It's paper route day! Yep, grumpy ds11 (who would like to quit his part of the route but isn't allowed according to very mean parents) will be extra grumpy when he finds out that his special helper sister won't be helping him all week. She's been coerced into doing her cousin's route...same neighbourhood, more papers...cousin is in Disneyland. Should be prime time at our house in about 15 minutes when everyone gets home from school. According to ds he hates Fridays now. Why, you may ask, would that be? Well, his very mean parents won't let him quit his paper route AND he has to deliver papers on Friday. What kind of a weekend is it when you can't even relax on Friday after school? Well, I don't know what kind of a weekend it is, but I do know that some children are learning all about responsibility...life is very, very hard when one belongs to sarcastic parents who make their children actually WORK for their spending money...SHOCKERS!

Ds5 and I had a very lazy day, lounging, reading, watching t.v. and eating junk. Not much to say on that.

Dh and I went out and did some Xmas shopping together yesterday. It was so nice because usually I do it all and I do it alone. Dh has always worked full time and extra long hours around Christmas. That's the way social service agencies have to run. Since he got his new job we have so much more free time together. We went for lunch, got a smoking (not literally!) deal on a gift for ds, and picked up some small things.

Our electric bill is on a monthly plan, and we were under 150 dollars from last year. Yay for us! We're taking the 150 bucks and buying things that will save more electricity over the year. Last year we had 50 dollars and I bought the energy saving lightbulbs and a second drying rack. Yesterday I spent 25.00 on new heating duct covers that we will be able to close if no one is using the room and for the ducts beside the doors. I will also be buying a low flow shower head for the ensuite. Does anyone have any other ideas? I'll have to think about it.

Today was a no spend day. We're having roast beef, potatoes, and yorkshire pudding for dinner. I don't think we actually did anything special today to save money, though. I just finished reading The Weekend Millionaire Mindset by Mike Summey and Roger Dawson. It's a good read and I picked up some great ideas from it.

Dh is owed money for using his car for work. When he added it all up last night, because he wasn't using a company vehicle, he is being paid the maximum amount of $150 dollars for each of the last three months! Our gasoline bills don't even equal that for both our vehicles. So that's $450.00 going into our emergency account...woo-hoo!