Happy Mother's Day!

This goes out to all mothers, grandmothers, and baby mama's ;) Thanks for making all of us!

100 Bargains for $1.00 or less!

That's right, I'm venturing off to find the TOP 100 bargains for a dollar or under!

I was staring at my dollar-a-day cup the other day and got to thinking - what on earth will i do w/ all of those $1 bills? In a perfect world i'd like to stick with my million dollar plan, but I also can't help but play the "what if" game.

If I could, what would I buy with all those George Washingtons? It got me thinking...there are a LOT of great bargains out there for a dollar or less. We've got double cheesburgers, lottery tickets, a whole bunch of things! I started listing them out, and then wondered if I could hit 100...or even better, the TOP 100 bargains out there for $1 or less!

Not to kill the suspense, but unfortunately i didn't make it yet. But that's why I have you guys :) I need help! Not all my bargains made the cut (like composition books and uniball pens), but I did hit the 20 mark.

What have I missed? Here are a few places that I look for these sort of deals, maybe they'll help conjure up a few ideas for ya:

- Target's $1.00 bins
- Michael's $1.00 bins
- Dollar Store (the REAL ones, not the cheaters)
- Vending machines
- $1 menus at McDonald's, Wendy's, etc. (thx Carrie!)

Okay, so without further ado - let the list begin!
100 BARGAINS FOR $1.00 OR LESS:

1. Mini sharpies
2. Lottery tickets!
3. Double cheeseburgers @ McDonalds
4. Dollar Drafts ;)
5. Runts - from the 25¢ machines
6. Frozen burritos - the 3 for a $1.00 kind
7. Glow sticks
8. Random bag of woot!
9. Fake cigarette candy (remember those?)
10. Movie rentals - oldies
11. Banana or Apple
12. Old records/LP's - from thrift stores
13. Elmer's glue
14. 25¢ wings
15. Dasani bottled water
16. Mini pumpkins from the pumpkin patch
17. Newspapers
18. Cd's at yard sales!
19. Those 99¢ celebrity mags
20. 7-eleven taquitos
21. Homeless donation ;) (Carrie)
22. 3 for $1 candy bars (Carrie)
23. Doughnuts! (L-SpillingBuckets)
24. Bulk chocolate peanuts - 98¢ (L-SpillingBuckets)
25. ***Tip for an "alternative" dancer (Tom)***
    
26. 
    
27. 
    
28. 
    
29. 
    
30. 
    
31. 
    

I'll stop here for now as it would look really ridiculous having so many blank lines on here at the present moment ;) haha... i'll update the list as more come to mind, and as people submit their own bargains! Just holler at j at-symbol budgetsaresexy.com, or drop me a comment.

I'm sexcited ... can't wait to hit 100!!!

It's a WOOT OFF!!!

Do you know what that means? It means you get a butt-load of super duper GREAT deals!!! Every time one offer sells out, they throw up a spankin' new one, and the "woot off" usually last for a good 24 hours (sometimes more).

Check it out: Woot.com - Anything from coffee machines, computers, flat screens, watches, vacuums, you name it. AND, they are always incredibly cheap - hence my reason for bringing it up here ;)

Think of it as a warehouse of all "extras" that need to get out the door. They sell buckets full at pretty much the cheapest cost they can do, and then only slap on a $5.00 shipping fee no matter WHAT you buy. (this can be key, esp if you pick up a flat screen, or something pretty heavy).

And SOON, they'll probably start throwing out "random bags of woot"! They usually cost 1$ each, but have sexy surprises in them! I've never been fortunate enough to grab one (they sell out in seconds sometimes - literally) so if you ever get a chance, I recommend picking up 3 at a time, and then mailing me one ;)

ps: if you want more WOOT info, check out my previous woot post.

Another reason i heart yard sales.

You can get CD's for $1 or $2 dollars! If yard sales had their own MySpace page, I'd be the FIRST one on their "top friends" ;)

Seriously, i am plain ol' a-d-d-i-c-t-e-d to them. I can't help it, there are just soooooo many bargains out there just waiting for people like me (and prob. you).

I had totally forgotten about this until today, but I found a cd that i actually LIKE (and don't have) for only 1 buck!!! How awesome? It's too bad i was in a rush, or i woulda looked for more.

Lucky for me I hit the gold mine of them all - a neighborhood yard sale. These rock, cuz you just park your car, and walk to 10+ of them...all side by side. Finding one of these saves you a massive amount of time, since you don't have to hit up 10 separate ones. it's sometimes actually pretty overwhelming for me at times - I get too excited! haha...

So next time you're out and about and see those home-made signs, take a quick second and swing on by. You might be able to find that New Kids On The Block album you've been dying for ;)

having problems with blogger :(

If you don't see any posts, or any of the comments you've added on the main page (they're still being tracked), it's because blogger is being all kinds of wonky lately.

I haven't been able to post ANYTHING (except comments) for the past 24 hours! arghhh... if you're reading this NOW though, it means it's currently fixed ;) Just wanted you guys to know in case you thought i was a slackin'....i have posts just sitting there, waiting to be uploaded!

(i'm currently looking into Wordpress...might be worth the change on this issue alone)

More carnival linkage - this is fun!

It seems people enjoy my post on starbucks getting sexier! I submitted it to a cple carnivals around the blogosphere (where other bloggers collect submitted posts on a particular topic, and then showcase them) , and it has now been my most read article :)

It appeared twice yesterday:
- Carnival cheer from around the web - Thanks PaidTwice!
- Money Hacks Carnival #11 - Ebb and Flow Edition - Thanks Bryce!

I just gave a homeless person $10.

I didn't even really mean to! haha...I literally get asked at LEAST twice per work day (we're in downtown D.C.), and I find that I react depending on my mood. Somedays I get pissed that they're out there pan handling, and then others (like today) I get wrapped up in their stories and feel soooooo bad that I end up giving in.

Most times I'll donate, $1.00, if that. It just so happend that i didn't have one, and what was i supposed to do, ask for change?! oh man....so, he got a crisp $10'er. it felt really good afterwards, so I think i made the right choice on this one. I just hope he really DOES use it for the good!

How do you guys handle this? I've heard people say they only donate to "reputable charities" that then help out the homeless, while I've heard others say they just give whatever change is in their pocket at the time.

Mortgage Late? Don't Wait!

"You Have Options. We Can Help."

WOWWW, something in the mail that's actually NOT spam! haha... And not only that, but something that can potentially help people KEEP THEIR HOMES!

I applaud you Maryland, that is very impressive.

A state stepping up to help out those stuck in all this sub-prime mortgage mess ... you don't see that every day ;)

The flyer is sponsored by Maryland Hope (a division of The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development) and shows their call to action on the front "Act NOW! Before It's Too Late!", along w/ their toll-free Hotline and website. Then, on the back, it shows some of the services they offer:

• Free nonprofit counseling in your community
• Financial resources that can save your home from foreclosure.
• Help with non-responsive loan servicers.
• Mortgage fraud investigation

Not bad, right? And even if you DO end up chucking it, *hopefully* it will at least get you to stop and think about it. Whether you need the help, or not, though, I commend Maryland for giving it a shot. I personally had nooooooooooooo idea something like this existed, and had i been in trouble? Oh you better believe i'd be all over that website ;)

For more information on Maryland Hope, call their Hotline @ 1-877-462-7555 or visit their website: http://www.mdhope.org/

Boy, this blog is getting around town ;)

Awww yeah, just how i like it! It's always so thrilling seeing my name linked around the blogosphere - you know, get's me all warm and fuzzy inside. haha... THANKS everyone, and keep up the sexy work!

Budgetsaresexy.com in the news:

• Festival of Frugality 124 - The Alphabet Edition - Frugal for Life
• My mind on my money and my money on my mind - Fantastic Sarcastic
• Ethics and money making - Jaylin from You are Not Your Wallet
• Doing Your Own Taxes - MapGirl

The new super sexy House Budget!

So I've been playing around w/ different ways to handle our "house" stuff quite a bit lately, and while i'm still not all the way there, I think I'm getting close to figuring it all out! Here are the 3 methods we've tried out so far, including our current one:

Method #1 --> Split everything up, and pay separately. We originally divided up our rent, utilities, groceries, etc. and paid from our own accounts. While it worked for a while, it eventually got old and took too much time determining who owed, and paid, what.

Method #2 --> Using our Heloc as our "house account". We deposited/paid off our HELOC account w/ every dollar earned, then wrote checks from it to pay all the bills. It saved us $100/mo, but it unfortunately backfired when the market went down, and our "deposited money" was frozen :(

Current & Simplest Method --> Opening up separate Checking and Savings accounts. We spent 15 mins. over the phone opening them up w/ USAA ( now making a grand total of 12 accounts w/ them!), and started depositing all "house" money into them. Checking covers all mortgages, bills, groceries, etc., and savings will be used for whatever we wish for at the time. It is currently set as our "wedding fund".

And, of course, I have a budget for this! I mean, you ARE at budgetsaresexy.com aren't you? haha ... Here is how our House Budget breaks down:

1st Mortgage: 30 year fixed, interest-only.
2nd Mortgage (Heloc): We still budget at this original amount (it's since dropped down to $280!!!), and we apply the difference to our store cards and the savings account.
Credit Card: House: Covers our cable bill & all groceries.
Savings Account: To be used for whatever we wish. Currently set as our "Wedding Fund".
Home Owners: Association fees that cover the lawns, pools, trash pick up, etc. in our neighborhood.
Electric Bill: keeps our lights on ;)
Water Bill*: This is a quarterly charge of around $75. I broke it down into 3 payments of $25 each/mo. so we can budget it in.
Store Credit Cards: We're slowly paying them off! Covers our new iMac, and the wedding rings, and are at 0% interest.

As you can see, splitting out "House" stuff will be MUCH easier now that everything is separated and accounted for. Each time I get a paycheck now, I check my personal budget and xfer over the allocated amounts into the right account.

Easy peasy ... at least for now ;)

-------
Cant' get enough sexy budgeting? check out my others:
- my personal budget
- my credit card budget