Getting Back to the Swing of Things

I decided today that on lunch I would either go to A & P for triple Q's, or to Staples for some free stuff. I chose to do Staples today as my friend at work didn't bring in her Q's. Tomorrow, she will bring them in and we will hit up A & P.

I love Staples, I really do. I actually love anything/everything that deals with office supplies. Love it! So I went in to get the binders, pens, pencils and pop up tape dispenser with the Rebates. So here's what I got:

4 1 inch Avery Binders - 6.99 x 4 = 27.96 but will get it all back with Staple Rewards
2 Bic Mechanical Pencils (5 in each package) = 4.79 x 2 = 9.58 - 7.58 in special savings = 2. So they wer $1 a piece!
1 Pentel Hyper-G Pens (4 in a pack) - 3.99 which I will get back with the rebate online
1 Pop up Take desk Dispenser 2.99 which I will get back with the rebate.

So all in all, I spent 39.53 OOP, but will get back 34.94 in rebates so in actuality, I only spent 4.59 ($2 for the pencils and then other $2.59 in tax). Not bad!

New Year's Resolutions

I know I haven't written a blog in ages, and I figured now was as good time as any to get back into the swing of blogging! I wanted to keep the picture light and upbeat and I just love anything lolcats :)

I have a few New Year's Resolutions, or somewhat of resolutions that I'd like to do and work on in order to help my well-being, health and mentality. Here we go. It's quite a list and I know I won't accomplish it all, but let's see how far I can go:

1. Stop spending money frivolously. DH and I will go to breakfast a lot on the weekends because we're just too lazy in the mornings to make breakfast. Don't get me wrong, the occasional breakfast at Dunkin Donuts and the Diner are great, but not every weekend. Perhaps if i signed up for the Dunkin Rewards thing, I can spend $25 and get a $30 gift card replenished with my AMEX card.....

2. Save every extra penny I can in order to build up our Down Payment Fund. We have been discussing getting out of our condo for over a year now, but when we decided to sell, the market crashed and we didn't get one offer. We tried to sell on our own, which didn't help either. However, I'd like to have 20% saved for a house within 2 years, that's the longest I would like to wait to get a house.

3. Get rid of all the high school drama going on. Recently, I found out some stuff about people (good friends supposedly) that I thought I could trust and it really made me step back and look at everything. It sucks having a safety net of sorts ripped out from under you. People you trusted with everything, secrets, everything, is now not who you thought they were. Those people who I can no longer go to when something happens when I need a friend to confide in. Which stinks b/c I have a lot of male friends, but my one co-worker here says I need more girlfriends to talk to, but that's my issue....trust. So far, I have not really had that girlfriend(s) that I can go to and trust completely.

4. Exercise more frequently. I know this is probably on everyone's, but I keep starting to exercise for like a week, and I'm really gung ho, then something comes up and I don't have the time, or energy or both. I need to FIND the time to do something each day, whether I like it or not.

5. Eat healthy. This also ties in to #1. If I cook more at home, then I'll most likely be eating healthier. I need to incorporate a ton more veggies and fruits into my diet and less chocolate and junk food.

6. Organize recipes and make up weekly mean plans. Another great idea, but just lacked the motivation and time for this. I have a TON of cooking shows in my DVR to watch. I printed out a ton of recipes from Food Network and put them in my binders. I have a few episodes to watch and print out recipes for, then to add to my binders. What I'd 'like' to do is go find a recipe (dated of course) and then go to the DVR and watch how they did, then make it. Sounds like a great plan, just never put it into action yet.

7. Level up to the Black Card Level at Borgata. Okay, I know a lot of you disagree with my gambling, but it's all DH and I do. We don't go to clubs or bars or anything and we make the occasional trip (yes, occasional as of late) to AC. I've been off my poker game, so we are going to play some Blackjack and see what happens. DH's uncle has a black card and can make about $70 comp a night....$1000 comp dollars earned over the course of 12 months will net me a black card. This is NOT one of my top resolutions, but I'd like to up my play a bit and see where it leads me.

8. Find a new job. Mine is relocating and DH cannot move to Maryland, so I have to find another job. I've been putting in for a ton around here, but nothing just yet. I actually did get referred for one, but I wasn't one of the first 50 to apply so I didn't make the first round just yet, so I'm still waiting.

9. Plan for baby. 2010 may be the year of a Baby Russo. We have been talking about it for awhile now. We know the timing will never be right, but we have all of our consumer debt (minus student loans) paid off. We are taking all the extra money that we were putting towards debt into saving for a house (about 3 weeks so far) I would rather be in a house then have a baby, but I would be happy to have a healthy baby and we can always use the 2nd bedroom as a baby room (not a storage room).

10. Clean and organize the house. This is key if we want to sell! We got an email on Christmas Day from someone asking about our condo. Apparently, it's still on the website I listed it at well over a year ago, so that's good I guess. Didn't hear anything back from him, but I'd like to be one of those wives that has the house clean all the time so if a guest comes over, I'm not running around to clean up to let them in the house.

Okay, I think 10 is enough for now. What are all you resolving to do this new year?

It's OFFICIAL!

DH and I are OFFICIALLY OUT of credit card debt! I wanted to post it first on my blog, then on the WIRR. We started 'tracking' and 'paying' down debt almost 2 years ago, a few months into our marriage. Once I started with the WIRR, we have been very frugal and cut down our debt significantly, but we still enjoy going out to AC and hanging out with our friends. We just choose to do it on the cheap, and not spend $9 on a bottle of beer like most friends!

So this past weekend, with DH's 'overage' in his paycheck based on our budget, we paid off our last credit card! It felt so great to type in the amount and 'confirm' the payment. Normally, that credit card takes a few days to post to the account online, but I checked yesterday, and there it was....a BIG FAT GOOSE EGG!

In December of 2007, I started the WIRR with over $45k in debt (credit cards, DH's truck, my student loans, etc) and right now, we are at just over 14k, which is all my student loans. All our consumer debt is paid off! Our credit card debt we started with in Dec of 07 was about 14k. However, right after we got married in July 2007, we paid off a TON of credit cards (Home Depot, Best Buy, etc), so we had more CC debt right before I started my race.

I'm so happy and I feel like a HUGE weight has been taken off our shoulders. The only 'debt' we have right now is my student loans, which is next on my snowball list, and then our condo. We are very careful about where each dollar goes and we're putting money away each week and it feels great to be so proactive with our money.

I will be cutting up just about all of our credit cards. I do have some things on there, like magazine subscriptions, which I will either cancel or have them direct bill me. We are also opening a credit card account at our community bank and not giving money to the morons at Capital One, etc. We will only use that bank CC for online purchases, booking hotels, EZPass, etc, but will be paid off each month, so no balance will be on there.

How is everyone's race going?

I am Getting SO Sick and Tired of Dealing with Incompetent People!

I'm at my boiling point, I really am. In the past few weeks, I have had to deal with some very incompetent people and I figured I'd share my rant with you, because I'm sure some or all of you may have encountered the same thing.

It started off a few weeks ago when DH got a postcard in the mail for free golf balls, he just had to pay for shipping. This probably came from the 'free' subscription he got to Golf Digest for me buying him that Tiger Woods Wii golf game. When you fill out the stuff online, they say they DON'T sell their name to other companies, yadda yadda yadda. So, he gets this postcard from Warrior Custom Golf for 3 dozen free golf balls. So he's like 'Should I call?" I tell him he can do what he wants. So he calls and he's on the phone for about 2 minutes when I hear him shell out his credit card number. He gets the 'look' from me because I hate when he does that sort of thing. The guy hardly even gave him the 'sales pitch' before he gave out his CC number. So I'm listening to DH's side of the conversation. They start talking about his golf game, how much he goes golfing, etc. Then I hear him say 'Um, no, just the golf balls please. I don't need a new set of clubs since my wife just bought me a new set' (which I did a few months back...a good set too). So, I hear him again, "No thanks, just wanted the promotion I got in the mail about the free balls." Then the phone went dead....or so he thought. He starts complaining that our phones stink (okay they are a little old, and phones in our condo are horrible b/c of the reception and lines in our area, no matter what type of landphone we get, it's always the same). So I run into the spare room where we have a corded phone and pick it up, dial tone. Hmmmmm. My mind starts racing and I ask him what the guy was talking about. DH said that he was trying to sell him golf clubs for a few hundred bucks, etc. Great...phone goes dead, these people have our CC number and DH was trying to tell the guy to just send the darn balls! I tell him to call them back and cancel everything. I go online and do some research, and it's all shady. So many people have had issues and a few cited that in the middle of the 'sales pitch' the phone mysteriously 'goes dead' I'm majorly freaking out, he calls and cancels. I decide to call Capital One to notify them and see if I can get a block on this company from charging my account. I'm not asking for a million bucks, just one company not able to charge anything to my account. I'm told that I would have to restrict the entire account so NOBODY could charge on the account, so I said "No, don't do that because I have a few places that automatically bill my credit card (EZPass, etc)" So the man says okay. All I ask is that he puts a note on my account about this business.

A week later, I get home from work and get something in the mail from Capital One. I immediately open it up in the parking lot and it's a letter that says that we restricted our account and to call this number to take the restriction off when we want too. Are you kidding me? I told them NOT to restrict/block it b/c of my EZPASS! And I know the EZPass was going to hit that week b/c it needed it's replenishment. I immediately call up and I explain the situation. I just HATE when I'm angry/upset for good reason and they do the 'I understand your frustration, BUT...' UGH! So I'm on the phone and I explain to the person that I specifically said to NOT restrict the account, and they did, and notify me a WEEK later that we did. I ask her to take the restriction off immediately since now I'm guessing EZPass is not getting their money. She explains to me that the primary accountholder has to do that. WHAT?! Are you kidding me? DH is a truck driver, he can't just wait and sit on hold for about 10 minutes as I did to talk to someone! She explains that ONLY the primary can put a hold or take a hold off, or change the account, etc. Funny, because when I had my money stolen from my purse at the Water Club in January, I was the one that called and had the account closed and a new card issued with a new number. I was also the one that called the prior week about blocking the company. So here it was that I wasn't able to do anything, yet I did twice and never had an issue. Now, THEY make a mistake and I can't do anything? Not acceptable. I ask to speak to a supervisor, get one and they can't do anything...the 'system' won't let them. Are you for real? Push a darn button saying that you're speaking to the primary and do it! So I argue with her, then she says she will place me on hold and try to contact the primary account holder. As she does that, I take my home phone and call DH and tell him not to answer his cell if someone calls. We hang up. I'm on hold for another 10 minutes, and I put my cell phone down on the table and i accidentally hit the 'end' button...URGH! I call DH and lo and behold, the NEVER called him...but they kept me on hold for 10 minutes? NOT ACCEPTABLE! I am now in the midst of following Suze Orman's advice and opening up a CC at our credit union. (Note: DH called them and took off the restriction....yea, great customer service CapitalOne!)

So, yesterday I'm at work talking to a co-worker about All You magazine and she says that her subscription took awhile to start as well (I've been waiting oh so patiently for mine :) I go online to Capital One to see when I did the order for it, and I see that Warrior Custom Golf billed us last week for $23! OMG! So I call DH and tell him I'm about to go all Carrie Heffernan on this place. I get on the phone with a young woman and tell her the situation in a matter of fact tone. She says that the balls shipped out on the 14th (DH did the call with them on 10/3). Um, yea, whatever. DH called in the same hour that he placed it and cancelled it, and he was told that it was never processed since the call got dropped and he called right back. The original person he spoke with hadn't put it in the system yet. So he was 'assured' that no order would go through. So a week and half later, balls get shipped to us. The lady says 'Oh, that's okay, when you get the balls, just refuse them and when we get them back here, we'll credit your account' NO I say. First off, they NEVER should have been shipped out to begin with, that was an error on YOUR end, NOT mine. AND, whose to say you'll ever credit my account? I've dealt with that before, and lo and behold, the company never gets the item back, eventhough I've sent it back and TRACKED it back to their warehouse! Companies are shady! I demand that my money gets credited immedately and she says no, they can't do that. I then tell her it's THEIR mistake, not mine and THEY need to make it right. She places me on hold, speaks to her supervisor and says that they will credit the account immediately and that they will try to re-route the balls back to them, but if I get them, to please refuse them so they will get them back. So they sent it on Wednesday, and by Monday, no balls. So if I were to wait for the balls to get to my house, then wait for it to go all the way back to California, then wait for them to credit my account, it'd be Christmas time! Um, no. I also sent an email to them that I would like in writing that they will be crediting my account. I also called CapitalOne to see if it showed that there was a credit done, but they said that would take a few days to show. Figures.

Then, I go to Wal-Mart after work to get my All You Magazine....just that magazine. Right in the front by the express checkout. Sweet! I get in line behind someone, who decided to do her weekly grocery shopping and check out in the 12 items or less line. I look around, all the other express lanes had about 5 people deep, and the regular lines were out in the walkway. 'Sigh' The lady is taking so much stuff out her cart, and I felt like the cashier didn't do her job correctly because she should have said 'This is an express checkout' So, the woman kept looking at me and I had to bite my tongue after all this stuff I went through with the darn golf balls yesterday. So, everytime she made eye contact I would just look up at the '12 items or less sign' and arch my eyebrow. I had to wait about 5 minutes just to ring up a magazine...geesh!

So, have any of YOU experienced and headaches like this recently?

September Totals

I haven't been out hounding a lot lately since I have a ton of stuff on hand, so I go when we need something or I think it's a good deal. Here's my September totals:

Number of items: 91
Total before savings: $397.99
Store Savings: $167.28
Coupons: $75.54
Number of Q's: 51
OOP: $159.3
Total Savings: $238.69 or 60%

Borgata Ladies Event 9/12/09

On Saturday, Sept 12, Hubby Mike and myself got up nice and early and made our trek down the Garden State Parkway for the Ladies Event at Borgata. Hubby Mike has been trying to convince me to stay away those events, but I keep on playing them. I guess it's the cheap buy-in and the not so smelly players that
get me :)

As I mentioned earlier, when I was in line, I got to speak to Will 'The Thrill' Failla. Wonder why they call him 'The Thrill?" Anyways, I get seated at what seems to be a good table. A woman that I swear looked like Rodeo from Rock of Love was at the other end of my table, and a woman I have played with a few times was also down at the other end. I was in seat 9, and seat 10 came very late. To my right, seats 7 and 8 did not shut up the ENTIRE time. I'm not kidding. I'm a talker, I can out-talk anyone, but not these two girls. One was an older woman, the other (next to me) was probably a few years younger then me.

I didn't get involved in too many pots early on, I wanted to get a read from the players first. It was quite hard to listen to people as the girls on my right chit chatted the entire time. The girl on my right ticked me off a few times. Because of all the yapping away, she wasn't paying attention and 2 times she took my card and shuffled with hers, so then we didn't know which one was mine. another time, she took the girl to her right's card so it was a mis deal (idiot) and I had ace queen too. At that point I was short stacked as a big hand I was in she sucked out on me big time. She got involved in a big hand with another woman and that woman played an ace high all the way to river, and called the girl on a bluff. So the girl to my right lost a huge hand with king high, complaining she couldn't get the other person off the hand.

So, right before the first break, I'm in the big blind with pocket 7s...everyone folds, and she called the small blind. I raise it up (a little more then 3x the blind) and she's like 'Okay I call' Damn, just fold! It's break time I'm thinking and I gotta pee! So, the board was 8 high, she checks, I bet out, she calls. Ugh. Turn, another high card, now a flush draw is out there, she checks, I bet. River comes and she bets out big. I fold and she shows the nut flush (ace three of clubs). Okay, you just basically ream this girl out over there for calling with nothing, WTF are you doing chasing a runner runner on the flop? ugh...whatever. So I'm ticked off, go on break and vent to Hubby Mike. When I return, I put my IPOD in LOUD so I can tune out the girls to my right. The girl on my left had come and she sat with her fingers over her ears b/c they did not shut up.

One of the funniest things happened too. Since it was a ladies event and the Borgata can care less about us, all the worst dealers were dealing our event. I think they went out onto the boardwalk and asked the homeless people if they wanted a job for a few days and gave them dealer jobs for the event. The dealers were asking ME how to deal...the girl to my left was taking a walk and she was like 'Do I deal to her even though she's not here?" HELLO! Poker dealing 101! Okay so back to the funniest thing. The dealer deals out the cards (after taking 5 minutes to shuffle, no lie) and the girl to my right asks the girl to her right to give her change for a large chip. This is happening as the dealer started dealing. She's the small I'm the big. Well, she never grabbed her cards b/c she was too busy fiddling with her chips, so the dealer just grabs them, puts them into the muck, then the girl my left mucks and the girl to my right is like 'HEY, where's my cards!' Ugh, I think. Here we go! The dealer was like 'Oh I thought you folded' She's like 'No, I'm the small blind, and the action isn't even on me yet!' So now there's 4 cards in the muck. The girl to my left is like, if you want, I can look at the cards and tell you what my two were, then you can tell what hers were. Normally, the dealer should be calling for the floor...nope. So she takes the four cards, hands them to the girl to my left, FACE up, so I can see two of the cards, as can the girl next to me! Wow, so now the girl to my left is yelling 'MISDEAL MISDEAL' and me, being the smart alek that I am is like 'It's not a mis-deal' and she's like 'Yes it is!' I tell her 'no, a mis-deal is just that....a mis-deal...she didn't mess up dealing the hand, you were too busy messing w/ your chips. You have to protect your cards at all times...you hand is dead.' she did NOT like that. So the floor comes over and she was so taken aback at what the dealer did. so, as she is starting to explain to the girl that it's not a mis-deal, but her hand is dead, I look at the dealer and she starts to WASH THE CARDS! I look at my cards, nothing, and I know it's a dead hand for everyone.

I'm down to like 2600 in chips a little while later and I'm just thinking it's not my day. Oh well. Can't win em all! I get ace king and push all in, and I more then double up and I have about 7800. I then get to a little over 11k when my table gets broken up. (I won't go into the fight about the guy, it's been talked about way too much already). I get to a fairly decent table and I get a few good hands, make raises and steal some blinds/antes. I got to about 19k right before dinner. After dinner was all downhill for me. Blinds are up as are antes. I get pocket 10s in early position and raise to 6k. Girl on the other side of the table goes all in for 5600, so I get some money back. We flip up our cards, she has queen 8 off....what the? Queen on the flop, eight on the river. Of course, now I'm short stacked and a little peeved off. I worked my tail off to get to the chips I had and this girl just takes them? UGH. I'm right next to the rail, so Hubby Mike is right there.
I turn around, and he's over watching Lacey Jones' table, so I yell for him to come see what just happened. The girl gets ticked off that I'm talking about her, and she's like "The blinds are too big, I couldn't afford the blinds when they get around to me' Um, the blinds are 800 1600, you had more then enough...but whatever. Told her it's her cards, etc. it's just that I never get that lucky.
so a few hands later, I'm in the big blind, everybody folds to the small blind. Her and I were getting along great, talking, etc. She's like, 'how much you got left?" and I'm like '5500' She's like I'm all in, I insta-call with ace 8 of diamonds. She's like 'oh you definately got me on this, easy double up for you' She has 4 6 off. WHAT THE? I look at Hubby Mike and he gives me a look. Low cards on the flop, paint on the turn....Im thinking BIG...4 on the river and I'm out. What just happened is what is going through my mind...I grab my stuff and storm out...I got freaking steamrolled after busting my hump for 9 hours and NOTHING. Wow....why can't I get lucky when I go all in with the crappiest hand and suck out? Both times, got my money in with the best hand and lost. It's a really bad feeling. Then to top it all off, a guy wins the event.....lovely. I knew it wasn't my day!

Online Cooking Class Giveaway!

No, I am not giving a cooking class ( I can picture it now...the blind leading the blind!), however $5 Dinners is! Go take a look and see if you think you may need it....or just check it out and come back and tell ME that I definately need it hahaha!

This seems like a great way for people to learn how to cook and to save money by doing so!