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Home > Archive: November, 2010

Archive for November, 2010

Payday!

November 30th, 2010 at 04:12 pm

Today is payday. I have already paid all of my normal bills online. I have withdrawn cash for Medical (60), Groceries (60), pets (55) & Entertainment spending (40). Pet food is high because I buy the REALLY REALLY large bag from the vet (one of the cats has crystals). The bag will last about 6 weeks & then I still need to buy litter & litter plan bags.

Today's spending: $0.55 soft pretzel. This will be my last one because I start my December lunch challange starting tomorrow!

Yesterday's 5 Things did not go as planned. Instead of what I listed, I did the following:

1. Put air in tires (Free)
2. Sort through all paperwork
3. Finalize December budget
4. Put together loose meal plan
5. Go to bed early! lol

Todays 5 Things:

1. Get free oil change (Coworker went with me to drop the car off & another coworker will drop me off at the end of the day to pick it up)
2. Pay Bills, organize cash for cash budget (DONE)
3. Finalize grocery list/meal plan since some things changed with my schedule
4. Prepack food for tomorrow
5. Organize library books to be returned

Good News Roommate-wise

November 29th, 2010 at 09:53 pm

My roommate came home today after being away for Thanksgiving since Thursday morning. First thing she tells me is that she is planning on holding off on the moving, until January at least. I will take it! Last thing I wanted to do is get a new roommate at the holidays.

So as long as I have the full rent in hand on the 10th, we will be good. Because of this situation, I plan on continuing with my bare bones December budget and will put the extra Rent funds into my Emergency fund instead of heavily to debt.

Hey - I will take any good news I can get! lol

Happy Cyber Monday!

November 29th, 2010 at 05:11 pm

I am not doing shopping, as I am almost done my Christmas shopping. I have to update the sidebar, though.

Today, I spent $0.55 on a soft pretzel & $30 on a specialist copay. I am feeling better (Although not perfect) and I want to get back to my normal stuff as much as possible.

So, today, I am starting back on my 5 Things list. This is the 5 things off my to-do that I plan to tackle today. I can never seem to do EVERYTHING off the list, but if I can accomplish 5 a day, its definitely worth it.

So today's 5 Things are:

1. Finalize December budget
2. Make meal plan & grocery plan for the next pay period
3. Do emails for HOA
4. Laundry
5. Clean bedroom (including vacuuming)

I also have set some goals for December:

1. Complete Cash only Christmas
2. Pack lunch all days but 1 (my personal December Lunch Challange)
3. Stick to budget 100%
4. Continue to put up stuff to sell on Craiglist
5. Look for new roommate
6. Keep heat low & sweaters on Smile

Happy Turkey Day!

November 26th, 2010 at 02:26 am

I had a great day with the family. Just my parents, sister & nephew. We had food, watched a movie & played boardgames. It was very nice & relaxing.

I did splurge on bringing coffee & drinks to the house, spent about $7.00 total.

Tonight, I came home to an empty house. The roommate went to her parents for the weekend! Woohoo. I am no relaxing with an old movie that I love, Desk Set, with Katherine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy. I love old movies!

Tomorrow, I head back to work. No Black Friday shopping for me! I plan on a low key & even lower spending this weekend. I have a $95 shortfall in my December budget. I am going to try to make up the difference. I am not counting on the income from the renter. Until its in my hand, it won't be budgeted. So in the mean time, I would REALLY like to not hit my savings to cover the shortfall.

I hope everyone had a great holiday & will have an even better weekend

More Roommate Woes & December Budget

November 24th, 2010 at 11:15 pm

My roommate tried to get out of paying me any more rent other than what she's already paid (which would get her through December 9th).

Basically, as of this weekend, she told me she did not have a move out date nor did she know exactly what was going on. I have been patient and said to just let me know when she's ready to give 30 days notice. All weekend she never said another word on the topic.

I was off work Friday & Monday, which she knew. She had sent an email to my work on Friday, stating that she didn't know when she'd be moving out, be it the '1st, the 15th or whenever' and that she did not see in the rental agreement where she needed to pay through the 30 days notice.

I was outraged when I read that at work yesterday. At NO point did she say anything to me about this face to face. I went home & found the signed rental agreement, told her I read the email, that the 30 day notice WAS in there and that I would accept Fridays email as her 30 day notice.

I followed up this conversation with an email confirming what we spoke about:

-that she is paid through the 9th
-she owes me 30 day notice payment of $150.00 to cover the 10th through the 19th (the last of the 30 days)
-and I also (GENEROUSLY) provided that if she (or any of her belongings) stayed any time after the 19th, then she would pay the rent divided by 31 days ($15) per day.
-I also clearly stated that that offer of extension on the rental agreement was good until the end of December & that I would be looking for a new roommate to start January 1st.

I just truly hope she pays me. And I'm kinda hoping she'll be out by the 19th.

However, this leaves me with a problem with my December budget. I will stop my aggressive repayment of debt & only pay the minimum. I have the new car payment to account for in a new budget without a roommate. I also have about $200 of upcoming medical bills to still be paid between now & the end of December.

I am doing what I can to make a budget where I do not have to use any savings & still pay all the medical & Christmas expenses in cash. Fun, oh fun. And I am NOT counting on any additional rent from her until its in my hands.

BUT today was a start, I sold a DVD set for $15.00 off Craigslist. I will be putting a LOT of new listings up tonight.

And in terms of good things - the craigslist sale happened, work let me out 1.5 hours early for the holiday, I got a nice haul of books & movies from the library, my parents brought me leftovers from their lunch out at a restaurant right by my house & I got a free dinner that I did not have to cook!

Roommate & Money update

November 21st, 2010 at 03:05 am

Still struggling medically. Unfortunately, they STILL do not know what is wrong with me. I had a good week, but today was really bad. I basically spent the day on the couch. My mom did drop my nephew off for a bit & we spent 2.5 hours watching cartoons & playing Monopoly. It was his first time playing, so it was fun to teach him Smile

Staying on the couch means that today is a no spender. I plan on running out tomorrow for fruits/veggies. But other than that, there will be no more spending.

The roommate still has not given official notice of leaving. She has another interview on Monday & I think the second that she finds a new job she's out. But in the mean time, each day that she stays (and hasn't given her 30 day notice) is an extra $15/day for me.

As soon as she gives notice, I will start on Craigslist for a new roommate. I already have put out the word to friends, family & coworkers. But lets be honest, its the holiday season, its going to be hard to find a roommate before the new year.

And on top of everything, I have about $200 in extra Medical expenses between now & the end of the year. But I will be paying cash for it. And for Christmas, so I am happy.

Spoke Too Soon

November 16th, 2010 at 12:55 pm

Well, I was all happy yesterday that I was paying cash for Christmas & my medical bills while still being able to pay down debt. Only to come home last night & find out that I would probably be losing my roommate in December. And I only found that out because I asked her how work is going.

She's likely to lose her job. And when she does, she's decided to move to another state. She apparently looked at apartments there last weekend. The lease is month to month with 30 days notice & she said she will give me official notice for sure at the end of the week. If she does, since her rent starts on the 10th, she's paid through December 10th and I'd likely only get another 7-10 days of rent out of her for December.

This has put me into super frugal (read PANIC) mode as I have had higher expenses due to Medical AND this would be the first time I would be roommateless with the car payment.

Its managable, but it will be VERY tight and I will have to cut out a lot of things. As soon as she gives me her official notice, I will be putting an ad on Craigslist. I already sent out an email to friends/coworkers letting them know I'm looking for a roommate. I also put something up on Facebook. Hopefully I would be able to get a friend of a friend, but I will also be reviewing Craigslist applicants.

Wish me luck! I hope to find a roommate by January.

Christmas & Medical Spending & Updates

November 15th, 2010 at 06:01 pm

Well, the doctor still is not sure whats going on with me. Unfortunately, my day to day living is affected, I have put hundreds of dollars into tests & copays and even had a horrible experience with a supposed 'specialist' that was just too busy to even listen to me. He truly did NOT hear what I said, as his advice is physically impossible for me to do right now.

So, I am back to square one. I will be seeing my primary physicial tomorrow ($20.00 copay). My budget for the next 2 months is going to be tight, tight, tight because I am paying the medical out of cash at this point.

The good news is that I have NOT wracked up any new debt during this period & I am still on track to pay off the small credit card at the end of the year.

I paid all of my bills for this pay period, and I currently have the following left for variable expenses to last me until the end of the month:

Groceries: $68.84
Spending: $44.45
Medical for copay: $20
Medical for medicines: $10-ish? This is the only variable expense not in cash. So I don't have the exact # with me at the moment, but its on my budget at home Smile

I am going to challenge myself to spend as little as possible while at work and with eating out. The exception is the few social activities that I am capable of. I have been too tired to do much socially, but I do want to continue doing what I can Smile

As for Christmas, I did some online shopping and was able to score big on some jewelry and other items off Etsy. Then yesterday, I did some shopping & hit up toys-r-us and Pier 1. I have cash for all my Christmas shopping, but Pier 1 was making an offer. Use your credit card for any purchase & get a $20.00 Pier 1 gift card in the mail. Heck, I"m in. When the bill comes, I will just pay it off. I spent $9 on 2 tree ornaments and will get $20.00 free. Can't beat that.

And in good news, although I am out of the Heat Challenge, we have been having decent weather & I was able to turn the heat off again! Whew Smile

Had to turn the heat on & layoff news

November 3rd, 2010 at 09:11 pm

Well, I made it all the way through October with the heat off, which was my goal and last night I turned the heat on. It was 60 in my living room and I had had a bad day medically yesterday, so I wanted the comfort.

I'm keeping the heat on pretty low. When I left the house this morning, it was 64. I put the heat down to 61 and came home to 65. So it wasn't running during the day at least!

Today, my work group & I did a community event where we did yard work on houses owned/lived in by handicapped people. While we were there, the office was getting word of layoffs starting. My group was not affected, but I know plenty of people that were.

We finished the work on 3 houses by 10:30 and went to lunch as a group. $11.00 spent for a sandwich and fries AND a large salad to go (for dinner). From there, we were getting more texts about who was being affected and some of us decided to head to a bar. Of course, conversation turned to the layoffs as we heard more & more, but it was also good to relax with my coworkers. I spent $5.00 on a drink & desert.

I am grateful to have a job and I am not looking forward to seeing some people not be there tomorrow and those that are there, but will not be within the next few weeks.

First of November

November 1st, 2010 at 09:08 pm

Today was already spendy. I spent $2.70 on breakfast (has a slow start to the morning).

I spent $30 for a copay for a medical test & $5.13 for medicine.

And oops, I forgot AGAIN to get stamps darnit!

My goals for November are to:

1. Stick to my budget
2. Pack lunch every day for work. Have lee-way with breakfast
3. Keep my heat off as long as possible.
4. Make a masterlist of all my financial information
5. Pay cash for all medical expenses
6. Pay an extra $196.00 to CC#1