The benefits of price comparison

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One way I’m trying to save money is by shopping around and doing price comparisons. I’m putting together a price book that includes all products purchased on a regular basis and which grocery store has the lowest price. By doing this, I can tell when a sale is actually a good price and when I need to stock up.

Walmart recently stopped carrying my preferred yeast, Red Star’s Active Dry Yeast. Walmart charged $6.49 or so for a 4-ounce jar. When I found out that Walmart stopped carrying my yeast, I looked at several grocery stores and found that Frys was the only one that carried that particular jar of yeast and they were charging $7.99 for 4 ounces. Ouch.

Enter Amazon. However people feel about large corporations driving the little guy out of business, Amazon can usually beat any price. When you’re trying to get out of debt, the savings is vital. I should have looked for yeast on Amazon a long time ago because they have a terrific price.

The jar on the left is my normal jar of yeast. The bag on the right was ordered from Amazon.

Jar: 4 ounces, $7.99 + tax
Bag: 32 ounces, $14.88 + shipping (if applicable)

The bag from Amazon is a terrific deal. To buy 32 ounces worth of jars, I would be spending $63.92, instead of $14.88 to buy a bag online. Because we were also ordering hubby’s birthday present, shipping was free and we saved $49.04. I would consider that worth ordering online and waiting for the shipment. I just refilled my jar and tossed the rest of the bag into the freezer for later.

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Celebration!

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Today is my hubby’s birthday as well as our fourth wedding anniversary. Hubby and I became engaged in September 2005 and the following month we decided to elope. I had already requested hubby’s birthday off work to surprise him. When we started seriously talking about eloping, I spilled the beans that I had scheduled a vacation day on October 14th. I’m not sure if that’s considered romantic, but it worked for us!

Thank you, darling, for four amazing years together. I praise God that you have enjoyed another year of life and that He has given us a wonderful year together. I pray that we will have many more years together growing in God and closer to each other.

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Quilting for children

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The women’s ministry program at the church has a mission to provide children recently removed from their homes a bag with a quilt, toiletry items, a toy, and a stuffed animal. Oftentimes, children are removed from their homes without the opportunity to take any of their belongings. The women’s ministry project attempts to give these children some small amount of comfort in unfamiliar surroundings.

Volunteers make each of the quilts to give to these children. The church provides all the materials – fabric, thread, and batting. Women are encouraged to pick out fabric from the church’s stash, take it home, and bring back a completed quilt. If women are unable to complete the entire quilt, they are welcome to piece blocks or even sew the entire top but leave the actual “quilting” process to the other ladies. In this way, women can contribute as much as their time and ability allows.

I believe this is a great ministry and I was invited to participate. When I informed the ministry leader that I didn’t know how to quilt but was eager to learn, she invited me to attend this month’s meeting. Plenty of ladies would be willing to teach me the basics so that I could get started.

The meeting was wonderful. It was overwhelming at times, as I don’t know much about quilting and needed to be shown everything. But once the ladies showed me how to complete a step in the project, they let me continue on my own and answered any questions. I learned a little bit about how to pick out complimentary fabrics, how to iron the fabric, how to cut strips, and how to sew strips of fabric together and then cut it to make the blocks.

Here’s my first block:

I was sent home with enough fabric to complete eight additional blocks. Next month, the ladies will teach me how to determine what size sashing is needed, cut the sashing, and design a border. By this time next month, I might have completed my first quilt top! I’m really excited about this opportunity. Not only do I get free lessons, I’m helping out children who have been removed from their homes. I hope that in some small way, my quilt will make a little boy feel more loved.

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One third complete

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$1,278.60 starting balance
– $244.00 contract paycheck
– $6.12 half.com payment

= $1,028.48 current balance (35.3% paid)

When we started aggressively paying off this credit card, Bankrate calculated that it would take 60 months to eliminate the balance. Calculating our current balance, Bankrate now states that it will take only 36 months of minimum payments. In only 6 weeks, we have eliminated two years of minimum payments! Every little bit really does help.

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Weather, kitty update, and to do list

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I can’t believe how quickly it has cooled down. Just two weeks ago, it was reaching 105 degrees by afternoon. Today, my windows and doors are all open, a cool breeze is blowing into the apartment, and I’m actually a little chilly. Our highs are now around 85 degrees, which is starting to get chilly for Arizona. I’ve lived in Arizona for 10 years and I’ve acclimated fairly well. While I won’t complain about temperatures in the 70s, I will be wearing jeans and possibly a long sleeve shirt!

My kitty seems to be feeling better. Hubby saw him eating breakfast and he’s a bit more feisty. Hubby also caught Bruno and Susano on the counter early this morning eating one of my houseplants. Bad kitties!

I’ve neglected my six most important things list. I’m not sure why I stopped but not writing the list lowers my productivity levels. So today I decided to post my six most important things on my blog and see how much I can accomplish.

Preparation Friday:
Dishes
Wash and dry the sheets; remake the bed
Vacuum
Sweep floors in kitchen and bathrooms
Clean kitty litter boxes
Clean toilet and bathroom sink

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Sick kitty

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I think my kitty might be sick. He’s been lethargic all day and hasn’t eaten much. I’m giving him all the attention he wants and letting him sleep as much as possible. Poor baby.

I’ve never felt so close to a cat before. Hubby and I both raised him but Bruno connected with me. He follows me around every day, freaks out when I leave home for more than a few hours, and insists on staying by my side. He’s never that far away. I must have been the first thing he saw when his eyes finally opened and he’s never let go of me since. It hurts to watch him not feel well. Hopefully he’s feeling like himself tomorrow.

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First time for everything

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What a great day of firsts!

  • First day we’ve not turned on the air conditioning since June. I hope it stays that way!
  • First time I’ve filled out a Citizen Survey for my city.
  • First time I’ve gone shopping at Walmart at 5AM. Great customer service and the store is perfectly clean.
  • First time I’ve applied to participate in a credit card program. Earn 20% of any balance paid above the minimum for the next three billing cycles. I can’t use the card (no worries there) and my credit line will be reduced by the amount paid above the minimum. I had called to find out why my interest rate was raised 1.75% and they offered this instead. I applied, but hubby and I discussed this program and decided we won’t take advantage of it. Because the payments are applied to lowest interest rates first and we recently transferred a balance to this card at a much lower rate, we would actually be losing money by paying off the 1.9% interest instead of the 10.24% card we’re paying on now.

We might be visiting another small art museum for the first time tonight. It depends on how tired we are after doing the last bit of grocery shopping at the farmer’s market.

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The balance grew…

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I meant to post this yesterday but I fell asleep at 6:30 last night and woke up at 6:30 this morning!

We made NO progress on the credit card last week. I have a feeling that the first week of each month will be the one that we are unable to make a payment. Hubby gets paid at the end of each month but most of our bills are due within the first 10 days of the month.

$1,266.04 starting balance
+ $12.56 interest

= $1278.60 current balance (19.6% paid)

This week will be much better. I was paid on Friday but I’m waiting for the check to clear the bank. As soon as that clears, I’ll be sending a payment.

Our snowball will also be affected this month as our car wouldn’t start on Sabbath and we found out our battery needed to be replaced. We missed church. That’s another $100 we’ve had to put into the car. Combine the new battery purchase with the new tires and we’ve paid almost $550 into car maintenance in less that two weeks! The beauty of it all is that we have an emergency fund (for the battery; the tires were budgeted) and haven’t had to use the credit cards. God is very good!

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