No spend day again yesterday. I'm really starting to get into this.
I am probably going to go to the grocery store this afternoon on the way home from work. I normally just shop at Wal-Mart 99% of the time and Albertson's every once in a while but last night I actually looked at the store ads that came in the mail. There are a few things at some of the stores that I am thinking about going and getting just because I know we will definitely eat them and it will be good to have in stock at the house. As I mentioned before, I didn't do too well with coupons the last time I tried to use them but I want to try again in the near future. I just have to stop myself from buying stuff just because it is on sale.
This is probably weird but I am not an "overstock" type person. I absolutely hate clutter in my house and that carries over to my pantry. If it is something that we will use within a reasonable time then I will buy multiples but we aren't gonna use 15 bottles of BBQ sauce anytime soon so I don't want to use coupons for stuff like that. I guess savviness will come with time and I will strike a happy medium between nothing in the pantry and excess stuff that won't be eaten. After I went on couponpalooza last year I wound up being able to give a lot of it away to a local food pantry so that was good in the long run.
Anyway, back to the ads. I have heard that you can actually go to Wal-Mart and when checking out show them their competitor's ads and they will match the prices. I need to learn more about this because it would be a lot more convenient than going to 4 stores. I am wondering if they only match certain things in the ad or how it works. Like I doubt that they would match BOGO items, right? I guess I could get my husband to find out....he works for them, but not anything to do with groceries. BTW, that is another reason that I do most shopping there...10% employee discount on taxable items. It's not much but it helps.
In other news, my baby emergency fund got transferred over to HSBC with no problems. I am relieved that is done. Hopefully I won't have to touch the money anytime soon and if I do have to for some reason getting it out of there will be just as easy as getting it in.
I only have 3 more FPU classes left! I'm really learning so much there that I hate for it to end. Last night's lesson was about mortgages and I learned a lot about realtors, preparing your house to sell, preparing to buy, types of mortgages, etc. I've heard Dave say before that if you must have a mortgage you shouldn't do more than a 15 yr fixed rate one with at least 10-20% down. Well, after really hearing him talk about it last night and seeing the difference in the amount you pay, I am upset that we did a 30 year one. My plan (after the debt snowball) is to increase the amount that we're paying to what it would take to get the house paid off in 15 years...and then of course pay it off earlier as I get further in the baby steps. Oh, before I forget, if you haven't been to this website yet you should totally check it out. It shows a lot of information about your home and the value. Also, very cool satellite images. I don't know how to hyperlink on this thing but the website is zillow.com.
I don't know about anybody else but the thought of no payments, not even a house payment, is so exciting to me lately. I feel stupid for the amount of money that I have wasted and not saved or socked away towards debt. I am not saying that I have it all figured out by any means but I feel like I have a good attack plan now and I know that we can do it if we put our minds to it. And fast food is a waste of money!!!
Shopping the Ads
April 5th, 2007 at 01:05 pm