Wrapping Up A Thrifty September

After a very busy and productive August I began this month with $7 in my checking account a little more than that in my wallet and three quarters of a tank of gas in my car.  Not complaining about that one bit!  Anytime you have a little jingle left in your pocket and fuel in your car it's a win in my book.

On pay day I paid all of our monthly expenses well ahead of their due dates and decided since I still had so much fuel left in the car I'd use my gas money to top off the truck this time.  The truck still had over a quarter tank of gas so I decided to use the rest of my gas money and top up the car as well.  Two vehicles with full tanks is always a good feeling.

I added money to my retirement and savings accounts as planned too.  In addition to the payment I made in August I made another payment to my PayPal account meaning I'd made two payments on my carpet purchase before the first payment was even due.  Yay!

Once all was said I even had enough money left in my checking account to make another PayPal payment.  Mid month when I got paid again I was able to pay the mortgage well ahead of schedule and add to my savings and retirement accounts.  Then I made a third payment to PayPal.  That carpet will be paid off in no time.

Each week I checked the grocery ads and made my shopping list based off of what was on sale.  I downloaded digital coupons as well as other offers that either gave me extra rewards points or $$ OFF on certain purchases.  I also redeemed some of my rewards points to use toward a planned meat purchase that gave me $7 OFF.  I was able to purchase quite a bit of food, especially items to stock our freezer, without spending too much.

The only clothing items I purchased was a three pack of black dress socks for myself to wear to work.  I did stop into a couple of thrift stores and purchased a new bowl for the kitties and a cat door which I plan to install very soon.  I used two $10 OFF coupons and made two trips to the feed store to stock up on chicken feed, bunny food and supplies and dry cat food for winter.  I put those purchases on my credit card and will pay that amount off when the bill comes due.

I redeemed credit card points that I'd been saving up for over a year and received a $100 Home Depot gift card as well as a $25 Bath & Body Works gift card.  I used the Home Depot card to stock up on paint as they were having a special $10 per gallon rebate.  I then went online and requested my rebate so I'll be receiving another gift card from Home Depot in the mail, probably next month.

I have been working on our home improvement projects as time has allowed now that school is back in session.  I was able to purchase and install all three doors we needed upstairs and received a $50 instant rebate in the process if I opened a Home Depot account.  While I really didn't want to open a Home Depot account I was hard pressed to turn down $50.  As soon as the bill arrived I took it into the store and paid it off before it was due and no interest accrued.

The best news of all however, was to get a letter in the mail from the hospital last week letting me know they had decided to write off the patient portion due of my youngest daughter's emergency room visit last spring.  It was a huge load off of my mind and shoulders and once that load was lifted I realized just how much it had been weighing on me these past few months.  Not having to come up with an extra $2800 to pay that off meant all that extra overtime pay I've accrued so far could be used elsewhere.  Wow!  What a huge blessing for our little family.

This month was not only a good one for us financially, even with the start of the school year and one kid off to college, but a very productive one as well.   Our home is well supplied for winter and we are on our way to getting things buttoned up around here in preparation of chillier weather.  I'm eager to see what all we can accomplish now in October!