Oh No. Well, it is not that bad. I put together a Halloween Party for the members of our little country club. My budget is $175.00, but I ended up spending $196.15. I was over by $21.15.

I did end up with extra cake and brownie mixes for my own shelf, a bag of powdered sugar, and some opened baking items like chocolate chips, Hot Chocolate and butter. Also, I had planned for cooking 80 hot dogs along with 8 bags of Doritos. If there is any left over of those unopened, they will come home with me.

So all in all, I did pretty well putting together a Halloween Party with food, games with prizes (money) and a really cool centerpiece.

Our family Pumpkin Patch outing costs us $19.75 and our costumes cost us $67.00.

So with my overage for the Halloween party, our pumpkins patch outing and costumes, my out of pocket costs are $107.90.

Everything is done and paid for; and I am going to have a good time tonight. Let the ghoul times roll.

So, my SIL spilled the beans this weekend that my MIL has MRSA (which can be a drug-resistant deadly bacteria in some people), yet my MIL has not told us about it. She has had it for quite awhile and on an antibiotic.

Now, here in my house, I have had a child that was stricken with cancer and has a compromised immune system, yet my MIL hasn't said anything to me about her condition. She is one of the most selfish and ignorant people I have ever met. She just acts like "Oh well", I have MRSA, why do I need to tell anyone.

And, just two days ago, she popped by like nothing was wrong. This was before I knew. I am so mad at her. I told my husband he needed to deal with his mother, immediatly.

And, not to put the responsibility on my SIL, but I also told her that when she talks to our MIL, to tell her that she needs to be telling people, otherwise, I am going to have to come out and tell our MIL that I know, whether it gets my SIL in trouble or not. Screw that, if my MIL even got mad at my SIL for telling me, I would be even more pissed off. Grow up and be responsible. Her MRSA could kill my daughter.

I am giving myself a 6 month goal. There are to-do's I need to accomplish that are costly, but worth it.

1. To get through Halloween. I have a lot of baking, cooking, decorating and hayride planning left to do for our community Halloween Party.

2. A Surprise Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party coming in early December for my daughter in our small cottage. Need to work on guest list.

3. My new foyer needs to be close to being finished and presentable before that time so that I can decorate for the B-day party and Christmas; and get my Livingroom put back together.

4. Another B-day party in late December.

5. Getting Christmas bought and paid for in cash.

6. I would like to have the first four debts repaid by May 1st, at the latest.

7. Have the rest of my summer taxes paid and the winter taxes due on February 14, paid in full.

8. There will also be one more debt added in November for my son's dental visit.

All-together, I need around $5,000 to $6,000 to get it all done.

Breakdown:
October: $60.00 for Halloween Party while still paying on debt; and foyer
November: $600.00 for Christmas and part of birthday party while still paying on debt, foyer and livingroom.
December: $600.00 for Christmas, late December birthday party while still paying on debt.
January: Re-evaluate debt, pay off 2007 summer taxes while still paying on other debt.
February: pay off 2008 winter taxes while still paying on other debt.
March and April: Pay off the rest of the remaining first four debts after re-evaluating how much I owe.
May 1st, snowball debt's paid off money onto the next debt, whichever that is after re-evaluating debts.
WISH: Not to incur any more new debt and start working on paying off the rest of my debt. Set new 6 month goals.

So I cancelled my blocbuster.com membership. They wanted me to upgrade (pay more money) so that I could keep my once a month e-coupon for a free in-store movie and I didn't want to upgrade. I don't feel I need to pay more. The plan I was on was working just fine for me. Apparently, it wasn't working for them. I told them that they will loose a customer over one free game every month. She didn't budge, so I did. Bye, Bye Blockbuster. That was $10.59/month, totalling $127.08 per year savings. We found a library that we are by every week that has just about every movie and game we could ever want to watch or play for free, even Guitar Hero (my son's favorite). And, you can keep them for a week and then renew.

I also check with Comcast about adding my land-line phone to their plan. I already have cable tv and dsl with them, but they didn't want to give me the $99.00/month plan, because I was already a member. I pay around $150/$160 a month for a land-line, cable and internet right now. So, guess what, they lost a customer. I switched to AT&T, who gave me all three for $96.00/month, saving me around $720.00 a year.

So, I went to Walgreens today because they have a promotion. When you purchase Wyeth participating products at Walgreens this month and send in your rebate form, you earn spa rewards. If you purchase two participating products, you earn $50 in spa rewards. If you purchase 4 participating products, you earn $100 in spa rewards. Well, I went online first and printed out 4 coupons for the Advil and bought the lowest price Advil I could find, totally $8.79 and now I get a $100 spa gift certificate for a really nice spa in our hometown. You can go online to check it out.
http://www.walgreenssparewards.com/how_it_works.cfm

This is going to be a nice gift for someone on my Christmas List.

I have decided to try to get-together enough women for a Coupon Club to meet once a month. Here is how it would go.

There would be a total of 12 women. Each month a different woman would host the club at her home. She would provide some goodies to snack on.

The other 11 ladies would bring their coupons, rebate forms, etc. in hand to exhange and a dish for the host. The host meal goes like this: If I was cooking a lasagna a day or two before the club meeting, I would make an extra lasagna for the host and put it in the freezer. So the host would end up with 11 dishes to put in her freezer. But this could be anything, a bag of bagels, a bunch of cookies, chili, lasagna, etc. Just so long as it was something not done to far in advance of the meeting. That way every month, the host would have 11 extra meals and snacks on hand for hosting the Coupon Club and it should only cost the other women $5.00 or under to cook/bake.

Also, for each month, we would have a specific topic, along with the Host Meals and coupon/rebate form swapping. Something like below.

October - Organizational Meeting: Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and exchanging wish lists (this is a list specific to each person so that the other member can help keep an eye out for certain coupons or sale item). We could actually do this any time we have something to add to our wish list. Each member could keep a pad of paper with a specific page to each member; and the member could update her page in all of the books whenever she needed to.

November - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and _________________________.

December - Coupon exchange, host meals and a cookie exchange.

January - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and discuss new budgets for the new year.

February - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and _______________________

March - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and _____________________________

April - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and ______________________________

May
June
July
August
September

You get the idea. So now the group just needs to fill in which month they want to host and what the main topic will be about.

I hope I can find enough people around my neighborhood to participate; and, as always, if you all have any ideas, send them to me.

My Homeowner's and Car Insurance went down. I had to take a double take, it went down. Instead of paying $2314.68/per year ($192.89/monthly), I am now paying 2145.84/per year ($178.82/monthly), saving myself 168.84 or 14.07 a month on my expenses.

Also, Blockbuster.com annoys me. We get one movie out at a time, unlimited and then we always get a FREE e-coupon, once a month to use for a movie or game rental in store. We always used it for a game rental for my 12yo. My cost $10.59/montly. To me that is affordable entertainment, but nooooo, Blockbuster decided to take away the Free e-coupon and if I still want that option, I need to upgrade to a more expensive plan. You know, they need to keep up with the times.

Well, I told them that that was the reason why we chose Blockbuster - was for their Free e-coupon for a game rental and if giving me a free game rental meant loosing a customer, then I may have to find another movie and game provider. I mean, afterall, it is my money we are spending. They haven't responded back to me yet. We have been e-mailing, but I think I will call them tomorrow.

But, what the heck, I am tired of dealing with stupid crap.

Or Does It End, that is the question.

I got a bill in the mail from my attorney. I had to be appointed conservator over my kids money (per our state law), which should have only been a one-time thing, but every time I turn around, they are sending me stuff in the mail, that I already get from the court and then charging me for it.

I called them today to tell them not to send me anything else or charge me if they even sneeze my name. I told them that when I needed them, I would call and that I can handle what is needed to be done. I appreciate that they are doing their job, but I don't need the extra expenses. My attorney was very kind. I have known him for almost 30 years. I used to work for him, so he understood totally, but I still have a $307.00 bill that needs to be paid.

On top of that, my 12yo youngest child got a toothache. Mind you, every day I tell him to brush his teeth and say "Jamee - did you brush your teeth" over and over and over. So, today, we went to see our family dentist. Sure enough, my kid needs more major work done to his teeth. Seems he is not brushing well enough or flossing. He has such a beautiful smile. All his teeth are straight and white, but he gets a cavity and it just runs rampant. He is just not brushing and flossing well enough.

I made my dentist tell him how important it was to maintain his smile. Dr. Dan was so funny. He said "Jamee, I know you are only 12, but you need to grow up about your teeth." We all started laughing. Anyways, he did make a deal with Jameson and now we go back next week. This is going to be costly.

I have added the Attorney bill to my debt area, and will add the dental bill next week, once I see how much it is going to cost. I can't pay cash for the dentist, so it will go on my Care Credit Card and be paid back monthly. The only good thing is - if it is over a certain amount, Care Credit will not charge any interest for 12 months. That helps.

But, really, the whole things sucks.

My new business is really taking off. I have been taking cake decorating classes and they are a blast.

So far, I have a cake every week to bake, along with a Halloween Cake , Sweet Sixteen Cake and a Baby Shower Cake.

The Halloween Cake is for a community Halloween party, the Sweet Sixteen Cake is for my daughter's Sweet Sixteen Birthday party, and the Baby Shower Cake is for my neice's baby shower.

I also have some craft shows that I will be setting up at to get my name and business out there. I am going to hand out my business cards and flyers. I thought I would set my booth with a really nice tablescape and maybe even offer cake tastings. I was thinking of doing some type of drawing for the craft shows, like a $10.00 off voucher or Free 8" cake with the scheduling of an event, or something like that. Any Ideas or suggestions?

I will also be starting cake tastings coming in 2008, before wedding season starts. I love weddings.

Well, good luck to me.

So September is finally over and here are my totals and goals met.

All regular bills paid. Added to my savings accounts then drained them for services; and paid the amounts set for my debt.

Paid $400 to my property taxes. I still owe $576, which will get paid this month (October)

Trees came down and it cost $300, to be paid on October 3rd.

Paid for foundation for new foyer $365.

Put $344.40 on my Lowe's card for the wood materials to the new foyer. Will pay a portion of that in October.

Groceries: $349.50
Eating Out: $154.91
Gas: $200

Kids classes and son's college paid for.

Entertainment for the month of September. Labor Day Parade and Picnic, Bean Bag Tournament, three birthday parties, Annual Fundraiser Pig Roast, Scrapbooking party and Renaissance Festival, costing me around $200 for all of the above. We had fun.

I have been working on starting a new business. You guessed it - "Cheryl's Celebrations" is what it is called.

I have an interior decorating degree, but love to plan parties and events, so I am now a party and event planner. I will do birthdays, showers, holiday get-togethers, tablescapes, etc. Almost anything someone can think of.

I also start Cake classes on Tuesday. I will be adding baking and decorating cakes as part of my business plan. I have been purchasing different cake baking and party supplies and have a very large antique kitchen cupboard that I will keep all of my supplies in.

I figure, I have two years before I loose half of my income and should have a really good client base between now and then. I am going to get a table or two at some holiday craft shows to set up my service at and get my cards out there.

I have already taken over the Halloween Party at our local Country Club every year. It is not really a paid job, but I do get a budget check to do the party with and it is a great way to get my name out there.

September, as I have stated before, was an extremely hard month to get through. There was a lot going on and to pay for with little money, but we made it.

I am working on getting the bills paid for in October. I get paid on the 3rd and that is when everything gets paid.

I have already added to my ING account and Saving account (freedom accoount).

I will pay the trees that were cut down on Saturday in full on Wednesday the 3rd with cash of $300; and then I can take that off my debt area. I miss my trees, but my yard is beautiful. I was sitting out in a lounge chair yesterday admiring it and drawing up plans to replace the landscaping. Good thing, I have all the landscaping materials already, just need to lay stones and plant the trees, shrubs and perennials. I also have a small water garden that needs to go in. We will put fish in it next year. A lot more work left to be done, but the fun is beginning. I love working in gardens.

My doctor bill came in and they took off $1,115.50 because I am self-pay with no insurance. So it is costing me $258.50. I listed that I would pay $50.00 towards it this month, just until I see how much I have once everything is paid. I will probably get that bill paid off this month though.

I still have to pay the rest of my property taxes and that will be paid with my Ameriquest Check that I will be receiving this month.

The new foyer is coming along wonderfully and we will be headed back to Lowes to pick up the rest of the wood package to get it completely built. I am so looking forward to that. Once we put in our new door in the new addition, we will be taking out the wall between the new foyer and the house. Wow, that will look awesome.