost of around $15.00.

The street better be right.

I need to invest my money in Sharebuilder and pick a good stock. One that I can just let sit there for years to come. One with a great return. One that is here to stay.

Any suggestions of some I can look into so I can make a decision.

Christmas 2004 - $2400
Christmas 2005 - $1425
Christmas 2006 - $1285

This is so I can remember. I did have it listed to the right under Author Info in my blog, but I am using that area for my Investments.

I am becoming an Investor. That is my new title. When someone says "What do you do for a Living" I will say: "I am an Investor, Bargain and Treasure Hunter"

I hope I can make a living off of it.

Does anyone have a bonus link for Emigrant or do they know if Emigrant gives sign-up bonuses. ING's interest is not moving while Emigrants seems to keep going up. I would like to transfer my money, but would like a bonus to go with it.

So, I have opened a Sharebuilder account and got a $25.00 bonus. I did find an article in regards to the Sharebuilder accounts and there are promotions out there for a $50.00 bonus, so I am going to do that also.

You need to make an initial investment, no minimum and the cost is $4.00, but once you invest and get your bonus, you can withdraw/transfer the initial deposit back to your account and let the bonus money make all the gains which could be between $1000 and $5000 over 20 to 30 years.

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-invest-with-only-100.html

Hey, it is worth the try.

Cost me $810.00 added to my Care Credit Card, but this a zero interest card.

But, my teeth sure are looking good.

My house on the Island is For Sale. I am stunned. I sold it 12 years ago with great regret, now it is For Sale. I just went out and drove by it. I am torn. I had a lot of great memories in that house. That was the first house I bought on my own when my oldest child was three years old. Kind of a new life for me and my little boy.

I will never forget the day I moved in, June 28th. I heard my little boy outside talking to someone I didn't know. I asked him who he was talking to (it was some older gentlemen) and he told me "This is my friend. His name is Grandpa". My daughter was born in that house and I got pregnant with my youngest in that house. Lots of great 4th of July's there. The Village shoots the fireworks off over the Lake and most all of my close friends still live on the Island. "What happens on the Island, stays on the Island". That's our saying.

We have had great fun at the Boat Club, poker runs on the Lake and a lot of late evenings on the boat at the sand bar in the middle of the Lake.

Oh, it served me well.

The guy who bought it from me is the one selling it; and, I might add, for a very reasonable price. I could actually afford to buy it back. Just one problem, it is 500 square feet smaller than the house I live in now. And, I am quite attached to my Cottage and where I live now.

We moved into the house we are in almost 8 years ago; again starting a new life, on my own with my three children, then 4, 7 and 14. They have grown up here where we are now and love it here.

But, why did they have to make my old house so affordable.

I used some of my points at mypoints.com for two $10.00 gas cards. I just put this request in on Friday, and they were in the mail today. The my points thing really works. Sweet.

I have a lot of different types of paper and coin money that came from different countries when my father was in WWII.

I am not really sure how to go about finding the worth or where one would take the money to, in order to get some knowledge.

Any suggestions.

Yep, I broke down and listed my property in the northern part of lower Michigan. It is a nice piece of property, we just don't use it and it is costing me $400/year to maintain it.

I could use that money towards something else, like paying off a credit card, or help with the dental bill and maybe put a deck on my house.

These are all a part of this year's plan, just not sure which to use it for.

So, everyone send good wishes that it sells fairly quickly.

So yesterday, I ventured to the dentist to work on a tooth we were undecided what to do with.

I have been replacing all of my silver fillings to white fillings, but this one particular tooth way in the back has had a very large filling for about 30 years.

Over the years, the filling became a little loose due to wear and tear and moisture got under the filling causing an infection in that tooth.

We were able to put a medicated filling in it for a couple months and then we just changed it over to a regular filling. We are trying to avoid having to do a root canal, cause they are costly. It will eventually have to happen. You just never know with teeth. It could be tommorrow, in a couple months, or three years down the line. Just unsure.

That way, I can use my income to finish off some other teeth, instead of taking such a big chunk out on a tooth no-one can really see.

So, instead of charging it to my Dental Credit Card, I was able to pay cash, but I did have to transfer that from my savings. Cost of tooth - $138.00

Took clothing, shoes and toiletry items cleaned out of closets to an organization that helps those in need yesterday. It feels good to get more items cleared out.

Have a dentist appointment today and I think it is going to be costly. Going to have to put it on the Care Credit Card to cover the costs.

Need to get the brakes/rotors done on my Jeep, again; and an oil change.

File taxes. Just can't decide if I should do it through Turbo Tax or an independent tax accoountant.

Have someone interested in the property again, but they want a Land Contract. Not sure if I should go with this or list it with a Realtor.

I do contemplate my retirement every now and then, but it just does not seem as important to me as living my life now. I mean, do we really know how long we will be here on Earth. We may never get to retirement, if retirement means age 65 or older.

So, as I do not have a hard time saving money for a retirement, I do have a hard time at when I might retire and how much cash I may need when that day comes.

Every time I look at a "retirement calculator", it suggest putting in how old I will be when I retire. Umm, well, I don't know when that will be. I like to work and make money, why do I have to figure out an age when I should retire.

I mean, afterall, I feel like I am living my retirement now. I also think that my retirement will come when I can actually no longer work.

I know, you all think that when you retire, you are supposed to be taking great vacations with your significant other and visiting your grandchildren, but I already do that (well, except for the grandchildren part - I don't have any yet and that is just fine).

But really, shouldn't we all just be enjoying our time here now while we can with the people we love, treading lightly on the Earth, setting aside some money for when "retirement" does come.

So, my question is, how much to save and when do I retire. Crazy.

To stick with the "Compact" theme of things.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact/

I have also been de-junking my house and life and making a little extra cash and getting things done.

I have been either selling items I don't need through some local Yahoo groups or Craigs list. www.craigslist.com., recycling certain items for use as something else, using up what I have before shopping or cooking, not starting another project before I finish certain projects and bartering/trading items/ services I don't need for items/services I do need.

I love this whole "Compact" thing. http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/ I already did a lot of frugalness and not waisting, but this really keeps me focused.

A while back I wrote about having to find a way to make some income. I will loose half my income in three years and then all of my income in 6 years due to my children turning 18.

I went into working with helping the elderly. The pay is not good (not that that is the big problem), it is just so depressing, that I am finding myself in a depressed state. Plus, it is really taking away from my family, which is not good. I just don't think it is for me, at this time in my life.

I gave it a try, but I need to do something that is more suitable for me. I am going to keep thinking on a dream job for me and try to come up with something in the near future.

http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

This is a blog about not buying anything new for a year, using what you have, recycling, etc. I think it is quite interesting, even though I haven't made it through all the reading. I did see there is a Yahoo group for "The Compact". Hmmm. Gets you thinking.

I bought my youngest son a new winter coat, snow pants, a pair of sweats and boots for Christmas for our usually very snowy season in Michigan. But, nothing so far. In fact, we have had very warm weather here. It is going to get in the 30's over the next few days, but that is all they are predicting. My son does have a coat he can wear if it gets cold, so no worries.

Cost of returns, around $95.00, back in my pocket. That almost covers the cost of the purchase of my drywall.

January 3 - No spend day. Wow, this never happens to me. Sweet.

January 4 - Received pay-as-you-go phone. Activated it and received $22.50 credit, which covered the cost of the phone, plus a little extra.

Sold off some books, movies and games. Made $48.50 extra.

January 5 - Bought drywall for my living room. Cost $105.94

January 6 - Looking like a no spend day again. I could get used to this. Oops, actually, the kids got pizza, bread and pop for dinner. Cost $9.09.

Anyways, my budget and spending plan is working great so far. I have about $100.00 in my checking, but all the bills are paid, we have groceries, drywall for one of my projects on the list and I haven't touched my savings yet. Looking good.

I have to track every penny spent that is not in my spending and budget plan.

January 1 - Bought Pay-as-you-go phone. $21.19 from Virgin Mobile, but will get a $20.00 top-up credit when I activate the phone.

January 2 - Birthday present for my son's girlfriend. $20.00 gift card to Border's Books.

$2.00 to my youngest for something to eat at a kid's hockey game.

I changed our Blockbuster plan from a total of $19.07 per month to $10.59 per month, saving me another 101.76/year, putting my projected saved total (extra money in my pocket) for the New Year at $1,589.23.

I am still plugging away. I am going to have to re-write my whole budget page after I have changed or inquired about all my spending categories.

Oh, this is becoming quite fun.

I have spent $5,617.31 on groceries last year for an average of $468.10/monthly.

I am going to try to bring that down to $400/monthly, saving me $817.31.

Savings on AOL, now cancelled $179.40

Savings on changing cell phone from a plan to a pay-as-you-go. My cell phone cost me $575.56 last year. A pay as you go will only cost me 84.80, a savings of $490.76.

These three items alone could save me $1,487.47. That's helpful.

Now, I am going to look into lowering our entertainment costs, cable, other cell phones, blockbuster online, garbage pickup and insurances.