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Archive for December, 2007

After Christmas Sales

December 29th, 2007 at 03:10 am

I'm trying to stay away from the sales, but I picked up a few quick things at 50% off.

-A new tree skirt. Mine ripped last year & I went without one this year, but I was able to get a really cute one for $10.00.

- 18 pack of glittery ball ornaments to match 2 sets that I bought last year $4.99

- Gift tags $1.00

- 2 pack of Guinness mugs for a gift for Christmas 2008. I have a friend who is a Guinness freak, so this was a great find for $10.00.


Also, I'm thinking about using the $20.00 Old Navy gift card that I received for Christmas. I have managed to destroy 3 shirts with dumb spills of food or drink. I haven't been able to get the stains out, so now they've been made weekend hang-around-the-house clothes. Old Navy has some henleys and long-sleeve fitted tees for $10.00 or less. I think I'm going to go ahead and grab a couple. I'll probably use $20.00 out of pocket and buy 4 for the price.


$2,575 to Student Loan#1

December 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 am

I sent $2,575 to my student loan. Right now I have 2 emergency funds. I took one of my emergency funds, some money leftover in budget catagories, some acrued interest on savings and sent it all to Student Loan #1.

This will bring my balance to under $5,000.00, which was a goal I set for myself awhile ago.

My main 2008 goal is to completely pay off that Student Loan. Its in my parents name and I just want it to be over.

Lots of updates

December 21st, 2007 at 12:55 am

I had another movie night with friends. I made a meal out of food from the freezer. We had some leftover beer and watched a movie that I had borrowed from the library. It was a lot of fun.

The last paycheck that I received from work as missing the last 9 hours of overtime that I earned before taking my new position. I spoke with my manager and it should show up in my December 30th paycheck. All of it will be going directly to Student Loan#1.

Last month, I cleared out my balance from MyPoints for a few small gift cards to use for Christmas. I haven’t really paid attention to how long it takes me to build a balance with MyPoints. But since I literally cleared out the balance to zero, I’ve been watching it build back up. It went from 0 on November 5th to 790 as of today! I’m sure that I could have done better as I’ve missed some of the offers, but still, its growing quickly

Also, last week, I signed up for Cash Crate. I spent about 10 minutes signing up for a couple of offers. Then I let it sit for a few days, waited for the offers to be validated. Then I cancelled the free trials. I only did 3 to start out with. I was able to cancel them within 10 minutes. Altogether, I put in about 20 minutes of time (mostly while I was watching tv) and a small fee of $1.95 for one of the offers and I now have a balance of $29.75, a copy of my credit report and score and the opportunity to earn more with the program.

I’ve been staying within budget for groceries and entertainment/spending, which has been my goal for the month. I have plenty of funds left in the grocery budget. But not so much in the entertainment/spending budget. I have cut that budget amount down quite a bit and although I have money, I prefer sending it towards Student Loan #1.

So I have about $5.47 until the 30th. Not including the $20.00 that I have in my Christmas budget to spend on dinner out with my mom on Christmas Eve. I should be able to do it though since most of the holiday weekend will be spent with family. And the rest of next week will be spent working or with family. We’ll see how it goes.

Sticking to the budget

December 16th, 2007 at 07:02 pm

I have a $60.00 grocery budget for this paycheck, which must last me until the 30th. I went shopping yesterday and bought $27.06 worth of groceries. I bought eggs, 2 liter bottles of soda, oatmeal, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, green pepper, and potatoes.

I plan on making another run next week, to stock up on perishables and other items, such as Barilla Plus pasta, salad dressing, popcorn, and red wine vinegar.

I’m set on meat and canned veggies right now. So I am using up what is in my pantry. Any grocery funds leftover will go into a Wal-Mart trip I’m planning next month.

I have a meal plan, including making dinner for friends for movie night on Wednesday.
I am really trying to stick to my budget. Its going to get touch, but it is doable.


As far as my entertainment/spending goes. So far I’ve spent $3.00. It was for a toll to go to a co-workers party. I brought some leftover beer from my party and a little token hostess holiday gift.

Today I’m staying home. Doing laundry, watching tv and organizing the house. I plan on spending some time prepping food to take to work for Monday and Tuesday. I find it a lot easier to do this on Sunday and Wednesday and then in the mornings, I just grab and go 

Card Skimmer at my local Wawa

December 14th, 2007 at 01:17 am

The Wawa, a convenience store, closest to my parents house was found to have a card skimmer on its ATM machines. The ATM is very popular because Wawa doesn't charge any fees for using their ATMs.

I've used that ATM dozens of times. Luckily, I haven't used it recently. But its still scary. The photos in the paper showed almost no visual difference to the ATM with and without the skimmer machine.

So, I will definately be on the watch when I use an ATM. And I advise all of you to do the same.

No spender & quiet night

December 13th, 2007 at 03:38 am

Today was a no spender. Packed my lunch. Ate dinner at home.

Tonight, I'm vegging on the couch. I am playing on the internet, enjoying the Christmas tree and watching CSI.

I did my Christmas cards. All 10 of them. Most are obligatory cards for my mom's side of the family. I see them maybe twice a year, but its really important to my mom that we stay in touch with them.

Most of my friends, I stay in touch with by email, so no need for cards.

I am completely done Christmas shopping, but I still have some funds in my budget for the work holiday outing to a bar on Friday and some money for gas to go to a Holiday party at a coworker's house in the next state. About 40 minutes away.

This paycheck on Friday was supposed to be my last paycheck with overtime in it, but in a clerical error, it was missing.

So now I know exactly what my take home pay is under this new salary. Not so fun. Until I pick up a roommate or a part-time job or both, my budget is going to be TIGHT.

Out of this upcoming paycheck, after 1/2 my mortgage payment, the cable and water bill are paid, I'll be have the following budget:

$50.00 Gas
$60.00 Groceries
$35.00 Entertainment/Spending
$110.00 Student Loan #2
$53.00 Medical
$10.00 Personal items
$110.00 Car Insurance
$40.00 Weight Watchers monthly pass
$20.00 Oil Change

My goal is to stick exactly to the budget. I have money in my checking for quarterly bills like trash and medical, ect but I really want to stay on budget and not go over. It'll be tough given my grocery budget and spending budget being so low, but its doable.

I'm planning on doing movie nights with friends vs going out to the bar. Utilizing the library and internet for entertainment. Making and sticking to mealplans. And focusing on exercise and weight loss.

All of this is definately doable. Especially since this time of year, I LOVE to sit at home watching Christmas movies, sitting with the tree lit up and lights off and having a glass of wine. Very relaxing!

Finished Christmas Shopping!

December 9th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

Well, I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday! And bought myself something in the process Smile

Yesterday, my friends and I went to a local Garden Center that does a big Christmas Shop. We spent a few a few hours wandering around. My friends both bought a ton of Christmas stuff. I got two small decorations, a gift for the last person on my Christmas list and one ornament gift for my nephew.

Then we bought Christmas trees! Very fun. I got a nice big tree and it was priced under my budget.

And I ended up buying a mirror for my living room. I've been looking for one for awhile. My friend had just bought a black framed mirror at a good deal from Lowes. She mentioned that there was a tortoise gold one that would go great for my living room. So we headed over there.

I've been pricing mirrors for awhile and for the size and style that I want, I'd be looking at spending about $200.00 or more. The one at Lowes was on sale for $49.95. With the brackets necessary to hang it and a $10.00 off coupon, my total was $43.43. I am SO happy!

Updated Christmas Spending

December 5th, 2007 at 03:32 pm

I have a Christmas budget of $369.81. Which is an odd number, I know, but that includes interest on the amount saved. It also includes $35.00 in gift cards. I’ve also managed to get $54.00 in free items.

I still have a few purchases to make. I have most of my gifts planned out. And I still have to get a Christmas tree.

At this point, it looks like I’ll be coming in under budget for Christmas. I don’t want to jinx anything, but all extra funds will go to my student loan. So I have some good motivation in keeping under budget.

No roommate so far

December 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 pm

I heard back from that friend of a friend that looked at my place 2 weeks ago. He's decided to stay where he's at right now. Its a shame, because I think we would have gotten along great.

But because I was really liking that idea of rental income, I put another ad on Craigslist. Hopefully, I won't get a lot of spam.

In the mean time, I am putting out the word out with my friends. Maybe somebody knows somebody.

Still sick, but wanted to share funny stuff

December 2nd, 2007 at 01:50 am

Vegging on the couch. Hopped up on cold meds. Watching movies from the library and netflix (which I'm cancelling at the end of the month). Snuggling with the cat and mainly being bored. I was feeling a little blue and happened upon this website.

Its funny & cute. The internet speak is a little hard to understand at first, but still SO cute!

Text is http://icanhascheezburger.com and Link is
http://icanhascheezburger.com