Herbal Cures

Monday, April 11, 2011

Of course, the very first thing I did after the paycheck was deposited was to transfer the borrowed $25 into our oldest daughter’s checking account. 

We had two kids home for the weekend, and so bought a few extra groceries.  We also replaced some herbal supplements (fish oil and red yeast rice) that  Mr. Struggle has been taking to help lower his cholesterol, in the hopes that he can avoid going on medication at his checkup later this month.  Even though he is not overweight and eats fairly carefully, Mr. Struggle’s cholesterol count has crept up over the years.  I’m not sure that the herbal supplements save us any money since we have a reasonable co-pay for generic medications on our insurance plan, but we’ve heard the cholesterol-lowering drugs can have a lot of negative side effects.

Mr. Struggle and I celebrate our wedding anniversary this week, but we have decided on smaller presents and elected to skip the obligatory dinner out, in order to save money for our upcoming trip next month.     

The gasoline prices continue to rise.  I only bought half a tank,  waiting for the full-time paycheck to come later this week and hoping that prices go down in the meantime.

  

Here’s the breakdown:

Carryover:   $0.68

Deposit:       25.00 Miss S1’s refund check

                   169.53 part-time paycheck

                         .02  interest earned      

Total:        $195.23

Expenses: $25.00 repayment to Miss S1 for refund check

                     34.01 gasoline (includes lawnmower gas)

                     24.75 herbal supplements

                     29.11 anniversary gifts                            

                     39.21 groceries

                     20.00 cash (pocket money)

Total:       $172.08       

Current balance: $23.15

Have you or anyone you know had good results using herbal supplements to lower cholesterol?  How about side effects from the traditional medications?  I’d love to hear your comments!

Floating Checks

Monday, April 4, 2011

The check from the second income has come and gone, and we’re on a spending fast yet again.  In fact, we had to do a bit of fancy footwork to keep our account balance from running into the red.

Carryover balance: $10.00

Deposit:                   169.53  part-time paycheck

Total:                      $179.53

Expenses:        $  11.82  lunch-date

                               3.23 coffee & apple turnovers

                             42.41 groceries 

                             27.58  household and toiletries

                             11.57  personal care

                             20.00 cash for incidentals

                             62.24 gasoline

                         $178.85

My husband bought the gasoline while I was out buying the groceries, toiletries and household items (cleaners, paper goods and such).  I knew the car he drives needed gas, but I forgot how much it would be now that gasoline is selling for $3.59 a gallon.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone grocery shopping; most of what I bought wasn’t necessary, but just impulse items purchased on sale to stock the freezer.  Luckily, we didn’t go into negative territory with the bank balance, but ended up with just 68 cents left in our account.  Knowing that we would need to buy gas for the other car later this week, I deposited a refund check intended for Ms. S1 into our account, with the intention of transferring the money into her account after our next paycheck.  In the meantime, we can buy a bit of gas for the other car, which I’ll need to pick up Struggle, Jr. at the bus-stop later this week.  (Struggle, Jr. and Miss S2 come home from college every two or three weeks to see friends and get some hours in at their part-time jobs here in town.)   I probably won’t use the car at all until then, so at least we won’t need much gas.  I seem to be getting used to staying at home during the day.  It’s a bit quiet, but it saves quite a bit of money in gasoline, fast food and unnecessary purchases.  I never was one to spend time or money in the shopping mall, even  less so today.

Have you changed your any of your habits or hobbies because of high gas prices?