I feel like I am always playing catch up. I have the best of intentions but them I get so busy that I realize it has been weeks since I blogged, so, playing catch up again.

We went to a wedding last Friday night and had a very nice time. It was my neighbor's youngest daughter and she babysat a lot for us when our youngest two were little. It was nice to see her so happy and her new husband seems like such a nice guy. I nudged my husband during the reception and said "10 years from now, it could be one of ours". (Our oldest is 17, soon to be 18). I thought he was going to choke on his food!

The same night as the wedding, our oldest DD17 got into a slight fender bender with a guard rail. No one was hurt but she managed to mangle the front end of her car and some of the lights. It is still drivable but the lights need to be fixed and the panel replaced for safety. Fortunately we have a family friend who does body work on the side. I have seen the cars her has fixed up for himself and his kids and he does great work. So, he will be doing the repairs for us this next weekend. All in all it will cost about $800 for the parts and labor, and DD17 will be paying for half of that. My DH says I am being mean about this but I want her to learn a lesson and she definitely feels pain when the lesson is financial. Plus, with his current job, it is not like we have tons of extra cash sitting around. If I can swing the full $800, I will still make her pay the $400 and just add it to her college fund (without telling her - I still want it to be a lesson to her).

Speaking of jobs, DH had an interview this morning with a company, doing something that he has great experience in, selling moulding/millwork. They have been in business for years and sell other products but now they want someone to focus exclusively on the millwork sales. This this is his area of expertise, I am hoping it could be a win-win situation for us and for them. Keeping my fingers crossed here cause he hates his current job (with good reason).

September was an expensive month here - paid homeowners, umbrella policy, car insurance and had both cars inspected. I feel like I am bleeding money. Fortunately, most of this was budgeted for and only a small bit had to come out of savings.

I took the kids to a local park on Saturday for our townships annual celebration. It is a fun, frugal day. The township gets various businesses to donate so they offer free rides on moon bounce, giant slide, rock wall, pony rides and a free petting zoo. There is a band, a business expo and a craft sale. The kids scored free pens, tee shirts, books, magnets etc. at the business expo. Last year my son entered a drawing and won an I-pod! Anyway, we had fun and only spent $7.50 total for some water ice.

I received a check in the mail last week for $75.00 from an on-line focus group that I had been selected to participate in. I am not sure how I got the invite but I had decided, what the heck, not really believing that I would earn the $75.00. I had to log on 4 days in a row and answer about 10 - 15 questions each day. I could also read the other participants answers and comment. It took me no more than 15 minutes a day, so probably a total of 1 hour. I was convinced that they would find some technicallity to not pay, that it was a scam of some sort so I was very pleasantly surprised to get the check in the mail on Friday. Now, if I could only figure out how to qualify for more of these. I keep getting invitations for in person focus groups but they are always at inconvenient times and far from home. This was great since it was on-line.

Yesterday I hit CVS and RiteAid to take advantage or their weekly sales. I have decided to make a more concerted effort to maximize my savings on personal care products by taking advantage of their deals. I spent $18.01 at CVS and got 4 12 packs of soda, 1 large bottle of Nivea mens shower gel (for my DS11 who does not want to smell like his sisters) and got $7.99 back in bonus bucks. I wanted to get a Loreal wrinkle serum ($11.99 with $11.99 back in bonus bucks) but they were out. I asked and was told I could get a rain check for it. I am planning to go in later this week and purchase it, using some of the bonus bucks I already received. At RiteAid I got 2 bottles of the shampoo my girls use for $4.00 (2 for $6 but I had 2 $1 coupons). I will get $3.00 back from their rebate program so I paid $1.00 a bottle (normal retail is around $3.50 a bottle). All in all, I was pleased. I am going to try to keep a record of spends, bonus bucks and rebates to see how I stand on this by the end of the year.