Rent Due

We needed to pay rent, so I wrote the check and turned it in to the rental office.  Since we didn't have enough in our main checking account, we had to go to Shannon's bank to pull out some cash to deposit into our account.  By the way, our banks are across the street from each other.  Anyway, after I deposited the cash into our account, I realized it wouldn't be enough to cover the rent, so we had to go back to his bank to pull out more.

That's when Shannon and I got into a disagreement over where our money is going.  He knows that I was sent money from my parents for Christmas/Kyle's birthday.  I bought a few things with the money, plus it's been helping to pay the bills for the last month.  Shannon was confused as to where the money went because he was under the impression that we should have at least $1400 in the account.  I told him that we do have utility bills, groceries to buy, etc.  He wanted to see the bank account for himself to know where the money went.

We logged on when we got home and he saw that the money went to the toys we bought for Kyle at Toys R Us for Christmas, bills, HIS cell phone belt clip thing, and other things.  All he seems to remember is the money going in and not the money going out...  He doesn't pay the bills, I do.  He said he had the same problem with his own account.  He received an alert that he only had X amount of dollars left in his account and he had to check his account to see where all the money went.  

Goodbye Wells Fargo!

We are officially done with Wells Fargo, as of this afternoon.  We went to the bank to close our accounts with them.  We then took the cash to our credit union to deposit! 

Our rent is due this Friday.  Shannon gets paid on Friday (from one of his jobs), which means he will have to transfer some money into our credit union to help cover rent.  Right now, we don't have enough to pay it.  Our money is spread out between two banks.  He still needs to sign up for direct deposit with Best Buy because his money is automatically added to a prepaid credit/debit card that the company issues him. 

Shannon is working crazy hours the rest of the week.  We are pretty much out of food or close to it.  I plan on making a few trips to the grocery store that is down the street.  Since I have to walk, I will have to do a few trips if needed.  I don't want to be stuck carrying 50 pounds of groceries home. 

Haircut!

I just got back from getting my hair cut!  The last time I had my hair cut was in May 2011!  I love my hair cut!  It feels lighter and will be easier to take care of. 

I had to walk to our credit union to deposit some cash and a check and then stopped at Great Clips to get my hair cut.  I had a coupon for a hair cut for only $7.50!  Shannon needs a haircut too!  I have another coupon for him to use.  We also need to cut Kyle's hair.  His hair is so long, he's looking like a cute little elf!

Shannon works tonight from 10pm until 6am.  Hopefully we can go grocery shopping later today since we are almost out of food.  

I also gave in a purchased 5 air plants today since they were having a Cyber Monday special (free shipping)! 

This one is called a Xerographica:

The one below is called Ionantha Peanut (Buy one get one free):

The last one is called Ionantha Druid (Buy one get one free):

I think I am going to get into Tillandsia (air plants) since they don't require soil!  My houseplants that are in soil are always spilling over and causing a mess because Kyle likes to climb on the shelving that they sit on!  

Money Deposited

Shannon had this morning off from both jobs, so that gave us time to go to the bank.  We pulled money out of his account (at a different back) and then put the money into our joint account at Wells Fargo.  For now, we are going to keep Wells Fargo accounts open until we receive our debit/credit cards from our credit union.  Shannon doesn't want us to go without a debit card. 

After we finished up at the banks, we had lunch/breakfast at Cracker Barrel. 

Shannon just left for work at Best Buy.  It's another evening with Kyle! 

Working like crazy

Shannon has been working both jobs for the last few weeks.  He's working at least 60 hours a week!  He's getting over 35 hours a week with Best Buy, which is to be expected with retail, especially around the holidays!  He has to work a 12 hour shift on Black Friday!  I remember I had to work a 9 hour shift on Black Friday at Walmart a few years ago. 

We plan on closing our Wells Fargo accounts this week and establish ourselves with our credit union.  We received our "welcome kit" the other day.  It included a few checks and our "membership cards."  I can't wait to get rid of Wells Fargo!  He currently has direct deposit going to his own account at another bank.  He's going to have his other job direct deposited into our credit union.  We still have to order checks and we will receive our debit/credit cards within 2 weeks.  In the meantime, we will have to pay any bills with his checking account that he has with the other bank. 

With Shannon gone, I am trying to stay busy with cleaning, laundry and taking care of Kyle when he's not in school. 

Thanksgiving is coming up this week.  I would have liked to make a nice dinner but we're still in between banks.  Plus, Shannon's work schedule is so erratic.  Shannon and I decided we're going to go out to eat on Wednesday since he is off of work and Kyle is home from school.  We also talked about going out to eat on Monday or Tuesday while Kyle is in school, just the two of us! 

New Credit Union Members!

We are officially credit union members!  I just signed up online!  Shannon had to be the primary person on our joint account because he is the one who is employed with one of their "approved employers list."

Shannon is at work at the moment.  I had to call him for one thing I needed information on.  I know everything else about him, I just needed to be reminded of his mother's maiden name and the spelling. 

I am so excited!  I can't wait until we receive our welcome kit that they will be mailing out to us.  Once we order checks and receive our debit/credit cards from our new credit union, I can close our accounts with Wells Fargo.  We have been with Wachovia since 2007 and then they merged with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo charges too many fees and we are just unhappy with them.

Wells Fargo disappoints again!

I am so irritated with Wells Fargo.  They charged us another service fee of $7 and took another $5 out of our savings.  I have no idea why, since we had plenty in our checking.  We get charged a service fee when we have less than $300 in the savings and with them taking $5 out of our savings, they were able to charge us the service fee.  I can't wait until we can close our accounts with them.  I am so tired of them charging us fees!  

Here is my Tweet to Wells Fargo via Twitter (they also responded):

Shannon both jobs right at the end of the pay periods.  He's been working at both jobs for over 2 weeks and he gets paid this Friday from one of the jobs.  We're anxiously waiting for Friday to get here!  I hope we can close the Wells Fargo accounts and open up accounts with a credit union. 

After Shannon gets paid on Friday, I was going to order him some pants for his Best Buy job but he said I could wait until next Friday which is Black Friday.  His pants will go on sale on Black Friday and they will only be $10!  I plan on ordering him at least 3 pairs of pants for Best Buy and additional pairs in different colors to wear at home.  He needs pants so bad! 

Today, Shannon and I went to Walmart while Kyle was still in school.  We had to pick up a few more things to hold us over until Shannon has another day off. 

Want to switch banks

We currently bank at Wells Fargo.  We ended up with them when Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo.  I recently found out that Shannon also hates Wells Fargo!  I dislike the bank because of the recent fees they've tacked on to our account. 

I've been wanting to switch to a credit union.  Now that Shannon has an employer, we qualify to join a credit union.  Hopefully we can switch to a credit union soon. 

Two days ago, we made a big deposit into our Wells Fargo account.  I checked our account online yesterday and it wasn't in our account.  Shannon called them to have them look into it.  They didn't see any pending deposits and told us they would look in to it.  We thought maybe Hurricane Sandy may have slowed down their servers/banking services. 

I checked our account this morning and the money is finally showing up.  It really drove me crazy because we have rent to pay and a few bills pending!

When can he start?!

Well, he was hired at Best Buy last week.  Now we're just waiting for them to call about a start date.  It's just frustrating because we need him to start earning a regular paycheck!  His other job is only 3 or 4 days a month, sometimes less. 

We are being charged $3 every so often from our bank because we don't have enough in our savings.  It's called a "overdraft protection" charge or something like that.  It's just annoying that we are being charged, even though we don't have enough money in the first place.  I told Shannon that when he got hired at his first job that we should go open an account with a credit union, but that never happened.  If we are members of a credit union, they won't charge us because we don't have enough in the bank. 

It's Official

Well, this is the announcement on our bank website... I knew this was coming and I wasn't looking forward to it. I have never personally banked with Wells Fargo but I have heard that they have fees for every little thing that you do with them. Shannon used to have an account with them and he said they charged him a fee for closing his account. I wouldn't be surprised if they had fees to open an account, make a deposit, make a withdrawl, etc. In other words, I am not a big fan of Wells Fargo.

I am really happy with Wachovia, and I hope they won't change anything that they are doing.

Here is the TV commercial that is airing:

Mostly Empty Shelves

Shannon had Saturday and Sunday off, so that was a surprise. I am really glad because we didn’t go shopping on his last day off, which was Thursday. We were literally out of food.

We were almost a week overdue for a trip to Walmart. We ended up buying a lot of bulk items, just in case the prices went up or the stores ran out of food. Also, we both noticed that all the shelves were half stocked or the items were completely gone. I did buy 4 bottles of shampoo that was on sale for $5. Most of the shampoo that was on sale was gone, I was lucky to find the last 4 bottles. Also, the oreos that were on sale were all gone. I don’t know if it was because it was the “weekend” and everyone went shopping or because they were having a big sale. I saw red ROLL BACK signs everywhere for just about everything. It was a little scary seeing the shelves that empty like that.

I had to stop by the nursery and saw a plant that I really wanted but ended up passing on because I knew our grocery bill was going to be big.

We ended up not buying our usual frozen foods this time because our cart was overflowing and we weren’t sure if we were going to have to wait in line for 20-30 minutes like last time. Shannon said he can stop by Walmart on the way home from work to get our frozen foods.

Kyle was so good in the store. He was so quiet and observant of everything and everyone around him. I wonder what it will be like when he starts really talking!

There is also a rumor going around his work that they may have to cut 15% of the workforce. Of course it’s a rumor, but it’s something to keep in the back of your mind.

After we got home and the food in the house, Shannon took Kyle outside to let him play around. Meanwhile, I put the food away. There was so much food that Shannon helped when he came back in. Plus I left some out for him to put away that had to go in the cupboards I can’t reach.

I also had a chance to catch up on laundry this weekend. I need to steam clean the carpets this week. I’ve been cleaning them at least twice a month.

I don’t know what to think about Wachovia merging with Wells Fargo. Wachovia happens to be the bank we use. Not only that, they made a deal with Citigroup. So I have no idea how this is going to play out. I opened up another savings account called Way2Save, which helps their customers save more. Money is put into that account automatically. It was free to sign up and we also earn interest on that account.