Is this really happening?

This week has been one of the longest, yet quickest, in memory. Let me explain. On Sunday night, we celebrated my husband's new job and packed his truck for the week ahead. That night, the monsoon rains arrived and by the time he left Monday morning at zero-dark-thirty, our street was completely flooded, there were branches down everywhere, and the wind was blowing so hard that the rain was coming down sideways. He did make it safely to Fayetteville though, and enjoyed his first day at the new job, though he did say it was sort of like a first day of school...

(taking a break to make some oatmeal for the girls...always fun being a mommy and a blogger!)

...where everyone else knew each other and he was on the outside looking in. Monday night brought a disaster of sorts when a hotel that I had chosen for him turned out to be in the slums (sorry sweetie!) and he had to spend time driving around town looking for an establishment in a better area. He landed at the Fairfield Inn (shh, don't tell the Holiday Inn Express!) and we got to video conference before bedtime. On Tuesday morning, the girls and I headed up to Fayetteville for our first trip to the city. We started at the Cross Creek mall for lunch, then headed out to Stedman and Wade. We didn't see anything of particular interest out there, so we crossed over to 401N and checked out North Fayetteville and Linden. There we did find a house that we liked and, more importantly, we found a school that rocks! Check it out here! After Linden, we went south through town and breezed through Hope Mills. We didn't have much time, but we gathered that it's a very typical suburban area with quaint neighborhoods and a few chain stores/restaurants. After Hope Mills, we headed back to the city to meet Scott for dinner and ended up getting horribly lost - lesson learned, 401 business is NOT the same as 401 bypass. We turned a 5 minute drive into a 45 minute one by making that error. We finally arrived at the ECS office and got to meet my husband's new boss (who seems like a really upbeat guy!) and see his work area. After the meet and greet, we took him out to dinner (one that included fruits, vegetables, meats that weren't fried...) and then got him settled in a hotel for the rest of the week (again, not a Holiday Inn Express...*they* wanted $139/night which is absolutely NOT in the budget). We left Fayetteville around 9:30 on Tuesday night and ended up getting home right at 11pm.

On Wednesday, I took Katelyn for her first dental appointment at the Cape Fear Community College Dental Hygiene Clinic. She was an awesome girl and very patient as my friend Katherine did her cleaning, and then Katherine's instructor checked her work, and then the dentist gave everything a final once-over. I didn't know if she'd be that patient or not! Here she is sporting her super sunglasses!



All in all, I think it was a good experience for her and for me too, because it was only $15 and you know how I feel about saving money!

We spent Wednesday afternoon negotiating with the future tenants of our house and getting all of the little details hammered out. By the end of the night, we had a lease written and they were ready to sign and send the security deposit (woohoo!!!!). Now WE can go to Fayetteville and rent a house with more ease because our home being officially leased here provides us with extra income. Katelyn and I had a girls' night on Wednesday and enjoyed a "sleepover" in Mommy's room complete with snacks, a movie, and lots of giggling!

Yesterday, I spent the morning straightening up the house and then went to the hotel for the afternoon. Last night, I went to the January Wilmington tweet-up at Outback Steakhouse and had a fabulous time seeing all of my old friends and making some new ones, all while promoting the hotel! There is to be a joint tweetup between people in Raleigh and people in Wilmington either in February or in March, and hopefully all of the Raleigh people will know where they can stay while in town!!! One of the most active bloggers in Wilmington, Bruce Brown, has already written about the event, so I'll let you check out his blog for all of the details and pictures.

Today is going to be another busy day as I wait for my husband to return from Fayetteville and then I will be headed out to Circa tonight to say goodbye to a friend who is leaving the Wilmington area. And then tomorrow, packing and cleaning will resume in earnest. On Monday, we plan to look at another rental house in the Fayetteville area. This house is currently vacant and hopefully, we will have it occupied by the end of next week!

I've spent much too long writing this post between chasing snotty noses, making breakfast, and getting small people out of trouble, so I'm going to wrap it up for now. Hope that you all have a great weekend!

All my love,

We Had Chinese!

BIG NEWS for our family! My husband has been offered a job!!! He'll start tomorrow even...so this whole week has been a whirlwind for us. He'll be working with a company called ECS in their Fayetteville office. Here's what happened: on Friday the 15th, we knew we had an offer for a temporary position. It would've been a 4-6 week job with a different company and there was no guarantee that it would become permanent, and even if it did, their benefits sucked :(. However, at 4:45, Scott's phone rang and it was the branch manager of the Fayetteville office wanting to know if they could do a phone interview that night at 6:30. He said yes, and the rest of us (wouldn't you know it was family night?) tried to keep quiet as the time approached for the phone call. Of course, in true Dowell fashion, when his phone DID ring, all you-know-what broke loose in our house and an almost comical situation ensued as we tried to get him set up in a "quiet" place while attempting to keep the girls away while attempting to prevent the smoke alarms from going off because someone forgot that they were making turkey gravy in all the commotion and it boiled over onto the stove and into the floor. By the time all was set, the girls and the pets had been corralled into the front of the house and I was standing under the smoke alarm in the kitchen repeatedly silencing it with a Swiffer handle and Scott had holed up in our bedroom. After about an hour of going "shh shh shh," and starting dinner even, he came out and said that they'd had a rather nice interview (as far as phone interviews go...) and that he'd been invited to come to the office on Tuesday the 19th for a face-to-face interview to discuss the position and salary in greater depth. We all said a little prayer and tried not to get our hopes up over the weekend. On Monday, we decided that we would spend the morning doing household chores and then hit the aquarium in the afternoon since it was free admission day. I stayed at the house with Kate while Abby went with Scott to Wal-Mart, and out of the blue, they called him and told him they'd had meetings with the clients of the first project he'd be doing, as well as with the principals of the company and that there was no question about it - he HAD GOTTEN THE JOB. All they would do Tuesday would be iron out the details and get him set up for a start on the 25th. WHEW! Big weight off!!!! And finally no longer living off the government! I am so proud of my husband for hitting the streets so hard looking for a job...he was unemployed for 1 day less than 3 months in the WORST economy of recent memory.

The only downside to him finding this job is that it IS in Fayetteville, so we'll have to move again. That means we've had to list our beautiful house for sale or rent, with more focus on finding a renter. Here's what it looks like:



We think that if we can just wait a year or two for the builder to get finished with our neighborhood then we won't get into a price war with them because we can't afford to play that game. If we list our house for sale, they'll drop their prices, and we can only drop our price so far before we go upside down. So we figure if we wait it out for awhile, we'll have more control over the price (and we'll have more recently sold comps to get price points from). Hopefully, we're figuring right! :)

I have been told that I will be able to keep my job and I am extremely thankful for that!!! I knew there was a reason I created a niche for myself in social media and internet management...LOL. I plan to return to Wilmington at least once a month to attend the #ILM Tweet-Up and re-connect with my friends and business contacts. Hopefully I will be close enough to Raleigh that the company will use me as an asset at their Raleigh hotel as well...or maybe that's just me dreaming :).

So today we packed up Scott's truck and he'll strike out tomorrow morning for a week in Fayetteville. I pretty much have my week already planned out so that I don't get too lonely during the first week. I am going to attend a Mommies dinner tomorrow night (at Flaming Amy's Bowl - YUM) and on Tuesday I'm going to Fayetteville with Jan (it'll be the first time either one of us has ever been to the city). Wednesday will be Katelyn's first dental exam (she's seeing a friend of mine who's in hygiene school - let's hear it for saving tons of money with great deals! - check it out if you have no dental insurance!). Thursday I get to work at the hotel on-site and on Friday, Scott comes home! And somewhere in there, I will probably show the house a few times...and I'd like to clean out my minivan. But tonight, also in true Dowell fashion, we got ready to send Scott off with a very special "we've had great news" dinner - we had Chinese!

All my love,

Hold up...exactly how much are you getting back???

This post is dedicated to any person who is anxiously awaiting a big fat refund check from the government. I've seen my friends on Facebook posting about how they're going to buy a new game system, a new phone, a new camera, even a new car with their refunds...and the only thing I can think of is biting my tongue so I don't scream "you could've had that money LAST year!" Seriously, there is an art to doing your W4s, but if you're getting more than a few hundred dollars back, your withholding is WRONG. Why give the government an interest-free loan for the year? Think of it this way - we're all strapped for cash right now and many of us are working hard just to keep afloat and pay down debt as best we can. How much would it help each month to have an extra $50 in your budget? That's what you'd have if you traded in your $600 refund. Expecting $1,500 back? Fantastic - that would've been an extra $125 every month! See how the math works? Personally, I don't like to play it too close to the wire, so my goal each year is to neither owe nor receive greater than $500 from the government at the end of the year. I'm not sure how we did last year because we've never factored in unemployment before, but I will absolutely keep you all posted when we sit down to do our taxes! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we guessed it just right!

In other news, Scott had a very busy Friday. He had an interview in the morning that led to a job offer for a temporary (4-6 week) position, with the possibility of going full-time if work was available). We also found out (after much hounding) that the Virginia Beach job was filled by a local candidate, but we didn't even get a chance to pout about it all that much because at 4:45 on Friday afternoon, his phone rang and it was the branch manager for the Fayetteville office of ECS asking if they could do a phone interview at 6:30 that night! Scott said yes, of course, and had a great conversation with the guy about the opportunity they have. They are seeking an experienced geotechnical/CMT EIT who will manage the construction of new barracks at Fort Bragg for the next 6 months. The position will also entail doing business development (marketing and taking clients out, etc.) and would lead to Scott acquiring his PE license and becoming the #2 guy in the office! It seems like a very exciting opportunity and they have arranged a face-to-face interview for Tuesday at 9:30. We're not counting any eggs of course, but as long as the branch manager likes Scott in person as much as he did over the phone, he said the job could start as soon as January 25th! Talk about a time to be anxious! Thankfully we got to spend this weekend being very busy and it went quickly, so all we have to do now is get through tomorrow and make sure he hits the road on time Tuesday morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about this as well!

I'm going to sign off for tonight, but please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for the next week or so. I will provide updates as soon as I know anything and hopefully, we will re-enter the world of employment soon!

All my love,

You Can't Save a Dollar You Don't Have

I was unable to find many outright freebies during last week's coupon promotion at Harris Teeter, and that limited my Super Doubles shopping to only 2 trips. I made the first trip (that I blogged about) and did one more trip on Tuesday, where I cashed in some internet coupons for free Select Harvest soup, free yogurt, dirt cheap coffee creamer (which is a necessity in this house...we don't drink coffee without it!), and some frozen pizza. Money was tight this week because we still needed to pay the January mortgage, and the problems were compounded when Scott's Paypal account that he's had since college was compromised in some sort of Skype fraud ring that's been going on for years. So, hopefully when triples roll around again, we'll be in a better financial position to cash in!!! This week, I have my eyes on Progresso Soups (Buy 2/Get 3), Old Orchard Juices (B2, G3), Smart Balance Popcorn, Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes, some Lysol cleaners, and my usual discount meats and produce.

In the hotel world this week, I finished my monthly newsletter for the employees, was provided with some "Facebook Friends" rates to promote (Click here!), and we decided to participate in the 1st Annual Hospitality Olympics (Click here!). We also discovered that the Friends and Family rates are still available (Click here!) - these are GREAT deals for leisure travel!

Katelyn and Abby have enjoyed going to the pool this week. Both girls are like fish is the water (well, Scott says Abby is...she was too cold to enjoy it tonight when we went) and Katelyn is now doing flips off the wall into the water. Scott and I both think that she'll be doing backflips by the end of the summer! Stay tuned for video of that... :) We're also very excited that it looks like the weather might get a little warmer for the next week so that we can all enjoy being outside more. Both of our vehicles are in desperate need of a wash and the girls could use a few healthy doses of sunshine. Generally, the coldest month in the coastal Carolina area in February, so it will be interesting to see if that holds true for 2010. I would love to see a significant snowfall this winter, but we probably won't luck into that in Wilmington 2 years in a row.

The builders in the neighborhood started building the fence in our back yard today!!! We feel so lucky that we didn't jump the gun and build it ourselves before the had the chance to give it to us for free. :) Perhaps after Scott gets a job we'll finish out fencing in the side yard, but just them doing our back yard will save us a good thousand dollars! I <3 getting things for free!

(BTW, I just lost a bet with my husband...he said CSI had been on for at least 10 years...I said no way...Wikipedia says he wins because the 10th Season premiered in September 2009)

We hope to have an enjoyable weekend getting lots of quality time in with each other and perhaps cooking up the 2nd turkey that I bought pre-Christmas (the price was just THAT good...I had to get 2!). Scott has an interview tomorrow for a short-term contract position and we still have our fingers crossed for something else to come through. I am tired of living off the system and am ready to hang up the money worries!!! I want to just return to being a happy family that works hard so that we can play hard! Maybe soon...who knows?

All my love,

Are you talking about ME?!?!?!

A big thank you to StarNews reporter Shannan Bowen for her shout-out to Dowell Chronicles in her Talk & Squawk blog here. She makes me sound like such a fantastic blogger, and I've only just begun! I do hope that you all enjoy following my blog and my life - you never know what's next for the Dowell family!

Scott has at least one, possibly two, interviews this week. The one that is definite is in Tulsa, OK (boooo :( ) and that will occur over the phone tomorrow. The other potential interview is in Virginia Beach, VA (YAY!!!!). Either option would mean relocating, BUT it would also mean leaving the ranks of the unemployed, which for us is the "greater good." If we move, we'll be faced with the choice of renting our house out for a few years or trying to sell in a pretty significant real estate slump. We have noticed that prices in Leland are starting to creep back up, which is a good sign that we may just be able to walk away with what we put into it (which is all that we want...no profit needed - just no loss, please). We also found out that the builder for our neighborhood is planning to run a fence along the back of our property, which would increase the value if we wanted to sell our house! We'll have many decisions to make in the coming months, and I have no doubt that we'll change our minds many, many times before coming to any final solution. It would just be nice for us to get back to our usual family dynamic where Scott and I each have jobs that contribute to our household's financial success, we each get time alone with our girls, and we each get time alone with our jobs. I know from doing it myself for a year, it's HARD to stay at home with the kids all day, every day...but I will say that Mr. Mom has handled it very well. He even took the kids to the pool by himself tonight!!!

(My Hokies just lost to UNC!!! NOOOOOOO!)

I do plan to print off some internet coupons tonight when I get home so that I can do that segment of coupon shopping during Super Doubles. It's like a scavenger hunt to see what hidden gems you will find buried on different web sites. And on some sites, like coupons.com or smartsource.com, it's all about what zip code you enter - some zip codes get better coupons than others! My only other frugal words of wisdom to impart upon you tonight are these - always check for discount produce and meats! If there was anything WRONG with it, it wouldn't be on the shelves. But, if your family is like mine, a tub of blueberries or a bag of salad can disappear in less than a day, so why pay full price for the freshest stuff the store has to offer? Nope...grab the stuff that has the "sell by" date of tomorrow, save >70%, and enjoy! Scott and I celebrated our anniversary last night by grilling out. We each had a hearty ribeye I had scored from the meat department after it had been marked down multiple times. It was originally priced at $14+ and I paid ~$3.50. YUM!

I'm going to sign off for tonight, but PLEASE keep us in your thoughts this week and I'll keep you posted on our progress!

All my love,

Two Things...

First order of business this evening - Here are the coupon tips that had been given by me via Facebook a while ago:

1. Go to stores that don't double or triple coupons EVER (i.e., Food Lion here in Wilmington). Pull multiple copies of any coupon in a blinkie in the aisles. As long as the first digit on the bar code is "5" the coupon will double or triple...even if it says "Do Not Double" across the front. On coupon forums, these coupons are frequently referred to as "DND5s."

2. Make a friend....in another state! Have your friend send you their inserts!!! Most grocery stores are careful to not have a sale that combines w/ a coupon promo involving coupons you will have been given in your local paper. You'd be surprised what you can get for free (or really really close to free) just by combining out of area coupons with your store's sales!

3. Find a coupon forum - don't feel the need to pay for services like TheGroceryGame.com (they cut into your coupon "profits"!!!). I use hotcouponworld.com because each week (triples, super doubles, or not) they type out the HT ad (in advance of Wednesday morning) and match the items up with known coupons that are in circulation.

4. Get organized!!! Collecting all of these coupons will do you no good if you can't keep track of what you have, what it's worth, when it expires, etc. I have a photo album binder (the 3-ring kind you can add pages to) that I put all of my coupons in. It's roughly arranged by aisle @ HT so I can flip through, grab the coupons, grab the items, and go.

5. Know the rules of the game, and be ready to share. This tip is most handy (in my experience) at Wal-Mart. Every time I go couponing there, I make sure I have a recent printout from their corporate web site that states their EXACT coupon policy. More than once, cashiers have told me that they can't accept my internet coupons and I just whip out the policy and say "oh yes, you can."

Second order of business - I jazzed up my Foursquare account today and created a location for the Holiday Inn Express & Suites. You can become my friend on Foursquare by searching for me here. The venue I created for the hotel is here. Have fun exploring the new technology!!!

All my love,

Day 1 Trip

OK, so Katelyn and I conquered the Harris Teeter this morning and walked out paying $17.67 OOP and saving $50.74! To the best of my memory, here's how it broke down (I didn't write down the matchups while we were in the store, so some things are an estimate).

*Glad Freezer and Storage Bags - I got 6 of these. There was a $1/2 coupon available around Thanksgiving in the store and HT had these as B1G1 this week. Each box was $.65 OOP.

*Heinz Ketchup - They were already sold out of the 20oz variety, so we settled for 14 oz. and paid $.15 OOP.

*Betty Crocker Potatoes - FREE - We had written Betty Crocker after consuming a box of potatoes that was grossly over-salted. They sent us a coupon for another box, as well as another $1 off any 1 General Mills item.

*Betty Crocker Cake Mix - FREE - It was priced at $1.75, but this was the item that we used our General Mills coupon on.

*TBonz dog treats - $.39 - Gotta show some love to my furry friend Dixie!!! :)

*Lysol Wipes - FREE

*Craisins - These weren't a spectacular deal, but they're healthy and I like to put them on my salads! - $.69

*Dawn dish soap - Again, not fantastic, but you do NEED some things! - $.84

*Special K Red Berry cereal - $.50

*Healthy Choice soups (2) - $.50 each

*Crisco Olive Oil - $2.49

*Bumble Bee Chicken - I had a $.75 coupon in my book. My mom had pulled this coupon from a Food Lion and mailed it to me. - FREE

*Gatorade (3) - I let Katelyn talk me into these since she had been such a good helper (and they were marked down to a fair price!) - $.69 each

*Dannon yogurt cups (10) - $.20 each

*Activia yogurt 4-pack - $.50 (I had a $1 off coupon that doubled and they were priced @ 2/$5)

*Gwaltney hot dogs - $.97 - No coupon; just a staple at this house!

From Blogger Pictures

Super Doubles @ Harris Teeter

This is what as I see just going through my coupon collection and getting ready to go check out the rest of the deals at the store:

*Dannon Yogurt - 10/$4 -->$1 off (doubles to $2) = 10/$2 or .20/yogurt (GREAT deal)
*(Don't think I'll buy this one) Lean Pockets - 5/$10 or $2 per -->$1 off 3 (doubles to $2 off 3) = $1.33/meal
*(Just a good deal) Crisco Olive Oil - $3.99 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $2.49
*Heinz Ketchup - $1.67 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $.17
*Healthy Choice Soup - 4/$5 ($1.25 per) -->$.75 off 2 (doubles to $1.50 off 2) = $1/2 or $.50 each
*Special K Cereal - $2.50 -->$1 off (doubles to $2 off) = $.50
*(Not buying this one) Post Honey Bunches of Oats - 2/$6 -->$1 off 2 (doubles to $2 off 2) = 2/$4 or $2 each
*Hillshire Farm Lunchmeat - $3.33 -->$.75 off (doubles to $1.50) = $1.83
*(Not buying this, but you might need it) Kleenex Facial Tissue - $1.50 each -->$.50 off 3 (doubles to $1.00 off 3) = $1.16 each
*Lysol Wipes - $2 -->$1 off (doubles to $2) = FREE


Super Doubles is particularly time consuming in the store because a lot of times, you'll find deals that don't match up with what is "on sale." I plan to go either today or tonight and scope out the deals and will post my pictures and my OOP (out of pocket) spending. I am very excited to be opening my 2010 couponing with such a potentially great event!


All my love,