Tag: money matters

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Shopping for summer

I’ve noticed this month is the best time it seems to shop for our summer clothes. I went to some various stores last week, and didn’t find many sales so instead I sort of held off in hopes of finding better prices on clothes and shoes/sandals that we could wear this summer.

While picking up some bath and shower items that my daughter and I were low on, I had to pass the woman’s clothing section. Wow! The store I was in had so many sales I nearly forgot the bath things. I got my daughter the basic skinny strap tanks she loves to wear for only about 4.00 a piece, compared to 11.00. I went a bit nuts on these, buying one of each color I could find. They will be put to good use though, as she wears these as “undershirts” in the winter also. I’m saving a lot of money so I’m glad I waited a week before buying these kind of items. I also got some great storage containers on sale to store the winter clothes after they are organized. I like this kind of shopping!

The shoe department at that store didn’t have much to choose from in way of sales, but I went to a popular shoe store at the mall and found great sales on sandals there. Some were buy one and get 50% off another pair, which was great, as most of the sandals were only about ten dollars. So all in all, I did pretty good this morning and it’s still early. I needed to come home to get my daughter so she could pick out her own short and underclothes!

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Kids counting the days

My two youngest who are in high school are counting the days until school is finally out for the summer. I’m not. Officially they have four more days, but two are only half days, so to me, they will be out of school too soon. Summer Holidays…Oh Joy.

I don’t mean to sound like a mother that doesn’t want her kids around. That isn’t it. It is the boredom they will claim after they are home for a week. Heck, on weekends they tell me they are bored. What are they going to do for three months?

I would mention jobs, but I don’t see that happening. Of course, I’m not going to be a bank for them either, so it will either be work for it, or go without, as far as I’m concerned. That would cure boredom and also put some money in their pocket. 🙂

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Finding the perfect Palm Beach Architects

One of my favorite cousins who I am very close to, called me last night and told me that she has found the perfect Palm Beach Architects to design her new home! The man Katie married is a wonderful husband and father to her two year old son. Not only that, he is very wealthy. I’m happy for my cousin, as she didn’t really have much growing up and even though she married into money, she kept her values and her roots intact. The only thing she has ever dreamed of is a beautiful house. Now she is getting one, and I’m so happy for her.

Her husband John recently was transferred to Palm Beach, and along with getting a generous raise in the corporation he works for, he also had been planning on giving the gift of a beautiful dream home to Katie as soon as they moved to where they would settle permanently. Katie sent me the link to the website of the architects she would like to use, and to be honest, I was blown away with the beauty of their work.

My dear cousin doesn’t know the ins and outs of architecture, but this firm she told me, is getting to know her and guiding her through her decisions while putting their own spin on things as well as hers. When Katie and I were growing up, she always had some awesome ideas for her dream house. Now she has help from awesome professionals and the money to turn those dreams into reality. I’m so thrilled for her.

 

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Home energy audit to save money

Because of this past winter, and the amount that our energy bills were, we have decided to have a home energy audit. I know that this house is old and drafty, but it also can be fixed up to be a warm and cozy place, with the right assistance to show and tell us how we can save money on our energy bills.

I’ve always lived in older homes that were cold and drafty while I was in my 20’s. I loved each house, and it seemed rather “quaint” to have to use lap robes and haul in wood for the fire place, that wasn’t for ambiance, but for real heat. Now that I am older and know more about ways to save money in the long run with the heating bills, I want to hire a home insulation contractor, since I found out we have very little insulation in this house.

I’ve read that there are federal grants for home improvement, and that would help a great deal with the financial aspect of getting my home insulated and perhaps do even more improvement of the house, as I’m super tired of waiting for the money that I save, to be enough for these improvements. It would add to my peace of mind if I knew I could be able to fix this home up.

 

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Shopping for safes

While being up in the attic during the last two days, assessing the damage due to rain and also  improper venting, I have decided to start looking for a couple Safes, because I found boxes of valuable documents and also lots of jewelry that I thought had been taken to my mom’s house when we moved here and needed to store these items. Somehow they ended up here.

I have two small safes down here on the main floor of the house, but after looking at the valuable documents and other papers that I have, I’d like to some way to hide them, yet maybe turn them into a useful piece of furniture. When I talked to a friend, he said it could be done and the safes would be hidden. I like this idea.

I have looked at various sites who sell gun safes also. What I need is one that is fire proof, and large enough not to get just carried out of here, if we aren’t at home. I would love to have the Rhino gun safe. It’s on my wish list, because it is rather expensive and I don’t have that kind of money right now, but from what I read about it, it’s a good one and that it seems worth it. Besides, it’s a good looking safe!

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Garage sale finds

There was an off day garage sale down the road today. I say “off day,” because usually around here, the sales all start on Thursday and run until Sat. or Sun. Of course since sales like this are one of my hobbies, I went.

At first glance, it didn’t look like there were many treasures for me to find. There were a lot of tools and metal items that I had no clue what they would be used for. I looked anyway, of course. Way in the back of the garage were some boxes that held all kinds of kitchen gadgets, mostly broken I noticed, for .25 or a bit more.

I’m very determined when I have a feeling that I’m going to find something I would love to have, and today I had that feeling. So, I kept digging. I was looking in the last big box, and near the bottom of it, I found an antique cherry pit remover, a old wooden handled ice pick, two old but silver, antique button hooks and a small satin sewing kit. Got all five items for 1.00. I am sure the young woman who was having the sale did not know what any of these items were or what they were worth to the right person.  I did the happy dance home, since I asked twice if she was sure that was all she wanted for the finds. At least then I didn’t feel like I was cheating her.

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The cost of solar panels

My daughter and her family are moving into a very large home this coming week. Because of the size, she and her husband will be looking into solar panel costs. I believe with this house, in our climate, this would be totally ideal for them, if they decided to use solar panels in their home. I’m hoping that they will eventually be putting them in.

Because of the fact that this home is so big, and my daughter’s husband bites off more than he can chew, I’m sure he has not given the price of heating and cooling a thought. He is out for looks and size, since he is that kind of a guy…what one owns and the more of it, to him is what counts. My daughter on the other hand has been raised with solar energy in our homes that we had while she was growing up. She is the one that makes sure the bills get paid and is also the one in that family that worries.

The home has five bedrooms with attached baths, not to name the other numerous rooms in the house, that have to be heated or air cooled. I’m going to tell her to continue showing her husband the pros and of course some of the cons, ( but there aren’t that many cons) to using solar panels. It’s would help with money matters and also be some piece of mind for my daughter. I believe in solar energy, and it might be a solution to a major heating and cooling problem that I know my daughter and her family are going to have in the future.

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Considering personalized address plaques

My friend Amy is about to buy a very nice home, for the first time, and I’ve looked at a whole lot of personalized address plaques to consider as a housewarming gift. I really believe she would like that, considering after a really rough divorce, in which she changed back to her maiden name. Buying the house wasn’t from any proceeds from the divorce because there wasn’t any. Amy bought this house with all of her own money that she really worked hard and for a long time, to buy it out right. I’m proud of her.

While looking at all the plaques, I also saw some really nice bronze address plaques. I’m thinking that the bronze would match the bronze numbers on her mail box, since it is out by the road and where she lives, one must have address numbers on their mailbox and even the paper box. To me, this is a bit of over kill, but it is a must do, so perhaps I’ll go with the bronze.

I’ve decide to perhaps go with the whitehall products. I was checking out the whitehall address plaques, and I really like them. I believe the ones I was looking at were made of nickle, but I could be wrong. Still, no matter, I love the class of them and how the look. It’ll all come together, but in the mean time, I have a feeling Amy would love this kind of house warming and congratulations gift.

 

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Siding problems

Today all my kids and my grandson were outside, shooting of fire rockets and such that my brother had given them last summer. My youngest daughter gave the guys all of hers and they had a LOT of various bangs, booms, fizzles and zips going. I was sitting outside watching and also looking over the garage and back of the house, to see if the snow, hail, wind and basically nasty weather over last year had hurt any of the siding, roof and window trims. Indeed it had taken it’s toll in a lot of places in the siding.

I had told my husband that I did not like the guys work, while they were putting up the siding and he ignored me, saying that he hired them because they were grandsons on a acquaintance, bla…bla…bla. In other words, he had never seen their work. I come from a very long line of construction men. Roofers, siding guys, masons, and concrete guys. Remodel men and even plumbers and electricians. I took one look at the job they were doing and I raised holy hell. Unfortunately, my husband hushed me up before I could flat out fire them.  To this day he is regretting that I didn’t…but of course, he won’t admit it.

While assessing the siding on the house, I came across loose panels, holes, gaps and even some of the corner ( I believe they are called, but don’t quote me ) facets missing. I have a feeling that isn’t the correct word, but I’ll ask a friend later. Anyway, long story short sort of, a lot of the siding is going to have to be replaced. To say the least, I am bummed out that I didn’t go on my first instinct and fire those guys. They didn’t charge as much as the men I had talked to, to do the whole job, but at least had I gone with them, they had a warranty and also were reputable. I say I and me, because my husband ought me this house when we got married. So…it is MY house to make the decisions with. Now, I need new siding and am for sure going with who I wanted in the first place. In the long run, it will help with money matters and I won’t have to worry.

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Seed for the front yard

Deciding to seed all the bare spots in the part of the front yard that isn’t walk ways and flower or herb patches, turned into a science experiment.  I did this last week, and honestly didn’t think the seed would take, as it was some of that high bred, BS kind…that I never use. Leave it to a man who doesn’t garden, to come back with extremely pricy, bionic grass seed, when I asked for simple, cheap, American made, no frills grass seed for shady areas. SMH

I followed the directions on the bionic seed…which took a scientist to understand, and then spread straw lightly on top, which wasn’t in the instructions, after which I watered it until I knew it was saturated. I did notice that grass is coming up. In small clumps. I know I spread it evenly, as I took great pains in doing so.

My theory is…it is because I followed all the high tech directions and didn’t use my own gardening instinct, since the “Do you know how much that cost?” question kept coming to my ears. Okay, the husband only said that once, but still…it ticked me off. I’m going to look at the yard tomorrow in a fresh light, so to speak. If those bare spots are still in the yard, I’m going to go into town and get my tried and true grass seed that only costs 3.89 for a ten lb. bag. (Instead of the last seed that also came with a BIONIC price tag of 10.00 for 3lbs!