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

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!

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?!

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!

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.

That is what is on the menu for tonight. With some garlic cheese bread-yum!

The menu is still going strong although I have had to tweak a few nights. Monday I worked late and DD had play rehearsal so Daddy took them to McDonalds. Tuesday Daddy bought pizza. So, tonight I am reining them in. Daddy is not doing so well with his food budget but that is a battle for another day. He tends to take the easy way out when it is his night to make dinner. Even if I have something prepared and all he has to do is heat it up he takes the liberty of going out.

I am also going to try to make another blueberry pie tonight if my foot will let me stand on it long enough. If not I will have to freeze the blueberries and make my pie another day.

I made brownies on Sunday and told DH that they were for the kids desserts all week and DD lunch. That didn't fly. He ate just about all of them. I think the kids each had one for dessert one night and DD had one in her lunch. The rest were eaten by Daddy. Now it is up to him to find something to put in DD lunch box as a dessert. I don't think she is going to be happy!

I am stopping after work for the orthopedic boot. I am hoping it will help with my walk in from the parking lot. I am not looking forward to wearing it but I notice it hurts the most when I walk long distance and unfortanely that happens twice a day. They priced it over the phone at $20 which I will be able to get back through flexible spending.

I was noticed my goals on my sidebar. I have to come up with some new ones and update where I am on the ones listed. Add it to my list of things to do!!

I have been around long enough to know that in order to get out of debt you need to
a) pay off existing debt and
b) prevent any new debt from occuring

I seem to be struggling with B. It seems as though as I try to throw everything I have to my debt I wind up not being able to afford things that come up during the month. Then I have to get out the old credit card again.

How do I prevent this from happening?! I am eager to pay off my debt and not incur new debt.

Does anyone have any ideas to prevent new debt that worked well for them? I have cut up all but 1 card that I use for emergencies but that doesn't even do it for me. I know if I go into a store like Old Navy or Gap they can pull my account up just like that so I don't even need the card.

I think I am my own worst nightmare.

Here at the medical center where I work the Red Cross does blood drives all the time. It seems like they are here every other week recruiting people to donate. They are here today and are offering a free movie ticket, free tshirt, and a chance to win a $500 gift card to some store. Right about now I am wishing I wasn't so squimish about giving blood. Unfortunately I tend to faint when I have to have blood drawn and that has kept me away from donating. Anyone out there a regular blood donater? I guess if I got someone really experienced it wouldn't be so bad but I tend to hold my breathe and think about how much I can feel the needle in my vein...crazy I know. But think about all the free movies I could see while helping out people who need blood.

DH needed me to write him a check for $300 out of our savings account this morning. He is a school counselor and only works about 5 days during the summer. Towards the end of the summer if he doesn't budget correctly he runs out of money.

I also have to pay for my daughter's travel soccer team fees. Anyone have kids that play a travel sport? I believe for the year we owe $350. DH and I talked about it being a big expense but DD is kinda shy and we thought this would be a good way to help her come out of her shell and form some more friendships.

I cleaned out my closet and gathered up some stuff that I don't wear anymore to take to the consignment store I always go to. When I am there I will be able to pick up my check from last season. I am anxious to see how much it is for as I had quite a few items that were excepted. I am going to try to do that this week sometime.

I also have to get my car inspected and the oil changed this week. I am over on both and with my luck I will get a ticket for the expired inspection, don't need that!

So, I ditched the Discover card. They weren't ready to work with me so I transferred my debt elsewhere. Not a permanent solution but I am glad to not be doing business with them anymore.

Can't believe summer vacation is almost over. It has been a very rainy summer here in Western NY. DD and Hubby go back to school 9/3. DS will start back up in daycare as well. We are going to the mountains for our annual family camping trip tomorrow. We will stay until Wednesday. Just swimming, hiking, reading, good times. A couple of nights there will be 15 of us there-talk about cozy! But it doesn't cost us anything (friends of the family let us borrow their house for the week). Each family is responsible for making dinner one night. All in all it is usually a great time.

When we get back I am taking DD school suplly shopping. We received her list and will probably hit Target. I am not buying any new clothes for her until the weather starts to turn. She has enough nice summer clothes to wear the first few weeks of school.

Hubby is turning 40 this October and I am in the middle of deciding what to do for his special day. He isn't a big party person but I would like to celebrate. I do know I have to start planning whatever it is I am going to do

Well, I turned 37 on Saturday and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have been having horrible headaches the last couple of weeks and the nasty vertigo feeling has crept in a couple of times, one being at my birthday get together. We had family over for pizza and cake yesterday and around 7pm while I was just sitting and talking a wave of vertigo hit. It was horrible. I went right to bed because I couldn't stand the feeling. I woke up with it this morning as well but to a lesser degree. I have an appointment with the PA in my doctor's office this afternoon.

I also pulled a muscle in my neck so between the 2 I am not able to move my head. Needless to say I am sure I look like a freak!

Money wise I am doing well. Feeling antsy about trying to pay down the debt. I am glad I have a plan and am actively paying it down but like everyone else I am sure, it's not going down fast enough.

All in all I am happy with where I am at 37. I have a great husband and 2 beautiful children. A job that I enjoy on most days and a wonderful extended family and group of friends. I have a house over my head and the ability to pay my bills every month. What more could a girl ask for?

I sent Discover Card an email this morning asking them to lower my interest rate which I doubt they will do. I haven't heard from them yet and am pretty impatient. So, I went ahead a completed 2 balance transfers. One to an existing card at 4.9% and one to a new card with 0% for 6 months and then anywhere from 9-17% after. I figure even if I get stuck with the 17% it beats 26%. Even if Discover does lower the rate I am not using them anymore. Card is being chopped up tonight. I don't think they could match the rates I found today when I did some investigating. I will keep the account open since I have had it forever.

Yesterday I didn't spend anything more than what I spent on my coffee so that was a WBD! Today I am getting my hair done so I will be spending a bit more than I had planned. I thought I could go a little longer before having it done but after fighting with it this morning I realized that if I want to look half decent (and I do) then I have to fork over the cash to have it done.

Anyone have any experiences with The Little Gym? I am thinking of enrolling DS there once a week to work out some of his energy and possibly give Dad some downtime since he is home for the summer. I signed up for some information and a free class to see if it something we would be interested in. Of course their web site didn't have any prices listed.

I also contacted the YMCA today of which we are not members. DD is going to be swimming during gym class next year at school (3rd grade) and she is nervous that she can't do the back stroke. I missed the sign ups for the regular classes and inquired about private swim lessons. $30/30 minutes. Seems kinda steep to me. I am going to look around some more and try to find out when in the school year they are going to be swimming so I can get her into a class or lessions prior. She is such a worrier. Summer isn't even close to being over and she is already worried about it. I hate it when she worries and want to try to make this a pleasant experience for her. I know I hated swimming in school but that was high school. I never had to swim in 3rd grade gym class!

Back from my week of vacation which consisted of the weekend trip to Toronto and then VBS at our church and basketball camp for DD. It was a busy week at home and I am slightly glad to be back at work (sshh don't tell anyone!)

In between camps I managed to go through the basement and collect a large mountain of stuff to sell in a garage sale. Most of it is toys the kids have outgrown and I am fairly confident those will sell. This weekend I am going to start cleaning the items and making sure I have all the little parts.

Yesterday was an awesome day of only spending $2.27 on coffee and a bagel. I am challenging myself to eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day and made it through 3 which is a good start for me.

Looks like today I might manage to only spend $1.35 on coffee seeing as how I brought my lunch (yep, fruit and veggies) and dinner is all set for tonight. 2 Within Budget Days down!!!

We are having some work done at our house. We had brick and concrete steps/landing leading to our front door which was built sometime in the 1950s. It is in serious need of replacement and our contractor started today. I am very excited. We want him to add an overhang over the front door to give us some shade and the new landing will be big enough for at least 2 chairs. We have the money in our savings account to cover it so it's a really good feeling to not have to worry about paying for it

I just noticed that the interest rate on my Discover card has gone through the roof. 26.99% and I haven't been late in over 2 years. I am not sure what that is about but I am going to look into a balance transfer and shut that one down. How would I ever pay that off? It makes me sick thinking about it and I really need to find a way to bring in additional funds to chip away at it. My work is offering overtime which I am going to take advantage of and apply that to my card but it still feels like it won't be enough

DD and I went through the house and cars last night looking for Canadian money in anticipation for our upcoming weekend trip. We dug through the change jar, she dumped 2 piggy banks, I rooted through car ashtrays and DH dresser drawers.

Grand total for me-$45.00. DD ended up with a little under $5 which is good for her to use as spending money.

It feels a little like found money although I know it is from previos trips but it's nice to know that we are $45 ahead of the game!

Tonight I am packing and getting our birth certificates out.

Thank you for all your responses! It seems as though I am on target in this category when compared to you guys. I guess I was thinking that this was one area where I could cut down in order to come up with some additional funds to apply towards my debt. I am still going to attempt it.

My plan so far is to gather up my families favorite dinner recipes and make a list. I will rotate through these depending on what is on sale.

I will shop either on Saturday or Sunday with no family members.

I will base my menu for the week on what is on sale. I will try to do this for 2 weeks at a time since that is when I get paid.

I will use more coupons.

I won't buy cookies, brownies or cake at the store. I will make them at home. Each Sunday I will try to make something to enjoy throughout the week. Probably is my DH usually eats whatever dessert I make all in one day. I will have to get after him about that.

With the kids and DH off of school for the summer they will be able to help with getting dinner ready BEFORE I get home if I have all the ingredients ready ahead of time. At least this is my wish. Also with them home that should cut down on eating out which we don't do that much anyways.

I am going to make my lunch the night before which should be easier now that I don't have 2 kids that have to be washed and in bed by 8pm. There is more flexibilty now that summer is here!

I think the key for me will be sticking to the menu/shopping plan and getting my lunch ready the night before. If I can stick with these 2 goals I should be OK.

Coming up next...my love of shopping. Shopping for clothes, deals, bargains, anything and everything.

This morning as we were getting ready for work DH gathered up his guitar and amp along with a few other big things to take to school with him. It seems the kids are done with school and the teachers and staff were going to have lunch after which my DH and another person were going to play and sing. I offered to let him drive my car (SUV)so he didn't have to try to cram everything into his little Mustang. What I forgot until he was long gone was that my wallet was under the passenger seat of my car in a drawer. I had put it in there during the soccer game last night where I had full view of the car, I just didn't want to have to carry my wallet and risk loosing it. Once I realized that I left it there I called DH at work and left a VM asking him to :
a)make sure it was still there
b)make sure the doors are locked and
c)to please call me when this is done so I don't have to worry all day.

Keep in mind that this VM was left at 8:30 am. I get to work worried that I am going to be pulled over and I don't have my wallet and all that lives in it. Get to work and don't hear from DH. Thinking if it wasn't in the car it would be best to know earlier rather than later so I could start cancelling and closing stuff. 2:00 comes and I call again getting his VM. Leave message asking that he call me back so I don't have to worry. Nothing.

Forward to 5:00 pm and finally a phone call. He reassured me that the doors were locked all day but he hadn't even looked to see if my wallet was there!ARGH!!!!!!

He looked while I was on the phone and said it was there thankfully but it would have been nice to have known that at oh say 9:00am!! It would have saved me some stomach lining!!!!!

This Saturday my DD is making her 1st Communion. We have already purchased the dress, shoes, stockings, and head piece. She is going to wear a halo made out of babys breath. I wore one to my 1st Communion and thought it would be a nice tradition in place of a veil.

Anyways, on to the party we will have afterwards. My DH wants to make it easy and just do a deli tray. We are expecting about 25 people for the party. Guessing the party will start around 11:30 am. I am going to price some premade deli trays tonight and try to figure out if I could buy the meat and cheese myself any cheaper. Of course I still have to buy the condiments, bread/rolls, drinks, chips, and stuff for the 3-4 salads I am making. Even when I try to make things easy for myself I can't!

My MIL is getting the cake which is a big help. I am going to put DH is charge of the drinks. I think I can handle the rest. I figure if I start tonight I should be ready by Saturday.

I am going to budget $100 for the food and about $40 for the paper products and decorations. I already purchased a present for her so I don't have to worry about that.

What do you think $150 for a 25 people 1st Communion Party? Sounds a little high but it will give me some room if I think of something else I need.

I just ran the numbers to see how I did in April. I am still a work in progress. Some areas I have improved which is encouraging and some I haven't but I haven't given up hope yet!

Let's see....

Groceries-$467.42 this month compared to $261.30 in March. I am thinking the increase was due to the fact that we had company for a few days and also had a family party for DD's birthday. Will continue working on getting this down.

Eating out-$52.21 compared to March's total of $220.14. Good job me! I would still like to see this number a little lower but that is a definate improvement!

Entertainment-$2.16-only hit the Redbox once this month!

Gas-$248.22 compared to $192.63 in March. This is due to the increase cost of gas. I am going to have to be creative with this one. We don't live near the bus line and are pretty much out of the way of any stores so I can't ride my bike. Hmmmmm....

Debt repayment-$471.97 Hey, it's better than nothing. I would like this to be higher and will start scrounging for loose change to apply to my debt.

Utilities-$354.74. This includes gas and electricity, phone, cable, and internet.

DD's birthday-$210.96. This includes her present and the cookie cake we brought into school for her class.

Shopping-My biggest challenge category. $418.56 which is slightly less than the $597.23 I spent in March. I am happy that the amount decreased and I am happy that I paid cash for my shopping instead of putting it on a credit card. But I do know that some of that could have been applied to debt which aggravates me about myself.

Miscellaneous-
$300 car payment
$92.48 car and life insurance
$64.95 gym membership
$64.00 transfer to savings
$13.50 yearbook for DD
$40.00 church
$121.25 cash

That about wraps it up. I can see where I have to make improvements and will try to be more aware of my spending in May.

I am finally getting some unexpected cash! Pretty exciting. At work we are going to an "on call" schedule for nights and weekends. We will rotate the weeks and carry a pager. If we get called we will get the on call pay and our regular pay for the time it takes us to resolve the issue. If we don't get called on our week than we get paid $18 for each night between M-F and $24 for each Saturday and Sunday night. That's an extra $138 for nothing if I don't get called I spoke with my boss since I am a lead for my area and have been basically on call the last year and haven't been compensated for it. I think they were trying to say it was just part of my job. Now that everyone in my group has to do it I think they are seeing that they had been unfair to me. So, my boss checked my on call time for the past year and I am getting an additional $160. I only got called 8 times in the past year but as we always say, everything little bit helps!

I have $21.00 in my checking account to last me until Friday. That makes me a little nervous but it is also nice to know that all the bills have been paid and I even transferred some money to my savings account. I guess it's good there is only $21 left otherwise I would be tempted to spend it on something stupid!

Can't help the Scooby Doo reference, it's all my kids want to watch these days

I made it home last night without spending a dime. I ate dinner and played with the kids all evening. So, with the exception of the donuts it could have been a no spender.

This morning I had to be at work at 6am. I set the coffee maker to start at 5am and made some toast prior to leaving the house. Made myself a salad last night for lunch today. I got a free coffee at the coffee cart here at the hospital where I work. They have the punch cards and after 10 you get a free one. I took advantage today since it is hard to be functional at 6am.

I am doing well so far today hence the title I am itching to go shopping after work though. I have about 2 hours of free time and want to go to the mall and look around. This could be a bad thing. Perhaps I should think of something else to do?!

So close and yet not exactly a no spender.

I made some coffee at home this morning and drank it prior to leaving the house. Small step for me

We had my niece spend the night last night and I had to drop her and my 2 kids off at Nana and Papa's house this morning so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get them some donuts to take over. I got a coffee. Medium step in the wrong direction

I then came to work after having 2 days off and was very busy. Ate the yogurt and granola bar that I packed for snack instead of a donut or other fattening baked good like I normally do. Huge step for me

Ate lunch of left over baked ziti, a banana, and 100 calorie pack of oreos with water that I brought from home. Another big step for me

I have to work until 6pm today and plan on going right home. I will grab something quick to eat and then hopefully take a walk with the family as it is in the mid 60's here and I haven't been to the gym in over a week.

I am very happy with myself and my attempt at a No Spender and can rationalize my spending by thinking I was doing something nice for my family. There I go-queen of rationalizing every cent I spend.

Anyways my goal is to not spend any money between now and Saturday. Might seem like a small goal to some but I am going out Saturday night and it will be an expensive outing so I am trying to reign in the spending prior. At least I know it is going to be expensive and this time I have planned for the expense so I consider myself one step ahead.

Well, this was a fairly expensive weekend. My sister and her son came into town on Friday and just left this morning. Her son is 8 which is the same age as my daughter so it is awesome when they get the chance to play together. They live 5.5 hours away by car which isn't too bad to travel however we rarely do it in the winter b/c she lives in the tippy top of NY state near the Canandian border and you never know when you might get snowed in. So, it was great to spend time with them.

I haven't added up what I spent but will try to summarize it here.

Friday I stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks and stuff for our company and spent about $50.00.

Saturday we went shopping at Kohls and I got a few things I needed and 2 shirts for DS that were on clearance. I spent $80.29. Stopped and got a movie for the kids to watch-$1.00.

Sunday we had a birthday party for DD so I had to go to the grocery store and buy the stuff I needed for dinner. We had baked ziti, meatballs, salad, and bread. Drinks and paper products included $50.42 for 15 people.

Monday we took the kids rollerskating. My sister bought admission for DD as it was part of her birthday present and DS and I didn't skate b/c he is only 3. We played some video games which I spent about $3.00 on. Sister and I went to Friendlys with a mutual friend to chat and remember "old times" and of course to eat icecream I had a coupon for buy one sundae get one free so I only spent $5.00 including tip.

DD and I are home today. She is on Spring Break and I took yesterday and today off from work. I think we are going to lay low and try not to spend any money We have to go to my inlaws for yet another party tonight at 5:00pm. I am toying with the idea of doing some online shopping for DS today. He needs some spring clothes. I am also going to clean some more with the hopes of finding more stuff for the garage sale in May.

I should take a trip out to the consignment shop to drop off more stuff but am not very motivated to do that today. Maybe I will list some things on ebay, haven't done that in a while.

Off to check the checking account balance and see if I have any bills that need to be paid.....