If you give a mouse a cookie, he will want a glass of milk.

Such is the case in the search for a new HDTV. Mr. Money has wanted a new television set for awhile now. Every time we go in Costco, the bright and shiny new tvs always taunt him. Lately, since we’ve paid off our student loan, I’ve thought about saving up some money to purchase something that we want. I’ve done a little research about the tvs, and although they are shiny and beautiful, they are also much wider than the old television I bought at a discount when I worked at RadioShack seven years ago. Unfortunately, that also means that we’d need a new television cabinet to hold that new tv.

The furniture we have in our living room right now wasn’t super expensive (we actually bought it at Walmart almost five years ago), but it’s solid wood and is the style we like. I really don’t want to have to buy new furniture when the stuff we have is working well. So that poses a problem. I vote we keep the old tv until it dies (eco friendly) and then we’ll go from there. A new tv isn’t a need, and we’ll be able to save that money instead.

It is interesting to me how this all works. We’ll start with a new tv, have to buy a new tv cabinet to hold said tv, then we’ll want to upgrade our dvd player to Blu Ray, and then we’ll want to buy more dvds, etc. It could never end.

Have you had a “give a mouse a cookie” situation?

Let me warn you though: about a week into eating plain oatmeal you will be really tired of it.  To spice it up, Mr. Money (remember, he is a chef) and I have oatmeal cookoffs where we both make “gourmet oatmeal” and try to out do each other.  One morning he’ll make it, and then the next morning I’ll make it.  It works out so well for us!

Here are some of the varieties we like:

Banana bread oatmeal:  Prepare oatmeal as directions indicate.  While your oatmeal is cooking on the stove, mash one ripe banana (you can even freeze overripe ones for this!) and add to your cooking oats.  Chop up some nuts (provided you aren’t allergic to them) and add those in too, stirring the mixture.  We like to add walnuts or almonds.  Add in a pinch of cinnamon (good for regulating blood sugar levels) if you like.  Top with a pat of real butter and a few sprinkles of brown sugar.  Yum!

Peach cobbler oatmeal: Prepare oats as indicated.  Take one ripe peach and puree in food processor.  Chop up your nuts of choice and add in to oats with peach.  Stir.  Add in brown sugar, a little butter, and cinnamon, stirring to incorporate.  Top with sprinkles of brown sugar.

Apple pie oatmeal:  Prepare oats as indicated.  Take one apple and dice into small pieces.  Chop up your nuts of choice and add in to oats with apple.  Stir.  Add in brown sugar, a little butter, and cinnamon, stirring to incorporate.  Top with sprinkles of brown sugar.  The apple pieces may take a little longer to soften, and I like to make sure they are pretty soft before I eat them.

Basically you can make “gourmet oatmeal” with any fruit.  Our next fruit to try is going to be blueberries.  I really like making this because it takes such a simple breakfast to a whole new level.  It’s still inexpensive and much more nutritious than sugary cereals.

Do you make breakfast in the morning?

Unfortunately, we can’t just pick up and move out there so I have to find someone here where we live to do the acupuncture treatments. Imagine my surprise when I found someone through the wonders of Google that practices acupuncture in my small town with a population of 1,500. I was ecstatic. I could walk to the appointments. How convenient! I gave the woman a call on Friday, she called me back that day, left me a message at home, I returned her call when I got home Friday night, and she called me on Saturday.

I was excited to see that the caller id was her number when the phone rang.  After she asked me how could she help me, I filled her in that I had an acupuncture treatment in Colorado, was on Chinese herbs for infertility, and that I thought it was illegal in our state to use needles to do acupuncture.  She informed me right off the bat that she doesn’t use Chinese herbs and that she could refer me to someone that did.

Whoa, what?  Did she really just turn me away and try to give my business to someone else?  Just because she don’t use the herbs doesn’t mean that I don’t (didn’t) want to go to her for acupuncture.  I can get the herbs from the first acupuncturist.  Not a problem.  I really need someone for the acupuncture treatments, as I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to just start sticking myself in random spots with needles.

I guess I’m just really disappointed.  I had high expectations that this woman would be warm, friendly, and someone who could really help me.  I didn’t think that she would want to turn away my business.  Had I been in her shoes, I probably would have let my potential client know that I don’t deal with herbs but would be happy to administer the acupuncture sessions and do whatever else I could.  I surely wouldn’t turn away a potential client!

Now here’s my dilemma.  I need to find someone else who is willing to do the acupuncture.  Do I just call her back and tell her I am fine with just the acupuncture treatments because she is so convenient, or do I look for someone else I’ll have to travel further to have it done?  I really don’t want to, but I also don’t want to waste my money if it’s not going to be as effective.  I’m still trying to get over the fact that she was referring my business to someone else.

What should I do- suck it up and go with her, or find someone else to do it that’s a little further away? 

In April, I wrote a post about alternative menstrual products and mentioned The Keeper menstrual cup.  From that post, the director of marketing left a comment.  I emailed her back, and we wound up chatting and she graciously offered me a Keeper to try.  I had told her I had used the Diva Cup before and was not 100% satisfied and would love to see how the Keeper works.  I’m glad I did.

Before I went on vacation, I received a very small package in my mailbox from Julia at The Keeper.  As I opened it up, I was impressed that there was no extra packaging, just the Keeper itself, a cute little pouch, some literature, and a note from Julia.  Everything was recycled except for the Keeper.  I was impressed.  One of my biggest pet peeves is when I order some green product and it arrives in a huge package with tons of bubble wrap and plastic.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Keeper company lives out the true meaning of green.

One of the biggest differences of the Keeper versus the Diva Cup that I spotted right away was the brown coloring.  The Keeper is made from natural gum rubber (latex) and the Diva cup is all silicone.  I guess I felt like the Keeper is more “green” using natural gum rubber.  When it came time to use the Keeper, I inserted it just like I did the Diva Cup, but it was much easier.  The Keeper has a nice long stem (which I’ve heard some women will trim) and I really liked that because it gave me something to use to remove it, plus I didn’t have to worry about it getting lost.  Of course that’s not a possibility, but it’s still a fear that some women have.

The Keeper never leaked, I couldn’t feel it, and it made my period such a nicer time!  I feel great knowing I’m not going to get Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) and that I am keeping many disposable pads and tampons out of our landfills and sewer treatment plants.  Also, I’m not sticking dioxins and other toxic substances into one of the most delicate parts of my body.

If you haven’t tried a reusable menstrual cup, I think you should!  And to do that, The Keeper has graciously offered to give one away.  Check out my review blog for more details!

*This is not a paid, sponsored post.  These are my actual opinions and thoughts.

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on the blog before, but this $12,333.80 is not the only student loan debt we had.  In 2004, Mr. Money enrolled in culinary arts school and we moved across country for him to attend.  Fast forward to October 2006, and now he’s got his degree and has left school with over $36,000 in debt.  Yes, that is not a typo.  $36,000 was more debt than I ever cared to accumulate, and we went full force attacking it.

We paid off  almost $24,000 in two years, on mainly my salary of $12 an hour full time, plus Mr. Money’s salary of $8(?) an hour part time.  Needless to say, we lived pretty poor to be able to pay off that kind of money in that short of a period of time.  In 2007, we bought a house and added more debt to the plate.  At the start of this blog, we had $12,333.80 left. I knew I wanted to pay this off as quickly as possible. One of my 2009 financial goals was to pay off this student loan and I thought it was a hefty goal. Here we are, halfway through the year and we’ve done it.  It is quite an amazing feeling!

It doesn’t feel real that we’ve paid of $36,000 worth of debt (just in student loans!) in 2 and a half years.  Looking at how much money we made doesn’t even make it seem possible but we did it all while saving for an emergency fund, putting a nice down payment on a car, and paying extra on our other loans.  The fact is, we did it, and I can’t imagine a greater feeling.

Now onto chipping away at our car loan and living a debt free life soon!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week:

Kacie at Sense to Save is settling into her new place. They ended up moving themselves, but it worked out well in the end!

Frugal Babe got an awesome rate on her new mortgage for their new house.

J Money at Budgets are Sexy talks about living like you’re broke. I’ve considered doing this. We used to live on hardly anything a year when we lived in Colorado.

Squawkfox show us her beautiful square foot garden.  A lot of her plants are doing a lot better than mine! I hope ours start to turn around.

Don’t forget about the quickie challenge here.  Have a great week!

You know you’re living green (or just a hippie) when you go to get in your husband’s car to go to work in the morning and there is a 5 gallon container of kitchen scraps SEAT BELTED in the passenger seat. That’s also when you realize that you have the perfect husband for you because not only does he smuggle food scraps from the restaurant, but he also cares so much for them that he buckles them in.  What a good dad he will be one day.

I was prepared to use this paycheck to pay the mortgage and now I’m confused as to what to do with it.  I still will have to pay it on the 23rd, but by then we’ll both have gotten paid again so we’ll be able to use one of those paychecks for the mortgage payment.  I’ve been thinking about taking the money I was going to pay on the mortgage and just make a nice principal only payment.  I’ve also thought about putting it towards our student loan and car loan debt.  I’m just not sure what to do with it.  I asked my boss what she would do with it and she told me I should just go spend it.  “You’re young, and you need to have some fun,” was her reply. “Let’s all go out for dinner and drinks tonight.”

When I announced to everyone that I would be buying them McDonalds, her tune changed.  I know that I can’t just go out and spend it.  That would make me feel so guilty. I think I’m just going to put part of it towards extra principal, and part of it towards the other debt. Then I’m doing a little bit of both and meet somewhere in the middle. And maybe I’ll buy myself a sundae at McDonald’s to celebrate.

What do you think I should do with the money?

Mrs. Money: “I am glad I am saving for retirement because my company matches up to 6%.  I feel that’s pretty good for me right now.”

Crazy Friend: “I’m not saving at all, and I don’t ever plan on it.”

MM: “You don’t ever want to retire?!? Are you crazy?”

CF: “Nah, I just think there are too many variables.  You know, the world will probably have ended by that time anyway, so what’s the point of saving if you aren’t even going to be around to enjoy it?”

MM: {blank stare}… “Are you kidding?”

CF: “No, I really think that.  With global warming and everything, our planet will probably explode or we’ll all be drowned or something. I’m living life now!”

While we’re all entitled to our own opinions, I’m going to go on record with believing this is one crazy girl. You never know what’s going to happen in the future, that’s why you plan for things.  Yes, the world could end, but she could also end up living until she’s 100 and out on the streets.  The real reason behind an emergency fund, planning for retirement, and saving for our children is because we don’t know what life will throw at us.  There’s that delicate balance between living life as if you’re going to die tomorrow and living as if you’re going to live until you’re 100.  But the thing is, you never know. I’m the kind of person that worries and plans and wants to make sure there is some money saved if there is an emergency.  To be honest, I’m worried for this friend!

What advice would you give Crazy Friend?

-It saves electricity and lowers my carbon footprint (all about saving the world, yo!)

-It saves me money on my electric bill (heck yeah)

-We enjoy having fresh air in our home.

-I enjoy pretending I’m Amish (ok, not really)

We’ve been doing many things to keep cool so far.  We relax on the front porch with a book on the swing, play in the kiddie pool with the dogs, and even have quickies. There’s nothing like a cool shower when you’ve been out gardening or playing with the pooches.  If it gets to the point where it’s unbearable, you better believe I’m turning the AC on.  There’s no sense in me sweating my buns off and being miserable.

Have you turned your AC on yet or are you sweating your buns off like me?