Mary Ann's Money

An aquaintence paid me with a check for some work I did for her. The check does not have a name and address on it. Why would someone not have their name and address on their personal checks? It does not appear to be a new checking account, at least the check number is 9000+. Any ideas? I have not deposited it yet.

Okay friends, I have a math problem I need help with!! LOL

In April 2003 I invested $366.52 in BOBE stock. I never added anything else but did let the dividends reinvest. Today, that investment is worth $955.93

How do I correctly figure the rate of return my investment has made?

Today I added another $32.00 to my $20.00 Challenge account. It is the monthly savings from my cancelled trash service.

We have spent a lot of unexpected money on gasoline the last couple of weeks. A close family member has been in the hospital for two weeks. It takes about $20. in gas everytime we go to the hospital. I am thankful we had the extra money.

I was just curious how long other people drove their cars? We have three cars..a 1993 Ford Escort, 1994 Chevy Lumina, and a 1996 Ford Explorer. All run great and look pretty good.

I don't like car loans! LOL What age is your vehicles?

I am making a deposit into my $20. challenge account today. $159.09 from some Health Account reimbursement money.
I now have $465.54 in my account.

WooHoo! I was able to add $97.45 into my $20.00 challenge account this morning. I now have $306.45 in the account. I got that from a ShopAtHome rebate check and a sewing job I did.

I am amazed when I go to a bank to do some business that is more then a regular deposit or withdrawl, that the bankers seem to have problems with it! Today I went to my bank and said I wanted to do a direct transfer of two of my IRA's into their bank. The young lady ( who specialized in new accounts...she wasn't "just" a teller) said she started working there last October and she had never opened an IRA!! Took me an hour...glad I was not in a hurry! LOL

I decided to organize my budget into a nice format like I have seen others do. I guess I am kind of amazed at how much money some people can put into retirement savings. So, I was surprised when I started working on this......seems Uncle Sam takes quite a bit... $896.00 in taxes from paycheck and also $170.00 each month for real estate taxes is included in the monthly bill catagory.


Monthly Gross Income $4480.00

Federal, State, Local Taxes $896.00
Tithe $500.00
Medical Insurance $504.00
Monthly Bills $880.00
Food/Household $400.00
Gasoline $200.00
Cash spending allowance $220.00


Saving for new truck $500.00
Regular savings $380.00

TOTAL $4480.00

Hubby does work overtime some so I use the overtime and the regular savings to save in ROTH IRA's.

Got a question for you tax experts. I haven't found the answer yet!

I sold a stock. When figuring the "cost" of the stock that I sold, do I add the dividends that I received while I owned the stock as part of the cost?

May I have your thoughts on this question, please?

If I am currently in the 15% tax bracket and doubt that I will ever be above that.

About six years until retirement at age 60.


My question:

What advantage would a ROTH IRA be over just saving the same money in a regular taxable saving account considering I will never be in a different tax bracket?

Just wondering what other's thoughts on this would be.

I spent a total of $381.33 for grocery and household supplies like health, beauty, dog food. I had budgeted $400.00 so I did keep it under that. I saved $85.80 in coupons for the month.

Seems like the month of January has just flown by! I added another $32.00 to the $20. Challenge today that I would have been paying to the trash service. It has been harder then I expected trying to recycle everything. I hadn't thought about all the bits of plastic stuff like the plastic wrap that comes on most everything. Also, I had forgot about styrofoam if I buy a package of meat. I sure have more learning to do!

I do Swag Bucks and know that several of you do too. I try to earn 15 points per day by doing the daily poll and do some searchs.

Does anyone earn more then about 15 points per day? If so, how do you get more points?

I have trouble sleeping at night anymore. I think it must be my age...must be getting really really old. LOL....anyway I saw this natural product and the reviews are terrific, so I bit the bullet and ordered. I saved $5.00 (by using the special link), picked a free item and also ordered another small item to bring my total to $20.00 (after coupon) and got free shipping. It called "Peter Gillham's Natural Vitality, Natural Calm, Organic Raspberry"



Here is the link http://iherb.com/p/5124?at=0&rcode=biw630

Has anyone heard of it? I hope it works. I think I would feel so much better if I got better rest at night.

Today is payday, and there is overtime so I have added the overtime money to different savings account once again. I added $120. to my granddaughter's account ( she will get this sometime after she becomes an adult LOL), more money to my driveway gravel savings account, and also $100. to another savings goal!

I was able to add $35.00 into my $20. Challenge account today. I did some sewing work and also had $15.00 left over from another account that I did not use.

I went to the grocery today. I actually spent $55.25 and save $25.00 with coupons. Also most items were on sale. My orginal total would have been $103.43 before sale prices and my coupons.

I had decided that starting this month hubby and I would enjoy a "Date Night" once a month. I have budgeted $50. per month for this. This past Friday we at our first "date". We went to dinner and used a 25% coupon on our meal We had to present the coupon when our server took our order. When he gave us our bill at the end of our bill he had forgotten to take the coupon off. After reminding him about the coupon he took the 25% discount off. The coupon saved us $7.08. We then went to a local basketball game. Tickets were $5.00 apiece. So for dinner, tip, and basketball game, we spent a total of $35.00 for the evening. So now I have $15.00 left in my "Date" envelope. Haven't decided what to do with the leftover money, though I am kind of leaning toward adding it to the $20.00 challenge.

We started our exercise challenge last Saturday, so it's time to report in! I know for sure I feel much better when I stick to do an exercise schedule. My exercise is on the treadmill.

Total minutes 1/7/2012- 1/13/2012.......220 minutes


How did everyone else do?

A big thank you to CCraw who pointed me to a recipe for homemade Flour Tortillias! The recipe can be found at


http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/03/and-end-to-my-quest-flour-tortillas.html

I cut the recipe in half to try it and beleive me these are wonderful and slightly puffy tortillias! So much better then the store bought ones and so easy and cheap to make!!

I used some leftover steak, onions, cheese, and tomatoes for the filling. I topped it with a nice dollop of sour cream, A winner for sure.

I earn a little bit of money throughout the year by sewing for people. Yesterday one of my customers owed me $16.00 for a job I did for her that she needed quickly, (as in..the next day!) I was able to do that for her. When she paid me she gave me $35.00!!! I also received $5.00 for another sewing job. So I have $40.00 to put in the $20. challenge today! I'm so thankful for the nice little surprises I receive!

I just love reading Denise's (Pennywise Meanderings) blog about how she has quit smoking. She puts a penny in a jar for every cigarette she doesn't smoke. What I have decided to do is put a penny in a jar for every 20 minutes I exercise. I want to exercise at least 40 minutes a day. I have an old (and I DO mean old) treadmill that still works and I have been using it pretty faithfully for the last month. I started this morning by walking 20 minutes so I have my first penny in my little jar!

Anyone want to join me for "The Penny Walk" ?

Just put one penny in a jar for every 20 minutes exercise you do. You can do any exercise you want! For now, mine will be walking on the trusty old treadmill. Each Saturday we will report how many pennies we have.

Today was payday. Quite a bit over overtime in the check, so I applied it to:

$400.00 Hubby's Roth IRA
$ 85.00 My Roth IRA
$164.00 Gravel for Driveway Fund

Also I should have about $20.00 to add to the $20. Challenge account early next week!

So far this year, I have only spent money one day!

I received a $34.00 check from my Chase Rewards credit card. I deposited it in to the bank today towards my $20 Challenge!!

I saved $21.40 today using coupons at the grocery store. I spent $52.55.

Today I had to go to town for an 8:00 appointment, so I made a list of the various chores I needed to do while I was in town. I had a list of 7 stops I had to make...got everything done and was back home by 9:35 AM. A list makes things so much easier and I also used a shopping list in the grocery store. I'm sure I saved money by using that shopping list!

$20. Challenge $68.00
Deposit $34.00
New Balance $102.00

I have always lived in the country and can't just run into town when I am out of an ingredient. So I have been known to "make do" many times!

Last week, my daughter called to say she was having guests for dinner and was going to make a homemade pot pie except she discovered she was out of potatoes. I asked her if she had any kind of potatoes at all....she said all she had was a bag of french fries....so guess what i told her? I suggested she defrost the french fries for a little while and then cut the potatoes in to chunks and then to continue to make the potpie filling as she normally would. She said it turned out perfect and no one guessed she had to improvise and use frozen french fries in her homemade potpie!! I was so proud of her.

As I have mentioned before, I decided to get rid of my trash service and recycle eveything. I called and cancelled the service and will have one last weekly trash pickup tomorrow ( I was paid up until the end of the year.) So, today I add the $32.00 to the $20. Challenge account that I would normally have sent to the trash company!! WooHoo..this is exciting!!

$20 Challenge $36.00
deposit $32.00
New balance $68.00

Goodness....I learned today that the $5.00 gift cards that I have received for earning Swag Bucks is taxable! I also read that I must report the $3.00 I receive from PineCone research for the online surveys I have done.

Oh I am so excited! Today I cashed in my rolled coins. I had $36.00 so that is my first deposit into my new $20 challenge.

Today I found this very interesting Retirement Planner calculator. Best one I have ever seen. I found it at CNN Money Retirement Planner.

We are kind of planning on hubby retiring in three years He will be 59.

The thing that worries me the most is when Hubby retires we will have to cover a large medical insurance premium until we are old enough for medicare. We will still get the medical insurance through his company but I think it will be in the $600- $800 range per month....does this sound right? I estimate his pension will be about $1400. per month.

I found a way several months ago to save on my groceries. I do 80% of my grocery and household shopping at Meijer. I found out that I can order Meijer gift cards when I go through ShopAtHome.com
and get a percentage back! Today I just ordered next month's grocery gift cards (that I will use for my own groceries). I ordered $300.00 worth and will get back 3% wich is $9.00. Not a lot but still not bad! Not all store allow you to get credit when you order gift cards but I know meijer.com does! So, since I do my shopping there anyway..works for me!

In case, you have not heard of ShopAtHome.com here is a link to it. I just deposit my last check from them two days ago..it was for $90.94!

http://www.shopathome.com/?IAFCG=GUP7dagC3pbQYpv2FRbBdQ==

Like everyone else, I am setting new goals for 2012.

I want to put $4800.00 into Hubby's Roth IRA.

I want to finish investing in Granddaughter #1's investment account. $1,320.00

I want to set aside $50.00 per month for date night with Hubby.

I want to continue saving $500.00 per month toward a new truck for Hubby,

I have started a $20 challenge account, not sure what "rules" for myself I will impliment yet!

I would like to do better on my grocery/household spending. I am going to budget $100.00 per week for the two of us. That includes food,pet,household and health & beauty.

I noticed today that ING Online bank has dropped it's interest rate again. ING savings account is now paying .85%. That is way better then my local bank pays but still so low.

I kind of enjoy the end of the year when I set new financial goals for the new year. I would like to work things out so my hubby can retire earlier then he expects. I am hoping for March 2015 as retirement for him. I have always been a full time homemaker.

We are already debt free so I am trying to save up a large emergency fund so that we can live just on his retirement pension that he would receive. We have a 401K, IRA's, and savings. I would like to just live on the pension but I'm not sure that is feasable. Hopefully when we reach the right age, we will receive our Social Security too.