Last night was a challange for my wallet AND my weight loss journey. I went to happy hour with some good friends at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We've been known to get there around 4:30 and stay til 9, having dinner & several margaritas.

I went with a budget of $10.00 in my head and a 'point budget' for my Weight Watchers. I went a little off plan food-wise, but came in right at $10.00 budget-wise (Including tip). I had 1 margarita and a half order of chicken nachos (Literally chicken plus cheese and tortillas). Even with that splurge, I still technically stayed on my WW plan. Just no more splurges this week unless I earn them with exercise! lol.

Hope everyone's doing well. I'm feeling a little out of sorts due to my house being in a bit of a mess. But I have no major plans this weekend and I hope to be able to rectify that!

Todays spending so far includes a soft pretzel (.55) and a soda (1.35). This is the first soda I've had since Saturday & I only really gave in due to a nasty sinus headache I woke up with. Caffine helps my headaches (go figure).

I also want to get back to my 5 Things list. This is 5 Things off my To-Do list that I will accomplish today.

1. Walk with friend around the university
2. Make dinner at home & prep lunch for tomorrow
3. Put away all clean laundry
4. Make bed
5. Find lost heart rate monitor in house

Today was Day 2 of the Lunch Challange: Sucess!

Packed breakfast, lunch, snacks & 1 soda. Today ended up being a no spender. I'm hoping tomorrow will be too, but maybe not as I need a quick veggie run for salad stuff.

I had a homeowners informational meeting tonight (go me as VP). we're discussing some law changes that govern our maintenance organization. This is one of three meetings.

Today's Meals:

Breakfast: Granola & cottage Cheese
Snack: popcorn
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Salad with tuna
Snack: rest of popcorn

Tomorrow, I'm going to my nephews baseball game. Will eat dinner at home first and take a snack/drink with me.

Thursday night is the last HOA meeting
Friday will be movie night at a friends
Saturday I am going to a party, but have leftover beer from my fridge to bring.
Sunday I am walking the Breast Cancer walk in Philly. Already paid for - but I'll need to buy gas. Afterwards, I'll be taking my mom out for Mother's Day.

Todays 5 Things:
1. Call comcast
2. Library drop off
3. HOA meeting
4. Pack lunches
5. Catch up on personal email

Well, a while back, I did a lunch challange and it helped me 1. Save Money and 2. Eat Healthy.

For the month of May, 2 coworkers and I are doing a Lunch Challange. There are 20 work days in May. We have challanged ourselves to pack our *HEALTHY* lunches 18 of the next 20 work days. We did set a $1.00 allowance daily to supplement the meals - so if someone wanted milk for their cereal, ect... but I plan on skipping that unless I really, really need to

I'm also trying to curb my soda addiction(AGAIN!) I will drink several throughout a day. I had 2 cans (from home) that I drank at work - there will be NO soda tonight. Hoping to get to 1/day at work for the rest of the week and then go from there.

So today was a no spender. I worked extra hours to be able to flex some of my time on Friday to sit at the hospital while a friend has surgery.

I also was talking about food with some coworkers and I mentioned I was interested in baking my own bread - my manager mentioned she had an unused extra one. So we'll see if she follows through and brings it in. Wouldn't that be awesome?

I turned on the air yesterday mid-day due to it being 88 in the house & extremely humid. I kept the air on overnight and left the air on at 78 while I was gone today. Turned the air off when I came home since it cooled down a bit. Windows are back open and the fan is going!

And I'm going to get back into my 5 Things - I feel so much better when I get something done off my To-Do list, even if its not all of it!

1. Stay on food plan (DONE)
2. Call & reschedule doctors appt (DONE)
3. Make dinner at home & prepack food for tomorrow (Working on it now)
4. Search HOA records for info needed (DONE)
5. Litter box (DONE)

Today's Food:

Breakfast: Granola bar, 1 cup fat free cottage cheese (didnt get to eat the fruit I brought)
Snack: 1 mini bag popcorn
Lunch: LARGE salad with buffalo chicken (grilled)and low fat blue cheese dressing
Snack: Tomato salad
Dinner: Whole grain spaghetti with basil from my plants, tomato sauce & ground turkey with a side of garlic bread

The agreement with my new roomie gives him a little leeway with getting me money for the first month. Since he's paying double rent for January only (rent at his old place & at mine).

I'm working hard to plan out where the money goes. Jan will be weird since I used some of the funds to purchase a ceiling fan/light and have it installed. And as a splurge to myself, I bought a concert ticket.

So he paid me $225.00 as agreed this week:

1/2 Rent - $225:
$75 - Fan removal & installation
$60 - Concert Ticket
$30 - Extra groceries (needed to stock up badly)
$20 - Party (Hosting game night)
$15.92 - Lowes Closet supplies (to Dad who bought them for me)
$24.08 - Increased utilities fund (savings for increased utilities that may occur due to roommate)

Should be getting $ 263.00 next week (for Jan)
$25.92 (Increased utilities Fund)
$44.00 (Extra cable expense on his end)
$79.76 Ceiling Fan/Light
$113.32 (credit card)

Feb- $488
$38 (Cable increase)
$50 (increase in utilities fund)
$20 (home improvements fund)
$380 (credit card)

I have missed a bunch of my 2010 goals. I'm planning on getting back on track this week. No more excuses for me!!

Today's 5 things:

1. Call Drs office about bill. Insurance should have paid (DONE)
2. Call artisans about temporary auth thats been on acct over 10 days
3. Call part time job about new schedule for Feb (DONE)
4. Finalize 1/15 budget
5. Start cleaning junk stuffed into bedroom closet when roomie was moving in

So the roommate moves in Saturday. I bought some stuff to put rods in both the closets in his room. Then I took the longer rod back out because it wasn't stable. I tried using another type of rod, but that didn't work. Finally, my dad helped me find a bigger pole and helped me out by sawing it to the right size and reinstalling it for me today. Yay He also helped me re-hang a mirror and move a dresser from the spare room to the basement. In trade, I bought him, my mom & my nephew take out at our fav place. $56.00 OUCH, but well worth the help.

Now I have 2 rods to return & I'm not sure if Lowes will accept them since they've been taken out of their wrapper. Although I still have the papers that came with them. I'm thinking that IF they don't, I might install one as a hanging rod from the ceiling in my closet. The closet is a long thin rectangle with built in cabinets on one side. I could hang clothes that need to air dry in there, so its a maybe

Other than that, I've upgraded my cable at the request of the roomie. I'm charging straight rent, with utilities included and the proviso to revisit that rent at a later date. He is going to pay the extra amount of the cable bill since he is asking for the DVR and HD for his bedroom. I splurged and got a DVR for the living room. $6/month & that'll be my BIG present to myself. All other roommate funds go to the credit card.

And I found a trustworthy handyman. He said he'd replace an existing ceiling fan for me for $75.00. Which is priced reasonably for my area. I'll be going to look for a new fan tomorrow. This isnt really a roommate expense, but I might have continued waiting a bit longer.

In other news, I've blown it with some of my 2010 goals. But hey- if I get on track in the next few days, I'll be fine with it!

I've gotten off track with my 5 things, but here they were for today:

1. Call Drs office for results (DONE & they were good)
2. Order prescriptions (DONE & cheaper than I expected
3. Write up rental contract & print (DONE)
4. Dinner at home, pack snack for work (In Process)
5. Work part time job (Soon)

Tonight I have the actual orientation for the ptj (last night was training). This is where we'll go over HR info & pay & ect. We have direct deposit, which is nice. Now I'm just waiting to find out the rest of my schedule. Since this is temp work, I'm willing to pick up every shift they'll let me!

So today, I work from 7:30 to 4, will have dinner at home & then work from 6-9. Shorter shift than last night & tomorrow due to just being orientation.

Now Tuesday is my normal pub night & I'm getting flack from friends to still come out. I'd say no, but ironically, the way I get home from the mall to my house, DIRECTLY passes this little out of the way bar. How funny is that? I might stop by for a minute, but I'm not sure. I think I'd rather that today be a no spend day. I have only had one this month & am definately not making my 15 no spenders this month

Today's 5 Things:
1. PTJ shift
2. Make dinner at home, pack lunch for tomorrow
3. Get laundry from dryer & put away
4. Put out a few Christmas things (in from basement)
5. Get to bed early!

Today was the first day of working the part-time job.

I worked 7:30 to 4 at the full time job. Made a library run on my lunch break.

Then home for dinner, to change clothes & pre-pack food for tomorrow.

Then to the new part time job for training. 4 hours and the place is only 5 minutes away from home. Yay

Today's 5 Things:

1. Library Run - DONE
2. Dinner at home, prepack for tomorrow - DONE
3. Quick clean bathroom (wipe counter, ect) - DONE
4. Clear out emails - DONE (and I found a reply to my roommate ad!)
5. Send sympathy email to friend for the loss of a pet. - DONE
6. Go to bed early! - WORKING ON IT! LOL

I am weird. I know it and tonight I reminded myself. Backstory: The night before Thanksgiving I had my nephew spend the night. Thanksgiving morning, I was running around and trying to get him ready. Someone (and I DONT think it was him) used the downstairs bathroom, washed their hands and then failed to shut off the water properly. So it ran at a small pace all day. Yes, ALL day. Thanks to me. Can't even blame the 8 year old!

So in penance and because I had just gotten my quarterly water bill & wanted to try to beat it this quarter, I have been handwashing 100% of my dished. Its amazing how much water I save. I really was getting lazy & using the dishwasher an awful lot. It was so not necessary.

So yeah, I am kinda punishing myself with dishes to make up for leaving the water run

Second point of the post - I sold a duvet cover & 2 pillowcases that have pretty much remained unused since bought. I think I paid $20.00 for it a few years ago. Got $8.00 cash for it tonight

Tomorrow, I am selling a desk to someone from Craigslist. Its been used by me since my early teens, but has been sitting unused in the spare bedroom. So I figured I'd earn a few bucks & have someone else haul it out. I underpriced it, but I'm ok with that $10.00

And now for tonights 5+ Things (which I previously listed). I've gotten pretty much nothing accomplished!

1. Send pics of birthday party to friend (ON HOLD)
2. Laundry (ON HOLD)
3. PIckup house. Already clean, just a little cluttered again due to a busy week (DONE)
4. Set aside 2 items for pickup from Craigslist (DONE)
5. Adjust budget. Need to rebalance checkbook, I'm off somewhere (ON HOLD)
6. Change sheets (ON HOLD)
7. Do nails (ON HOLD)
8. Pull out dresses for Christmas party tomorrow (WILL GET DONE TONIGHT)
9. Meal plan for upcoming week (WILL GET DONE TONIGHT)
10. Wardrobe Plan for the upcoming week (WILL GET DONE TONIGHT)
11. Catch up on Sons of Anarchy, Monk, Fringe and Supernatural (DONE)
12. Put out Christmas decorations (WILL PARTIALLY GET DONE TONIGHT)

Yesterday I did a lot of spending.

$3.00 Dollar tree for grocery items
$5.67 Acme - groceries
$14.64 Walmart - groceries
$48.99 BIIIG bag of cat food
$98.00 Wilm Trust Home Equity
$8.65 Old Navy (after $30.00 in gift cards).
$16.00 Dinner & drinks at book club

*A note about the Old Navy. My NEW but TEMPORARY part-time job requires an all black outfit. I have a few black shirts, mostly summer and one pair of appropriate black pants. So I went to Old Navy in search of an extra pair of pants. Was unable to find any that were worth it money-wise (i.e. under $39.00) and that fit right. I did find a black sweater, a black long sleeve tee and a pair of christmas pajama pants. For me, it was worth it. Both tops can be entered into my full time job's wardrobe and the christmas pants were just a bonus for me!

I have another $10.00 to Old Navy to spend after the 6th. I'll try again for pants.

Today, I hope that I am able to have a no spender. We'll have to see! lol.

Today's 5 (+) Things:

1. Send pics of birthday party to friend
2. Laundry
3. PIckup house. Already clean, just a little cluttered again due to a busy week
4. Set aside 2 items for pickup from Craigslist
5. Adjust budget. Need to rebalance checkbook, I'm off somewhere
6. Change sheets
7. Do nails
8. Pull out dresses for Christmas party tomorrow
9. Meal plan for upcoming week
10. Wardrobe Plan for the upcoming week
11. Catch up on Sons of Anarchy, Monk, Fringe and Supernatural
12. Put out Christmas decorations

Wow! I REALLY cleaned today. With a few breaks here and there (as prescribed by Lux!)

I was able to clean my whole upstairs, scrub the bathroom, organize stuff for goodwill (and loaded up the car with it), do some heavy duty dusting on fans, walls, baseboards & trim. I did 3 loads of laundry (hung 2 to dry).

I also organized paperwork, filed & shredded. Put out a few Christmas items (from the dollar store). And lastly, I am sitting down to watch a movie from the library, maybe read a book or play on the computer.

I accomplished a lot and feel 100% better for having rid myself of a lot of clutter and dust

Tomorrow, I have to drop some items off to my parents, my sister and a friend I borrowed a book from. I will be making a Good Will run and hitting the farmer's market for veggies.

I TENTATIVELY will tackle the basement, which needs to be cleaned, but not organized. However, I'm thinking the chances of that actually happening are pretty low! Haha

Financially, I have my ducks in a row. My Nov 30th budget is done, I found a $4 check to deposit, and am working on keeping my Christmas spending under budget.

I also have an appointment for a part-time job at Macy's on Monday. Just temp work, but I could use it. Also, since the house is superclean, I took some pics of the place & am putting another roommate ad up on Craigslist.

$0.55 for a soft pretzel. I was extra hungry today. I also need to restock my snack stash in my work desk

I hit the library after work (free), then the gym (no spending today there), then straight home. I'm about to start dinner: Penne pasta with ground turkey & fresh basil. YUMMM

I have a loose mealplan for the week. All flexible. I won't get much in the way of leftovers, but am planning on buying a turkey & cooking it over the weekend or next week for myself and freezing the extras. Should last me a LONG time!

And as a side note, the weather was so nice this weekend, I was able to have the windows open on Friday. Heat didn't kick back in until last night. Its a nice 64 degrees in the living room. After dinner, I'm spending the night under a blanket & infront of a tv! lol

Today's 5 Things:
1. Library
2. Gym
3. Cook dinner & pack food for tomorrow
4. Pack car with stuff for goodwill
5. Budget for 11/30