Today is my only day off this week. I worked about 10 hours of OT last week. Not a lot, but I really needed the break last week. I could feel myself getting run down. So tomorrow I’ll be working 9am to 4pm (7 hours) and my goal is to get 3.5 hours of overtime Tuesday through Friday. We’ll see how it goes.

I interviewed for that Quality job on Tuesday. I don’t know how many people I’m up against, but I think it went well. We’ll see. And if I don’t get it, I’m content where I am and as long as there’s overtime, I’m financially comfortable. I’ll be keeping an eye out for jobs though, either in or outside of the company.

Today, the temp was in the high 80s. I kept the A/C off and the fan running. I organized my pantry to take stock of what I had in there. Then I did laundry, cleaned the basement and started putting out some fall decorations. It was pretty funny to be putting out Fall & Halloween stuff while in a tank top and shorts 

I called Comcast today because my promo rate was ending and the rep told me that it was actually not ending until December. I thought I had a 12 month promo, but apparently its 14 months. So my whole speech that I had prepared was for nothing. I’ll shelve it for later.

I made a meal plan for the week and prepped some food for tomorrow & Tuesday. Here’s the Meal plan (which can be switched around as needed).

Monday:
Lunch: Salad with chicken, Tuna on honey wheat wrap
Dinner: Barilla Plus pasta with hunts mushroom sauce, sautéed veggies & ground beef

Tuesday:
Lunch: Pasta salad with Turkey Pepperoni
Dinner: Meatloaf Muffin and baked fries

Wednesday:
Lunch: Tuna on honey wheat wrap
Dinner: Sloppy joe over no-yolk egg noodles

Thursday:
Lunch: Chicken strips and Honey mustard Pita
Dinner: Turkey bacon BLT

Friday:
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich
Dinner: Shake n bake chicken

Saturday:
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Taco Salad

Sunday: To be determined

Ok, so last night I was at home, fixing a problem with my computer and half listening to House on tv. A credit card commercial came one. I didn’t catch which one it was, but the slogan registered in my head. I missed the beginning, but the ending went “… for when you want it NOW”. Can we all say SHAMELESS?? Credit card companies have cajones, if you’ll excuse my language. They have no shame in plugging the want it now mentality of America. I am guilty of having that feeling from time to time, but its pretty bad when the credit card companies aren’t even subtle about it. Ok, rant done. I just had to share.

In other news, I packed food for work today, but my team is having an outing. Free lunch, YAY! It was rescheduled from last week. We’re going to Bennigans and I’m having the Kilkenny Country Chicken Salad with grilled chicken instead of fried and with fat free honey mustard (in keeping with the Weight Watchers). Anyway, the salad is HUGE. So I’ll be taking the other ½ home for lunch tomorrow. Or dinner tonight if I can’t wait

The air has been off in my house and the windows open. I love this time of year. I have to put together a list of things to do to winterize my house. I also need to get some dry cleaning done. I have 2 pea coats that I like to get cleaned before winter starts.

I’ll be updating my numbers soon. I also want to compare where my balances stand today compared to January. I think it’ll be pretty morale boosting.

Also, its that time of the year for health insurance selection. My work offers several different plans. I really like the one that I’m on. The price is going up $3.90 per paycheck $(93.60 a year), which sucks, but I some of the other plans jumped up even more. And the smokers went up VERY much. Thank goodness I don’t smoke. It costs just to buy those things and then you have to pay for the probable effects on your health. I’m also looking into an H.S.A this year. I have to make my decision by the 12th, so I’ll be doing a little research over the weekend.

Well, I’m feeling regret over all my purchases, but still I’m going to be using everything that I bought. So now I’m in Buckle-down mode. I am making a meal plan for this week. I already packed all my food for today: Breakfast is a banana and Rice Chex. Lunch is more snacky, than a real lunch, but I’m having strawberries, a banana, a hardboiled egg and one hard boiled egg white. Snack is popcorn. Dinner is Turkey Sloppy Joe over whole wheat no yolk egg noodles. This is one of my favorite meals, so YUMMY J If I get hungry at any point after dinner, I have instant oatmeal to snack on.

I’m working on Christmas stuff. Some of my friends/family are hard to shop for, but I want to get it all done by the end of this month. I have a $25.00 amazon gift certificate to put towards it and I’m requesting another $25.00 gift card from my points. I have $400.00 in my Christmas fund budget and I am planning to add another $100.00 towards it for a tree and outdoor decorations, which I didn’t have much of last year.

This month marks my 1 year anniversary in the house and I have to say I’m still loving it !!! I am looking forward to the winter. I love bundling up under a mound of covers J

In other news, I’m going to have to be making some big decisions soon about work. I love what I’m doing, but the job itself is getting tedious. I love the unlimited overtime, but I really don’t know how long that’s going to last. Anyway, a quality position opened up with means going to an Exempt status (which means no OT). There are some trade offs, such as 4 weeks of vacation. I think it comes with a raise, but now sure of the dollar amount. I would need it to at least match the 10% shift differential that I’m currently getting, plus a bit more. The main benefit would be the possibility for further advancement. Hopefully it’ll lead me to higher positions.

My manager asked me to apply, and I did. I have an interview today. If I get the position, I’m really going to have to punch down my budget. I’ve gotten a bit sloppy, knowing the overtime will carry me if I go over budget in some categories, like groceries and eating out. We’ll see how it goes.

- No overtime this week since I was sick, but I'm feeling MUCH better now
-Packed my food for the week, but did buy bottled water one day and a soft pretzel the next. Normally, I have a cup at work for water, but I took it home to put in the dishwasher & forgot it.
-Today was payday- I paid my electric, water, amex, cell phone, cable and student loan
-I was able to sent a total of $730.00 extra to my student loan!
-They announced overtime was extended through September at work, which is AWESOME!
-I have some new savings goals that I need to think about. My friends and I are thinking about renting a house for a week in the Outer Banks next year and I need to plan for some new clothes once I reach my goal weight (I have a while to go)
-And by the way, I lost 1 lb this week (slow but steady wins the race!)

I'm fighting off a cold & its not fun. The non-stop rain isn't helping, neither are the many coworkers who cough & sneeze all day around me. But I'm holding on

I'm planning to work about 14 hours of OT this week. Its a little less than normal, but I switched my day off from Monday to Saturday so I could attend a birthday party. So Between Monday & Friday, I'll get 14 hours in, which is still awesome.

I did some unexpected spending over the weekend, but I'm holding strong now. Yesterday was a no spend today. Today may or may not be the same. It depends on if I stop at the store on the way home for some vitamin C. We'll see

I didn't get a chance to do my meal planning for the week, but I am planning on packing my food again for tomorrow.

Yesterday I brought food for work, but still bought a soft pretzel because I was extra hungry. I also gave $5.00 towards a gift for a coworkers baby shower. Then I grabbed some groceries --- normal stuff, plus veggies, cheese & pepperoni to make pasta salad for the shower. So yesterday was a spendy day, but all planned, except for the pretzel.

Today is a no spender, I brought breakfast, lunch & dinner. I'm making that pasta salad tonight after work.

Tomorrow I'm packing breakfast & a snack, but lunch will be covered by the food at the shower.

Tomorrow night, I have a friend coming over. We'll be making dinner and watching a movie. Yummy.

I'm doing a lot of stuff tomorrow, but it'll still be a no spend day if I can help it

Overtime update-So far I've worked 14.5 hours of ot this week. I'm aiming for over 20. Definately attainable.

I was asked after my last post to give examples of all the food that I bring to work. (Thanks Moi Aussi!) I usually pack some food for breakfast, lunch & dinner, all of which I’ll eat at work during the week. At least while the overtime lasts.

I’ll admit to being pretty lazy and/or tired, so I try to make things easy on myself by preparing food on the weekends and putting it in the freezer to be able to grab and go later. I also make a lot of salads, which are really quick to make & can be prepared a day or two ahead of time. I also use fruit, which is easily grab and go or quick to cut up. I’m not above using canned fruit or veggies either.

I also take time once a week or so to make up individual servings of snacks that I can grab & go… like dry cereal, crackers and baked Cheetos. I just have a basket of baggies that sit in my pantry ready to grab when needed.

All of this helps because I’m very portion-conscious. I’m not a fan of leftover and I’m watching what I eat, but I refuse to eat only diet food.

Here are some examples of my breakfasts. I mix & match, but usually have one fruit & one grain-type item.

-Strawberries & Splenda or Lite Cool Whip
-Sliced green apples
-Fruit cocktail
-Banana
-Dry Cheerios
-Dry Rice Chex
-Oatmeal (the individual packs that you just add water to)
-Granola bar


Lunch Examples (sometimes I switch lunches with dinners)
-Sandwiches – turkey & chase, peanut butter & jelly, tuna salad. I vary them up by using different types of breads, pitas and wraps
-Different types of salads
– Big ones with Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, green pepper and I vary my dressings a lot, as well as change things up with toppings (green beans, sunflower seeds, croutons, bacon bits, cheese, chicken and/or turkey)
– Cucumber & tomato salad (a summer favorite)
– Pasta salad with a little pasta & a lot of veggies and turkey pepperoni (very filling)
-Crackers with Peanut butter
-Crackers with sharp cheese & turkey pepperoni
-Soups in the winter-time


Dinner Examples, which could easily become lunch examples:
-Pasta with meat sauce or with red sauce & chicken strips
-Sloppy Joe (easy to freeze) with toast, bun or over pasta
-Meatloaf muffins (made with ground beef & stuffing – also easy to freeze)
-Chicken – lemon, shake-n-bake, barbeque
-Veggie burgers (can be cooked in the microwave) with bun
-Breaded chicken patties – on a bun or with a side of pasta
-Beef stew (easy to freeze)
-Chili (easy to freeze)

Sides/Snacks- baked cheetos, fruits & veggies, green beans, peas, apple sauce, baked fries (sliced potato baked with Old Bay), crackers and microwave popcorn

I drink lots of water (a minimum of 64 oz a day), have sodas at my desk (limit to 1 a day).

Hope this is helpful to anyone looking for meal ideas!

-I made a financial goal of tracking all of my spending from for the whole year. I've kept up with the tracking and its actually gotten pretty easy. Its crazy to see some of the numbers for catagories. Once the year is ending, I'm going to reevaluate my catagories.

-I counted up all my overtime hours from January 1st through last week... 316 hours! Plus 18.5 that I'm working towards for this week. My goal is to get 20 hours a week for the next three weeks.

-Just a few updates for today: I worked 7am to 8pm, with a trip to the library on my lunchbreak. Today was a no spender. I packed my breakfast, lunch & dinner. I already have tomorrow's food planned. When I get home tonight, I'm going to take a quick walk, then make the food, then veg in front of the tv for awhile.

I recieved a $24.67 cash back credit on my Amex card! I use it for gas, so that'll go to my next purchase.

Today work has been going SOOOOO slow! Its because I'm taking vacation days for tomorrow & Saturday, making a 4 day weekend out of it. I usually work on Monday, my day off, but I'm staying home that day too. I'm not going anywhere, but plan to veg tomorrow & get some stuff done over the weekend, ending with yet another veg day on Monday!

This week, I managed to add 18.5 hours of overtime into my week. I brought lunch to work yesterday, as well as dinner, but when I took out my bread to make a pb&j sandwich, I found mold on the bread.... Ewwww! So I ended up buying a salad & soft pretzel from the work cafe for $3.09. Since I'd already spent that day, I did grocery shopping after work, picking up a few 'treats' to enjoy this weekend.

I packed my food today- A banana and strawberries & cream for breakfast, a big salad for lunch, sloppy joe & green beans for dinner. And a few snacks in between.

Tonight after work, I'm heading out to a local bar for a few drinks. We call it The Pub. Its a bit of a dive, but we know the bartender and the drinks are cheap. My goal is to only spend less than $15.00. I'd REALLY like it if I spent less than $10.00, but I think I might buy the guys a beer. They got me last time.

So tomorrow is going to be a no spender. I'm planning on staying in, making some of my favorite meals, enjoying some fresh fruit & ice cream for snacks. I have several movies from the library, as well as a few movies from my own video collection that I wouldn't mind watching again.

Enjoy your weekend everybody, I'll probably be MIA for a few days, since my internet at home has been spotty.

I went out last night, so I didn't have time to make food for today. I'm working 7am to 8:30pm today. I packed stuff that I could just grab, so I was covered for breakfast & snacks, but no lunch or dinner. So I ended up ordering with some coworkers.

I love this local salad place. They give you these HUGE salads & large homemade wheat rolls that are bigger than your hand. Very yummy. The salad was large enough to have a third of it & the roll for lunch & I'll eat the other 2/3 for dinner. All for $8.00 including tip. Very yummy!

Tonight, I'll get back to packing food. I only need to make breakfast & lunch for tomorrow. Dinner will be with friends.

Yesterday was a no spend day. I worked 7am to 9pm with a ½ hour lunch, earning 5.5 hours of overtime. I was invited out after work, but I declined because I didn’t want to spend money. Plus I wanted to go to bed early. So I came home, made food for today & went to bed. I was back up at 5:45 am (which is a feat, since I am NOT a morning person & my normal work shift is 11am to 8pm).

Today I’m working 7am to 8pm & then I’m heading to a friend’s house for dinner & movie night. I offered to bring stuff, but she refused, so today may be a no spend day too. We’ll see. I hate coming over empty handed.

I’m making some changes in my current goals. The plan was to replenish my emergency fund after it was hit with the hot water heater & air conditioning problems. However, I have $5,000.00 in my ING account earmarked to pay back a first time home-buyer incentive loan at 0% due in Sept/Oct of 2009. I’ve decided that I’m comfortable with having this as a back-up e-fund. So what I am going to do is put all my extra funds directly to student loan # 1. I’m really motivated to pay it off quickly, because it’s in my parents’ names. If for any reason, I have to touch my emergency fund. I will immediately stop paying down the loan & work on rebuilding the e-fund.

I’m getting paid on Tuesday. I have very little overtime in this check, but I’ll be putting 194.55 towards the student loan. Next pay period (August 15th), I’m hoping to have over 40 hours of overtime to put towards the loan. I REALLY want to get this paid off! If anyone has any comments about my plan, please let me know. I’ve thought this through in terms of my comfort levels, but I’d like to hear other opinions as well.

Today was another no spender. I'm two away from my goal of 12 for the month of July! I'm looking to make tomorrow number 11. I've already pre-made food for tomorrow's breakfast, lunch & dinner.

I'm working from 7am to 8 or 9pm tomorrow. They've extended overtime hours in a push to meet our month end numbers. So I'm going to take advantage this week. Since I only worked 3 hours of overtime on Monday (my day off), I wasn't planning on making my 20 hour goal for the week. But now its back on. We'll see what I can get done

Today I extended my hold on my Netflix. Its been on hold since May & it was to restart in August. I went online to cancel, but they gave me to the option to extend the hold until October. Perfect timing. I LOVE to celebrate Halloween by watching lots of cheesy horror movies, most of which my library doesn't carry. Also, I have a week's vacation in October, so I'll have plenty of time to watch movies.

In the meantime, I have several movies on request at the library & I'm keeping a list of new releases that I want to watch, but my library doesn't carry. I'll get to them in October too.

Today is the end of my 6 day workweek and I have a few minutes before heading out of work to update some things--- Spending:
Friday was a no spender. Today, I'll be buying gas, but brought my breakfast & lunch to work, so no cash out there.

Harry Potter 7 arrived at my door from Amazon with the free standard shipping. I feel almost bad about it because people paid for extra for the guarenteed delivery & I didn't, but we both got the same service. But I am really EXCITED to read this new. And a little sad, because its the last. At least this series is one that I will reread several times.

So although I have a ton of things I should get done around the house. I'm going to spend the weekend reading Harry Potter & watching some movies from the library. I currently have Last Holiday (with Queen Latifah, Norbitt, Maxed Out, and the Good German. So I think I'm going to make tonight a movie night & tomorrow a book day.

Then Monday, its back to work for some overtime. My goal is to get at least 20 hours in this week. Definately doable!

I had grand plans to stop by the library & the grocery store on the way home from work yesterday, but I was just too tired. So I skipped the stops & went home, ending up with a no spend day.

Today I packed breakfast & lunch, but didnt pack dinner, so I ended up grabbing a sandwich. I'll stop by the grocery store on the way home tonight & pick up the tomatos & banana. I plan on making food for tomorrow & then going straight to bed. I am BEAT!

I'm still doing all the overtime I can, which is good, because I'm in the middle of this monster project & I just want it to get finished. It is really stressing me out. I'm looking at it possibly being done by Saturday, if some of my coworkers pitch in tomorrow, which they probably will. I will be so relieved when its over.

I am planning on cashing out a gift card through MyPoints this weekend. I have a friends birthday coming up & it'll be great to use to buy the gift. As soon as I figure out what to get him.

Today was pretty much a no spender. I brought all my meals to work today. After work, I'm going to run to the library to pick up some free books & movies to go through in the upcoming week & weekend. Then I'm going to stop at the grocery store to pick up tomatos & bananas. That will be my only spending today.

I'm back to using cash for groceries because I finally used up all of my gift cards from work. I had $50.00 that I budgeted for myself on the 15th & the 30th. When I just use my debit card, I overspend. With the gift cards, I stuck with that figure (outside of a Walmart run). So I've been thinking about buying some more gift cards and when that money runs out, then thats it. I'm going to mull this one over a little more.

Quick overtime update, I worked 7 hours Monday, 3.5 hours yesterday, 3 hours today. I'll be doing 3.5 hours on Thursday & Friday and a 1/2 hour on Saturday. So my total for the week will be 21 hours.

Couple of updates since its been a few days since I've posted.

I did some major grocery shopping and a little overspending on Sunday, stocking up on some things. Other than the grocery shopping, I hung around the house, did laundry and made some meal plans.

Yesterday, I did some overtime from 8am to 3pm, then grabbed some cat food on the way home. I'm in the middle of a BIG project at work, so of course, I got a migrane from the stress, but it didn't go full blown & I've been able to deal with just taking pain meds.

Last night I weighed in at Weight Watchers. I lost 3.2 pounds for the week & my mom lost 2. I'm happy that she seems into it. I kinda think she'd have quit if I didnt go.

I packed my food for work yesterday & ate dinner at home last night. Today's a no spender-- I packed my meals for work today too. Both days people invited me to order out with them, but I said no.

Since I've overspent in the groceries catagory & I need (WANT) to replace my ailing wireless router, I am going into super non spend mode to save money.

I'll try to post from work, but right now, I pretty much have no internet at home.

I'm waiting for my first electric bill from the summer with A/C. I have really no idea how it'll be. I did turn it off for awhile, but its back in the 90s again and VERY humid, so its back on

I packed a salad for lunch at work today. But it didn't sound that great to me. What I really wanted was Subway. However, I talked myself out of it. I ate the salad, I have fruit for snack later. And when I get home tonight, I'm treating myself to a big pasta dish for dinner. Yummy.

So today will end up being a no spend day after all.

Today is a no spender. I packed breakfast, lunch and dinner for work. I worked 8am to 8pm again with a 1/2 hour lunch.

When I got home last night, I cleaned the downstairs, prepared today's food and made food for work on Saturday. So when I come home tonight, I'm going to sit in front of the tv & veg. There's some good tv on tonight. Monk and Psych are both back on. I am a bit of a movie & tv addict. I love them for the same reason I love books. I like to see into other worlds.

I was able to do 11.5 hours of OT this week. My goal for next week is 22, but its likely to be 21, since I have to take my car back to the shop. My car had a recall on some airbag part & they had to order it. Its free to replace, but its inconvenient & I'll have to take a hour long lunch to do it, instead of a 1/2 hour.

Today is payday & I'll pay my normal bills through epay tonight.

Yesterday was a no spender. Today, I'll be spending a little on some needed items.

I brought my lunch, drink & snacks to work today, so no spending there.

On my way to work today, I got gas. On my lunch break I'm heading to the dollar store for dishwasher detergant & 2 other things. Then I'm heading to the library, where I owe them a $0.25 fine.

Either after work or tomorrow, I'm heading to the grocery store. I also need to stop by Walmart for some staples. I'll be using gift cards for both.

Its interesting, but its been MUCH easier to stay on my food budget using the gift cards. Its a mental thing, but its kinda like the envelope system for me. Once this last gift card runs out, I"m thinking about getting some more to help me stay on budget.

No news on the room renting front. I've had no responses to my Craigslist ad. So I'm going to keep looking. I also think I'm going to resubmit my ad on there, just to get it back on the top of the list.

Tonight I'm hanging out at home, watching a library movie & reading. Tomorrow, I'll be running errands & cleaning.

On monday, they've opened some overtime, so I'm going in. I also need to drop off my car to the repair shop. My check engine light is on & I have to get my car inspected by the 20th. Hopefully, its just a sensor like I think it is, and it won't be too expensive. I REALLY hope so!

Saturday:
-Worked 8-5 with a 1/2 hour lunch
-Mowed the lawn myself (my neighbors all pay someone to do what takes me about 20 minutes)
Sunday
-Picked up one of my prescriptions using a gift card I earned for bringing in a new prescription last month. Did not buy anything else, so I still have $17.34.
-Used a coupon for 1 free 22 count of Always
-Bought a 40 pound bad of cat litter for $9.99. They had a sale tag up from the prior week. It rang up at $19.99, but when I showed them the tag, they honored the sale price.
-Weeded the rocks by my front door, trimmed the bush back away from my kitchen window & electrical box
-I tackled the thorny bushes at the back of my property. I didn’t make much headway, but I was able to trim back enough that I won’t get scratched when I mow the lawn.
Today:
-I took my parents to the movies today. $19.00 for the 3 tickets. The last few times we’ve gone, they’ve treated, so it was definitely my turn
-Got 2 free movies from Redbox using online codes
-Made brownies for a work party tomorrow, plus giving $5.00 to the pot for a gift. I used brownie mix that I had at home, so no spending there.
-My car has to be inspected at the end of the month. But my check engine light is on. My Dad & I checked all my fluid levels & sensors, but it’s still on. So I need to take it in, this week or next. Luckily, I have money in my car repair fund
-Today I did some make-ahead meals. I made myself a quick pasta dinner while waiting for my ground beef to finish defrosting and then I made the work brownies, salad & pasta salad to take to work tomorrow, a large batch of sloppy joe to freeze, and I tried a new recipe – Mealoaf muffins, which I’ll freeze as well. They turned out really well. Now I just need to see how they freeze.
-On the upside, its been really cool here, so no A/C on.
-I always struggle with food and eating out, so that’s going to be my main focus this month

I got paid today & I"m putting all my overtime towards the A/C. This still leaves me with a VERY large balance. I'm transferring money from my ING account to pay it, then I'll be paying myself back. I'm expecting about $700.00 of overtime in my July 15th paycheck. Then about $280.00 in my July 30th check. I'll still owe myself about $1700.00 after that.

Unfortunately, they announced that overtime has stopped indefinately at work. So I'm going to be looking at other avenues to pay myself back as quickly as possible.

Today is a no spend day. I packed my breakfast, lunch & dinner and I'll be having a snack when I get home. I'm out of library books and movies, but I have a large to-do list to keep me busy this weekend.

Tomorrow, I'm packing my lunch again. I have leftover tuna fish and I'll make a salad & some breakfast stuff. Tomorrow night will be dinner at home.

There are several movies coming out soon that I REALLY want to see in the theater. So I'm saving my entertainment budget for this paycheck (which lasts me til the 15th) to buy tickets for Transformers and for Harry Potter. I am VERY excited to see both.

I got an email from one of my credit cards, notifying me that they've increased my credit line. I haven't carried a balance on any of the cards in at least 2 years, but for some reason, they still love me.

I have a few store cards that I use for discounts and coupons. And I have 6 major credit cards. I only use 2 of them, but I haven't gotten around to closing the others. Mainly because I didn't want to mess with my credit bureau prior to buying the house. Now I am thinking about closing some of them.

But right now, I'm just amazed at the credit lines that I have available to me.

CC#1 $2,400.00 limit
CC#2 $3,000.00 limit
CC#3 $4,000.00 limit
CC#4 $6,500.00 limit
CC#5 $7,500.00 limit
CC#6 $13,200.00 limit

Geeze! Like I would EVER use that much if any of the credit available to me.

In a spending update, I brought lunch/dinner to work with me today, only to find it spoiled. So I grabbed a salad from the salad place. A $6.00 super huge salad (I'll have to take a pic next time I get one). It covered me for lunch & dinner AND I finished off the last bit when I got home from work. Not too bad.

Tomorrow, we're having a team outing at work. Except we're staying in to play trivia games. Dull, but not my choice. On the upside, we're ordering food from one of my favorite take-out places! I'm either going to get a sub & split it between lunch and dinner, or get a pasta dish with bread and salad. Which, I'd also split between lunch and dinner. The pasta might last until lunch on Thursday too. We'll see.

Oh, and for an overtime update: I worked 4 hours on Monday, 3 hours today, I'll work 3 hours tomorrow. I might get some time in on Thursday, depending on a doctors appointment, and I'll get 3 hours in on Friday. I'm doing all I can, just in case overtime is no longer available in July.

If that's the case, I'll be looking for a part-time job QUICK!

I was invited to Atlantic City this weekend, with some new friends, but I declined in an effort to not spend right now.

At least we have a movie night planned instead of the weekly bar night we have usually. I'll bring microwave popcorn from home, one of the guys is supplying the movie. Should be fun.

My goal for the weekend is this: to not use any cash, debit, or credit cards. Today, I am working til 8pm. I'm stopping for gas on the way home (I'm on E). Then I'm heading home to watch a library movies and possibly a re-run of House while I clean & pack some food for work tomorrow.

Saturday, I'm planning on leaving my wallet at home. I'm working 8-5. I'll take a 1/2 hour lunch, but I won't be going anywhere. I just plan on playing on the internet for the 30 minutes.

Then tomorrow night, I plan on hanging out at home. I've been working 6 days a week and for the last 3 weeks, my only day off (Sunday) has been packed with family obligations. So I am planning on completely staying home and vegging on both Saturday night & Sunday. Unless the temperature gets too high for being without A/C, in which case, I'm going to camp at my parents house

I'm want to do some organizing and cleaning this weekend, watch some free movies, catching up on blogs and some financial stuff, and generally relaxing. I really need it.

I have food for dinners at home, but I plan on making a stop at the grocery store at some point. I have $29.36 in Super G gift cards left for this pay period. So I'll stock up on some salad stuff & some essentials.

I was going to make some food to freeze ( I have this meatloaf muffin recipe that I want to try), but if its hot, I won't be turning the oven on. I'll just plan on having a lot of salads and tuna fish and pasta salad

So to recap, I'm buying gas tonight. Then no more spending except my gift card to Super G for groceries.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

We had a going away party for someone at my work. I contributed potato rolls & butter for about 20-25 people. I spent $6.88 last night picking the stuff up. (I used my grocery store gift card). And today, I ate very well

We had fried chicken, jerk chicken, mac n cheese, spanish rice, spinach dip & beer bread, pasta salad, rolls, plus various cookies and cake. So I am now stuffed It was very good.

I'm working 8am to 8pm today, same as yesterday. I'm going out with some coworkers tonight, so depending on what time I get in, I'm going to come in early again tomorrow.


I have to make some changes in my spending and budget. I've been spending and eating based on my emotions. I really need to make some changes. So this weekend, I'm finally going to sit down & do some of the things I've been putting off financially and personally. We'll see how it goes.

I have a specialist visit with my gastroenterologist at the end of the month. I used up some of my medical budget on a new medicine I'm trying, so its a little depleted and I have a few 3 month supply of prescriptions to order this month. So, I am going to find little ways to make up the $30.00 copay without having to dig into my medical or other budget catagories.

I also have to get my car inspected, which will likely be a $20-25 fee. I'd like to complete it by the end of the month.

So I want to find ways to come up with $50.00.

First, when I get paid on the 15th, I have $10.00 of the budget going to personal items (shampoo, ect). Since I already have a $20.00 gift card to Happy Harrys (owned by Walgreens), this covers my personal items for the month & the extra $10.00 isn't needed, so I'm starting off this personal challenge with $10.00.

I'll keep updating as I find other funds.

I also came home to a nice surprise. I received the air conditioning repair bill from last week. I had been quoted $322.00 for the visit, but the bill was for $300.00. Yay! When I have the estimate tomorrow, I do plan on asking the guy to consider that I just shelled out such a large amount to their company.

In other news:
-I found out that the $400.00 in gift cards from work is going to come in the form of a Visa gift card as opposed to store cards like last time. I'm hoping to put this amount towards the new A/C unit. I'll have to talk to the company's office, but it shouldn't be a problem. My family has done business with them for years.

-I worked 3.5 hours of overtime yesterday & today. I won't get any in tomorrow because of the appointment for the estimate. But on Friday, I'm going into the office at 7am to do some system checks for the boss, so I'll get in 4 hours of OT, maybe 4.5 if I decide to take a 1/2 hour lunch again.

-And in even better news, the overtime is back on for next week, so I have some opportunity to earn some more OT hours.

Its funny, I keep thinking of the cost of the A/C in terms of OT hours. I'll calculate exactly how much I'll need once I have the figures tomorrow

I already packed food for tomorrow & I plan to have a big breakfast before I leave. So tomorrow WILL be a no spend day for me
Well, I'm off to bed, I'm beat!

I'm working 8am to 8pm today. I packed all my food and my plan is to not buy any food all day.

Well, around 12:00, I started having a drop in blood sugar. Its not unusual for me, but it was really bad. I was shaking like crazy. I didn't want to eat all my packed food before dinner time, but I also didn't want to run down & buy something from the cafe.

Luckily, I had a small stock of stuff that I brought from home that I keep in my desk. I keep a pack of generic Ritz-like crackers and a jar of peanut butter in my desk for just such an occasion. I spread the pb on a few of the crackers, gulped down the soda and now I'm fine! If I didn't have that supply there, I would have spent AT LEAST 75 cents for a soda and more if I wanted food too. So yay! Crisis averted.

A few more tidbits:
- I also found a quater in the parking lot today!
- I'm going to work a 1/2 hour lunch & get another 1/2 hour of OT in today

And just to share my packed food:
Today I had/will have:
-a small blueberry muffin
-a banana
-1 cup dry rice chex (I eat them as a snack)
-all bran crackers
-tuna sandwich on wheat
-5 crackers with peanut butter on top
-salad with light italian dressing
-homemade pasta salad with wheat pasta, tons of veggies and light italian on it

Not the most imaginative meals, but its been REALLY hot in the office and I just couldn't take any hot food.

I know I'm bringing a salad & the other half of the tuna tomorrow, but I still have to figure out the rest. I'm going to work 8am to 8pm again.

****edited to add****

I just found out that I'll be receiving another $400.00 in gift cards from work. This was the last oppurtunity for it, but I am SO excited that I won!!!!

Well, the A/C went again. The last visit from the repair guy was a last ditch effort to see if it would limp through this summer. Obviously, it won't. I have the cash to get the new unit, but I want to pay myself as soon as possible.

Also, there was a glitch between my hot water heater timer and my brand new hot water heater, so I had the installation guy come back out to take a look. It took him 5 minutes, but it was fixed.

Today I:
-woke up at 6:45 am.
-was at the grocery store by 7:30 am to buy veggies and some staples
-made food to take to work
-called & set up an appointment with the a/c guy
-called & got 1 more car insurance quote. I'm just waiting to talk to the company who has my homeowner's insurance to see if grouping them together would save me a few bucks
-met with the hot water heater guy
-went to work for overtime from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm
-came home & cleaned the kitchen, living room and downstairs bathroom
-made dinner and premade food for tomorrow.

now I'm resting, playing on the internet & reworking my budget a little.


I'm actually going to be under budget for groceries this pay period! Yay I have $17.56 left of my $50.00 gift card that I'm using for this pay period. I'm going to save it for when soda is on super sale again. I like to stock up when its at its cheapest

So other than groceries paid by the gift card, I had a no spend day today.

Tomorrow, I'm working 8am to 8pm (3 hours OT). I've packed breakfast, lunch & dinner to take with me, as well as some snacks.

I've been running the house fans, but not the a/c since the a/c isn't working. But even if it was, I'd probably have it off, its been so beautiful in the last few days.

My goal for this week is to pack my meals all the way through Saturday. I say that sometimes and I don't follow through. But I will this time. I actually put a sticky note on my debit card. It says "A/C", just as a reminder. When I was saving for the house, I had a sticky with a picture of a house on it. Its a strange little motivation, but hey, it works for me

For entertaiment this weekend, I'm getting a few movies from the library. I've been watching old Poirot movies, which is fun. I have plans to do some organizational and cleaning stuff around the house this weekend. It should be pretty frugal

I opened up a trial size toothpaste this morning that I had gotten as a free sample. I have another one somewhere in the drawer. Its berry flavored, with a hint of mint, which is a little weird, but it was free & it'll last me a good long while I'm going to organize & use all my free samples, before they get lost.

I'm going to be putting together an organizer for my card collection. I keep a stock of cards for birthdays, sympathy, congratulations, ect on hand. But when I go to find them, I can't because they've been shoved into some drawer in the spare room. So I cut the top off a tissue box & I'm going to organize the cards in it tonight. This means cleaning out my desk drawers, but that needs to be done as well.

I'm in the process of reading Green with Envy: Why keeping up with the Jones is keeping us in debt by Shira Boss. I got it from the library awhile ago, but I'm making time to finally read it this weekend. After that, I'm re-reading the last few Harry Potter books so when the new one comes out July 21st, I'll be refreshed!

I am holding off on my impulse to pre-order Mean Lean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. I LOVE this series. I have all the other books in hardback. But I"m really trying to hold off on it, get it from the Library and just put it on my Christmas list in December. We'll see.

I've been listening to back episodes of Dave Ramsey's show & heard his guest Henry Cloud. I put two of his books on my want list at the library. Boundries, and Integrity. Both should be good reads.

For the weekend, I plan to:
-Deep clean the house
-Finish cleaning the basement after the repairs
-Clean out my car, including vaccuming
-Start updating my resume
-Put some stuff up on Craigslist (I keep putting this off)

Next week I plan to:
-Finalize my car insurance decision
-Work any OT available to me
-Pack breakfast, lunch & dinner every day next week, no exceptions!
-Work on prescription billing issues

I spent $1.20 on some fries to go with my salad for lunch. I actually paid out 20 cents cash, and used a 1.00 voucher for my work cafe. Considering I've been at work since 9am & won't be leaving til 8pm, I packed most of my meals, I just got a littler hungrier than I thought.

I plan to go home tonight & make food for tomorrow's meals. I also am finalizing that letter to the store that treated me so badly (see my previous entry on Worst Customer Service EVER). I have the CEO's address, the complaints department address, and the address of the head manager of the specific store that I visited. I want a response. I want to know what they think about the way that I was treated.

In other news, I'm coming in for 3 hours of OT tomorrow & I'll do a 1/2 hour on Saturday for a total of 5.5 hours this week. I have the option for OT on Monday, and they may give us a little during the week again, we'll see. I'll be taking any ot that I can get so I don't have to dig into savings to cover the air conditioning repair. I would be able to 'repay' it quickly, but I'd prefer not to have to.

And just a side note--- we're having a work party next week. I signed up for pretzels only to get publically humiliated for my choice. I was told by a peer... not a manager... that pretzels were'n't good enough & I have to cook something. I told her I'll bring something, but I don't have to COOK anything. She preceded to yell at me from across the aisle. I was PISSED.

If I didn't like my coworker that the party is for, I would have just declined to attend altogether. So I stuck to my guns & told her to write down pretzels. Then about a 1/2 hour later, I changed my item to rolls. I can get them for the same price & they compliment the food we're brining more. Still, it was the rudest thing I've ever seen. AND I wasn't the only person that she did that to.

$30.00 specialist copay to eye doctor... I have a floater, if anyone knows what that is. Its very distracting at work, but so far, not a sign of a serious problem (which it can be).

I spent nothing on food today. I packed my lunch. YAY!

I am heading to the grocery store after work. I'm going to use on of my gift cards. I'm trying to limit my spending today, knowing I'll be going back next week to stock up on more veggies and fruits.

I am working on my May totals and June goals over the weekend & I'll post them as soon as I have them.