Today makes 13 days sans soda. I don't really miss it that much.

I did buy and eat some chocolate on Friday, but much less than normal. I actually ate an apple instead of eating the chocolate right away ....

I'd say Day 12 was about a 85% and Day 13 about a 65%. I had leftover pizza for lunch today (from Thursday Little Ceasar's) and it wasn't all that appetizing.

I was going to go on the Saturday afternoon hike with some fellow church members today, but after I finished my earlier post and started to get ready, I realized I just wasn't up to it.

Instead, I took a 90 minute nap.

Even after getting up from my nap (to see DH off to work) I still wasn't feeling very good. So, no walk today.

I'm really hoping I'm feeling better by the morning because I'm way behind on cleaning, and I need to get food ready for the week. Tuesday and Wednesday will be late evenings for me (helping explain the new bus routes to people) and I don't want to derail my healthier eating.

I'd really like to hire someone to come in and assist/push me to get the cleaning done. Maybe some organizing too. Also have someone help me figure out how to make the house smell better ... Sigh.

----
I did some grocery shopping the last few days. DH agreed that if I made a big pot of Great Northern Beans, that he would eat them throughout the week. (This was after I read to him the section on how people were able to eat 1/2 cup of legumes daily on top of their regular intake, without it causing weight gain. In fact, it caused the opposite. Plus helped to regulate the blood sugar, etc.)

The beans and chickpeas have been soaking since Friday night. I am going to take them out of the water in a few minutes. Maybe use the Instant Pot for the GN beans so hubby can start eating them.

I bought from our local "Farmer's Market" store - almond milk, spaghetti squash, eggplant, red onions, apples, oranges, 2 lbs of Great Northern beans, 1 lb of chickpeas (going to make hummus and roast some too), 1/2 lb of Brazil Nuts (eat 2 a day to help with thyroid, plus heart health), two Medjool Dates ($$$$$$) and some other things I can't remember. $26.xx

From HyVee, 3 candybars (3 for $1), red seedless grapes, ?? $13.xx

From Dollar Tree - multiple bags of frozen broccoli florets, frozen asparagus, a couple spices, etc.

$9.89

From another local grocery store (Russ) -
bananas, ten different spices/herbs (ground mustard, bay leaves, chopped basil, ground ginger (to keep at work), sesame seeds, ....

$14.40

I also looked at buying Chlorella and liquid B 12 ... but couldn't stomach the cost. I was thinking about buying some fresh kale too, because the fresh/non-bagged stuff was on a good sale, but I didn't know for sure what was the kale I wanted (3 varieties) - I wanted to try making Kale chips. So I didn't get any.

----
I'm about halfway through How Not to Die taking notes. Some of the recommended stuff is SO expensive. I'm thinking I'll stick to the recommendations that are a reasonable cost, and then IF something happens to me, then I can go for the more expensive stuff (like Chlorella ...)

A part of me is really frustrated that I'm feeling so poorly even with having been eating much higher amounts of fruits and veggies for nearly two weeks, and little junky food.

I'm not giving up though. Something has to work to get me feeling energetic again. Maybe if DH sees it working for me, he'll be more willing to expand his choices as well...

---
Redeemed a $25 Walmart gift card today from SBs.

Also used a $30 Petco gift card I earned last month by setting up "repeat delivery) to order some grain free cat food and more litter. Cost after rewards and gift card - $6.86

---
Almost forgot! The mortgage FINALLY posted to my credit reports! I got a call from the fraud alert place my company uses that there were two alerts - one that the mortgage had been added, and one about the inquiry from Chase.

Going on 9 days of no soda! I almost gave in to temptation today, but told myself that no, I didn't need it. It was just habit - in CVS, get a couple of sodas ...

Day 8 I had about 79% of the Daily Dozen, and today I had about 98%.

I tried adding a 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of black beans to my smoothie ... Hmm... interesting. I will have to experiment with how much liquid (was too thick.)

In listening to the book when I went on a 40 minute walk in the rain this afternoon, he was talking about the health benefits of ground ginger.

Headaches/Migraines, Menstrual cramps, PMS symptoms, etc., etc. I'm wondering if it would help me with my sinus headaches ... Doesn't hurt to try, right?

---
I hadn't spent any money this week since Saturday (ok, did buy some stuff from Amazon yesterday - silicon baking mats, a cookbook for the InstantPot and Miso)

This afternoon though I had to stop at CVS to pick up my DH's prescription for preparing for his colonoscopy. $50. Ouch.

I'm really trying to keep myself out of there unless there is a *really* specefic reason to be in there (like picking up a prescription)

I managed to get out with just buying a *little* bit of chocolate (which, yes, I ate ...)

I'm almost finished with listening to How Not to Die and now am waiting for the hard copy from the library. There's so many things I want to take special note of, but he goes so fast sometimes, or my "person" who tells me how long I've walked, etc. cuts in for 20 seconds+ ...May end up buying a copy ... (if I can find it used)

Although it is only 2:40, I already know what I'm eating the rest of the day, so I figured I'd go ahead and record it here.


++No soda consumption
++No chocolate consumption (ate it all last night ...)

Beans (3 servings) ...........3/3
Berries (1 serving)...........1/1
Other fruit (3 servings).......2/3
Cruceferious Veg (1 serving)...1/1
Greens (2 servings)............2/1
Other Veg (2 servings).........2/2
Ground flax (1 serving)--------1/1
Nuts (1 serving)---------------1/1
Spices (1/2 tsp Turmeric)------1/1
Whole Grains (3 servings)------2/3
Water (5 servings)-------------5++/5
Exercise ......................65/45

I went for an approximately 65 minute walk/jog this morning - about 3.6 miles. When I got back I had my fruit smoothie -frozen mango/berries and a banana with flaxseed, chia, protein powder and my new additions of turmeric and cinnamon ... and an incident with the black pepper. OOOO Lesson ... do not remove the spice container lid, especially not black pepper.

Let's just say that even though I attempted to remove most of what went in, judging from the taste, I was not altogether successful. (Seeing as how I'm not a big fan of black pepper in the first place ... but am trying to like it more ... Yech.)

I'm going to snack on some broccoli and hummus here in a little bit to tide me over til we get back from the Wills and Trust meeting.

I marinated and then baked a bunch of tofu "steaks" for dinner, and am roasting a pan full of bell peppers/onions/broccoli/eggplant/butternut squash/spinach right now. I'm also baking some sweet potatoes for my lunches this week.

In a bit I'm going to cook some brown rice to also add to lunches this week.

I'm also soaking some cashews which I'm going to blend with some nutritional yeast flakes to make a "cheese" sauce for the roasted veggies/tofu steaks.

Hoping DH will like this .. trying to change it up a little.

---
I finally figured out a good solution for my dust mop /bucket issue. A dishpan! I put a good dose of murphy's oil in the dishpan and some water and stirred. Then got mopping (and scrubbing ... of course by tonight there will be new cat chuck spots to take the place of the ones I scrubbed up ...) Worked perfectly.

--
Got our bi-monthly water/sewage bill. It was nearly $24 more than the last one. Yelp. I had to massage a number of categories to fund it, but I found the money. I will probably just set aside $50/month for it from now on, rather than just $30. Then once I have the actual bill, I can reassign the money to other places.

+++
No soda consumed
2? servings of fruit

Checked on Google to find out what Dr Greger's Daily 12 consists of - had heard him mention it in the book, etc., but I'm not there yet. Only on Chapter 12.

Apparently there's an app to help you track it too ...
The Daily 12 is a list of things he feels important to get in ... daily. (Dr Gregers Daily Dozen)

Beans (3 servings) ...........0/3
Berries (1 serving)...........0/1
Other fruit (3 servings).......2/3
Cruceferious Veg (1 serving)...0/1
Greens (2 servings)............0/1
Other Veg (2 servings).........0/2
Ground flax (1 serving)--------0/1
Nuts (1 serving)---------------1/1
Spices (1/2 tsp Turmeric)------0/1
Whole Grains (3 servings)------1/3
Water (5 servings)-------------3/5
Exercise ......................10/45

Saturday Score: 17/67 ~39%

Not my best day to start scoring ... wasn't feeling very good and didn't eat terribly good for me stuff, other than at my first meal (cereal w/banana, watermellon, whole wheat toast w/pb)

We won't talk about my "dinner" .. except to say that chocolate and pizza ...

---
I went to a local grocery store tonight (partly to get a Totino's ...) but also picked up some more hummus, snap peas, oranges and ground ginger. Spent about $15

--
Sunday we are *finally* meeting with my church's wills and trusts guy. This is our third appointment - both of the previous ones were missed because of me ... (spaced the first one, was during house buying process ... had to cancel the second one due to coming home from work early sick)

I'm realy curious to see how this works. DH and I spent some time discussing who we'd want our executor to be, and who'd be an alternative, etc. We both alreaady know what we want done if we die (cremated and ashes spread to the wind) but probably need those wishes written down somewhere in case we both go at the same time.

I'd like to set up a trust of some sort for animals, maybe have it go to the local no-kill cat shelter or something. DH probably would like that too (this is if we both go at the same time.)

----
I got my Chase Rewards Unlimited card in the mail today. Just need to activate it now, and send a $500 payment to DHs medical debt. Then probably by next statement will have the $150 cash back. Which will then be put towards the medical debt as well.

Anyone know how long it should take for a mortgage to show up on your credit report? My credit scores all still say "No recent installment info" ...

I've had the mortgage since June...

I'm also looking for a good sign up bonus for a card DH could qualify for. He has some dings on his report in the last few years (before we got back together)

I probably need to wait awhile before opening another card (looking at the Citi Double Cash back card ... though I wonder if they'd switch my current Citi card (with an annual fee) to the Double Cash card (with no annual fee) ... Hmmm.... with no credit pull.

----
I was reading something on the MMM forum on Friday that got me intrigued about some of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I checked a few books out from the library, and have put a few more on hold. None of them though seemed to deal with what happened in the stadium those few days - the rumors I heard about that seemed the most horrific ... so was kind of curious to see if anyone had written about the reality of it. Will have to see though.

August was a spendy month in a number of categories - due to car repairs on DH's vehicle, and changing some grocery habits (i.e. buying more fresh produce since DH is actually eating it now!)

So ... the numbers: (expenses only == lots of money was put in various holding categories)

Mortgage/Extra - $0 (Was a month ahead in payments, so decided to distribute this money elsewhere.)
Natural Gas - 41.86
Electricity - $0 (paid August's bill in July ... )
Phone - 60.67
Internet/Cable - 55.35
Groceries - Fast Food - 8.86
Groceries - 347.30
Car Fuel - 223.09
Tithe - 130
Giving - 30
Car Maintenance - 474.04
Clothing - 85.71 (mostly DH replacing jeans, shoes, belt)
Household General - 263.69 (bedframe, misc., piano bench)
Medical - 139.38
Pets-cats=food/litter - 59.10
Pets -cat-medical - 102.26
Pets - non cat - food.shelter - 70.34 (chicken cage, food)
DH birthday dinner - 40.84
Date Night = 17.30
Student loan - 53.51
Medical Debt - 1000

---
DH requested that for the next budget meeting if it could be done on the iPad laying down he'd appreciate it. So thankfully YNAB's iPad app has much more functionality than the iPhone app..

We did our September budget meeting on the iPad while lounging on the bed. We had about 500 more to work with this month due to DH not having any nights off for packing/cleaning his old apartment, etc. Still ... the money went fast!

We may be purchasing a vehicle for DH this weekend. He needs something that is good for delivering in the snow. The car replacement category and the car repair category got the most money for September.

For the medical debt, I'm looking for another credit card offer with a good sign up bonus. I have about 600 available in that category to make another large payment. Are there any spend $500 get $100 deals out there?

We also bought DH a new phone - he found a used replacement for $10 on eBay. He currently uses a Keocera flip phone ... He joked that he wanted an iPhone. I told him sure, if he could wait a few weeks til the new model comes out, then the iPhone 5's will be an absolute steal. Would be a good starter smart phone.

---
Ok, so bank account interest is weird.

In July we had just slightly less money spread between two accounts. Both qualified for the 2.5% interest. We earned a total of $28.50 between the two accounts.

This month all but about $1.5k was in one account. Only one account qualified for the 2.5% interest. We earned $41.86 in interest.

I really don't get how we earned nearly $12 less in interest having nearly the same amount spread between two accounts (maybe a difference of $900 in ending balances)

The amount we earned in interest this month is about what I'd figured we should have earned last month. So ...???

So it's been a busy week.

Interesting tidbits...

DH and I worked together Thursday night to make stuffed bell peppers. So yummy! I meant to take a picture but forgot. The filling we made actually was enough for me to use on a sandwich the next day, and still have enough to stuff maybe 3 peppers.

Friday night I had a big scare. I was sitting at my computer relaxing, when all of a sudden I heard Kari and Sunny fighting right next to me. I put a book in between them to break it up, and Kari went off into a corner. The way she was huddled made me realize she was hurt.

So I went over to her and picked her up, and had some blood drip on my leg!!! Her eye was all scrunched up.

I panicked. I called DH and he told me to call the vet and see if they thought I should bring her in or wait and see.

I called the Vet and they told me that I should bring her in if she was got in the eye.

So I commenced trying to get her in the kennel ... Ten minutes later, and multiple scratches later, I had her in the kennel and in the car.

Then DH called to say he was five minutes away. I waited for him to come so he could look at her eye too. By the time he got there, Kari was opening her eye again.

We could see then that it was only the corner of her eye (the 3rd eye??) that looked a little bloody. So ultimately we decided to wait and see.

This morning she seemed fine, and the scratch looked healed.

We are discussing what we are going to do about Sunny. She is the only one of our cats that uses her claws to hurt the other cats (namely Kari) or destroy furniture (my office chair ...DHs speakers)

We see maybe 4 options. 1 and 2 - let go of one of the two cats - Kari or Sunny. 3 - Get Sunny declawed or 4 - try something like Soft claws?? to see if they would stay on Sunny and actually work.

I also ordered some Feliway spray today. I've had mixed opinions about whether it really works or not, but I'm going to try.

I don't like options #1 -3 at all, but if #4 doesn't work, then I'm not sure what else to do. We can't keep having Sunny take pieces out of Kari (she took a piece out of one of her ears a few months ago.)

Sigh.

---
In more positive news ... today DH let me cut his hair! I'd bought a clipper set from Aldi's about a month ago and he kept putting me off, or when he had time I didn't.

Today though we both had time at the same time. It took me about an hour, and I think I did a decent job for my first time. Definitely need to watch some more videos about how to cut the top part.

Today's haircut basically paid for thee clippers. Any future cuts will be money saved!

---
A new Dollar Tree WITH a freezer section opened up less than 1/2 a mile from our house on Thursday!!!

Color me ecstatic! They have the frozen fruit! They have the chicken nuggets DH likes. They don't have any of the frozen vege options of the other store ... yet. I will be letting them know they need to get those in there ASAP.

I also found that they have those organizing fabric bins that you would normally pay upwards of $5 each, for $1! (For those cube organizers.) I bought two to try out the quality and usefulness.

The last few days I'd been noticing that my cat Kari had been in a litter box every time I turned around - and not just in and out quickly, but squatting and squatting and ...

I mentioned it to DH, and he also observed the same thing.

I'd noticed also that for about a week or so she had seemed to regress quite a bit in her acceptance of the other cats. Screaming at them and attacking them if they dared look at her ..

So I called the vet before work on Monday and got an appointment for her after work.

I walked her in her kennel (the vet is about a block from us) and took her in. The vet tech reassured me that it wasn't an urinary blockage, but said that they needed a urine sample to test for a bladder infection. They could keep her overnight (at no charge!) and take the sample in the morning, or I could try to collect it myself ...

With multiple cats and multiple litter boxes ... I chose to let her have an overnight away.

I got a call this afternoon letting me know that she indeed did have a bladder infection. My poor little girl.

The vet suggested strongly that I put her back on her old more expensive food (Purina One Beyond) and see if that helped, as well as the pills they gave me.

One 3 lb bag of this food costs almost what 3/4 of the 16 lb bag of Purina Complete which we've been feeding the cats since moving in here. DH probably isn't going to like this too much. Oh well. I have to give her her pills twice a day - only way to do that is crush them up and put them in some canned food. They cost 2x what the Friskie's costs for 1/2 the amount. Oh well. I'll be able to make one can last for 3 meals, so it wont be SO horribly extra expensive.

The vet visit and meds cost $102. A 3 lb bag of food and 4 cans after coupons, $16.xx My Kari hopefully feeling better in a few days? Priceless.

---
I spoke too soon about my allergies being better/no more sinus headaches ... had a doozy of one yesterday. Of course starting the day with an argument with DH probably didn't help matters ... We probably won't see each other again til tomorrow night thanks to our schedules. Probably not a bad thing...

--
My aunt texted me today telling me that grandma had gotten some form in the mail telling her that my dad had $100 coming to him from something. She's going to mail it on to me. I'm guessing it will be something like a defunct bank account or deposit refund on something or the other.

If it really is something, I plan on offering my brother half of it - although I doubt he'll take me up on it, because he's now making 5x? what I'm making per month ... and doesn't know what to do with all the money.

Those of you who've met him won't be surprised to know that he had been given the goal of making $250k in sales by the end of this year ... and he surpassed $300k in sales a month ago ... He truly could sell ice to an Eskimo.

---
The next two nights I'll be working overtime at open houses - selling passes, answering questions about the school booster buses, and probably also fielding questions about the new routes coming in to effect in October. I've already got a little snack stash ready to go so I am not tempted to stop at the local grocery store near the school ... I just hope my energy can hold out and that I don't have a sinus headache either of the nights ... Will just have to power through come what may.

---
I've reached out to the counseling services provided by my employer and made an appointment for Monday. DH and I have had some issues I haven't mentioned here, as well as some of the ones I have ... I'm at a point where I feel I need a 3rd party (disinterested) to bounce the issues/thoughts off of.

---
Is it reprehensible that I haven't written the thank you notes for the wedding gifts yet?? I keep putting it on my to do list, and it keeps not getting done ... almost to the point where I'm embarrassed to send them ...

So I have a Credit Card that gives me 5% back on gas purchases. It was nice to have before when was only purchasing one or two fill ups a month. But now with DH filling up every few days, it is worth almost 3/4 of a tank of gas!

A few weeks ago I tried to start the process of changing my name on the card and getting DH added on to the account (so we each could have a card - right now he has it most of the time, and then gives it to me when I need to fill up.)

First, it was nearly impossible to figure out HOW to start the process. So I wrote to customer service.

A few days later I got an email with a link to a form I needed to print out and send back, along with a scan of my marriage certificate and another form of id.

So I managed to get my scanner function to work again, and scanned in the documents requested.

A few days later I get another email telling me that what I had sent wasn't enough. That I needed to send in a "certified copy of your driver's license." Say what?!

Another couple emails, and it was clarified that yes, they require this, and yes, they know that it is more than most places require - but they are a conservative organization and very careful.

Ugh.

So... yesterday after work I stop my credit union (where I get the 2.5% on checking) and asked about getting my driver's license notarized. Of the two notaries there, neither one had EVER heard of such a thing, and couldn't find any kind of form on the notary's website for NE.

So now I'm waiting for another email back from customer service to tell me if there is a particular form the notary can use, or what else they'd suggest I do!

Have any of you ever heard of such a thing??

If it wasn't for the 5% on gas, I would just forget this card! I guess I could just keep using it with my maiden name ... I still have my old driver's license to prove that was my name at one time.

Ugh.

----
Dh's birthday was on Wednesday - the ol' 50. He worked that night, so we celebrated on Thursday. We went out to eat at this nice local Mexican restaurant -Tico's. It's been here in L town since shortly after I was born. Really good food (lots of veg choices) although a bit pricey. Their dessert - Ponzaneita (sp?) is utterly scrumptious, and their chips are addictive. (I don't normally eat the chips at a restaurant, but these looked so different, I had to try them ... ate half a basket!)

Once DH gets to Walmart, he's getting a new electric razor for his birthday.

--
I think I've been spending too much money at CVS .. I got a postcard in the mail this last week telling me I was in the "top 4%" ... Then I proceeded to stop there Friday afternoon and spend $23 - after about $30 in a variety of coupon savings and a blanket 15% off. I also got back $8 in ECB. I just need to spend another $7 on P&G products to get another $10 ECB. I'm debating about it ...

--
I opened up a new AmEx Charge card last week. Received the card on Tuesday? and went ahead and used it to pay $1k on DHs medical debt. 5 or 6 weeks from now I'll get 25,000 rewards points. They can't be used for cash back, and can't be used for statement credits (unless I use the card charge $250 worth of other budgeted stuff ... that actually work out ..) My other option is gift cards - Amazon might be one of the issuers. My card isn't listed on my account yet, so I haven't been able to explore the options yet (other than what the CSR told me.)

I also opened a new checking account. (DH rolled his eyes when I told him.) All I have to do is have one direct deposit of $500 within 90 days, and have some kind of transaction each month, and I'll get $150.

That's $400 to throw at debt! (eventually ...)

---
I've been looking for large container to put change in for DH's boat fund. I'd thought about a used/beat up 5 gallon water jug (like what is used on water dispensers) but couldn't find anything like it for cheap. So yesterday I was at Dollar Tree and I found a 3 gallon container similar in shape to an old water bottle I had. That is now here at home and labeled with "DH's Boat Fund" and I already put in a couple dollars worth of change that's been scattered through out the house.

(As a delivery driver, DH has lots of change floating everywhere. I plan on offering to clean out his cars so I can get all the change out from them .. and hopefully he'll put his change in the jar at night instead of tossing his jeans on the floor and letting the change all go wherever ...

I don't really use cash, so I'll probably just add to it whatever money I find on the ground, etc.

---
I don't know if it is just coincidental or if there is something there ... but a few days after I started taking the iron supplements, I also switched from Allegra D to just Allegra. I also stopped taking the cold medicine at night to sleep.

Ever since then, it seems like my allergies have gotten better! I haven't had a sinus headache in weeks! I've been getting slightly better sleep (my average has gone up to 5 1/2 hours! vs. an average of 4 1/2 - 5 hrs.)

So ... is it the iron supplements? The switching from Allegra D to Allegra? Whatever I'm most allergic to, getting less? I wish I knew the answer, but at any rate, I'll take it!

DH finally got up Sunday around 7:30 - I was just about ready to go and rouse the dead ... was getting so bored waiting.

It took about 25 minutes total, and I think he was surprised to see just how fast the money went. He told me that he's going to cream me as far as what he brings in for September. I told him I'd love to see it. (A little friendly competition never hurts, right? )

After our meeting was over, DH went to go get our pizza (date night in!)

Then as we were finishing up dinner, I told him that we still needed to spend some time working on the basement. Even if only 30 minutes. We needed to get a path through the living room to the basement kitchen/bathroom. Plus .. the dehumidifier buried in the back of the family room.

(Let's just say that the movers who moved DHs stuff in left a lot to be desired. Or maybe the difference was that I was out and sort of supervising the people moving my stuff most of the time, while DH was cocooning himself in the A/C as much as possible ...)

Anyway ... he finally agreed to at least make a path. So we went down there and got a path made. We came to the area where the dehumidifier was and found out that a subwoofer had been placed on top of it.

I said to DH, "Well, we've got the path. Maybe we can deal with this later."

Dh responded, "No, lets go ahead and do it now. Who knows how bad the humidity level is down here. So not good for all the electronics!"

I just quietly smiled to myself and helped him get the dehumidifier free.

Then we realized that the only available plug was a two prong plug, and the dehumidifier needed a three prong plug. I told DH that I thought I had one more adapter in my tool box. He says to me - "Get it PDQ (pretty darn quick) so we can get rid of this excess humidity!"

Oh DH. I've only been mentioning the humidity level in the basement, etc., for the last month... and offering to help clear a path for at least that long ... Now, it's all PDQ!

Although we've now been married just over 3! months, July was the first month where we followed a joint budget and I completely took over the bill paying. It also was the first full month where we only had one household - although we were paying the final bills from our former apartments.

Whenever DH wakes up, we're going to have a quick budget meeting for August. One thing we've kind of had to hash out this month is the when/how of him giving me the cash tips to deposit. He was used to to just going by the bank once or twice a month to make a deposit. I want to make a deposit every Friday (when the lobby is open til 6.)

He didn't see why I wanted to do that since our account balances have more than enough for our daily expenses. I explained to him that all my money is directly deposited and that helps me be able to guage what the next month's budget will be like. When I showed him how much was available to budget for August from my contributions versus what he'd given me so far ... he started giving me the tips as he got them. (He's a delivery driver - makes a small hourly wage, but averages 2x that in tips/delivery charges.)

So ... since we were putting everything together this month, it is difficult to say what our "income" really was - our budget was based off of all moneys from various checking/savings being put together. Expenses include final bills and deposit charges for new accounts. In other words, this isn't a typical month for us by any means.

So .. expenses:
Mortgage (loan only) $526
Extra Principal: $25
Natural Gas: 69.20
Electricity: 382.44 (includes June bill that got misplaced!!)
Phone: 239.04 (last month of DH needing to use phone as a hotspot for Internet - our bill for August is less than $60.)
Water: 51.43 (2 month bill)
Internet/Cable: 150 (deposit, extra house visit)
Groceries - Fast food: 29.81
Groceries - 265.08
Auto Fuel - 241.87 (delivery driver ....)
Tithe: 130 (DH isn't on board with tithing, but is ok with me continuing my same level as before)
Giving: 30
Car Maintenance: 14.97
Car tax/licenses: 421.69 (Tags for 3 cars, 2 new licenses)
Clothing: 20.40
Computer Replacement: (DH) 249
Garmin Replacement: (DH) 142
Household (blanket, toiletries, paper goods, fan, etc.) 148.36
Medical - Non-deductible (allergy, etc) 64.53
Medical FSA Reimbursed- 80.48 (copays, meds, heating pad)
Pets - Cats - food/litter -$80.97 (a LOT of litter/food)
Pets - Cats - Medicine(flea meds) $77
Pes - Non Cats - Food - 13.50
Pets - Non Cats - Medicine - 16.61
Fitness - 41.83 (my gym membership, hopefully can cancel soon)
Date Night: 14.77 (although will be getting pizza tonight)
DH fun money - 16
Laura fun money - 79.22
Student loan (DH) 55
Medical debt (DH) 372

Whooh! I think that covers it! Besides the money put into the above categories, there was also money put into a variety of other holding categories.

August will be spendy for car maintenance, and I just got approved for a new AE card which I'll be using to make a $1k payment on the medical (get back 250!)

I'm looking forward to what our first month of spending will be like without deposits and final bill fees. (also without needing to replace electronics!)

I have around 6 hours of overtime in August, and I think September will be a 3 paycheck month. DH is working on putting together some speaker sales. (To help fund his boat and tv wishes.)

Mortgage Principal Balance:
Start 7/1/16 - $112,000
As of 7/31/16 (2 payments) - 111,619
Medical Debt:
As of 7/1/16 - 3,668
As of 7/31/16 - 3,296
Student Loan - TBD

So I finally heard back from my doctor about the bloodwork results. My lymphocytes had gone back into the normal range, but my platelets had not. She also said that my ferritan levels were on the low side. So she suggested two options - try taking iron supplements for two months and retest; or, go see a hematologist.

I decided to try the iron pills first. Reading about the symptoms of low iron, it sounds a lot like me. Extreme fatigue, brittle nails, etc.

The problem is though, I eat a lot of foods that are iron rich! My smoothie five days a week has strawberries, etc. in it. Spinach, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and on and on are most of my diet.(outside of my chocolate addiction ...)

So I don't get how I could have low iron.

Right now I'll try just about anything to get my energy back. So .. iron supplements it is. (taken with OJ for now - vitamin C helps the iron absorb better.)

The supplements are pretty cheap - got a 30 day supply for just a few dollars. So .. worth it.

---
DH and I had our first date night (just us) Thursday night for July. Ordered out from Ming's and ate in the bedroom with the door shut - to keep the cats out.

I had been supposed to cook, but just had no energy to do so. So DH suggested Ming's. I'm going to do the CC roast on Sunday instead (when it's likely I'll have the most energy, after two days of not working.)

We still have most of our date night budget left - since DH's friend paid for our meal at the Chineese buffet on Sunday.

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DHs friend who we dogsat for and who had indicated he'd reimburse us for the meds we bought for his dog ... well, it looks like he isn't going to follow through on that. Ugh.

I bought the meds knowing full well that we might not be reimbursed, but of course I was hoping! $150 out the door.

--
Our electric bill ... OMW! Somehow I missed the June bill (amoungst the many final bills, etc) - that was $99. Then the July bill - $149! Ouch!!!

We had our a/c set at 72 - DH agreed to let me put it up to 78. I couldn't sleep at all at 78. So put it down to 76. That seems ok so far.

Hopefully our next bill won't be so huge!

DH helpfully told me that big electricity bills should be expected in a house in the summer. Really hubby? I had no idea. Doesn't mean I have to like it- or live with it!

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Our checks for our joint account finally came today. We bought them from Walmart - enough to probably last us the rest of our lives. (250 I think.)

It came in some weird packaging from someplace in New Braunfel's TX. At first I thought it was some kind of tourist brochure and almost tossed it without opening ... Glad I didn't do that!

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At work we now have 8 women and two men in administration. One of our men who retired at 53 was replaced by a woman.

I really like her so far. In fact, she helped me out big time with a project I was working on.

We are changing our bus routes and our time schedules completely in October. My boss gave me a spreadsheet with all the time schedules on it for all the routes that one of the dispatchers had created.

The problem with it was 1. All the routes and times were on one sheet; and 2. All the times were written without a colon. i.e. 843P instead of 8:43P

So, the first problem was easily fixed. It was the second problem which caused me a great deal of frustration. How to insert a colon into umpteen cells without having to click on each one individually?

I tried every thing I knew how to do, plus what I could find on Google. Nada. Then TN saved the day by suggesting a V Lookup - and made one for me too!

From there, it was just a matter of around 4 hours of copying and pasting. (There were a lot! of times needing colons ...)

Life is going pretty well overall.

I made an appointment with an allergy doctor for August 23 - the only caveat is that I have to stop all allergy meds for 5 days prior. Yikes. Hope I can survive that.

I got my refund of my security deposit from my apartment. They charged me for cleaning the carpet. Huh? It wasn't stained or worn more than normal? DH says that it's expected that you clean the carpets when leaving an apartment. Maybe just in NE? I never did that at any other place I lived, and always got my deposit back.

Oh well, I was prepared to not get any of my deposit back since these property managers have proven to be exceedingly picky ... so, getting back $117 of $415 is better than I hoped for.

--
This afternoon I was walking in the park near our local zoo and got a bit lost. So I got out my GPS to get me back to my car. I stopped near a statue and was staring at my phone - when this young teen stopped near me and said, "Pokemon?"

I smiled at him and told him, "Sorry, no."

There were lots of people in the park with their nose to their phone ... assuming most were Pokemon hunting.

I'm glad the game is getting people out and about.

---
DH seems to be adjusting to living with a budget so far. The real test will be next month - I've already done some projections, and unless he gets some really good tip money the next couple weeks, we're going to have to lessen the fun money categories. He probably won't like that too much.

I'm hoping I can get him to sit down with me as I allocate the money out, so he can see all the places the money has to go.

--
We're having a quasi-date night tomorrow. Going to eat at a local Chinese buffet with the owner of the dog we dogsat for. Hoping he'll reimburse us for the medications ... but not holding my breath. ($150)

--
Thursday night we went to Dollar Tree and picked up a bunch of frozen items - vegetarian stuff for me, and chicken for DH. Also, the fixing's for spaghetti. Which is what DH made for dinner. (We've agreed that we will take turns making dinner for each other on Sundays/Thursdays. His two nights he doesn't work at all.)

I'm going to probably make a cottage cheese loaf on Thursday night. Then next week will try out a new recipe.

---
I still haven't used my Instapot. I'm not sure why really. Tomorrow though I plan on doing the water test, and then using it to cook a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes.

I am going to be volunteering at our VBS program M - W nights, so want to have something easy to fix for my dinners. (probably am going to make butternut black bean burgers and sweet potato burgers)

I also got some firm tofu, and am planning on frying some of it and baking some of it. Then cooking a cup or so of quinoa and brown rice for lunches. (along with a zucchini and yellow squash and onion - all on good sales.)

Will see what actually gets done tomorrow.

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Almost forgot - I had DHs and I's 3 car registrations/wheel taxes combined into the same month for renewal (August) For all 3, it was $392. That was a good bit less than I had estimated, so that was a bit of money back in the budget. Although DH wants to get a 4 Runner by November, so I need to have money set aside for that registration/wheel tax too. (Guessing $100 - 120.)

(The 4 Runner is for getting around delivering in winter, and also pulling the eventual boat ... He's funding both purchases by 1/3 of the inheritance check, plus 1/4 of whatever sales he makes via Craigslist, etc. We've agreed that 50% of sales go back into a "business operating fund" for purchasing more inventory, making repairs, shipping, etc. 25% goes to his car/boat/tv funds, and 25% goes to the general budget - i.e. debt payments for now.)

So today I took off of work early to go to my doctor's appointment. My boss came out to help someone at the window who'd come just as I was getting ready to go.

Before heading out, I stopped at the restroom. Then I had to pass near the window on my way out. Guess who was at the window being helped by my boss? Let's see if you can guess, "My problem is that I don't agree with the policy about lost passes ..."

As soon as I saw/heard this, I scooted out of there ASAP. Seriously, that lady is back already? Did she lose her pass already? I am SO glad I didn't have to deal with her before leaving, or my blood pressure would have been sky high!

---
As it was, I left with plenty of time to get there. You never know how long it'll take ... I got to the turn off about 30 minutes early, but then missed the turn off.... So, got there about 20 minutes early.

They still had me in their system by my maiden name, so got that all updated. Then gave them the bill from the lab with my maiden name (got a call later from their coding department telling me I'll have to get back in contact with the original place. This may be fun ...)

Anyway, when my doctor finally came in to the room she told me that my platelets have always ran kind of high ... really? But that they don't usually get concerned til its in the 600's (mine was 580.) But still combined with the lymphocytes, it was worth looking into. So she's scheduled me for a repeat CBC and a blood smear (where a person looks at the individual cells?) That'll happen on Wednesday morning.

She also is referring me to an allergist. She said that I could possibly take allergy shots for a couple of years, and then be DONE with allergies! Oh joy! If that is truly possible... I'll deal with getting shot up every month for a few years!

She thinks that my tiredness, moodiness, nauseousness, lack of energy etc etc etc can all be attributed to my allergies (and insomnia due to allergies/taking Allegra D.)

All I know is I'd really like to stop putting all these chemicals into my body (especially when they don't seem to be helping all that much) and get my energy back!

We'll see I guess.

---
On Sunday I made a recipe from the Stuffed at the Gills blog for Chow Mein noodles. It reminded me sort of of my favorite Amy's meal - Chinese Noodles with Cashew sauce. It was a bit of work ... but oh so good! Even DH approved. (We had a bit of a tiff because he was tired of my "trying" out recipes that weren't turning out that great ... we compromised that I'd limit my "trying out recipes" to 2 x a month. Otherwise we'll stick with ones we know we like already. Whatever. )

--
I've started putting FSA eligible expenses on my credit card. I also downloaded the app for the FSA place - already have submitted two claims and been reimbursed for one. Pretty nifty! (Now if I can just find the receipt for the copay DH had back in May ... getting his 1 1/2 year checkup on his shoulder, that'd be another $25 back in the budget ... gotta be around here somewhere.)

--
Our associate pastor preached this week. While I'm not too sure what I think of him overall, I did really like the story he focused on and how he related it to today.

He talked about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. His focus was on how Jesus gave a great example of breaking down walls and barriers. Jews and Samaritans were very close cousins, but hated each other. The Jews thought they were better than the Samaritans. Sound familiar?

What I wonder is how can I / we go about breaking down the walls / barriers today? How can we make everyone feel equally worthy of love, equally worthy of a good place in the world, equally worthy of respect, equally worthy of dignity? All of us bleed the same color ... no matter race, religion or sexual orientation. All of us are equal in God's eyes.

How can we get the blinders off of peoples eyes so they can really see this? If we could do this, the world would be so much better off.

Sigh.

---
On an unrelated note - I got the iPad working again without having to take it in anywhere. It is now mine. Ha ha ha. (DH is quite happy with his Chromebook.)

DH has been using miad for the past 6 nonths or so since his 6th used laptop from eBay in 2 years died... So today he comes into the office and tells me iPad is dead - won't charge, or turn on. I test this out too. reaching the same conclusion.

I call the Apple store in O town and find out the next appointment isn't till Friday at least. The person did tell me about some local places - but didn't know their schedules.

Just on Sunday I worked through a joint budget. I'd put $200 in computer replacement category. Knowing how both DH and I like to be on the computer, I didn't relish the thought of however long it would take for an appointment to even find out if this is fixable or not.

So ... I told DH - let's get you a Chromebook. We'd looked into them before, but had put off getting one. We bought him a 15" Chromebook at Walmart for $179 plus a $40 2 year warranty. Normally I wouldn't go for that ... but DH is tough on computers.

---
I added an offer to my Aexpress card to spend $75 at chewy.com and get back $25. Then I went to chewy and ordered 160 lbs of cat litter and 48 lbs of cat food. The total came to $102.

I then added "autoship" for 16 weeks from now to get $15 off. Which brought me to $87. Once I have the $25 credit, my order will cost a measly $62. This will also add rewards dollars to my account - I ave 14 sitting in Limbo until I reach 25 and can cash out.

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DH took me to see Finding Dory on Thursday. Loved the movie, but loved even more that DH took me to a movie he didn't really want to see in the theater.

We were hit with sticker shock though ... unwittingly we chose seats when asked what we wanted. I thought I heard the guy say that'd be $25.50 but was sure I was hearing things. I wasn't. Apparently we chose premium seats. Shows how long its been since we've been to a movie ... yikes!

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I spent some time today cleaning the hardwood flooring and living room carpet. Most of what needed cleaning was dried cat upchuck. I'd been dreading it and putting it off ... but when it came to it, the swiffer type mop and floor cleaning spray left by the former homeowner, made it pretty easy (relatively). Hopefully DH will notice when he gets home tomorrow ... I need to get some more of that spray stuff!

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I'm in charge of the food drive at work this year. I set up three fundraisers, as well as putting out the barrels. A guessing jar, a team challenge to "feed the pig" and selling casual day tickets. To say its not going well would be an understatement.

Oh well. I tried.

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Did I mention that the dog is gone? For almost a week now. His owner paid us the $300 he'd said he would, and said he'd reimburse us for the $150 in meds. Waiting.

That first day I walked in and was only greeted by cats ... heaven.

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Ok, I'm going to get a walk in before heading to bed. Hopefully I won't run into any fireworks.

We had our house inspection this afternoon! R, our inspector was pretty awesome I think. He had spent a couple hours going through the house before we got there checking everything out. Then with us there, he took us through everything and pointed out a huge variety of things.

He told us that overall, the house is in very good shape. The main concern is the 23 yo water heater .. There was SO much information ... but he's going to be writing a 17 page report with the same info so we can refer back to it when we need to.

We told C, our agent ... Go ahead! None of the issues raised by R are anything we can't easily do ourselves (well, with a little help from youtube ...)

One thing we found out was that the couple selling the house have just had their 70th!! wedding anniversary! The husband is turning 95 soon. We were SO off - we thought they were maybe mid to late 70s at most.

They also are the original owners - they designed the home themselves - back in 1952. The husband custom made the cabinets (he's way into woodworking.)

I didn't get any photos today - just way too much to take in to also take photos. But I will take some soon!

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One thing R told us was about the flooring used in the kitchen/formal dining room/hallways - it's a wood vaneer? He basically said that you don't want to let it get wet, as it can ruin it quickly.

So ... um ... with all our cats, and possibly dogs in the future .. some with possible "issues" of the liquid variety .. We won't always be home to catch "issues" right away. So .. there's gotta be something we can put on it to protect it? Right?

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So, our next hurdle is the appraisal. Then of course getting the stocks sold for the downpayment. (The T stock has been so UP and DOWN - wish I'd sold it on Wednesday!)

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Just two weeks from now, and my brother/grandma/aunt will be here from California!

I still have SO much to do. I stopped at Dollar Tree and SuperSaver to get some napkins/plates/cups/plasticware for the rehearsal dinner/reception. I couldn't find the plates I wanted, so I might have to go to Party City for them.

I was going to stop at this new store FreshT for some great produce deals, but I hadn't eaten since lunch and was getting a sinus headache. Maybe I'll go there on Sunday after meeting with the photographer.

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I finally made it to 100k points in the Achievemint app again. Sadly though, after I redeemed my points for my $100 gift card, I was told that I'd reached the max reward limit. So, I guess they only let you get 2 $100 awards.

This was a slow way to accumulate extra funds, but it was relatively simple and painless. So I'm sad to not have it as a tiny bit of extra motivation.

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I probably should try to do my thank you notes tonight so I can hand most of them out at church tomorrow. Save on postage you know. That probably won't happen though, plus it might be kind of rude ... I don't know.

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Question about homeowner's insurance and liability -- let's say we had a boat and it was within our fenced in yard. Some yahoos decide to climb our fence and get in the boat and goof off and end up getting hurt. Would we be liable? If so, would it be homeowner's insurance or liability for boat insurance that would cover it?

Mr FT and I were having a discussion about this today (as we were discussing where to check at for homeowner's insurance.) BTW - Anyone use Farm Bureau Insurance? R told us about it, and that they have only one deductible for whatever you have insured with them. (house, car, boat ..)

I wrote a long entry, and then forgot to copy it ..

Oh well.

Jist of it -

*Been very busy helping Mr FT with a huge project this week. Still lots to do, and not lots of time to do it in ..

*Signed the mortgage paperwork with J on Thursday. Inspections are scheduled for the 8th, and the appraisal will be after that.

*Debating on the timing of selling electric car stock (begins with T) and withdrawing from ROTH. The market has been SO topsy turvy. Especially the T stock.

*Aunt and Uncle (who paid for wedding dress) got their first T car - a the X one. Uber excited. My brother will get to drive it - lucky duck. (I could too, just would mean a California trip.)

(The above Uncle is the one who got my dads whole side of the family to invest in the T stock when it was still under $30.)

* Bridal shower is tomorrow! I'm not sure what to expect, since there is another bridal shower at the same time at the church! I wasn't expecting to even have one, so whatever happens, will be great!

*I've been coming up with many ideas/ways to spend money regarding the new house. Almost as bad as Mr FT with his landscaping/animals ideas. Good thing I have a strong penchant for keeping a strong EF! But will give ourselves a little bit of money to play with in setting up house.

*Finally had a Groupon deal come out for a mani/pedi. There seemed to be a dearth of them for awhile. Maybe because of it being winter? Anyway, I got a deal for 3 gel mani/pedis at a local beauty school for $43. Not too shabby I think. (One will be for wedding.)

*Got my interest for the Brink's account! 3 months worth at 5% - $57.68! I'm glad I decided to wait patiently and see if it would actually pay out 5%!

- Will now probably fund the Netspend card I opened a while ago, but got discouraged about actually using due to not having interest the first month show up. Will only put $40 on it to get the $20 bonus though. Later may put more on there.

* I started the Culinary PX program. I haven't gotten very far with it due to Mr FTs big project, but what I have seen so far, I like a lot. I think it's going to be well worth the $50.

Just 30 days to go til I change my last name and add Mrs to it.

Mr FT and I had a heart to heart a few nights ago about the househunting. I suggested maybe taking a break from it - he realized that part of my frustration was from feeling like he was dismissing all of my suggestions. It's going much better now (not taking a break.) Who knew, communication, right?

We may have found another really good candidate. It'd be about a 30 minute commute. 3+ acres. We plan on driving out to give it a closer look tomorrow - plus find out the policy on chickens.

Chickens ... the main reason we totally gave up on the house we love. The house we love(d) is now off market.

There is a second home we are going to drive by tomorrow that is actually in L town.

Mr FT has agreed that if we don't find THE house by the end of April, he will be willing to look for a house that is "good enough" for 4 or 5 years. Just so we can get ourselves into ONE household!

Hopefully one of these two homes we're looking at tomorrow will be THE one.

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My aunt from Ohio is going to be making us a quilt! She made me a handmade Cabbage Patch doll when I was 5 or 6 - Rosie - which I still have. I'm really looking forward to seeing it! (Speaking of, maybe I should remove the quilt from my registry ... not that anyone is even USING the darn thing. Ufta! What a waste of hours that seems to have been ...)

My bridal shower is in less than a week!! I really have no idea what to expect. I've been to lots of them over the years, but none since I've lived here. Will be interesting.

We have all but one of the six rooms at the bed and breakfast reserved now. Mr FT's relative may or may not be coming ... We're not sure if she has her panties in a wad because we didn't send out invites to his other relatives (whom he has never met ...) or if it really is just that she's not doing well. No response to my message asking if she'd gotten the invite, and a two word response to Mr FTs message ...

Oh well, I built into the wedding budget this possibility (that we'd be on for two rooms.) If they do come, it will be a nice surprise.

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This Sunday I MUST do some major cleaning of my apartment and my car. Will be having way too many relatives probably wanting to come over and see the place /see Kari to wait to the last minute.

I've been doing more cooking lately, but not been doing so well at cleaning as I go. So .. hence the need for major cleaning.

Tonight I made fried quinoa and asparagus with leftover cooked quinoa (from last Sunday) and asparagus I bought for $.88/lb at a new local fresh grocer last week. Yummy!

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I'm in the midst of working on several projects related to the wedding - slideshow' typing up / putting together final product of ceremony schedule; typing up final unity candle version; typing up / emailing photographer list of must shots; typing up wedding weekend schedule; working with Mr FT to finish up music playlist for rehearsal dinner ...

Just a few things left. Oh yeah, I still need to get the baby's breath for my hair. Forgot to ask the lady who made my bouquet/boutonniere for some.

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With all that's been going on, I've gotten REALLY behind on my budget / recording spending. It's not going to be pretty once I do get it caught up. Especially since some things could go into multiple categories ... Really do need to get it done though soon. Maybe tomorrow night.

Speaking of spending ... my phone bill is going to be the highest it's been since starting to use Ting this month. It's already at $39, and I think my text bucket is going to go into the next level (if it didn't already tonight.) Sigh. Still better than $76+/month no matter how much I actually used. Once this wedding stuff is finished and we're in a house together, the bill will drop significantly.

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I ordered a Hello Fresh delivery through Swagbucks - 1000 SBs, plus a $40 off coupon. That should come tomorrow. It'll be enough for 6 meals for me. $19 is still a lot for that much food - put it on pause for the next week (and will continue to do that for a few weeks, til it's safe to cancel.)

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Work has been up and down this week. Had a few days of major irritability ... but my talk with Mr FT on Wednesday night helped a lot, plus better sleep, so Thursday and Friday were decent.

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Next week need to make the downpayment for the photographer, also for the cake, and probably should check in with the caterer as well. Plus decide how many pizzas / what kind for the rehearsal dinner and figure out how to do rootbeer floats (two cartons of ice cream - one dairy, one non-dairy? Scoop your own?)

Then two weeks from Sunday will be meeting with photographer at the bed and breakfast.

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With all of this, I have been sorely lax in much of any kind of physical activity. Thankfully it hasn't been affecting the scale too much (even though I've eaten my share of junk ...) Am looking forward to getting to a place where I can put a more normal schedule together again.

Mr FT talks about getting back to "normalcy" too ... It will be fun to discover what "normalcy" will mean when it's the two of us +cats in our new home.

So tomorrow night Mr FT and I will be doing our first walk through of the house which we think we want.

My boss was telling me to make sure to flush the toilets, run the sinks and showers, look under cabinets, etc.

What else should we look for?

The driveway has a crack going up the middle and looks like it goes into the garage. Could that be a foundation issue?

---
I got stamps today to mail the invitations, but won't get them mailed til tomorrow - some of the sticky stuff wasn't holding, so I'm going to tape them tomorrow before mailing.

I also stopped at Walgreen's and bought some Valentine's candy at 50% off - some kiss shaped ferraro chocolates in gold packets = two boxes of them. (table favors!)

I also got $10 worth of gas.

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I decided to book the photographer I met with Monday night. He'll be charging $500 (his wife will assist him.) Sometime soon I'm going to have him and Mr FT meet so Mr FT will feel comfortable with him.

I also booked a videographer. She'll do the ceremony and reception (with highlights) for less than $100.

On Friday I have a hair trial appointment. (Yes, I found someone to do my hair!)

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Need to work on my homework for the pre-marital counseling tonight, but otherwise am just going to take it easy.

Today my boss finally did my yearly evaluation. She told me that the raise (2.5%) will be retroactive. Just one pay period, so not that much. (It'll equate to about $.35/hour before taxes.) But still ... every cent counts when house hunting.

Mr FT and I found a house we both really like. It'd be stretching our price range a bit, but might be doable. We just have to get the loan application done! (We're going to work on it this Sunday.)

--

I'm thinking about making a slideshow / video for the reception giving some background on Mr FT and I's childhood/growing up/ dating life. That way people who only know one or the other of us can get a "picture" of us. Also, it'll take up some of the time.

I was looking into renting a projector, but the realized I'd also need to rent a laptop. So ... am now thinking I'll get one of those iPhone / iPad projector things. I'm just not sure which one to get. Reviews on various ones are all over the place on Amazon (one to five stars.)

I'm also not sure which app would be best to use. I was thinking of buying iMovie (app) but don't know if there is something else that might work?

Would love any suggestions!

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I found out today that the place I applied at when first moved here has had to let go of a lot of positions and completely restructure itself. That could've been me if I hadn't gotten the bus job while waiting to hear back.

As much as I dislike this job sometimes, I am glad to HAVE a job. Especially right now with a wedding and househunting!

I feel badly for the people who lost their jobs there though. I sure know how that feels.

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I'm thinking of taking tomorrow off from church. I'm starting to feel pretty run down, and Sunday is going to be hectic with the Valentine's tea thing, and then whatever Mr FT and I do that night.

Mr FT got some happy news Thursday - his nephew is coming to the wedding! He hasn't been back here in 8 years! Mr FT and his mom had a large part in raising the nephew. I'm so glad Mr FT is going to have both his sister and nephew here for him.

--
I got my bloodwork results back from the doctor. My TSH level was on the high side again (not 17, but about 7.8) so she increased my dosage. I'll have to get it rechecked in a month.

I was also told that my bad cholesterol was a bit elevated and was suggested to use red yeast rice. It's an over the counter supplement - from what I'm reading though, it doesn't sound very effective. Plus, I'd really rather try to do better with my eating. (Krispee Kreme opened a shop here recently, and Mr FT has fallen in love with the hot & fresh glazed donuts .... this is not going to help the diet.)

Anyone ever use Red Yeast Rice?

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Spending hasn't been horrible, but definitely not being as careful as I could be.

I've changed all my direct to credit card bills to my new Citi card, and Mr FT is using it to buy gas. I added him as an authorized user too. Once his card gets here, then I can use mine to do other in person spending. (wedding, groceries, etc.) We're planning on using the $500 towards either the mortgage or student loans, and not towards travel money.

*** Almost a month and I haven't heard anything back about the librarian job. Maybe they're just slow. This actually works though ... It would be better if I get the job, to not have it start til mid-May.

So I've been reading / browsing through some of the books I got from the library about communication. One I've been reading via the Kindle app (during work ...) is Crucial Conversations. Very interesting and very good. Am hoping I'll be able to learn some of the techniques.

I asked my boss this afternoon how she had learned to be such a good mediator / communicator. At a stressful meeting a few weeks ago between myself and a co-worker (one I've mentioned before as being a perfectionist .....) she basically mediated between us. The whole time she was so calm, cool, collected - while co-worker was on the attack and I was withering ...

This question led to a 40 minute discussion which I felt was pretty valuable. She was surprised when I told her that I thought she was confident and calm, etc. Funny how people see us as things we don't see for ourselves.

She also told me that my evaluation should be coming up in the next few days (I'd been biting my nails to not ask about it yet again ...)

Can I just say again how great a boss I have?

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After work today I met with a local cafe owner. He's going to do scones w/jam, finger sandwiches, fruit and veggie trays, cheesecake bites, etc. all for $160! (including tax!) for 20 people. They'll bring it and get it all set up in time for the reception to start. No delivery charge.

The person doing my alterations raved about their food.

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Question time ... I am wondering about the etiquette of this .... My mom was asking if I was going to do a formal FB announcement of place/time/registry. I don't know that I've ever seen anyone do that? Maybe I could make a post stating the day, and a link to our website for more info??

I *think* she wants me to do this for the extended friends of our family who aren't being invited, but may want to send something.

I'm just not really sure what the etiquette here would be. Emily Post of the FB age, where are you?

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Ouch! I had my doctor call in prescriptions for Allegra D 24 hr and Nascort spray. $43.xx for the Allegra D (30 day supply) and $50 copay for the Nascort!! I'm not sure how many sprays that works out to - need to figure that out to see if it works out more cheaply than buying it just OTC.

I did this mainly so I wouldn't have to go in so often to get more Allegra, but also so I could use my FSA money for my allergy stuff. Very many refills of this will use it up in no time ...

I adjusted my withholding to 3 this year since I was having 7% of my gross taken off the top to my retirement plan. I guess I overdid it a bit ...

After inputting my W2 and interest income, it looks like I owe $364 Federal, and will get a $31 state refund.

I still need my W2 from my parking garage job, but I only made a few hundred dollars with that, so I don't think it should affect it too much.

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I got my invitation, etc. order from Vista print today. Oops. Major oops. I read it over and over and over before hitting order. Still, I missed something big. Like ... the date. Not on the invite at all. Luckily I have plenty of time to get it redone, plus I think I'd like to use a different picture (the one we're getting done on Sunday.)

Sigh. At least it wasn't 150 invitations, right?

---
I checked into the catering place C told me about - $2000 min. on a Sunday. Next!

--
Tomorrow I'm going to be picking up my dress, and also stopping at the rentals place.

I haven't heard back from the bakery - although the lady may have told me the person didn't get back til tomorrow.

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Cashed out for $10 from PACT last night.

Patient Saver's post made me curious to see what my totals were for the year. This is really the first year I've actually managed to almost 100% of the time track my finances faithfully. I've been using YNAB since around 2006, but would go months+ at a time without tracking ...

So ... I think this will give me a good basis to start with at least.

I'm going to go with my biggest expense to smallest, then look at savings.

---
Rent - 5,160 - 430/month
Groceries - 2153.25 - 179.74/month average
This is a lot more than I would like to spend on groceries. I would like to get my average down to 150/month for 2016 - including any treat type foods. (This groceries figure does not include treats.)

Tithe - 10% of net - rent (This is what my dad, a pastor told me was a good way to figure for tithe.)

Medical - $1286.91 - 107.24/month
This includes an $800 ER bill from fainting in March. Here's hoping that there won't be any big bills like this in 2016! (Not included is the $700 of FSA money which was completely spent.)

Vacation - 974.88 - $81.xx/month
About $500 of this was reimbursed by my aunt for my CA trip. Most of the rest was from when my mom came out here to visit me.

Internet - 865.91 - 72.16
Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. I hate how much I am paying for this, but unless I gave up Internet completely, it is unavoidable. (Nothing cheaper available that has WiFi.)

Restaurants - $545.42 - $5.45
OH MY WORD! This is an entirely ridiculous amount of money to have spent eating out / fast food places. $35 of it is for a restaurants $200 credit, but still. Way too much money. My goal in 2016 is to not eat at fast food place or restaurants unless I'm with someone else. Hopefully this will cut this amount down a lot. (Plus using the $200 credit for gift certificates.)

Electronics - $463.38
Thanks to losing my phone this year ... plus a couple cheap smartphones for PerkTv use, etc.

Electricity - 452.54 - 37.71/average

Giving - 451.80 - 37.65 average
Not as much as I'd like to do. For 2016 I've added two new categories to up this amount a little.

Car Insurance - 433.60 - 36.13 average

Household - 419.23 - 34.94 average
This includes $100 to the housecleaner UGH, plus replacing shower curtain, etc. Cleaning supplies, new to me loveseat, bookcase etc.

Treats - 397.69 - 33.14 average
I think I actually spent more in this category than this that got "lumped" in to the groceries category ... Really need to get this one WAY down.

Gym - 395.63 - 32.97 average
Sigh. I signed up in March and by September pretty much have stopped going. I have a two-year contract - I really need to get over there and see what it would cost to get out of it. Or somehow get myself going there again.

Kari - 337 - 28.08 average
Stocking up on cat food/wet food/litter, replacing litter boxes/scoops, license fees, etc.

Auto Fuel - 326.84 - 27.24 average
Not too bad I guess. This includes several extra tanks in March when I was driving back and forth from the hospital for NE.

Phone - 321.69 - 26.81 average
This includes the ETF from ATT and several months of no phone bills due to Ting credits.

Car Care - 312.11 - $26.09 average
A couple of oil changes, transmission fluid, wiper blades, etc.

Natural Gas - 306.50 - 25.54 average
The sad thing is that there is a $14/month "customer fee" irregardless of actual usage. So really the lowest possible to get this would be about $18/month. And they are talking about raising the "customer fee."

Clothing - 193.51 - 16.13/average
This is two pairs of shoes for work/church, bras, new pair of jeans, and misc. items throughout the year.

Car Tax - 175.09
Yearly car tax

Beauty - 154.26 - 12.86 average
The majority of this is from my treating my aunt and grandma to a mani/pedi at Thanksgiving time

Gifts - 83.01 - 6.92 average
I actually spent more than this, but was able to use Amazon money to pay for most gifts.

Miscellaneous - 80.85
This includes library fines, and other small things that don't really need a category.

Tax Prep - 34.98
This will be less this year since I only have to do one state's taxes.

Entertainment - 15
Bought a CD from a concert

Movies - 10
Two movies (matinees)

iTunes - 6.41
A couple of apps

Savings:
7% of my gross salary is automatically deducted to my 401b, plus a matching 9% from my company.

On my own, I also put $2500 into ROTH savings.

Between cash savings, retirement savings, stock growth, etc., my networth went up roughly 20k this year. (At one point it was up much, much, much more ....)

So .. of my total income this year, I kept ~18% of it, plus the ROTH savings, plus the 7% which was automatically taken from my paycheck.

So, a rough estimate of my savings rate for the year would be about 35%. Not great, but not horrible either.

2016 will be interesting because I'll hopefully be saving a LOT more until August, but then will be spending a HUGE chunk around September.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes.

It was a pretty low-key birthday ovearall. Tomorrow night NE and I will be going out to a fancy restaurant here (still working on the gift certificate problem ..)

NE stopped by between deliveries to tell me happy birthday in person.

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So ... what are my mini-goals for year 40?

I've been thinking about a lot of the different goals I've had, and how I've managed to do some .. for awhile, and others not really at all. I think maybe part of it was that some of the goals were too big / too much all at once.

So .. I decided that I'm going to try doing mini-goals. I'm going to choose one or two things to focus on for 30 days (or so) and not worry about the rest. Then if those goals are doing well, I'll add something new.

I'm hoping that by doing it this way, the mini-goals will become deeply ingrained habits.

So ... here are some of the mini-goals I'm thinking about:

MG1: Do something for 15 minutes (or more) every day that helps improve my environment. (Cleaning, decluttering, putting up pictures, etc.)

MG2: Say "Oh Well." When someone does something that gets you flustered or upset, or you're thinking that you'd really like something (junkfood) but know you aren't going to have it ... say "Oh Well." That's their problem / I'd rather be healthy / I'd rather have the money for ....

MG3: Do something active for at least 15 minutes everyday intentionally.

MG4: Do something for your spiritual health at least 15 minutes a day (read the Bible, pray, memorize verses, etc.)

MG5: Do something for your personal growth at least 15 minutes a day (play the piano, use Duolingo to practice Spanish, etc.)

MG6: Do something for others at least 2x a week (work on church library, volunteer, etc.)

MG7: Connect with others at least 2x a week (email/letter/phone call) Have at least 1x a week be someone different than the week before.

MG8: Turn off computer/phone by 10 p.m.

MG9 - Floss every day before going to bed.

MG10 - Give yourself a manicure or pedicure once a week.

Others may be added as I think of them.

---
Financial Goals:

Main Financial Goal - Make spending decisions based on category balances only.

I have 3 main savings goals for this coming year -

High Priority - House Downpayment. This is where my regular savings, 90% of Windfalls (bonuses, tax refunds, SBs paypal earnings, survey earnings, etc.) will go. I'm hoping to hit $4k by September, and then probably sell up to ten shares of stock to add to the amount. (Goal of house purchase in September. Starting the process in August.)

Medium Priority Car Replacement - This will be getting a set amount of $50/month til #1 isn't needed.

Low Priority Remote Car starter - Leftover amounts in groceries, gas and utilities will be funneled here. (Would like to have $350 by September/October.)

Other Goals/Decisions:

I am no longer going to be purchasing ready made treats/sweets for consumption at home or at work. I can purchase the *ingredients* to MAKE treats for myself (such as chocolate chips to go into cookies) but not store-bought cookies.

Eating out / Fast Food is only going to be something that happens WITH another person.

Soda is an OH WELL item.

----
Today I started with MG1 and 2. (My focus for the next 30 days.) When I got home from work, as soon as I changed into something warm, I spent about 45 minutes picking up, putting away, throwing away. The place already looks much better. (It will need several more days of 15 minute sessions to be looking "good.")

I'm hoping I can develop the attitude (in my mind at least) of Oh Well at work in dealing with some of the people that whine and complain. That way maybe I can deal with it for 15 more years.

The Oh Well is also going to be replacing my habit of Coke and Chocolate on stressful days. Oh Well - the day stunk like donkey balls - I'll live another day. (Thankfully there are quite a few short weeks in this coming 30 day period which hopefully will help make this habit easier to form! )

So ... I had lots of ideas and plans for year 39. Those plans and ideas worked about as well as most New Year's resolutions.

Nevertheless, a new decade of life means maybe plans and ideas and goals can be a bit better off than just another set of resolutions. We'll see I guess.

Financially I did okay. As of now I have quite a few LTP (long term planning) funds fully funded and have started on the Car and House funds.

Health/weight wise ... um ... If I remember what I started at last December ... Well ... I pretty much maintained I guess. I pretty much haven't been to the gym in at least 3 months (although I have been exercising - just not at the gym.)

Friendship wise ... While I still don't have anyone here I "hang out" with outside of church activities, I am a little more involved. Maybe eventually that will lead to something. Someday.

Relationship wise .... Mostly good, with some frustrations that rear themselves at times overly much. But that generally tends to happen when I'm way overtired.

Job wise - Most days/most of the time it's ok. I have a great boss, and a couple co-workers I also like. The co-workers who were causing drama before have pretty much completely laid off. So ... it's tolerable.

It's definitely helping being able to take time off now and then to get away. Like today - I took off to have a long weekend as my birthday present to myself. Although I might have taken today off anyway because Sunday I did something to my back, plus feeling miserable cold/allergies. (My back is feeling better tonight, as are my cold/allergies.)

--
Yesterday NE and I went to the local urgent care place because NE had a finger infection. (Most likely from him biting off a hang nail ... When I asked him if he was going to stop doing that - Why? 1st problem in 49 years? - Ohhhhkaaayyy.)

While we were waiting for his prescription to get filled, we went over to SuperTarget. I had $2 coupons for cat litter (Scoop Away 25lb) plus the Savings Catcher had 25% off it. I unfortunately forgot my Red Card though - asked at the front desk and was told to bring my receipt the next time and they'd make an adjustment.

Of course ... I wasn't used to having NE along on a shopping trip, so I also spaced using the coupons (but not the savings catcher!)

I went back to Target today and was able to get both the 5% adjustment and the $4 in coupons! (I also bought a 3rd box with a coupon. Kari is SET for litter for a long time!)

--
While I was out today I also stopped at Walmart - mainly to pick up a few iBotta items - definitely things I'll use, but didn't need right now. I also was really wanting to find a Terry's Chocolate Orange .... no luck. Stopped at a few other places too. All sold out.

---
I cashed out for $20 from iBotta today, and also for $25 PayPal from Swagbucks.

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I got a postcard from my doctor letting me know that I need to schedule a baseline mammogram .... Oh the joys of my new decade. I was going to do it today, but then realized that I don't know what my bosses schedule is like ... so need to get that info first.

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My aunt (who Thrifty Ray has met) has really gotten into knitting since retiring. While I was in CA over Thanksgiving she made me slippers, and had me pick out the yarn for an afghan. She texted me today to let me know that it was finished! I might have it here by Friday. So cool! (Or should I say, so warm!)

Now that we can post pics again, I'll post a picture of it when I get it.

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If I'm on the upward mend of this cold on top of allergies thing, then hopefully within the next few days I'll have the energy to get my apartment back into shape. I'd really hate for the property manager to come in right now ... (not dirty, just really, really cluttered/messy)

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Oh! I almost forgot. I logged in to restaurant . com today to buy the gift certificate for the fancy place NE and I will be going to on Thursday night. Only to find out that my $200 credit seemed to have completely disappeared!! I checked on Living Social to make sure they hadn't reversed the offer I'd purchased or something ...

I wrote customer service and got a form reply telling me how to redeem an offer. Ugh! I replied ... nothing back yet.

SO VEry Aggravating. (I bought a $200 r.com gift certificate for $35 from Living Social. I hadn't used any of it yet!)

Well it seems like I have developed a cold on top of my allergies. Ugh. So having Allegra D (24 hr) and Flonase in my system daily, and STILL sneezing, sniffling and coughing ... not much else to do but tough it out.

I've been incredibly tired and having a hard time getting myself to do anything I don't absolutely have to do. So ... the robe that I was asked to mend near the end of November ... which was needed by today ... guess when I actually started on it? This morning about 5 a.m. I finished it about 8:30 a.m. (Reattaching braiding on edges in places the cloth had pulled away, and sewing armholes together to a less huge gap.)

I took it with me to church today and gave it to the lady in charge of costumes (it's for a drive through Nativity tonight.)

Church was awesome - it was the spoken/musical Christmas story week. I think this year's story was based on a TransSiberian Orchestra musical? (One of the songs was Music Box Blues, the rest were normal Christmas sonts - i.e. Silent Night, etc.) I wish I'd been a little more with it/not so sleepy - but still very much enjoyed it.

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I did not go to the Friday night concert. I realized by Wednesday that I just would NOT be up to it -plus I had that darn robe to do! Part of it also was that I didn't have any money set aside in a concert category - my fun money had pretty much been spent between the Groupon pizza deal and the Living Social Restaurant.com deal. I need to make a separate category for concerts which is NOT to be whacked from for other things. Even if I just put a few dollars in it each month ...

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I was looking on Amazon for a purse (mine is getting really shabby.) While on there I looked at my gift card balance. Ouch! I've been buying ebooks $.99 and $1.99 here and there ... and it's really cut into my balance! So ... back to my old rule of only "buying" the freebies!

I did find a purse that I think will work, but I'm going to wait until I have something else to order with it - free shipping. (The purse is $14)

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Year 40 is quickly approaching. (Like ... Tuesday quickly. Yikes.) I'm thinking about some changes I'd like to make. Some health wise, some financial, one other possible major change ...

I found a house which would be so perfect ... $55k! Has a one-car garage, enclosed front porch, backyard, fence, basement (990 sq ft, 2 br, 1.5 bath)... If there's one out there now, then maybe in August when I can seriously start looking, there's bound to be another one - maybe even more perfect.

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I got my $25 Walmart card from SBs on Friday. So ... I printed it out and went shopping. I had been thinking of getting an Ampore Pedicure device (had a $5 coupon plus a $5 rebate) but just couldn't do $20+ after coupon/rebate. Especially when I found something similar for $10.

After coupons I spent $44.xx total. Minus the giftcard, it was about $19.xx. I got $4.75 in rebates from iBotta, $.60 rebate from MobiSave, $.20 from Snap, $.25 from Checkout 51, and $1 from SavingStar. (None of which I've actually cashed out on yet though.)

I'm $.30 away from cashout on iBotta. I would have been over the cashout limit, but didn't realize one of the items required 2 purchases. Ugh.

---
I cashed out for another $25 AGC from Perk today. Will get that on Monday.

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I did some more messing with my YNAB budget this weekend. I realized that my health insurance OOP is $2000, but through my FSA I have about $800. So ... I reduced that category to $1200 and spread the $800 into other categories.

I also eliminated another LTP category, which added $65 into the budget.

What this all means is that I'll now focus my LTP savings on 3 goals - House Downpayment, Car Replacement, and the Remote Starter.

Speaking of the Remote Starter - On Groupon there was a deal to get it done for $170 in O town. Less than half of the price I was quoted here. Unfortunately, there was only $23 in that category. Maybe that deal will come around again when I have the money ready for it.

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Oh! If you remember me talking about the vegge hot pockets I made last Sunday? Well I had a good amount of veggie filling leftover.

Finally on Thursday night I managed to do something with the leftovers! I added a couple eggs, some more flavorings, and a box of Jiffy cornbread mix. Then I formed "patties" and baked them for 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

They are YUMMY! Even NE liked them (he wasn't too sure about my adding the Jiffy mix to the batter - but turns out it worked out just right!)

I really need to get the remaining hot pockets and patties frozen though ...

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I almost forgot a funny from my grocery shopping ... two of the rebates were for loose carrots. It didn't specify a quantity. So ... I bought ONE loose bulk carrot. It cost $.10. 1 rebate was for $.50, and the other was for $.20. So ... I made $.60 profit.

NE and I went out for pizza Sunday night. I found a Groupon deal for $9 for $20 worth of food. The waitress was a little bit ... not with it. She wasn't very attentive to us, but when I got the check and was looking it over, I noticed a handwritten $1.75 on the bottom. Not even loudly, I said, "What's this $1.75?"

From across the room, waitress shouts out that it was the drink (NE's.) I figured that out almost as soon as I said it - but it being handwritten had thrown me.
(She'd forgotten to include it on our ticket at first because she thought we were getting the special which included a drink.)

--
I also bought a deal from Living Social which I think will be really good. It was $35 for a $200 Restaurant.com gift card. I already used $10 of it to buy a $25 gift certificate for a local fancy restaurant we're going to for my birthday. (It will be pretty easy to spend $50 there.)

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There's a Steven Curtis Chapman concert here this week. I was really, really tempted to buy a ticket. $25. But ... I really didn't want to go by myself. Plus I just haven't seemed to pick up any energy - in fact I went home early from work yesterday.

I've decided to not go.

---
I did some shopping on Sunday - made back around $7 between ibotta and MobiSave. Spent about $35 grocery money and $20 cat money.

I also did some cooking. I've been buying single carrots and red peppers, etc., because there've been iBotta rebates on them - so wanted to use them.

I chopped up the zucchini, carrots, onion, broccoli, (actually put in the food processor ... )and then took two cans of Pilsbury's Grands and a can of Pillsubry Croissants (coupon/rebate deal) and made veggie hot pockets! Yummy!

Of course ... I still haven't gotten started on fixing the robe for the Nativity drive through that is happening on the 12th. It really shouldn't take too long to do, just have to DO it!

Other than Sunday, I haven't spent any money this week.

--
Hard to believe there is only one week left of my 30's. If what happened at work yesterday is any indication - my 40's won't find me being any less klutzy. (Dropped one of those big calculators and broke it completely. Offered to pay for a replacement - my boss told me not to worry about it.)

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How many of you actually wear robes? I keep being given robes as gifts ... and well, I've never seen the point of them really. So ... they end up hanging around somewhere in my house for years, and then get given away. My mom is sending a robe for NE ... he isn't a robe person either.

Maybe if I was someone more into fixing up my face, etc. before getting dressed or something? Or if I had other people (other than partner) living with me?

Really, what is the purpose of a robe? Just curious really if I'm the oddball out on this one or not.

I obviously did not stick with the moratorium on purchasing junk food/fast food this month. However, I did much better than previous months. So ... there is that.

Some of the spending comes from budgeted money / reimbursed funds. For example, I treated myself and my aunt/grandma to manis/pedis and to a meal out.

I also made the decision this month to make my larger "savings" category more granular. I had nearly the $10k goal amount I set for my EF - but decided to reduce it and spread it amoungst smaller/more specific categories. Some of the money in LTP is new, most is not.

I forgot my password for iBotta, otherwise I'd have another $10 in my extra funds (which would go into the Remote Starter fund.)

I did buy several Christmas gifts, but they were all covered with AGC money. I still have over half of what I started with left too.

Spending
Tithe - 10%
Charitable - 30
Rent - 430
Gym - 41.73
Groceries - 124.65
Phone - 25.80
Internet - 85.07
Natural Gas - 22.36
Electricity - 32.68
Fuel - 15.58
Medical - 12.86
Kari - 22 (license renewal, new scooper)
Beauty - 106
Car Care - 229.65 (transmission flush, wipers, rotation, etc.)
Household - 22.49
Vacation - 75
Treats - 28.17
Restaurants - 61.49

Extra Income
Walmart: Savings Catcher - $5.18
Perk AGC - $25
MobiSave - $13.75
Bing AGC - $10
Swagbucks AGC - $25
Swagbucks PP - $25
Pact - $10
Pinecone - $15
SavingStar - $5.16
Interest - $26.xx

Long Term Planning
01 Income Replacement (expenses only) - Funded
02 House Downpayment - +40
03 Car Replacemennt - +25
04 Car Deductible - Funded
05 Health Ins OOP - Funded
06 Vet Emergency - +611.70
07 Travel Emergency +611.70
08 Future - +$50
09 Remote Starter +9.89
10 New Computer +65
11 New Phone +65

P.S. Thanks everyone for your comments yesterday/today.

PPS - Work was pretty good today.

We had our first real snow last night/today! It was so beautiful this morning when I finally made myself get out of bed and going.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go out driving in it however .. so settled in for a relaxing morning. One thing I ended up doing was signing up for a 3 month Spotify trial for $.99 on Swagbucks - 300 SBs. I gotta say .. I like it so far. Not enough to justify $10/month after the trial, but I do like it.

Early this afternoon the snow started melting ... so I made myself get out and do some errands.

First thing I did was deposit the money my aunt gave me for my airplane ticket. (cash) Then I went to a credit union I'd opened an account at when I first moved here and closed out my accounts - $37.

That $37 wasn't accounted for in my budget (in fact, I thought I only had $35.) So I decided I'd let myself play with the money a bit.

That sent me to Walmart. The first thing I did was take a sample video cassette of each type to the photo counter. I found out it would cost $25 for each 2 hour length DVD -- plus I wouldn't be able to do any editing before hand.

I got the name of two other places in town where I might be able to both watch/edit beforehand AND transfer to DVD. If memory serves me correctly, the videos are going to need a LOT of editing ...

My first priority really are the slides though. The cost at Walmart for 40 slides/DVD was about $25. Ouch. I'd be roughly guessing here, but I think I have at least 3 or 4000 slides. And I only took the ones starting in 1977 - the year my parents got married (I was 2 yrs old.) I don't plan on using ALL the slides, but even if I culled 10% ... this may be a multi-year project. Multi-year Christmas gifts ...

I bought about $20 worth of groceries, etc. at Walmart (3 of which work for iBotta rebates.) It won't come out of my grocery budget though, since it was unbudgeted money.

I had about $13 left. Then I stopped at the library to return some overdue books. I walked out with about $2. Darn you library fines!

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Question ... how would you react?

Every week I do NE's and I's laundry. He only has a few pieces of clothing he wears all week. So I add in my own stuff to make a full load. He provides the quarters. I provide the detergent and labor.

Last night after he collected his clothes from where I'd left them, he made a remark about our socks being mixed together. I was a bit miffed, and told him all it took was 2 seconds for him to pick out his own socks. He replied something about "should do laundry right." I told him he was more than welcome to do his own laundry if he thought I wasn't doing it right.

He thinks I was making too big of a deal of it. Notice - no where in there was any thanks for doing my laundry, etc.

To me, I don't mind doing the laundry. What irks me to high heaven is being told I'm not "doing it right" - especially when coupled with no expression of appreciation for my doing it in the first place. (He thinks he shouldn't have to tell me thanks since he's providing the quarters and I'm doing my laundry at the same time. Notice - he didn't do his laundry while I was gone - even though he had a key to the laundry room here and could've used my soap ...)

Anyway .. just curious about how other's might react in this situation.

---
So not excited about going back to work tomorrow. At least I have several holidays to look forward to this month.

Two weeks left of Year 39. Yikes!

Well I took my list of what I wanted to get at CVS, Target and Walmart along with the list of what coupons and available rebates I had and went shopping.

I ran into my first glitch at CVS - they didn't have the 5ct Allegra D 24 hr or 10ct Allegra D 24 hr. I only had a coupon with me for those sizes. Ugh. So I ended up just getting a pack of Orbit gum ($.50 after rebate.)

Then I headed to Target. I couldn't find the bread I wanted, so I got a different kind. Then when checking the cereal out, I realized that the Any Cereal rebate was vamooshed! As was the Any Cookies rebate. Ugh. Both had been there as of 11:30 p.m.

I got out of Target for $47.xx - that was after coupons, Target discounts, and using the 5% debit card (which I got today.) Part of the haul included 2 Terry's Chocolate Oranges (which I have been looking all over for!) and two large jugs of Gold Peak Sweet Tea for NE (thank you gift for taking care of Kari while I was gone.) (I have to mention ... I managed to control myself and ONLY buy two Amy's meals. )

Next I hit up Walmart. I couldn't find some of the things I wanted (like Challenge Cream Cheese) but got most of what was on my list. After using $20.18 in gift cards ($15 from Bounts, $5.18 from Savings Catcher) and ~$7 in coupons, I walked about paying $5.47.

I'll be getting $4.50 back from MobiSave, $4.60 from iBotta, and $3 from SavingStar. I've submitted my new Walmart receipt to Savings Catcher - so will have to wait and see if I get anything from that.

I'll have to go back to CVS tomorrow with a coupon for the 10ct 24 hr Allegra D ($5 off) because I'm down to one left. I found two $5 coupons and a $4 one - all expire on December 29. I'm not sure how I'll be able to use all of them before they expire (unless NE decides he needs some Allegra D ... )

Other than the Allegra though, I think I will be done with spending for the coming week (outside of rent,etc.).

---
ION - The great weight loss challenge ... I managed to lose 1 lb this month. Better than nothing, right? NE will weigh in when he gets here later - hope he's done better than me.

Sunday I actually managed to motivate myself to do some housework. In about 30 minutes I got my place looking/smelling almost as good as it did after the housecleaner lady was here.

I also spent some time at the church working in the library. I got the rest of the books recorded in LibraryThing and did some reorganizing/labeling. I realized though that the labels that were left for me aren't going to work. Am thinking about how to do it better ... (Also trying to figure out how to check books out via LibraryThing's app.)

I earned a $10 ECB from CVS for setting up the prescription reminder service. I tried finding things that also had rebates or ECB to make it stretch further. But except for one item with a $1 rebate from MobiSave, CVS didn't have what I was looking for. So I did end up spending just $.40 more than the $10 ECB plus got $1 rebate (MobiSave.)

This month I've gotten $8 from MobiSave - they nearly immediately send the money to your paypal - no waiting to reach a payout amount. Pretty cool.

I also went to the local grocery store and got bananas ($.39/lb) and some other stuff (can't remember right now.) That was under $10.

Sunday night NE and I went to a Mexican restaurant in Seward, NE - we both got fajitas. His were beef, mine were veggie. I had leftovers for lunch today. Yum! (NE's treat this month.)

We're planning on doing something next Sunday as "our" Thanksgiving meal since I'll be in CA next week. Might just make a pizza or something.

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Tonight I was debating about going to see a local high school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. It would have been $8 at the door. I was really tempted, but ended up deciding to stay home instead.

Cooked up my sweet potatoes and a cups worth of quinoa which I'm dividing up for dinners.

Tomorrow night I'm planning on cooking up some veggies and soup, and also grilling/frying those Quorn patties. Then add that to my dinner rotations.

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I think it was yesterday that I cashed out mypoints for a $25 AGC. I'm thinking it will be a long time before the next cash out there.

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NE applied for a Paypal credit card and was approved instantly. (I think that made him feel pretty good.) All the better for improving the credit score. (I wonder if the paypal card has the Fico feature?

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Walgreen's had a really tempting offer today - buy a Fitbit Charge ($129) and get 30k points. That's roughly $40. Maybe they'll have the same deal again next year ... When I get my next Achievemint app money ($100 - 71% of the way there!), I'll set it aside in the Health category so I can get the charge if I really want it next year.

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It makes me so sad what some people are posting on FB about the recent events. And how infantile some governors are acting. Mine included. Ugh.