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

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!

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

Well, the deal was that I was going email & confirm the time today. When I did, she responded that she was having car problems & would not be able to come. There was no offer to reschedule. I offered, but she said she'd be in touch. So, I'm leaning towards she's not interested.

So back to square one. I haven't gone into things here, but I've had some emergency spending and some stupidity spending. So money is really tight right now and I'm going to be 'paying' for it for a while

Well, today is Day 4 in the lunch challanged. I packed breakfast, lunch, snacks & drinks for work Tuesday, Wednesday & Thurdsay. Today, I had an unexpected day off, but I've been eating at home, so I still complied with the challange

Yesterday's spending:
$14.00 dinner date - paid for my half. Date was a dud
$5.00 drinks with friends at my local bar. Good couple of hours, 2 drinks & only $5 spent. GREAT deal!

Today's spending:
$0.35 library fine
$19.06 Farmer's market

I got a big bag of baby spinach, 12 roma tomatoes, 8 large garden tomatoes (I love tomatoes & will be using some to make a chunky pasta sauce and homemade bruschetta), 3 cucumbers, celery, 3 green peppers, a quarter watermelon, pint strawberries and a quart of blueberries all for $19.06!

In other news, a little while back, I splurged & bought a pack of the perfectly portioned Purdue chicken breasts. They're prepacked into individual servings & perfect for a single person. But they're expensive, so I rarely buy them.

When I pulled 2 out the other day, once they thawed, I found that the packaging was broken and I found them to be unsafe to use. I emailed Purdue & explained the situation and I received an email back, they're sending me a $10.00 check. Nice!

In other news, the air is on... it was nearly 90 degrees out today & very humid. I hope we go back to some milder weather before we really enter summer.

I have someone coming to look at the spare room today. My sister sorta lit a fire under my butt when she suggested I rent out the spare room to her boyfriend. They are drama and I do NOT want to go there. So I answered an ad on Craigslist & put one up of my own. I will be meeting this girl this evening to see how it goes. Wish me luck!!

Well, I'm doing 'ok' with my tight budget this pay period. I don't have my budget in front of me at work, but I have about $35 left in my entertainment budget. I have a work happy hour tonight (Estimated $10) and another Friday, which I'm thinking of skipping out on.

This weekend, I currently have NO plans. Other than a baseball game for my nephew which will be free.

I am hoping to entertainm myself this weekend with some books/movies from the library, planting, cleaning, organizing and going to the gym.

I never made a meal plan for the week, but I'm doing great with packing food for work! I've spent $1.10 this week on soft pretzels only & its been 4 days since I've had any caffine/soda.

I have plenty of food in the freezer: Meatloaf muffins, sloppy joe, ground meat cooked with onion (For pastas or over baked potatoes) and chicken breasts.

On my financial or frugal to-do list for this week/weekend
1. List 5 items on craigslist
2. Take pictures of spare room & put ad on Craigslist
3. Make a financial backuplist (account information, ect)
4. Give self mani/pedi
5. Start planning 6/1 budget

I typed up a whole post, then lost it. Dont know why. Anyway, I've made a mess of money the last few months and today, I'm back on track.

Payday was today. Spent $4.95 on food. I'm hoping to be VERY frugal hosting 2 parties between now & the end of the month.

The roomie is 80% moved out. I'm still waiting for the last rent check. It was due the 9th. He'll get it to me, but I'm thinking not before next week. Not a fan of that.

Still looking for a new roomie, but taking my time.

Went a little crazy at the garden store last weekend. I'm looking forward to planting a few things soon. And I have a bunch of herbs & indoor plants to play with.

I've had the heat off for a week now. Hoping my electric bill will be AWESOME this month!

I have a bunch of things to do this weekend, including home repairs and cleaning.

Roomie is moving out this month/beg of May. He's reconciled with his ex & moving back in. I'm not trying to be mean, but I can see him wanting to move back in again in a few months when they start fighting again. All in all he was an ideal roomie.

I'm putting an ad on Craigslist and putting the word out with friends. I'd really like to get a roomie in again. But I'm going to be choosy. I need to be 100% comfortable with someone who will be sleeping down the hall!

Wish me luck!

Well, I've never really put it out there, but here goes. I got a raise & my new annual salary is $41,000.00.

Per my work information, the company's estimated yearly cost of benefits are as follows:

Retirement $1325.83
401k Match $2328
Health & Income Protection: $3817.20
Social Security & Medicare: $3037.05

TOTAL: $10,508.08

So, my total annual compensation is roughly $51.5k.

I also get tax breaks for using my HSA which arent counted in this.

So I guess I'm not doing too bad. But one of my financial goals for this year is to look for a new position in or outside of my company that will challange me more (as well as pay more! lol).

------------------------------------

So I re-started at the part time job last night. We were sent home an hour early, so only worked 3.25 hours. Today I would have worked 8.5, but no work due the snow. So now, my 12 hour week turned into 3.25

This week (starting tomorrow), I'm scheduled 16 hours. Then 12 hours the following week.

I like the 12-16 hours. Definately do not want to be working the 20+ that I was during the holiday season.

--------------------------------------

As for the roommate. He'll have been here 1 month this week. Paid when agreed, is neat and courteous. He stays up in his room most of the time, but he's starting to come out of his shell. This is definately working out!

When he pays me on the 9th (the agreed upon date based on the day he moved in), I will be taking the $487 and putting:

$91.30 to pay off the vet bill.
$45.00 to home repairs
$82.00 to increased utilities fund (includes the comcast upgrade he asked for)
$39.17 to pay myself back for a grocery splurge
$229.53 to the credit card.

The agreement with my new roomie gives him a little leeway with getting me money for the first month. Since he's paying double rent for January only (rent at his old place & at mine).

I'm working hard to plan out where the money goes. Jan will be weird since I used some of the funds to purchase a ceiling fan/light and have it installed. And as a splurge to myself, I bought a concert ticket.

So he paid me $225.00 as agreed this week:

1/2 Rent - $225:
$75 - Fan removal & installation
$60 - Concert Ticket
$30 - Extra groceries (needed to stock up badly)
$20 - Party (Hosting game night)
$15.92 - Lowes Closet supplies (to Dad who bought them for me)
$24.08 - Increased utilities fund (savings for increased utilities that may occur due to roommate)

Should be getting $ 263.00 next week (for Jan)
$25.92 (Increased utilities Fund)
$44.00 (Extra cable expense on his end)
$79.76 Ceiling Fan/Light
$113.32 (credit card)

Feb- $488
$38 (Cable increase)
$50 (increase in utilities fund)
$20 (home improvements fund)
$380 (credit card)

I have missed a bunch of my 2010 goals. I'm planning on getting back on track this week. No more excuses for me!!

Today's 5 things:

1. Call Drs office about bill. Insurance should have paid (DONE)
2. Call artisans about temporary auth thats been on acct over 10 days
3. Call part time job about new schedule for Feb (DONE)
4. Finalize 1/15 budget
5. Start cleaning junk stuffed into bedroom closet when roomie was moving in