Still had a bit of a headache, but headed to work anyway. Forgot my packed lunch, didnt have any cash on me, so I used my credit card to buy lunch instead. $7.50, but it'll just come out of the spending money I had for the next two weeks.

So tomorrow is another day. I took the day off to get some things done. Some are just chores & studying, but there are a few frugal things:

-Sort through dvds and video games to go to the resale shop
-Sort through my clothes for Goodwill
-Have dinner with my parents (free meal)
-Cancel my subscriptions for 3 free trials(signed up to get some gift cards)
-Review my budget and finalize my goals for school
-Buy shampoo from Rite Aid & submit for the Gift Certificate Rebate they have.

I did do my grocery shopping today: budgeted for $45.00, paid $37.00 and got everything on my list! Lots of sales. I did pick up an impulse purchase, but I put it back before getting to the checkout...YAY for me!

Just woke up and I'm feeling better. Thanks to everyone who wished me well. I'm not 100%, but I'm getting there. I've had migranes since I was a little kid. I have certain triggers, but then sometimes they come without warning.The problem is that even after all these years, my doctor and I are still trying to find the right medicine to stop it completely. I'm pretty sure that work stress caused my headache today tho.

On the upside, my roommates (who own the house we live in) have been gardening all day & have decided that grilling is the way to go for dinner. So we're having burgers, hotdogs, homemade mac-n-cheese and a cucumber & tomato salad. I don't want anyone thinking I'm a big moocher. They tend to feed me on the weekends...because, hey, whats one more mouth, but I pay them back in labor--cleaning the kitchen. Its usually a huge disgusting mess after any meal. They are both WONDERFUL cooks, but not the neatest people ever.

So while I'm laying on the couch, waiting for dinner, I decided to make my grocery list. Usually Sundays are my grocery day, but I'm obviously not up for going out today.

I work from 12 noon to 9pm, so I usually grab food at home for breakfast/lunch and pack a mid-day snack and a dinner for my 4pm lunch break. I'm trying to eat healthier and pack simple meals, so I'm planning my food for the week &
I'll do my shopping after work tomorrow. Its actually a REALLY good time to go, nobody's there.

Here's a sample of my upcoming meals:
BLT and 'baked' fried (cut up potato slices, heavily seasoned and baked), tuna sandwich, sloppy joe, hamburger, fish filet, pasta salad (loaded with veggies, less on the pasta)and regular salad. I also have oatmeal on almost a daily basis for my nightime snack. Its very filling.

I've seen a lot recently about setting more specific goals for ourselves and I just wanted to throw a few out there. This is by no means all of my goals, just a few immediate ones:

1. Spend NO money at work for food or drink or cups of ice (which my work just recently started charging 10 cents for...I'm stopping just short of the normal rant I have on THAT topic).
2. Eat at home (or pack) except for my lunch date with a friend on Thursday. The lunch is already budgeted at $7.00
3. Save all my change in my froggy bank (sorry, no pig) to be used for fun stuff when I go to the beach this summer.
4. Review my budget. I find that each time I look at it, I can scrimp a few extra dollars towards school.

For anyone thats interested, I'll have my tuition goal of $3,600 completed with my next paycheck. My next goal is to save up the $4000.00 tuition reimbursement money that I will need to pay back if/when I quit my job. Currently, I have that planned to be completed by August. I'd really like it a lot sooner.
For my house goals: I have $8174.31 of my own saved money and $8099.98 of money I inherited from my great-aunt.
There's another $2,500 coming when the estate is settled, but I consider that emergency fund money for when I do buy the house.

Got a migrane today, so staying inside with soda, food in the house, a dark room and the tv. My meds will put me to sleep in the next few minutes & then I'll sleep til evening. So no money spent, but nothing acommplished either. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

In my 'research' into personal finance, I've become very interested in peoples attitudes about money and where they come from. Of course, some of this is my Psych Major rearing its ugly head, but its still interesting. My parents were big influences. We were never poor growing up, but money was very tight.

My mom is the deal finder, she's really good at finding sales & coupons and saving as much money as possible. But she also buys things just for the deal. Their house is crapped up with about 20 years of junk and unopened items that were bought on the cheap. Recently, they had a pipe burst in their basement and had to junk a lot of it...hope that gives them something to reflect on.

They've had a LOT of financial set backs over the years, huge medical problems, hospital stays & bills,plus a housefire that resulted in us having to move into an apartment for 6 months. AND most recently, the pipe bursting.

I've been very worried about their financial situation, knowing that in their later years, it will be up to me to help them if necessary.

Due to my being in school for Financial Management, my father has taken me aside & shown me their retirement and investment accounts to get some advice from me and he revealed his "secret" to financial planning. He explained it to me this way: Knowing my mother and his spending habits; over the years, he has purposefully kept them cash poor, by heavily funding 401ks, Iras and investment accounts. So they have a lot of savings, much more than I expected, so they're actually much better off than I thought. YAY Dad!

So now I'm taking a hard look at my retiremnent. And as of this last pay period, my 401k is over $10,000.00 This is pretty good considering I've only had the 401k 2.5 years.

On a brighter note, here's a funny story about doing anything just to save a few cents: When I was a kid, my friends dad came home from the store and was all excited because between a sale and coupons, he saved $3.00 on dog biscuits. His family responded "Thats great Dave, but you know we don't have a dog, right??" He was so consumed with the savings, he didnt see that he was actually wasting money by buying the item at all. Ironically, he gave the dog biscuits to his frugal mother, who also does not own a dog, but who fed the biscuits to her cats!! I love that story and it happened like 15 years ago.

Right now my plans have been to save as much as possible to 2 major goals: The first is to save 3700.00 to finish my last 2 graduate classes. The second is to save $4000 to pay back my tuition reimbursement when I leave my job. (They've paid about 12k, but if I leave, before 2 years, I have to pay back 2006's reimbursement).I'm planning this way, because I don't want to touch my "house" money to pay for school. In the meantime, I AM looking for a new job and if I find one, I may just suck it up and pay back the tuition reimbursement from my house money. My sanity is important enough to put my house goals on hold for a few extra months. So right now I'm in a wait and see situation. On the upside, I came home to a free dinner and a movie. My roommates had made Tacos and rented The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Plus they made margaritas...pretty cheap Friday night for me!

Recently I was given a raise at work...normally I'm really good at figuring my net paycheck amount when I get increases in pay or when I change my 401k contributions, but in addition to my raise, I also am receiving shift differential. This change occured a month ago, but between overtime and my incentive bonuses, I still haven't received just a "base pay" check. But today I was paid & I finally was able to figure out that my base take home is $80 more than I thought it would be! All of it is going to savings for school and my house! I'm very excited

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments...I definately don't want to take on more of a house or mortgage than I can handle. I'm thinking very minimal for my first home. 2 bedrooms, 1.5+ baths, townhouse or single family home. I've been reviewing houses in my area, keeping up with the prices and I know exactly what range I'm in. I'll keep the updates coming!

I know, I know...its a bit much, 2 entries in one night, but I'm so excited about this Blog. I just wanted to explain my name. I really want to buy a house. I've been saving for the last year. Between savings & an inheritance, I have about 17k total. I want to be in a really good position before buying the house, since I'll be doing it as a single person.

I have 25k in student loans, but no credit cards or auto payment(while saving in the last year, I've worked to pay them off). Mainly, I'm concerned with affording the mortgage, taxes, insurance and utilities. I really want to find a more stable job before I buy.

Figured I'd just start out by introducing myself. I'm 27 years old, renting, working full time and going to graduate school part time to receive 2 MBAs (one in Financial Management & one in Human Resource Management). I'll be graduating in August and as soon as I'm done I want to find a new job. I am really unhappy at my current one.

I've been weighing my options with leaving my current position now instead of waiting. I currently am receiving tuition reimbursement, and work was providing full reimbursement up to 2006. They changed their policy this year & now I have to pay $3700.00 to finish school. I've saved up the money for these last 2 classes.(Yay me!) So now the issue is that if I leave my position, I have to pay back the tuition reimbursement from 2006...which amounts to $4000.00. I'm seriously considering my options since I'm so stressed out at work.

In terms of spending, and dieting, I was bad today. I brought my nice healthy lunch, but I was so upset at work that I went with $8 worth of comfort food from the cafe instead. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.