HouseHappy's Personal Finance Blog

Well, while I am settling finances in preperation for buying a car, I am in a self-imposed spending freeze. I bought some veggies today, but other than that, am hoping to have no spending until at least Tuesday.

This weekend, I am carless. I will mostly be at home until my mom gives me a ride to a bbq tomorrow (in her neighborhood) and I will borrow her car tomorrow night to get to work Monday.

However, life happens & I had to find ways to make due.

1. I have a problem with the kitchen sink. My dad has promised to come over Tuesday night & help me fix it. In the meantime, it will drain small streams of water, but clogs the second a larger stream happens.

I have been handwashing dishes, then rinsing in a big mixing bowl. Then pouring the water in the bowl into my downstairs bathroom sink. Its not pretty, but it works.

2. My tomato plant is growing & I needed to stake it. Howver, I have no plant ties or twisty ties or anything like that. So I used gift ribbon. Its kinda pretty to be honest



3. I am bringing a veggie tray to the bbq tomorrow and in addition, I wanted to bring a gift. So I am portioning off some of my mint & giving that as a gift. The host loves plants & recently gave me some aloe, so I know she will appreciate this.

4. I wanted a plant stand to put my Meyer Lemon tree nearer to the window. I re-used an old ikea table that was down the basement. Works perfectly!

Well, I am carless today, but my mom has kindly offered to drive me to the bank as well as the store for some groceries. Other than that, I will be housebound today. So I am taking advantage of the time & getting some stuff done.

1. Bank to cash savings bonds [done]
2. Grocery shop [done $10.48 at farmer's market]
3. Brown ground turkey & portion for freezer [done]
4. Make a pasta salad for the week [done]
5. Clean kitchen, wash floor [done]
6. Clean living room, dust & vacuum [done]
7. Clean nook by basement stairs [done]
8. Clean litter box [done]
9. Clean downstairs bathroom [done]
10. Tend container garden [done]
11. Clean upstairs bath
12. Clean bedroom
13. Clean out closet
14. organize rest of financial paperwork
15. Give self mani/pedi
16. Laundry [2 loads done]

Monkeymama mentioned she was looking to see if I'd been saving for a car & I will admit, I've made a mistake here. My car was in pretty good condition and there'd been no indication of any major problems. I planned putting more toward auto savings starting this summer for a new to me car in about 2 years (when my car hit about 11 years in age and closer to 100k miles).

Well, plans change & I have learned to not make assumptions on the longevity in my car. I have about $2.5-3k in cash to put down, so thats something.

I am looking at a car payment though, at least for a little while (I will aggressively be paying down the loan asap). I also have been scouring online & local dealers and I'm having trouble finding any reasonable used cars.

I think that based on the economy, people are keeping their cars longer & there seems to be less deals on used cars out there (the car I have now had 20k miles at 4 years with only 1 owner when I bought it). Now I'm seeing 40k milage on 3 year old cars.

So I have opened my options to include new cars. It would be my first if I went that route. I am an advocate of buying used, but sometimes there are deals to be had with new.

I will update you all with what I do, but I can tell you, I'll be moving quickly. I'm at the mercy of my parents who drove me around today & are letting me borrow their car Monday.

I did really well in July! My goal was to pack breakfast, lunch & snacks for all the work days in June except one.

I love hearing how everyone else did!

I packed for all but 2. The 2nd day being that I needed a quick snack due to not feeling well. So I have learned my lesson. Keep snacks in my work desk.

I am very happy with the results. I plan on continuing into July - but this will be out of necessity. I am on a bare bones budget given my car situation.

Well, after the car breakdown on Wednesday, my coworkers and managers couldn't stop talking about what happened. I think they felt bad because although I was working through my lunch & leaving early yesterday, my manager insisted we go out to lunch to Bertuccis.

I got my favorite meal & drank water, and when it came time to pay the bill, my managers paid for me. It was really unexpected and appreciated. Then my manager sent me home at 1 instead of my waiting until 2 when I was already set to leave.

In addition, I was told not to worry about making up the missing hours (I am an exempt employee).

Several coworkers called and offered to give me rides too and from work & just to make sure I was doing ok.

Really, it was very sweet. I'm off work today & they gave us a casual day for Monday. I had 2 different coworkers text me to let me know. I really do work in a nice place.

As for the car - its done for. No real trade in value either because the engine is blown More on that later.

So today, I was going to a work outing at a local park about a half hour away. My coworker & I were in my car on a very major highway (I-95) with lots of traffic when my car suddenly died. There was a loud bang, something MAY have fell off the bottom and tons of smoke started pouring out. We were able to get safely to the shoulder & as we did, a guy on a motorcyle (who had been behind us) yelled "your car is on fire!"

We hopped out of the car. I did not see flames, but there was a LOT of smoke. I called 911 and received help from the fire dept & the police. I called another coworker & asked them to stop & pick up my friend that had been riding with me.

The policeman gave me a ride home, I used my limited AAA membership to have the car towed. (extra miles since I wanted it towed more locally probably will cost about $30).

The tow truck took the car to the wrong repair place (they were right next to each other). So they fixed their mistake - but it meant the repair place couldnt look at the car today.

My car insurance wanted to start a claim, but it wasn't an accident, so I don't know that they will help me out at all. I will find out tomorrow what the issue is. But what I do know, is that the car is most likely a goner.

I do not have the savings to be able to buy a new to me car outright. So I am going to look into my options. I certainly do not want a car payment, but to get any kind of reliable vehicle, I may have to get a small one. I will take my time figuring it out.

My parents very nicely let me borrow one of their cars for tomorrow. I had plans to work 7am to 2pm & then meet friends to go to a Dave Matthews Band concert. We're tailgating & I'm bringing some beer from the fridge, but the tickets are already taken care of, so I shouldnt have much out of pocket.

My friends are driving, so I will bring the car back to my moms & my friends will pick me up there. They live in the same neighborhood as my parents, so they will drop me back there after the concert & I will crash on my parents couch.

Tonight when I got home, there was a problem with my kitchen sink. Its been tempermental since there's a problem with the garbage disposal. My dad is nice enough to volunteer to come over Friday morning (I already had the day off planned) and help me try to fix it.

So ugh, I have a bunch of extra expenses now. I'm going to emergency superfrugal mode and plan to spend AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. Wish me luck!

Well, now that I have a roommate again, I thought I'd talk about what I'm doing with the rent money.

June 9th, I was paid $475 for the month.
- $100 went into a rent utility fund in my savings. None has been spent so far.
- $50 went into a savings account for 'fun' money. None has been spent so far.
- $325 went to credit card payment. ALl of which was paid to the cc

July 9th, I will be getting another $475.

- $75.00 will go to the rent utility fund. I will already be using $10 of that to go to the increase in the electric budget billing
- $75.00 will go to fun money savings, to be used on my beach vacation
- $275.00 will go to a credit card payment
- $50.00 will go to house repairs.

Today is the last day of the June Lunch Challange. I packed breakfast & will be supplied lunch for free at a team outing to a local park.

I have succeeded in the challange. I bought lunch one day & a snack one day. I did not technically meet my goal of eating out only once, but I'm perfectly fine with that as the snack was needed the other day due to not feeling well.

I hope everyone feels they did well. I know some of us do this on a consistant basis and it was not as much a 'challange' as being aware of your habits. I feel that I got something out of this and I hope that you did too.

Had a good relaxing weekend! Got a lot of things done yesterday, including finishing updating the downstairs bathroom. I still have to put baseboards on, but I'm waiting to have a little more cash to do that. It really won't cost much, but I have a lot of one-off expenses in the next month. I hope to put up pics of the bathroom tomorrow.

In addition, to what I already accomplished yesterday, I watched some movies, created a budget for the next payday (Wed), made cookies, made a big thing of pasta salad, planned my meals, did some gardening, cleaned up the cat area and got my hair cut.

My mom stopped by to see the bathroom & the hair - I got about 7 inches off. Not loving the cut, but the hairdresser did what I asked - I just impulsively asked her to cut it to my shoulders.

Tonight, I'm watching redbox movies (to be returned before 9 tonight). I will catch up on True Blood at 9 & am in bed by 10.

Monday, Tuesday & Wed should be no spenders. I'm hoping anyway

Well, its in the 90s today & has been since about 10am. Ugh. Good thing I woke up early this morning. I went & ran my errands - Grocery store #1 for ground turkey, Farmer's market for fruits/veggies, Walmart for cat litter, the bank, and gas station. I also picked up a few movies from Redbox at $1/day, its a good deal!

I came home & put a chicken breast covered in chicken broth in my mini-crockpot. Perfect for single size & I plan to shred the chicken and put hot sauce in it for some buffalo chicken salad later.

After that, I have taped off & painted the bathroom ceiling. It will need a second coat, which I hope to get to late this evening.

The new roommate is working out well. Apparently she will rarely be around on weekends. She left last night & won't be back until Sunday evening. She finally did some grocery shopping and with her stuff now in the pantry, fridge & freezer, I thought it would be a good time to take inventory & make meal plans to use up some of the older (and the new) food.

Forgive me if this is dull for you, I just wanted to lay the list out there - it does not include condiments and/or spices.

Freezer -
2 fudge pops
1 and a half packs turkey pepperoni
2c frozen strawberries
1 pint blueberries
5 servings sloppy joe
1/2 loaf wheat bread
8 bagel thins
1 banana
2 packs diced chicken for salad
12 meatloaf muffins
1 lb chicken breasts - need to invite family over to use up
3 flat out wraps
6 individual serving chicken breasts
1 lean cuisine

Fridge -
1 pitcher water
1 pitcher pink lemonade
lots of beer (leftover from party)
pasta sauce
salad fixings
plum tomatoes to make homemade bruschetta
cottage cheese
3 individual puddings
grapes
3 bananas
spinach
snap peas
scallions
Weight Watcher mexican cheese
1 lb ground turkey - to be browned with onion & frozen in individual servings

Pantry -
pasta sauce
pretzel chips
pasta - penne, spaghetti & shells
fat free croutons
popcorn
peanut butter
sugar free jam
ff chicken broth
diced tomatoes
green beans (2 cans)
canned pears
tuna pack
4 cans tuna
shake n bake
stovetop stuffing

I've been seeing lots of updates in personal posts, but if you want to chime in with a quick note on how you're doing, that'd be great! I'll do a final Lunch Challange post on the 30th & we can all share how we did overall.

So far, I have bought lunch 1 time and bought a small snack 1 time (.55). I'm pretty happy with my results and will likely set a goal for July too, maybe with a little more leniency.

How are you guys doing?

I have a tight budget for the weekend. I'm going to a girls only product party Friday night. I have $20 and a bottle of wine (recycled gift). I will buy 1 small item to support my friend, but thats it. Afterwards, I'm staying behind and we (my friend, her daughter & I are watching a horror movie).

Saturday & Sunday, I have absolutely NO plans. My goals are:

1. Walk or hit the gym each day (FREE)
2. Finish painting the downstairs bath - have to paint the ceiling (FREE - have all the supplies)
3. Put up toilet paper & towel racks as well as mirror in downstairs bath (FREE - already purchased)
3. Replant some basil plants from medium to larger pots (FREE- reusing pots, using leftover soil)
4. Clean the house (FREE)
5. Grocery shop - Budgeted
6. Hit Barnes & Noble - still have not spent my gift card & I want to pick up the new Janet Evanovich book if its out (FREE with bday gift card)
7. Watch movies from library (FREE)
8. Read books from library (FREE)
9. Make a few new recipes (FREE-ish)
10. Organize all the junk in my bedroom closet (FREE)

One of my coworkers reminded me this morning, that there are 6 months until Christmas. I'm planning a cash only Christmas, so I have been saving. I'm right on track to meet my goal.

I have to add a few more people to the list - sister's boyfriend's kids. So I am going to work hard to funnel a little extra money to the budget catagory.

Today at work, we felt the building shake. Someone on a phone call in a nearby office came out & said they were just on the phone with the office in Canada & the office had to hang up becuase they were in an earthquake. A minute later we felt it here. Tiny shaking, lasting only 30 seconds.

Security for the building said it was really a termite inspection, but we have a huge building and all 3 floors on all sides felt it. Two hours later, the local online paper confirmed it. We had a tremor all the way here in Delaware. Kinda crazy. Never felt that before.

*****warning -disturbing information to follow *****

There have been some recent abductions and rapes occuring close to my home and work. Two by the same man who basically carjacked the women, forced them to drive around at gunpoint, raped them several times, then set them free after he took their licenses and told them to not talk about what happened because he had their address. I'm happy to report, that as of today, the police have caught the guy.

These things can happen anywhere, but they are very much at the forefront of our minds in the community. A result of this community awareness is that different organizations have offered free self defense classes and I will be attending one tonight.

I'm glad they caught the guy and I'm very sorry for his victims and their families. I'll never understand violence, especially against women.

Well, I woke up in the middle of the night with a migrane I am staying home today, eating food from home, taking meds & sleeping off & on.

Today will likely be a no spender. Unless I suddenly make a good enough recovery to meet my friends tonight for a birthday. If I did, and right now its not looking good, I would have a soda & stay an hour. But I don't know that is even a possibility at the moment.

Hope everyone's doing well today.

HH

I am a library lover. The librarians know me by sight, one knows me by name. I wore out the keychain library card I had - they have been unable to scan it for 6 months and then it fell apart altogether 2 weeks ago. I even had my library card # memorized. And I've already done the same with the new card #. So yes, I use the library a lot!

I like to borrow books, movies, books on tape, cds, all kinds of fun things. I"ve heard some libraries have video games to borrow, but I haven't seen that in my library yet.

What I currently have on loan:

DVDs -

Agatha Christie's Seven Dials dvd
Angel Season 3 discs 3 & 4 on dvd
Jennifer's body on dvd
The original Stepford Wives dvd

Books -
Good Housekeeping light and Healthy cookbook
Embrace the Night by Karen Chance

I had a great weekend. FRiday, I went to a friends house to watch horror movies. BRought snacks - $2.00. We watched movies already owned by people in the group.

SAturday, I went to my nephew's baseball game. They're in the playoffs and the games are pretty exciting. I spent a few dollars at the concession stand.

Sat night, I went and saw a friend in a play. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. Its a little theater, not the big one I go to with my mom. But the production was really well done & they're doing Chicago soon. I'm definitely putting that on my to-do list.

Sunday, I hung out at home & did some chores. Then I painted the downstairs bath. I admit I tend to rush this work & it can cause problems. For example, I got paint on the ceiling & will have to re-paint that now too.

And the best - and funniest - mistake was that I got a little clumsy trying to paint around the toilet that I lost my balance and planted my butt right into a freshly painted wall. I was able to fix the wall, but the shorts are ruined. Splatters on them wouldnt matter, but pretty much the WHOLE backside is covered in paint, which dryed hard & stiff.

All in all, a great weekend!

I went to my nephew's Little League playoff game. They had lost the last one and this is a double elimination tournement, so it was very important they win tonight.

The game was really cut-throat. The other team's managers were actually being a little shady - trying to influence the ump and insisting that a base coach pushed a kid when in reality, he patted him on the back to keep running (causing the kid to be out). I understand there are rules, but the coach - a grown man- practically had a hissy fit.

Still, the game was close, tied 8-8, went into an extra inning, we went up 3 points & then our pitcher closed out their batters, winning the game.

It was great! I took a chair & a snack and sat with my mom and my sister, screaming my head off. Very frugal outing.

And I found out my nephew is doing baseball camps this summer. 2 weeks for 5 hours a day for a total of $330. I pledged $15 towards it since I'm on such a tight budget this month.


Oh, and as a lunch challange update - I am holding steady - 1 breakfast bought & 1 snack. Woohoo

I've been thinking about what I can do this summer & into the fall that is both frugal and fun. And I'm interested in where other people live and what fun things does your city/state have for you to do?

I live in Delaware -the [edited] First state. Its pretty much 2.5 hours from the top of the state to the bottom. But there is a LOT to do!

First, we are central to several big cities - its 45 minutes to Philadelphia, 2 hours to Baltimore, 4 to DC. Maryland & New Jersey share our border and offer some fun things too.

So here are some relatively frugal things I can do this summer/fall:

1. One of the best things about our state is that we have beaches. I can drive 2 hours, hit the beach for the day & drive home - Pay for parking at the park & ride, hit the beach all day, get some boardwalk food and window shop. $40 to fill up the gas tank, $5-10 parking all day, $20 food if I really splurge. Sometimes I go by myself, sometimes with friends & share the gas cost

2. Play at the local parks - The big one that I mentioned before is 15 mins away. It has miles of hiking, frisbee golf, volleyball, tennis, boating, fishing and camping. $3 to get in, bring your own picnic & balls or tennis rackets and you could have an all day event for $10 plus maybe another $15 for boat rental if you want to go that route.

3. Visit the animals at the Philadelphia zoo - 45 min drive, $90 for family season pass (I get that one becuase I take my nephew & we go several times a year & it includes free parking), plus gas. Packed lunch & drinks round out the day

4. Local carnivals - get some fair food, play some games, ride some rides, have a beer. Its as frugal or spendy as you make it.

5. Take a ride on the Western Railroad. Enjoy an old-fashioned train ride. $11.00/ticket

6. Visit Mt Cuba - a horticultural institution $5/tour through gardens

7. Visit Longwood Gardens (in PA) - acres of gardens, trees and architecture. Very picturesque and I'm sentimental about the place. My grandfather took my sister & there often as children. $16/ticket

8. Enjoy Delaware Park (Casino & horse races) - You can sit in the stands & watch the races, bring in your own food, get a beer. Free, maybe a few dollars for a beer and you don't have to pay entry or bet or buy anything (unless you want to)

9. 4th of July fireworks from the University of Delaware. Just park somewhere near & watch with buddies. Free

10. Visit the Rockford Tower in Rockford Park. 100 year stone tower "offering a panaramic view of the Brandywine valley. Not sure of cost

11. Pumpkin Chunkin' - Did this event last fall & will definitely go again this year. A fair type event where teams compete with machinary to chuck pumpkins across a field. $10 to get in, plus any food.

12. Tubing on the Brandywine River. Pay a company to drop you off & pick you up after you lazily drift down the river in an innertube for a few hours.

13. See a play at the local theater company

14. Walk the marshes at the bird sanctuaries. I did a few field trips as a kid & I think its something my dad would really like. I think I'll offer to take my dad there!

15. Explore Ashland Nature Center

16. See the Baltimore or Camden (NJ) aquariums - This is a fave of mine! I get to see sharks and all kinds of fun stuff!

17. Walk around the scenic Baltimore Harbor. See old ships & submarines, watch boats.

18. Visit Millburn Orchards - pick fruits and go on hayrides.

19. Explore Fort Delaware - only accessible by ferry, its historic and military background makes the site worth a visit.

20. Enjoy batting cages, mini golf & driving ranges. Pretty cheap & some are indoors, so great for rainy days.

21. Explore the HUGE flea market held every weekend at the Farmer's Market.

Please share - where do YOU live & what fun things do you have to do locally?

Today was payday. I paid my car insurance, funded some savings accounts, paid for my gym membership & set up the rest of my budget.

I have a $49.24 Entertainment budget to last from today until the 30th.

Today I went to my nephew's baseball game (free) and met some friends at my Tuesday Pub night. Played darts & had 1 beer. Total $5.00 for 2 hours of fun.

Tomorrow - I am meeting friends for a walk at a local park (FREE)

Thursday - I am meeting different friends for a walk at a different park (FREE)

Friday - I am going over a friends for horror movie night. I'll need to bring a snack & we already own the movies. Expected spending ($5.00?)

Saturday or Sunday, I might see a friend in a local company's rendition of Willy Wonka. I think tickets are like $18.00, and I'm not 100% sure if I'm going.

I'm hoping to buy paint for the downstairs bath tomorrow and start the painting this weekend. I really can't wait for the 'makeover' to be over!

Today I woke up with some stomach issues & ended up buying breakfast at work. THis is the 2nd time I've bought food at work, and its been due to not feeling well both times I needed a lot of carbs in my stomach to help with acid, so I got a bagel & some breakfast potatoes.

However, to make up for it, lunch was free! We had burgers (and hot dogs for whoever wanted them), potato salad, macaroni salad, cookies and water. I also got a 'free' casual day at work to use when I want, and some little toys to keep at my desk. ALl in all, freebies are fun.

THey were pushing the foodbank donations at work and last time, I brought in a ton of stuff. So am going to work on getting some in this week.

I also need to rework my budget. I'm hoping to be able to buy some stuff for the AnySoldier.com program that Elisabeth was talking about in her last post.

Tonight, I have 5 Things I need to do:

1. Eat dinner at home, pack food for tomorrow
2. Work on Budget
3. Go to nephew's playoff game
4. Clean litter box
5. Organize list for home depot trip tomorrow

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

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

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

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

My roommate has been moving stuff in, but has yet to actually stay at the house. I keep missing her when she drops stuff off, so I hadn't seen her since Thursday. We have previously communicated by (my work) email and by phone, but when I came into work today, there was an email from her. I don't know why she didnt call me, but she emailed and since it was my work email, I didnt get it until this morning.

Apparently on Friday, one of my cats bit her hard about 3 times when she tried to pick her up to move her out of the room so she could shut the door.

The email made it seem like she was surprised more than anything, but I feel terrible. And of course, my mind started racing as to what she might do (sue, ect). I know its just becuase I don't really know her that well.

She is definitely staying at the house tonight, so I will be talking to her this evening, but I hope this isn't going to be a problem.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I know that I did. We celebrated my dad's birthday with some great seafood, hung out, went to my nephew's playoff game, and had a lot of down time.

Right now, I'm taking some time tonight to pack food for work tomorrow and some snacks to keep in my desk drawer.

Hope everyone had as great a weekend as I did!

I love our state parks. We've got a bunch of different ones around here. $3.00 to get in, annual pass is $27. I keep meaning to buy an annual pass, but haven't yet.

I went to one of the bigger ones, with woods/fields surrounding a large man-made lake. There's fishing, camping, hiking, boating, picnic areas, tennis, volleyball and frisbee golf.

I walked one of the larger trails and only planned to go part way then turn around becuase it was 7.1 miles. I ended up deciding to just keep going at what I thought was the halfway point, but it wasn't. Then I got mixed up on another trail it intersects with and ended up walking a total of 8+ miles.

I'm tired, but it was sooo worth it.

-The sky was clear
-There was a breeze
-The lake was pretty
-It was fun to see canoes on the lake
-I saw lots of neat foliage
-There were benches along the way to stop & enjoy the different scenary
-I encountered groundhogs, frogs, bright lime green toads, what I think was an opossum, bunnies and bunny babies, butterflies, dragonflies, and a snake.
-I got a chance to listen to the sounds of the woods AND some great music on my mp3 player.

And the result of the hike was that I was tired, relaxed and just downright happy. Definitely worth $3.00!

Tomorrow, I am meeting a friend and we are walking along the water in a different park. This is a county-run park, so its free.

How is everyone doing with their lunch challanges?

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

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

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

So my goals for tomorrow are as follows:

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

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

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

So I have the $475 cash that the new roomie gave me for first months rent. I plan on depositing it today & sending off

$100 to savings
$50 to fun money (For next pay period)
$325 to my credit card

I LOVE having more money again. I hope she lasts a good long time!

I am still shopping for car insurance. If anyone has Progressive - how do you think their services are?

Geico was too expensive and Nationwide was a little crazy in their prices too. I could save a 100-200 dollars by switching from my insurance to progressive, but I'm not sure about their service.

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

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

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

....wait for it....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yesterday was a no spender! wooo. DId get a free Redbox movie - but free still makes it a no spender!

Still packing breakfast, lunch & snacks 100%. I also have pretty much quit drinking soda - which will definitely save me money in the long run. I haven't had any weight loss benefits though and I'm assuming thats becuase I was drinking diet soda.

I am currently shopping auto insurance, which is always fun. I need to save any dollars I can! Wish me luck

Also, it finally cooled down here & I was able to turn the A/C off. SOoooo glad to have the windows open. I prefer fresh air AND its a money saver.

No news on the roommate front though. BOooo