It was a very interesting week, wondering if I’d get a stimulus payment. My SSN ends in -40, so I thought that I would get a direct deposit earlier in the week. But I’m glad its here already. I have a few plans for it.

1. Renew my driver’s license.
2. Pay off $78.81 on credit card. (DONE)
3. Put some in my vacation fund.
4. Put some in my E-fund.
5. Pay some copays that I incurred the past few weeks. The total is about $65. I always wait to get the EOB to see if they processed the claim right. I usually find errors, like I did with one visit to my PCP last month.

I’ll renew my driver’s license today via the internet. It’s $50 for 8 years. That should be easy. I set up an electronic bill pay to send $78.81 tomorrow to my credit card (my sirius satellite radio is linked to that card, and I used it to pay for groceries when I forgot my Electric Orange card earlier in the week). When I renew my driver’s license, I’ll set up the transfers to the E-fund, the vacation fund, and the copays. That should eat up the whole thing. I’m not buying anything, mostly because I don’t need anything.

Have you been stimulated?

**EDIT** Changing the date on this post from the original date to today. I want to keep it at the top because this is such a great way for people who visit to earn FREE MONEY!!!!

SO, I wanted to write a big thank you to the two people who used my referral link to sign up for Revolution Money Exchange. The deal has been extended to May 15, 2008, so use my link!

ALSO, Lulugal over at How I Save Money.net had some Starbucks Coupons to give away, and I got mine in the mail today! Woo Hoo!

P and I have been having a struggle over saving money. He wants the instant gratification, and doesn’t see the reason for saving. So, when he complained about having a computer that could barely run windows, and he needed to upgrade, I showed him how saving the money will help him fulfill his goals for creating videos and composing music.

Here’s how. First, after listening to him tell me about his weekend dreams, I did a bit of research. I found that a Mac is the best option for composing music and creating/editing videos. So I found a refurbished iMac that has most, if not all, of the software preloaded on it to do what he wants. It has a large enough hard drive, and enough RAM to get him started, and it’s only $1000. If you’re not aware, the iMac is the all in one desktop computer.

So, he finally saw that the computers price was reasonable, and I tried to tell him that if he saved money for it, he wouldn’t spend the next 3 years paying off the computer! I told him that he had to set a time frame for when he would have the money saved, and then he could reward himself for saving. It would create the creative outlet he’s been needing, by killing 3 birds with one stone!

When I go visit him at the end of the month, we will create a budget for him, and make sure to automate his savings. If it’s automatically deducted from his checking account monthly, he will never know it’s gone!

I’m so excited that I can help him, and ultimately us, with this. Maybe he’ll see that he needs to start saving for his future children’s college education too. (no there’s no children in the next year or so, but it’s never too early to start)

So, I was tagged, like a million years ago by Foxie at Dreaming of Ferraris. I thought it’d be nice if I actually completed it! LOL

What goes up, Must come down.

I always live by this mantra, simply because when things are good in my life, they always have a way of going down. I have tried to plan better for the down times, and I’m even convincing P that things need to be planned for. This is what an Emergency Fund is for, the things you can plan for that you don’t know when they are going to happen.

The rules of the meme:

1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post
4. Tag at least 5 more blogs
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play

I’m not going to tag anyone, simply because every blog I read (all 97 of you) have already done this meme.

The following is a paper I wrote for one of my writing classes this semester. I hope you like it.

Concerned about pesticides and chemicals in your food? Ever see the organic department in your grocery store? Have you strolled through and had sticker shock? I am going to give you several ways how to buy organic foods without breaking your grocery budget.

1. Do your research! Use a price book to keep track of the organic foods when you buy them. Following the sales will help you save money. Also, find out if the grocery store is the only place to buy organic foods. The Organic Consumers Association has a search engine on their website where you can pull up “green businesses.”

2. Shop at a Farmers Market. Every Saturday in the town I live in, there is a farmers market at the Regional Marketplace. This is the place where you can ask the farmer if his or her products are organic. If they are, it’s going to be much cheaper than at the grocery store, and you can pretty much guarantee that it was picked from the field less than 3 days ago.

3. Look into a Community-Supported farm. The way this works is, you pay a fee for the farm’s upkeep and overhead, and in return you get a box of fresh produce weekly. An article on Bankrate.com states that “a share in a CSA costs about $300 to $400 upfront for a 24- to 26-week growing season.” (Bankrate.com) Localharvest.org will help you find a Community-Supported farm near you.

4. Join a co-op. “A food cooperative is a member-owned business that provides groceries and other products to its members at a discount. Many of the products lining the shelves of co-ops are organic and much of the produce comes from local family farms.” (Bankrate.com) Localharvest.org can help you find a co-op near you.

5. Buy in bulk during the “in season”. Many people enjoy canning. I am not one of those people. However, if you are one of those people, buy in bulk during the peak season and can the items for use during the year. If you can buy when the harvest is plentiful, you will save so much money because the supply is more than the demand.

6. Use your freezer! Most people have ice cubes and meats in their freezer. I, on the other hand, have organic foods in there to eat throughout the off season. You can safely store most vegetables for up to 18 months if properly frozen. Visit Justfood.org for details on canning, freezing and drying safely.

7. Clip coupons. Earlier I talked about researching and using a price book. If you couple your research and price book with a coupon, you’re in for big savings. Look in the Sunday paper, and the inside of packages for valuable coupons. Visit Mambosprouts.com for internet coupons that can be used on a variety of items. Just make sure that your grocer will accept printed off coupons. More and more supermarket chains are not accepting them due to consumers printing off more than one.

8. Grow your own. A square-foot garden is something anyone can do, and you know what you put in your garden. All you need is a four foot by four foot square box to get started. Here are some instructions on how to build your very own organic square-foot garden. (Square foot gardening)

Pick an area that gets 6-8 hours of sunshine daily.

Stay clear of trees and shrubs where roots and shade may interfere.

Have it close to the house for convenience.

Existing soil is not really important, since you won’t be using it.

Area should not puddle after a heavy rain.

1. Layout - arrange your garden in squares, not rows. Lay it out in 4′x4′ planting areas.

2. Boxes - build boxes to hold a new soil mix above the ground.

3. Aisles - space boxes 3 feet apart to form walking aisles.

4. Soil - fill boxes with soil mix: 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite.

5. Grid - make a permanent square foot grid for the top of the box. A MUST!

6. Care - never walk on your growing soil. Tend your garden from the aisles.

7. Select - plant a different flower, vegetable or herb in each square foot. Use 1, 4, 9 or 16 plants per square foot.

8. Plant - conserve seeds. Plant only a pinch (2 or 3 seeds) per hole. Place transplants in a slight saucer-shaped depression.

9. Water - water by hand from a bucket of sun-warmed water.

10. Harvest - when you finish harvesting a square foot, add compost and replant it with a new and different crop. (Square foot gardening)

For more detailed instructions please visit squarefootgardening.com.

As you can see, there are plenty of options for buying organic foods, mostly for fresh fruits and vegetables. This should work for all organic foods, though. Don’t worry if you can’t buy all organic foods, most people ease their way into them by buying the things they use the most of first; for example, fruits and vegetables or a mixed bag of salad. If you can’t buy all in organics, visit the Generation Green Cookbook at generationgreen.org for recipes that can mix pesticide free organics, and non-organic foods.

Works Cited

Bankrate.com. 4 2008 <www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cheap/20040901a1.asp>.

Square foot gardening. APR 2008 <http://www.squarefootgardening.com/html/body_how_to___.html>.