No news on the job yet. I spoke to my friend on Thursday, who said she would make sure her husband (the middle man for the job) gave me an update by Friday afternoon so I wouldn't be left hanging all weekend. I didn't hear anything. I will send a quick email Monday afternoon if I don't have an update by then.

In the meantime, I am going to finish the pre-licensure course and take the test by Monday. I just hope the money and time invested in it was worth it. I have a (bad)habit of being a worrywart and tend to think negatively when I am left hanging. I am trying to stay positive and keep in mind I was sought out; I didn't go looking for this position. Of course, now that I know all about it; I want the job! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

As far as finances, they aren't bad, but not a lot of progress has been made. The minimum debt payments are being paid and I am trying to save at least $26.50 a week (this is equivalent to the 52 week challenge evened out). Each time I try to make a long term plan for the year something changes.

The latest is a possible major life change. An old teacher friend of mine lives in the Florida panhandle. Her husband's condo management company is looking for a manager and they thought of me. They think this would be a great fit for me. I sent my resume and he likes it and is meeting with his boss this week. It's serious enough that they thought I should start the pre-licensure course (refundable if hired). The pay is around 65 k with full benefits. I would go down asap and hubby and son would stay here until our apartment lease is up at the end of July. It also allows my son to finish the school year. I should know more by early next week.

I hated living in south Florida for four years, but I do like the panhandle area and think I could handle it this time around.

I haven't posted in awhile. Life has been discombobulated. I need to get on track and focus.

I took a quick, unexpected trip to MI for New Year's because my mom had a mild stroke. She is doing well now. Financially speaking, the entire trip cost me $100 out of pocket. I think I posted I had a $100 credit from Southwest and my daughter's boyfriend's mom gave me rental car certificates (travel agent).

The big news is I am closing my tutoring office. I won't say it was unsuccessful. The issue is getting parents to put education first. Many cancellations cost me a lot of revenue. I was too small to push for the collections. It would have just cost me more. All of that and it is hard to keep a math tutor. They want several hours per week guaranteed and that isn't going to happen at a small tutoring center. So, I voluntarily am closing up shop and keeping on a few students who I will tutor at the library. The good thing is that will be pure profit (after taking out taxes). I will up my game with mystery shopping and hope to do it full time. Not many can, but those who do it, do pretty well.

I registered our two cars Monday. I had budgeted $300 for the inspections, oil changes, and two tires on hubby's car (that even left around $50 for any additional minor repair). I ended up spending $842. He needed four tires and a replacement license plate bulb. I needed rear brakes. I am upset about this because I just put a starter and battery in my car a couple months ago. The dealer should have said something about the brakes when they did their "inspection". I would have planned accordingly. It's also disappointing my car alone has cost me $900 in the last few months. It is not very old. I suppose I need to raise my savings this year for car expenses.

Hope all is well with everyone. I have been reading updates here and there. I have made it a priority to catch up with posts here over the next few days.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays no matter what you celebrate this season!

It's low key here with just my husband, son, and me. My son still gets pretty excited though at fifteen!

It will be a very memorable season. I work a very part time VA job and my boss sent me my entire Amazon wishlist and a $300 gift card. I was shocked and am so very grateful. Generally, it is understood in my family that we don't exchange (other than candy and Christmas Crackers) over the age of eighteen. However, with the Amazon windfall I sent my older two children gifts. I bought my son and his wife a nice set of towels. I bought my daughter a keyboard case for her iPad mini.

The hard part of this year is my mother (in MI) had a small stroke yesterday. Please keep her in your thoughts/prayers. I had a flight credit of $100 and looked at flights and found one for $85 after my credit. My daughter's boyfriend's mom donated a rental car voucher. I will be going to MI on New Year's Eve through January 3rd. I am sorry it is under the circumstances, but glad to see family during the holidays. I haven't been home during the Christmas season since 1997. I am so happy my daughter was also granted vacation time. I will get to see her as well. She is spending the whole week of New Years in Michigan.

I am amazed at the generosity of others toward myself and my family this season. I am more grateful than I can ever put into words.

I am sure the average person would say I am cheap if I shared how many Christmas gifts I got for people that were free. However, I know I can share it here and you all would understand (and probably did some "free" and/or heavily discounted shopping too!).

I earned Amazon credit this year via Swagbucks, Media Insiders Panel, and Instagc. I purchased three gifts free so far and have plans for two more by the 15th (waiting on a couple gc's). So my nephew was free, and my husband's grandkids' gifts were all free via Amazon credit. It was nice to have the Prime shipping as well! These gifts were various toys/games.

I also got a few more gifts free via Mystery Shopping. I got my grandma a $50 Pandora bracelet, a hiking book for my husband, Lindt chocolate for my son's stocking, and a personalized ornament for a friend.

The remaining gifts I purchased at heavy discounts of at least 40% off and my total out of pocket was $167.72. My shopping is done other than ordering those two gifts from Amazon when the credit hits. The free gifts value comes to approximately $170.

The shopping may be done, but I have done NOTHING else. I have done no decorating (save a free poinsettia from a mystery shop) or sent Christmas cards. Generally we only do a tree, but we haven't even went to get our decorations out of storage. Tomorrow it is supposed to be nasty out so I probably will only do VA work which means I can address the Christmas cards at least!

My total mystery shopping income for November was $928.05. This is for fees and reimbursements. I consider my reimbursements as income because I make sure they are useful (gas, groceries, etc.).

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. We had one heck of a snowstorm. It was the wet and heavy snow and we lost power. We were out from 8:30pm Wednesday until around 11am on Friday. Luckily, it wasn't too terribly cold sleeping (I am in an apartment so no generator). Even better is my office didn't lose power so I put the important food in the fridge there and we charged our phones and laptops there. I also washed my hair in the kitchen sink so I didn't feel too gross without showering.

My brother in law was hosting Thanksgiving (only five of us) and he lost power too. His girlfriend had power so she offered to let us all go there. I was grateful. It was nice to get out and warm up and be where there was power. He had all the food too, so we were thankful it wasn't wasted.

Friday I went shopping with a friend. We do so every year, but we aren't in it for the craziness. We go around 8am when the mayhem settles. We are there to get clothes and shoes discounted (money we save up). I was able to purchase clothing for my teen and new shoes/boots for my hubby and myself. I spent $125. I would have never got all that so cheap any other time.

Unfortunately, we did hit the crowds because of so many without power. People were out all day just to get out of their houses. I almost wish I had money to blow. The huge deals that were out on Thursday were available on Friday because the stores were without power until the early AM (on Friday). I seriously considered a TV (we still have an old tube TV), but fought the urge.

When my husband was moping about the less than stellar holiday, I put him in his place. I reminded him a local family in town lost their 16 year old son Monday. He was a good kid and somehow lost control (doesn't appear he was speeding or distracted by his phone) and flipped the car into a pond and drowned. To top it off, this family lost power during the storm as well. I can't even fathom going through this. I don't know them personally, but they will remain in my thoughts and prayers.

Has anyone been able to find a leak as to what the deals are this year? Last year I opened an investment account for my son and grandson. They deposited $100 and the only requirement was to let it sit a minimum of four months (We aren't touching it). This year I am hoping for the same for my baby granddaughter.

I can't seem to find out what the exact deals will be this year thus far.

Less than three weeks ago I replaced the battery in my car. Yesterday, I leave the mall and it won't start! It was the starter. As I wrote in a previous post, I have mechanical breakdown insurance through Geico. My repairs no matter how large, will not cost me more than a $250 deductible. Well, the battery was $200 (dealer rip off in my opinion) and the starter was $280 (probably too much as well, but I literally broke down across the street from the dealer). It wasn't worth making a long, drawn out call to Geico for the $30. However, the dealer said the two are related and encouraged me to see if Geico will reimburse me anything. They said they will back me up however necessary.

So, if all goes as planned I should get a refund of $230. Keep your fingers crossed for me! My sad looking savings account could use that refund, but I am so grateful I had it!

My ex and I are far from friends, but I have to say we have always been civil. It just isn't worth the drama to be jerks to each other and it certainly would not be good for our son 's well-being. Anyhow, my ex is TERRIBLE with money. He used to pay child support by check and I put a stop to that about a year and a half ago because every other check was bouncing. I told him if he didn't start paying me via Paypal, I would be forced to go through the court system. Mind you, he is paying almost a third less than the court would order.

Anyhow, this has worked well until yesterday. He emails me that support will be a week late. The support was due yesterday, thus I had no advance warning. I emailed him back politely explaining this was unacceptable and why.

He emailed me back and said, "I will figure something out. Thanks for the compassion." That was sarcastic of course. Anyhow, the money was in Paypal this morning when I checked and he never bothered to let me know.

What boggles my mind is how he can get in such a financial mess that he can't come up with $277 (every two weeks). He makes 82k a year, lives alone, has no car payment, and rents an apartment. That being said I would bet my last dollar he has massive credit card debt based on his behavior. His debts really aren't my business, but when he isn't paying his obligation, I get a little upset. I certainly am quite careful with every dime I receive from him.

Anyhow, had to vent a bit. I am over it. I simply will never understand how he or anyone who makes decent money can not have a dime in savings (I am 99% sure he doesn't and probably borrowed the money to pay me). The good thing about this is our son is 15 and sees how much money his father wastes. Not good that he sees the waste necessarily, but is learning that it is negative behavior. My on is very big into personal finance and already has a plan on what he will save, spend and invest when he gets his first job. I am quite proud of him!

My car has had a few weird issues lately. The key was periodically getting stuck in the accessory position a couple of weeks ago. I made an appointment to get it looked at, but ultimately cancelled. I switched to my spare key and it started working fine.

Today I started the car with no issues. I pulled into the next apartment building to check my mail. I turned off the car because my mailbox key is on my chain. I get the mail, go back out and the car won't start. I called the dealer and they don't think it is the battery because it started so readily the first time. They won't know until they look at it.

First and foremost, I have towing through Geico so I am all set there. But, what I wanted to point out is I also have a not well-known piece of coverage: mechanical breakdown insurance. Even if my transmission or engine went (which of course won't be the issue, but wanted to point out expensive issues) it is covered. I only have to pay my $250 deductible. I know in the past when I shopped insurance not every company had this. All I can tell you is through Geico, the car has to be purchased new or if used, have 15k or less on it. This coverage costs me $3 a month. This is exactly why I won't shop for another insurance company.

I am happy with Geico anyhow. I pay $78 a month for full coverage on two cars. Since it broke down one building over, I am not having it towed until my husband gets home so I am not stuck sitting at the dealer all day. I am stuck at home, but I can deal with that. I will let you all know how it works out. My main point was to let you all know to check your policies and to know this is available.

Just checking in. Tutoring is okay, but not great. I could write a novel on the ups and downs of the business. I have been toying with the idea of shutting it down in June. I am so tired of people paying late and changing schedules. Long story short, I could make more doing the mystery shopping/evaluations if I didn't have to rush back to tutor in the afternoons. I am going to evaluate the decision over Christmas vacation.

Spending has been kept to a minimum. However, the next two weekends there will be more spending involved. We are going to a pumpkin fest with friends who want to go out to eat as well. I am going to tell my friend we will join them for the fest, but opt out of the dinner. Therefore, it should only cost a few dollars in gas. I suppose I need to double check if there is a cost for admission to the fest.

Next weekend I am going to Connecticut for two reasons. I will visit a friend who will put me up overnight and will be meeting my boss who I work for as a virtual assistant. He is flying into NY for 10 days from Vietnam. My friend lives about an hour north of NYC, so he can take the train to meet me for dinner. I am budgeting the cost of dinner, but I suspect he will pay. However, I don't want to rely on it. He asked me to choose the restaurant, so I will pick something budget friendly so no matter who pays, the cost will be reasonable. I put the cost of a half a tank of gas, dinner, and lunch the following day with my friend in the budget for next week. Since the main reason for the trip is business, I can write most of it off on my taxes.

I dont think I was supposed to publish the actual email. If you need a referral, let me know.

My September mystery shopping income was $790.15, but I was missing a payment of $30. I will have to call about it if it doesn't arrive by Friday. This is much lower than the August total of over $1300. I did not shop as much (back to tutoring more). My goal is $800 per month so I am happy.

I received $30 for beta testing the latest version of the Media Insiders app. I also was offered to extend testing it for another $20 which I should receive at the end of the month.

I cashed out $12 from Pinecone.

Finally, I received a $100 voucher from Southwest for my fiasco flying home Labor Day weekend.

Needless to say, it was a great week for snowflakes!

I figured this would get very lengthy posting everything that has happened the last couple of weeks, so I will go with the short (er) version.

My trip to Michigan went well. Had a great time with friends last Saturday night (who also bought my drinks and dinner). It was fun catching up and having laughs. I really needed it. Sunday was the wedding and I saw a lot of family I hadn't seen in a long time. I had a great time there as well. The weather was perfect all weekend until I went to leave.

I had a flight delay due to heavy rain and without going into the whole fiasco, I ended up home at noon on Tuesday rather than midnight the night before and spent the night in the Chicago Midway airport. Now that I have finally caught up on everything, I will be emailing Southwest today to see if there is anything they will do for me. I realize they cannot control the weather, but the gate agents were incompetent to say the least.

My husband and I had a long talk and he is looking into getting some help for his depression. We are also actively seeking out a counselor. In the meantime the break from each other (11 days with both of our trips) made a positive difference. I also feel better after working out a budget for the fall. Since most of our income is not a set amount, I went on the low end.

Tutoring is also coming together. I have a few new students and found a good math tutor. I now feel comfortable to advertise more heavily.

It is a beautiful day so I am going to get out and enjoy it before the predicted afternoon storms. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I haven't really written about my husband for two reasons. One, although I don't share this blog with anyone in the real world, if they went looking, it wouldn't be too difficult to find. Two, I don't want to make him sound like a total loser and put him down. However, I have come to a point that if I don't share somewhere, I will break down completely.

I love him and overall he is a good guy. This is a second marriage for both of us. I give him and his ex a lot of credit. They married young and had three kids by the time they were 22. Despite the odds being against them, they both got a college education and stayed together until the youngest was 16. And my husband always worked two jobs.

As far as he and I go, we will have been married six years (anniversary is in a few days) and have known each other for 14 years. It is his lack of work ethic that is slowly destroying our marriage. To make a very long story shorter, after thinking long and hard, his jobs were always handed to him. All of them were through someone he knew. Now he is in a position that he doesn't have the connections and therefore isn't finding work. The big issue is the lack of effort.

He is a substitute teacher and has no other job. I am ashamed to even type the fact that he made just over $9000 last year. He has not brought home a check at all since June. Every time I get ahead, I have to dip into savings because I am basically supporting the household.

We talk about jobs and there is the excuse that he isn't being called (I don't even know how often he is really applying) or that it is overnight and he can't do it, blah, blah, blah. To make matters worse, it seems his family feels sorry for him because he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer three years ago. Mind you, it is not affecting his health whatsoever.

I get so angry because this is an easy fix in my opinion. I don't care if I make more, I just want him to get some kind of full-time job (even two good part-time jobs would suffice). He has nothing if I tell him to leave. He has ruined his credit (I refuse to pay his old credit card bills or his student loans). I don't get how an educated person who worked hard for so many years just gives up.

What is putting me over the edge is he is enjoying a week long vacation courtesy of his son. Meanwhile, I am working three jobs this week. I am going to Michigan for the weekend, but that is mainly due to getting my flight nearly free (cc deal) and I am spending one of those days working. I am not sure it's worth the effort of trying to save the marriage any longer. We really don't have the money for a counselor and I am not even sure I could even fit one into my schedule.

I "think" I have decided to give him an ultimatum after we are both back from our travels. I just have to decide the time table. Kicking him out during the winter seems harsh. To top it off, I own both of our cars. Do I give him one (it's paid off but he wouldn't be able to pay me for it) or save it for my son who will be driving next summer (My son is not his biological son)?

Anyhow, thanks for "listening" while I dump my feelings.

Things have spiraled out of control financially this month. The summer is slower at tutoring to begin with, but to make matters worse I had a small chain of rotten situations take place. I had two parents bounce checks, which is really awful considering I live in a fairly wealthy area. I also had a teacher of all people not pay me at all. I am really angry at myself over that one. I always take payments up front, but since it was a teacher and her tutoring situation was unique (help with the new version of the Praxis test) I had to decide what to charge her and how many hours she would be tutored. Therefore, I told her she could pay at the end. In the end, I gave her a very fair price figuring she could recommend our services at school. I sent her an invoice and left her voice mails and she has ignored me completely. On her last day of tutoring, she was so grateful for how much I helped her. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Anyhow, all of this has forced me to dip into my personal emergency fund to pay for overhead the last two weeks. In summary, I didn't have a lot of savings for the business because it was started last year as a last minute decision after the tutoring company I worked for shut down with nearly no warning. It's been a good year overall, but our first one. Many yearly costs (insurance, LLC, etc) renew this month. I also had to give up taking a paycheck this month.

Adding to the issues, my hubby and I already had separate vacations planned and paid for this month. His son bought him a ticket to see him in Seattle. However, he will still need bus fare to get back and forth from the Boston airport (our trips overlap and is flying at odd hours so a local ride from friends or family won't work) and money for eating on the trip. I had bought a plane ticket to go to see family in Michigan Labor Day weekend (I literally got notice of the two bounced checks two days after paying for my plane ticket). Fortunately, my costs will be nearly nil. I will stay with family and most of my meals will be paid for. I picked up a couple of mystery shops for restaurants while I am there too.

I really need to update all my financials here. I am embarrassed to do so because it won't be pretty. I will wait until I return from Michigan to see exactly where everything stands at that point.

I feel like I have spent the whole summer spending money on travel. In reality, it has all been planned. I do have one change, but it saved me money. I was going to see my family and friends in Michigan over Columbus Day weekend in October. I was checking plane fares weekly and suddenly they were increasing. I was seriously thinking of cancelling. Paying around $350 to fly from NH to Detroit is not my idea of being frugal. Since it's only a four day weekend driving was out of the question as was flying out of Boston (by time I pay for a shuttle there and back).

On Tuesday I found out my cousin is getting remarried Labor Day weekend and I also found out our schools here have a four day weekend (which means I can close the tutoring center four full days). I decided to look at flights that weekend and expected them to be outrageous. I found a flight and rental car for $298 total. This sure as heck beats $350 for just a flight! The one wrinkle is I will have to take a cab to the airport (6 miles) because my husband is flying home from Seattle that day, so he isn't available. My flight is at 5:30 am so I don't want to ask any friends either.

I will also have to get a wedding gift. One of my other cousins just separated from her husband so she is hurting a bit financially. I am hoping her and I can go together on a small gift. The best part of the whole deal is I have plenty of places to stay for free and all but one meal is already covered between invites to dinners, a barbecue, and the wedding.

In other news, I totaled up my July earnings for mystery shopping and the total came to $1132.58.

I am guessing this program is pretty new. I just stumbled upon it today. It is for Prime members and it is 5.99 for shipping everything you can fit in your box. As you add items, Amazon tells you how much room you have left. Delivery is 1-4 days.

There is not a huge selection so far, but it is a decent selection nonetheless. I found the prices to be fairly comparable to the big box stores. Maybe a few cents more, but I see advantages. I can save gas, shopping time, and best of all I can use my Amazon credit to increase my savings. There are also coupons available on certain items.

I just filled a box. I will let you know how the delivery goes. I only had $8 credit on my Amazon account due to recent birthdays. I ended up spending $51.84 including shipping for 14 items (shampoo, toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish soap,sponges, lotion, paper towel, and a few food items). I told a friend and she asked how it was different from subscribe and save. The big difference is you are not having to order in bulk (which is great since we are only a family of three).

Curious what some of you will think after checking it out.

Summer plans have taken shape and I am going to have to be careful about keeping it frugal. My trip to see my kids/grandkids in Florida is Thursday. So far, it is costing less than $100. I paid $168 for my plane ticket and am earning most of that back because I picked up two mystery shops while I am down there. I will stay at my son's condo, so no hotel or car costs (Although I will give them some gas money for driving me around).

As I said previously, I put off a trip to Michigan. I will go in October. However, we are now going to northern Maine July 3-5, but again I picked up mystery shops on the way home. Those pay for the hotel. We will pack a cooler and the Hampton Inn provides a nice breakfast. I don't think we will need to eat out while we are there. Basically all we need to cover is gas and at the least, I will earn 2% back on that.

Later in July I am going to Foxwoods (casino) in Connecticut overnight with a friend. I am not a gambler, but I am going to keep her company. I would have had to drive to CT anyhow to drop my son off for his summer visit with his dad. Now I get to keep my friend company and we will split expenses. Since I needed to go that way for my son, I will pay the gas. She wants to stay overnight, so she will cover the hotel.

In August my husband is going out to Washington to see his son and his family (son paid for trip). A friend and I will drop hubby off at the airport in Boston and spend the day there. I love a good excuse to spend a fun day in Boston. The libraries offer some nice museum passes for the day (the aquarium too)at huge discounts. I hate finding my way around so I was happy to have my friend go with me! I told her we can take my car and I will of course pay the gas if she does the driving.

My plan is to keep all summer trip expenses under $400 total. The gas for CT is the only thing I am not counting because it is part of my custody agreement and in the regular budget.

On another positive note, I have almost doubled the number of students I expected for the summer at tutoring. This is a huge relief! Well, off to start the day. I am working my way (literally) up to Portland, ME today. Happy Father's Day to the dads and everyone else who has taken on that role!

Less than two weeks until the Florida trip. I can't wait. I don't love the state itself (Lived there for four years and hated it), but can't wait to see the family.

I decided to put off the trip to Michigan in July. After careful thinking, I am going over Columbus Day weekend in October. I won't have to drive and my grandma's birthday is the day before I leave. Other perks to waiting include a free rental car (I am getting close to enough points on my credit union Visa) and I also just applied and got approved for the Barclay card (spend $1000 in 90 days and earn enough points for $200 travel). I am going to put all purchases over the next few months on the two cards (of course paying them off as I go)which will make the trip to Michigan very cheap. I will stay at my grandma's house, so I will only pay the difference on the what isn't covered for the plane ticket and a couple of meals.

As for 4th of July weekend, I didn't want to mope around with nothing to do and we do have some money saved for summer fun. So, we are driving to northern Maine and staying there the 3rd-5th.

Not all of my time has been taken over by the travel bug. I spent a good portion of the day yesterday reorganizing the tutoring office and getting it ready for summer (new materials etc.). Today I have several mystery shops before heading in for an abbreviated afternoon of tutoring. It's hubby's bday, but his brother has "surprise" plans for him so we did his cake yesterday and probably will do his dinner tomorrow since I have no clue what the plans are for tonight.

Have a great weekend. It is going to be a scorcher here in New England, but I am looking forward to the sun!

I have overspent lately and not kept very good track of money. This isn't a huge amount and I have been able to cover it. I need to stop and rethink my accounts. The mystery shopping really throws me off sometimes. I plan for the initial out-of-pocket expenses, but sometimes I am required to pay cash and other times to use the debit card. For some reason, this seems to make everything harder.

Long story short, I believe I have a system in place that will alleviate the issues, so I should be okay going forward. The other thing I need to watch is stopping at the grocery store by my office for lunch. That adds up quick!

In other news, the tutoring is going well and I currently have enough money banked for all the summer expenses including payroll. Any other money that comes in will mean I get a paycheck (there are still some parents who need to pay summer tuition and are on track to do so this month).

The mystery shopping is ramping up too, which is great. I suspect my summer income will be quite a bit higher than I anticipated.

I may have mentioned this before (sorry if I am repeating myself),I am going to Florida to see my adult kids and grandkids the 19th-24th of this month. I paid cash for the plane ticket months ago and I have picked up a couple easy mystery shops while I am there that cover that will cover giving gas money to give to my son and a meal out.

I am procrastinating about a second trip over the long holiday weekend (I am closed the 3-7 of July at tutoring) to see family and friends in Michigan. I will see what the final tally is for summer tutoring payments mid-month and make a final decision. I would drive and have a place to stay, so it mainly will cost gas and a few meals (I am quite sure half of my meals would be covered at family and friends' houses).I really want to go, but it is a very long drive for a few days. Then again my grandmother will be 87 this year. She is in excellent health for her age, but I hate skipping a chance to see her because you never know.

Last but not least, I am on track with savings and debt repayments. I need to update those figures and do a post with some actual numbers soon.

I have been really hustling when it comes to mystery shopping. I have added on site business inspections and theater checks to my mystery shopping repertoire. Assuming I don't add any more shops to April, my grand total is $997.50 ($200.50 is reimbursements which include several gallons of gas and about $30 in groceries!). I know the summer will be slow at tutoring so I want to earn every penny I can.

Tutoring has been steady, well at least money wise. Many are not adhering to the attendance policy now that the weather is getting nicer. It's frustrating, but as my DH says, "You are getting paid, so don't sweat it!"

This week is spring break at school so I am tutoring about half the normal hours which will be nice. We hope to do a day trip mid-week up north. My son is going to Florida to visit my adult kids and his grandparents (My parents live in Michigan, but are down visiting as well). I won't make this trip, but am going down in June myself.

That's all that is new around here. I hope you all have a great weekend!

I had been pretty down in the dumps about the tutoring business. It doesn't help when "well-meaning" family members point out most businesses fail in the first year. Then again, if someone tells me I can't succeed, it lights a fire in me to prove them wrong!

Business has doubled in the last few weeks and the phone is still ringing off the hook. I have been working quite hard at marketing and it is paying off! It has definitely helped my mood.

I also have been doing a lot of mystery shopping. I have never stopped, but generally do about $100-150 a month in shops. This month I am at $368 (and I still have days to fill if I find the work). Not only am I/we trying to buy a home in the near future, but I desperately want to go visit my adult kids and my grandkids in Florida who I have yet to meet (19 months and 3 months). I finally felt I could justify the trip (Family is most important, but I did have to make enough to cover the bills first) and bought a ticket on Friday. I will be heading down for five days in June right when school lets out here, which should be a slow week for tutoring. I am super excited!

In the meantime, I am going to keep doing as much mystery shopping as I can to pay for the extras on the trip (not much as I am staying at my son's and will be using their car). Any extra will go to the home fund.

What a week! We had already made $3639 this week from our tax refund and selling a third vehicle. Now I finally sold the handbag I had received for Christmas (the fancy Michael Kors one I blogged about). Add another 242 to the total! Actually, I will say about $220 after Ebay fees and shipping (The original listing didn't budge. Second time around hubby put free shipping and it worked like a charm). The money from the handbag will go toward my student loans.

So our grand total is $3859! I am pretty sure that is the last of the windfalls for awhile, but I am quite satisfied.

Not only are we getting the 2k tax refund (per the IRS it will be deposited on Wednesday), but we sold our third vehicle that was just sitting around. That is another $1600. This means we will be seriously beefing up the emergency fund. It's exciting to be able to pay off the credit card, get all the car repairs done, and put 1k in savings all within a week. I will definitely be sleeping much more soundly.

By the way, there is $1150 allocated to the cars now (timing belt plus the other belts it is customary to replace at the same time and brakes). There were a couple of things the mechanic said we may not need and the total could be anywhere from 850-1150. If it doesn't hit the max, anything we don't spend will go toward our student loans.

We are celebrating by going out to dinner using a Groupon we got for Christmas. The first $30 of our dinner is covered!

This is the second day this month I have had to close the tutoring center due to snow. I finally got my W2 from my past employer yesterday and did my taxes first thing this morning. I am proud to say I was done with them by 8am. This was probably the most complicated return I have ever had with opening the new business and having the freelancing business as well.

I am usually quite good and within $200 either way (refund or owing) every year. By time all was said and done this year (triple checking EVERY detail), we are getting a refund of $2040! Of course, I have it all allocated already.

We will keep $240 and go out to a decent dinner and purchase a few worn out clothing items.

The remaining $1800 will be paid out as follows:

-$800 for new brakes on my car, a timing belt on hubby's car, and two tires. None of these items are absolute immediate needs, but are at the point they shouldn't really be put off for long either.

-$400 to pay off the credit card I used in December for a new laptop to avoid the emergency fund (credit card also doubles the warranty). I don't like having a credit card balance at all! I would have normally have saved up for the laptop, but last year was so out of whack with the new business. Looking forward to a more stable year in 2014.

-$600 to the emergency fund.

On top of taxes, I also caught up on laundry, wrote three freelance articles, and did some virtual assistance work. So much for relaxing on a snow day! I must say though it is quite satisfying to get it all done....for today. Tomorrow I took on four mystery shops (I am trying to build our savings up as fast as possible)and of course I will be tutoring as well. By time Saturday hits, I may sleep half the day.

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm!

I am still waiting on my disorganized old boss to send w2's. I reminded him the deadline to mail them was Jan. 31st and he swore he would have them out by Thursday. As of Saturday, they hadn't arrived (and we live in the same town). The IRS says to give it until the 15th as they allow for the longest possible mailing time.

Now he is just ignoring phone calls and emails. My husband is trying to do an income based repayment plan with his student loans and the deadline is the 15th so I really need to get the taxes done asap. Although they will take pay stubs, they say they would prefer our 2013 return. I am going to have him call them to let them know what is up if I don't have my W2's by Wednesday.

On a good note, I have lost 12 lbs. since the beginning of the year. I gave up coffee other than for a special treat (I have to use French Vanilla creamer and the calories add up) and processed foods. My energy level is amazing since doing so!

I cashed out $25 Paypal on Swagbucks today. I met the daily goal all month (and my second goal all but three days). I also cashed out this morning for a month of Netflix from Instagc (taking advantage of the last day of the holiday discount which is 8% in my case. I snagged four months altogether in December). Tango sent me $2 from Media Insiders and I was paid $3 from Pinecone.

We will go to our favorite Chinese restaurant with my friend early this evening. I will definitely not make it to midnight (been up since 4:30 am). I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year!