Homeownership- A whole new fun!

Sorry for not being around much (but then again, who's reading this, right?)

Well... 3 weeks into being a homeowner and we've already encountered:

-door knobs and locks that need to be adjusted and changed.
-dead garage door motor due to a stripped out gear
-carpenter ants in the Master under a window sill
-tons of debris from the ceiling re-texturing
-window screens that have holes or not square any longer
-changing out the lower kitchen pulls to save our clothes from getting ripped
-having the master ceiling fan break and needed to be replaced
-needing to change out one of the kids' bedroom carpet because the previous owners' dogs peed on it and when we cleaned the spots, the smell is now worse!
-needing to change out the Master Bath window to one that can be opened since the fan and the vent don't dry out the air as well as we hoped.
-the shower leaks on to the tub and need to be re-caulked.
-the yard needing immediate attention because of the weeds. (thanks to my in-laws and friend Amy who gave us their lawn mower, it looks great now!)
-saving up for a new front door knob/lock set for obvious safety issues.
-pricing out security alarm systems for the same reason.

*dizzy* from all the responsibility, but *giddy* from knowing this is our house...

Oh yeah, I'm working now, too! That's for another post...

Til' next post!

I Not Only Save Money, I Find it, too!

(Photo courtesy of Finance with AFP)
When it comes to money, I prefer earning and saving over spending anytime. Am I a miser, some may say that but of course with a family, even being a miser is not always feasible.

So... I've made sure that I find money, too! Yep, I find them! Meaning, I look at all the deals and promos out there-not ignoring any mail that comes in with offers.

For example, in mid-March, we've researched and researched the price ranges of the style of refrigerators (french doors, freezer bottom) I wanted. When the time came, I even considered buying the classic style (two doors, freezer top) to stretch our budget, but by sharing this idea with a good friend of mine, she referred me to a Sears Outlet Store that mainly dabbles in appliances.

We looked around the refrigerators and making sure not to resort to "need to pee-pee" dance like movements, I quietly approached MY fridge. The one that I've been hoping to be able to afford for years now. Brand spanking NEW! As in "just came from the manufacturer assembly line, but got rejected so it ended up in the outlet NEW!" The inside smelled of styrofoam, plastic and tape because the whole inside was filled with them! So cool!

And for $1,000 LESS. SAVED MONEY! I was able to use that money to pay for NEEDS that popped up like new clothing for school and work and shoes for school and prom plus AP tests, my graduation pictures, Spring pictures, lunch money and various moving expenses AND NOT BREAK THE BANK!

Then, we came across a bank offer of $125 for opening a new account with a minimum and direct deposit. So we did. In 3 weeks, that account will be $125 fatter. FOUND MONEY!

Kohl's had a TAX-FREE, 20% off for $100 or more purchase AND $10 for every $50 spent promo from April 1-3. We took advantage of that and saved tons of money for clothes and shoes, plus earned $20 in Kohl's Cash for me! FOUND MONEY!

Tonight, while picking up the mail from our house, we came across a store offer of $5 giftcard to invite my business. Then we realized that we haven't checked our apartment's mailbox. Sure enough, there's one there, too! Mr. Man "dumpster dived" to see if there are more that others foolishly threw away. Yep, three more! A total of $25 giftcards. FOUND MONEY!

The kids all had great report cards and high A's in their recent TAKS practice tests, homeworks, and projects so we treated them to Souper Salad. I had a coupon! One for "Kids Eat FREE (normally $6.39 each) for every paying adult" and the other for, "$5.99 AYCE (regularly $7.25)". We made sure we all ate "well and healthily" and... made room for some soft serve. We saved a total of $14.05! SAVED MONEY!

In the same mail stash at our house, was the new debit card for our new account, in it was an offer of $30 cash just for enrolling the card number into a program to get you started in online bill pay. And you only have to pay 3 bills to earn it! Guess what?! I have three bills to pay by the end of the month! So before April 30, that new account will have an additional $30! FOUND MONEY!

How are you doing with your money hunting? I hope you'll be as lucky as I am!

The House is Up and Running... Somewhat

All are running now. The fridge is cold with ice waiting to be used, the water gets hot, the gas is ready to cook and the lights turn on, but... we still don't have a ready ceiling.

*sigh*

Where did the UTILITIES go?

Ok, I've heard of home ownership mishaps but of course you think those are just made for TV situations, right? Wrong...

Last Saturday, we go and visit our house to label which ceiling fans the contractors need to take down to the garage and which ones they need to put back up once the ceiling work is all finished. Mr. Man decides to check out the water dispenser on the fridge and barely any water came out! Not until after I-Dude "tests" out their bathroom and discovers he couldn't flush, that we figured out that the water was turned off. (Can't you tell we're new at this?) It was the weekend, no office hours for city employees. Great...

The gas and electricity were still on when we checked on Sunday even, but we unplugged the fridge and left a note stating, "PLEASE DO NOT TURN ON". Well a lot of good that note did!

Today, after calling the utilities company to have things transferred to our name, we discovered that there's no electricity even though our power company says, "...today, immediately." Which actually translated to- "anywhere from now but no later than midnight." *sighing*

Then I check out the gas on the stove and only fumes! None of the burners came on and I even barely smelled gas fumes. Man!

The best part is that the contractors that would be removing the popcorn ceiling need both water and electricity! Can you say DELAY? Spell it first. "D-E-L-A-Y? DELAY!" (Yes, unnecessary but here we are.)

The water coming on Wednesday along with trash and sewer. Gas, tomorrow. Speaking of trash...

In front of our house, the sellers piled on their "unwantables" that amounted to the whole stretch of the lawn area by the curb. We discovered that in one of the boxes, the sellers stashed a whole slew of hazardous spray cans (lube, paint, etc...) Well, Mr. Man diligently called the city and found that we cannot be putting such items for curbside pick-ups. Mr. "Seller" says, "they pick up anything on Mondays!" Great!

Of course, we call our now "former" realtor, Misty and informed her that the sellers need to pick up their hazardous items, their iron (that they left behind like their OLD dryer) and their son's collage frames of himself and friends "mooning" people, at the front door. We also informed Misty that if the city leaves behind any debris from the pile they left, we will have to invoke our right per the contract since the sellers would be in violation of agreeing to "leave the property in clean condition."

Oh... I also found out that my realtor's office was supposed to transfer all utilities accounts to our name as part of their complimentary service. NOT in this case... The lady in charge completely forgot to do that for us. We would not have this problem if she did... *deeply sighing*

Can you hear that?... You can't? It's quite loud! Yeah, my head throbbing!

House Pics!

Here are some pictures of our house! I hope you like it as much as we do! I'm so happy that I was able to upload some pictures! Yay!!!

The front of the house...
Mr. Man and I... at our front door (boy, that feels good to write!)
Our lovely co-habitants. LOL
We love our stairs layout but we'll be changing the rails soon enough...
The top landing, right off the foyer...

Here's the master bathroom
My side of the bathroom.
My closet- it's pretty spacious!
L's walk-in closet
J's closet
I's closet...
I and Mr. Man are planning what to do in his new room after they get rid of the ugly valance and the ceiling fan.


And here's the picture of our new fridge!!! I've wanted this style since they first came out! We all love it and can't wait to fill it!


Glad, joyful and excitement hasn't fully hit us yet, so more adventures to follow!

Soon... the backyard!

We have the Key!

Today, along with two of my neighbor/great friends' birthdays, we drove ourselves down to a title company TO CLOSE ON OUR HOUSE!!! Yeah!!! We picked up the key this afternoon and finally told and showed our children. Whew!

We found it January. Saw and toured it in February. Bought it in March. This beautiful 2-story, brick facade, double column elevation built in 1989. The inspection revealed that the original owners/sellers took great care of this house. We lucked out.

All throughout, NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, but a few people whose help we needed, knew. Not even our children. It was quite stressful keeping it from them and my side of the family, but we just didn't want any of our hopes dashed. Mr. Man and I fell in love with this house. I knew this was our house the moment I saw the pictures on our realtor's site. So we got sneaky and did it on our own.

Onto the surprising our children... We pretended to have our realtor lend us a key to see this newly "emptied" house that's on the market. Immediately, they loved it! That's just from the front lawn! Once inside, we told them that we have to be careful, stay together and tour the house, one story at a time. We started with the downstairs (Foyer, LR, FR, DR, K, G, Storage, Laundry), then we went upstairs to all the 4 Bedrooms and 2 Bathrooms.

(1 hour before we took the kids, we went back into the house to put up the signs with their names on it in each of their future rooms. Mr. Man hung it up on the window blinds since we didn't have any tape with us)

We steered the kids into the Master first. They loved the separate walk-in closets and the hidden commode (we love that, too). They loved the raised ceiling and the bay and big windows. They loved all the storage in both bathrooms and the separate sinks in the Master Bath. Then L-Infinity happen to open the first closed door... in it was her sign-"L's ROOM" and she was shocked! Then J-Pony opened the one across- it had her sign then I-Dude opened his and saw his sign. L whispered, "Wait, does this mean, we want this house?" "Or... Did we already get this house?" Mr. Man nodded. They raved about their own walk-in closets. And that's when the noise factor rose and the kids simultaneously offered their design ideas and cell phone batteries were quickly spent. It was a great sight to behold...

It was the best day of our lives! Finally having a home we can call our own... Our move-in date will be delayed about a week as they refinish the ceiling and rid it of the awful "popcorn" texture on all the ceilings!

Even better... We managed to keep the kids in the same school district and the same church ward! The kids will still be close to their friends in the neighborhood. Why? It's 2 minutes away from our current apartment! That means we save money on movers!!! What a great blessing indeed! My heart is full and honestly it hasn't really sunk in yet. Give me until late May...

Again, I apologize for no pictures... our systems are still being polished. But I promise, very soon!!!

'Til next post!

Packing, Packing and more Packing!

I can hear you saying... "As if she doesn't know any other word lately." But that is the ugly truth right now- we are packing every little thing we can think of and organizing while reducing at the same time.

To keep us sane, we also look for opportunities to serve, spend time together and hope (while quietly chanting the Spring dance) for the sun to stick around longer than a few days.

IT IS MADDENING!!! All the packing, chaos and errands to close up gaps in our move. I'm both having cabin fever and wanderlust boredom. I don't like being out but I also can't stand being indoors when I hear happy voices soaking up the beautiful day. Oh well... I've endured many a Spring time packing, but how I wish that this would be our last- for a long while...

Ok... So who's with me? One, two, three! Cross your fingers!

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!!!

See ya!

3 Families, 1 Dinner, >$13

You read right... I made dinner for three families: Mine, Next door and a Mother&Son. A total of 12 mouths.

I made Spaghetti with Homemade Sausage & Parmesan Spaghetti sauce and Texas toast.

Real Food Real People dot com

Here's my total:

Barilla Pasta- 4 boxes- 99 cents each = $3.96
Tomato Paste- 1 can- 35 cents
Tomato Sauce- 75 cents (big can)
Tomato Diced- 75 cents
Parmesan, Herbs, Spices- FREE (already had it)
Texas Toast- 1.5 boxes- $1.97 each = $2.96
HF Beef Smoked Sausage Links- 1.5 pkgs.- $2.50 each = $3.75

$3.96 + .35 + .75 + .75 + $2.96 + $3.75 = $12.52 Total

Why did I do it? Well, it was back on Sunday night the 7th, before I-Dude's birthday, so the spaghetti is a traditional dinner to wish him a long life ahead. For our next door neighbor, it is to help their daughter who comes to YW, get some of her Personal Progress checked off and because my friend Annette has started working again. For my friend Heather and her son, it was because her MS turned for the worst and she needed some dinner help while the steroids did their thing to help her legs.

See? Service and Frugality can be totally complimentary. (I actually already had the pasta from last month, February, so technically they're already FREE, according to my budget.) No need to go to the store for the whole meal if you just stock up on few necessities...

Til next post!

(Still can't upload pictures)

Happy 8th Birthday, I-DUDE!

I can't believe that I'm a mother of three, much less a mother to my youngest who just turned 8 today! Our son, I-Dude will now face baptism, scouting and much more fun times ahead! I can't wait!

No pictures to be uploaded because we just installed Windows 7 and Office is not quite installed yet, much less Picasa. So... I'll have to redo a post-birthday post about his birthday this year!

We started to celebrate yesterday, I made him brownies and gooey cupcakes and spaghetti with sausage and texas toast. Things he loves to eat! Today, we didn't get to do much since Mr. Man had to work so we just had ice cream and a song. I also made him one of his favorites, fried rice!

They call this his GOLDEN YEAR. I would have to agree.

In Between...

... slowly packing for our pending move (hoping to find one nearby by next school year), our children's school/church activities and commitments, and our current "Windows 7, extra external hard drive and jumpy keyboard dilemmas", blogging for me may be hampered quite soon and for a few or several months. I'll try to squeeze in a few here and there, but no promises...

See you when I can...