Neatokimmo

Being Good - Day 3
I have found my Walgreens rebate receipts and the dates weren't scanned into the system correctly because I bought a bunch of stuff that day and my receipt was too long for their scanner. I guess there is a limit. Anyway, my and my dad's wasn't processed so I am faxing those in this week. That's $50!

If you would like to learn how to do Walgreens rebates check out the pro at:

http://checkbounced.blogspot.com/

I also checked up on my mouse and keyboard rebates for the superman stuff I bought in Jan. This rebate company...not too keen on them and won't buy anything that they process again. They asked for my invoice and my freight slip. Sent them both. Then they say I didn't send an invoice...um I have a photo copy of the complete package that I sent to them, I'm not dumb, it's $45 of stuff. So I send a PDF of the invoice (look at me getting all fancy) and they accepted it. Told me it would be EIGHT weeks for my rebate checks. Sheez.

I have passed up 2 going out to eat opportunities already. Instead I made fish. I took 2-3 cups of cabbage, a chopped up carrot, a little bit of onion, milk & 1 ounce of pepper jack cheese and cooked that all together. Then I added the canjun flounder fillets (already cooked from the grocer, how handy!). I put it over rice. Ok, I know that sounds weird but it was pretty darn good. My only complaint is my cheese didn't melt, instead it sort of separated in the heat. A better melting cheese like a swiss processed single (BTW, Kroger brand on these is very tasty) would of made the dish look much prettier. But anyway, good enough to try again with the other fillet later on in the week. Today is perch day. Perch looks pretty pitiful next to a flounder fillet, they are just little strips. I thought about making a rice stuffing and putting the two pieces together with toothpicks and baking it all. I used to eat something similar at a steak house years ago but I think they used flounder.

Last night I made out my 2007 guesstimate for spending and what I think 2008 is going to look like. You would think it would be daycare running at $4800 ish for the year (eeck!) would be my biggest expense. I will get a subsidy from work, 15% if I remember correctly. But no, guess what my biggest expense is? All those trips I have planned. I didn't know the total costs until I put it down on paper. I did a list of what I wanted to do (5 day cheap cruise in Feb, 7 days in Myrtle, 10 at Disney, 14 day cruises at the end) because I wanted to max out my vacation time..umm having a good time :) This is what it came out to:
5 day cheap cruise - hmm not so cheap when you add it up for 2 people. $940 basic costs - this will probably be cut. The parking, the gas to get to FL and the room on the way down is what takes this from cheap to not so cheap.
Myrtle Beach for a week - room is $73 with tax split with my mom so $255 for me and kiddo. Food is cheap, we'll cook in the room and eat out 4 times at $10 places. So even if we go crazy nuts, there is no way this trip will be over $500, prob closer to $400. It's a keeper!
Disney - with free dining, it's such a good deal. BUT will they have free dining? Will I be able to find someone to go for 10 days? Why 10 days do you ask? Because after you buy 6 days of tickets, additional days are like $2 more per day. For example, $520 for a split 6 day package. $680 for a spilt TEN day package. Nice eh? Natalie is free of course. You can spend just partial days in the park and actually relax. Plus 10 days really allows you to experience Disney because you have all kinds of time to eat in the resorts, where the best food is. And TEN DAYS OF FIREWORKS! That is worth the cost right there, I love fireworks. I can do this trip super duper cheap at $750 with no toys or trinkets. I'd say closer to $1000 tho is a better guess. So worth keeping if I can find a travel buddy!
THE Cruises - no way I'm dropping this. I know it costs a ton but I'm already paying on it ($200 down woohoo). It's $2100 for the basic cruise stuff, passage, parking, gas, motel the night before. But I know it's going to end up being a lot more. I made a list of everything I like to do on a ship and what I'd like to do at each port (yes, it's 500 days away and I know what I want to do) and the est cost. Taking a 2 yr old is going to save me a ton, she can't boat snorkel, she's not interested in the slots and she doesn't drink fruity drinks. So I won't either lol. I am guessing this will be close to $2800 for the 2 of us. Yikes - but a keeper.

Does anyone else make out spending charts like me?