HouseHappy's Personal Finance Blog

They have clarified some things in our work dress code. We have always been business casual during the week & allowed jeans on Friday. During the summer, they gave us Flip Flop Fridays.

Well now we have no more flip flops and they are cracking down on the dress code. This is because people are abusing it. Thanks coworkers... a few jerks ruin a good thing for all.

Anyway, I've always been able to wear solid colored fitted tops with my dress pants and khakis to work. Now, because of a very LITERAL interpretation of the 'no t-shirts rule', I can no longer wear these very clean cut, professional looking tops. Because they are technically t-shirts if they do not have additional details (cap sleeves, decorative necklines, ect). I find this ironic because the tops that now fit my dress code are actually LESS professional than these tops.

And it stinks because about 60% of the tops in my wardrobe are NO longer work appropriate. I am going to have to stretch my wardrobe though - because I am on a clothing spending break. This should be fun! Thank goodness sweater weather is fast approaching.

As for the weekend, I have a happy hour today & my nephew's baseball game tomorrow. I was invited to go with my sister to the Renaissance fair on Sunday, but I just don't have the money right now. So instead, I am planning a relaxing weekend around the house.

I'm working a personal Lunch Challange for September. My goal was to pack my breakfast/lunch/snacks all month with 2 exception.

I used the first exception on Sept 1st for a soft pretzel ($.55) and the second today for a bottle of water & a pretzel ($1.90). I forgot my reusable water bottle as I took it home Friday to watch. I will NOT be forgetting it for tomorrow! lol

Additional spending for today - I will be stopping by Acme for some lettuce & some ground turkey if it is on sale. Other than that, no extra spending.

I am passing on my weekly pub night with friends as I saw most of them yesterday at a friend's bbq. I plan on spending the time getting my bedroom cleaned & organized.

Today's 5 (Well, really 6) Things (to get done)
1. Library
2. grocery store
3. clean bedroom, dust & vacuum
4. pack food for tomorrow
5. call for wellness appointment by phone
6. pay electric bill - locked myself out & need to reset my password from my home email account

Today was a no spender. I went for a walk at a local park (free) and went to a friend's bbq. I already had the veggies & dip ready to go.

I am continuing my lunch challenge in Sept. and I've already packed food/drink for work tomorrow. I'm hoping for another no spender!

Well, thanks to all the physical yard work yesterday, I woke up with a VERY sore back. I'm taking some anti-inflammatory meds and trying to walk around to loosen up the muscles

Well, today will be a day of rest instead of a day of cleaning cause there's no way I'm going to be able to handle picking up stuff for scrubbing the bathtub.

I went to the farmer's market & got some veggies. Other than that, there is no spending for today. I am heading to my sisters for a bbq.

My cash envelope totals are now as follows:

House Stuff - $0 bought items on Friday
Groceries - $25.52
Entertainment- $31.13

Tomorrow, will be a no spender as well. The only thing I have planned is another bbq at a friends and I already have the items needed for veggies & dip.

I planned today to be a yard work day as I just borrowed my dad's weed whacker and hedge trimmer. The temperature has lowered significantly & I was able to open up the windows and turn off the a/c. I woke up on my own this morning (as opposed to an alarm) and was outside in the yard by 9:15 am.

So today, I:

-Mowed the lawn
-Weed whacked around deck and air conditioning unit
-Weed whacked walkway in backyard
-Raked and bagged the yard
-Cleared the deck of debris blown onto it.
-Trimmed shrub in front of my house. This was a BIG task as 1/2 of the bush is dead on the inside. Its not the prettiest now, but I need to borrow a saw from my dad to get rid of the bigger dead branches.
-Weed whacked grass growing in crack in driveway.
-Bagged up all trimmings (4 full bags full).
-Piled all the yard waste into the car, as well as my 2 big tomato planters full of dirt and dead plants. -Took it all to the free yard waste disposal site.
-When I got home, I vacuumed out the car VERY well.
-I took the hose & rinsed out all planters that are now empty
-Did 2 loads of laundry.

And that was by 1pm.

Then I:
-made lunch
-made jello shots for a BBQ tomorrow
-unloaded the dishwasher
-cleaned the kitchen
-vacuumed and mopped the floor
-polished the kitchen table
-watered the plants

I have a few more things on my to-do list, but I made myself a nice margarita first & sat down to take a break

The rest of my list is to:

-replant a plant (DONE)
-bring up last load of laundry
-clean the living room (DONE)
-vacuum and dust the living room (DONE)
-take cleaned out planters to the basement now that they are dry (DONE)
-vacuum upstairs bathroom floor (DONE)
-take a shower (DONE)
-make a yummy dinner
-PLOP MYSELF ON THE COUCH, watch some movies and/or read a book. No other work for the rest of the night. Even though my bedroom is a mess and so is the upstairs bathroom. That could be tackled tomorrow.

At least I knocked off a TON of stuff of my to-do list! hee-hee

$2.02 for limes for Margarita Girls Night In
$17.98 tequila for the margaritas plus vodka for the jello shots I am bringing to a party this weekend.

Not too shabby... but I had to pare down the grocery budget even more to cover it! lol.

Well, I packed food 99.99% today as I bought a soft pretzel. I will be getting rid of that habit starting tomorrow Breakfast, lunch & snacks are already packed for tomorrow.

Today, I worked 7:30 to 4pm. Then I stopped by Joann Fabrics and picked up jeans patches. Unfortunately, my favorite jeans got worn in the inner thigh, so I used the $2.99 iron on patches and tried them out. Worked ok although they weren't an exact match. I'm just hoping to get the jeans through the next month or so of weight loss, when I have slightly smaller jeans that will work just fine.

I ate dinner at home & then met my parents at the movies to see Piranha 3D. My dad & I share a love of cheesy, over the top horror movies - the more crudeness the better. My mom was not as thrilled as we were, but we all had fun. $12.25 ticket.

My parents also followed me back to my house and dropped off a weed whacker and electric hedge trimmer that I asked to borrow. I am planning on taking care of the yard this weekend. I have a very small lot and can get around doing major yard maintenance too frequently. As long as my parents don't mind sharing, I see no point in buying those items myself.

Tomorrow, I am having some girls over for girls night in. We plan on making margaritas. My buddies are bringing stuff to make nachos and I am picking up some tequila and supplying the margarita mix. We should have a blast!


Today's spending:
$0.55 pretzel (from spare change in desk)
$12.25 3D movie ticket

Cash Envelope Balances:
Groceries: Start $110/ Current $64.82
Entertainment: Start $65/Current $43.90
House/Lowes: $40 plus coupon
Kitty Litter: $10

Welcome to September! I'm looking forward to cooler weather where I can keep my windows open and not run A/C and therefore save some money. Unfortunatley that isn't happening this week. Its in the mid to high 90s here.

Yesterday was payday, I spent 8.85 on pub night with friends (entertainment budget) and $42.19 at the grocery store to get most of my staples for this pay period (thru the 15th).

I have been working hard to make my money work for me. I paid some bills - bought gas, paid cell phone, car insurance and my cable bill with my Old Navy cc. They are doing triple rewards points and that plus the balance I already had, will yield me a $10 gc. Which I will use with another gc I already have to get some fall pants I am paying the cc off as soon as the charges post to the account, which will leave a $0 balance.

I also reduced my 401k contribution (while still keeping the company match) and all that extra amount is going straight to my credit cards.

I have lowered my entertainment budget to $65 per pay period and my grocery budget is $110 for this pay period and about $70 for my next pay period. I am going to work extra hard to stay within these budgets.

I also have finagled $40 in funds to use with a $10 off $50 coupon for Lowes. I need a new basement window cover, some weather stripping, carpet tape & CFL bulbs. And purchasing all at once will save me $10

I an reinstituting my Lunch Challange for myself for September. I went off plan a little at the end of August and really want to be back on track. So my goal for Sept is to pack breakfast, lunch, & snacks 100% with 2 exceptions for the month. One exception is today where I bought a 0.55 pretzel.

I would like to state that I don't mind the lunch challange because 1. I save money 2. Its easier to stay on my WW plan and 3. I'd rather spend disposable funds on being social

Finally, I plan on lowering my gym plan from 19.99/month to $10 a month. I can switch on the 24th of Sept and already have it on my calander. I also am returning a cable box that I have in my bedroom. Promo ran out & returning it will save me $9/month.

Cash Envelope Balances:
Groceries: Start $110/ Current $67.81
Entertainment: Start $65/Current $56.15
House/Lowes: $40 plus coupon
Kitty Litter: $10

Well, this weekend was busy. In addition to all the social activities that I had planned - picnic Sat & BBQ Sunday, I also managed to get some things done around the house.

I also want to share that I went to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with life actors, yelling things at the screen and throwing toast. Its a weekly tradition for years at a small movie theater near the university. I have never gone, but impulsively, a friend & I decided to go.

Paid $5.25 for the ticket, $1 for a bag of goodies to throw and $2.00 for a drink. There was lots of audience participation, weirdos to watch and general craziness. Very fun and unique experience.

Sunday, I did some cleaning and yard work. Managed to pull up some weeks in between my deck & my neighbors. I let it get out of hand this year. Ended up with several bags of yard waste, which I promptly took to the yard waste drop site (Free). By state law, I would have to have paid extra to have yard waste picked up by my garbage company. Dropping off is free, but messy. So now I need to vacuum out the trunk of my car

This week will be busy. I have scheduled at least 4 days this week of working out/walking. I have plans to see a movie with my dad, go to my weekly pub night and have a girls night in with an old friend. And all of that is BEFORE next weekend starts!

I packed lunch today, breakfast & snacks. I'm hoping today will be a no spender.

And I am going back to my 5 Things list. To recap, I always have a large TO-DO list going. It seems never ending, so I have determined that getting just 5 things done of the list is an accomplishment and managable

Today's 5 Things:

1. MAke call to wellness program for a free 'session'
2. Finalize budget for payday. This includes a grocery budget and meal plan
3. Change sheets on bed
4. WAlk or hit the gym depending on weather
5. Pack food for Tuesday, eat dinner at home.

I haven’t been around much this weekend, but I have been checking out everyone’s posts!

This week, I stayed on plan with my August Lunch Challenge. I have stayed on plan with my weight loss and exercise plans. And actually, the extra activity has helped with me spending less for entertainment/eating out.

Monday – I worked 7:30-4, then walked 4.75 miles with a friend near the University – FREE

Tuesday – I worked 7:30-4, then went to the gym for strength training – Paid subscription to gym

Wednesday – I worked 7:30-4, then went to the grocery store & home (no unplanned spending)

Thursday – I worked 7:30-4, then walked 2.9 miles at the local reservoir. Was supposed to meet a friend, but he got stuck at work – FREE

Friday – I work 7:30-3, then I will be meeting friends at a local bar to sit outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather. I have $10 to spend. That will be 2-3 beers plus tip. NO food. I will eat dinner when I get home

As for weekend spending, I have $24 left in my grocery budget which I will spend on veggies, fruits, and dairy. No crazy spending there!

Saturday, I’m planning on getting up early & hitting the gym. That afternoon, I will be going with a friend to his company picnic. I know a lot of people he works with, so it should be fun. This will be free.

Sunday, will be a walk in another park (Possibly with a friend), then a small bbq at a friend’s house. I have offered several times to bring something, but she’s refused it. She’s not a drinker, so I can’t show up with a nice bottle of wine, so I’m kind of stumped. I hate to show empty handed, but I also don’t want to show up with food and duplicate something they already have. Spending should be $0-$5?

I have been sticking to my strict entertainment & grocery budgets. I have also been staying on plan with my August Lunch Challenge & look forward to doing another one in September.

Money-wise, not much is going on. I use cash only for my discretionary spending & I have very little left between now and the 31st. Its doable. I have $20 in entertainment left. $10 will be to the movies with my dad and $10 for a work happy hour.

Last post (and I know its been a while), I mentioned the Wellness program at my work. Jump through a couple of hoops for points. Points turn into dollars and I can improve my wellness and earn up to $200 for the year.

I have been a week and a half back on Weight Watchers. I also have started weekly activity goals. One of the wellness options (hoops) is to engage in physical activity based on the CDC's standards.

CDC recommends '150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity OR 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (or a combination of moderate & vigorous activity) per week. PLUS muscle strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups'.

My Wellness program offers $20 a month that you meet the guidelines weekly for up to 5 months ($100 total). There are other goals I could meet much more quickly, but health and exercise is something that I'm personally working on. So I decided to make this half of my Wellness goals. I will take the $100 I've earned after the 5 months & buy myself some (hopefully) much smaller clothes.

This is all money related because:

-Good health means less medical costs
-watching what I eat means I plan (and therefore budget) food more carefully
-Getting more activity in means more free or semi-free activities.

Last week, I had 253 minutes of moderate exercise and 40 minutes of strength training. This included a hike in the state park with friends ($3.00 entry fee), a walk into a private park near work with some coworkers/friends(free), 2 gym trips (monthly fee $19), and a walk around a county park with another friend (free).

This week, I have already taken a 90 minute walk with friends (free) and hit the gym (no extra funds out). I figure by the time the whole 5 months end, exercise will be a HABIT

In the last month, my work has been promoting a Wellness Program as part of their EAP (Employee Assistance Programs). They have different program steps you can complete to earn points in the program. Each point = $1.00 and you can earn up to $200 per year on a debit card.

Step 1 - Get a screening. This included a free on-site blood draw & weight check. I was able to get my cholestorol, blood sugar & BMI numbers (25 points)

Step 2 - Take an online assessment. 10 minutes tops to enter your #S from the screening & to answer a few lifestyle questions. (50 points earned).

So for about 20 minutes of my time, I earned $75.00

The next steps are harder. Set health goals, complete them, talk to counselors, ect. I plan on working on my weight. Unfortunately, my company's programs only push Nutrisystem and not other lifestyle programs, such as Weight Watchers. I find this a shame because Nutrisystem is the one that provides meals for you. They aren't teaching you any health skills and as soon as you stop eating the meals - you're likely to gain the weight back.

I plan on earning the other $125 by jumping through a few hoops with little effort. Talking to a counselor about my weight loss journey isn't a problem for me. Its all done through the phone & private.

What I can't understand is that there are very few people in my office that are jumping at the free money that the program is providing. You don't have to be overweight to do this - your health goals could be around lowering cholesterol or increasing activity. And did I mention, its pretty much FREE MONEY? lol. I already have the 75 points posted. This will be going onto the debit card & will be used for Christmas.

While on vacation, I happened up some books on local lighthouses that would be the perfect Christmas present for my dad. So I picked up 2 for $42.38.

During the Super Saturday event at Goodwill the other week, I found a Christmas Tree craft about 3 feet tall that lights up. Perfect for my mom and I only spent $3.00.

On my sidebar, I have included my Christmas budget & will update with spending as I get things. I hope to have ALL Christmas shopping done by the first week of December I'm not a fan of how nasty people get in stores around the holidays so I avoid stores as much as possible.

I also want to point out that my nephew's bday is a few days before Christmas, so I always just include him in my Christmas budget.

My total Christmas budget has changed recently and is now at $473. I hope to come in very under budget.

And since I like to plan things out -
Mom - 45 - 3 spent
Dad - 45 - 42.38 spent
Sister - 45
Nephew - 40
Nephew Bday(the 20th)- 30
Best Friend - 40
Friend 1 - 33
Friend 2 - 15
Friend 3 - 20
Friend 4 - 15
Friend 4's kids - 10
Sister Boyfriend - 10
Sis's BF's son - 10
Sis BF's daughter - 10
Wrapping - 5
Misc/decorations - 40
Tree - 60

I came back from my beach vacation last night. I unpacked and crashed on the couch I paid cash for everything, except the room, which I put on a card. But I transferred the funds for payment to the credit card this morning.

I had a great time, we stayed in a a very nice hotel. The weather was fun, and I am reallllly relaxed. Great week!

This morning, I am right back on the frugal wagon. I sold an extra wireless router I had lying around - $20 cash. Then I stopped by my parents & brought them the sugar free fudge from the beach. They treated me to breakfast at IHOP. Thanks Mom & Dad!

I paid some bills, got some groceries and headed back home. All of this was done by noon.

I am now watching a movie and when its over, I will be doing some laundry, cleaning & decluttering. The cats definitely missed me, as they are following me room to room. And I now have 2 additions to my pet family - 2 hermit crabs. I haven't had any of these since childhood. They were a total impulse purchase. But boy, are they fun!

For my envelopes this pay period, I started with $40 for gas, $100 in grocery money (need to stock up on some stuff), $10 personal items, $5 car washing supplies and $45 in spending money). I plan on sticking with it!

I was able to turn the A/C off today. Its a little hotter than I like, but with ceiling fans, its very comfortable in here.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, I know I already am!

Today, I got up, went to the Farmer's Market $5.25 spent for salad stuff. Then I returned some books/movies to the library. I was expecting a $0.25 fine, but the person who returned the dvd to the system made an error and I ended up with no fee My lucky day.

I then went to the Grocery store where I spent $4.48. I picked up a movie at Redbox, $1.02 and headed home.

I have eaten breakfast, lunch and soon to be dinner at home. I had someone come pick up a cookie press that I had put up on Craiglist - $10.00 paid by a very excited pre-teen girl, LOL.

I've been doing a bunch of cleaning and laundry. And then I spent 4 hours dealing with a nasty virus on my computer. I purchased an anti-virus package, but they couldnt help me, so I cancelled the package (and will get a refund), then actually found a free program (from a reputable site) that was able to fix the problem. Yay Took a lot of time and patience, but my computer is working again!

Today has been great weather - I've had the windows open and ceiling fans on. I'll definitely take the electric savings!

All in all, a frugal day. I had a very social night last night. Took some beer to a friends house for a game night. We got a little rowdy So tonight, I'm having a movie night in.

My total Craigslist profit has been $40.00 for 3 items sold. A lamp $5.00, a calculator $25.00, and the cookie press $10.00. Woohoo

I've had plans in place for a year to take a couple days down at the beach with my best friends. We will rent hotel rooms for 2 nights and unfortunately because of scheduling conflicts, we've changed the date around and are not really getting a good deal on prices. But this is really important to me (isn't everything that I WANT? lol).

I have cash to pay it, but thats a few hundred dollars that really could be going to my debt. So I am working to sell some things on Craigslist to help suppliment the debt.

I have listed about 10 things & have sold 1 so far. None are truly big items though. What I sold today, was an Ikea lamp that I paid $15.00 for and got a good 7 or 8 years out of. I sold it for $5.00 cash.

I also have someone coming to pick up 2 dvd sets tomorrow night and a graphing calculator. They would be worth more on ebay, but I have a definite hate on for ebay after being scammed. So I will take the cash & if the person who purchases makes a profit, so be it I should get $16 for the dvds and $25 for the calculator.

The calculator was an expensive purchase in 1996. I used that thing through high school, college and grad school and its been sitting in a drawer for the last 5 years. So I definitely used up the original cost!

I also have a duvet cover set, more dvds, a scientific calculator, some picture frames, a wireless router and a cookie press. I have a bite on the cookie press, so hopefully I can sell that tomorrow too ($10.00).

I have made a budget for the mini-vacation. We are planning on doing some costly activities - renting jet skis and doing parasailing. I have researched & found the best prices and coupons, but I hope to still be able to do both. At the very least, I'd skip the jet skis and just do the parasailing.

In the meantime, I have $5.00 in my entertainment fund & roughly $25.00 in grocery money.

Book club is tomorrow night (which is always held in a restaurant), I plan on ordering a soda and with tip, that will take most of my $5.00

Well, I went into work today feeling ok. 2 hours later, I had the chills and sweats. So I went home instead of infecting anyone else. Yuck. I'm home on the couch, watching tv. No fun.

I also had to turn the A/C back on at 10 this morning. I had had the windows open since Friday afternoon, but the humidity kicked up and with not feeling well, I'm not up for playing with the heat. Booo, I wanted to use as little electricity as possible.

Been very busy lately, so I haven't had time to post. A couple of quick updates.

- Watched a free Redbox movie with the roomie (Book of Eli). It was interesting, if a little slow in parts

- Listed 7 items on Craigslist. Hope they sell, I could really use the money

- Finally got some decent weather and have been able to open the windows as opposed to the A/C since Friday night. This will really help the electric bill!

- Will be looking for more items to sell from the basement tomorrow night.

- Been packing work food 100% -so keeping up well with the lunch challange. Will continue the personal challange through August.

- Transferred a bit of debt around for a lower rate - worked out really nicely.

Today, I met up with a friend and we headed to some local Goodwill for Super Saturday. 50% off all clothes. I came home with some GOOD deals.

- 2 pairs of jeans. I currently own one pair & they are getting a hole in them.
- 2 pairs of work pants



- 6 long sleeve shirts
- 1 short sleeve shirt



- 1 pair work shoes (brand new condition)



- 1 pair snow boots (brand new condition)



- Christmas decoration (to be a gift for mom)



- 3 Clue puzzles, 2 board games



Total Spent: $35.00. $7 of that was the games -a splurge since that wasn't 50% off

We went next door to a farmers market (diff than the one closest to me) and she bought a gift for a party & we both tried tons of yummy free samples

Next we hit a liquor store, where I scored a GOOD sale on a wine that I like. Ended up with 3 bottles at $6.99 each (normally $11.99).

And at the liquor store, they were providing wine & cheese samples. Between this & the farmer's market, we didn't even have to stop for lunch.

It was a great day and I am very happy with ALL my purchases.

Well, my vacation last week was great. I was at the beach Tues thru Thursday, then at a concert Festival Friday and another concert at the state fair on Saturday. Sunday was a lazy day. Breakfast with friends, and then home to unwind.
This week has been uneventful socially. I haven’t done anything. I even skipped my weekly Tuesday night at the local pub. I was feeling tired & I wanted to not spend money since I went overboard on vacation 

Yesterday, we had free health screenings at work. I’m a little skeptical, but they did blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and body fat. I’m all good except that I am in the overweight category. They haven’t explained much yet, but they are going to be starting a health program where we can earn points on a gift card up to $200/year. The first step was this screening, so I’m assuming the hoops they want us to jump through are to change anything that was not in the ‘good range’. Since I’m getting back to the Weight Watchers (Yes, I know, I’m on again, off again), I could earn gift cards for doing what I already am doing. AT the screening, they also gave us a free granola bar & some water. I like freebies.

I am working on my new monthly budget – which will include the car payment. It will be tight for the next few months as I do not want to change the amounts I’m paying to debt. But in January, my take home pay should increase as I can now greatly reduce the amount of money I put into my HSA since the big medicine I take FINALLY came out with a generic and is about $100/quarter less!

I have another vacation (Mini) coming up in August. Friends & I are going to be going to the beach for a few days & just renting some hotel rooms. WE have a pretty good deal, but there will be eating out and entertainment. I have funds saved towards that & am looking to add income from a few Craigslist sales to increase that amount.

Since I haven’t been going out this week, I have been heavily utilizing the library. I’m on season 5 of Angel and have gone through 3 books since Sunday. I’m a fast reader & LOVE to read.

Where I live, the temps have been on average about 90 degrees this summer, without having a real spring. According to the paper, 'June and the three-month period from May to June were the hottest in 116 years of record-keeping'. So yeah, its hot. I've been utilizing the programmable thermostat and ceiling fans, but the A/C is still running... a LOT.

In other news, as of 3pm today, I am officially on vacation for a week! I am not going anywhere specific and I am looking to not spend a lot of money. But I am planning on having fun.

I have the weekend and Monday to just hang out and have some down time. I am hanging out at home with some friends, reading & watching movies. I might have lunch with my mom Sunday, but its all open to what I feel like doing. Which is definitely different than what I have to do, or what I already committed myself to doing. I am only going to do what I feel like doing (I hope to keep spending to about $25)

Tuesday, I am getting a mani/pedi with a gift card (free) and attending a birthday party in the evening ($25 budgeted).

Wednesday, I am heading down very early in the morning to go to the beach. My sister & her boyfriend rented a house with their kids for the week. I plan on bringing mid-week groceries in exchange for a night on their couch. We plan on going on a Pirate Ship ride ($20), hanging at the beach (free), having dinner & hitting the boardwalk.

Thursday, I will hit the beach alone (which I LOVE) & head back home at a reasonable time. For the 2 days at the beach, including gas & dinner out, I'm looking at at budget of $145.00

Friday, I am attending an all day concert. With food & drinks we will be bringing, parking & emergency water for the 100 degree weather, I have budgeted $90. I hope I am WAY overestimating. But if water inside the complex is $10/bottle, I will be forced to buy it becuase Heat exhaustion is no fun.

Saturday, I am heading to the state fair with friends, we will be seeing Paramour. Entrance into the fair, plus some fun stuff $40 budgeted. Hoping I overestimated here too.

I have cash for all of these activites, but am definitely looking to shave off spending anywhere I can. Tonight is a night in by myself. Roommate is out and I am planning on laying around and enjoying the house to myself. $0 spent for that!

Still doing very well on the lunch challange. Which is good, because money is somewhat tight. I am off work all next week and although I'm not taking a real vacation, I have several fun things going on. And they cost money.

So I will update with my spending plan/goals for my vacation later. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a good friday!

I"m off to get my tuna sandwich from the work fridge. Yummy lunch

I picked up some groceries and veggies and am working a meal plan for the week. I am planning on taking breakfast, lunch & snacks to work.

I am prepacking portioned out pretzels, animal crackers, and pb crackers. I made a big bowl of pasta salad that can be taken to work easily. I have apples & bananas. There is NO reason for me to spend anything on food at all.

I meal plan, but switch meals based on what sounds good that night. But here are my meals for the week.

1. Shake N Bake chicken & potatoes
2. Pasta with spinach & ground turkey
3. Meatloaf muffin & potatoes
4. Pasta salad
5. Pasta with spinach & ground turkey
6. Sloppy joe
7. Meatloaf & veggies

Its pouring out and after 2 weeks of 90-100 degree weather, its much needed. Because of the extreme heat, the ground is not prepared for so much rain & I will be checking the basement for water. Although my basement is pretty well sealed, it never hurts to keep an eye on it.

Since its raining, I decided to put my errands on hold & will be going for veggies tomorrow. Tonight I'm heading to a friend's house for movies & bbq. I will bring some type of side, but it will be from the pantry and today will be a no spender!

As for the roommate situation - she paid her 2nd months rent early (yay) and she's been an awesome roommate. I don't have to worry about her moving out too quickly (last roomate stayed 4 months) She's brought a lot of furniture & worked to make the bedroom hers. I'm glad to see she's settling in and it appears for the long haul. So this way, I have steady rental income. Makes me feel VERY good, espectially with the added car expense.

Hope everyone enjoys their Saturday!

I am SO glad today is Friday. Its been a long, stressful week & I need to relax.

My lunch challange has been going well. I have used up my one planned spend day. So I have to be careful to not use anymore.

Tonight, I invited some friends over to play some board games & enjoy the beer in my fridge. But its all last minute, so I don't know who/if anyone is coming yet. If nobody is, I will still have fun as I have some library movies to watch. Tonights spending will be $0

Tomorrow, I have no plans. I will be doing some grocery shopping - veggies only, with a $10 limit.

Sunday, I am watching a horror movie with a friend and her preteen kid. No money should be spent there either.

Since I put pretty much all of my cash to the car deposit, this is very good.

In addition, I have goals for my 'lazy' Saturday. Its still lazy to me, because I do things at my own pace.


-farmer's market for veggies
-laundry
-clean bedroom
-finish cleaning downstairs bath
-organize financial papers (I keep pushing this one off)
-compare homeowners insurance offers
-redo budget
-make plans for summer vacation week
-mani/pedi at home

Well, the insurance confirmed they won't be covering anything with my car incident. I figured as much, but they wanted to check the car out anyway. If there had been any true fire damage or body damage, they would have paid something out. So basically I was left with a not working car.

The car place gave me $500 for the car. Given the car was 9 years old with 88.5k miles on it and the blue book value for that car in 'pristine' condition was $1700, I"m very happy getting $500 for a car without a working engine.

I did have to take a loan to buy the car (booo). The loan is 0% and is 4 years. I hope to have it paid off in 2. I am going to be working very hard to minimize my budget & throw all I can to my debt.

This is not the most ideal situation (I would have wanted to pay cash) but I am already starting to plan for future car expenses/purchases. I won't be surprised by circumstances again.

In other news, I've packed breakfast, lunch & snacks every day of work until today. I didn't get home until late due to the car buying and I was so stressed from this week I just sat on the couch for an hour then went to bed. So I bought breakfast today ($1.05). I have peanut butter crackers & cottage cheese for lunch & popcorn for snack, so I'm cool wtih that.

I will be reworking my paycheck budget for the 15th and my monthly standard budget for the rest of the year to add in the car payment & extra payments. That should be fun.

I also have a few things to put up on Craigslist. I want to use the extra cash for the vacation week that I have scheduled in 2 weeks. I am selling some dvd sets, a wireless router, a cookie press and some other things. Wish me luck!

And lastly, I am back to doing my 5 Things lists. Here are 5 things I will accomplish today:

1. Add new car to insurance
2. Take pics & put up ads on Craigslist
3. Change sheets, put away clean laundry.
4. Pack food for tomorrow
5. Deposit rent check in bank & make payments/transfers as budgeted for the rental income

My father is a wealth of homeowner knowledge. He has had his own home for 30+ years as well as 25 years of experience repairing appliances as his job. Because of the nature of his work, he has had 2 major back surgeries & cannot do a lot of what he used to. But he is still willing to help me repair things & to pass the knowledge onto me.

For example, last night, he helped me replace the garbage disposal. He let me do a lot of the physical work & talked me through things. But I know that 1. I can do this myself 2. When it comes time to do it in the future, I will have the knowledge. Thanks Dad!

He’s taught me tips of the trade and how to use tools. He gifted me my own (pink) tool kit when I bought the house & has given me many hand-me-downs. Extra screwdrivers, hammers, a drill with bits. But mainly, he’s given me the knowledge on how to repair things.

Since I’ve bought the house, he’s helped/taught me how to:
-paint a room
-replace the innards of a toilet
-fix a plank on the deck
-clean out dryer vents
-repair dryer issue
-walked me through a hot water heater leak
-change out a garbage disposal

He’s made sure I’m not afraid to try things myself. I certainly can get help when I need it (like around major electrical jobs), but I have the basic knowledge to do things for myself when I can.

So THANKS DAD!

I'm still in a holding pattern on the car situation. Although I can't imagine that the insurance is going to cover anything, they want to send someone to look at the car. I"m not going to argue if they really want to do it.

My mom is still allowing me to use her car. I am doing chores, ect for her in exchange. (Her physical capabilities are limited & my dad has a bad back).

Today, on my lunch break, I went to the library, which was packed! I'm assuming it was so busy because the library was closed Sunday & Monday for the holiday. I picked up 7 books and 1 movie (The Fourth Kind).

I packed breakfast, lunch & snacks today. Tonight I plan on spending $10 on my regular Tuesday night outing with friends. I have taken my spending to pretty much none, but I am going to go out tonight and have a beer and play some darts.

I also plan on buying some contact supplies, but they are covered by my HSA. This is the last year for that benefit!

My friends and family had the day off, but my work did not. Instead we earned a floating holiday. I could have used that to take the day off, but I decided to save it instead.

Being a day after a holiday, the parking lot was only 1/3 filled and the office was very empty. It was a fairly slow day & an hour prior to my end time, a manager called & told us to leave 1 hour early. That was a nice surprise!

I spent $5.00 on groceries from the dollar store & roughly $85 on a new garbage disposal. Not a planned expense for this month, but a necessary one since the kitchen sink is backed up from the old one breaking.

I packed all my food for work & already pre-packed food for tomorrow.

I'm still waiting to hear from the car insurance company. I just need to confirm they talked to the auto repair place about what happened & that they will close the case. I do not think anything will be covered since this technically was not an accident. They only opened the claim because the car had been on fire.

So hopefully, tomorrow I hope to hear that they closed the case. I just didnt want to buy a new car & put it on my insurance when I haven't gotten rid of the old one. Wish me luck!

So yesterday was a no spender. My mom was nice enough to pick me up and take me to my friend bbq where she ended up hanging out too. Childhood friend who knows my mom well invited her. I supplied a veggie tray & tried to give money to my mom who picked up dip, but she refused. So it did end up being a no-spender.

I did not make it to the University fireworks, although some people from the party headed over. I wasn't feeling so hot, so I headed home around 9 & went to bed.

Today, I've packed breakfast (breakfast potatoes & cottage cheese), lunch (tuna on bagel thin) and snack (all bran crackers and popcorn).

I have borrowed my mom's car today, so I will be running a few errands - library, dollar store. I am pretty much stopped with spending until I deal with this car situation, but I do need a couple of things from the dollar store to hold me over.