Well we’ve been plugging away at our Christmas shopping. I’m really amazed at how much things cost these days. With three kids to buy for, money sure doesn’t seem to go around as well as it has done in the past. We were able to find the kids some pretty cool t-shirts at a fairly reasonable rate. But the toys that we’ve purchased so far have cost quite a bit. Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year. I really have to wonder how folks do it if they have a lot of children and not a lot of income. Oh well, we still have a bit of time to scrimp and save and purchase more gifts.
Well it’s official, there’s only 70 days left until Christmas and I’m no where near ready. Yeah, I have bought a few items and have invested in some camera batteries rechargeable but in all honesty I haven’t haven’t made a dent on the things I need to buy yet. Yes I know I have a little time, but you all know how time flies right. Oh well, I’m sure it will all get done eventually. It always does.
How ready are you all for the upcoming holiday season?
It’s times like this that I really wish I had of gone to school and learned how to work on ecg machines or similar devices. That way I would be making way more money than I currently do and not have to live where we currently live. I have just discovered that both of my kids are getting picked on at the bus stop and honestly the only way this crap is going to stop is if we move from this area. But because we really can’t afford a huge mortgage at this time, we are kind of stuck. So I’m trying to come up with different ways to earn some extra income. If I can come up with this extra income by spring, I plan on putting this place up for sale and moving. I just hope my family can put in this little bit of extra time here or things improve greatly over the next few months.
After having 11 days off from my job, life is starting to get back to normal. Yesterday my husband and I both went back to work after having time off for vacation. Now today I’m trying to catch up on some computer work and getting back into deep cleaning the house. I love vacation time, but I absolutely hate the time after our vacation is over when I have to spend a week playing catch up. Oh well, life goes on and the work will all get caught up eventually I guess.
In a little over a week my husband and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. We’ve actually been together for 17 years but have only been married for 10. So I have been placing some major hints about what I would like for our anniversary. At least once a day I try to bring up the fact that I wouldn’t mind if he checked out some diamond rings for me. I think he’s getting my hints as last night he asked me for my ring size. I really hope this means he’s checking out rings for me. But if not, that’s okay too. Man… I can’t believe we’ve been married almost 10 years. Where does the time go????
So it’s Friday. What do you all have planned for the weekend?? My plans are pretty limited this weekend as my husband is on call this weekend so we really can’t plan a whole lot. He plans on working around the house this weekend and trying to fit a little time into take the kids fishing. I have to work for a few hours on Sunday but other than that I think it’s going to be a fairly quite weekend. I’m not complaining though. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit around on the weekend and do absolutely nothing and I think this weekend might just be one of those weekends.
Well today is the last day of our long weekend. Even though the weather wasn’t really great, we still had a pretty good weekend. Yesterday and this morning the kids and my husband went fishing and I stayed home. I was able to get quite a bit of housework done as well as write up some articles on Bronx Medical Malpractice Attorney. So it was a good day for me as well. Later on we will have a bbq and then the kids will need to get all set to go back to school. Hopefully their summer vacation goes as well as this long weekend did.
Well let me tell you all about my weekend. First of all Sunday was Mother’s day so my husband and the kids took me out for supper. Then yesterday was my birthday and once again lot of spoiling went on. Last night my husband brought home supper so I wouldn’t have to cook and brought me home a birthday “pie”. Yes, I said pie. I’m not a huge fan of cake so I got a pie. He did bring home a small cake for the kids to share in honor of my big day. But my absolute favorite gift was my new laptop. About a month ago we were looking at acer aspire laptops and I pointed out one I would like to have. Well my husband was paying attention and brought me home one. So I’ve had a pretty great couple of days!
Buying Wholesale Instead of Retail Diamonds
Wholesale diamonds are typically sold to diamond merchants for sale to the general public. However, you can get near to wholesale prices by shopping online versus shopping at a diamond jewelry brick-and-mortar store. The trick is to find a reputable online diamond merchant who cuts costs not by lowering the quality of the diamond, but by reducing their overhead costs. By saving money on staff, warehousing, and inventory they can pass the savings directly to the consumer – often beating prices at the regular jewelry stores.
What to Look for in an Online Merchant
Not all online diamond merchants are alike. You need to pick one that provides the best information on their diamonds, with careful grading using the 4 C’s (clarity, carat, color, and cut). You want to get a third party certification on the diamond quality that you buy to make sure that what you get is what you ordered. The diamond can be sent to some third party appraiser that will evaluate the stone before you purchase it. If you decide you like the stone, by paying you can have the stone sent to you directly. You want to avoid sites that may be pawning off artificially-created diamonds as the real thing by calling them names that confuse the public, like simulated diamond. Do not just go on price, make sure you are getting a genuine diamond and that the quality is as it was represented online.
Get an Even Better Discount
If you decide to pay cash an online merchant can give you a 2 to 3% discount on top of the already bargain basement prices. They would end up having to pay that percentage to the credit card company anyways if you used a credit card. However, many people do prefer to use their credit cards as the cards come with many consumer protections.
My husband and I were going over our budget last night and discovered that there is several ways in which we could save some money. One of the areas that we are looking at is both our car insurances. Right now we both pay car insurance every month through two different companies. But I think if we both went with the same company and bundled our insurance needs we could save quite a bit of money each month. So today I plan on doing some searching on the Internet for cheap auto insurance to see what I can come up with. But this is just a start. We are looking at other areas as well and hopefully we can start saving a little cash each month. We’ve got to do something and taking a look at our current finances I think is a good start.