HouseHappy's Personal Finance Blog

Still lots of work rumors flying around. I think if anythings going to happen, it'll be in the next week or so.

Things are a little tense, but I actually feel pretty optimistic. Worst case scenario is layoffs, but I have the feeling that the true 'worst case scenario' for my team will be being offered to go back to being non-exempt. The reason that I think that may happen is that the department that I work in currently is becoming less necessary and they may transition us into other departments.

I'd be ok with that change, although the work wouldn't be as challanging or entertaining. There would be an opportunity for overtime from time to time, which I could definately use.

Oh well, nothing I can do until things start happening.

In the meantime, the weather's starting to get nicer. I am probably going to be able to leave the heat off & my windows open by tomorrow. Yeah fresh air!!

I picked up some books & movies from the library today & I have tons of container gardening reading to do. So I'm set this weekend.

Tomorrow, there is a work happy hour that I will go to. Its another departments, but as a partner that works with them, I was invited. Great chance to network and I'm not gonna miss the opportunity to put my face out there for higher ups. Should be fun.

Saturday, I'm going to a flea market, the farmers market & a nursery with some friends. We'll probably do lunch.

Saturday night, another friend is having a Rock Band party. I'm going to bring veggies & dip & I figure my cost is gonna be around $8.00 altogether.

Sunday, I plan on heading over to my sisters (my parents house) I"m going to help her with some packing. She's been ill again lately and has no energy. SO she's gonna need all the help that she can get.

NExt week, I'm planning on getting more exercise in. My goal is to walk at least 3 times and do 2 work out tapes between Sunday and the following Saturday. Definately doable

Last night I had 3 friends over for drinks & LOST. I served snacks, leftover beer from the party & made strawberry daquiris. Total Grocery spending: $9.00

Well, I've been pretty lax with housekeeping this week. Part of the problem is, once again, I'm sick. I sleep a LOT. Or sit on the couch and 'rest'.

So my kitchen is pretty darn messy. I cleaned it up yesterday, but was unable to wash the floor because my mop has disintegrated and I was too lazy to buy a new one. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I got down on my hands & knees with rags & washed it by hand. Took maybe 10 minutes tops. Might hold off on getting the mop!

I'm having friends over for a LOST party. We have dinner, catch up with each other, and watch the show. Very fun! But first, I have to get up the energy to clean the living room!

Onto other news, lots of rumors going on at work again. Possible layoffs or changes in my position from Exempt to Non-Exempt. Lots of higher level Organizational Changes, but nobody is talking directly to my department. Which makes me very, very nervous. People are talking about it all day long, which makes for a very stressful work day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I am just gonna keep my head down, tune the negative people out, do my work well and try to stand out for all the positive reasons.

If something were to happen, its likely to happen either tomorrow or next Tuesday. Those are the rumors! We will see.

So I think that I'm doing well with the container garden. Out of the seeds, I've got several plants growing. I may have over-planted the tomatoes. But I'm ok with that as I'm not 100% sure that they're all gonna survive being transferred from the container of seedlings to bitter pots.

Wish I had pics, but the camera's still out for repairs

Anyway, I was able to borrow some big plastic containers from my friend's dad's shed. I'm going to clean them off this weekend and try to transfer some of the plants. Its not quite warm enough to put them outside, but I'll acclimate them when I have a chance.

In the meantime, I've been reading Container Gardening for Dummies and watching How To videos online.

I've never grown anything before and other than my bamboo plant, I've killed everything I've tried.

But now I have 2 house plants in addition to the bonsai and all the veggie plants and herbs! Yay

I've bought some containers and gardening supplies (gloves, tools, hooks for hanging the plants, ect) from the dollar store and I'll have to purchase some more potting soil. But overall, this hasn't been an expensive enterprise - maybe $15.00? - and I'll be able to reuse all the containers next year.

And to be honest, even if it WAS a little more expensive, it'd be worth it. I'm getting such a kick outing getting things to grow. I'm very proud of myself!

Lots of things to update:

-Its finally warm enough to turn the heat off 100%. Its about 65 degrees at night inside right now. YAY!

-My plants are doing well. Lots of little guys growing now. Soon, I'll have to replant them into bigger containers. I'm just not sure when I'm supposed to do that. So I'll be doing some research! I'd take a picture, but the camera broke the night of the party.

-The lens just stopped retracting. So now I'm paying $6.00 to have the item shipped to the company I bought it from. Luckily its still under warrenty. AND that I was able to still upload the party pics.

-I sent in my contacts rebate today. In the past, the rebate has been much bigger. This time, its only $20.00.

-I bought groceries today & already planned my food for tomorrow. Cheerios, milk & strawberries for breakfast. Pasta salad and carrots for lunch. Dinner will be chicken and potatoes.

-Its been such a busy few weeks that I decided to make tonight a veg night. Used a code to get free Redbox movies. A good little horror movie and Seven Pounds, which was VERY good!

-My sister put a contract on a house! I'm on a pretty tight budget right now, so I'll be looking to do some frugal gifts. Time to hit the dollar store for kitchen items and I plan to donate time to helping them set up the house. Any additional suggestions are welcome!

Just realized its been 3 years on this site. Its been a great time, thanks everybody!

Its been a crazy week and weekend. I had the party last night and the last guests left at 3am. I had two people crash on the couches and today I spend the day with them & one other friend. We had brunch out, then came back and hung out on the back deck in some really awesome weather!

I have been really off budget lately, not keeping track of things. SO I'm setting tomorrow night aside to get my financial house in order. Wish me luck

My nephew is on Spring Break & I'm taking him to the Zoo. Last summer, I bought an annual pass for about $5.00 more than what an individual adult & child ticket would cost. So we're going again & I've made my money back. Should be fun!

I'm bringing my camera, so there will be lots of pics!

Busy, busy day. I've been sick all week, spent Friday night on the couch, vegged all day Saturday & when my Sat night plans were cancelled, stayed on the couch then too.

But I'm having a party next weekend and really needed to clean, clean clean. So today, while STILL not feeling well, I got to it - just took a lot of breaks.

I did 3 loads of laundy, cleaned the living room, both bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, the hallway & part of the basement. I vacuumed furniture for cat hair, wiped down baseboards and door frames. I even polished all the wood furniture.

So everything is pretty set. I'll need a quick dusting/vacuuming the day of the party & I'll need to wash the kitchen floor and sweep the basement (where I'm setting up beer pong).

The only other thing that needs to be done is food & beverages, which I will handle purchasing on Thursday.

The evenings this week are pretty busy, so the residual cleaning & food prep will occur the morning of the party.

Today was rainy to start out, but warmed up & the sun came out. I was able to turn off the heat & open the windows all day. The house smells great! I feel like I've accomplished a lot

Today was going to be a veg, do-nothing day. But I couldn't seem to sit still. I took all the clothes in the spare bedroom, organized and listed them to take to Good Will.



Then I ran some errands, went to Acme to return the movies to redbox & pick up some milk, then dropped the clothes off at Good Will.

When I got home, I went into the basement for some organizing. I came out with a bunch of stuff to list on Craigslist & to give to goodwill. I also collapsed some boxes to be recycled. All of which is loaded up in the car & out of the house

Here's part of the basement before:





And here's part of the basement after:



I planted parsley & chives and organized my plants. I'm utilizing a small table & tray table to place the plants in front of the window & move outside in nicer weather. I've also utilized (temporarily) some old mugs for some of the seeds.



I unpacked some glassware from my Aunt that had been hiding in the basement. I cleaned the kitchen, made dinner & made some meatloaf muffins to freeze.

I then decided to organize the cabinet under the sink:

Before:



After:



Whew...now im gonna pick up the living room, put away the laundry & settle in to watch the Nora Roberts movie on Lifetime at 9

Got a lot done today. Was supposed to hang with a friend, but when she cancelled due to sickness, I decided to get a bunch of things done.

Went to the Dollar store - got some kitchen & gardening supplies - including an 8 lb bag of pottery soil. I saw it there the other day & after researching the brand online, found it to be pretty good. $10.00

Pathmark (next to dollar store) for 51 oz Olive Oil - $10.00

Local Greenhouse - $10.95 in herbs, starter plants & fertilizer (for houseplants)

Lowes - to view the seeds. Bought Lettuce Mix to try out $1.67

Safeway - Bought 5 2 liter sodas, 2 boxes Cheerios, 2 bags mixed lettuce, and 1 can Hunts Sauce - Total $9.00

Produce Stand - mushrooms, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers & strawberries - $7.83

Super G - 4 12 packs Pepsi, Good Seasons dressing $14.49

Redbox in Super G - $3.06 for 3 movies

Been a very, very busy week for me. I was out every night except Wednesday and now I'm beat!

Monday I went to the movies with a friend. We saw Watchmen. My friend bought my ticket before I even got there & refused to be reimbursed. So next time I'll try to get there first! Spending $0

Tuesday was St Paddy's and I went to the dive I hang out at, which we call the Pub. Bought a few drinks. The poor bartenders, who I know fairly well, were running ragged. I left a good tip because I knew they were working their butts off. Spent roughly $30.00

Wednesday I had the day off. Waited around for the electric guy to change the meter. Thought they were taking the whole thing out, but apparently it was just the gas portion. My dad came over & repaired the downstairs toilet & my dryer. I paid for the dryer part & lunch for him and my mom. For a total of $50.00. But completely worth it!

Thursday I had planned on staying home. Ran some errands after work, then was called by 2 friends for impromptu dinner. Went to a local mexican place. We had a margarita and some good food. Then our 1 friend paid for everything. Apparently he had been at the Casinos & won a lot. He wouldn't even let us leave tip.

On my way home from there, another friend called and asked me to meet him at a local bar. A friend of his was working there as a rep for a vodka company. We were given some comped drinks & caught up for an hour or two. So this was a completely free night, which was a surprise. Spending $0

Yesterday I went to the library. Picked up a few movies, couple of books. Some of the books were impulses, some not:

The Art Theif by Noah Charney
The Simple Life by Amy Dacyczyn, Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin
Houseplant Basics
Cents & Cents-abilities by Kathy Bradford
Good Housekeeping's The complete Household Handbook
The Frugal Gardner
Vinegar, Duct Tape, Milk Jugs & More by Earl Proulx

Friday was happy hour. A few friends had taken 1/2 days for March Madness. We met up after work & had dinner. They were ready to continue for the rest of the night. I was ready to go to bed. Made it home by 8, watched tv til 10. Then bed. Total spent $8.00.

Got a great nights sleep & now I'm refreshed! Gonna hang out with a friend today. Our big plans are a shoe store where I have a $20 gift certificate, the Farmers Market for veggies, she's gonna help me pick out some glasses & we'll possibly go shopping for some stuff for container gardening. We may end up doing none of that if she still has a cold. In that case, we'll be watching April Fools Day, a movie I own already that she & I loved as teens. Low key & low cost day!

I know container gardening won't be that frugal a hobby this year since I'm just starting out & a complete novice to anything gardening related. If anyone has any info, please feel free to share!

After I had lunch with my friends, I lounged for a bit and then got cleaning. I had cleaned the kitchen & living room (the downstairs) for the guests, but the upstairs was a disaster. So I cleaned the bathroom, the bedroom and the hall. The only place I did not completely get to is the spare room, which will be completed this week.

I made dinner & cleaned up the kitchen again. And now I'm beat

I did pack food for tomorrow, a mish-mash of things I had in the fridge/pantry. So tomorrow, I'll have 2 apples, oatmeal, carrots, pasta salad and sloppy joe over pasta. LOL. I WILL be going to the grocery store tomorrow.

Yesterday I was up and in the city at 10am for the St Patty's Day Parade, of which I saw none of My friend was pouring beer at a local church and there was tailgating in the parking lots around the church.

We were there til 3. I paid $10.00 for a mug and had unlimited 'free' beer. Then we went to a local pizza place and between the group, split 3 pizzas and fries. Total out of pocket for the day: $23.00.

Today I had some college friends and their baby over for lunch. Used chicken from the freezer, potatoes & made some pasta salad. So no spending today.

I'll have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow now. I'm out of veggies!


Here's an updated list of my Freezer Foods. I'm working on my meal plan now

1 wheat wrap
5 wheat pitas
3/4 Loaf wheat bread
1/4 loaf rye bread
4 Blueberry/banana muffins

4 bananas
4 pints blueberries

5 servings Sloppy Joe
1 package turkey pepperoni
5 servings Bacon
3 servings Meatloaf Muffin
6 servings Ground Turkey and onion
4 servings London Broil
5 servings Chicken Fajita
5 servings Taco meat
11 servings Morningstar Chick'n
6 servings Chicken Breasts

1 bag Breakfast Potatoes

I purchase Electric/Gas from the same company as is the standard for the state that I live in.

They recently updated their site to include online bills, usage estimates, bill comparison and money saving tips, which I'm having a lot of fun playing with it.

I feel that I do pretty well with my usage, but am always looking for ways to lower my bills. I've been in the house about 2 years now and I know (based on my statements) that I use MUCH less than the previous owner.

And thats the reason that I think that I received a call from the Electric Company saying that they need to replace my meter for an updated version. As far as I know, none of my neighbors, whose houses were all built in the same year, have been told this is necessary. And I've asked a few of them to be sure.

So I have an appointment next Wednesay between 8am and 12pm to have it replaced. My understanding is that it will be digital, which should be cool.

As part of the new web site, there are estimates on how much of my bill goes where. It asked me a bunch of questions, then estimates what usage occurs as a result of which type of use:

For February:

Heating $81
Hot Water $36
Lighting $14
Food Storage $13
Other: $13
Cooking: $9

According to the site, I compare well to others in my area. I personally used less electric AND gas than this Feb of last year. My YTD 2009 average is $135.00 compared to the avg home in my area $286.00. Winter is always the highest bill, so it can only get better
from here. Yay!

Well, I keep getting the same thing over & over. I plan on getting to the drs if possible. I know I'll need an antibiotic. Fun.

Tonight I was all set to do a bunch of stuff on my to do list. Instead I watched 2 free Redbox movies - Death Race & Quarantine, took a nap, played on the computer and ate noodles with butter (my fave sick food).

I just got an urge to do something. So instead of doing the many things off my to-do list, I made pizza. First time making the dough from scratch. And technically, its not really pizza.

I made the dough thicker than the recipe called for and am waiting for it to cook a little longer. I put on tomato sauce, doctored it up with spices, loaded on the garlic - real, not powder. And skipped the cheese. Its more of a quick tomato pie than pizza, but its going to be an awesome snack & leftovers will go with dinner tomorrow.

So lately I've been doing a lot of talking about being super frugal because of some increased expenses, but then I go and buy paintings for the living room. And I've way overspent in my entertainment again this pay period.

Well, I'm finally going to walk the walk, since I've been doing plenty of talk the talk.



Last week week I:

-Worked to decrease my electric/gas bills. The weather is helping as my heat has been off for 2 days. Hope this warm weather streak lasts.

-Negotiated a new deal with Comcast to keep the services I have within $5.00 of where they were before the promo rate expired. Its only good for 6 months, so I set a reminder to myself to call in September.

-Organized all my paperwork. Perminantly filing all 2008 information. Keeping the temporary files open for 2009

-Packed lunches all but 2 days. One was a work outing lunch and the other was becuase I was really ill and barely made it into work at all that day.

-I set up a meal plan and am using freezer meals

-Did my taxes and found out that I'm getting a decent state refund. It cancels out most of my amount owed to Federal. (YAY). All adjustments have been made so that I will NOT owe next year.




This week I am:

-Instituting no spending except for the following expected expenses:
- $15.00 milk, yogurt, produce
- $10.00 Night out with friends on Monday
- $10.00 much needed toiletries

-Packing breakfast & lunch. Having dinner at home

-Putting items up on Craigslist as part of my March To-Do list

-Updating my account/password list to be included in my In Case of Emergency file.

Yesterday, I went to the Farmers market for produce. I went with two friends and we explored the outdoor Flea Market as well. I didn't plan on buying anything, but ended up coming home with 3 paintings in ornate gold frames. I have a place in mind in my living room.

Here they are:




Here is each close up:









And here is where I'm thinking of puttin them.

So I did my taxes & it turns out I owe a bit. I was expecting that and I have the savings to pay them, but I feel the need to go into SuperFrugal mode and try to cashflow it back into savings within the next month or so.

In SuperFrugal mode, I look for both big and small savings. I am going to limit entertainment spending, limit grocery spending, work to find additional sources of income and basically do anything I can to conserve spending and earn more.

The hardest thing for me, will be entertainment. Lately I've been a lot more social at work, with friends and dating. All of which entails spending. So this will be the trickiest.

Today was a no spender, which is good.

Tomorrow will not be one, as I have a date and will be offering to pay for dinner this time around. (Expected Entertainment spending $25.00?)

Wednesday, I'm having friends over to watch LOST and plan on offering them dinner. I will stop at the produce stand for veggies for the week, but will make dinner out of my freezer/pantry. (Groceries $10.00)

Thursday, my work group is going out to lunch. I'm hoping we can keep it really, really cheap, but as there's 10 of us, I'm only 1 vote. Worst case scenario, lunch will be about $10.00. I'll be staying in Thursday night. (Entertainment $10.00)

The weekend is up in the air, we'll have to wait and see what social things I have going on.

For frugal entertainment, I plan on doing the following:

Playing Wii with the nephew
Watching Library movies
Reading Library books

All of these I've said before, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of them and free is always good!

I just updated my request list at the library. Plenty of movies for me to watch as they become available.

Oh and to keep track of freezer food: I used 1 ground turkey with onion for pasta sauce for dinner. I used another to take to work for lunch. (2 ground turkey w/ onion used)

Today's a snow day. So it will be a No Spend Day! I could have chosen to go into work late, but decided to just take the full day after all.

I got a workout shovelling my driveway, but then I managed to drop my glasses and step on them. They will not be able to be repaired. At least I have my old glasses, plus contacts to get me through til my appointment next month.

The rest of the day, I've been watcing tv & playing on the internet.

So now I'm going to tackle the monstrous task of organizing paperwork and taxes.
Have to accomplish something today

Oh, and I'm going to call Comcast & get a new promotion since my last one just ran out.

I've been thinking about meal planning a lot lately. So I've decided to add a running tab of meats/meal starters in my freezer to remind me to utilize what I already have instead of wasting food. I'm putting it up in my side bar and will update it at least once a week. This will not include 100% of whats in my freezer and will not include whats in the fridge and pantry.

Tonight I had 1 serving of Meatloaf muffins and have 1 in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch.

The freezer currently has:

10 Servings Meatloaf Muffins
5 Servings Taco Meat
12 Servings Chicken
6 Servings Sloppy Joe
6 Servings cooked Ground Turkey w/ Onion
5 Servings Turkey Bacon
6 Servings Morningstar Chick'n
2 Servings Morningstar Crumbles
4 Servings London Broil
8 Servings Frozen chicken breasts

Well, I failed most of my February goals, so I'm making them my March goals!

- Complete Taxes
- Keep house clean daily
- Pack Breakfast/Lunch for work 100% of the month - NO Excuses!
- Stay on Weight Watchers plan 100% of the month
- Work out at least 3 - 4 days per week
- Lower electric usage
- Sell at least 5 things in Craigslist
- Prepare furniture in basement for sale
- Take a few bags of clothes to Good Will
- Stay 100% within budget for this month (been going over in a few catagories)


The last item be tough, especially with the amount of social activities that I've been having, but I'm going to make do any way that I can.

Today was a good day. I slept in, met up with a friend and went for a walk. It was chilly, but I'm really glad we went. Good to work out some stress!

After the walk, I went grocery shopping. Got a great deal on chicken tenders and ground turkey and came home with several pounds worth of each.

Being single, its hard to make meals without wasting food. So I utilize the freezer an awful lot. Including storing veggies, fruit & bread.

This afternoon, I made up sloppy joe with 1 pound of the ground turkey and divided it into 6 portions. Next, I browned 1 pound ground turkey with onion and made taco meat, which I portioned out into 5 containers.

The remaining pound of ground turkey went into the fridge to be made into meatloaf tomorrow. I would have done that today as well, but I forgot to pick up eggs at the store.

Then I took the 3 pounds of chicken tenders and divided them up into 13 portions. 12 were frozen and one was used to make buffalo breaded chicken for dinner.

Then I cleaned out the freezer. Unfortunately, there was some wasted food to be tossed. But now, I can easily see what I have in there, so at least thats something.

I have plenty of meals in the freezer, so for the next two weeks, any grocery purchases are going to be fruits, veggies & dairy.

Here's a small list of meal starters in the freezer:

Taco meat - 5 portions
Chicken tenders - 12 portions
Sloppy Joe - 6 portions
Precooked ground turkey with onions - 6 portions
Turkey Bacon - 5 portions
MorningStar Chick'n - 6 portions
MorningStar Crumbles - 2 portions
1 loaf wheat bread
1 loaf rye bread

So here's a rough idea of my meal plan for the upcoming week:

Dinners:

Monday: Meatloaf muffins
Tuesday: Pasta w/ ground turkey sauce
Wednesday: Sloppy joe w/ pasta
Thursday: Shake N Bake Chicken
Friday: BLT

Finally got off my butt and got some stuff done around the house. Borrowed my parents mini-van and headed to Lowes. Bought some planned items and non-planned items.

- Pantry door
- Primed Shelving board cut to specifications
- 6 foot rod for spare room closet
- Brackets and screws for hanging rod
- Hanging Plant
- Table plant
- Pot for plant

I used a $50.00 gift card and spent around $30.00 out of pocket.

I went to lunch with my mom (I treated for letting me borrow the van), helped her seal some meat that she got a good deal on. And came home with a pound of london broil. (Thanks Mom!)

Tonight I installed the shelf in the spare bedroom closet. I'm holding off on the rod. Then I went to work on the pantry door. I had to remove all the old tracks and had some fun knocking it out since it was all painted over. Then I installed the new track and door. I am SO proud of myself!

Here's 2 pics of the door:





And here's pics of the plants. I'm excited about these cause they really brighten up the place.

I've had some busy times lately and some stress at the job and in my life. Including the passing of a very good family friend that was fighting breast cancer. So I've been feeling a lot of tension and I've been looking for easy ways to relax.

I've been doing the following:

Working out
Reading (library) books
Watching movies (library) and tv
Taking long baths
Napping
Painting my nails

Mostly no cost activites, which is well within my budget

Staying on track with packing breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks for work. No spending on food there I stuck to my Weight Watchers plan too, and lost 3.2 pounds this week!

I've already premade food for tomorrow. I'm planning ahead for tomorrow night too. I have a happy hour in honor of a coworkers upcoming wedding. I'll go after work, stay for 1 - only 1 - drink and then I'll head home to a nice big dinner.

I've had the heat off the last two days. Its supposed to get colder again, so I have it set to kick back on when the temps in the house go under 65. Right now its 68 in the house. Any lower during the night and I get sick. Sinuses get all messed up and I already have a cold, so I don't want to aggrivate it. Otherwise, I would definately let the heat stay off as long as possible.

Today was a no spender. Never even left my house. About 1pm, my mom dropped my nephew off after his karate class. We've spent all day watching movies, playing with the cats, playing games and eating popcorn. And I'm wiped out. Just put him to bed about 15 minutes ago and I'll be following soon after.

Tomorrow, his mom will pick him up in the morning. I'm heading out to lunch for an informal high school reunion with a few old friends. Should be fun.

I'm off on Monday and I'm planning on using the day to help out a family friend and get some things done around the house. I want to clean out my freezer and make some meals for the upcoming week. I'm working on a meal plan now as I have $24.22 left in my grocery budget to last until payday next Friday.

In other news, my raise will hit with this new paycheck. It won't be much, but every bit counts.

The temps here have picked up. This is good because my nephew is small for his age and has absolutely NO meat on his bones. As a result, he's always cold, even with tons of layers on. So when he visits, I up the heat to 67 degrees. The heat has only come on a few times this evening, which is good

Packed 100% of food/drinks for work this week and stayed on my Weight Watchers plan. Yay!

Today I had:
Breakfast: Cheerios & Milk, apple
Snack: Yogurt
Lunch: Pasta salad, slice of (FREE) tomato pie
Dinner: Shake n bake chicken, baked red potatoes

I've done a little too much grocery shopping this week. My goal for next week is to do 1 big shop and 1 veggie shop. Shouldn't be too hard.

I went to a book club meeting with some friends at a local pub. $8.00 spent for a LOT of fun. Not my taste in books (Sci-Fi) and not really my book club (crashed a friends with their permission). But now I think I want to do a book club with some friends.

Went to the library today and picked up a couple of movies and books (a few recommended by the club last night). Stocked up on lots of entertaining options.

Tomorrow I'm having my nephew for the day & then he's spending the night. I picked up 2 movies from Redbox. The library kids selection was very slim and even though I won't be returning the movies until Sunday, 2 kids movies for $4.04 is totally worth it.

I also have food planned, games, cards, and my camera ready to catch all the cute moments. Its been awhile since my nephew & I have hung out, so I"m excited.

I'm working on cleaning up my paperwork and organizing my files. Its a big job & I'll take some before and after pics. Did I mention its a BIG job??

Still 100% packing food for work. Spent about 20 mins working out yesterday. Which I count as good since I spent 2 hours after that cleaning the house, running up & down the stairs, mopping & vacuuming

The only spending I've done yesterday & today was grocery shopping. Spent about $26.00 so far.

Tonight I'm hosting a LOST party. My two best friends and my two good work friends are coming over. I'm doing Shake-n-Bake Chicken and roasted red potatoes. Leftovers will be lunch tomorrow. And to make things easier on my self : last night I pre-portioned milk, cheerios and yogurt for breakfast tomorrow. I'll just pack up the chicken tonight & I'll be ready for tomorrow.

I received the 2009 sewer bill yesterday. It was a little under 1/2 was it was for 2008! I was able to reduce water usage and a neighbors issue with a burst pipe was apparently affecting me as well. Since it was fixed, my bills have gone down a lot!

This month, I'm challanging myself to spend NOTHING on eating out at work. Day 1 went well. Packed breakfast & lunch and I stocked up my desk drawer with snacks & a backup lunch (soup) just in case. Made dinner at home tonight as well. Yay!

As a bonus, I stayed within my WeightWatchers plan, which is another February goal

Worked out in my living room and according to my Heart Rate Monitor, I burned nearly 400 calories. Not bad for a quick work out! This meets part of another February goal - working out several times a week!

Lots of goals for February, financial and non-financial. Here are a few.

- Complete Taxes
- Keep house clean daily
- Pack Breakfast/Lunch for work 100% of the month - NO Excuses!
- Stay on Weight Watchers plan 100% of the month
- Work out at least 3 - 4 days per week
- Lower electric usage
- Sell at least 5 things in Craigslist
- Prepare furniture in basement for sale
- Take a few bags of clothes to Good Will
- Stay 100% within budget for this month (been going over in a few catagories)

Yesterday the snow & ice hit. By the time I was heading to work (7:30), it was coming down as sleet. Roads were slick & it was a rough drive. Then 3/4 of the way to work, my driver-side windshield wiper just QUIT working. In the middle of an intersection, with sleet coming down and dirty slush flying up from other cars' tires.

So I couldn't see out the windshield. There was nowhere to pull over and the passenger side wiper still worked, so I leaned into the middle of the car & drove that way. Literally, there was nowhere to pull over because there were a few accidents on the side of the road.

I made it all the way to work safely. Thank goodness! My dad came out in the afternoon and confirmed my diagnosis... the wiper motor was broken. So then I left work early (using 1/2 vacation day) to drop the car off at the repair place. By this point it was just drizzling, so it made sense to drive the car then. No way I could have driven that car much further in steadier rain.

$88.00 later and the motor and both wiper blades were replaced. Just in time, cause it was steady pouring at that point. I have to say I feel REALLY lucky that I didn't get into an accident!