Packed 100% today. So far, I've only bought something once & that wasnt even a full lunch, but will count as my one freebie day of the month.

In fact, tomorrow, I'm getting a free lunch from work, a casual day & probably a couple of goodies. Its employee fair day!

I takled to my roommate about what happened. She said that it wasn't a big deal. I explained that the cats don't normally bite. It even turns out it was the one that I didnt expect to have done it at all.

Tonight is her first full night in the house & things are going smoothly. We're chilling in the living room, playing on the internet and just hanging out. I am feeling pretty positive!

How is everyone doing with their lunch challanges?

I've packed breakfast, lunch, & snacks for all but one work day this month (so far). That one day I had a sugar issue & got some animal crackers from the vending machine. So that'll take care of my one freebie I allotted myself this month. And I'm definitely going to be adding snacks to my work drawer

I have the day off tomorrow. Just took a random day this Friday and the 25th. I thought about going to the beach, but decided not to since its a 2 hour drive & I have a bunch of stuff going on Sat/Sun. So I'm thinking I will do the beach the 25th.

The house is fairly clean, but my bedroom is a disaster. Moved stuff out of the spare room into my closet after my FIRST roommate moved in. So I need to do some deep organizing.

So my goals for tomorrow are as follows:

1. Go to home depot for a towel rack, toilet paper holder and misc painting supplies for the bathroom (I'm looking forward to this)
2. Deposit money at the bank
3. Take a hike at the state park (approx 3-4 miles)(can't wait for this one either!)
4. Grocery shop
5. Finish sanding in the bathroom. Put tape up for painting prep
6. Start organizing my bedroom
7. Browse Barnes & Noble and spend my $25 birthday gift card!

And tomorrow night, I'm going to my friends for a horror movie night. We're introducing her older daughter to some of the tamer ones. Should be a blast!

Tomorrow, I plan on making a Lunch Challange update post - anyone participating could give an update

Well, I found someone through Craigslist. This is the first time that I've done that. We emailed & talked a few times. She came & looked at the place today.

She has a stable job at a state Hospital (as a social worker). She already gave me first months rent & is looking to move in this weekend. She will be giving me the security deposit then, which is fine with me.

And the best thing is that we were talking about the different rents based on craigslist ads and she mentioned people wanting $500/month plus utilities (which would be high in our area). I said that I chose to include utilities in the rent becuase it was easier to deal with as long as the utilities don't increase too much. And she said....

....wait for it....

she's a FRUGAL person and mindful of energy and water usage. Lol... it sold me!

So she's moving in this weekend. As for rent, this is the plan. I'm asking $475/month (up from $450/month for the last roommate).

$100 increased utilities, my dvr splurge & house stuff
$50 of fun money. If I have to share my house, I want a fun benefit!
$325.00 credit card

And I will reconsider the fun money, based on budgetary needs each month. Obviously the safety deposit will go into a savings account.

In other news - A/C is still off. LOVE fresh air and I am thankful its not too hot out yet.

And as for the lunch challange - today I bought some animal crackers for $0.85 from the vending machine. I REALLY didn't want to do it, but I was having a blood sugar drop & shaking. I WILL be restocking my desk with snacks tomorrow.

I will probably count this is my one day of the month splurge, unless a real lunch out comes up

Lunch Challange is going strong, there were 5 workdays this month so far, and I have packed breakfast, lunch & snacks 100% of the time. No money has been spent on lunch at work! And believe me my meals haven't been lacking compared to what the cafeteria at my work serves.

As always, meal plans are subject to change! lol - and they ALWAYS do!

Mon:
Lunch: Salad with Tuna
Dinner: sloppy joe over pasta

Tuesday:
Lunch: Salad, meatloaf muffin
Dinner: Chicken & potatoes

Wednesday:
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Meatloaf & veggies

Thursday:
Lunch: Salad w/ tuna
Dinner: Pasta & veggies

Friday:
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Chicken and veggies

Well, today is Day 4 in the lunch challanged. I packed breakfast, lunch, snacks & drinks for work Tuesday, Wednesday & Thurdsay. Today, I had an unexpected day off, but I've been eating at home, so I still complied with the challange

Yesterday's spending:
$14.00 dinner date - paid for my half. Date was a dud
$5.00 drinks with friends at my local bar. Good couple of hours, 2 drinks & only $5 spent. GREAT deal!

Today's spending:
$0.35 library fine
$19.06 Farmer's market

I got a big bag of baby spinach, 12 roma tomatoes, 8 large garden tomatoes (I love tomatoes & will be using some to make a chunky pasta sauce and homemade bruschetta), 3 cucumbers, celery, 3 green peppers, a quarter watermelon, pint strawberries and a quart of blueberries all for $19.06!

In other news, a little while back, I splurged & bought a pack of the perfectly portioned Purdue chicken breasts. They're prepacked into individual servings & perfect for a single person. But they're expensive, so I rarely buy them.

When I pulled 2 out the other day, once they thawed, I found that the packaging was broken and I found them to be unsafe to use. I emailed Purdue & explained the situation and I received an email back, they're sending me a $10.00 check. Nice!

In other news, the air is on... it was nearly 90 degrees out today & very humid. I hope we go back to some milder weather before we really enter summer.

I have someone coming to look at the spare room today. My sister sorta lit a fire under my butt when she suggested I rent out the spare room to her boyfriend. They are drama and I do NOT want to go there. So I answered an ad on Craigslist & put one up of my own. I will be meeting this girl this evening to see how it goes. Wish me luck!!

Yesterday, I packed breakfast, lunch, snacks & drinks 100% Today I did the same!

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Oatmeal; banana
Lunch: Big salad, popcorn
Snack: soup - if needed
Drinks- water, crystal light
Dinner: unknown - might go out or eat in

Well, my living room temp hit 89, so I gave in & turned the air on around 3pm. I set it to 80 and with the ceiling fans was very comfortable. Still, I was hoping to keep the air off another few weeks. Booo.

My June goals (Financial and otherwise) are:

1. Stick to budget 100%
2. Lower car insurance bill
3. Lower trash service bill
4. Entertain at home 2 times this month
5. Follow Weight Watchers 100%
6. Lunch Challange - pack 100% of lunches (with 1 day grace)
7. Limit soda intake
8. Look for new roommate

Hello All! Hope you're enjoying the holiday weekend! I just wanted to reissue an invite to join me in a lunch challange for June.

You can make your own rules -

-How many days in June do you want to pack breakfast/lunch?
-Do you want to add a dollar amount that you can use to supplement what you bring?

For me, I plan on packing my lunch 21 of the 22 work days in June. I also am planning NO spending on additional items.

MonkeyMama is planning to pack 16 out of 20 work days

CrazyLibLady is planning to pack nearly every day
with $2/day for extras

Scottish Girl is planning 16 days

Ima Saver is going to try to eat lunch at home every day.

Dmontngrey packs 99% of the time already - that's something for me to aspire to

My meal plan for this week (and it is subject to change)

Sunday (going to a bbq)
Lunch: Salad w/ tuna at home; food at bbq
Dinner: Pasta with meat sauce

Monday (off work)
Lunch: salad; tuna sandwich
Dinner: shake n bake chicken; potatoes

Tuesday
Lunch: salad, meatloaf muffin
Dinner: Pasta salad

Wednesday
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Chicken & potatoes

Thursday
Lunch: Salad w/ tuna
Dinner: Sloppy joe over pasta

Friday
Lunch: Salad
Dinner: Meatloaf, green beans

Saturday
Lunch: Salad w/ some type of protein
Dinner: Pasta with meat sauce

Well, I had hoped this weekend was going to be a total stay at home and get stuff done weekend. But of course, its not. Darn me for being so social! ha

Tonight, I have a work happy hour for a higher up that is being promoted. Should be fun & it doesn't hurt to schmooze. (Estimated spending,including some food, $15.00)

Then off to a 2nd bar where my sister is hosting a little birthday celebration for her boyfriend. I am planning on buying them both a shot. (Estimated $15.00)

Friday is a friend's birthday at a local brewery. PLan on eating at home, but will have a beer or 2 ($10) Also need to get a bday gift ($25)

Saturday, I'm driving to the next state with some friends for horseraces. All day event, $15 to get in, plus food/drinks that we can bring as well (estimated $30)

Sunday, my sister is having a bbq. I'm brining a veggie tray - (est spending $7 for veggies & dip)

Monday - a TRUE day off! I plan on hitting the gym & maybe starting to get my downstairs bath ready to paint. Hopefully no spending is needed.

Next week, I have another happy hour (I swear I don't drink a lot!) on Wednesday and a potential date Thurs or Friday.

Also, thanks to those who commented on my June Lunch Challange post! I will repost an invite on Monday to see if anyone else wants to join, or comment!

Of the 3 of us doing the work lunch challange, one backed out halfway through the month and my other coworker is doing better than me! And thats becuase I didn't pack enough & ended up getting an extra snack or soda on 2 occasions. Still within the parameters of the challange, but I really wanted to do better.

So next month, I'm doing another challange. Is anyone interested in joining in? I'm sure some of you already do this pretty regularly, but its something I struggle with and I find it kinda fun to challange myself.

Here are the rules:

1. You can set any rules for yourself, just try to pack food a majority of the time. If you want $1/day for extras or to have 4 freebie days, thats cool. The goal is to save some money!

2. This is just for fun, so if you fall off the wagon... just get back on track if you want

So for me, for June: There are 22 work days. I plan on packing breakfast, lunch & snax 21 of them, with NO spending at all on additional items.

Please comment if you'd like to join me and each week we can update how we did. I know this is a bit early, since Jun doesnt start til next Tues, but that just gives us time to plan our meals!

Well, I'm doing 'ok' with my tight budget this pay period. I don't have my budget in front of me at work, but I have about $35 left in my entertainment budget. I have a work happy hour tonight (Estimated $10) and another Friday, which I'm thinking of skipping out on.

This weekend, I currently have NO plans. Other than a baseball game for my nephew which will be free.

I am hoping to entertainm myself this weekend with some books/movies from the library, planting, cleaning, organizing and going to the gym.

I never made a meal plan for the week, but I'm doing great with packing food for work! I've spent $1.10 this week on soft pretzels only & its been 4 days since I've had any caffine/soda.

I have plenty of food in the freezer: Meatloaf muffins, sloppy joe, ground meat cooked with onion (For pastas or over baked potatoes) and chicken breasts.

On my financial or frugal to-do list for this week/weekend
1. List 5 items on craigslist
2. Take pictures of spare room & put ad on Craigslist
3. Make a financial backuplist (account information, ect)
4. Give self mani/pedi
5. Start planning 6/1 budget

Payday is tomorrow & I've already made my $0 based budget. Outside my normal montly bills, I have variable spending in the following catagories:

$45.00 gas
$129.50 groceries (need a good stock-up)
$50.13 entertainment
$26.00 Communion gift
$8.00 misc cheer up gift for a friend

Its going to be a tight month and I'm going to have to get creative with my entertainment. This budget takes me through to the end of the month.

I have 2 work happy hours, 1 friends happy hour, 3 or 4 of my nephew's ballgames, a wine tasting and a movie to fit into that entertainment budget. Should be fun! Luckily the baseball games are free. That helps.

Tomorrow is Friday - I've already packed breakfast & lunch. After work, I will be hitting the library, the dollar store & the grocery store. Then home for an evening in.

Saturday, I'm going to my nephew's ball game, then driving 2 hours to a Communion party, driving 2 hours back home and going to a housewarming. I already have a gift for that.

Sunday will be for the gym ($0), the farmer's market, the other grocery store & cleaning.

I have Monday off work and will be cleaning & organizing the house, hitting the gym and heading to my nephew's ball game that night.

I am hoping to list a few items on Craigslist this weekend as well. Any extra income will be welcome!

Other updates:
Heat went back off at hte house this morning.
Lunch challange is still going strong
Still looking for the roommate

My 2 coworkers and myself are still going strong with the lunch challange. I used the $1.00 rule (allowed $1/day for supplementals to lunches) on 3 occassions - buying a soft pretzel each time.

One of my friends used one of the two freebie days & bought her lunch when she forgot it. The other friend has used the $1/day rule one time when she bought water (Little over a dollar, but since she never used the $1/day, we were fine with it!)

So all in all, things are going very well. I"m working to reduce my grocery spending, plan my meals and stick to my weight watchers.

I find it harder to keep the grocery budget down when trying to eat healthy. For me, it seems its a lot easier to find cheap snacks and foods when they are unhealthy.

There are several things I do to try to keep my healthy grocery budget small:

1. Meal plan
2. Utilize sales on lean meats
3. Use the Farmers market for fresh produce

Stand-by meals for breakfast include:
-cereal & milk
-fruits
-oatmeal
-cottage cheese
-yogurt

Stand-by lunches:
-Salad with chicken
-Salad with tuna
-Pasta salad
-Leftover dinners
-Lean cuisines when on sale & used ONLY when I need a last minute lunch
-Tuna sandwich
-Penut butter & crackers

Stand-by dinners:
-Large salads with tuna or chicken
-Meatloaf muffins
-Shake n bake chicken
-Tacos
-Pasta with meat sauce
-Sloppy joe
-Turkey bacon BLT


I'm looking for new low calorie/fat low expense lunches & dinners. Feel free to share your favorite recipes!

Yesterday, I participated in the 20th Annual Philadelphia Race for the Cure. Local news is estimating there were 120 thousand people there. I think the first year, they had under 2000.

We raised a bit of money for the cause and got a nice healthy 5k walk in! They handed out a LOT of freebies - juices, drinks and food.

I came home with a bandana and some coupons for local stores. Food-wise, Wawa literally shoved into my hands: 2 water bottles, a donut, soft pretzel, banana, 2 bags sliced apples, 2 bags grapes, 2 cheese sticks,and 3 large bags of candy.

I drove home to have brunch with my mom, sister, her boyfriend and my nephew. Then had my parents over for dinner - we had take out at my mom's request.

The candy went to my nephew. Rest of the goodies went in the fridge for me!

Today's Food/Spending:
Breakfast: Granola bar & soft pretzel (.55 spent)
Lunch: Pasta salad
Snack: popcorn
2nd Snack: small tomato salad
Dinner: Penne pasta in tomato sauce with homegrown basil and 1 cup spinach. Leftover salad from last night's takeout.

My little indoor garden is growing. I planted some catnip, chives, parsley and something else I can't remember. I have several basil plants going & a tomato plant that I have to transfer soon.

It got really cold over the weekend and I ended up turning on the heat last night. Keeping it at 65, but the heat still is kicking in once in a while.

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!

First, about weekend spending. There was none! I vegged Friday night after a long work week. I did pop back out around 9pm to go to the grocery store. I didn't want to have to deal with the Saturday morning crowds.

Yesterday & this morning was hanging out with the nephew. This afternoon has been all about cleaning and watching Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. And recovering from the Nephew's visit

I have gotten a LOT accomplished. Its amazing how changing your sheets & dusting and vacuuming the house can change things

As for the upcoming week, I drop my car back to the repair place for work tomorrow. The window motor was fixed and the window will go up & down if you use the passanger controls. But they do not work from the driver side controls. I'm hoping its an easy fix that would require no extra charges. But if its the driver side controls that have the issue, I'll have to decide if I want to have it fixed (for a cost) or leave as is for now.

I'm trying not to spend until payday on Friday. I have a full tank of gas and tons of groceries. So unless some entertainment spending comes up, all of the extra funds in those 3 catagories can go to the Student loan as of Friday.

In an effort to keep up with eating at home & my lunch challange, I've made a meal plan for the week.

I have a desk drawer of oatmeal, crackers, granola bars and microwave popcorn.

Monday:
Breakfast: oatmeal & pears
Lunch: Salad, cheese sandwich
Dinner: Pasta, baked potato

Tuesday:
Breakfast:Cheerios with milk, hard boiled egg
Lunch: Pears, large salad
Dinner: Meatloaf muffin, baked fries, green beans

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, hard boiled egg
Lunch: Cheese sandwich, salad
Dinner: Sloppy joe over egg noodles, green beans

Thursday:
Breakfast: Cheerios with milk
Lunch: PB&J sandwich, pasta salad
Dinner: Pasta w/ sauce; salad

Friday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, fruit cocktail
Lunch: Pasta salad, cheese sandwich
Dinner: Turkey BLT; baked fries; salad

Saturday:
Breakfast: Cheerios, fruit cocktail
Lunch: Large salad with penne in it
Dinner: London briol, leftover baked fries; peas

As you can see, I can never get enough of salad, be it just cucumbers & tomatoes or a big salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, peppers, carrots, eggs, cheese & pepperoni. I've always been this way

I had a great week, no spending for food, except for Monday. I had a great networking opportunity at work to have lunch with a few of my peers, my manager & her manager and I took it. I spent $9.00 for lunch and was able to take leftovers home for dinner. It was definately worth it

The rest of the week, I did really well. But I have to start planning a little better. I have been stopping at the grocery store a little more often than I usually do.

So tomorrow, I'll be heading to the store for veggies & milk and I will not be going grocery shopping again til next weekend (payday).

I am really enjoying this challange and its working well because I've been changing things up with my Weight Watchers plan. I'm trying to find new ways to get dairy & whole wheat in. I've sorta hit a plateau in my weight loss journey and now I'm focusing more on varying up my meals.

My car is back safe and sound. I paid a total of $338.34, which will come from my car repairs fund. I will be working to build it back up as needed, but currently its not a priority.

The shop gave me a lot of problems that I don't want to even get into. They finally fixed the squealing. It was a belt that had been replaced two years ago. It was still under warrenty, so they fixed it. Total cost: $0.00

In addition, I had asked them to look at my passenger side door. The motor would not move the window. So the window motor needed to be replaced.

Plus, my car had been riding rough. The techs noticed and determined I needed new spark plugs. Which I really do.. they haven't been changed since I bought the car. So they charged me for the spark plugs, but not for the labor.

Thats nice!

Until on my way home, when I checked my window. It worked once from my drivers side controls. Then it didn't. It works from the passenger side controls though. So I will be making a call to the Service desk tomorrow. I'm ticked!

In other news, I packed my breakfast & lunch for work today and ate dinner at home. I've already premade my food for work tomorrow. Tomorrow night's dinner will be at home as well, but then I'm heading out to meet some friends at the Pub. I plan on taking & spending only $10.00. Definately doable, the prices at the Pub are CHEAP!

I dropped my car off to the repair shop last night. I'll hear back this morning about an estimate, hopefully it won't be too bad.

Yesterday, I spent $9.00 at Olive Garden for lunch plus tip. Last night, I bought groceries.

Today I packed breakfast & lunch:

Breakfast: Hard boiled egg plus hardboiled egg white, 8oz yogurt

Lunch: Turkey on Rye, salad with ff sundried tomato dressing

I brought breakfast & lunch to work today. And now its lunch time and I realized that I forgot to bring my bread for my turkey sandwhich. I have the turkey & all the fixin's, but no bread. Then I went for my salad, and I have this huge one with lots of veggies & salad supreme seasoning. BUT no dressing. UGH! Foiled!

So now I'm munching on a granola bar & having a soda from home. I may even have some oatmeal. But there's no way I'm buying anything to eat.

Hopefully, I'll get out of work today. At least I know what I'm having for dinner. Turkey sandwich & salad

My car, a 2002 Hyundai Sonata has been making a squealing noise for a while. Mostly when it starts up after being cold for awhile. Its likely a fan belt, but I've been putting off the repair.

Well, the noise has gotten worse. To the point of being embarrassing. At least the car is still running perfectly. So I made an appointment for next Tuesday to have it looked at. Hopefully, it won't be a big expense, but I do have funds in my car repairs savings.



As for today's Lunch. I'm right on track.
Breakfast: Hard boiled egg, all bran crackers
Snack: Granola bar
Lunch: Turkey wrap with lettuce, tomato, red peppers & light mayo, plus a salad with light italian dressing.

I brought a soda from home and have had several bottles of water, all refilled from the free filtered water at work.

Tonight will be dinner at home, so today will be a no spender.

Also, I got my electric/gas bill, its 132. 21. Thats about 12.21 over my budgeted amount for electric/gas. Oh well, time to revamp the budget since prices are going up. I know its certainly not my usage thats increasing. I'll be able to pull the extra funds from other household accounts. I'll be fine.


Tomorrow is payday and I already have a budget in place for the funds. I plan on being ultra frugal for the month of March. I'd like to cashflow as much of the car repairs as possible, although it probably won't be much. We'll see how it goes.

For February, I have been able to put a lot of extra funds towards the student loan.

$18.00 State Tax Refund
$393.00 Federal Tax Refund
$3.21 Leftover from car insurance
$63.73 Savings Account Interest
$478.32 Metlife Insurance Inheritance

WooHoo! Plus the balance is down so much that most of my payments are going directly to the balance.


As for the Februrary-March Lunch challange, this week is going well. I have moved around some meals in my meal plan. So tonight I had sloppy joe instead of Friday, but its all working out

Plus, today, I had a bit of free food from work. Some of the people I work with made snacks for the baby shower. I had a cookie & a small bit of fruit and pudding. It was good


Today was a no spender. I came home from work, did some laundry, worked out, made dinner. Now I'm going to veg out & watch Mr Woodcock, which I borrowed from the library.

Brought breakfast and lunch to work today. I also stocked up my desk drawer with snacks - granola bars, crackers and oatmeal.

I donated $5.00 towards a Baby Shower gift for a coworker. But since thats a gift and not food related, it doesn't bust the Lunch Challange

Its been intersting to see what other people are doing with the challange. I was able to see how everone did last week & I'll be checking back to see how everyone's doing. If you're interested in checking it out, visit

Today I brought my breakfast & lunch to work. Plus I scored a free sandwich from leftovers from a meeting of the higher ups.

For breakfast, I had:
Hard boiled egg, plus 1 egg white
18 All Bran crackers

Lunch: 1 diet soda brought from home
Large salad with lots of yummy extras
Turkey Sandwich on Rye (free!)

Snack: baby carrots

I utilized free water at work for the rest of my drinks for the day.

Dinner will be at home - haven't decided what yet.


This weekend I'll be working on a meal plan for the week and I'll be posting my daily food report. I am really committed to this challange. Thanks to Krystal for coming up with challang! For more details, go to