Clubneary's Personal Finance Blog

Sold another 2 books on Half.com!!!! I listed them a while ago and forgot they were still out there. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the email entitled "You made a sale!" One was for a box set of Junie B Junes books that were never opened. $9.00! I know I spent more than that years ago but DD doesn't like Junie B Jones anymore and I found it while I was cleaning. I think it may have been bought as a birthday or Christmas present. Yeah me!

Took the kids out to my favorite consignment store last night with the first batch of the spring/summer clothes that I would like to get rid of. They accepted 13 out of about 20 items I had. If everything sells at the price listed it will net $96.00 which I will get half of. Not too shabby for clothes we no longer need or want. While we were there I bought shorts and a shirt for DS and 2 shirts and capris for DD. The total was $28 which isn't bad considering they were labels like Polo, Dockers, Ambercrombie, Limited Too, and The Gap. I can't imagine what everything would have cost is I bought them at the stores-probably over $100.

DH and I are going to get our taxes done next Tuesday. We are thinking of using the money this year to widen our single car driveway and to get a new kitchen floor. Both are projects I am excited about!

Went to lunch with a friend today and was treated. Nice surprise!

Still trying to stick to salads for lunch. I haven't stepped on the scale since I started 2 weeks ago but am hopeful that I have lost something, other than my sanity

My husband is a HUGE Beatles fan. I think he grew up in the wrong generation. He is only 40 and knows everything there is to know about the group. He can play all their songs on his guitar and does a good job singing them too. Because he is such a HUGE fan, our kids have become fans too. Aidan, our 4 year old, knows all the words to about 3 Beatles songs and will sing along when he hears them. He loves to watch the video of Yellow Submarine. Emma, who is 9, likes the Beatles too. She has grown up like Aidan listening to her dad play their songs. Both kids have Beatles t-shirts that they like to wear and Aidan will point out whichever Beatle he sees on the cover of a book when we are in the store. It's too funny when his hair is long and messy-he will ask us if he looks like John!

So, we found out that Rain-A Beatles tribute band is coming to town in June. I guess this group sounds and looks just like the original Beatles. My husband said if you close your eyes you wouldn't know Paul wasn't the one actually singing. DH thought it would be a nice family event if we were able to get tickets.

I just ordered them online. The tickets were $45 a piece!!!! It hurt a little to see the grand total after all the taxes and fees but I am sure this will be an event not to be forgotten for the kids as well as my husband. And even though I am not as HUGE a Beatles fan as DH is I am sure I will enjoy it too. Watching the kids enjoy it will be worth the $$$$ it is costing to get us there.

The good news is that although the tickets were expensive I was able to pay for them with my debit card. Normally I would have charged them and not worried about when or how they would get paid for. Not this time. They are paid in full and I don't have to worry about a charge to my credit card. Look at me-I guess I am getting the hang of this after all

In other news I have brought my lunch everyday and have only purchased coffee and 1 muffin here at work. I have been loading up on lots of fruit, salads, and water.

I don't want to jinx myself but for the last 2 days I have been doing an awesome job on the diet and not spending.

It all started Sunday when I spent 2 hours at the mall in the hopes of finding some new shirts, sweaters, anything to wear on the top halpf of my body that would be appropriate to wear to work. It was a discouraging event. I could really find anything that I liked. I use to be able to go shopping and find tons of things I wanted to buy. I am not sure if my inability to find things is because:

a)I am getting older and my taste is changing or
b)my depression is getting worse and I am no longer finding shopping to be an enjoyable event or
c) I am unhappy with my body.

Whatever the reason it saved me some money and motivated me to start eating better.

Yesterday I spent $1.51 on coffee and today I haven't spent a dime!!! I had a gift card to DD so I got a coffee on my way in this morning. I can't remember the last time I spent such a little amount of money

I packed my lunch both yesterday and today. I am hoping to do so for tomorrow if I don't get a massive case of the lazies when I get home tonight.

Yesterday I had:
Oatmeal to Go bar and coffee for breakfast-lots of fiber.
Tangerine
Big salad for lunch with lots of tomatoes and cucumbers.
Hostess 100 calorie pack Cinnamon Coffee Cakes-5 grams of fiber!
I drank only the one coffee and lots of water. When I got home I had some Post Great Grains Cereal since it was 7:30pm and I didn't want to eat anything heavy.

Today I have had:
Coffee and muffin for breakfast-not so good for the diet.
Tangerine
2 handfuls of grapes
Bologna and Swiss sandwhich on wheat bread
Handful of Cheetos
8 large strawberries
Lots of water again to drink.
I am not going to be home much before 7pm tonight so I plan on having cereal again.

My goal is to eat one piece of fruit for every non-fruit or veggie that I eat. Preferably eat the fruit first so maybe I won't be so hungry when it is time to eat the non-fruit item.

I am hopeful that I will stick with this. My bestfriend and I have plans to go to the Ugly Disco on April 3rd so that is the date I am keeping in mind. If I can continue to eat like this until then it should become a habit.

On the financial front I am still trudging along trying to pay off the debt.

Last month I managed to make $28.48 on half.com. I am finding that my DVD are selling a lot better than the books I have listed. I am going to have to take another peek in our DVD cabinet and see if I can weed some more out.

The consignment shop that I take the kids clothes to just reopened for the spring. I plan to take some things in next Monday. I can't remember if I should have a check or not for the fall/winter season. Oh well, it will be a nice surprise if I do!

I am joining the ranks of you who are selling on Half.com. I just started listing on Friday (2/6/09) of last week. I would have started earlier but our computer broke and we had to have the mother board replaced or some such nonsense.

As of today I have made 4 sales-whoo hoo! Go, me! I am excited! I shipped 2 things out this morning that were purchased on Saturday. Combined I tbink I made roughly $9.00. Not a lot by any means but I will take it! Less stuff in the house-more money towards debt.

Last night I listed some more stuff and today I was notified that 2 more items were bought. I will wrap those up tonight and mail them in the morning. That's about another $11.00!

I bought a postal scale at Walmart yesterday and my sales have covered it. I printed out postage right from my computer last night which made the whole shipping part of the equation so much easier.

It's such a good feeling to be able to find new homes for some of our stuff

Scary experience over the weekend. My jaw locked on me.

Long story short I have had a history of clenching my teeth ALL the time. I do it when I am sleeping, to the point I wake up with terrible pain. I do it while I am working, I do it at home. I do when I am stressed and apparently I am stressed a lot.

So, Sunday my jaw was popping a lot whenever I yawned or opened my mouth wide to eat. Then all of a sudden-nothing. It took a couple of minutes for me to get it open. A few minutes doesn't seem like long but when you can't do something you take for granted a few minutes is all you need for panic to set it.

Went to the doctor yesterday and she is doing a couple things for me. 2 Advil 3 times a day to reduce the swelling, soft food diet and referred me to a Maxilofacial Surgeon to be fitted for a mouth guard to help reduce the stress I am putting on my jaw.

I go to the specialist on Thursday and I am very happy they can get me in so quickly. I am also a little nervous to see what they have to say.

Anyone has any experience with TMJ?

I was eager to see how I did this month seeing as it was my first month with Mevelopes. I am still getting the hang of using the program but I think in the long run it will be very beneficial. I need all the help I can get staying on track and this does a great job of showing me where my money is.

Looking at my goals for the first quarter of 2009 I seem to be doing OK.

*I forgot the pin number to update my ticker there on my side bar. I will have to try again otherwise I will create another one. My Discover balance is now $777.00. Slowly I am getting there

*I am continuing to put $50 a payperiod into my savings account.

* I am anticipating coming in under budget for Aidan's birthday. I am going to get a small cake for his daycare class and make some goody bags. We will have family over next weekend for cake only. Mike already purchased his birthday present so I am off the hook this time

*So far I am doing well with the food budget. I am trying really hard to find alternatives to my coffee and baked good every morning. I have been bringing stuff in from home and only buying my coffee from the hospital cafe. $1.51 is the price of a large and I am OK with that. Groceries so far for January have added up to $167.27 for a family of four. 3 of us bring our lunch most days. So I'd say thats pretty good for lunch and dinners. I did take Emma and my niece out to lunch one Sunday and that cost $36.98. So in total I spent $204.25 on food. I'll see if I can beat that next month.

*I have been to the gym a number of times although I don't think it has been twice a week. I am going to try to get out of the house early tomorrow for a yoga class.

*Reading 5 books is going to be a hard one. I am on Book 1 and it is good. I am just finding it hard to find time to read.

So, I think I am on the right track. Hopefully I can get the Discover paid off and never have to worry about that again.

Went to Super Walmart last night to do some grocery shopping. We had spent the long weekend out of town at my sister's house and came back to an empty fridge. Needless to say we needed just about everything! I also wanted to pick up some stuff for dinners this week. With Emma so busy after school it is getting harder to find nights when we can all sit down and eat together. I am determined to make that happen at least 3 times this week.

So, damage done was $124.76. I left one bag of stuff behind and didn't realize it until I got home. I called the store and they made note of what I was missing and told me to come in today and pick out the items again. I am going to stop on my way home from work.

So, for my $124.76 I purchased among other things:
**a turkey roast $3.98
**ground sirloin 2@3.82 each
**bag of 60 frozen shrimp 5.50
**pork chops 4.49
**taco kit 2.36
**bag of bagels 1.25
**string cheese 2.72
**Yogurt for the kids 2.76
**Lean Cuisines for my lunch 5@1.78
** eggs 1.50

I also got the kids their valentines so we can start writing those out.

I am planning on making some meals tonight as I am getting out of work early. My plan is to get at least 2 dinners ready and possibly a dessert for the week.

I told the family that this food need to last us at least 2 weeks as I am not going back to the store until 2/4/08 for dinner/lunch stuff.

I will have to go to the store this weekend as my little man is turning 4 on the 29th. We are only having a family party at the house and I will bring in a snack for his daycare class as well as some goody bags.

Other than that I have no plans for spending money. I am confident I will be able to stay way below the $100 buget I set for Aidan's birthday-yeah me!

In order to meet my goal of going to the gym at least twice a week I went last night right from work. I decided I am going to give the classes they offer another shot and see if I can find one I really like and therefore stick with it.

Last nights class was EZ Rider. Please don't let the name fool you. It was indeed a cycling (riding) class but there was nothing easy about it. It was a 30 minute class and within 10 minutes I was wishing it was over. I am not sure if I was doing something wrong but I could not get my butt up off the seat very easily. My legs were like jello and when I tried to stand for position 2 I almost fell head over handlebars! My heart was racing and I thought I was going to throw up! All the guided imagery didn't help either. I couldn't believe that it was summer and the sun was shining on me when it is like 10 below here. Anyways, for a class billed as a beginners class it was a little to advanced for me!

While I was there I had to renew my membership since it expires at the end of Feb. I am now paying $40 less a month than I did last year thanks to signing up as a Preferred Member. My cost is $27 a month now which is easier to swallow if I don't make it to the gym a lot. Although I am going to go more often this year.

I also set up my next measurement meeting while I was there. That is next Thursday where I will have the pleasure of a complete stranger measuring and pinching my fat. Can hardly wait!

In financial news I am pumped to see I have more money left over this pay period than I have in a long time. I credit this mostly to my use of Mevelopes and also to the fact that I am working super hard on curbing my spending. No more casual shopping for me (I hope).

This weekend I am going to try to stay busy so I don't have the urge to shop. I do have to get a birthday present for my nephew who is turning 9. I am taking the kids up north for his birthday party the weekend of MLK Jr day.

I also want to take Aidan to get his haircut since he is starting to look like a 4 year old hippie. I asked my husband to take him and said it would be a good bonding experience if father and son went to the barber together. Husband isn't into it at all so it looks like I am going to have to take him myself. The only problem is he doesn't like the clippers at all and scissors don't really do a good enough job.

I need to get my oil changed as well. Another thing I wish my husband would do for me. I am hoping to get this and the other 2 chores out of the way Saturday morning. I am thinking of taking the kids sledding in the afternoon if we have more snow than ice by then. We will see.

My replacement ATM card came in the mail on Friday. Saturday I got my new PIN. I have used it once to take $20 out of my checking account to use as spending money for the week. I am going to try to trick myself into thinking it is still lost.

I am using Mevelopes for the first time ever. So far, so good. I am still learning how to navigate all the envelopes and I am excited that I get paid this Friday and some of my envelopes still have money in them! All the extra is going toward paying off my debt.

I am really trying to stick with my goals for the first quarter of 2009. I am reading an awesome book that I am 100 pages into already.

My sister in law and 2 friends and I have created a little email support group for our diets and weight loss efforts. We are going to check in with each other a few times a week via email to hold each accountable.

I have printed off the schedule of classes at my gym. I am going to try to take 2 classes a week. They have one called EZ Rider which sounds pretty good to me!

I have banished most of the processed snack food from our house with the exception of some chips for my daughters lunch. I am hoping if its not in the house I won't be tempted. And since I only have a limited amount of money left in my food envelope its not like I can go to the store and buy some snacks or icecream.

It sounds so simple-why does it have to be so hard?!

I have misplaced my ATM/Debit card. Most people would think this was a bad thing. I however do not.

I went to the bank yesterday to report it lost and to order a new one. No one has used the card since I last used it last Sunday. This is excellent news. If someone has found it they aren't attempted to get at my cash.

I am guessing the card is lost somewhere in my house or car although my attempts at locating it have failed.

It will take about 10 days for the new card to come. It may take a little longer since we have the holiday coming up.

I use my debit card for EVERYTHING. From gas to coffee in the morning. From groceries to mindless, needless spending. Not having my card hopefully means no more mindless spending. I have $50 to last me for spending until my new card comes. I have to be very careful what I spend my money on since I won't have access to anymore.

The lady at the bank told me to take a few checks with me when I go shopping and I can pay that way. Stores still take checks?! I can't remember the last time I wrote a check. I don't think I would have a clue how to pay by check!

This might be the push I need to face my New Years resolutions and my goals for the first quarter of 2009.

I guess something good can come from something bad

I am considering purchasing some budget software.

The Mint thing didn't work out for me. As much as I like the idea of it all being on line it was reliable at all. My transactions wouldn't download and half the time my accounts couldn't connect. Not worth the aggravation.

So, I am going to do some homework and look into YNAB and Quicken. My home computer came with a version of Quicken which is like 7 years old now.

Anyone have any suggestions or opinions as to which they like better? What should I avoid? Anything?

Thanks!

Well, I am feeling the stress of the holidays. I can't really blame it on anything but my amazing ability to procrastinate. Not that I am proud of this talent at all but somewhat like my finances I know what I should be doing but am having a hard time doing it.

I have called in sick to work today. I do feel under the weather. Yesterday something hit me after lunch and I had the chills all afternoon. I am taking the day to recover and get some of the things I need to do done so I can stop worrying about it.

This is my to do list for the day:

*wrap all the presents including a couple of birthday presents

*bake at least 3 types of cookies

*order Christmas cards from Sam's

*pick up Christmas cards

*at least 2 loads of laundry

*take our comforter to the laundry mat to wash since it is to big to fit in my machine

*go to the post office to ship the rest of my sister's Christmas present and buy stamps

*figure out if I've forgotten a gift for anyone

I think if I get this all accomplished I will be in a good place.

I am excited to start my first quarter goals for 2009. I am ready for the challenge and even convinced my sister to come up with some concrete financial goals. Hopefully we will be able to motivate each other and hold each other accountable.

I am going to go now before I get too comfortable at the computer and have the day is gone.

Have a great day everyone!

I am so broke!!!! I think it is a combination of getting paid on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving vs the Friday after and Christmas shopping. I do have about $90 to last me until Friday. It seems like enough but it makes me nervous.

I have to get gas for my car-I think that is the only outstanding expense I have until Friday. Thanks to the lower gas prices it should onlu cost about $45 to fill my auto.

Tomorrow is our Hospital Holiday Lunch so I'll get free lunch! It's not great but it is tradition. I do have some lunch meat left for the rest of the week so I am thinking I need about $7 for coffee until Friday.

I have to get Emma off to play rehearsal in about 20 minutes. We have to leave there early to make it to choir practice. We have decided to sing in the Family Choir at our church this Christmas Eve. My husband has played his guitar during Mass for several years and this year I am joining in. I'll be the first to admit I don't have a great singing voice but hey, isn't it the effort you put forth that counts?

I don't have any plans for tomorrow or Thursday evenings so I am hoping to get either some Christmas baking, wrapping, or cards done. It is going to be a busy weekend coming up-I am not sure I'll have any time then.

I am tired just thinking about it all...

Since this is really the first year I am trying to scale down on Christmas presents for the kids I am worried I don't have enough.

How many presents does Santa usually bring to your houses?

Between the presents from Santa, presents from us, and stocking stuffers I have 10 things for Aidan and 12 things for Emma.

And the crazy thing is I think that isn't enough! I am going to try my hardest not to buy anything else for Emma. I think she is all set and whatever else she could have wanted can wait until April when she turns 9. Aidan is lucky with a January birthday he doesn't have to wait as long.

How the heck do I change my thinking and realize that it is enough? Plus there will be presents from my sister under the tree so it's not like the family room is going to be bare. And on Christmas Eve we get together with my husband's family and the kids get about 4-5 presents each from them.

Enough, enough, enough!

I am so looking forward to the weekend. We really don't have a lot of plans so if I am able to stay motivated I will be able to get some things accomplished around the house.

What I really need to do is look at the Christmas presents I have for the kids and see what else, if anything, I need to get. I would like it if they had an equal number of packages to open. Unfortunately everything Emma wants costs at least double what Aidan wants. Hopefully I can finish my list and start wrapping so I don't get overwhelmed.

The house really needs to be cleaned and the mountain of laundry in the basement needs to be addressed. I am running out of clothes to wear to work. The kitchen floor has something on it that is annoying me to no end so I must wash it. The dog likes to sleep on our bed so needless to say the comforter needs to go to the laundry mat. Then I think I will have to put a blanket on top of the comforter so she doesn't get it dirty again.

DH is playing his guitar at a Christmas thing on Sunday so I will take the kids after church and we will watch and listen.

I am nervous about not having enough money for the rest of the presents needed. I have really scaled back this year but it's tough. I haven't started baking or the Christmas cards yet so I should try to squeeze those in as well.

I should also do some general baking and cooking-use up what we have. The kids are complaining that there aren't any snacks in the house.

My MO in the past has been to do nothing when I get totally overwhelmed but I am going to try and not let that happen this weekend.

After the kids go to bed tonight I am going to give myself a facial, deep condition my hair, and take a nice long, hot bath (and try not to worry about using too much hot water). I think that is the perfect way to get me motivated for my chores this weekend.

Who said weekends are for resting?!

I spoke to my sister last night and told her that if her husband wanted to stay in a hotel that would be fine with us and we wouldn't be offended. She said he would be fine at the house and that she didn't want to spend the money on a hotel for him. So, it looks like they are all staying.

I am kicking the kids out of their rooms for the next couple of days. They will sleep downstairs on the pull out couch with their cousin. My sister will take Emma's rooma and BIL will take Aidan's rooms. That way they have the whole upstairs to themselves. If BIL wants to get away from the chaos he can go upstairs.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I thought over the concept that he is just an introvert, but that isn't really it. He comes from a wealthy family and has said that my house isn't nice enough for him to stay in.


To Jim from Ohio- after 15 years of marriage and countless "relations" with highschool students behind my sister's back, for which he got fired from teaching for, I think I have the right to be a little judgemental. And believe me he knows where I stand. I try to make everything as pleasant as possible for my sister's sake since she is all the family I have left but BIL makes it very difficult. Personally I think he is lucky to even be invited. If that makes me a bad person, so be it.

Hope everyone has a good holiday and that there is peace at your gatherings.

Every year my sister and I alternate where we will be spending Thanksgiving. Since my parents passed away we have been doing this and it works out great. We haven't missed a Thanksgiving yet. She and her family are coming to my house tomorrow. It is about a 5 hour trip my car. We don't get together at Christmas due to unpredictable weather and not wanting to drive that far in the snow.

Now, for the interesting and somewhat insulting part. This year my brother-in-law asked if they could stay in a hotel and not at my house! What? Now, I know I don't live in a mansion but come on. It does tend to be a little crowded but isn't that what the holidays are all about? Being with family? Our house is a cape cod and we have 1 general family room. This is where we watch tv and hang out. I think my BIL doesn't like it because he has no where to hide. At their house he has the whole living room set up as his office and spends all his time there on his computer. I think he doesn't like having the constant interaction and interuptions that occur when there are 4 adults, 3 kids, 3 cats, and 1 dog in a small house. I love it! My sister and I could stay in a shack for 1 week and still have a great time.

I am trying not to let the fact that he doesn't want to stay at our house bother me but I find it insulting. We always do our best to make him feel comfortable. He is the type of person that makes it real well known when he isn't happy. I spend weeks ahead of time trying to come up with things to keep him occupied and happy while he is here and this is what I get.

The truly sad thing is his 8 year old son said to my sister the other day that he can't wait to come see his cousins and play with them BUT he is nervous about how his dad is going to act. Why does an 8 year old have to worry about that?! He shouldn't even be thinking about how his father is going to act because his father is the ADULT.

I am hoping by blogging about it I will be able to put this out of my mind. I am so very thankful for my sister and the close relationship we have. Through the common experience of our childhood we have grown to be best friends. There is an incredible bond between us which even though our parents were alcoholics and both died at an early age, our family circumstance gave my sister and I what we have today. I wouldn't change that for the world. This year as in every year past and every year going forward I am thankful for my sister.

which I think is pretty good. I got everything for Thanksgiving dinner and stuff for dinner and lunches since my sister and her family will be here from Wednesday-Saturday.

I saved $43.73 using my Bonus card and $11.70 using coupons and bottle returns. I got a 16lb turkey for $8. I stuck to my list and wasn't swayed by any extras. I did however splurge on a crab stuffed portabello mushroom for dinner-yum-o!

I want to make some cookies before everyone gets here. I still have to clean the bathroom and finish the laundry and then I will be in good shape.

I get paid on Wednesday this week because of the holiday. I am excited to see how much I have for Black Friday. I looked at some of the ads today and made a list of things I need to get at Walmart. My sister and I usually hit Target but I think Walmart is having better deals. We'll probablt also go to Kohls and possibly Toys R Us.

Well, I better get to work if I want to get everything done. It's not going to happen by itself-unfortunately!

So, I have a long laundry list of goals to accomplish today and I woke up ready to take charge and get them done.

Woke up around 8:30 and steam cleaned all 3 carpets in the house. They look pretty darn good. I won't bother telling you how nasty the water was that I emptied after each room.

Next I made my grocery list for Thanksgiving dinner. Felt really good because I had lots of coupons and some bottles to return. Go to the grocery store with Emma. We return all our bottles and then stop at Coinstar machine to cash in our change for an Amazon gift card. Saw the Red Box next to the Coinstar machine and let Emma pick out a movie for tonight. Turned on my cell phone incase Hubby wanted to add something to my list. Placed it in the pocket of my coat which I had taken off and placed in the cart. Went and got my produce, next stop Deli....then I noticed my cell phone was gone. Searched the cart, my coat, Emma's coat. Retraced my steps...no phone. Went to service desk, asked if it was turned in, no luck. Searched some more. Back to the service desk to ask if we could possibly call my cell to see if I could hear it ring. I was thinking at this point that I just dropped it. The rude service desk employee told me that they don't have a public phone and I would have to go outside to use the pay phone. I told her that defeated the purpose as I wanted to see if I could hear it ring. She said sorry and walked away. I was pissed! Went to the car to get change for the pay phone, passed 2 more employees, asked them if anyone told them they found a phone and they said to go to the service desk. At this point I realize it was probably stolen and told them I believed it to be stolen and they said "oh, that's too bad". What? No compassion, no help looking for it, nothing. Go get .50 to call my cell and it is turned off. Now I know it has been stolen since I turned it on. Left the store, left the cart with my stuff in an aisle.

Made a mad dash to Verizon to suspend service. I'll be damned if anyone is going to use my phone. They suspended it and said as soon as the person tries to make a call it will go straight to customer service and that they should be able to get it back. Not sure if I believe that but I am relieved that no one can use it.

Since I feel safer with a phone I signed a new contract and got a family plan for Hubby and me. I upgraded my phone and got a Blackberry. Since I work at the hospital I got a 19% discount on the phones and plan and they waived my activation fee.

I am just so disappointed that someone would take the phone out of my coat-which leads me to believe they were watching me and just waiting for me to turn my back. I am also disappointed in how the employees handled the situation, or didn't handle it for that matter. I am going to write a letter to the store manager tonight.

I didn't get the grocery shopping done so I still have to do that. I also have to;
*do lots of laundry
*clean my bedroom and put everything back from the carpet cleaning
*get my hair colored
*do some Christmas shopping
*put the laundry away from last weekend
*bake some cookies

My hair appointment is at 5:00 and I am hoping to be able to do some shopping after that. I'll be damned if I am going back to that grocery store.

And I know, I should have been more careful. Merry freaking Christmas to me.

This is Reilly. Former name was Jade. We adopted her about 3 weeks ago from someone who had rescued her from a neglectful family. The rescuer couldn't keep her due to allergies so we agreed to take her in. She is a 4 year old black lab. She came to use crate trained and with the ability to sit when told. Other than that she is pretty much still a puppy. The kids love her and she is getting use to our son. For some reason she growls at him most. Perhaps because he is a very active, very loud 3 year old. So along with the 3 cats, 2 adults, and 2 kids, we are now dog owners.

Funny story-
Monday I got home and let her out of her crate, took her outside, and fed her. I had to get Emma to soccer practice and my husband wasn't home yet. I decided to leave her out of her crate for the 30 minutes I'd be gone before my husband got home. Well, in that 30 minutes she managed to eat the following:

*an advent calendar with 24 chocolate pieces
*a bag of walnuts
*a bag of pecans
*a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread, foil included.

The first thing I said to my husband when he called to tell me was "Do you know how much those nuts cost me?!"

And then I asked if the dog was OK.

Guess I had to compress it to make it fit. Anyways-I have updated my sidebar with my goals for the 1st quarter of 2009. The picture I added is from our family trip to Salem! We didn the "touristy" thing and got dressed up like witches and had our pictures taken. It was kinda expensive but a memory we will not soon forget! We had a blast! We couldn't decide on what picture to buy so we bought the whole CD and plan to print some out for Christmas cards this year!

I had a picture and deleted it and want to add a new one but I can't get it to stick. Any ideas?

Spending for the day $4.10.

Not too shabby

Things I did right today:

*skipped Dunkin Donuts in the morning
*ate homemade pumpkin bread instead
*brought a Lean Cuisine for lunch
*went to the gym
*took Emma to soccer practice and made it home without having to stop at any stores!
*we all ate dinner at home

Things I could have done better:

*not ordered the coffee and muffin during my break today (hence the $4.10 spending)
*could have put away the laundry I did yesterday
*could have done 1 more load of laundry

All in all it was a pretty good day. Tomorrow I have to check my bank balance to see if the plumber cashed the check I wrote him and to see if some of my other payments posted. I am curious to see what I have left to start some Christmas shopping.

Back to work at 6am tomorrow. I am hoping to stop at the gym on my way home again. Guess I should go get my gym bag ready and my lunch for tomorrow!

Ok, so I bored myself with my last entry. Even though I was home most of the weekend I did indeed spend money.

Friday-$8.14 lunch at work since I didn't have time to pack my own. Seeing as I work in a hospital and it was hospital cafeteria lunch it so wasn't worth the $8.14.

Saturday-kid's lunch at McDonalds-$8.93. This was a special treat for them.
Movies on date night with DH-$21.00. He paid for dinner.
$160.00 to John the plumber-no relation to Joe the plumber.

Sundays trip to Target-$66.23. I bought a Brita water pitcher so we stop buying bottled water. Butter for baking (used coupon), ziploc bags(used coupon), walnuts and pecans for baking, fabric softner sheets (store brand) and 2 Christmas CDs.
Sunday morning stop at the grocery store on our way to church-3 donuts, coffee, chocolate milk, and a newspaper-$7.00. Total splurge

So that adds up to $271.30. Yikes! The $160 I might take out of savings to cover as that was not a regular expense. Still that is $111.30 for a weekend where I really didn't leave the house much. I will try to do much better than that this coming weekend.

I packed my lunch today so only expect to spend $1.35 on coffee. I am going to hit the gym today after work and then pick up Aidan and go home and MAKE dinner. Emma has soccer practice again. I am hoping DH will take her if his back is feeling better. The only other thing I have planned is to do more laundry and put away the clothes I washed yesterday-one of my least favorite jobs. Then off to bed early again since I have to be at work tomorrow at 6am again.

It's no wonder I am tired all the time-I never have a minute to relax! At least it feels that way. So, it's Sunday night which means it is time to start preparing for the week. I have to work at 6am tomorrow morning so I better get going!

My weekend consisted of the following activities:

Friday-worked until 6pm. Met my family at my in-law's house for my father in law's 70th birthday party. DH brought the kids and the dog. We had lasagna and cake, both of which were delicious and free!! DH had to go rehearse guitar with friends so I brought the kids and dog home and got them ready and into bed. I crashed around 10pm.

Saturday-had to wait around for the plumber to replace both our kitchen faucet and bathroom faucet. Both were very old and very leaky. He showed up about 1 hour late and worked for 2 hours. $160 was the cost to have them both installed. Knowing nothing about plumbing, I have no idea if that is a good price or not.

I took the kids to McDonald's for lunch (I didn't get anything ofr myself-yeah me!) while DH raked leaves. Happy Meals to go and they ate at home. Emma went to a friend's house and Aidan and I watched Madagascar. Well, Aidan watched it and I napped-oops!

Around 4pm we took the kids and dog to my inlaws and DH and I went on a, oh what's the word, a, a, DATE! Jeez-it's been so long I forgot what it was called! We went to dinner and to see the new James Bond movie. It was nice to spend some alone time together. We picked up the kids and dog and went home. Emma and I watched half a movie in my bed and I was asleep by 9:30pm.

This morning I woke and made the decision to go to church and teach my Sunday school class. I didn't go last week since I was recovering from the shingles and didn't think I'd be ready to go this week but I was. Plus I think that good old Catholic guilt was kicking in. After church I took Emma to soccer practice which didn't actually start for 3 hours. There was a mess up in communication and DH told me she had to be there at noon but didn't. So, after wasting some time haning out at the arena Emma and I went to Target to pick up a few things. Spent $66 but most of the stuff was stuff that I needed and went in to get. Back home I made meatloaf and smashed potatoes for dinner. Pumpkin bread for dessert. Took the dog out to play fetch. Cleaned up the kitchen. Did 4 loads of laundry-which I still have to put away. Bathed both kids and put them to bed. Now I am ready to crash! I am going to go get lunches ready for tomorrow as well as my clothes layed out since I have to be up at 4:30am and then I am sitting down to watch a House marathon.

Where is DH you ask? He hurt his back raking leaves today. He has been in bed for the past 3 hours and even ate his dinner in there! Men, why do they seem to feel pain so much more than women do?! Poor baby.

and I wish it was with good news. It is not! I seem to have ignored all I have learned during my brief time blogging here and dug myself deeper into debt. With the holidays quickly approaching I feel my panic creping in. I figured it was time to jump back on the wagon.

Since the last time I was here I was able to pull off hubby's suprise bday trip to Salem. It was awesome...thank you Koppur for all your advice! We stayed in Peabody and made the trip in everyday. We are thinking of going back next year we had so much fun!

I hate the feeling of having to rely on my husband becuase I have so much debt. I feel like I depend on him too much for things while I rack up the credit cards and live like we are rich. Several times I have tried to change my attitude towards money but nothing sticks. I have to make this work this time.

The first part of my plan is going to be paying off my smallest credit card first. I hate making minimum payments so I usually pay $100 to each card and I don't see that I am really getting anywhere. I am going to change my payments to making the minimum on all but the lowest and pay a bigger chunk to that one. I am sure this is common sense to most of you out there but for some reason the idea eluded me all this time.

I tried using Mint for a short period of time and got very annoyed very quickly. After the hassle of putting all my accounts in their system had issues and for about 10 days it wasn't updating half my accounts. I just deleted everything from their system today. I can't be bothered with a program that doesn't work. I liked that it was online-I was able to check it while at work.

Well, here's to my reinvigorated attempt to get this monster only control. Baby steps this time.

DH is turning 40 this year and I have been trying to think of something special for him. He isn't really the type of person who likes to be the center of attention so a party wouldn't be the best idea. I did toy with the idea of a party but after 2 weeks of thinking about it I got super frustrated. Restaurants wanted close to $1000 for a buffet for the number of people I was thinking of. Plus the 2 I wanted had limited time available in the month of October. I tried some lodges at local parks and they are all booked until next year. So I have gone back to my original idea of going to Salem.

DH LOVES Halloween. His birthday is 10/28 so every year we do something Halloweenish for his day. He has always wanted to go to Salem to see all the Witch Trial stuff so that is what we are doing. I have already booked the hotel in nearby Peabody thanks to Koppur's recommendation. I am in the process of looking at Salem's website to get a bunch of ideas for things to do. There are a ton, all Halloween related! I am planning for us to leave in the middle of the night on the 23rd, drive and come back on the 26th(middle of the night). It is about 8.5 hours from where I live but I figure it will be easier on the kids if we drive at night so they can sleep and be well rested by the time we get there.

I am so excited and anticipate that he will be excited as well. I am planning on doing some baking and freezing it so we have snacks to bring. I have $600 saved so far. From what I hear it is pretty expensive there so I will continue to save what I can before we go. My goal is to pay up front for everything.

Now the hard part is not telling him or the kids until it gets closer to the date. I am bursting with excitement-I don't know how long I can go without telling!

Thanks for everyones support on my last post. I think I am feeling better about things and am trying to be more patient with both the finances and weight loss.

It was a busy weekend and I got away from my budget a little. I am going to look things over this evening and get back on track. I don't think it is too bad. I had the itch to shop over the weekend so I bought a few things I hadn't planned for. I really wanted some new sweaters for me now that fall is coming but I didn't find any that I liked. I ended up with a few t-shirts for me, a pair of sweatpants for DS, and a fall jacket for DD that was on sale at Gap for $17. And I splurged on a bottle of nailpolish for myself.

I took the kids plus one of DD's friend fruit picking on Saturday. We picked apples, peaches, and raspberries. The kids had a lot of fun and we got lots of fruit! I made some lemon raspberry muffins and some apple bars yesterday. Hopefully they will last the week.

My sister called all frantic last week because we have accounts with Merrill Lynch. They are the remainer of my dad's retirement account. She thought we were going to lose everything but as it turns out we are OK for now. I called our advisor and he said not much is going to change for us. My poor sis lost a whole night sleep worrying about it.

DH and the kids spent the better part of yesterday putting out all our Halloween decorations. I think we have more Halloween stuff than we do Christmas. It's crazy but he loves it. There is now a stuffed Dracula sitting on one of the rocking chairs on my new porch.

I made my lunch and brought my homemade goodies to work today so it looks like I am going to end this day with only spending $1.35 for coffee. Not too shabby!

Much like weight loss I am very frustrated with paying off debt. Neither seems to want to go away very quickly. I think they like me.

I was always fortunate when it came to my weight. I was a stick until I hit about 29 and got pregnant. I remember being a teenager and drinking milkshakes hoping that they would put some meat on my bones. Enter my 30s and the metabolism slows down and now all that meat I was wishing for has found a home. I guess I shouldn't really complain as this is the first serious effort I have put into losing weight (I am 5'7" and currently at 156 lbs). It just isn't coming off fast enough and it seems like all the things I am doing right aren't helping. I am not eating after 7pm anymore and I am limiting my stops for coffee and a donut in the am. I haven't drank much soda and I have increased the amount of water and fruit I take in. Exercise has been limited due to the foot injury which is starting to feel better.

Credit card debt seems to be in my blood although I should know better. My parents were in deep debt when they both died. Luckily I didn't inherit that debt but I remember them struggling to pay the bills. Why would I want that for myself? Well, I know I didn't set out to want that. I did some soul searching and came up with the thought that when I was younger like late teen early 20's I was dealing with the fact that my both my parents were alcoholics. The falling down drunk kind. They had been all my life. I believe that as soon as I hit 18 and was able to get a store credit card I went out and bought myself stuff to make me feel better about the situation at home. That mental process stuck with me for years and I always associated buying things with making myself happy. I didn't think about the long term consequences. So, here I am 37 years old. Both my parents passed away in 2001 and I am for really the first time in my life trying to get this under control. I am getting frustrated because I have created my budget, done my menu plan, and basically stopped all shopping and it doesn't seem to have made any difference whatsoever.

I am at a loss. It is so hard to try to deep yourself out of debt when you are trying to keep your family going. Kids are expensive and they need things. I am not talking about wants. I gave up on wants. Needs are expensive enough. And the weight, well, I am holding on to the idea that once my foot is healed I will head back to the gym. Just not seeing either number (total weight and/or total debt) decrease is very, very disappointing.

I am so glad the weekend is here! It is itme to do my grocery shopping. We managed to do well the first 2 weeks of the food budget. I stuck to my dinner menu and enjoyed the fact that I had everything that I needed to make each meal at home. No running out to the store for one or two things. I am going to sit down today prior to shopping to figure out what we need for the next 2 weeks.

A couple of observations-my husband will eat any and all sweets that are available to him. He had eaten all the brownies for DD lunch this past week so I am going to have to be a little more creative with hiding stuff.
He also ate all the corn chips I bought to make chicken nachos. That was a bummer.
The kids ran out of dessert-not exactly a need but something they enjoy. Could have used the brownies but we know what happened to them.

So, keeping all that in mind I will try to come up with some other ideas to protect the food.

I caved in and got my haircut last night. I love my hair! My hairdresser whom I have been going to for the past 7 years always does an awesome job. I am so happy with it! It is a cute short cut, full of layers, and style. He highlighted my hair to a really light blonde-almost platinum. It's different and so what I needed!

I am putting in some overtime at work today and then off to hang with the kids and do the shopping.

Tomorrow DD starts her travel soccer practice. She is going to be practicing with members of our local professional team. Not bad for an 8 year old!!

What do you think-should I put a lock on our kitchen cabinet to keep the Hubs away from the food?!