It was 90 degrees out today, but while I was sweating my butt off at my nephew's baseball game, a strong wind picked up and the temp started dropping. YAY! So, now I have all the windows open and am enjoying the nice fresh air. (And the savings in electric!)



So now for the even better news! My student loan is SOOOO close to being paid off! Here's a snapshot of where the balance has been in the last few years.


December 31, 2005: $15,694.69

February 28, 2006: $15,100.52

January 31, 2007: $12,512.40

April 30, 2007: $12,312.40

October 3, 2007: $8813.28

January 8,2008: $ 4,650.35

February 28,2008 $4013.09

March 31, 2008 $3047.79

April 15, 2008 $2832.26

Currently..... dum, da dum, dum, Dum.....


ITS $1,963.58!!!!!!!!!!

And I'm about to $45.22 to the loan

Finally received my new computer A/C adapter today. Boy did I miss the internet! I survived, but if I don't have to, I don't want to

Lots of things going on:

-First, my new Student loan #1 balance $2181.08! Sweet!!!

-Second, I had to put out $49.00 for the new adapter. Thats after discounts and free shipping for screwing up my order and causing a nearly 2 week delay.

-Third, my work may be sending me to Arizona. Tempe, to be exact. If the trip goes through (the company's cutting back on travel), then I'll leave Sunday the 15th, work Monday through Thursday. I would have flown back on Friday, but I'm going to take a mini vacation and stay a few extra days. I'll have to pay for hotel and food for those extra days, but the flight back is still on the company.

This is an unplanned expense and I really don't have the funds just sitting around. But if I'm getting flown to a place I've always wanted to visit, then I'm going to take advantage of the trip.

I'm hoping to even get in a bus tour of the Grand Canyon. We'll see. I've been pricing them at around $150.00 for the day. But this will include several hours of driving, lunch, an actual tour of the Grand Canyon and Park Fees. The alternative would be renting a car and I just don't see the point in that.

-Next, the kitten got sick $70.00 in vet fees. Ugh. He's a cutie, but man, is he expensive.

-In frugal news, my electric bill has stayed low. Prices have been rising, but my bills stayed the same, meaning my usage went down. I need to watch using the dryer though. I saw some increased usage the month before when I was trying to shrink some clothes to get a few more wears out of them before giving them to Good Will. (That was actually successful, by the way).

-Also,no heat in the last month. Windows stay open most of the time, sometimes I use the room fans. But no central heat/air! I'm hoping to keep that up.

-AND in great news, my car insurance premium went down by about $75.00/year. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I'll take it

-I am really working on getting back into Frugal mode. I've been spending all over the place. New clothes, vet bills, eating out. All of that needs to get back under control. Especially if I get to Arizona.

-When I get back, I'm going to get a part time job. I've been talking about it for about a year now, but haven't really followed through for various reasons. With the kitten and continued weight loss, at least two of those expenses will continue. So more income will allow me to continue to pay down the student loan while taking care of these additional expenses.

-I'll update my side bar soon. Its safe to say that my clothing & vacation funds are back to zero. Ugh.

Yesterday morning, I received my stimulus funds by Direct Deposit. Yesterday afternoon, I mailed $600.00 to Student Loan #1. I'll have to update my sidebars

I'm trying to get back on track. Lately, I've been all over the place with my spending, but no more. I'm back on track and planning things out.

Today, I spent 3.80 on 7 large tomatoes & romaine lettuce from the produce stand.I was hoping for a no spender today, but I was running out of veggies.

Tommorow will have some spending as well, as I have a dentist appointment. But it is a planned expense and the funds are available from my HSA.

Electric/Gas-wise, I've had the heat on one night in the last two weeks. I'm looking forwards to the much lower bill.

I also am working to cashflow the vet bills from the new kitty. To start, I plan on spending as little as possible from my entertainment budget and putting the extra funds towards the vet. We'll see how many otheways I can save towards the vet bill.

Well, I'm off to make dinner & something to take to work for lunch. (See, I'm planning ahead).

Yesterday & today are/were no spenders due to being sick. I had to leave work early yesterday.

This morning, I did run to Walmart (5 mins from my house) to return a Redbox movie that I had meant to return yesterday. And I returned a shirt and pair of pants that I had bought a few weeks ago. $26.00 credit back to my account.

For the rest of the day, I'll be lying around. I tried some food, but its not sitting too well. I REALLY have to go back to work tomorrow, so I'm going to take things VERY easy.

I have all the windows/doors open in the house. Two days ago, it was back into the low 60s, now its in the mid 70s. I'm enjoying the weather tho.


As for spending, I now have the two days of no spending. But I did waste some food. I packed a sandwich, salad and milk for breakfast/lunch at work yesterday and I left it there. The milk will be salvagable since it was in the fridge, but not the sandwich/salad.

In other news, I sent an additional $65.53 to the student loan. I've been slacking lately because of all my clothes spending. I pretty much got myself a whole new wardrobe. And it was worth every penny


For the month of May, my focus is on my grocery spending. I joined the challange over at Krystal's blog over at Give Me Back My Five Bucks.

My budget is $50.00 per every pay period ($100.00 per month). I've spent $22.60, leaving $27.40 until the 15th. Definately doable since I will only need some veggies, lunch meat and soda between now & then. I'll keep updating on how I do.

Even with the car problems and the toilet, March has had some good stuff going on.

I had some cashflow goals for the month and I think I've done pretty well so far.

I've managed to cashflow:

$27.00 for the Defensive driving fee (yay!)

$156.93 of my $338.84 car repair fee (yay!)

$0.00 for my new pantry door (boo!)


ALSO, my new balance on the student loan is $3,795.49! WOO_HOO!


But I'm ok with not having the funds for my pantry door. First, the one I wanted is not currently available. I'm hoping Home Depot will restock soon. Second, I may be able to fund the purchase through a gift card from Mypoints. I'm just waiting for some points to hit my balance.


I've been sticking to the Lunch Challange. Today I brought:
Oatmeal & pears for breakfast; cheese sandwich & salad for lunch; soda from home; free water at work

Tomorrow, I have planned:
Breakfast: Cheerios with milk, Lunch of spaghetti salad - tons of veggies, turkey pepperoni & a bunch of spicy goodness! YUMMY! Snack will be popcorn.

I also have been talking to someone from Craigslist about my room. Hopefully they'll be able to meet this weekend. Anyone with advice about how to handle bringing a roommate into your house, please share!

My private student loan is down to $4,013.09 with another $542.05 on its way now! I am chugging along with this thing. March will be a challanging month. My budget is SUPER tight.

I have an expected large expense in the form of a car repair. I'll get a diagnosis & estimate on Tuesday, when I take the car in.

I also have several non-regular expenses to deal with this month. I am hoping to cashflow as much as possible.

-I have a bigger than usual electric bill. I budget $120/mo and its $132 and change. I have reallocated funds from other household budget catagories to cover the overage

-I need to take my Advanced Defensive driving class ($27.00 fee) to ensure my car insurance rate at the lower amount. This will be be good for 3 years.

-I have a broken bifold door on my pantry and I really want to replace it. If its within the budget at all, I'd like to replace it this month. Estimated cost $40-45

I am also working with a slightly lowered grocery budget ($40.00 from 3/1 to 3/15) since I ridiculously splurged at Walmart on Monday and stocked up on LOTS of things. My goal is to buy only veggies and a few small items until the 15th.

At least yesterday & today were both No Spenders. Tomorrow will be too. I'm hoping to keep Saturday & Sunday as frugal as possible, but plans are up in the air and I don't know what my expenses may or may not be.


I also have an unexpected hiccup in the February-March Lunch challange, which I'll go into detail about later.