Working in the right direction.

In the last week or so since I posted last, I have attended another professional networking event and informal job fair. I have talked to recruiting companies, beefed up the resume more, etc.

Our industry has gotten weird where right now, most of them do contract to hire jobs. They take on a group of temps for a project, then keep the best of them to go full time. So you’re faced with no benefits for up to 6 months during a contract.

I am in the lucky position of being under my husband’s insurance, but others in my office are single parents, etc. It’s a devastating idea they face.

As for me – I am working OT, but trying to still take care of myself. This paycheck (3/16), I received 37 hours of OT, plus my bonus and this is what I budget as my extra paycheck of the month since March has 3 pay dates for me.

Because of this – taxes were high, but my net was nice as well. I was able to pay some normal bills and put away a lot of savings.

· We put $230.32 to the vacation fund – meeting our family goal of $800.
· We put $1064.68 towards the $2k goal of ‘new to us car fund’
· We put $2600 (the bonus after taxes) to the EFund
· We put $600 (extra paycheck money) to the EFund
· I paid the new windshield bill of $188.33 and $30 Local Professional Group Membership
· We also paid the $581 vet bill for the dog (annual visit plus sedation for a procedure)


New Savings Balances:
Total Emergency Fund: $30,126.79 (Cap One 360 Efund: $6415.79 +MTB Efund $19,703.xx+4008 Cash in Safe)
Vacation Fund $800
Slush Fund (Vet, EZ Pass, Sewer, etc) $116.21
Home Repairs $213.12
Medical $136.57
Auto $39.33
Membership $143.88
Clothing $105.68
2018 Gifts Fund $1067.87 (most of it comes from alternative income – surveys, rewards, etc)
Nephew Car Fund $981.91
Daughter Savings $471.67
Savings attached to checking $500.79

I have been putting so much pressure on myself. The job is ending in May, I currently have unlimited overtime and I personally pressure myself that every hour unworked is $31 (after tax and 401k) 'lost'.

I have been working between 10-20 hours of OT a week, but it just isn't always possible or healthy for me to do.

Two weeks ago, I worked 24 hours of OT. This last week, I was planning 20, but life kept popping up. I started stressing myself out and my anxiety and health made it known.

Monday - I worked 4 hours of OT (because I was able to work remote that day). I also had a panic attack - my first real one versus just high anxiety in about 6 years. Not pleasant.

Tuesday - I worked 2 hours extra. I was fighting a cold and was also prepping for a last minute interview on Wednesday

Wednesday - My very flexible boss let me start work at 6am and end early so that I could go to physical therapy (for a reoccurring issue) and for a 2+ hour interview and still have an evening with my husband for Valentines day. He made steaks at home and it was so nice!

The interview was strange (its been a while) and stressful and I definitely feel that neither of us (the job nor me) were good fits with each other. Still - good practice!

Thursday - I had a horrendous day at work (high maintenance people). My husband was trying to help me and wanted to use a gift card for dinner out. I wasn't feeling my best, but thought getting out was a nice idea, so we had dinner out and when I came home, I couldn't force myself to do any overtime. At this point, I definitely had a cold or something.

Friday - My work announced a 3 hour paid early out for the holiday weekend. Payment of OT changes with this type of perk, so I was already sick and just said "for my health, I am abandoning any goals of OT for this week". My husband was happy to hear that. I was still sick, was able to get out of work at 12 and since I was to pick up my daughter from daycare in the afternoon, I chose to go to the movies.

Took 2.5 hours for myself and watched Black Panther. It was such a good movie!

Brought my daughter home after, my husband made dinner & I went to bed early.

Saturday - I spent the day on the couch or in bed sick. I still was feeling like it was more of a cold/bug than anything else, but I wasn't feeling any better.

Today, I woke up and it was like a truck hit me. I went to the urgent care up the street. An antibiotic and steroid later, my severe sinus and ear infections are being taken care of. $7.50 for copays for the meds. I will get a bill in the mail for the visit later.

Tonight, my husband is going with friends to see the same movie I saw on Friday. My daughter and I are having girls night. That means my behind is planted on the couch watching old episodes of Monk and my 2 year old is playing with some of her Little People toys. I broke out some resale ones I had bought at a deal and was saving for such an occasion. Hours of independent play for her!

Tomorrow is a bank holiday. Technically, we are off work. However, I will likely do a little OT - the only OT I will do this week though. I need to get healthy.

Still on for the job search - Work has given us access to a company that helps with the process and I was able to have my resume reviewed. I also am doing some webinars regarding personal branding, etc and am getting that resume out there!

My OT goal for Jan was 60 hours and I just eeked in and met it at the end of the month! Yay for me.

Jan 1 to Jan 8 - 22 hours OT
Jan 9 to Jan 15 – 15.13 hours OT
Jan 16 to Jan 22 – 11.43 hours OT
Jan 23 to Jan 27 – 8.73 hours OT
Jan 28 to Jan 31 – 2.97 hours OT

TOTAL JANUARY OT 60.26

Tomorrow is payday & I have already set up all the savings transfers. I have been tracking those savings - per this paycheck, MTD and YTD 2016. We (my husband & I) have made HUGE progress this year!

Category This Paycheck - MTD - YTD Savings

New Home
$1,212.10 This Paycheck
$2,034.44 MTD
$10,321.75 YTD

Efund
$13.51 This Paycheck
$13.51 MTD
$117.92 YTD

Slush
$0.00 This Paycheck
$0.00 MTD
$450.00 YTD

Home Upkeep
$0.00 This Paycheck
$50.00 MTD
$250.00 YTD

Medical
$115.00 This Paycheck
$115.00 MTD
$678.00 YTD

Auto Repairs
$0.00 This Paycheck
$13.00 MTD
$343.00 YTD

Vacation
$20.00 This Paycheck
$20.00 MTD
$50.00 YTD
Memberships
$13.00 This Paycheck
$13.00 MTD
$39.00 YTD

Personal Items
$5.00 This Paycheck
$25.00 MTD
$55.00 YTD

Gifts Fund
$0.00 This Paycheck
$60.00 MTD
$431.95 YTD

Nephew Svgs
$62.00 This Paycheck
$62.00 MTD
$239.02 YTD

Daughter Svgs
$10.00 This Paycheck
$10.00 MTD
$93.00 YTD

CASH SAVINGS:
$175.00 This Paycheck
$385.00 MTD
$815.00 YTD

TOTAL
$1,625.61 4/15 PAYCHECK
$2,800.90 MTD
$13,883.64 YTD

Lots of expenses.

Monday, we had a plumbing issue and called a plumber($561.81)

Tuesday, my car wouldn't start & my husband had to buy & install a new battery ($95.99)

While that was happening, because it was his late night, I chose to work from home and keep the baby with me as I might not have a car to pick her up from daycare.

He did get it installed & working (yay). However, by that way, we were smelling gas in the house. So made a call and 3 fire trucks, a fire marshall, and 2 power company guys later, it was determined that the idiot next door left an uncapped gasoline can on their deck and it was knocked over and got on the grass between our houses. Our basement windows let the fumes in & caused them to go all over the house through the vents.

My parents had to pick up the baby so that I could let the house air out. It's taken care of now.

Lastly, that night, the hot water heater wasn't working because although it was electric & not gas, they had turned it off & didn't turn it bac on.

I was noticing my older cat (almost 15 years old) was having more issues walking. She has lost a dramaatic amount of weight in the last few weeks.

So I made an appointment at the vet for yesterday (Wednesday) where we determined she was incredibly ill and because it was more humane, we put her down. I was with her through the end and cried like a baby. But it was the right thing to do. We are having her creamated. ($374.85 vet bill).

So LOTS of sad, frustrating, riduculous things happened this week. Some costly to the wallet and some costly to my emotions.

But we have made it through and I will be utilizing OT to cover those costs!

Even though its not the end of the month, exactly, all my budget has been allocated for this month.

Any cash I have left from my carrying around/entertainment budget will get thrown into my change jar.

Funds for these savings come from salary, overtime, FB sales, etc. The amounts were how much was added, not what the total in the savings account is.

New Home Fund +$1,351.64
Baby Fund (for future expenses) +$50.00
EFund +$29.38
Home Upkeep Fund +$50.00
Medical +15.00
Automobile +$180.00
Vacation Fund +$10.00
Membership Fee +$13.00
Clothing Sinking Fund +$5.00
2016 Gifts Fund +$75.00
Baby's Savings (will be starting 529 or something soon) +$50.00
Nephew Savings (for school/car) +$14.37
Cash Savings: $146

TOTAL $1,989.39 YAY Overtime!

I was paid yesterday and able to send quite a bit to saivngs/goals:

CC entertainment payoff $155
Gift savings $60
Clothes savings $5
EF savings $15
Car Savings $200
New Home Fund $935
House Slush Fund $130



Mini Goals through 4/30 Status:
Goal #1: Pay off extra entertainment splurge on credit card $155 – COMPLETED
Goal #2: Car Savings: $343 added by 4/30 $200/$343
Goal #3: Medical Savings: $493 added by 4/30 $0/$493
Goal #4: Nephew Savings $486 added by 4/30 $0/$486
Goal #5: EFund Savings: $936 added by 4/30 $0/$936
Goal #6 New Home Fund: $10,334 added by 4/30 $935/$10,334

Currently, my office has unlimited OT and with the baby being soooo good. I am able to put quite a bit of time in in the evenings and on the weekends. I am lucky to be able to work overtime from home, which makes this possible.

My husband & I want to move/sell the house around April/May, so I am pushing to meet a lot of different goals using overtime plus my already budgeted amount per month.

These mini goals (all dependent on OT) are as follows. These are all stretch goals, but meeting as many of them as possible is a fun goal!

1.Pay off extra entertainment splurge on credit card $155

2.Car Savings - $80 (4 months of $20/mo automatic savings) plus $263 in OT [To meet goal of $500 by April 30th]

3.Medical Savings - $60 (4 months of $15/mo automatic savings) plus $433 in OT [To meet goal of $500 by April 30th]

4.Nephew Savings - $0 auto savings plus $486 in OT [To meet goal of $1000 by April 30th]

5.Emergency Fund - $60 (4 months of $15/mo automatic savings) plus $876 in OT [To meet goal of $1000 by April 30th]

6.New Home Fund – Auto Savings Total of $2345 plus $600 from extra paycheck plus $7389 in OT [To meet goal of $20,000 by April 30th}. ***We have additional home savings outside of this***


With Friday's Paycheck (overtime plus any automatic savings), I will:

1. Put $155 to the entertainment spending - MEETING THAT GOAL

2. Put $200 to the auto savings fund ($180 OT plus $20 auto savings)

3. Put $935 to New Home Fund ($600 OT plus $335 budgeted auto savings).

Great start!!

I have 31 hours of Overtime in this paycheck. I am happy to say that it increases my 401k contribution by $222.21 and increases the company match by $95.24. This is an extra $317 towards the 401k!

I met my gifts/Christmas budget goal for 2015 and have started on 2016.

For the 2015 budget, the funds were made up of automatic savings of $60 per month, small amounts of cashflow and some from alternative income.

2015's alterative income has included:

$10 from Gyft
$350.69 Credit card rewards
$36.23 Ebates
$76 Chang jar
$20 Bing Rewards
$10 MyCokeRewards
$28.35 Settlement check
$49 insurance reimbursement
$40 inbox dollars
$25 Mypoints

TOTAL $645.27

Can't beat that!

Any further extra money is going to my 2016 Gifts/Christmas fund.

So far, I have:

1365 My Points (Goal 3500-3700)
332 Bing Rewards (Goal 475 for next $5 AGC)
2420 Recyclebank points (no goal exactly)
$10.20 Inbox Dollars (GOAL $30)
1572 Mycokerewards (Goal 1400 for $20 gc)
$6.61 Shopathome
$6.31 Ebates

My Oct, Nov & Dec's auto budget ($60/mo) is going directly into the 2016 fund for a nice jump start. I already had set aside some overtime funds as well. More family to buy for with all the new kiddos (my new little one, my sister-in-law's new baby, etc)

I will say it again, I am so lucky to have overtime available to me, even in my new promotion. I am also incredibly lucky to be able to set the OT hours as I want and to be able to work from home while doing it!

That being said, last week, I went a bit overboard doing OT - I worked 64.5 hours between Monday through Sunday.

The whole overtime amount of that will go right into my 2016 gifts fund, which will be mostly covered at that point.

The next OT goals that I have are 3 hours of OT for the maternity purchases I made and 30 hours of OT towards upcoming home repairs/upgrades (mostly -painting).

After that, I will likely be done with OT as its getting close to baby time!

In addition to my promotion/pay increase in April, I increased my 401k Contributions to 14% last month. Since then, I have been playing with my 401k #s!

I love getting OT – it not only increases my net income, but it increases my 401k contributions and company match.


$3506.67 contributed YTD in 2015
$1753.36 Company Match YTD in 2015

$5260.03 TOTAL Contributions/Match YTD in 2015

Then I tracked how much just base pay would have me end the year with:

$8192.25 total added between today and EOY 2015 (my contribution and Company Match)

Bringing me to:
$13,452.28 Total Jan-Dec 2015 Contribution without any further OT


I decided to set an OT stretch goal to get my 401k contributions to increase my personal 401k contribution by another $800 in 2015. It’s not much as I will have no opportunity for OT during my maternity leave (estimated late Aug to late Nov) and will not likely have much/any in Nov/Dec.

With the goal of contributing another $800 in OT 401k contributions, that will translate into another $357 in Company Matching for OT contributions.

This will bring my stretch goal via OT to an additional $1190.44 for 2015!

I have been working as much overtime as my pregnant body will allow. I am incredibly lucky that I can work OT at home, in my pjs and during any hours that I feel able to.
I determined that I need 31.5 hours of OT to net the amount needed to repay myself for the DSLR camera I just purchased. I am currently at 28.5 and only need 3 more hours, which will be completed by tomorrow.

After that, I have a few frivolous overtime goals:
11 hours of Cushion during Maternity Leave
5 hours for Mani/Pedis - I USUALLY do these myself all summer long, but my ever-expanding stomach gets in the way these days!
7 hours of OT for my Nephew's Savings Fund. He starts high school in the fall & I want to get a HUGE jump on it
Additionally, I am on schedule to pay off my last Credit Card before the baby comes. It sits at 0% and is accruing no interest. If I need to, I can use OT to pay this off instead.

I ended up spluring on a Nikon DSLR camera. I found an awesome deal, with an upgraded lens and accessories. I utilized a rewards credit card and will be able to cash flow the purchase before it even bills.

I am paying it off with Overtime Hours.

I calculated how much I net per each hour of overtime. To pay myself for this camera, I need to work 31.5 hours of overtime.

In today's paycheck, I had 11.5 OT hours that went to the camera balance.

Monday, I worked 4 hours of OT
Tuesday, I worked 3 hours of OT
Thursday, I worked 1 hour of OT

Total OT I have completed towards this goal: 19.5

This weekend, I will put in at least 5-7 hours of OT between Friday & Sunday.

Total OT to the goal at the end of this week: 24.5 to 26.5

Next week, I will need to have to do at least 5-7 hours of OT.

I have been incredibly lucky to

1. Have overtime this year up to 15 hours per week (until unlimited OT was announced this week)

2. Have the ability to work that overtime from home (makes it MUCH less stressful!)

As of my last paycheck, I have worked 234.07 hours of overtime year to date

Last week, I worked an additional 5.25 hours.

This week, I am committed to working 15 hours, but with unlimited overtime, I am hoping to make it 25. I worked 5.5 hours of OT last night and will be working 6 hours tonight.

Given that my husband & I are going to be filing taxes together for the first time, I have been very aware of my income and where that puts us in regards to tax rates.

However, I have had so many people tell me that I shouldn't work OT because its not worth it because of the extra taxes. I have heard the debates back & forth on that topic... but my OT has only benefitted us.

Feel free to share you thoughts

I haven’t posted in a few days because things have been crazy. I worked a total of 17.5 hours of overtime last week and I’ll have completed 9.25 hours this week.

After today, I will no longer be overtime eligible. I start my new position at work tomorrow (the beginning of the new pay period). I’m a bit nervous about starting in the new department, but hopefully it won’t be too bad

I would have worked more OT this week, but I’m fighting being sick. I actually went to bed at 9:45 last night. I’m taking vitamins and Sudafed, so hopefully I won’t get too sick.

I packed all my meals for work or made them at home up until today. I’m planning lunch out with some of my coworkers since I’m leaving the department. And then tonight a bunch of us are heading out to the local bar. I chose it since it has cheap drinks, which I’m limiting to 2 for tonight.

We got paid today, and I received $529.00 in overtime. I am going to put some aside for expected yearly expenses such as my HOA fee (75.00/year), sewer bill (estimated 170.00/year), $20.00 towards Thanksgiving and the rest towards Christmas and a few home projects that I've been putting off. I have funds in my savings for these expenses, but I decided I’d rather keep that money in my savings for the upcoming year.

I am going to purchase closet shelves/poles for the 2 closets in my spare bedroom. I have a friend of a friend who is looking for a new place to rent. I’ve met the guy several times and like him a lot. It’s a bit of a hike from my house to his work, so I don’t know how beneficial that would be for him, but we’re going to meet on Sunday to talk it over and so he can see the house. Which means that I need to clean up on Saturday!

On the Christmas front, I’ve finished shopping for everyone, but my two best friends. They’re the hardest to shop for, but I’m sure I’ll think of something. I’ve utilized several gift certificates and online specials and have gotten several gifts for free. To date, I’ve bought presents valued at $215.27, but only spent $152.34.

I just have the 2 people left on my list. Plus a hostess gift for a Holiday party and some small gifts (I’m thinking baked goods) for my 2 good work friends. I’m staying WAY within budget and any extra funds will just go back into savings towards Christmas 2008.


I’m still trying to stay in ‘Super Frugal’ mode. I plan on putting the Overtime in my last 2 paychecks (an estimate of $500.00 total) towards my student loan, just to be able to end on a good note for the year. As of January, I’ll be looking for alternate sources of income. Part-time job, roommate, ect. I plan on sitting down and making financial goals for 2008 soon, can’t wait to share those!

Since I’ve been tracking every cent of spending this year from January 1st on, I was able to easily track how much I’ve spent in Medical expenses this year. Then I estimated what I’d be spending now through December. I came up with an obscene (at least to me) amount……. $968.99 !!

I need to not be so expensive. Geeze. I know a majority of the expense is my main prescription, which is $132.00 quarterly. But still. What have I been doing? Well, there’s been dentist appointments, sick visits, prescriptions, eye doctor appointment, gyno appointment and over the counter meds. But geeze! I can’t imagine what it’d be without insurance.

Anyway, I’ve decided to go ahead with the Health Savings Account through my work. They take the money out of my account pre-tax. I get a debit card to use from the account. All of which seems easy to use.

Now to figure the amount out. Now I know what I’ve spent this year, with nothing out of the ordinary. I’m set on contacts, but in the upcoming year, I’ll need new glasses. Actually, I need them now, but I want to wait until my annual appointment before investing in a new pair. Just in case my prescription changes. Which it better not, or those contacts will be useless.

I also don’t want to put too much into the account & then have a lot leftover in my account. At least the IRS allows us to go 3 months into the next year to use up any balance left in the account. So I’m figured that I’m going to estimate that I’ll be spending about 1000.00 next year. Well, really I’m figuring that it’ll probably be closure to $1100.00 with the glasses, but I want a little wiggle room until I’m comfortable with the account.

I currently have budget 82.00/month for medical. And the out of paycheck would be roughly 82/month. According to my benefits website estimator, I’ll be saving $326.50 in Federal & FICA tax savings. Which sounds good to me.

So I’ll be enrolling tomorrow. Whew. That was tough.



In other news,I had a no spend day on Monday and today. Also, the Breast Cancer benefit went really well. I had a few drinks, got a bit generous and ended up spending/donating $38.00 total instead of my planned $15-20 amount. But hey, it went to a great cause.

I have several things coming up in the next few weeks. On Sunday, I’m treating my sister & my nephew to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair. Tickets for the 3 of us will cost roughly $90.00. Then I’ll need some spending money. But it’ll be worth it. I really liked the PA Ren Fair as a kid and I know that my nephew will LOVE it.

I have set aside $100.00 towards my Halloween party. And roughly $200.00 towards my vacation week. I want to set aside a few extra bucks, but I’ll be waiting until my 10/30 pay check to use those funds. Which is halfway through my vacation, but works out just fine.

I get paid on the 15th and I’ll be sending 413.00 towards my Student loan. It’s a bit lower than the $500.00 per paycheck than I wanted, but I actually ended up doing a little less overtime than I expected and I’ve recognized that I’m getting a little burnt out on the overtime. So now I’ve rethought my goal and I’ve lowered it to $400.00 per paycheck. Which is still a VERY substantial amount.

So in conclusion, today I’ve made a couple of big decisions. And I feel good about them

Today is my only day off this week. I worked about 10 hours of OT last week. Not a lot, but I really needed the break last week. I could feel myself getting run down. So tomorrow I’ll be working 9am to 4pm (7 hours) and my goal is to get 3.5 hours of overtime Tuesday through Friday. We’ll see how it goes.

I interviewed for that Quality job on Tuesday. I don’t know how many people I’m up against, but I think it went well. We’ll see. And if I don’t get it, I’m content where I am and as long as there’s overtime, I’m financially comfortable. I’ll be keeping an eye out for jobs though, either in or outside of the company.

Today, the temp was in the high 80s. I kept the A/C off and the fan running. I organized my pantry to take stock of what I had in there. Then I did laundry, cleaned the basement and started putting out some fall decorations. It was pretty funny to be putting out Fall & Halloween stuff while in a tank top and shorts 

I called Comcast today because my promo rate was ending and the rep told me that it was actually not ending until December. I thought I had a 12 month promo, but apparently its 14 months. So my whole speech that I had prepared was for nothing. I’ll shelve it for later.

I made a meal plan for the week and prepped some food for tomorrow & Tuesday. Here’s the Meal plan (which can be switched around as needed).

Monday:
Lunch: Salad with chicken, Tuna on honey wheat wrap
Dinner: Barilla Plus pasta with hunts mushroom sauce, sautéed veggies & ground beef

Tuesday:
Lunch: Pasta salad with Turkey Pepperoni
Dinner: Meatloaf Muffin and baked fries

Wednesday:
Lunch: Tuna on honey wheat wrap
Dinner: Sloppy joe over no-yolk egg noodles

Thursday:
Lunch: Chicken strips and Honey mustard Pita
Dinner: Turkey bacon BLT

Friday:
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich
Dinner: Shake n bake chicken

Saturday:
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Taco Salad

Sunday: To be determined

Well, I’m feeling regret over all my purchases, but still I’m going to be using everything that I bought. So now I’m in Buckle-down mode. I am making a meal plan for this week. I already packed all my food for today: Breakfast is a banana and Rice Chex. Lunch is more snacky, than a real lunch, but I’m having strawberries, a banana, a hardboiled egg and one hard boiled egg white. Snack is popcorn. Dinner is Turkey Sloppy Joe over whole wheat no yolk egg noodles. This is one of my favorite meals, so YUMMY J If I get hungry at any point after dinner, I have instant oatmeal to snack on.

I’m working on Christmas stuff. Some of my friends/family are hard to shop for, but I want to get it all done by the end of this month. I have a $25.00 amazon gift certificate to put towards it and I’m requesting another $25.00 gift card from my points. I have $400.00 in my Christmas fund budget and I am planning to add another $100.00 towards it for a tree and outdoor decorations, which I didn’t have much of last year.

This month marks my 1 year anniversary in the house and I have to say I’m still loving it !!! I am looking forward to the winter. I love bundling up under a mound of covers J

In other news, I’m going to have to be making some big decisions soon about work. I love what I’m doing, but the job itself is getting tedious. I love the unlimited overtime, but I really don’t know how long that’s going to last. Anyway, a quality position opened up with means going to an Exempt status (which means no OT). There are some trade offs, such as 4 weeks of vacation. I think it comes with a raise, but now sure of the dollar amount. I would need it to at least match the 10% shift differential that I’m currently getting, plus a bit more. The main benefit would be the possibility for further advancement. Hopefully it’ll lead me to higher positions.

My manager asked me to apply, and I did. I have an interview today. If I get the position, I’m really going to have to punch down my budget. I’ve gotten a bit sloppy, knowing the overtime will carry me if I go over budget in some categories, like groceries and eating out. We’ll see how it goes.

Payday is Friday. My work put the checks up online, so I was able to see that my overtime hours added up to $814.00. I plan on putting $614 towards the student loan. I am saving $100.00 towards a Halloween party that I'm throwing next month. I am also saving $100.00 towards my nephew's birthday gift. I am giving money towards his karate lessons.

I am still doing the OT, although I'm getting burnt out. I'm packing most of my lunches, but I have been lax about getting some snacks here and there. So I'm really going to work on not buying any snacks or drinks.

In other news, we have a work outing on Thursday, which means free lunch! I don't know from where yet though.

I plan on talking a bit about my sister and nephew's financial situation, but I'll save that for another time.

In other news, my parents went to London this week to visit my uncle. I miss them and I am HORRIBLY jealous that I didn't go with them. But I've made myself a goal. Once I'm completely out of student loan debt (both loans), then I'll start saving for a trip to London. I went when I was a teenager and I can't wait to go as an adult

I've been really busy lately. Not spending a lot, which is always good. I've been spending a lot of family & friend time. I'm still packing lunches, but eating out every once in awhile (out of my entertainment budget).

I was paid on Friday & mailed an extra $500.00 payment to my student loan (right on schedule.

Yesterday, work had a celebration for a company acheivement. I was able to pick up a free soda & tee-shirt. I stayed away from the cake though

Still working lots of overtime, but it is starting to wear on me. I maybe rethinking some of this OT soon. We'll see.

I went to my Weight Watchers Meeting yesterday & I've lost another 1.6 pounds! Its real slow going cause I'm fighting several medications, but I'll take every bit of loss that I can get In my enthusiasm for the new eating lifestyle, I've bee SERIOUSLY overspending in groceries.

Plus, this weekend, I did my usual WalMart trip that I do every 2 months or so. I spent $80.00 and not all of the things were necessary items. I really stocked up because there's not another SuperWalmart closer to me & this trip should last me a few months.

At my WW meeting, the leader asked us to make specific, positive goals to accomplish between now & year end. I've come up with 3 of those goals for WW and I decided to do the same for financial goals. So here they are:

WW:
1. Lose 20lbs from now and Dec 31st
2. Exercise consistantly each week
3. Make one new change to eating habits each week

Financial:
1. Bring balance on Student Loan #1 under $5,000.00 by Dec 31st (current balance is $9434.56). I will accomplish this by doing at least 36 hours of overtime per pay cycle).
2. Have an average of 12 no spend days per month
3. Continuously work to keep electric/gas bill under budget each month

These are some agressive, but obtainable goals, but I can do it!

- No overtime this week since I was sick, but I'm feeling MUCH better now
-Packed my food for the week, but did buy bottled water one day and a soft pretzel the next. Normally, I have a cup at work for water, but I took it home to put in the dishwasher & forgot it.
-Today was payday- I paid my electric, water, amex, cell phone, cable and student loan
-I was able to sent a total of $730.00 extra to my student loan!
-They announced overtime was extended through September at work, which is AWESOME!
-I have some new savings goals that I need to think about. My friends and I are thinking about renting a house for a week in the Outer Banks next year and I need to plan for some new clothes once I reach my goal weight (I have a while to go)
-And by the way, I lost 1 lb this week (slow but steady wins the race!)

I was sick over the weekend, ended up not going into work on Monday for overtime and then I called off work yesterday. Since I called off work, if I did any overtime this week, I’d only get paid regular time. So there will be no OT this week. Which isn’t so bad, since I’m still not back to 100% I got pretty much nothing accomplished on my time off, but I did manage to pack lunch for work today.

My Electric bill was 77.21! I’m putting the overage from the budgeted amount of 120.00 towards my student loan.

And being sick helped me gain 3 no spend days for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So I’ve made it to my goal of 13 no spend days for the month! And today will be number 14!

I am going to be able to put at least $700.00 towards the student loan this paycheck. With the previous $400.00 I put towards it, I’ll have surpassed my $1,000.00 a month towards this loan! YAY!

I’m still doing the weight watchers and its been slow, but steady loss. I got off the exercise track while being sick & I’m still feeling low, so I won’t do anything tonight. But starting tomorrow, I’m going to have a steady exercise routine in place.

I need to update my numbers both in my personal tracking as well as this site, but its at the back of my to-do list right now. I'm behind on a lot of things.

I'm fighting off a cold & its not fun. The non-stop rain isn't helping, neither are the many coworkers who cough & sneeze all day around me. But I'm holding on

I'm planning to work about 14 hours of OT this week. Its a little less than normal, but I switched my day off from Monday to Saturday so I could attend a birthday party. So Between Monday & Friday, I'll get 14 hours in, which is still awesome.

I did some unexpected spending over the weekend, but I'm holding strong now. Yesterday was a no spend today. Today may or may not be the same. It depends on if I stop at the store on the way home for some vitamin C. We'll see

I didn't get a chance to do my meal planning for the week, but I am planning on packing my food again for tomorrow.

Yesterday I brought food for work, but still bought a soft pretzel because I was extra hungry. I also gave $5.00 towards a gift for a coworkers baby shower. Then I grabbed some groceries --- normal stuff, plus veggies, cheese & pepperoni to make pasta salad for the shower. So yesterday was a spendy day, but all planned, except for the pretzel.

Today is a no spender, I brought breakfast, lunch & dinner. I'm making that pasta salad tonight after work.

Tomorrow I'm packing breakfast & a snack, but lunch will be covered by the food at the shower.

Tomorrow night, I have a friend coming over. We'll be making dinner and watching a movie. Yummy.

I'm doing a lot of stuff tomorrow, but it'll still be a no spend day if I can help it

Overtime update-So far I've worked 14.5 hours of ot this week. I'm aiming for over 20. Definately attainable.

-I made a financial goal of tracking all of my spending from for the whole year. I've kept up with the tracking and its actually gotten pretty easy. Its crazy to see some of the numbers for catagories. Once the year is ending, I'm going to reevaluate my catagories.

-I counted up all my overtime hours from January 1st through last week... 316 hours! Plus 18.5 that I'm working towards for this week. My goal is to get 20 hours a week for the next three weeks.

-Just a few updates for today: I worked 7am to 8pm, with a trip to the library on my lunchbreak. Today was a no spender. I packed my breakfast, lunch & dinner. I already have tomorrow's food planned. When I get home tonight, I'm going to take a quick walk, then make the food, then veg in front of the tv for awhile.

I recieved a $24.67 cash back credit on my Amex card! I use it for gas, so that'll go to my next purchase.

I truly enjoyed my short time off. With all the OT I've been doing, I haven't had a decent amount of downtime in a very long time. I did little spending, lots of relaxing and nothing that I needed to do around the house, other than mow the lawn.

My goal this upcoming weekend is to plan most of my Christmas shopping. Over the weekend, I recieved an unexpected $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com from my Amazon Chase card. I had put the air conditioning bill on it, then paid it off immediately, but apparently it earned the gift certificate anyway! I'm going to put 1/2 of the g.c. towards a book that I've been dying to get and 1/2 towards a Christmas gift. Plus, I have a $5.00 off coupon from purchasing my Harry Potter book through Amazon. I'm also eligible for another $25.00 gift card from my points which I'll use for a gift. The rest of my Christmas money is already in savings.

I kept my A/C on all weekend, but at a higher temp most of the day, utilizing the fan & being downstairs in the day. At night, I turned the temp down a little more so that I could sleep comfortably. There's a lot of humidity right now & its messing with my sinuses.

I've been doing pretty good money-wise. I just sent off another $284.54 as an extra payment to Student Loan #1. I get paid again on the 15th and the check will include 41.5 hours of overtime, all of which, minus my weightwatchers fee and an unplanned gift expense of $43.00, will go to the loan.

My hair dryer, that was already on my list of things to replace, completely broke last night, so I"m going to buy one today. I have the cash for that earmarked in my personal items catagory in my budget.

This week I'm working between 16 & 18 hours of overtime between Tuesday & Saturday. All of which will go directly to that loan.

I've been listening to Dave Ramsey again & all I want to do is to pay this student loan debt off. I really can't wait!

On a side note: I lost 2 pounds this week! For a total of 6.8 pounds.

My goal for this week is pack my lunch every day. I spent 55 cents on a soft pretzel today & I'm picking up some veggies from the grocery store, but I am hoping to make Wednesday through Saturday no spend days.

Today work has been going SOOOOO slow! Its because I'm taking vacation days for tomorrow & Saturday, making a 4 day weekend out of it. I usually work on Monday, my day off, but I'm staying home that day too. I'm not going anywhere, but plan to veg tomorrow & get some stuff done over the weekend, ending with yet another veg day on Monday!

This week, I managed to add 18.5 hours of overtime into my week. I brought lunch to work yesterday, as well as dinner, but when I took out my bread to make a pb&j sandwich, I found mold on the bread.... Ewwww! So I ended up buying a salad & soft pretzel from the work cafe for $3.09. Since I'd already spent that day, I did grocery shopping after work, picking up a few 'treats' to enjoy this weekend.

I packed my food today- A banana and strawberries & cream for breakfast, a big salad for lunch, sloppy joe & green beans for dinner. And a few snacks in between.

Tonight after work, I'm heading out to a local bar for a few drinks. We call it The Pub. Its a bit of a dive, but we know the bartender and the drinks are cheap. My goal is to only spend less than $15.00. I'd REALLY like it if I spent less than $10.00, but I think I might buy the guys a beer. They got me last time.

So tomorrow is going to be a no spender. I'm planning on staying in, making some of my favorite meals, enjoying some fresh fruit & ice cream for snacks. I have several movies from the library, as well as a few movies from my own video collection that I wouldn't mind watching again.

Enjoy your weekend everybody, I'll probably be MIA for a few days, since my internet at home has been spotty.

Some quick updates:
-I made my 12 no spend days for the month!
-I ended up working 20.5 hours of overtime last week
-Yesterday, I bought 4 deoderants, 1 V05 shampoo and 1 conditioner, and 3 Aquafresh toothpastes for 8.33 (or 88 cents each)
-Today, I bought hair products with a gift card to the local pharmacy
-I'm looking for another prescription transfer offer to another pharmacy to get some kind of incentive gift card. Every little bit helps
-I worked 6 hours of overtime today
-I put my car back in the shop because of the check engine light coming back on. Total cost was $135.59.
-My overtime goal for this week is to do 16 hours between now & Thursday. I have vacation time for Friday & Saturday. I plan on using the 4 day weekend as a mini vacation. I'm not going anywhere, but I am going to get some much needed rest.
-I lost another pound this week. I'm down 4.8 lbs so far!

And one random thought---does anybody else get annoyed at those Visa commercials where everyone is paying with their debit card & its going smoothly, then everything grinds to a halt when one guy wants to pay cash? I can't stand those commercials. Which is ironic, because I use my debit card more than cash