Yesterday I did a lot of spending.

$3.00 Dollar tree for grocery items
$5.67 Acme - groceries
$14.64 Walmart - groceries
$48.99 BIIIG bag of cat food
$98.00 Wilm Trust Home Equity
$8.65 Old Navy (after $30.00 in gift cards).
$16.00 Dinner & drinks at book club

*A note about the Old Navy. My NEW but TEMPORARY part-time job requires an all black outfit. I have a few black shirts, mostly summer and one pair of appropriate black pants. So I went to Old Navy in search of an extra pair of pants. Was unable to find any that were worth it money-wise (i.e. under $39.00) and that fit right. I did find a black sweater, a black long sleeve tee and a pair of christmas pajama pants. For me, it was worth it. Both tops can be entered into my full time job's wardrobe and the christmas pants were just a bonus for me!

I have another $10.00 to Old Navy to spend after the 6th. I'll try again for pants.

Today, I hope that I am able to have a no spender. We'll have to see! lol.

Today's 5 (+) Things:

1. Send pics of birthday party to friend
2. Laundry
3. PIckup house. Already clean, just a little cluttered again due to a busy week
4. Set aside 2 items for pickup from Craigslist
5. Adjust budget. Need to rebalance checkbook, I'm off somewhere
6. Change sheets
7. Do nails
8. Pull out dresses for Christmas party tomorrow
9. Meal plan for upcoming week
10. Wardrobe Plan for the upcoming week
11. Catch up on Sons of Anarchy, Monk, Fringe and Supernatural
12. Put out Christmas decorations

Well, knocked a couple of things off on my financial To Do list.

- I listed a few things on Craiglist last night. I have interest in 3-4 items & hope to get rid of them by Saturday.
- I put an ad on Craiglist offering my room for rent. Have 2 potentials and hopefully I can meet them in the next week
- I had an interview for a part-time seasonal job at a chain store at the mall. AND I got the job! Its gonna be crazy busy, but I could use the extra money. I think I got the last nights/weekends position that they had! Lucky me

I'm trying to control unnecessary spending, but I HATE curbing my social activities. So I'm just trying to be smart about them.

Tonight, I have my homeowners association meeting. (We're ordering pizza, so I'll chip in $5). Then I'm meeting friends for a quick drink ($3? just one drink, really!!). I already made lunches for tomorrow & Thursday because tomorrow night I'll be busy.

My friend's birthday is tomorrow. We'll be going out with friends for her birthday. Dinner & drinks out (approx $15), so there will be spending. So then she'd going to crash at my house (I'm the DD), since she works here, but lives 40 minutes away.

Thursday night is book club. I'll have one beer (approx $6). Friday night, I'm definately staying in.

Saturday night I promised a friend I'd be his plus 1 for his work's holiday party. I know a bunch of his coworkers, so it should be fun. And I get free food/drink. Probably will tip a bit at the complimentary bar ($5?), but that should be it.

Sunday night, my mom, sister & I are going to a play. My mom gifted us the tickets. She'll probably want to do dinner out before or after, but I'm probably going to pass. I'm spending the morning cleaning her house for her (as a gift) and I really want the evening to prepare for the next week.

Speaking of that next week. I have orientation and training for the part time job Monday through Wednesday!

I'm going to have to plan well so that I have food for breakfast lunch & dinner & don't spend extra money eating out!

And on a good note, my heat hasn't been kicking in much at all!

Today was a no spender. I have my nephew over tonight and we're watching library movies, eating homemade food and having popcorn fights! Too fun

I did sell some stuff off Craigslist today. $15.00 made. I had another reply for a desk that I have for sale for $10.00. It's a bit banged up and old and I never use it, so I'd rather have the $10

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to hang with a friend. She's a spender and most of our activities together have involved spending. But I let her know that I had some car repairs come up and I was looking to just hang out and catch up. I'd be willing to do a little Christmas shopping (and only spend what was planned). So hopefull that'll work out.

Friday night I stayed in and just rested. I ran around a lot last week and just needed to rest.

Saturday, I went to that friend's book signing. I'm really proud of him. There were a dozen authors/artists at the signing (it was a compilation of short stories for the 30th anniversary of a locally owned bookstore). $18.00 for the book and I managed not to come home with any more than the one

Saturday night, I went out for a friend's birthday. We had fun, but I spent more than I had planned. But not by much.

Yesterday, I got new tires, was told I need a car repair to the tune of $200.00. They didnt try to sell me on getting it done yesterday, so I doubt that they're scamming me. I spent $8 for lunch with mom and around $300 on the tires. Then I went to 2 grocery stores, the dollar store & Kohl's. I got a bunch of groceries and some stuff for Christmas.

Then last night, I organized/prepped my food for the week and watched some old movies borrowed from the library. I'm on a Marilyn Monroe kick right now.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to repeat my $3.00 night out at the pub. I plan on only going for an hour & only taking a little cash with me.

Oh and a bonus - the weather's been awesome here. Heat only kicked on one night last week. Yesterday & today, my living room has been 68-70. Yay for any extra time with the heat off!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I had a ton of problems at work today. Not with work itself, but a system transition that cost me 3 hours of time. I ended up staying a half hour late to finish a project. Booo. I don't get OT, so this time will be comped on Thursday.

After work, I did some grocery shopping at a store right around the corner from work. I skipped the gym and headed home.

Today's 5 Things:
1. Grocery store (DONE)
2. Brown ground turkey with onion, separate into servings & freeze (DONE)
3. Clean kitchen/sweep floor (DONE)
4. Pick up living room (will vaccum tomorrow) (DONE)
5. List 2 items on Craigslist (DONE)

Hello All, Happy Friday! Today is a no-spender, but the rest of this weekend is going to be spendy. I've got a book signing and birthday party tomorrow. And then my mom & I are driving about 30 mins to get me some new tires at her previous place of work. They're having an employee sale and I'll get 20% off. We'll wait around while the work's being done & maybe hit a movie. I haven't had any mom time in a while, so it'll be worth it.

I have been working on a grocery list/meal plan. My pantry and fridge are very bare. I do have some foods frozen, but even the freezer looks empty. However, I'm working with a tight grocery budget. I found some extra funds and have the grocery budget set at $100 for the 17 day pay period.

This is the meal plan through next Friday:

Tonight:
Dinner -Meatloaf & baked fries
Saturday:
Lunch - Cucumber salad & tuna wrap
Dinner - Pasta with meat sauce and Cucumber salad
Sunday:
Lunch - Big salad, Tuna wrap
Dinner - Shake n bake chicken, potatoes
Monday:
Lunch - Buffalo chicken salad w/ Blue cheese
Dinner - Taco wrap w/ green beans
Tuesday:
Lunch - Meatloaf and salad
Dinner - Turkey bacon BLT & salad
Wednesday:
Lunch - BLT and salad
Dinner: Pasta with meatsauce, garlic bread
Thursday:
Lunch - Sloppy joe over pasta
Dinner - Buffalo Shake N bake chicken, salad
Friday:
Lunch - Tuna wrap and salad
Dinner: Baked Potato soup, BLT

Today was a No Spender. Yay! Its cold and rainy here and all I want to do is curl up under a blanket. But instead, I managed to get myself to the gym, make dinner and pack food for tomorrow. Thats something at least

Being cold and rainy, the heats kicking in at night. I set it at 64 during the night last night and 62 while at work. Normally, I'm not comfy unless its 66 at least, but I sucked it up and layered and kept the heat at 64 tonight. The problem really isn't layers for me, its my sinuses. So I know I won't be able to do 64 for forever

Tomorrow is payday. I will have 3 weekends in this pay period, so its a little longer than normal. My entertainment budget is going to be tight. I have a book signing for a friend on Saturday. This is a big deal and I'm totally willing to support him by purchasing the book ($18). Then I have another friend's bowling & bar birthday bash that night. I'm hoping to make it out of that night on $20. We'll see how it goes.

I'm working on Christmas gifts. I also have the one friends birthday on Saturday and another's the first week of December. So I'm going to be looking for deals this weekend! I know there's some super clearance stuff at Kohl's and I've been using free prints from Snapfish to frame for gifts too.

Ha! Totally made my Most Frugal Night Out tonight! I went to my weekly "Pub" night. A local dive bar with karaoke and bartenders that I love. I met up with the usual group, ran into some friends that just happened to be there. I enjoyed the music, talked with friends and only had one beer. So for the cost of 1 beer, plus tip, I spent $3.00 for 3.5 hours of fun.

I normally won't spend that little, but I was trying to meet my entertainment budget AND I wasn't feeling in the mood to drink, so it all worked out.

Today's 5 Things were:

1. Gym (DONE)
2. Library (DONE)
3. Dinner at home, make lunch for tomorrow (DONE)
4. Call & cancel dentist appointment. Let them know I'll be switching dentists and will need my records. (DONE)
5. Put air in tires. (DONE)

- Well, I had a stone hit my windshield last week and I was able to have someone come right to the house & fix it this weekend. Never had that happen before, so I'm not too sure about the work done. The crack is very much better, but there still is an indent in the windshield. Anyone know if that is normal? I'll be doing some research tomorrow.

- We received an email from work that based on the changes in the economy and the way our company has worked together, we'll be receiving a $500.00 bonus that will be added to our 401k. YAY

- I stayed within my grocery budget for this pay period. I have $3.80 left & I only need some milk, which will be $1.78. Woohoo!

- I did NOT stay within my entertainment budget. I added $20 to it from other budget catagories when I realized that $38.61 was a little unreasonable I HAVE stayed within the $58.61 amount and I'm pretty happy with the result.

- So basically, I have $2.00 that I will use for milk and $6.00 for a beer after work tomorrow with friends. The overage in budget catagories will roll over into next paycheck's budget.

- This next pay period is going to be TIGHT. I have a good friend who is an artist (not his main occupation, but is his true calling). He has a drawing being published in a book and there will be a book signing this Saturday. I want to support him and buy the book, but its $18.95, so I'm gonna have to wiggle that right into my budget.

- I did 2 loads of laundry today, used the dryer only once.

- The heat has been off the last 2 days, but the good weather will not probably last long. Whatever, every little bit helps

- I have not put any items up on craigslist yet. This will be my goal for the weekend! I need the extra cash and I have a few good items - desk, wireless router, small ikea tables, extra plastic storage bins.

Today's 5 Things were:

1. Laundry (DONE)
2. Clear out/organize emails (DONE)
3. Start Christmas shopping (DONE)
4. Give the plants a little TLC (DONE)
5. Hit the gym, dinner at home & prepack food for tomorrow (DONE). (I made this one item since its pretty routine a few days a week! lol).

This was a good weekend. Friday, I went to the gym after work, hit the grocery store & went home. Did some cleaning to prep for an overnight houseguest and went to bed early.

Saturday, a friend drove into town from about 45 minutes away. We headed downstate about an hour & a half to go to the Pumpkin Chunkin. If you've never heard of this, google it. Its a BIG 3-Day event, started for charity. Apparently 20,000 people show up for it. Its a contest where people make cannon-like machines and trebuchets (think catapult and slingshot combo) to fling pumpkins high into the air and compete for pumpkin-throwing distance.

The machines were impressive. The cannon-like ones were so forceful that they would shoot the pumpkins and they would clear the clouds and be lost to the eye. People apparently come from all over to see the event. Some people come for an excuse to drink. Its byob and there are a lot of tailgaters.

My friend and I did not bring drinks, but I did pack my lunch. Ticket and parking were $10.00. I spent $7 on water & beach fries. Definately worth any penny!

We came back to my place afterwards, made spaghetti for dinner, watched tv & just caught up. It was a really relaxing weekend!

Today, I went to the farmer's market for $8.05 in vegetables. Then I came home and spent the day just hanging out. I really enjoyed the down time. Managed an afternoon nap & am planning on heading to bed early, lol.

Here are some pics of the Chunkin:

Well, I have today off of work & am planning on getting a lot stuff done.

I am working to be uber-frugal to pay down the little bit of debt that I have left from my 'crazy spending time' a few months back. So my entertainment, eating out, and grocery expenses are going to be carefully thought out. I will share as I work through this

Today's MORE than 5 Things:

1. Laundry (DONE)
2. Groceries (DONE)
3. Pick up prescription (DONE)
4. Return to drug store (DONE)
5. Deposit at bank (DONE)
6. Get air in tires (NOT COMPLETED)
7. Look at discounted Halloween costumes (DONE - no purchases made)
8. REview meal plan (DONE)
9. Make ahead meals for Tues and part of the week. (DONE)
10. Clean up litter box (NOT COMPLETED)
11. Catch up on some tv (this is a fun one! haha). (DONE)
12. Pack lunch for work tomorrow & pack gym bag. (DONE)

Woohoo! Today at 3:30, I started the beginning of my 10 day vacation! I don't go back until Tuesday 11/3

After work, my friend & I went to the dollar store (picked up a makeup travel bag = $1.00). Then to 2 Halloween stores to look at costumes for the Halloween party on the ship. I wanted a new, cute costume, but couldnt justify the price. So instead, I am going with an old sorceress costume that I have (free!).

We went to Michael's crafts after that. My friend is trying to be the skipper from Gilligan's island and wanted to make a life preserver to go with his costume. He got all those items and I ended up buying a piece that was meant for a floral arrangement, but would actually make a good sorceress wand. $2 and it made my costume feel like new! I am hoping to hit the costume stores AFTER Halloween and maybe pick up a good deal on a costume for next year.

I leave for the cruise on Sunday, so I'm spending tonight & tomorrow organizing, cleaning & packing. I am spending time with the kitties who I feel BAD about leaving.

Today's 5 Things:

1. Get bloodwork done before work (DONE)
2. Clean downstairs bath (DONE)
3. Clean out fridge (To be determined!)
4. Do laundry (DONE)
5. Take deck furniture into basement (NOT DONE - came home after dark)

I also cleaned my bedroom and walk in closet, so I did accomplish more than I thought I would.

I also entered Savings Bonds that I have into the treasury calculator. I have a little over $1000.00, which I mean to cash in soon. However, I was checking a specific one that a family member gave me in 1980 and my mom just found in some old paperwork. That thing has a face value of $75 and is worth over $240! I'm heading to the bank to cash that one & 2 others out. I'll leave the rest alone for now & deal with them in 2010.

Hope everyone has a good Friday night!

Oh boy, its getting colder. I'm in the fleece pants and have the down comforter on the bed. The kitties are snuggling with me, so I know they are noticing the tempreture changes, lol.

We're expecting a Nor'easter soon and that is going to make things even colder. I may have to turn the heat on, but I am trying to hold off until the last possible second. I think we're in for a very cold winter.

Today's spending was .55 for a soft pretzel and $7.50 for groceries. Tomorrow, I'm hitting a movie with a friend.

OH! And I found the missing $12 from my budget. I forgot about a return credit on a credit card that I no longer use. I'll put that towards my next gas purchase

Today's 5 Things:

1. Meet buddy at gym (DONE - spent 1 hour for strength training and cardio)
2. Grocery store (DONE)
3. Pack food for tomorrow (DONE)
4. Upload photos to send to mom (DONE
5. Start new stretching routine (for flexibility) (DONE)

I had a GREAT weekend. Friday night I went to the movies with friends. We saw Zombieland, which was very funny. One friend had free movie passes & refused to let me reinburse her, so I splurged and bought us sodas as a treat ($5.00).

Saturday, I hit the gym, then packed & drove up to a friend's house in the center of West Chester, PA. About an hour drive through some pretty areas, which I enjoyed.

A group of us had tickets to a Brewfest. 40+ breweries to sample. We had great weather and we able to walk around tasting beer for a few hours.

Here's a pick of just a bit of the crowd.



That night, we ordered pizza (my share, $4.00) and stayed in and played games & watched movies. I spent the night and today, we met up with another friend to walk to the local Chili Cookoff 1 block from their house.

68 different groups participated. $10.00 for a wristband and unlimited chili tasing options. Weather was great again and I enjoyed being outside on one of the possible last good weather days of the season. The only other spending was for a fresh lemonade ($3.00) and for a Phillies tee-shirt ($10.00). This has been on my to-buy list for a while & they had cute shirts for a great price.

Here's a view of the tents & crowd.



The tents were run by local businesses and groups and a few had themes.





On my way home today, I stopped at Sears to return a dress (29.99 return). I went to the farmer's market for fresh veggies (4.15) and Walmart for other groceries (6.26).

I am now doing laundry (which I find kinda relaxing). I'm making dinner at home & lunch for tomorrow. Then I'm putting my feet up for the rest of the night.

I hope everyone had as good a weekend as I did!!

Happy Monday All!

If you haven't already noticed, I am a fan of lists and plans. Following them is always a challange though, because I don't like being told what to do. Even if I'm the one doing the telling! LOL

I have a spending plan, meal plan and workout plan for this week. While at work today, I made a little chart on paper:

MONDAY
Planned Activities: Work, Gym
Planned Spending: $0.50 library fine
Meals: Pasta salad/Shake N Bake Chicken
Exercise: Gym 45 minutes

TUESDAY
Planned Activities: Work, Gym, Civic Association Meeting
Planned Spending: $8.00 groceries
Meals: Sloppy joe/Tuna Wrap
Exercise: Gym 45 minutes

WEDNESDAY
Planned Activities: Work, Gym
Planned Spending: $0.00
Meals: Tuna sandwich/Pasta with meat sauce
Exercise: Gym 45 minutes

THURSDAY
Planned Activities: Work, Park for walking, Nephew's baseball game
Planned Spending: $0.00
Meals: Salad with pasta/Soft taco
Exercise: Park 25 min walk

FRIDAY
Planned Activities: Work, Gym, Movies
Planned Spending: $10
Meals: Turkey Meatloaf Muffin/Salad with pasta
Exercise: Gym 45 minutes

SATURDAY
Planned Activities: Gym, Kennett Brewfest (beer tasting event); Spending night in West Chester
Planned Spending: $15-20 dinner
Meals: Salad & meatloaf for lunch/Dinner out with friends
Exercise: Gym 45 mins in early am.

SUNDAY
Planned Activities: West Chester Chili Cookoff
Planned Spending: $10.00 Cookoff Entrance fee, $5-10 drinks
Meals: Unknown breakfast; chili lunch, salad at home for dinner
Exercise: Walking around cookoff


In other frugal news:

- My heat is still off. I even had the windows open for a few hours yesterday.

- Most of my entertainment (other than planned events) has come in the form of books and movies borrowed from the library & new Fall shows on tv.

- I'm packing all my food for work & saving a bundle

- The addition of exercise into my routine has helped me sleep better and have more energy. Hopefully, in the near future, it will help with some of my health issues.

- The laundry I'm doing tonight will not need the dryer, so all of it will be line dried in the spare room.

Today I enjoyed some awesome weather and a half day off from work. I still made it to the gym and worked out for a bit.

Then I hit the grocery store. My budget for this pay period is $85.00 and I spent $26.94. I won't need any further groceries until my veggie and fruit shop at the Farmer's market this weekend.

After I got home, I watched borrowed dvds and made meatloaf muffins and browned ground turkey with onions to put in the freezer. And I still made a separate meal for dinner - Cajun Rice with beef. Unfortunately it wasn't that good. I won't be keeping that recipe. Oh well.

As I said before, my spending focus is grocery & entertaining. Today started a new pay period & I spent on plan with groceries, and spent nothing on entertainment today. Its a start

Out of the 5 Things I set for today, I accomplished.

1. Hit the gym (even though I have a 1/2 day of work! DONE
2. Sort paperwork, file & shred DONE
3. Grocery shop & attempt to get below budget! DONE
4. Try a new recipe for dinner DONE
5. Sort 5 items for Craiglist & list them for sale NOT DONE - PAPERWORK TOOK WAAAY TOO LONG!

Tomorrow's 5 Things are as follows:

1. Bring packed breakfast, lunch & snacks
2. Call & close extra money market account
3. Call & cancel Dentist appointment (need to find a new one in plan, which will be cheaper)
4. Go to dinner & a play with Mom, Sis & friends and ENJOY!
5. Stay on plan with eating. Packed all day food. Stick to fish, baked potato & salad for dinner out. Keep bill under $20.00!

The big item - getting rid of mold in the basement - got scrapped due to poor weather planning. Its pouring and a dry basement would be best.

In between the gym, my newphew's baseball game and horror movie night with friends, I was able to knock off a LOT of items. Its like spring cleaning, but Fall cleaning instead.

I feel like I'm getting the house ready for the colder weather. Deep cleaning and airing out the house with the windows open possibly the last time before the winter.

And the only spending I've done this weekend, other than groceries is the dinner I bought for myself & my nephew Friday night. And I feel AWESOME that I got so much accomplished.

Below is a running tally of what I've accomplished this week.

Friday

- Clean junk drawer in kitchen
- Organize freezer, make list of items
- Wipe kitchen blinds
- Organize & wipe down pantry
- Meal plan for the week
- Grocery Plan for the week
- Entertainment budget/plan
- Make new workout playlist on MP3 player


Saturday

- Grocery shop
- Cleaned downstairs bath
- Clean kitchen, wash floor
- Wipe down refrigerator and cabinets
- Polish kitchen table

Sunday - Already accomplished

- Get produce from the Farmer's Market
- Vaccum stairs & upstairs hallway
- Clean spare bedroom, vaccum & wash floor
- De-hair the chair in the spare bedroom that the cats sleep on
- Clean bedroom, vaccum floor
- Clean upstairs bathroom & floor
- Polish wardrobe in bedroom

Still to do today:

- Laundry (edited - DONE)
- Budget
- Make meatloaf muffins (edited - DONE)
- Make blueberry muffins (edited - DONE)
- Mani/Pedi (edited - DONE)
- Organize garden stuff, store in basement (edited - DONE)
- Clean, dust & vaccum living room (edited - DONE)
- Wipe down living room blinds, dust fan (edited - DONE)
- Clean out car (edited - DONE)
- Put out fall decorations (edited - DONE)
- File/shred paperwork.
- Pack bag for gym (edited - DONE)
- Clean litter box

Made a new budget tonight. I am working on spending little on eating out & food, but since I didnt make it to the grocery store today, I'll be buying my lunch tomorrow. After that, I'm hoping to make it through the rest of the month without eating out at work. We'll see how it goes

As for today, I had a VERY frugal day. I bought a bottle of soda & bag of cheddar popcorn for $4.00 and headed to a friend's house for a John Hughes movie marathon. Between my movie collection and hers, we had 3 movies to watch for free. Lots of fun and worth not getting to the grocery store for!

Today I have a day off - and I'm running errands for 1/2 & chilling for the other.

I already headed to the Farmer's market to stock up on veggies with the last $11.78 of my grocery budget for this pay period. I ended up spending $11.86, but I'm perfectly happy to go over budget

I love my deals at the Farmer's market!For that amount, I was able to get the following:

- 2 bags of mixed greens (its a LOT of lettuce)
-3 cucumbers
-5 large tomatoes
-baby carrots
-3 green peppers
-mushrooms
-onion
-celery

I definately get a lot for my money & its all healthy

This afternoon, I get to head to the vet with the little kitty. Expensive, but necessary Poor guy is gonna hate me when I bring out the cat carrier.

Hope everyone has a good day!

For the month of May, I was 100% successful in packing food/drink for work! Yay for me I'm going to try to keep it up next month with maybe one exception when my work group goes out for lunch. You know, I find that I eat better food of more variety when I pack my lunch? Who woulda thought?


For the month of May, I have also kept the heat and A/C off for 29 days straight! It may be more, but at the end of April, there were a few days where I had the A/C on and I can't remember which ones. I'm hoping to keep the air off as long as possible. If I'm reasonably comfortable with the windows open and air off, then I'll do it. When summer hits & the humidity goes on, the air will go on


I went grocery shopping today, purchased almost everything I'll need for the week. Just have to head to the Farmer's market tomorrow for fresh produce. I have a grocery plan for this pay period and I hope to purchase the rest of my staples tomorrow and will only need to hit the grocery for milk, eggs & yogurt and the Farmer's market once more between now & the 15th.

Total Grocery Spending today: $36.29. This included some more expensive items such as olive oil and five 12 packs of soda (at least 5 weeks worth of soda). I also purchased a treat for dinner!

Now for social obligations: As I've said before, I'm working with a limited budget right now & am wrestling with the conflict of wanting to have a social life vs not spending too much money for entertainment. So, with planning, I seem to find my balance

- I planned to stay in tonight - so I got that treat at the grocery store - shrimp. LOVE it. Its yummy AND very low in points (for the Weight Watchers I'm following). I have books & movies from the library. In fact, I'm about to watch Murder on the Orient Express Since the shrimp came out of my normal grocery budget - tonight is Free!

- Tomorrow, I am going to my nephew's baseball game at 9:30. I'll pack a water & snack for the games. (Free) After, I'm going to the park for a 2.5 mile walk. (Free)

In the evening, I am spending time with some good friends. I'm hoping to convince them to stay in so that we can catch up. Maybe make some dinner together. Shouldn't be a problem because we've done it many times before. (Free - or just the cost of food)

- Sunday, I am supposed to meet an old coworker and a friend of hers for lunch and drinks. I think we'll be hitting a local restaurant I know where I can just get a small app and a single drink. No need to overdo, especially since I'm watching what I'm eating (Estimated spending: $10)

- Tuesday, I am meeting friends at a pub for karaoke. Well, they'll be doing the karaoke and I'll just be watching Plan on buying a few beers. (Est spending: $10)


- Thursday, a friend is having a book club meeting at a local bar. They serve their own beer. If I go, and I haven't decided yet, I'll just get a soda & bring my book to talk about (Est spending: $5 tops)

- Friday, I'm going to a minor league baseball game. Very local. My nephew's class is singing between innings and most of my family is going. I plan on eating ahead of time (est cost: ticket, drink $15.00)

Saturday, I'm going to another one of my nephew's baseball games (free). Saturday night, I'll be heading to a friend's house for a small party. I'm bringing veggies on my new to me veggie plate! (est cost $3.00)

So lots of obligations and none too costly. The trick is to not spend a ton of money on eating out and drinking!

Previously, I talked about setting a walking goal for the summer. I still plan to do it, but haven't figured out how to incorporate the elliptical into that

And lastly, here's a picture of my little boy kitty. He's watching the storms roll in over the field behind my house. Such a little cutie!

Today was a very busy day. I worked, took a 2 mile walk, went to my nephew's ball game, did 2 loads of laundry, made dinner and premade food for tomorrow.

I spent $2.89 for a drink for my mom & a soft pretzel for me at the ball game.

In the mail, I received my water bill - $68.82 for 3 months. The water bill went up from last year. I can attribute it to two things - using more water for the garden and being lazy and using the dishwasher more often. So today, I went back to handwashing for meals and using the dishwasher when doing big cooking.

Also, my electric usage has been down. No air or heat usage this month. So hopefully my usage will be really really low

I also received my car insurance renewal in the mail. It went up again - third year in a row. I'll be doing the usual calls for quotes before making a decision. I like the company I'm with, but I also need to make the best economic choice. In the past two years, I still was getting the best deal with this company, but who knows what this year will bring.

Tomorrow, I'll be calling Comcast about downgrading the cable. I'll probably cancel my phone service with them & switch it to Verizon who can give me a local only plan for about $12 per month. When I had the cable, phone & internet package, it was the most frugal choice. But changing the cable will stop be from being able to use the package. By itself, the phone is $24.95/month.

I also went to the dentist Thursday last week - I have 2 cavities. They say they'll need $285.00 after insurance, but this dentist is not in the plan that I have. It never mattered before because the dentist's office always gave me a discount, and I used to pay just an additional $5.00 after the insurance. But now, they have a new office manager & that went away. And with the needed fillings, its too costly to continue to go out of plan. I'm going to have to finally make the leap to an in plan dentist. Its a shame, I really liked the dentist that I was with.

Tomorrow should be a no spender - I plan on coming home after work & heading straight to the park or get on the elliptical. Thursday, I'm going out with some friends, I have $10.00 to spend, thats it. Should be doable.

So my friend & I completed our little lunch challange. Both of us succeeded 100%! My friend was the one that said he'd fail the first week, but he pulled through. AND he suggested that we do it again next week, with 1 exception out of the 10 days.

So next week, we'll continue the challange. He can use his exception if he wants to, but I'm going to try not to. Money is tight & I'd rather go out at night or on the weekends than eat a sandwich from the cafe at work.

I've cashflowed the bee treatment ($190) this month, but it means less funds in other budget catagories such as groceries and entertainment.

So I've already made a meal plan and grocery list for today through the 30th, which I'm going to do my darnest to stick through. I leave the meal plan flexible because sometimes I just don't feel like eating what I planned to

This weekend, my goal is to do a lot of free or nearly free things

I do have a birthday party at a bar tonight. I plan on eating dinner before going, buying only a beer or two and leaving early. I'm pretty beat and want an early night.

Tomorrow, I have my nephew's baseball game - as long as the weather holds. After, I'm supposed to hang out with some friends. I'm gonna try to convince them to grill out for dinner & watch some movies.

As for entertainment - I have several movies from the library & a bunch of housework on the to-do list. I certainly don't have a problem with things to do this weekend

And a final note - I'm on day 15 of no heat or air!

Sunday I did the Philadelphia Breast Cancer Walk. It was very moving. Thousands of people walking for such an important cause. Here are a few pics to give you an idea of the crowds.

The people in the all pink tee shirts are all breast cancer survivors participating in the opening ceremonies.



This is a view of all the people in front of us waiting for the walk to start.



This is a view of all the people behind us at the same time.





Yesterday, I ran errands, but resisted eating out & came home to make dinner.

Today I had a doctor's appointment. $30.00 coapy. Afterwards, I met up with a cousin to head over a family member's house to start a plan for cleaning out it out for sale since she's moved into a nursing home. Its a long complicated story, but lets just say that I've met them both on only one occasion, so this was awkward.

We took the family member to her house to discuss what we would be doing. There is a TON of stuff to go through. Thousands of books, cookbooks, instruction manuals, tons of cookware & old construction equiptment. Its going to be overwhelming, but I think its doable.

While we were there, we cleaned out her fridge. Unless it was very old, they didn't want to throw out anything. So we split the stuff up between my cousin, a neighbor and myself. I came home with a bunch of stuff that I would never eat because its sketchy if its safe. And a bunch of baking supplies that I have no idea what to do with.

I did, however, come home with some english muffins, 2 containers of butter (frozen), 2 containers of cool whip and a large package of chicken wings. Also came home with some pine nuts, so I'm going to make some pesto - or at least try to



She also gave me a marble cutting board and a very nice italian piece of cermanic flowers. Really pretty. I didn't ask for any of the things, but I think it made her feel in control to give things away, so we let her.




And actually, we had an interesting conversation about how she packed so much stuff in there, never wanting to let stuff go. Its something that I've seen discussed before. Its leftover from living during the Great Depression. Somebody might have a use for it someday!

Finances seem to be getting tighter & I
have a lot of upcoming house expenses. I FINALLY paid to have professionals come out to spray for the carpenter bees. $190.00 for a one time treatment to kill them. In 2 weeks, hopefully, I'll have my sister's boyfriend's company to come out and replace the gutters & soffits. That should be around $800-$900.

In good news, I spent nothing but the doctors copay. I'm still packing breakfast, lunch & snacks 100% for work! So has my friend. I think he'll finish the 2 week challange with me. But I plan on continuing through the rest of the month.

I called Comcast about dropping my cable or lowering it to the extreme basic. But I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do. I have til Monday to make up my mind.

I also responded to a couple of ads looking for rooms to rent from facebook. Getting a roommate would REALLY help right now.

In more good news, I've had the heat/air off since before May 1st. Not sure exactly when it went off & stayed off, but I'm hoping to keep it off for a long, long time.

Also, my garden is doing very well, but I don't have any updated pics. I'll try to post some tomorrow.

Yay! I've made it through the first week of my Lunch Challange. As far as I know, my friend is packing his food today & will be on track as well.

I've managed to pack breakfasts, lunches, snacks & drinks for work. Now that I've gotten used to it again, its pretty easy

Tonight I'm doing happy hour with some friends. I think we're going to a place with a free taco bar as part of the happy hour. I'm going to try to keep my spending to 1 drink and then get my free taco dinner

Tomorrow should be a no spender. I'm having a movie day with friends. I'm supplying movies that I already own - The Usual Suspects and Suicide Kings. We're bringing our own snacks and just plan to enjoy each other's company. Should be a fun day!

Sunday, I'm walking in the Philadelphia Breast Cancer Walk. We have to get up really, really early to get there on time. I have to fill the car up with gas, but we're packing breakfast for the car ride & the walk organizers supply us with water & snacks there. So really, this should be a low spending weekend.

My friend & I are still doing the Lunch Challange, but he asked that we start on Monday, which was fine with me. I still need to do a big grocery shop

Today I packed part of my lunch, but did buy a soda and a 1/2 sandwich. I have a nasty sinus headache & wanted some caffine. But I have soda on my grocery list & will no longer be buying it at work

So all in all, today I spent:
-$2.90 at the work cafeteria
-$1.25 in library fines - gotta work on that
-$4.00 on grocery items at the dollar store.

I'm also going to be tracking heating/air usage. Our weather has been crazy - going from 89 degrees to 50, up and down every few days. I have managed to keep the air/heat off since Wednesday.

Tonight, I have spent a pleasant evening at home. I have windows open, so a fresh breeze is coming in. The sound of the rain is relaxing. There's a wonderful smell of birthday roses on the coffee table next to the couch. I'm watching library movies and tv and am catching up on emails, mypoints emails, and reading. It was a great way to wind down tonight!

Tomorrow, my plans are to hit the farmers market for fruits & veggies. Head to my nephew's baseball game. I want to try to get a walk in at the park. But that & the game all depend on the weather. So we'll see how it goes.

I've said before, over the last few months, my spending is out of hand. Now that I have several upcoming home expenses, I need to tighten the belt even more. So I've planned my $0.00 based budget for 4/30 to 5/14 pay period.

I've made a grocery plan, a meal plan. I have a very, very strict cash flow this pay period, so I am looking to stick with it.

My biggest challange will be grocery and entertainment spending. One thing that will help in both areas is that I am going back to doing Weight Watchers. I was following the plan loosely, but now will be 100% on plan.

In addition to planning my food out (which saves on groceries), I plan on working out a lot more. This means skipping dinner out in favor of walking (free entertainment) I will also be limiting drinking as part of the plan.

Speaking of exercise, I have set a goal for myself: I plan on walking 100 miles between now and the end of August. I'll be tracking my progress here. Wish me luck!

I had a blast at my Birthday Happy Hour. I was the recipiant of some great timing and UPS delivered my fixed camera to me 15 minutes before I had to leave!

I really got a good deal with it. Paid $9.00 between packaging & shipping & I got a fixed camera back in 10 days!

SO because of that, I was able to capture some fun pics of the outing. I had shrimp for dinner & several drinks and my awesome friends would not let me pay for anything! That was not expected!

Now that I have my camera back I can share a few things.

Here's an updated pic of the tomato plants. I am transplanting them to new pots tomorrow.



Here are the pepper plants:



Here's the original lettuce batch. One of the cats got into it.



Here's the 2nd batch of lettuce.




And here's a pic of the lovely hole that the carpenter bees have taken over. It started out as a crack & they made a huge hole out of it.



I plan on taking pics at the Track today and will share them. I've only been to the horse races once before. Should be fun!

Have some home repairs coming up. Estimates for the Carpenter Bee Removal: $185.00 for 1 treatment. This will get rid of the bees temporarily. The bug guy, which I and my family have used before, even said as much.

I figured I'd have to replace my wood soffits (the underside of the overhang from the roof) with aluminum. But the bug guy offered an alternate solution. He said its easy to have someone wrap the soffits with aluminum or something like that. So I have someone coming out to give me a quote on that Wednesday. No idea on the cost of this yet.

A kink in the plan is that the bees love wood and while that would seal the soffit, there's a wood panel across the back of the house that is used to attach the retractable awning. I would need that wood wrapped and I don't know if they would do that for the wood panel as well as the soffits. I'll talk to them when they come for the estimate.

In addition, there are a few smaller projects that I've been putting off.

-Replacing the ceiling fan. I don't feel comfortable tackling this myself, so I'd have to call in a handy man
-Replacing the garbage disposal

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!

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