Valerie is home for the summer. That makes our house very full! Plus with the summer activities going on, we always have extra people around. I'm trying to keep low-cost snacks and drinks around for everyone to have (Kool-aid, anyone?)

Justin has NOT started his new job at McDonald's. It's been 3 weeks and they still don't have his uniform in or his name on the schedule. Why do I sense that he is getting the run-around? I've already got him looking for another job. It's just annoying, because he could have applied and been interviewed for other jobs while he was waiting for this one. I wonder if McDonald's has a comment.

Tracie is also looking for another job. She is only getting 15 hours a week right now. Not enough to live on, or move out on.

We had a fun time creating a video for this challenge. We came up with lots of ideas that then had to be voted up or down. Then we had to find a time to get as many of the kids together as possible. We had to create verses and practice and debate location. Everyone in my house has very strong opinions!

We may have a special announcement coming up within the next 2 months or so. Keep watching and reading to see...

Family Trip: We are trying to coordinate our finances in order to plan a family trip to Texas to spend some time with my mom, for the past year my mom's health has been gradually deteriorating and I feel the need that we should visit instead of waiting for that dreaded phone call when it's an emergency. My Mom has been in and out of the doctors office, visits with specialist, various tests. It's been at least 4 years since we made a trip to see the family and it's about time we did it, but we have to plan our finances to see if it is possible. With Donna having a break from teaching before school starts and arrainging time off from work for me things might come together and we might be able to swing this. On another note, since I took over the check book, I am still finding it difficult to keep track of our money and where it's going, Donna sometimes forgets to give me recietps that I need to balance the check book and I'm having to remind her of the importance of this, At times I feel like im nagging, but all I am doing is trying to help us stay on track with our finances and spending. I could use alittle help with this Donna, hint, hint. :)

I took another look at our car insurance this weekend. With 4 vehicles, we are paying over $5100 per year to insure cars. I got online and found quotes from about 6 or 7 different agencies. The best one came from State Farm. Bill Reardon Insurance Agency gave us a quote of $4200, almost a thousand dollars a year less. I could not believe my eyes. I actually went to the office yesterday to talk to Justin who works there. Then he suggested that I look at increasing our limits. So that $4200 also includes 5 times the coverage! (Go Bill and Justin!) Instead of the normal 10/20/10 that many people have (it's the minimum), he suggested something a little higher to protect our assets. So we opted for 50/100/50. A thousand dollars less for five times the coverage. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Did you know that your credit score can impact your car insurance? By having a lower credit score, we were paying higher premiums. Now that our score is inching up, our premiums should start to fall. Another thing that will help is that a ticket that Valerie got will drop off in September, so the rates should drop again.

I'm getting into the hang of this stuff now. I borrowed a book from the library called "Your Credit Score: Your money and What's at Stake" by Liz Pulliam Weston. She explains that using credit scores for insurance decisions is the norm nowadays. There is a link between black marks on credit reports and higher loss ratios for insurers. Although the link is not causal (there is no proof that one causes the other), there is a high eough correlation that insurers use it more often than not. This is a really good book. I highly reccomend it, once I return it to the library.

Thursday was awesome. It was Ed's birthday. Justin finished his orientation for McDonald's. Tracie was accepted at TCC. Valerie came into town. My school received an "A" for the first time ever (Go Oak Ridge Eagles!) which means a bonus in the fall.

All-in-all, a noteworthy day.

Stuff happens. And it keeps happening. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Good - Justin got a job with McDonald's. He had orientation today. I know he can do this job, but he seems very insecure about it. He did want to buy a new scooter before he started paying rent, and I told him that was a no-go. He can walk or take the bus, if necessary. He'll be making enough so that he can save for a scooter, while still riding his older one to work.

Good - I might have found someone to take over the cell-phone plan. That would get us out of it completely, without paying the $200 termination fee.

Good - Ed and I are finally getting the knack of sharing an account. He does the numbers every day to keep us up-to-date on our account balance. I am careful to save receipts to give to him to enter. So far this month, we have been GOOD. We realized that one person needed to be in charge of this, and since he was gung-ho about it, he was elected.

Bad - I forgot that the ISP I use was coming out of my old account with another credit union. So now I have a $25 fee for a $10 automatic payment. Yeah, I fixed it.

Bad - Ed cut his head on a piece of equipment at his job. He ended up at the emergency room and they put in 6 staples. He is still a little woozy, and has headaches, but is getting better. I know we've been discussing health care lately. Workman's Comp will pay for this stuff, and I'm glad about that. Luckily, he has health insurance so that if he did something like this at home, the cost would be minimal, but what if he didn't? Before the state took over his job, he didn't have benefits, including health care. A visit to the emergency room would have been a thousand dollars, not to mention the CT scan at follow-up and lost time from work. We are very lucky he is covered now.

Ugly - We got another car, but you don't hear any cheering. The reason that this is under the "ugly" section is that the car needed $2000 in work. We didn't know that at the time. The mechanic who looked at it before we bought it thought the fix would be about $200 or so. Nope. Needed a rebuilt transmission. So now we have to figure out a way to get $2000. We'll be talking to John at FCCU tomorrow to try to get a short-term loan. With my summer work, we should be able to pay it off in 60 days or less.

Justin does not have a job. Remember when I posted on May 20th that he was getting hired? Justin came home and said all he needed to do was to pass a background screening and drug test (which should be no problem). Well, for some reason or another, they hired someone else. Now he has to go job-hunting again. Since I have a few days off work, I'm going to help him. I tried to convince him that he needed to continue to look for jobs even when it looked like he was probably going to get the landscaping job, but he didn't.

In other news, graduation went well. The relatives were fun to be around, and everyone had a good time.We ended up buying a grill for the relatives to cook on. We got the least expensive one we could find. Plus, we'll use it 5 nights out of 7 during the summer. That way we don't heat the house cooking dinner each night.

Tracie is graduating tonight from Life Skills Center. Ed's relatives are in town from Texas now, and the house is rocking! Lots of family, fun, and fellowship. We got her a cell phone for graduation. This is a replacement phone for her cell plan, that she pays for herself monthly. She dropped her phone in water, so she REALLY wanted this as a gift. We were going to give her money, but this is better. Still staying in the budget for the graduation. I did get my hair cut, since I was due in June anyway (my yearly haircut) and I used a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure that my special friends got me for my birthday. Now I look HOT! Well, not hot, maybe, but at least dressy.

We are going to the beach or a lake for entertainment. That should be relatively inexpensive, just gas money. Like I thought, they bought food. Lots of tortillas and jalapenos. Yum!

It's been a busy, fruitful week here in the Pena/George household.

The Not-Eating-Challenge has been going okay. Not great, but okay. We've slipped twice. Once, Nick was ill and didn't want to eat any of his favorite foods, so we got him a double cheeseburger from McD's. $1.19. Then this weekend, we were out shopping for bathroom towel holders and the like to finish the bathroom and were gone for 4 hours. We ended up getting fast food because we were across town and starving. Other than that, we did great. No nickel-and-diming stuff. I sure miss it, though.

We may have found a good replacement car for Ed. Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers going, because we REALLY need this car!

Valerie is home from college for a few days. She and I went down to our friendly neighborhood FCCU and started her an account that we can transfer money into when she needs it! No more $15 wire transfer fees! Yeah! She also may be home for the summer, working, so we won't have to send her living-on money during this time.

The bath is one step away from being done. We just have to put up the towel racks and the first bath can be taken tonight!

Tracie graduates in a little over a week. I expect to spend about $100 in extra food and a cake for the occasion, plus the cost of an awards banquet ($45). Ed's relatives are going to be here from Texas, and boy can they cook! So our meals will be eaten in the whole time.

I was appointed a position as a teacher for extended school year for special ed students for this summer. I'll be working 2 weeks in June and 3 in July. Although it will be tough working, I appreciate the opportunity to increase our savings while we have the chance. I also love my babies and like spending time with them.

Stay tuned for more updates as we muddle through all this stuff.

It's time to party! Justin got a job! He is going to do maintenance and groundskeeping for an apartment management company. I'm so tickled I could just spit! (Sorry, Mom)

Justin has been out of work since January, when the restaurant he worked at just stopped putting him on the schedule. No notice, or even a formal, "You're fired!" He kept hoping that he would be called back to work for that restaurant, but it never happened. He's been moping around the house ever since.

He goes next week for a drug test and a background check and he'll be good to go. It'll be hard work, but that is one thing that Justin excels at. Than I'll start charging him rent again. Yeah, I'm a mean mom, but the boy is 21, and he needs to pay his way. My mother is aghast that I would charge him rent, but $75 a week for food, clothes, lodging, etc. is a steal. Plus, this is coming from a woman who is NOT charging my 27 year brother rent and yes, he still lives at home. I wonder why.

I'll stick with my plan, and Justin can continue learning about budgeting and all. Not from me, obviously, since I suck at it, but maybe from the coaches at FCCU.

I'm challenging my family. Either that, or I am challenge to them. (I forget which.)

This Friday, I issued a challenge to my family. I want us to not eat out for one entire month, until June 18th. No eating out. At all. No trips to convenience stores either.

I am surprised and gladdened that my family responded very favorably to the idea. All of them thought it was doable, except for Tracie who feels that she has her own personal budget with the money she makes and so she is not participating. (Emphasize the "she" when reading that, and you'll see that she is 17.) Even so, we start tomorrow, and end on Ed's birthday! Yeah, just in time!

This is going to really challenge the family. No more iced coffees in the morning for me. No late night junk food runs for Justin. No more icees after clogging for Nick and me. No more stopping by to get a soda and snack on the way home from work for Ed. These little things are eating up our budget dollars fast. Minor stuff, a buck or two here and there, really. Added all together, it sucks us dry.