Contest Winner #4
July 2nd, 2008
Although I was close to making the totals for this past weeks budget I didn’t come close enough to actually making it. To top everything off there were a couple categories that I completely missed so this weeks winner is:
Congratulations and thank you to everyone for participating. Although I’m not going to continue the weekly contest I am going to continue the weekly budgets and weekly tracking. Motivating myself this way has really helped me bring some perspective to my spending and over the next week or two I hope to bring my budgets completely under control.
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Completed Move
June 27th, 2008
Moving is one of those tasks that really makes you realize just how much stuff you’ve managed to collect over the years. Our move into our new house is now finally complete though the work is very very far from being completed. We managed to throw out a great deal of stuff prior to the move and even then when it came time for the move the amount of stuff was still overwhelming.
Aside from the insane property management company at our old condo complex everything went smoothly with only one piece of furniture getting damaged. All in all I have to say I’m quite happy with the results. I think the new place will be a very good one for a few years at least. Hopefully the financial situation will be better next time around so we can hire movers (I think I’m going to be sore for a while thanks to this move).
Regular posting should now return as should – assuming that internet is set up.
Posted in News/Misc | 2 Comments
Contest Winner #3
June 24th, 2008
It was another close week and if it wasn’t for all the driving around for the new house I would have been under budget (overall though I would have missed the contest). Either way I missed out on the contest and based on the random draw the winner this week is Msminiducky.
Don’t forget to enter the contest this week since with all of the new house stuff there’s a good chance I’ll miss this week’s contest.
Posted in News/Misc | 4 Comments
Delayed Annoucement
June 23rd, 2008
The contest announcement is unfortunately delayed till tomorrow but rest assured I’ll be posting the winner up. Sorry for all of you who have been awaiting this. (New house is being very demanding)
Posted in News/Misc | 2 Comments
Contest Winner #2
June 16th, 2008
The winner for this weeks contest is Michelle. She was the lucky number when I did the random draw.
Don’t forget to leave a comment on Sunday’s budget for an extra chance to win if I miss my budget this week (hopefully I won’t miss it by 5 cents this time).
Posted in News/Misc | 1 Comment
Contest Winner
June 9th, 2008
The winner for this weeks contest is Kris. He was the lucky number when I did the random draw.
Don’t forget to leave a comment on Sunday’s budget for an extra chance to win if I miss my budget this week (though I’m doing good so far).
Posted in News/Misc | 1 Comment
Absentmindedness cost me my Budget
June 4th, 2008
I managed to blow my budget and the contest only two days into to the week. The worst part is that it was nothing to do with unplanned spending or splurging. Yesterday on my way home from work I was in the mood for a beer so I stopped at the store and decided to buy a case for the rest of the week. I found one I liked and checked the price, $24, thinking I was going to be within my budget I was happy to make the purchase.
Unfortunately my brain decided to go on vacation because I hadn’t budgeted $25 like I thought in the store (and I had done last week), I only budgeted $20. So as a result of my absentmindedness my budget for the week has been blown. The worst part is had I remembered what I budgeted accurately I would have bought a smaller case.
Its official: On Monday, June 9th I’m going to announce the winner of this week’s gift certificate giveaway. Maybe next week I’ll remember what I budget on items.
Posted in News/Misc, Budgeting and Planning | 10 Comments
Happy Mothers Day!
May 11th, 2008
To all the mothers out there: we might not always say it but we appreciate everything that you have done for us and continue to do for us. My mother has been a great inspiration and a great sounding board for many of my crazy ideas (my wife gets many of those now). Thank you!
I am awestruck with the sheer selflessness and caring that mothers give as they go about taking care of their children. Every child should take this day and let their mother know how much they mean to them. Happy mothers day to every mother out there the world would be nothing without you.
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Weekly Review - April 27, 2008
April 29th, 2008
I know this posting is a few days late but the last couple weeks have been very crazy and hectic. We have made a house purchase and we’ve placed our house on the market. Unfortunately this involved a great deal of cleaning and organizing which has taken up most of our time. I haven’t been in front of the computer at home since the last weekly update. This also means I haven’t been following the PF world or the business world for that matter.
This is very exciting time for me since I’ve never purchased or sold a house before and I never realized how stressful it was. The cleaning and organizing have really helped make our place look a lot larger and I believe much more sellable. A great deal of effort goes into getting a home ready to be sold but we’re there and we have to maintain this level of tidiness. I’ll write my impression of the whole process once it’s all finalized.
There hasn’t been much else happening in my life since this house purchase and sale took over it and I think after this week everything should start falling back into some semblance of regularity. I’ll try to carve out some time to get a few posts together in the next day or two.
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A Possible House Purchase
April 24th, 2008
We have found a house that we like and we’ve placed an offer for; now its time for the making sure everything with the house is sound. After a few weeks of looking for a house we actually found one that we liked and wanted. We placed an offer on the house and after a little bit of negotiation our offer was accepted. Needless to say we want to make sure that everything is ok with the house before the deal is 100% done. The house inspection turned up a few things that will need to be looked at though other than the electrical system there’s nothing major wrong with the house.
Before anyone jumps on this we knew the wiring in the house would need to be replaced before we placed our offer. Other than this as a major expense everything else seems to be mostly in order. A lot of smaller to medium sized jobs over the next few years which will increase the value of the house. The only thing that remains is to make sure that there are no termites (the house is in a region that is known to have them even though the street we bought on is quiet). The whole point for us here is to make sure that we’re not buying a house with more problems than we’re ready to deal with. Some known issues that we’re planning for is one thing but to discover a massive problem such as a termite infestation would not be a pleasant surprise.
The expense of getting a house inspection in my opinion is totally worth it. And unless your uncle Bob is a real house inspector get a professional - they do this for a living and know what to look for. The report we’re getting for our $400 inspection will make sure we fix everything necessary to make the house safe and get a better insurance rate. Not to mention it minimizes the unpleasant surprises.
We’ll know the results of the termite inspection later today and by the end of the day we might have a finalized house deal. This is very exciting for me as its my first house purchase - I’ve learned a great deal about the process so far.
Posted in News/Misc, Real-Estate | 1 Comment
