HouseHappy's Personal Finance Blog

Earlier I mentioned a topic I wanted to bring up, but I couldn't remember, well, I finally did!

My work is sponsoring a discounted membership to BJS. There are 2 within 15 minutes of my house. The normal yearly cost is $45.00, they are offering 15 months for $30.00.

Being single, I don't know how much the membership would actually save me, but I was wondering how many people here use discount warehouses like BJs & Costco.

I just don't see how I would buy enough as an individual to have my cost savings in 15 months justify the $30.00 upfront cost, but the offer is oh, so tempting

Packed my lunch again today. No soda, either. I made a tuna sandwich & pasta salad (light on the pasta, heavy on the veggies--very yummy).

Someone decided to dump a very large wood plank at the back of my property. Its too heavy for me to move by myself & even if I moved it, I don't know what to do with it. I was thinking of putting it up on Craigslist for free. Maybe someone will want it & they can take it away for me. That'd be REALLY nice.

Also, I had a question to put out there for you guys, but I am completely drawing a blank. Its driving me crazy, but as soon as I remember, I'll put it out there.

I took my lunch to work every day last week and yesterday & today. I've been eating at home, which is good for both my pocket & my diet... by the way, I lost 5.5 pounds this week (well, actually 9 days)!! The next few weeks probably won't be such big losses, but I'm off to a good start.

I had no spend days Saturday & Sunday. Monday, I spent:
225.00 for student loan #1
12.69 for cat food
Tuesday: 1.00 library fine
Today: Another no spender

I have a meal planned that I'll pack later tonight. I've rented a few movies from the library, so I'm set on entertainment.

I've been offered 8 hours overtime (which never happens), but it means that I would work on Monday 8-5. I'm going to sign up though & that money is going towards some little fix-its around the house-- like redo the toilet components because they're old.

I've been keeping up with the posts here. Its very motivating to read about what you guys are doing.

I'm getting concerned, this is my 3rd or 4th migrane in the last 2 months. They never come this frequently. I have a possible theory that these recent ones might have been caused by my pillows. I bought some new ones a few months ago & they're thicker than I ususally like. I've been using them anyway, but now I wonder if I'm sleeping funny & the higher pillow isn't stressing my neck and back, which may cause migranes. I'm switching back to my old pillows today & it'll just be wait & see from here.

This is the first time I've been feeling better all day. My mom was nice enought to drop me off some lunch. I'm trying to stay on the diet today, but its hard because the pain meds make me all weird & I need to keep eating to prevent nausea. I'm doing ok so far. I weigh in tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

I had a ton of things to do today, so now I feel behind. So I'm just going to replan the list later & get it all done by next week.

Well today will be a no spend day too. I offered my mom money for lunch, but she refused. I'll do something nice for her next weekend, like maybe invite both my parents for dinner next week.

I ended up going to the grocery store yesterday, so I did spend after all, but all expected. Today, I packed my lunch for work (yes, I work Saturdays). I drank all water, no soda & am making dinner at home. Then I'm going to watch cheesy movies on the sci-fi channel.

I've been doing some cleaning as well. I cleaned the kitchen & washed the floor. i took the rest of my Christmas decorations down to the basement. I'm taking the tree to be recycled tomorrow & then I'll super clean the living room. I also need an oil change, so I'm going to try to fit that in too.

I came home to a $75.00 rebate in the mail for my contacts. VERY nice. That'll go straight to savings.

Yet another no spend/no soda day. I'm feeling a little better than yesterday, but I'm having to force myself to eat today. I think I might end up in the doctors office on Monday if I don't feel better.

Anyway, I am completely out of salad stuff, so I'll make a grocery run late tonight or tomorrow. I have $10.00 cash and that'll be it. Later this weekend I'll head to walmart for some staples-instant oatmeal, ff pudding, generic crystal light.

I've been doing well on my diet, but I'll have to wait & see how it goes when I weigh in on Monday.

I stopped by the library today & got the remake of the Omen, a horror movie & a kids movie. I updated my list of movie requests with the library & they'll email me when its my turn to borrow the movie.

I have a large to do list for the weekend, but since I work tomorrow from 8-5, we'll see what gets done.

Today was a tough one. Even though I premade my lunch for today, I wasn't feeling that good & wanted comfort food. I resisted temptation, mostly out of laziness. Also no soda again today. I'm planning on bringing some to work tomorrow, because if I'm not feeling better, I might need the soda to settle my stomach.

I have a huge to do list for this weekend. too large to share, but I better be feeling better, so I can get it all done.

No spending so far today--I will get gas when I get off work, but thats already in the normal budget. I've drank 96oz of water & NO soda! Day two of being anti-soda is down. I am going to allow myself a few days of the week with 1 soda a day, but no more.

Tonight I'm taking down my Christmas Tree & instead of paying to have it picked up (thanks a lot, new County Trash Law), I'm going to shove it in the trunk of my car & haul it to the local park for recycling. So I'll use some gas, but no cash.

Aside from pack up the Christmas stuff, I plan on making a tomato & cucumber salad for lunch and pasta salad & tuna fish sandwich to take to dinner tomorrow... very yummy.

Tomorrow's also trash day & when I took some stuff out today I realized that all my trash is made up of grocery bags. I haven't used a single 'real' trash bag in over a week! NICE!

Also, I gathered all my dry laundry from the basement today. I let everything air dry from the last 2 loads. I only use the dryer for socks & undies & for towels & sheets. I'll have to take a picture of the drying laundry sometime, its not a pretty sight. I use a drying rack and a pole attached to my basement ceiling that the previous owner left. Hey, whatever works, right?

I take a medication for my stomach that, last year, under my new insurance plan would no longer be paid for. The alternative was going to try an over the counter medication (per my doctor), but since I'd have to take multiples of the medication, it would have worked out to be about $70 to $80 dollars a month (depending on sales & coupons).

Luckily, right before I left my previous employer, I had refilled my prescription & had enough to last me until this month.

When we signed up for our benefits in October, there was a small blurb that some stomach medications were now being covered under the plan again, however, when I called the ins co, they couldn't tell me which ones.

Well, I went online today & found out my prescription is one of the ones they cover! So instead of paying $105.00/mo or $70.00/mo. Its now covered for $45.00/month. MUCH more managable!

Potential savings is $60.00!!! Nice!

Today was another no spend day. I packed my (healthy) lunch/dinner for work. I drank almost 96 oz of water. And here's the kicker---I had no soda. This was hard for me, I'm a HUGE addict.

I'm heading off to pack my food for tomorrow. I'll have toast & an apple for breakfast (since I get up later in the day), a tuna sandwich for lunch, and wheat pasta with meat sauce and a salad for desert. Yummy.

I don't plan on spending tomorrow, except for filling up my gas tank, which is an expected expense.

By the end of the week, I'll have put the funds from my old bank into my new one. When that happens, I'm going to make a transfer to my ING account:

13.00 saved from cancelling XM Radio
18.00 from suspending Blockbuster
40.00 overage in savings for my quarterly water bill
90.00 over from electric bill (over estimating until I get a full month of heating under my belt & then again with air conditioning)

So a total of 161.00 will go into savings. Off to a great start!

Today was a no spend day for me. My parents invited me to movies & they paid for the ticket. I declined going out to eat with them because I'm still getting into the whole WW thing & I didn't want to risk eating out. Its easier to retrain your eating habits when you start out at home.

Over the last two days, I've done some cleaning and organizing. Yesterday, I made some meals to freeze. I have sloppy joe & pasta sauce all set up. I have a few frozen dinners in the freezer, so when I get lazy, I still have healthier food.

Today, I had shake n bake chicken and baked fries for dinner and I'll be taking the leftovers to work tomorrow. I also premade a salad for lunch.

I've drank over 96 oz of water today...which has led to a lot of bathroom runs

I have a few goals this week:
-get an oil change-
-close my 2nd checking account (with Bank B)
-open a new 2nd checking acount (with Bank A-- where my primary checking is)
-set up the new direct deposit to the new checking account
-bring lunch every day this week, including Saturday
-stick to the diet (even though I started on Saturday, I won't reweigh myself until next Monday. For every pound that I lose, I'm going to put a dollar into savings)

Just like a million other Americans this year, I'm resolving to lose weight & save money. In some cases, the two go hand in hand.

I restarted Weight Watchers, which I'm excited about. I have to track what I eat. Since healthier food can be more expensive, the fact that I have to plan food and watch portion sizes, will help counteract some of it. Plus, since eating out is harder to deal with while watching what I eat, I'll be forced to eat out on a much less frequent basis.

Here are my detailed 2007 Financial Goals:

1. Track all spending for the full year. (Previously, I've only tracked a few months at a time)
2. Limit soda intake & purchase. (this is a VERy bad habit of mine. I'm going to drastically decrease this from a couple of sodas a day to one 12 pack every 2 weeks.
3. Find a part-time job, put all extra money into savings. Also, continue looking for a roomate. (I'm hoping to find one through word of mouth since Craigslist didn't work out. I ended up with more scams than serious inquiries)
4. Increase 401k withholding
5. Put expected 2,500 inheritance into ING as a New to Me car fund. I hope to get another 3-4 years out of my current one, but its good to get started saving early.
6. Replentish my Car Repair Fund back to $500.00 (Need to save 164.10)
7. Save all change & deposit monthly to savings for Christmas. My goal is to have a cash only Christmas again this year (Already starting w/ $14.64)
8. Put insurance payout(from inheritance), estimated 400.00 into savings
9. Since my car insurance is broken into nine monhs of payments, put the extra months payments (March, April, May) into savings
10. Suspend blockbuster online every 2 to 3 months. This will give me a change to build up a queue of movies that I want to watch without wasting the subscription. On the off months, I can utilize my library for entertainment
11. Cancel XM Radio subscription when it comes due again in March
12. Review cable/phone/internet bill in September. My promotion rate runs out in October. My goal is to get rid of the phone (using only cell phone).
13. Switch previous job's 401k to an IRA
14. Review credit report quarterly for inaccurate information (using free credit reports)
15. Fully fund emergency fund with cash (have additional funds in savings bonds, ect, but I'd prefer cash) Goal is to increase cash by $3932
16. Find additional sources of income, such as babysitting, running errands, ect. Or find savings in normal expenses. My goal is to find at least 2 per month

I went out on my lunch break & bought some Christmas stuff on sale today.

I got:
-Suction cup hooks for windows. 2 packs for $1.98
-Candy canes 0.27
-2 bags of Hershey Kisses 0.87 each
-2 sets of Christmas lights-100 feet 1.24 each,
-Ribbon 0.49
-Ornament hooks 0.12
-3 packs of 16 ball ornaments, 0.74 each
-Craft christmas present for mom for next year 1.24

All in all, I spent $10.85. I used my Chase cc where I had a $15.98 credit from a return of Christmas ornaments. So no new Christmas spending. And I still have $5.13 in credit on the card.

In college I bought a set of heavy stoneware dishes & bowls from Goodwill for about $10.00 for the set. They have served me well.


Last year, I inherited my great-aunts daily dishes. I used them in tandem with the college dishes.


I also inherited her china, which is beautiful. The pictures don't do the china justice. I'm going to work on getting some better pictures of the china this weekend.

I'm having some serious thoughts about my plans for next year. I want to work on planning, self-control and re-evaluting my decisions. I'm still working on my goals for 2007.

I also have been taking some pictures with my new FREE cheapo digital camera. I wanted to share some of my inherited and second hand furniture. There will be more pics to come.

This is the 1920s wardrobe that I inherited from my great aunt. I've loved this piece since I was a kid. its sturdy, roomy, and pretty. I REALLY love it.

I made it through Christmas on cash only. (I used some of the cards for online purchases, then paid off immediately). So I did not go in debt for Christmas.

I got some good stuff for Christmas, an under counter cd/clock/radio for the kitchen. It was something that WANTED, but did not NEED. So I put it on my list. I also got a set of tray tables which was also on my list. My mom gave me a jewelry box...one of the standing ones that has hooks to hang necklaces. I have a lot of silver jewelery & keeping them enclosed helps stop tarnishing, so it will definately be useful. I got a few movies and some hardback books that I was really wanting. I still haven't exchanged with my best friends, I'll be doing that tonight. They always have the best gifts... all fun stuff. And they know my taste, so I usually love them all.

Today was a heavy phone day in that I was making tons of calls to sort stuff out. Heres the 'phone log'.
-2 calls to my car insurance because they applied by 12/18 payment as a second payment to december's due date instead of to the 1/7/07 due date it was intended. After the second conversation where we went through all my payments & all the due dates for the last year, they finally agreed with me.
-2 calls to my vision insurance to sort out a denied claim. The first rep told me that the denial was accurate. The second person told me that it should have been paid & would call my eye doctor to straighten it out for me. I plan on writing a letter to the company about her good customer service. (I will follow up with the eye doctor tomorrow to confirm the issue).
-2 calls to my new bank (for the 2nd checking account). They declined my payment to the mortgage company even though the funds were there. After the first call, I found out that for the first 30 days, they hold all deposits for 5 business days. Nobody told me that. I reread all the paperwork they gave me. It is not stated anywhere. PLUS I had to go into the bank today because they never ordered my Visa check card. So far I'm not impressed. On the second call, I explained about the forgotten order of the check card, the fact that I had to make an extra trip to the branch, the fact that the additional hold time was not disclosed to me, that the mortgage company will charge a $20.00 NSF fee AND that they charged me a $32.00 NSF fee. The 2nd rep refunded the $32.00 fee, but said there was nothing they could do about the mortgag company's fee.

-1 call to mortgage company. They haven't gotten the payment returned from the bank yet, but the rep said when they do, they will resubmit the payment. I will get a $20.00 NSF fee. But since I had tried to make my payment so early, it won't be late even with having to resubmit it. (I plan on calling after the payment reposts and asking if there's anything that they can do about the fee)

WHEW and today is only 1/2 over.

My direct deposit for 12/30 is already set up. So once that goes through AND my mortgage payment clears, I'm going to close this new checking account. The customer service people were very rude, the incompetance of the person who set up the account is annoying and I was told by the rep today if there were any more issues with fees, they would NOT work with me. Now, I've been with my other bank for over 8 years & NEVER had a fee, so I don't think I will again with this new one, but their service is so bad, I'm going to close the account & just open up a 2nd checking account with my first bank. It'll be easy to switch direct deposit to that one.

I'll be back later today to do my 2007 goals.

Well, I've spent most of the week sorta sick, so I've been comfort eating. Which requires spending, but it hasn't been too bad.

I've completely finished all my Christmas shopping, I just need to wrap, which I will do tomorrow.

I had money set aside in my savings for a new laptop computer. I was hoping to wait til next year to buy one. But my 6 year old Dell laptop has been limping along for months. It has viruses & little quirks. The monitor is loose, so sometimes the screen goes blue & I have to hit it on the sides to put it right again. All annoying, but still usable.

However, this week, the laptop broke the hinges. I mean completly came apart on one side, tearing the plastic casing & seperating the keyboard from the monitor. The other side is starting to tear, but for some ridiculously scary reason, the picture still shows (after I hit it a few times). The monitor portion no longer stands up straight, but if I put it on the couch, with the back laying against the arm AND I don't move it AND I don't shift around too much on the couch, it will stay relatively put together.

Well, I just can't deal with it, so on Wednesday, I ordered a new computer from Lenovo. Another laptop for numerous reasons. I was able to go through my work, which got me a 15% discount. I'm waiting for it to arrive, but in the mean time I'm using this poor Dell that REALLY needs to be put out of its misery!

I'm making a list of financial goals, which I'll share once I'm finished.

I work from 8-2 tomorrow and then I'll be doing Christmas stuff the rest of the day. I have a whole to-do list.

Well, my goal this week was to not spend between Tuesday and Friday. I did pretty good, but not perfect.

Tuesday I spent $3.49 for donuts that I bought for a work party that I had forgotten about.

Wednesday & Thursday were no spend days.

Friday I spent no cash, but I did buy groceries. I stayed within budget, but I'm definately going to have to revamp my goal amount for groceries. I think I was being a little too optimistic.

Saturday, I spent no money, and got free soda & pizza at my nephews birthday party.

Today I have a migrane, so I am home & haven't spent a dime. And because I was so sick this morning, my mom stopped by with lunch for me. So I got a free sandwich. Thanks Mom!

Tomorrow I'll probably still be recovering from the headache. So my only goal is to clean up around the house & plan my food to take to work all week.

oh, and I still have one Christmas gift to get, but thats it.

Well, I went to get an alignment for my car only to find out that I actually needed new tires instead. Its a shame... I had priced alignments & I had a $10.00 off coupon. But instead of spending $45.00, I spent $249.52 for 3 new tires & a headlight. Normally I change my own lights, but this one was giving me trouble, so I just had them do it.

After that, I treated my dad to lunch at a little restaurant. $15.75 including tip for salad & a sandwich for me & french toast and scrapple for dad. This place is a good deal.

In exchange for lunch, my dad helped me pick up a Christmas tree. I got a 7 foot tree for $32.99 (which is pretty decent pricing for my area). I also picked up a snow shovel. Not that we need it in this area right now (no heat on today). But I knew eventually I'll need one.

So I set up the tree & decorated tonight. Afterwards, I made dinner from leftovers I had in the fridge.

I did 3 loads of laundry, using the dryer for 2 loads & hung all of the third to air dry.

And finally, I vaccumed all the needles up from the floor with the FREE (used) vaccum that my dad had given me.

My goals for this week are to:
-Return some ornaments to Kmart (15.98 back into the checking).
-Pack my food through Friday (payday)
-Have no spend days from Tuesday through Friday
-Eat a big lunch before going to my newphews birthday party on Saturday at the roller rink, where I'll be temped with hotdogs & french fries.

Definatey doable.

On a different note, I am REALLY annoyed at my sister's attitude towards money. She works hard to support herself & my nephew, but she lives with my parents, paying little rent, gets free & FREQUENT babysitting from my parents, borrows from my parents, has late payments, and complains about money problems.

I have a lot of resentment about all this, but since I can't really do anything about it, I try not to think about it. BUT today I found out that she and my nephews father bought him (a six year old) a child's ATV. She could have put the money towards the karate lessons that he is always talking about or baseball in the spring, but NO, they buy an ATV & store it in my parents garage (AGAINST their very vocal wishes!) I am BOILING MAD.

UGH. Well, I'm off to watch How to Eat Fried Worms & then a Poirot movie. Then I'm going to bed early. Work tomorrow.

Well, its been a busy week. I opened up a checking account last week, got a free digital camera. I signed up for a portion of each paycheck to go into the 2nd checking account to cover household bills.

I earned 1.12 setting up the new checking account with my mortgage company. They send your checking account 2 small deposits for you to verify & then they let you keep it.

I received an $18.00 rebate from Staples for the paper shredder I bought from them for $17.99. (so I came out .01 ahead).

I signed up for the Sony Visa offer today and was instantly approved. As soon as I get the card, I will make a gas purchase & pay it off immediately. Then wait for my $150.00 credit to appear on my account.

I've been bouncing the idea around of either getting a roommate or getting a second job. I REALLY like my privacy, but I don't really want to take on another job. So I put an ad on Craigslist about the room & seemed to only come up with spam as responses. And possibly a scam...7 of the replies were from people out of the country all with the same style to their emails all requesting me to call an out of the country number. I ignored those.

So I think I am going to try to get a part time job in January and take my time finding a roommate. I hope word of mouth works better for me.

In the meantime, I have been OVERSPENDING. Its not been good. But I've been able to use cash instead of the credit cards at least.

Also, I referred a friend from my old job to a position with my new one. If she's hired (and I think she will be) I should get a $500.00 bonus. Which would at least cover my overspending (and then some).

Goals for the upcoming week:
Stick to budget--I always seem to manuver money around when I decide I want something...take a little from this catagory & a little from that.

Not this time, I am going to spend $14.00 at the grocery store for salad & fruit stuff & thats it til payday on the 15th. The car is gassed up, so I should be good to go. We'll see.

I packed my lunch today, but I did buy a soft pretzel for 55 cents. Stayed on my diet, but was able to get a snack since my stomach was kinda upset.

I've already packed my food for tomorrow. Blueberry muffin & fruit cocktail for breakfast. Salad for lunch. Tuna salad sandwich & homemade pasta salad for dinner. In an effort to stay healthy, I make the pasta salad with wheat pasta & a heavy dose of veggies... more veggies than pasta. Very yummy!

Since I have the house now, I've been toying with getting a second checking account, where I put my money for my mortgage & the utilities each month... my "house" fund. AND I've had a digital camera on my wish list for a long time. A nice & simple one that can take a couple of pictures that I can download to my computer.

Well, there IT was... today in the mail, an offer for Free checking from a reputable local bank that gives a free Suntone Digital camera, with instillation software, carrying strap and USB cable with the opening of a checking account. PLUS if I bring unused checks from my current account, they'll give me $10.00 cash. Can't beat that.

I think I'll go over tomorrow & sign up. Then I can set up a portion of my direct deposit to go into the new account.

Its still warm here, I don't have the heat on. It was so warm that when I get up in the morning, I'll be opening a few windows to get some fresh air in.

Well, I got my first electric bill. To be totally honest: I was being a little psycho & going online & checking to see if the bill was up yet on a daily basis. Its up today & its $66.80. Feeling pretty good about that. Of course, thats without having the heat turned on all month. We'll have to see how high it gets next month.

Now I have a grasp on all the montly bills. Nice!!

My free month of Blockbuster Online is up. I've really liked the plan, with the option to get movies in store as well as through the mail. But I think I'll do a free trial of Netflix, then make the decision on which I like better.

The good thing about the Blockbuster is that you can return movies at the store, get a free instore rental & they're already mailing the next one on my list. I'm a huge movie freak & its awesome, because new releases come out tomorrow & i'll be returning one of the movies to get Clerks II. I'll go right before work, so its pretty much guarenteed in stock!

Today was a no spend day. I stayed pretty lazy since I had a bit of a rebound headcache from the migrane. Feeling a lot better & by tomorrow, it should be gone.

Also, I've started a diet. It helps that I can eat pretty regular with it, just making sure to get lots of veggies & fruits in & to limit the fattening foods. Today I've had a banana, large salad, 1/2 a BLT (with light on the bacon & mayo),& some peanuts. For dinner, I had some chicken & baked fries. Later, for a snack, I'll have some natural popcorn.

I've planned my meals for the week. Tonight I'll prep my food to take out to work tomorrow.

In the meantime, we're still having warm weather. I'm jealous of all the people with snow! If we're lucky, we might see some in January!

I had a migrane Friday & Saturday. I was at work when it started, so I stopped & got lunch so I could quickly fill my stomach & take my medicine. After that, there was no spending. I ended up calling off sick again from work on Saturday, eating up my last 2 sick days of the year.

No cash spending yesterday, but I did order 2 gifts online. I also ended up ordering a book for myself about home maintance for women. I really need the help, since I want to be as self sufficient as possible.

I'm heading to the movies later with my family. Then I'll stop at the grocery store. Salad stuff only.

I received a $65.00 rebate from sears for the delivery charge on my washer & dryer. WooHoo.

Hello All!
Hope everyone survived the holiday! Mine was a trip all right!

I've been in my house only a month & I was already volunteered to host Thanksgiving. Luckily, we just do immediate family, so there were 5 of us. Since I've never cooked a turkey before, my sister came in the morning to help.
My parents provided the turkey, I provided all the other food. A lot more than I realized, but I didn't blow the budget.

So we cooked all day & as the turkey was just about to come out of the oven, I hear a crash from inside the oven. For the last 45 minutes, we put an additional pan of extra stuffing in to cook. I used a glass pyrex pan & it apparently shattered for no apparent reason! The glass broke, the stuffing fell through the rack & immedately started burning. I had to disconnect the smoke alarm, open up all the windows. The stuffing was a loss (and its my favorite), but at least we had enough for the group from what was stuffed in the turkey.

Then, after we cleaned the kitchen, I took some of the extra chairs back to the basement, only to find water on the floor. A hose must have burst in my dishwasher, leaking through the floor into the insulation. Luckily nothing was ruined. My dad has experience with dishwashers, so he's going to look at it this week. In the meantime, I got to wash all the nasty pots & pans by hand.

Then, to top the day off, as I was putting my china (the set I inherited from my aunt) into the china cabinet, only to bang the gravy boat & break it. UGH. At least I know I can find one on ebay.

On a good note, we had a good time, good food, no family fighting, and I have tons of yummy leftovers for tomorrow.

I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I hope to finish it by the end of next week. In the meantime I'm buckling down on all spending.

I am still waiting for my first electric bill. I've only turned the heat on for 2 days so far. I had it on today, and turned if off when we had to open the windows to let the smoke out. I never needed to turn it back on. Apparently the winds have shifted and our November warm wave is back on.

Well, off to enjoy the sleepiness of triptofan (ignore the spelling).

No spending today (other than paying some of my monthly bills). I packed all my food, found 11 cents. I found a cheaper, but identical version of a Christmas gift I've already purchased. So I'll be returning the gift to Pier One & getting the cheaper alternative, saving $12.00!

I'm off to premake my food for tomorrow. I do better packing at night than in the morning.

Oatmeal & blueberry muffin for breakfast (already pre-made or pre-packaged).

Homemade pasta salad & other 1/2 of tuna sand for lunch.

Large salad with all the fixings for desert, plus pretzels and a banana.

Spent no money today. Got paid & will write out all my bills tomorrow, including my first mortgage payment. I have a planned lunch to pack tommorrow.
blueberry muffin breakfast
salad with bacon & cheese & 1/2 tuna salad sandwich for lunch
pretzels for snack
sloppy joe for dinner

with my work schedule, I tend to eat lunch at my desk around noon & take dinner at 4pm.

I love my cat, Colbi. She's cute, she plays with toys, she follows me around the house, she loves to snuggle AND she greets me at the door when I come home at night.

BUT she has crystals, so I have to buy special cat food for her. And when I take her to the vet, like I did today, we have to do urinalysis tests to make sure they didnt come back. We only do it every year or two, but its pricey.

Plus, she's 5 years old now & the vet noted some gingivitis. No biggie, but her gums are swollen & they look painful. So, now I need to get her a teeth cleaning. More $$$.

I had been thinking about getting a second cat, but with the costs, I've decided against it.

Even though the vet today was VERY costly, when we go to bed & she snuggles with me, I'll know its worth it

I've spent my off time this week organizing around the house. I sorted through all the glassware & china that I brought from my aunt's house. Most is in the kitchen or displayed in the china cabinet, but I have a big plastic tote of extra glassware in the basement. I might give them to my sister when she gets a new place.

I have 2 totes of halloween stuff-two because some of the things are bulky & I didnt want to sqwoosh anything.

I have 2 totes of Christmas stuff, which includes ornaments, house decorations & more.

I also have another bin of gift/craft stuff, such as paints, cards, tissue paper, ect.

I did a couple of loads of laundry, all on cold water, and I only ran the dryer once. I really like my towels & sheets to go through the dryer, everything else is hung in the basement. I have one drying rack & a makeshift line made of a pipe that the previous owner left.

I still have yet to turn on my heat. Nice!

I had to turn off the hot water heater timer. It kept turning off & then not starting back up when it was supposed to. I had one too many ice cold showers in the morning. I plan on having my handy dad take a look at it.

Also on my to do list: buy & install a programable thermostat.

I am really trying to keep the house neat & organized. I'm not the most tidy person, so I'm making a daily effort in the hopes that it'll become an easy routine.

On the upside, I cashed in some of my points at Mypoints & I received the gift card today!

In the last 2 weeks, I've received a package of microwave popcorn, a large bag of peanut m&ms, a $100.00 gift card to Walmart & a free lunch. Tomorrow, they're giving me a free flu shot.

I've been doing a lot of spending due to a weird work schedule, but I'm packing all my food tomorrow. I do need to stop for gas, but other than that, no spending for me.

I've settled in nicely in the house. I finally got all my Aunt's furniture in. I'm going to take some pictures soon, which I'll share online.

I'm still waiting for my first month's utility bills. I have estimates, but I really want to see the realistic figures...should be fun