I went over to the school today to check my mail and see what if anything was happening. To my surprise, I received a card from My English Castle. I guess I've given enough clues for someone to figure out the name of the school I'm at (not that there's many in this neck of the woods ...or should I say, desert?) Thank you MEC, that was very thoughtful.

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This morning I used my elliptical for the first time since moving here. I managed to make it 30 minutes - the little computer on it said I'd gone 4.3 miles, but ... I kind of find that hard to believe.

Kari was slightly scared of the machine, but was also very interested, so kept coming near it. Thankfully not near enough to get hit though!

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Last night I was really wanting to eat some ice cream I have in my freezer. Instead, I ate a banana!

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This morning I took my car over to the place my co-worker recommended. I asked them to go over it with a fine tooth comb and see if there was anything they thought was a possible problem (safety wise.) They spent a good two hours on it! The end result was that they told me that my car looks like it is in good shape - they didn't see any potential problems.

So ... that is now two mechanics/places that have told me the same thing. Neither of them mentioned anything about the things holding the engine in - so I'm not sure what to make of that.

I also asked for an estimate of how much to change out the timing belt/water pump. $300!!! Including labor!! (I really thought it would be closer to $8 or 900 - at the dealership they charged me $1100 back in 2003/4.) I also asked them how much it would cost to fix my cig lighter. $10 - changed the fuse. Now I just have to find my car charger (if I still even have it...)I also asked about fixing the windshield wiper - that would be $90, so I passed on it. (It only works on two speeds - medium and fast.)

They charged me $20 for the fuse and tightening my a/c belt plus the two-hours of looking over my car. I thought that was very reasonable. I'm going to take it back tomorrow to get the timing belt changed.

In case you haven't guessed already, I have decided to take a chance on getting another year out of my car.

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Tithing $135.00
Offering $15.00
Phone $75.00
Internet $30.00
Netflix $9.00
Food $160.00
Auto Fuel $90.00
Fun Money $40.00
Medical/Dental $100.00
Clothing $10.00
Household/Misc. $30.00
Car Ins. $12.00
Life Ins. $16.00
Renter's Ins. $14.00
Gifts/Christmas $15.00
Professional $15.00
Kari (CAT) $25.00
Car Savings
(Repair/Replace)$255.00
Vacation $50.00
ROTH $100.00
EF $20.00

Most of these categories will stay the same going forward, except:

Medical/Dental -- I have a Dentist appt. and a blood draw this month. Normally this would be $50/mo

Car Savings: Should be closer to $388/mo.

ROTH - This is what I have been doing, but starting next month I plan to increase it to $150/mo.

EF - I'm mostly concentrating on my car savings right now, but going forward this will be $50/mo.

Car/Life/Renter's are all paid either annually or 2x a year.

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Today's Spending:

Car Stuff: $20
Auto Fuel: $31.71 (will come out of August's budget - I was on fumes otherwise I would have waited til tomorrow.)

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I am seriously loving YNAB 4! I entered my transactions on my phone at the gas station and the auto place. When I got home, they were both already updated on my desktop version. Also, it is a lot simpler now to copy and paste my budget numbers now. So Yay! Great job Jesse!!

One thing I've noticed while out here in CA this summer is that most of my tops have a number of claw shaped holes in them, as well as some staining. I've seen Kari (my cat) in my closet before, but hadn't really realized how much damage she was inflicting on my clothing.

I decided that while I was in an area with an abundance of places to buy clothes, that I should try to replace a number of tops. So today my grandma and I went clothes shopping. I ended up buying 7 tops total - 3 from Walmart, 1 from Macy's, and 3 from Sears. The least expensive top was $5, and the most was $25. I'm very happy with all of them, and think they will help to upgrade my professional image. I was really hoping I could find a replica of this one particular top I bought at Lane Bryant 4 years ago which I absolutely love, but I didn't find anything close. (I've been looking ever since I realized how much I loved the top ...) It's at home (NM) so if I think about it I'll take a picture of it - maybe one of you have seen it somewhere ...

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***Please be advised, the following is a spewing of my thinking/thoughts arguing back and forth with myself ...

So in thinking about cars I took heed of the advice to look at certified cars. In my area (within 200 miles) there are 0 certified cars that are 2010 or newer AND less than $15k. There are 14 cars that are 2009 and newer AND less than $20k. So ... if I'm going to pay $14k+ for a car ... I'd rather get a brand new (last year model) with full warranty, etc., than a 2 - 4 year old car for the same $ or more.

When I get my next car, I want to be able to run it for a minimum of ten years. (My current car I've had since 1997 - bought new with 37 miles on it.) Since I live out in the boondocks (30+ miles to nearest town with more than two gas stations) I really cannot take many chances with the reliability of a vehcicle.

It would be great if I could find a car like my first one - a Hundayi Sonata that had sat in a grandma's garage and had 33k miles on it and was 4 years old .. in perfect condition. I paid $5k for it (in 1994) and drove it for 3 years, then sold it to my parents in 1997. My dad drove it for two more years (he put more miles on it in two years than it had on it when he bought it from me.)

I'm really looking at the Nissan Versa - mainly because it seems to get similar gas mileage to my Civic, it is a similar size/handling, and from my experiences riding in my co-workers Versa - seemed like a good car for the price range. I'd be open to other cars. Mostly what I'm lusting after is the ability to charge my phone via cig lighter and play my phone over the radio. Everything else I don't care about too much. (ok, I care a lot about gas mileage and size/handling - large part of why I ended up not taking on the Rogue.)

I could put $2 - 4k into my current car - change the timing belt, do whatever needs to be done to make sure the engine doesn't fall out, figure out how to get my cig lighter working again (was told $3-400), and install a radio (and just hope that it doesn't fry like my last radio fried ...), oh yeah, the shocks probably will need replacing soon and possibly the brakes within the next year or two .. Maybe I could get a new hood too ... My car might last another 4 years after all that, or .. the electrical system will go out or the a/c will fail and then my car'd be a goner or need a few thousand more dollars work ... Meanwhile my family would be getting more and more worked up about how unsafe my car is, and I'd be getting further and further behind on having the ability to get a new car with cash.

Or ... I could do all that and my car could keep going fine for another 4 or 5 years, and then I'd have more than enough time to save the funds needed to replace it.

Or .. I could buy a new car (last years model) for around $13-15k. Put down $4k in cash for it up front, and then use dealer financing for the other 8-11k. Depending on the dealer finance rate, either stick with it or borrow 10k from my grandma (5% finance rate) to pay it off. (I read in several places that you can work a better deal on the overall price if you go with dealer financing.) Then either way I went ... aggressively pay the car off within two years (any money left from dads estate after medical bills, using tax refunds and extra paychecks, plus whatever I can sell my Honda for.) Then have 7 - 8 years to save towards the next replacement car (while also having the ability to work on other financial goals.)

Whenever my family starts to chime in on how unsafe they think my car is, I tend to defend my car. But the reality is that every time I take a trip to ABQ (about a two-hour one-way) I do worry. I've kept up with the general maintenance and oil changes - but I've also had multiple minor accidents and mishaps over the years in it. The hood that is currently crumpled (due to me rear ending somoenone in Dec.) is actually the 4th hood my cars had (hail damage, running into a pipe sticking out the back of a truck and something else I can't remember ..) I was told before moving to NM that one of the things holding my engine in was completely corroded and that the other two were just a matter of time. My timing belt was last changed in 2003 or 4?? so it's probably on borrowed time. The computer in my car appears to be working fine right now - although it is the same one that was in my car when my radio fried... (it's the 4th computer in my car - 1st one died, replacement was stolen, 3rd one from junk yard was for a standard car and not automatic ..)

When I get back to NM in a week, I'm not really going to have time to do anything about this one way or the other. School starts on the 15th and I'm WAY behind in everything I feel like I need to have done. So ... maybe I'll wait till November when we have a week off for Thanksgiving. I'd have a lot more to put down by then, and my timing belt should *hopefully* hold out til then ...

(In doing further research about the best time to buy a car, it seems that there really is no consensus. So November might just be as good of a time as any other..)

---
I finally made enough Swagbucks to redeem for a $5 AGC today. 1st one this summer!

One thing I've noticed while out here in CA this summer is that most of my tops have a number of claw shaped holes in them, as well as some staining. I've seen Kari (my cat) in my closet before, but hadn't really realized how much damage she was inflicting on my clothing.

I decided that while I was in an area with an abundance of places to buy clothes, that I should try to replace a number of tops. So today my grandma and I went clothes shopping. I ended up buying 7 tops total - 3 from Walmart, 1 from Macy's, and 3 from Sears. The least expensive top was $5, and the most was $25. I'm very happy with all of them, and think they will help to upgrade my professional image. I was really hoping I could find a replica of this one particular top I bought at Lane Bryant 4 years ago which I absolutely love, but I didn't find anything close. (I've been looking ever since I realized how much I loved the top ...) It's at home (NM) so if I think about it I'll take a picture of it - maybe one of you have seen it somewhere ...

---
***Please be advised, the following is a spewing of my thinking/thoughts arguing back and forth with myself ...

So in thinking about cars I took heed of the advice to look at certified cars. In my area (within 200 miles) there are 0 certified cars that are 2010 or newer AND less than $15k. There are 14 cars that are 2009 and newer AND less than $20k. So ... if I'm going to pay $14k+ for a car ... I'd rather get a brand new (last year model) with full warranty, etc., than a 2 - 4 year old car for the same $ or more.

When I get my next car, I want to be able to run it for a minimum of ten years. (My current car I've had since 1997 - bought new with 37 miles on it.) Since I live out in the boondocks (30+ miles to nearest town with more than two gas stations) I really cannot take many chances with the reliability of a vehcicle.

It would be great if I could find a car like my first one - a Hundayi Sonata that had sat in a grandma's garage and had 33k miles on it and was 4 years old .. in perfect condition. I paid $5k for it (in 1994) and drove it for 3 years, then sold it to my parents in 1997. My dad drove it for two more years (he put more miles on it in two years than it had on it when he bought it from me.)

I'm really looking at the Nissan Versa - mainly because it seems to get similar gas mileage to my Civic, it is a similar size/handling, and from my experiences riding in my co-workers Versa - seemed like a good car for the price range. I'd be open to other cars. Mostly what I'm lusting after is the ability to charge my phone via cig lighter and play my phone over the radio. Everything else I don't care about too much. (ok, I care a lot about gas mileage and size/handling - large part of why I ended up not taking on the Rogue.)

I could put $2 - 4k into my current car - change the timing belt, do whatever needs to be done to make sure the engine doesn't fall out, figure out how to get my cig lighter working again (was told $3-400), and install a radio (and just hope that it doesn't fry like my last radio fried ...), oh yeah, the shocks probably will need replacing soon and possibly the brakes within the next year or two .. Maybe I could get a new hood too ... My car might last another 4 years after all that, or .. the electrical system will go out or the a/c will fail and then my car'd be a goner or need a few thousand more dollars work ... Meanwhile my family would be getting more and more worked up about how unsafe my car is, and I'd be getting further and further behind on having the ability to get a new car with cash.

Or ... I could do all that and my car could keep going fine for another 4 or 5 years, and then I'd have more than enough time to save the funds needed to replace it.

Or .. I could buy a new car (last years model) for around $13-15k. Put down $4k in cash for it up front, and then use dealer financing for the other 8-11k. Depending on the dealer finance rate, either stick with it or borrow 10k from my grandma (5% finance rate) to pay it off. (I read in several places that you can work a better deal on the overall price if you go with dealer financing.) Then either way I went ... aggressively pay the car off within two years (any money left from dads estate after medical bills, using tax refunds and extra paychecks, plus whatever I can sell my Honda for.) Then have 7 - 8 years to save towards the next replacement car (while also having the ability to work on other financial goals.)

Whenever my family starts to chime in on how unsafe they think my car is, I tend to defend my car. But the reality is that every time I take a trip to ABQ (about a two-hour one-way) I do worry. I've kept up with the general maintenance and oil changes - but I've also had multiple minor accidents and mishaps over the years in it. The hood that is currently crumpled (due to me rear ending somoenone in Dec.) is actually the 4th hood my cars had (hail damage, running into a pipe sticking out the back of a truck and something else I can't remember ..) I was told before moving to NM that one of the things holding my engine in was completely corroded and that the other two were just a matter of time. My timing belt was last changed in 2003 or 4?? so it's probably on borrowed time. The computer in my car appears to be working fine right now - although it is the same one that was in my car when my radio fried... (it's the 4th computer in my car - 1st one died, replacement was stolen, 3rd one from junk yard was for a standard car and not automatic ..)

When I get back to NM in a week, I'm not really going to have time to do anything about this one way or the other. School starts on the 15th and I'm WAY behind in everything I feel like I need to have done. So ... maybe I'll wait till November when we have a week off for Thanksgiving. I'd have a lot more to put down by then, and my timing belt should *hopefully* hold out til then ...

(In doing further research about the best time to buy a car, it seems that there really is no consensus. So November might just be as good of a time as any other..)

---
I finally made enough Swagbucks to redeem for a $5 AGC today. 1st one this summer!

This morning I got up and got my run in - did 1.5 miles running in 14:39 pace. Then I did another mile walk/run in 15:12 pace. I think I may be getting close to being ready for another 5k. In fact ... I'm looking at a 5k race on August 12 in ABQ ... The weekend before school starts. The race is early in the morning, so I could make a day of it in the big city. It might be kind of fun actually - especially if I can get anyone to come with me.

My first 5k race was Too Hot To Handle and I think it was in mid-July 2008?? My dad was there cheering me on and took before and after pictures, as well as making a short video of it. He loved hearing all about my races when he wasn't able to make them.

Sigh.

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Today we went to the bank and got all my dads accounts closed out. I had them give my grandma a cashiers check for the amount I think was hers. (For some reason dad had an account in his name with her money ...the only way I figured out this was the account she was talking about is because of my dad's meticulous record keeping.) The rest was made in a cashiers check to me. I was going to deposit it into ING via picture deposit, but after opening the app to do it realized the amount was too large.

So tomorrow I'll deposit it into my Bofa account, and once I have ING and Bofa linked, I'll be able to move the money to ING. THEN I'll be able to pay the credit card bill that I put the funeral expenses onto. Whew. It's not due til mid-August, so I'm not worried.

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We had to get two documents notarized today. That cost $30. Thankfully no one else was there so we didn't have to wait. (There was no wait at the bank, but it took nearly two-hours to close out the accounts!)

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Next we stopped at the stock place where my dad had an account and started the process to transfer them to my name.

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Then we went to Walgreen's and picked up a prescription. (There are few Walgreen's in this area, but lots of Rite Aides.)

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Finally we went out to dinner at this Asian food place. Today is my Egypt Aunt and Uncle's 42nd wedding anniversary. They are high-school sweethearts.

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Before all of the above though ... I made a phone call to my internet service provider. I really didn't think it would do any good at all, but decided to try.
I was able to get a reduction of $20/month on my bill!!! Woo hoo!!

Before the phone call, my grandma and I had a nice chat to kind of clear the air about the last couple days worth of drama. She *really* wants me to replace my car. She said if I really want a Versa, that she'd loan me the money to get it this coming October (end of fiscal year) and I could pay it back $150/month. I tried to tell her no outright, but she wasn't taking it. So I finally told her I'd take it under consideration and think about it.

I have about $3k right now that I could put towards a car, and I *might* be able to get $1000 for my car. By October I *might* be able to save $1500 more (if I *really* buckle down.) So ...that's roughly $5500. That would mean a loan of approximately $8000.

I know the timing belt needs to be changed *soon*. I also know that I was told a year ago that one of the things holding the engine in had gone bad, and that it was only a matter of time for one or both of the remaining ones to fail. I also know that there are many other things that could go wrong that I don't know about.

I think I could probably pay this loan off in 14 to 16 months. If I put all of my tax refund to it, and then also the two "extra* paychecks, plus as much as I can afford to throw at it otherwise. I absolutely abhor the idea of the loan, but ... if it is for a car I'm choosing (and that gets good gas mileage) maybe it would be better to get the new car before my current one really starts falling apart and become worth nothing.

**I could also possibly have some money from my dad's estate to put towards it depending on the amount of the medical bills. So, that could cut the payoff date to 8 to 10 months.

I'm not sure if I'm trying to rationalize taking a loan, or if this really may be the thing to do....

My plan (before dad died) was to wait til Oct, 2013 and go to a dealer at the end of the day towards the end of October and ask to see what Versas they have from the last year models stock. Then name the price I'm willing to walk out on. (Depending on the features, I was thinking somewhere between $12 and 13k.) If I take my grandma up on her offer ... I could do the same thing, only in Oct, 2012.

If my car were to break down before Oct 2013 and/or require really expensive repairs, then I might have to take the loan anyway and end up paying more for a car. I had no warning that my car's computer was about to die in the summer of 2009, but yet it did. I definitely cannot afford anything like that again with this car.

I don't have to decide this right now. I can see how much I'm able to put away in savings between now and the beginning of October. I can also check with the local mechanic who's been working on my car and see what he thinks I might really be able to get for it. Then decide one way or the other after running the numbers.

**No, I am not in the market for a used car. I've read all the arguments for and against. I know many people have great success with used cars. IF I had a mechanic I trusted completely AND was in an area where I could have a good number of used vehicles to choose from, I might consider it. Since neither is the case - last year's model is my way to go. **

I had a great time this past weekend meeting SA friends and spending time with my brother. If you are ever in Napa, be sure to take in the Wine Train - it is quite a fascinating experience.

It's been a drama filled 36 hours or so here in LL. The long and short of it is that I am no longer going to be taking over the car loan for my dad's Rogue. It's going to stay with my grandma who will sell it to recoup as much of the loan cost as possible. I will be keeping my paid for 97 Honda Civic and buckling down hard to save for my replacement car (which is sorely needed.)

I feel a sense of relief in that I'm not taking on a debt, but I also feel sad that we're letting dads car go and that I'm not going to have the majorly updated car (2010 model) with all the nifty features. After sitting for 7 weeks, I'm not sure what shape my car will be in ... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Starting in August I'm going to go on a cash basis for groceries, entertainment and the etc. stuff. I'm also going to attempt to lower my internet bill (only one provider in the area .. but will see if possible.) I need to start looking into the cost for making a will and living trust for a single person, as well as making sure that every bank account I have has a Payable On Death person listed and ALL my other accounts have a beneficiary listed. Then I will probably send my brother a sealed envelope with a list of accounts and passwords and update them twice a year or so (old copies to be destroyed without opening.)

I need to really save aggressively until September of 2013 or until I have at least $10k in my car fund. I probably will have to replace my timing belt sooner than later if I want to be sure my car lasts another 14 months ... so I need to start pricing that out.

Whenever I see a book I want to get for the library on Amazon that I don't have gift card money for ... I MUST learn to say NO!! If I don't, that will derail my car fund faster than anything else.

So it looks like I won't be able to enroll in any classes at my alma mater until 2013 Fall semester. Why? 1. The Americorps Education credit is counted as taxable income *the year you use it.* and 2. I am being forced to close out my 401k with the oil and gas company I worked at *by* July 15.

If I use my Education Award *and* rollover my 401k into my ROTH (which really is my only choice since I don't have a 401k with my current employer) that will add over $10,000 in taxable income for 2012. That means I would lose my "savers credit" for putting money into my ROTH, and more than likely bump me into another tax category.

I can't enroll in the Spring 2013 semester because they want you to have it paid mostly by December. So that money would be considered taxable income in 2012, even though it was used to pay for education in 2013. (This is what I ran into for tax year 2011 - I'd paid for my Spring 2011 classes in December, 2010, so all my scholarship money received in 2011 became taxable!)

The savers tax credit is worth about $700 for me. So, I could lose that $700 PLUS have to pay more in overall taxes. Unless I delay taking the classes for one-year. That would mean I'd have 3 years to complete the requirements for renewing my certification. Doable, but much more difficult than spread out over 4 years.

Ugh!!! I do have to count my blessings though ... if my principal wasn't forwarding my mail to me, I would not have even KNOWN about this until long past the deadline (July 15.) Then I would've had no choice on how the matter was handled. (The letter says something about how if you miss the deadline to make a decision, that the account will be handled according to IRS rules - whatever that means.)

I do have to wonder why they are forcing this now. It hasn't even been a full 4 years since I was laid off. I wonder if maybe the company is closing its doors, and so they are having to close out all the 401k accounts??

In thinking about it more, this actually is a good thing to do this now - before I've committed to classes and asked for payment from my education award. At least this happened before the tax consequences would be set in stone. And... I guess not getting the summer school money this summer is turning out to be a blessing too ... sort of. That plus the rollover would have pushed me over the tax savers credit (but not into a different tax category.)

*Yes, I could just pay for the courses with my own money, but I'd only be able to afford one course and then my savings would be pretty much gone. With having car payments now and higher auto insurance, I really don't feel good at all about that idea.

**The deadline for applying for Fall 2012 classes is July 15. I was actually working on that application this weekend, and only needed a couple pieces of information before pushing submit and paying the $60 application fee. So, I'm glad I found this now rather than later.

***ETA - Question?? Rolling over my 401k into my ROTH - will that affect how much I can contribute to it for the 2012 tax year? I already have $700 for 2012 in it, and the 401K would put it into the $5500 range, plus the amount I would otherwise contribute throughout the year.

Argh! My dad's ashes are going to be interred in the same cemtary/gravesite where his father is buried. In fact, there are many relations in the same area of the cemetary. So, we thought it would simply be a matter of digging a hole in the same gravesite as his father's, and redoing the headstone. Ha! Not quite.

This cemetary says that it is *mandatory*since there will be more than three people there to have: a canopy, a car to drive the remains to the gravesite, a funeral director, and ten chairs set up and something else I don't remember right now. It doesn't matter whether we want any of those things or not - we have no choice. (Well, our choice would be to not do it there ... but then it wouldn't be the same ...)

Oh well, I guess I just have to chalk it up to being what it is, and not worry about it.

--
I'm still waiting on the death certificates in order to start closing out accounts. I found out about something called "small estates" claim here in CA, so you can avoid probate if the estate is under $150k. You just have to wait 40 days from death to claim it. So for some things I may have to just wait til I can make that claim.

Just a note to everyone ... please, if you haven't done so recently, update your will and your list of accounts and anything else that might possibly be relevant to those you leave behind. It also would be a wonderful gesture to leave information behind about what kind of service you might like, whether or not you want to be cremated, and if you have any wishes as to where you'll be interred. All of that would just make things so much easier.

Once I'm back home in NM, I plan on starting on that process and checking into what it would cost to do a living trust - even though I have few assets, I think that still might be a good easy way to go. (I already told my brother I want to donate my body to science, be cremated, and don't care what happens to my ashes - whatevers least expensive. Also if I happen to have a lot of money in my estate it's to go to caring for whatever animals I have, then to a school library, and finally to a no-kill animal shelter.)

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Anyway, enough with the morbidity.

I was able to get a library card yesterday. This way I will be able to read through some of the children's books which my library and their library share in common. I didn't bring a list of books with me yesterday, so will have to wait til Sunday to go back and get some.

I also signed up for the local fitness center. I went to my first class on Wednesday. A 1 hr torture... er ... Pilates class. When it was finished, I seriously was worried whether or not I'd be able to walk out of the building without triping over my own two feet. I was going to do another class last night, but decided to wait til next week to do another one.

Today was day 10 of being back into jogging. I did 2 miles at a 15:43min pace. Not great, but still pretty good considering how long it's been since I've done any real exercise. If I keep this up, I might just run a few 5ks when I get back to NM (if I can find any.) My brother right now would be all over my backside for using the word "if." He wants us to do a half-marathon in honor of our dad. I told him maybe in another year or two ... (he runs an average 9:40 - 10 minute mile ... on *hills* - the fastest time I got to when running regularly was a little over 12min/mi - and that was only doing one mile!)

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I'm not spending hardly any money while I am here, which is good since I .ah hem.. spent a goodly sum on books, etc. before leaving NM (under the notion that I'd be getting summer school pay ...)

I have one more paycheck at what I had gotten used to this past year, and then the first paycheck in July will be the new amount (spread over 26 payperiods instead of 24 + a 1% raise.) So I'm not going to even think about my budget until I get back home in August. Then I'll figure it out again. Too many variables to think about right now.

This afternoon I had a Bart Simpson moment. DOH! Remember how I was thinking about going for my Graduate Academic Certificate at my alma mater, and I was wondering how I was going to afford it AND a new car? Err... if my alma mater accepts Americorp scholarship money, then I already have enough money for the first two courses!!

Now the thing is that the Americorp scholarship money counts as income (I believe only once you use it) so if I want to keep the savers credit for my taxes this year, I will need to wait til Spring 2013 (i.e. January) to take my first class. (Although they usually have you pay ahead of time ... so not sure how I can make sure that it isn't counted in 2012 income.)

My summer school pay + the scholarship would put me over the limit for the savers credit, and that would be a loss of about $700 (not to mention the higher tax bracket.) But anyway, I need to check with my school tomorrow to see if they accept Americorp funds - if they do - then problem solved! Woo hoo!

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This morning I stopped by our thrift store in town. I picked up a green bedsheet which I plan to use as a green backdrop in videos the kids make. I also picked up a plastic tablecloth which I need to find someone to now draw an oversized computer keyboard on. (The younger students will learn the location of the letters on the keyboard by standing and jumping on the keyboard.)

Then I went into G to return library books (gulp! $13 late fine!!!) and stopped at Goodwill. Major score there - 7 different baskets good for books, and an adorable wooden giraffe /basket.

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I decided to not take my trip to ABQ this week since I still have a lot to do to get the library in order for the first summer hours checkout (next Wednesday.)
My mom may be coming in on the 14th, so I'm thinking I'll go up on the 13th and do my thing, then pick her up the next day. She'll be on her own most of the 15th since that is our official planning day for summer school, and then I'd take her back on Sunday the 17th. I'll just have to make sure that I have *everything* ready for that Monday before I leave.

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Today I did a big grocery shop - mainly to finish out the $300 deal on Discover for groceries. I went to Albertson's this time - they were overpriced in some things, but okay on others. I found my Amy's Brown Rice and Veggies ($5.99!!! Arghh!!) and veggie hot dogs ($4.99!!) I didn't have a lot of groceries to get (and my freezer was already pretty full) so I decided to get $50 in Amazon gift cards and 2 $15 gift cards (Starbucks and McDonalds) which I'll use as good behavior prizes for the students. (We'll have an "auction" the last day of the three weeks - I have the 25 posters from the book fair, plus these two cards for auction items. They "earn" Star"bucks" by good behavior, etc.) I was hoping to get 2 or 3 $5 gift cards, but they only had $15, 25, and 50.

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My $8 from Beezag posted today in my Paypal account. Yay!

Yesterday was the last day of school. Yay! Wah! I am happy for the break, and the chance to get a lot of projects done in the library on my relaxed schedule (i.e. not at crack of morning), but I am going to miss the teachers who have left for other pastures. They mostly are the ones I hung around with and did things with this past year.

One of the new hires seems like she might be someone I could get along with, so I am somewhat hopeful. (Although she won't be here til August.)

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Today at church we had a guest speaker. He was really good. One quote I especially liked was, "God does not push or pull people, he draws them in." I need to remember that when it comes to various people in my life.

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So ... I have decided to do my budget a little differently. I divided my categories into two sections - The MUSTS and The Fluctuators. Included in the MUSTS is a Car Payment category an EF category and a Roth category. I then created a "loan" of $10,000 for my car. Using my total savings, I "paid" off $2000 of the loan, then subtracted another $2000 (from summer school) and then finally divided the remaining $6000 into 14 payments. This way I will have my car (mostly) funded by September, 2013. (My goal is to purchase my next car in October - end of month/fiscal year - purchase last year's model.)

Then I changed my EF goal to $2500, subtracted the amount I have right now in my BOFA account, and divided the remainder by 6.

Next I figured out how much I'd need to send to my ROTH each month to have $1800 sent by December, and divided that by 6.

After allocating money to the other MUSTS, the remainder goes into an unbudgeted slush fund which will be used to fund the Fluctuators. At the end of each month (by the 2nd) half of anything left in the slush fund will go to the car payment category.

I am going to treat the car "loan" as a real loan (minus interest). If I *really* had a loan, I'd be throwing everything I had at it till it was paid off ... so I'm hoping that same strategy will work here.

Will see.

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I've bought two Groupons recently - one for a 2 hour horseback ride and one for a Trolley tour of ABQ. In total, they cost $26. My grandma when she learned of these purchases and that I was planning on doing it in one day, insisted on sending me money to make it an overnight stay and a relaxing trip.

So ... I need to call the horse ranch to make sure, but I am thinking of going out Thursday morning for the horseback ride, maybe take in a museum or see if I can find the ABC (Adventist Book Center which sells vege meat products), spend the night at a hotel, do the trolley ride Friday morning (late!) do a Costco run and come back home. My Grandma gave me enough money for a nice hotel AND a meal out, so I might do California Pizza Kitchen again. While there I'll also probably stop at the Apple store and pick up a second battery charger for my phone (I have one, but think I better get a second one for the train trip.)

I think it'll make for a nice short vacation.

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I saw Men in Black 3 on Friday with several of the outgoing teachers. It was awesome! Love me some Will Smith. I paid for one of the teachers tickets (we bought them online just in case of it being sold out like Hunger Games and Avengers were.) Discover is paying 5% on movies ... so I was more than happy to help her out. (She paid me back in cash later.)

---

Tomorrow I am going to have a day of major house cleaning. Laundry, dishes, sweeping, scrubbing, etc. My house needs it badly, plus I invited a couple from church to dinner on Friday night!! (They had me over for lunch a couple Sabbaths ago.)

--
Oh! I filled up on gas yesterday for only $3.52 gallon!! That was nearly $.20 cheaper than in T! Sweet!

Thursday night was our 8th grade graduation. I had to sit up front on the side because as a specials teacher who works with the 8th graders, I had to give a medal. I didn't realize that I would not only be up front, but would be stepping up on a stage. Note to self: wear a long skirt or dress next year!

Today was my last day of media center classes for this school year. In a way it feels really weird/sad, but in another way it is kind of a relief. I'll have a break of a month (from teaching classes at least) before summer school starts.

I was showing the kids today the abcya site with the animation app (3rd) and one of my 4th grade boys made an Angry Birds animation! I've been showing the app to all my classes this week, as a kind of fun end of year tech project, and have been simply amazed at how quickly they figured it out and how creative their projects were.

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Today our new principal talked to me about next year and brought me my contract. I'm getting a raise of 1 %!! Totally unexpected. Apparently they give everyone a 1% raise every year - had no idea.

I'm definitely getting an aide next year, although probably only for 20 hours a week. Better than nothing.

I also talked to the principal about having summer library hours/checkout one evening a week. She liked that idea (after making sure I knew it would be volunteer hours.)

Some other points I raised with her:

Having a technology club/book club on after school activities days. (Again, was reminded that it would be volunteer hours.)

Having a library focus group - have students from several different grades to discuss new book purchases, make recommendations, etc. She suggested I do it at lunch time once a month. Sounds good to me!

Scrapping K - 12 power and replacing with online databases. She was good with this idea as long as K12Power hadn't already been renewed. (She agreed with my assesment that it was useless - said previous computer teacher wanted something to have the kids login and be kept busy for 30 minutes while she texted. --well, principal didn't quite say the texting part, but I know that from other sources ...--)

Having a keyboarding specific class 20 minutes 2-3x week for 3rd, 4th and 5th during the first quarter. (Common Core standards expect a 4th grader to be able to comfortably type a one page document in one sitting. Typing class once a week for 7 or 8 weeks isn't going to cut it.) Principal thought it was a good idea, but will need to check with teacher's schedules.

Making 1st and 2nd grade 1 hour classes, and extending 3rd - 8th to 1hr 15 min. Principal was okay with this, but again needed to check scheduling.

Discussed need for major overhaul of non-fiction. Principal suggested that we have the fundraising efforts for one month go towards the renovation of our non-fiction section. Woo hoo! (She hadn't realized there was no library budget and didn't seem too surprised when I casually mentioned my "pocket" budget.)

Discussed the many blind spots in the library. Principal had the idea of installing something like a video baby monitor in the worst area.

Discussed me taking teachers on a tour of library/website during pre-school week. I've tried to make teachers aware of the resources we have, but it's kind of like pulling teeth with some of them ...

Discussed computer lab arrangement. Told principal that I didn't like the way it was arranged either, but I'd been told that the configuration was the only possible way to fit 25 computers in that space. Then I also told her that my big dream was to get some kind of grant to totally renovate and redesign the entire media center (to make better use of the space and get rid of the blind spots!)

--Forgot to talk about playaways ... probably best I forgot, because I think I kind of overwhelmed her. I just had been saving up all of these ideas/thoughts ...

I also asked her how she felt I was doing. She told me that she thought I had a pretty good start and was going in the right direction. That made me feel pretty good.

---

OH! Before I forget! I had visitors today from a program called Reader to Reader. They donate publisher's seconds to needy schools. I was told about them by the reporter who was here a few weeks ago. They brought a suitcase full of books! I showed them around our library and we talked about what books we already had, and what books/topics were very popular, as well as our majorly outdated non-fiction. They said they'd be sending some more books our way sometime in July! Woo hoo! Later on I was talking to SrN (our current principal) and she told someone who was there that I was great at finding free book resources.

*related to the above --- We had this donor couple visiting our campus this week. The wife couldn't get over how much I smile (get really tired of hearing that, but sometimes it works in my favor.) She and her husband are avid readers. They both fell in love with the kids and our school - I let her do the final storytime with my K class :*(. She absolutely loved it (and I think they enjoyed it too.) Before she left she told me that she and her husband want to make a donation to the library, and then she handed me a $20 bill as a start. Seeeweet! I don't know how much they plan on donating, but if it is a goodly amount, then I'd like to use some of it to get a second magazine rack to put my small graphic novels in. I just haven't been able to bring myself to spend nearly $200 on one when that money could bring more books ... but if I don't have a good way to display the books, what good does it do, right?

Last night I was figuring out the dollar amount of books that I added to our library this year. Combining my contributions, the money gifts from mom's friend, and book fair proceeds (from 2 book fairs), it came out to around $4,000. In all, I think that totaled around 450 books + another 200 or so books that were donated last year and have been slowly added, and then another 40 books that were donated to us from a school in Chicago (they did a one for one promotion at their bookfair and used the money to buy us books off the wishlist I sent.)

So ... as I look at my spending and at where I'm spending, I've come to the realization that I'm stressing myself out trying to make sure I don't overspend in any one particular category. Namely, groceries, but there are other places too. It may be going down a dangerous road here, but I've decided to change up my budget strategy. From this point forward I'm going to put into certain categories the amount that I'd like to shoot for (i.e. groceries), and then of course the fixed categories would have the exact amount. Most other categories will be left empty. Money not allocated to fixed categories or categories such as groceries will go into a general savings fund. I've decided to stop distinguishing my savings categories, and lump them all into one pile. So, that means all my rainy day savings as well as other savings will go into the same pot. At the end of the month if there's anything left in the categories that I put in a "target" amount of funds, that money will be swept into the general savings fund.

I'll still record what I actually spend in multiple categories, I just won't have a specific amount of funds allocated to all of them.

This weekend I spent nearly $500 on books for school/library. I bought 6 sets of 6 books for the summer school kids to use in novel studies, a bunch of space related books/activity guides, some professional resources to help with Common Core, and 36 Hi/Lo books. The Hi/Lo books probably could have (should have) waited, but the others I felt I needed to go ahead with ordering. The average cost of the books is about $8 (mainly thanks to one $26 book, otherwise the average would've been closer to $7 per book.) Oh, this was after the $25 in AGC's. The Hi/Lo books all were part of the 4-3 promotion, so I actually got 6 of them for free (I thought I was going to get 8 free ... not sure why I didn't.) So, generally speaking I got around $650 worth of books for less than $500 (after 4-3 promotion, AGC's, buying good condition used copies ..)

I sometimes wonder if my overarching need to buy books for the library is partly a backlash from the years and years and years where I bought only one or two books a year for myself. Now I have a good excuse to buy books - right?

Part of these thoughts stem from my dad asking me yesterday how much I had saved for my car - and I had to tell him "~$500" and he laughed at me. So I amended what I said to say that altogether in savings I have a good bit more - just not called car savings. Truth be told though, if I needed to replace my car next week, I'd be scraping money together from every piggy hole and couch cushion that wasn't allocated for mandatory expenses ...

So between how much I've been stressing out about my spending, and my realization that no matter what I may call my various savings categories, they all would be spent for one thing if necessary ... I came up with this idea. I figure I'll try it for a few months and see if it helps me to curb my spending better, or if it makes it worse. I can always go back to my other way of doing it if it makes it worse.

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Today I wasn't quite dressed for outside viewing when someone knocked on my door. It was my neighbors - they'd found a medium sized white dog wandering the neighborhood and thought they recognized it - they just weren't sure who's it was. I knew it immediately - our nurse's dog. So after identifying it (I was in bare feet and holey shorts) I went inside and put some jeans on and called our nurse. No answer. I tried a couple other numbers and couldn't get in touch with her. So finally I decided to chance taking the dog inside with Kari. At first Kari was all bushy tailed and hackles, but then she realized that the dog wasn't going to hurt her and became somewhat comfortable and curious. Finally our nurse saw she had missed calls from a TX number and figured it was me, then came and got her dog.

This gives me hope that Kari will do okay, and possibly even do well, with our Title 1 teachers cat this summer. We'll see I guess.

I got an email today from the Title 1 teacher. She's going to be gone for 2 months this summer and has decided she doesn't want to take her cat with her. So she knows I'll be here most of the summer. She asked me if I'd let her cat live with me while she is gone, and in the meantime she'd let me have use of her car. Her car is maybe 4 years old??

Hmmm.... I *really* like the idea of having the use of a newer car for two months. It would give my car another two months of leeway/life. I'd have a working radio and cigarette lighter (for charging my phone). I wouldn't have to worry about breaking down on the road ...

The other side of course is liability issues ... If I got into a fender bender in my car (like in Dec.) I could let the non-safety issues go. However, if it happened in her car, I'd have to pay to get it fixed. I'm also not quite sure how the insurance issue would work. Would I need a certified letter from her stating I have permission to drive her car???

The other issue is the cats ... it might be a good test to see if Kari could get along with another cat. It also could show me if some of her behavior issues could be alleviated by another cat ... without me having taken on the lifetime responsibility of a second cat. One issue though is that Title 1 teacher's cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. I would not care for Kari to get that idea in her head .. at all. I also just don't like the idea of an indoor/outdoor cat ... dirt, bugs, etc.

What do y'all think?

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Today I went to see Avengers with RDJ. Love, love, love Mr. Downey. It was an ensemble movie, but he kicked butt the most. Several of the people with our group were not the most ... savvy movie goers. The husband of one of our teachers seems like he may have some hearing loss - no concept of a whisper. Then ... not one, not two, but THREE of our groups cell phones went off during the movie --- AND they were answered!!! ARGHH!!!

I saw this in 3D. Wow! I hated paying the extra $2 for it, but in the end, it was well worth it. I'll probably go the extra dollars for MIB 3 too. I have just enough left in my entertainment budget for one more 3D movie this month.

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After the movie I went to Walmart. I bought color ink (having 2nd - 6th grade make Mother's Day cards - need lots of color ink.) I also bought this hanging climbing tower for Kari - will see how that goes. I bought a second pair of the sandals I bought last time, as well as another pair of a different more fancier type sandal. Then I bought a few groceries too. (I was going to get more sweet potatoes, but the selection was abysmal.)

In all, I spent $99 (groceries, shoes, Kari, etc.) and $45 on ink. I *think* everything will count towards the $300 in May for Discover groceries (Walmart.) If it does, then I'm well on my way.

So I was checking my Mypoints CC statement on Friday and I noticed something strange. There was a charge for $36.xx at a gas station, and then for that same day/time/station there was a credit for that same amount. I know I got the gas, and I don't remember anything weird about the transaction. I'm not sure who I'd ask about why I got the money credited back - someone at the gas station I guess ... though unless the manager is there I don't know who else would have a clue by 4. The gas station is about 20 miles from here, so not exactly a place I can just "stop by" til I find a person who knows what happened.

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I'm considering going 95% vegan. I'm not interested in being 100% vegan because that would be really difficult here, plus I don't want to have to think about every bite I put in my mouth that much or every article of clothing I purchase ...

So anyway ... one thing I'm trying to figure out is how to make a cottage cheese substitute without using tofu. With my hypothyroidism I need to limit my soy/tofu intake as much as possible (which is hard but not impossible as a vegetarian.) I found one recipe that used soy milk instead of tofu, and am wondering if I could use Rice Milk instead for the same effect??

Vegan Soy Milk CC Mostly I want to use this for making casserole dishes (such as my favorite Special K roast.)

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I was invited out to the home of one of our church members yesterday. It was a lot of fun. She'd made Asparagus soup - yum! As well as vegetarian tamales (again - yum!) As we were talking, I found out that she'd met her husband at Weimar while attending an 18-day Diabetes reversal seminar. Weimar is run by the Seventh-day Adventist church and has at it's foundation the idea of NEWSTART. (She was pretty impressed that I remembered most of what that stood for - from 7th grade science.) Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance (moderation), Air, Rest, Trust (in a higher power.) What you eat while there is essentially a vegan diet, and you learn how to cook numerous vegan dishes. You also get daily massages and hydrotherapy (hot/cold water treatments.)

I've thought about going and participating in a session before, but never had done any real research into it. After talking with her and hearing first hand about it, I was even more interested. I did some research last night on it (i.e. cost) and realized it is probably not something I'd ever be able to afford unless I develop health problems where my insurance would be willing to help with the cost to allay the health problems.

So ... I already know that eating ice cream doesn't agree with me very well anymore and I rarely if ever drink real milk ... so cheese, eggs and cottage cheese would be the main things I would need to figure out how to do without. Even with eggs though I generally use the egg substitute ...

My plan is to finish eating what I already have in my cupboards/fridge/freezer but then from now on, whatever I purchase will be non-dairy.

Two things I won't give up will be honey and chocolate. (Which is part of why I'm not going 100% vegan -- really, technically, I'll just essentially be a bit stricter of a vegetarian. Currently I'm considered a lacto-ovo vegetarian (dairy products.)

I was told we have a health food store in big G - so I may try looking that up and see what they have to offer.

I think by doing this, my grocery bill will actually eventually go down. I'm hoping that my cravings for sugar/junk food will be reduced the more healthily I eat, and I'll feel better overall so will have more energy (mental and physical) to actually *make* food rather than be a mainly microwave cook. (I still would do a lot of microwaving - just of food that I prepared ahead of time myself and froze.)

---Anyway, I probably won't get too serious about this til school is out and I have time to really figure everything out. All I know is that I need to do something to stop the direction of my scale and something to give myself the energy to not be a computer potato.

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This week we have a male candidate coming! I imagine he's interviewing for a mid-school position. I bet our PE teacher would LOVE to have another male teacher at the school so he wouldn't be so outnumbered.

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My hot water went out sometime in the last two days. I discovered it Saturday morning as I was about to take a shower before going to church. No one knows the number for the new maintenance person of course. One of my coworkers has already offered me the use of her guest shower, but it still leaves me with a sinkful of dirty dishes (which I'd planned on washing last night.)

I tried relighting it myself (like the person showed me how to do last time) but I couldn't get it to work. Arghh!

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When I was at Walmart Friday I saw a summer dress with beautiful beading on it's front. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. It'll be a great dress for SrN's special retirement assembly (has a very native american feel to it.) As I was heading to the fitting rooms, I came across a display of flat sandals (the kind with enclosed heels and criss cross open straps.) They had a pair in my size!! Normally it takes me months and months to find a shoe that I like and that is in my size - but here I found *exactly* what I'd been looking for last summer, before I'd even started to formally begin my latest search. (the sandals I wore last summer/early fall are pretty much shot - even with the $50 price tag!) The dress and shoes cost $26 together. I'm thinking of maybe going back and getting a second pair of the sandals - just because I know how hard it is to find them (and because I'm thinking of using one pair for church/dressy occasions, and one pair for every day wear.)

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I called the medical clinic on Monday about my prescription not being refilled. No apologies were offered, but they said they'd take care of it. I finally got a message from Walgreens on Thursday that my prescription was ready for me! I was going to stop by on Friday, but forgot until it was too late. Then it became too late yesterday as well. I'm going to call them today to make sure it isn't the generic, then I'll go in a 3rd time to town - maybe take in "Lucky One" while I'm in town so it's not a trip *just* for a prescription!!

Today I went to ABQ with three of my coworkers - 5th, 6th and IT. The impetus for the trip was to go spend the available Sch $$ before they expired, but of course when you make a 90 minute one-way trip you want to include as much else as possible.

Our first stop was the book warehouse. I ended up spending $134, $91 of which was covered by Sch $$. The remainder I plan on being reimbursed from our book fair cash proceeds. The others with me also bought some books. We all had way too much fun.

6th had a haircut appt, so we headed towards the mall. But first we stopped at Pet Smart where 6th bought dog supplies and I bought cat supplies (including a felliway type collar that is supposed to help calm anxiety in cats ... we'll see ...) At the mall we all got something called Bubble tea - so called because they put these little chewable bubbles inside your drink which you get with most all of your sips. It's good, but different.

While waiting for 6th to finish her hair appointment, the rest of us went to various stores. One was Old Navy where I got a native style top for 60% off.

We were all ready for lunch by this point, so we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes - kind of similar to Souper Salad. It was very good.

IT had never been inside of a Krispy Kreme store, so of course we had to stop there and let her see it in action. We all left with donuts.

I was really wanting some more veggie corn dogs, and 6th grade wanted to go to Sunflower?? Market - so that's where we went next. I didn't find my corndogs, but I did find my very favorite Amy's dish - Brown Rice and Veggies! I got 3 of them at the sale price of $3.99 (Her meals can be up to $5.50 at some places.)

Next, we headed to Costco where I filled up with gas ($3.61/gall ~8 gallons) and also bought 8 veggie/rice burritos for $10.

Our final stop was Papa Murphy's. 5th grade's family has a Good Friday tradition of eating pizza for supper and she was really missing her family. IT and I also both got pizzas (additionally, I bought a $3 S'Mores dessert pizza - couldn't resist for the price/size!) Total for me there was $14 (I added two extra toppings to my pizza - spinach and pineapple.)

Overall I would say that it was a very good day! And I still have 3 days left of my weekend. **Best of all, everything I spent today fits into my budget.

So today the 5th and 6th grade teachers, our Tech person and I all went on an outing together to ABQ. Our first stop was the Sch Book Warehouse. What a blast we had there!

I got quite a few graphic novels, a few sports related books and various other books. I ended up spending $134, $91 of which was covered by Sch $$. Two of the others also ended up buying a few books each. When we were checking out the guy told us that in a few weeks there will be a 50% off sale through May 23rd. We have a half-day on the 23rd. If I can get the remaining Sch $$ (which will be given once Sch gets our book fair check) to NOT expire before then ... can you say Road Trip?!!

After the books we headed over to the mall where 6th grade teacher had a hair cut appointment. Before going in for that we stopped at Petsmart. 6thGRTea bought dog food, etc., and I bought a collar that is supposed to smooth away a cats anxiety (help with scratching, etc.) At the mall we all got Bubble Tea (very different drink - kind of like a smoothie except that most of the times when you sip you get this gel like bubble that you have to chew, and there is something like juice inside of it.)


While we were waiting for the haircut appt to be done, the rest of us walked around the mall. I actually bought a shirt at Old Navy - a very different shirt for me, but I think it'll be good for when we need to wear "traditional" clothing for special masses, etc. It was $12, so not a steal, but a good deal compared to the regular price of $29.

Once we were done at the mall we headed over to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. It is a place similar to Souper Salad.

Next we headed to Sunflower Market (similar to TJs and Whole Foods). Glory be! I found my very favorite Amy's meal - Brown Rice and Veggies. I got 3 of them (I probably would've gotten more if I had a bigger cooler - they were on sale for $3.99 each ...)

Now on to our real treat of the day ... Krispy Kreme! AL (our Tech) had never been to an actual store, so we made sure to watch the process of the doughnuts going through the baking process and got some hot off the press. Mmmm!

Costco was next on our agenda ... filled up with gas ($3.61/gal - 8.4 gallons) and I bought some veggie burritos (8 of them for $10.)

Our final stop was Papa Murphy's. 3 of us bought a pizza (I bought a pineapple/spinach/mushroom one + also a $3 S'mores dessert pizza. Yum!) We stopped there because 5thGrTeacher's family has a Good Friday tradition of eating pizza on Good Friday night.

All in all, this was a really good day. And it all fit into my budget. (The extra money I spent at the warehouse I will probably take out of the cash we earned from the book fair.) If I did this kind of thing very often, then I definitely would need to curb the amount of spending I did ... but it's very rare that this happens, plus it was good to spend time with others - not to mention that it was really good for AL (she texted me tonight asking if the 5th/6th went on outings fairly regularly - I told her that they do, and she asked me if I thought it'd be ok for her to ask to be included - I told her I thought it would be a great idea! I don't usually go with them because they go on Friday nights or Saturdays - but that isn't a problem for her.)

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Tomorrow I'll probably be in G all day. Church in the late morning/early afternoon, potluck, and then movie night at the pastor's house. I'm not sure what I'll do between potluck and movie night ...

*I think most of the March charges have come in and have been accounted for (other than the hotel charge.*

Income: 2 paychecks, dad's gift, state income tax refund, SB AGC giftcards

Expenses:

Offering/Tithe: $170
Groceries: $230.78
Eating Out: 49.08
Phone/Internet: 129.01
Netflix: 8.65
Life Insurance (1 yr premium): 194.50
Prescriptions: $23
Miscelaneous: 42.02
Kari (cat): 40.07
Library: 369.65
Entertainment: 18.52
Gas: 71.13

Savings/Rainy Day
ROTH : 100.00 (300/1500 goal)
EF: 130.94 (1853.75/5000 goal)
Car Fund: 250 (500/5000 goal)
iPhone: 15 (75/210 goal)
Summer Travel: 190 (190/500 goal)

ROTH + EF savings is more than 10% of income this month, but definitely not where I'd like it to be. Part of the reason it's less this month is because I spent more than I'd planned on my two-day trip, and partly because I spent more than I'd planned on books at the book fair. (Otherwise I'd have an additional $258 from tax refund put into savings.)

I also am now starting to divert some of my funds into travel savings/spending categories, so my total % saved (actual savings with no spending goal in mind) is going to go down.

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Groceries/Eating Out - Ugh. Double ugh. I *must* get a handle on this. A big part of the expenses is that I didn't really budget for my two-day trip. When I decided that I was going to postpone the trip I *really* wanted to do for Spring Break, I kind of stuck my head in the sand about planning money for what I'd do instead.

*Must Not Stick Head in Sand!!*

Life Insurance: This is a $50k 20 year term policy. It will expire when I'm 56. I got it partially so that if anything happens to me my funeral expenses are covered. Now of course with Kari, it will also help cover the expenses of whoever takes her in. I figure by the time I'm 56 I'll have enough other assets to definitively cover both instances (funeral expenses and pet care.)

*I had forgotten about this coming up ... so it also came out of what would have been savings this month. I now have set up a category for it so I'll be ready next March and not have to dip into that months savings!

Miscellaneous: A humidifier, a PIF, and an app. *I realized as I was doing this that a $64 hotel charge has not been accounted for. I thought that the first $40 had already been charged, but I can't find
where I accounted for it. (The last $20 is for the pet fee. My coworker paid me for her part + the pet fee in cash.)

Kari: food, toys

Library - hawaiian leis for book fair, food for the book fair, books from book fair, etc.

Entertainment - "Hunger Games", audible.com, app

Gas - two fill ups

Overall, I'm doing okay. It still looks like I'll be able to make my savings goals for this year. I need to be careful though, and watch my spending more closely. **NO more overspending in the library category!!**

Today when I got home I checked ING just in case.... and found that my state tax refund had come in finally!! Yay!

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Today at school I was talking with one of the Navajo teacher assistants and she told me that the 8th grade teacher had a Roset@t@a St@ne program that teaches the Navajo language!! I had no idea that such a thing was available. I Googled it, and after much searching around I finally found it.

There are two options - Online subscription for $75/yr with no included headphones/microphone; or a one-time purchase of the software w/included headphones/microphone for $200 +$45 shipping.

I am very interested in this. If I really do end up staying here for a good number of years, I think it would be very good for me to know the language very well. This way I can learn it on my own, and then see if I can find people to practice it with in person. I'm kind of leaning towards the online subscription, because I think I could find a good pair of headphones/microphone for $50 or less. So I could subscribe online for 3 years and still come out ahead of buying the package deal.

I'm going to think about this some more, and perhaps talk to the 8th grade teacher and see if she's found it to truly be valuable or not.

Any suggestions as to a good pair of headphones/microphone for a computer? Really, I think I would only need the microphone aspect since I don't have to worry about anyone else being disturbed by it. I could use the cheap microphones I got from Walmart a few months back, but their quality isn't that great (hence the $8 price.)

What do ya'll think?

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I submitted the yearbook Monday night at 6:41 PM!! Yahoo! I'm glad I decided to go over it ONE more time before submitting, because I realized that one of the staff members had been left off the staff page!! I had his picture, but had just forgotten to check the box saying "use this picture." Oy vey!!

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All the materials for the book fair came this morning - thankfully about ten minutes before my first class came in. 7 carts full, plus boxes on top. Wow. We aren't setting up until Friday afternoon.

I really hope that we don't get snow Monday night (4" are predicted!!!) Our first sale day is Tuesday - it also is parent/teacher conferences.

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Today I wore my hair in a side braid. I like to braid my hair sometimes, but had not done it here so far (at least not where I wore it to work.) I had SO many adults and kids compliment me. I even had one of my 6th graders tell me that it made me look younger (not that that is exactly something I care to hear ... but I thought that was funny.)

I might just do a braid more often.

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I've been showing my classes the Book Fair video this week for class. Most of them seem to have been pretty interested in it. Some have had more reactions than others. Both my 7th and 8th grade classes got free time on the computers after checking out books - something neither grade had gotten at all this year. I hadn't realized that til yesterday - so I figured it wouldn't hurt.

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My Spring Break seems to be filling up little by little. At first I'd been planning on it being rather low-key and home bound. But now I have a two day road trip with a co-worker, and then I have agreed to go with our students who qualified for State (Science) the second weekend of break. It'll probably just be that Friday night to make sure that any papers that need to be signed are, but it'll still make for a late night.

I normally wouldn't agree to do something like this on the Sabbath, but there are several reasons I decided to: 1. It's the first time our school has had students qualify for State, and they need someone from our school there supporting them; 2. The mid-school science teacher, not knowing that kids would qualify for State nor when it would be, had already made plans with friends in Phoenix for that weekend - two of whom are flying in *just* to see her -- so co-worker was majorly stressed about choosing to not go to the planned for weekend (6 months in the works) or not going to be there for the kids, and 3. I'm pretty much the only teacher who'll be around that weekend.

I'm hoping that most of it can be taken care of before sunset (especially now that the sun sets after 7 p.m.) but if not, I'm not going to stress about it. I feel like I'll be doing a good deed.

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I ordered the Hawaiian leis for the book fair today. I'll be giving one to each person that buys something on Tuesday. I tried calling our local party store this morning to find out if they had any or not, but I never could get an answer. I'd been planning on ordering from Oriental, but the cost of the leis ($16.99) + the cost of 3-5 day shipping ($15) was more than I could get them for on Amazon. So, I ordered them from Amazon for $24, with guaranteed delivery by this Thursday. I also ordered the book "Bad News for Outlaws" which a student has been asking me about over and over ...

My giftcard balance was down to $13.xx, but then I had my AGC come in from irazoo and from Swag, so I am back up to $23.

I also got my payment from Beezag a few days ago - so I have $8 in Paypal that I need to transfer over to put in my EF.
==

We have a bit of a scary situation here. Last night some gunmen shot and killed a number of people. It's not on the news - but people say they (the gunmen) started near our town, then went up to G, and are now out and about on the reservation. There's a rumor that they might do more shootings tonight. Schools in G had a two-hour delay and then were on lock down all day. We had quite a few students absent - quite possibly due to the shootings. Hopefully these people will be caught soon so everyone can breathe a bit easier.

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I never did get a call in to a dentist - but my tooth/teeth are feeling better. Who knows what is going on - just glad it's gone for now.

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I've been watching season one of Crossing Jordan on Netflix the past few days. Jill Hennesey is so awesome. I didn't remember Woody being so ... different when he was first introduced.

Last night I had a blast with several of my coworkers. We had "game night." We played two games from start to finish (Redneck Life and Quelf) and partially played Pop Culture Trivia DVD (it was getting really late.) One of my coworkers made homemade burnt brownie ice cream (something she discovered last year when she attempted making brownies here for the first time) and I brought soda.

I hope we do this again soon. (Kari wasn't very happy with me - gone pretty much all day, breeze in for five minutes, then gone again for 3 hours ..)

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I filled up my car yesterday - $3.48/gallon. I'd only made 234 miles on the last tank, nearly 80 miles less than normal. I asked one of my coworkers if she thought it was possible someone was siphoning gas. She told me that she'd been getting less gas mileage too - most likely due to driving against the wind.

I also stopped by the library and dropped off the two latest Evanovich books and picked up a new Kinsella book (author of Confessions of a Shopaholic series - LOVE!)

Then made a ~$30 stop at Walgreens (prescription+), and a $44 stop at Wal-mart.

While I was waiting for sunset in the Wal-mart parking lot, I had a chance to talk to the lady I'd stayed with the last few months I lived in Texas. She and her daughter had moved into a new home over Christmas, and are really loving it. They've had a spate of bad luck though with cars - two cars wrecked by drivers running red lights - but thankfully no one injured!! It was really good to talk with her.

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I went to take a shower Saturday morning and found out that the pilot light on the water heater was out -- so no hot water. Then found out that the mobile home park manager quit last week ... doh! Still trying to get in touch with someone to relight it. I have several places to go to take a shower, so am not worried about that - just can't do my dishes.

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One of my co-workers and I were talking about Spring Break plans and ended up deciding to take a bit of a road trip. It'll be her last year here, so I let her pretty much decide. We're going to go to Santa Fe and Taos. I found a hotel room in Santa Fe for only $38 which allows dogs (she has two dogs.) I'll have my Discover card by then which will give me 5% cash back on gas purchases. I've been to Santa Fe before (when I was in elementary) but I don't remember ever being in Taos, so that should be fun. Even with gas, I don't think the trip should cost me more than $130 or so, since we'll be splitting the costs.
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I looked into Amtrak tickets and airplane tickets for my summer trip to CA. Going to where my dad/grandma are, then up to where my brother is, and then back here on Amtrak would cost $265. Doing the same route/dates via flying would cost $370 + driving to/from Albuquerque and a hotel stay (so getting pretty close to $500). So ... I think I'll be doing Amtrak this summer. I just need to find out for sure when summer school ends to finalize my dates. I'm hoping to be able to be there for my dad's birthday (July 5.)

I checked what the amenities are on Amtrak nowadays (last time I was on it was in 1988?) It looks like the seats have electric plugs, so I'll be able to plug my phone in and enjoy myself reading or watching movies. That'll be good, because I'll be having a lot of travel time. (The one thing I'm wondering is how you secure your luggage if you're traveling alone and need to use the restroom or go to the lounge car, etc? No checked baggage on most of the trip.)

--
I've now redeemed 5 $5 AGCs from Swagbucks for March. I have enough left for 5 in April and almost enough for the first one in May. (I applied for a Discover card - 3600 SBs and then actually *completed* two surveys and did an offer that cost $.99 which netted 408 SBs. Nice!)

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I've had a tooth that's been bothering me for the past few days. I'm really hoping that it'll pass soon. I have no desire to find a dentist in the area just yet.

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Just talked with one of the teachers who does summer school. The last day will be June 29 - will only be two weeks long. The pay is $30/hr, so somewhere around $1800 - $2100 for those two weeks (before taxes of course.) Sweet! If I go to CA for two weeks, then that will give me a month or so here to work on various projects in the library before school starts again, plus the boost to my EF/car fund. (So in two weeks I'll be making almost as much as I make in a normal month at the mission school - summer school is paid by the county.)

With the rising cost of gas, I'm thinking that the sooner I book my summer travel, the better. I'd also maybe even book my Christmas tickets, but without knowing exactly what my mom's situation will be then ... (she's broken up with person she was with at Thanksgiving ... again.)

In my effort to be more consistent with taking care of my finances and to be more accountable, I am sharing my end of the month budget recaps and thoughts.

*I use YNAB 3 to track my income and outflow. The money I budget to spend in February was earned in January (other than gifts or tax refunds which I budget to the current months savings.)

*Categories with overspending are generally funded by "Whack a Mole" - i.e. taking money from other categories which are "plump" and can withstand losing a few dollars.

* I put everything I possibly can on credit cards, and pay them off in full each month (usually two weeks before the due date.)

Inflow:

2 paychecks, Tax Refund, Gift Money, Swagbucks AGCs

Expenses:

Tithe: $150
Offering: $20
Groceries: $176.32 ($56.32 over budget)
Restaurants: $32.77 (2.33 under)
Phone/Internet: $130.98
Netflix: $8.97
Doctor/Dentist: 47.80
OTC Meds: 6.90
Kari (Pet): 9.00
Library: $166.08 ($150.08 over budget!)
Miscelaneous: $26.62
Entertainment: 30.20
Gas: 29.51
Car Insurance: $155.10
ROTH: $800

Savings:
EF: 933.67 (1757.81/5,000 goal)
CarFund: 250 (250/5,000 goal)
iPhone: $15.00 (60/215 goal)

*EF savings represents roughly 39% of total inflow.


Expenses:

Groceries: It really should have been a much cheaper month than
last month. However, I succumbed to the lure of the
nearby stores more than once. Also, I bought some things to
contribute to a bake sale, and then of course bought some stuff
at said bake sale ... For March I am setting my budget at $150
and hope to actually meet that, even with the longer month.

Restaurants: $20 gift card, plus several cheese subs at local sub shop.

Phone/Internet: I think this will be the cost going forward. If I could find a cheaper internet service, I would. Unfortunately, this is it here.

Netflix: After not using Netflix in January, I realized that it was much cheaper and simpler to just do Netflix.

Doctor/Dentist: This was partially a co-pay from a doctor visit this month, and partially paying the remaining amounts due on previous visits (after insurance paid.)

OTC Meds: After finding out that NM refunds the cost of prescription meds and copays, I decided to seperate any OTC purchases. This is stocking up on generic Nyquil.

Kari (pet): dry and wet food

Library: This is 3 technology programs, 4 point and shoot cameras film processing, and a $1.01 balance after gift card for a book.

Miscelaneous: GPS app subscription (1 yr) and State Tax efile fee

Entertainment: 2 movie rentals (physical), 1 month reduced fee audible . com (probably am going to cancel), and $11 worth of music from iTunes ($.69 cent songs)

Gas: Somehow I managed with one tank of gas again this month. I only went to church 2 x, which is probably why. This was one of the places I "whacked a mole" from to cover my overspending in other areas.

Car Insurance: my 6 month premium (I set aside money monthly for this)

Retirement: My normal $100 plus an extra $700 to take advantadge of the savers credit

Savings:

EF: Most of this comes from the tax refund since I used part of what I'd normally put here to fund my ROTH.

CarFund: This is where I've decided to put the money sent to me by my dad each month until the EF is funded.

iPhone: This category may need to be speeded up ... am going to give my current phone another week to see if any more issues occurr.

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All in all not the best month. I still need to get the grocery category under control. I have plenty of food in the house - there truly is no need for me to get more between grocery store trips. I am truly thankful the closest pizza delivery place is 35 miles away - otherwise it might be worse.

The library budget is also a black hole. But ... it is much much better than it was a few months ago. A few months ago that is where most of the money was going which should have been going to savings instead.

Today was our teacher in-service. I got up and talked a bit about the upcoming book fair, as well as the yearbook. One of the things I mentioned is that I'd like to make a goal to sell $200 more than we did last year, but wasn't sure what wild or crazy thing I could offer to do (or teachers would be willing to do) if the kids made the goal. Someone spoke up that they had a clown costume, and then our principal offered to wear it for a day!! Way cool! Too bad it will happen after the yearbook is put to bed - but the newspaper can still cover it.

In the afternoon I had a couple hours to just work in the media center. I got all my grades caught up and did my written Feb lesson plans (and March) that I have to turn in on Tuesday. I decided to keep the other stuff I need to do for Sunday (mainly reshelving books.)

Then I went to the PO where to my *very ecstatic* joy, I found that my voice mail had not gone unheard from a week ago. My final W-2 from my summer job had arrived!! Woo Hoo! I was thinking of going straight home and doing my taxes , but then I saw one of my coworkers pull in. She told me she was WAY stressed (she's the science teacher, science fair is next week) and needed desperately to go into G to relax and rewind.

So she and I went into G and ate at Sizzler (I used my giftcard) and then I helped her have her first experience of depositing a check at an ATM, and then we went to Walmart. I got my groceries for the rest of February, as well as cat food (wet, dry and treats). I haven't calculated it all out yet, but I think I may have gone over my grocery budget a little bit.

(I spent a total of $41.xx, but about $9 of it was cat stuff - so that comes out of Kari's budget and not the grocery budget.)

My friend and I are going to go into to ABQ on Monday. She wants to do some computer shopping and do some other stores as well. I'm more than happy to salivate over computers plus we'll stop at a party store to see if they have leis cheaper than Oriental Trading (they have 100 leis for $11.99.) Going there on Monday just means I'll have to get everything done for Tuesday on Sunday. I think I'll either offer to fill her car up, or just give her $10 for gas money. It'll be nice to be out and about in a big town.

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I have enough SBs to buy another AGC now, and am getting closer and closer to cashing out on the other places.

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One thing my coworker told me that seriously shocked me -- the PE teacher/coach has decided to stay another year. He's been moaning and groaning *a lot* the *WHOLE* year on FB about how much he hates it here and wishes he was somewhere with real clubs, etc. He apparently has really high child support payments and doesn't have another job to go to .. so he's staying here. Real good reason to stay somewhere you hate.

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I'll probably do my taxes tomorrow night, and then finish my audible book. It will feel so good to have them done and know for sure how much I'm getting back!

Although it isn't quite the end of January, I don't plan on spending any more money this coming week, so I decided to go ahead and post my accounting. One of my goals this year was to be much more consistent with recording my spending/saving in YNAB, and to facilitate that I plan on posting my monthly spending/savings summary.

Some of the money I spent was from Christmas gifts and was spent for stocking up - also some of the money was spent on a reimbursable seminar trip - I should be getting reimbursed by March (hopefully.)

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January Spending/Savings

Tithe - 150.00
Offering - 10.00
Groceries - 218.57
Restaurants - 39.10
Phone & Internet - 142.41
Household - 66.04
Office - 14.50
Prescription/Medicine - 52.21
Miscelaneous - 360.66
Kari (Pet) - 32.88
Library - 10.90
Entertainment - 11.72
Gas - 32.29
Car Repairs/Maint - 9.51

Savings
ROTH IRA - 100.00
Emergency Fund - 652.93
iPhone 5 Fund - 45.00

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Groceries - I ended up getting a bit lazy with my grocery spending after coming back from the seminar trip - probably accounts for an additional $20. Also included in this amount is my Costco trip, where I used part of a gift card to stock up on food supplies. Next month I hope to keep this category to $100 or less.

Restaurants - This is all reimbursable from my seminar trip.

Phone and Internet - I somehow did not pay December's internet bill, so this represents my normal cell phone bill and two months of internet. (I now have the internet being paid automatically so I won't miss any more deadlines.)

Household - Mostly this is stuff for my dishwasher (soap, etc), stocking up on things at Costco (laundry soap, shampoo, etc.) I won't need any of this again for a long while.

Office - Ran out of black ink for my printer.

Prescriptions/Medicine - This includes my normal monthly medicine (Synthroid) which increased by $2, as well as the generics of Nyquil and Dayquil, a 5 pack of Alavert and a 10 pk of Allegra D. Ugh. I really need to find a cheaper way to handle my allergies.

Miscellaneous - This includes my dishwasher (I was given the money to purchase it), my reimbursable hotel stay, and the watch/face wash which I actually took back to the store (and added to the EF.)

Kari (pet) - This includes stocking up on cat litter (Costco) and also stocking up on wet food (Family Dollar).

Library - Two books I bought in CA on sale.

Entertainment - 4 DVDs I rented, plus $2 in fees for using a CC, and a slurpee. (Have decided to go back to Netflix.)

Gas - I don't remember the last time I spent this little on gas in a month. This represents 1 1/2 fill ups. One was here in my small town, and the half fill up was at Costco. I have about 1/4 tank left right now.

Car Repairs - Lost gas cap at fill up.

Savings

Roth - This is the minimum I can send each month. Until other savings goals are reached, I can't increase this.

Emergency Fund - I lucked out this month on "finding" various amounts of money which hadn't been accounted for previously - which all went to the EF. I also redeemed some credit card rewards points for a statement credit, which I put in the EF. December was a 3 check month, so that helped also.

My goal is to have this funded to $5000 by June, and then move on to working on my car savings.

iPhone 5 - I want to eventually replace my current phone. I hope to have the $200 saved by June.

Rainy Day Funds

Car Insurance, Clothing, Doctor, etc - also all received some funds

Other Income:
Christmas money - (including dishwasher) ~$450.00
Swagbucks - $10 AGCs received

My EF and Roth savings total approximately 40% of my December income. I go by the YNAB philosophy of using last months income to generate this months spending plan. (January is the first month I've been able to allocate BOTH paychecks completely to February's budget plan since I was laid off from my oil and gas job in February 2009. What a great feeling!)

Today SrC came back to school. She's been out most of the second semester sick. She was my Secret Santa, so she brought my gift today. It was a $20 gift card to Sizzler and a bag of Reese's Peanut Christmas trees. Yum. Well worth waiting for.

--
This afternoon I talked with SrN (principal) about the possibility of having a full time assistant assigned to me. She told me that she'd been considering resplitting the position into computer and library, and letting me have my pick. I told her that I enjoy doing both, but I just don't have enough time to do my best at both. If I had someone assigned to just me that I could train and *count on* and would be accountable to me ... that right there would save me hours of work. Which would make it possible for me to get much more done! It sounded to me like she was agreeable to the idea.

So ... next year I *really* may have an assistant!! (I'd love to steal the 6th grade assistant away - cuz I know he is a hard worker, very computer literate, intelligent, and we get along really well ... but I don't think that will happen.)

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Yesterday I stopped at the local video store to see their prices. I ended up renting two videos - older ones - $1.99/5 days. New releases are $3.99/3 days. I don't see myself getting videos there all that often, but maybe once in a while.

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I sent home overdue notices on Tuesday (well, I gave them to the teachers to send home Wednesday.) Out of about 8 books which I marked "Lost" and added the cost of replacement, as of today, 5 of them have been returned. Amazing what seeing the figure $19.99 next to a book your child checked out and hasn't returned in over two months will do! On Monday we had over 100 books overdue, and as of this afternoon, only 49 are still out. Only one person paid their fines though ... but at least most of the books are back!!

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I showed the 5th and 6th graders a number of book trailers today. It got several kids interested in a book (Because of Mr. Terrupt) that I'd previously book-talked unsuccessfully.
--

Don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but on Tuesday night when I filled up my car, I left my gas cap at the station. I didn't realize what I'd done til I got to the hotel. So last night I stopped by the station in the off chance that someone had turned it in. Nope. So I stopped at the auto parts store to see if they had one. The lady there told me that she was getting one in Friday -- of course I remembered this about 15 minutes ago ... after they were closed!
So I guess I'll have to get it on Monday. Hopefully another 60 miles or so of driving without the cap won't hurt my car too much.

And ouch! The replacement cap will be $8.19!!

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I'm going to have to get some more Allegra D OTC tomorrow. My allergies have just been awful lately. I meant to call my doctor today (and yesterday too) to see if she'd prescribe the generic non OTC version (so I could actually get a months supply for less than ten days of OTC Allegra D!) Unfortunately I got way too busy both days to do it.

I'll have to see if she's open in the morning ...

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Oh, I spent my Amazon money, plus $7. One of the books actually came from the donation order, but the original seller couldn't locate a copy. The other two (yes, only two!) were ones recc'd by Judy Freeman -- Press Here and 10 Experiments that Failed. There were a ton of really good books I was tempted by, but these two looked to be most immediately beneficial. (And now I have to wait for my next giftcards .. Could be awhile because Swagbucks has been kind of stingy with search wins the past week or so - both few in number and low in amount. )

This morning started out with a made to order omlette and a danish for breakfast. Yum. Then I was off to Judy Freeman's seminar about the best children's books of 2011. A few of them I'd purchased for the library (Okay for Now, Charlie Jackson's Guide to NOT Reading, and another one ..) but most I had not heard of before. There were two or three that I'm hoping Scholastic will have so I can use some of our funds to purchase - although I saw great possibilities in numerous books. She showcased 80 of her 110 best book picks.

I didn't get any free books, but the seminar guide has about a dozen Reader's Theater's which will be helpful.

---

For lunch several of us ate at this Mexican resturaunt next door. I had the vegetarian enchaladia. It was good, but it was supposed to come with sopapillia's and honey - the waiter never brought them. As I was checking out, I mentioned it to the cashier and she gave me a to go bag. But of course I was full by then and several hours later after the program, they were cold. Yuck.

After the program I went to Costco. I filled up with $2.79/gallon gas (about $10 worth - I'd filled up in my town on Tuesday for $3.09/gallon!) Then I went into Costco. I bought 3 containers of kitty litter, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, shampoo, oatmeal, spinach & something patties (vegetarian), broccoli soup, rasins, bean/cheese burritos, cinnamon, diced onions, and garbage bags.

Total -- $129.xx

I had 90.12 left on my Costco gift card, and then paid the remaining balance with my ING debit card. I think I am pretty well set for most things for a good while.

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Seminar reimbursable expenses:
Seminar - $299
Hotel - 89.xx
Per Diem - ~~$30.xx (only get back what I spent)
Mileage - ~$150.xx

So I estimate that my EF will soon be about $568 higher. Just have to get all the receipts turned in.

I got a nice little vacation out of this - stayed at a NICE hotel, day off work, eat at nice places, shop at Trader Joe's and Costco PLUS got to put more than 600 rewards points on my credit cards (food and gas places are double points.)

Sweet.

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The only NON-Sweet thing about my trip ... When I did my first fill up on Tuesday, I somehow got distracted and forgot to put my gas cap back on. Ooops! So, that means I need to buy a new one. Ugh. Unless by some miracle the gas station still has it! I will have to go by and check tomorrow. *cross fingers*

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Just checked my Chase rewards points balance -- I had enough to redeem! So I chose a statement credit. Then I sent that money directly to my EF!

EF addition -- $23.63

I also signed up for the current points promotion - gas and Amazon. I wish I'd known gas was part of it -- already filled up (completely) twice this month, and probably won't again til Feb. Oh well - will make sure to use it in Feb and Mar, then back to MyPoints for gas. I wish now I'd waited to order my dishwasher til January too - that would've been a nice bit of extra rewards points. Really, other than gas in Feb and Mar, I don't see myself buying anything off of Amazon. Oh wait - I think there is a book I pre-ordered (5th in a series one of my 8th graders is way into) that comes out in March .. however I have enough gift card money for that already. Will have to see how the months go I guess.

It's funny what you find when you start going through papers and trying to organize a bit. I found a check from July for tutoring which somehow did not get cashed! It was for $35. I texted the person who wrote the check to make sure it was okay to cash. She texted me back and said it was fine. (I wanted to make sure because ... well, she'd asked me several times to hold checks before. That's probably what happened with this one - I was holding it, and forgot about it!)

So, that's another $35 to my EF! Yahoo!

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I had a really late start today. Didn't get out of bed til nearly ten. Then lollygagged around til one. Finally got off my duff and finished grading the tests and headed over to the school. Altogether I put in about 8 hours of school related work today. (mostly at home though)

I've enjoyed my S days, but I think I'll do just fine with 5 days of no sweets coming up. I still haven't set up my dishwasher or made my casseroles. Oops.

I need to see if I can find the name/email of the one lady at church that I kind of talk to. Then I can see if she would come with me to visit the organist after church next week. I'm not sure how I'd keep a casserole cold though (corn, sour cream, cheese, cornmeal, eggs - baked) would that be okay to get room temperature?

Today was a NSD. Hope to have 6 of them this week.

Ok, need to read the blogs and then head to bed. Can't laze in bed tomorrow!

This afternoon I received an email from the account where my scholarship money was kept. I get one from them monthly reminding me to "check in" on my account. I've ignored them for quite awhile because I thought I had spent all the money in that account. Today though the email was different. It said that I was about to be charged an account abandonment fee ... so I decided to check.

I'm glad I did!!! There was $96.xx in it! Straight away I went to one of my credit cards (the only way to get money out of that account without using an ATM) and made a payment for that exact amount.

So that means now that I have $96 that I didn't previously know I had. Where should that money go? Well, that's easy. My Emergency Fund of course!!

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Today went pretty well for not having anything really pre-planned. I introduced the new books to the 5th grade boys and the 6th graders - by the time the 3rd section was done checking out, 60% of the new books were gone.

I resorted back to my Nyquil equivalent last night ... I just *had* to get some sleep. I slept almost right up to my alarm ... so it worked. I just really don't want to make a habit of it. Not good.

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Today was another no spend day.

Tomorrow after church I plan on staying for potluck and then going over to the "local" library and getting a card. I may use them to rent movies from (they charge $1 for movies and $.50 for audiobooks - I guess they have a high rate of theft???) Then once it is sunset, I'm going to get some dishwashing soap so I can use my dishwasher!!! Then when I get back here, I'll stop at Family Dollar where they have 9 Lives on sale for $.33/can (normally is $.40).

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I found a neat website to help you memorize bible verses - free. memverse.com

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I'm getting *really* annoyed. Over a year ago I requested some auto insurance quotes. About 8 or so people called me, and I decided to stay with Geico. For the next six months every month near the beginning of the month I'd get multiple calls from about 10 or so different numbers. I asked multiple times to have my name and number removed. Finally it seemed to die off. On Tuesday it started back up in full force. Only this time one company is taking it even further -- they're texting me!!!! Each text has the message that if I want them to stop, then text STOP. I have now done that 4 times. It has used up 12 of my 200 text messages for the month. (They text me, I text them STOP, they text back to let me know they got my message.) If this makes me go over my limit, I will be *TICKED*!!!

I probably need to call and see if I can get the number blocked.

My dishwasher arrived today! RW our mobile home park manager met me at the thrift store to pick it up and take it to my house. While I was there waiting for him, I found a bread machine (I don't know how much it was, didn't want to ask in case it was a really good deal - not sure if I'd actually use one...) and this really neat trio of stuffed snowmen sitting on top of each other for the library (free! since it was for the school.)

Anyway, RW brought the box into my kitchen and asked me where I wanted it. Thinking he meant the dishwasher, I told him on the counter. He placed the box on the counter ... and then left!! I managed to get the box off the counter with the help of a chair, but then discovered it was upside down. So ... carefully I got it onto the floor in an upright position. Then using the weight lifters stance, I managed to pull the 60 pound dishwasher OUT of the box and place it on the counter!

Whew!!

I haven't tried to hook it up yet because when I was shopping on Sunday I forgot to get dishwashing detergent. Ooops! My dad is sending me a box of things I couldn't fit in my carryon and is including a baggie of detergent to last until I get to the store again. Sweet guy, huh?

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I received about half of the books I ordered before leaving for break today. Already have them all cataloged. One of the boxes I'm anxiously waiting for (and really wish had come!!) is full of graphic novels that my 2nd graders will go for. Hope it gets here tomorrow - I have 2nd grade on Thursday. Although I think the boys will be quite happy with the 10! Star Wars books I got.

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It looks like today is actually going to be a no spend day! Yahoo ! I hope to have lots of those this year.

I was reading on another frugal forum and one of the message threads was the goal of being a "miser" in 2012. I don't know if I want to go quite that far ... but I am rethinking some of my spending lines. I want to make sure that I have a *little* something for fun, while at the same time am socking away as much as possible. My car is not getting *any* younger, so the need for a replacement fund is quite urgent. I have very little room between me and being in debt again if any big expense were to happen -- so the need to get my EF loaded is also urgent.

However, I don't see any way around traveling for Thanksgiving and for Christmas ... and I can't count on generous people paying for my airfare (like my mom's guy friend paid my Thanksgiving tickets 2011) so I must prepare for those expenses. I also feel that it would be really remiss of me to not enjoy some of the wonders of this area ... so I plan on taking a trip during Spring Break to a place about 5 hours from here - where I'll do either a one or two day camping/horseback trip into a place which will help me learn more about the Navajo.

As for the summer travel ... I know both of my parents want me to come see them. However the cost of doing that would just about kill my other financial goals. So ... I'm going to tell my mom that she saw me last summer (the whole summer really), so this summer I'll spend time in CA. Then next summer I'll spend it in TX with her.

And of course, the iPhone 5. I plan to wait til at least next January to actually purchase it (so most of the kinks will be figured out). My current phone by then will be nearly 4 years old -- way older than ANY of my previous cell phones.

I think I'll start off telling about my awesome gift!!

Those of you who've read my blog the past few months may have noticed how often I mention how my dishes stack up ... and how I *really* need to get them washed. Well, on another frugal forum I visit I'd mentioned how the only thing my home really lacks is a dishwasher. Someone saw that and suggested that I get a portable dishwasher from Craigslist, etc.

I don't know how the idea had never crossed my mind before, but as soon as I saw it, I knew that was the answer I've been looking for.

My dad and grandma and I were going to go out to the local outlet mall and do clothes shopping - my dad and aunt's gift to me. Instead though I told them about the portable dishwasher, and how I really couldn't think of any clothes I *really* needed (other than some new bras ...) ... They thought it was a terrific idea.

Dad and I went to Home Depot and Lowes to see if we could see any in person - but they only had ones that you could special order. So I ended up looking on Amazon, and found this:

SPT.

I paid an extra $4 to get one-day shipping, and it should be delivered to the mission office tomorrow. RW our mobile park manager said that he'd get someone to bring it to my place and help me lift it on the counter.

Seriously ... if this was the *only* gift I got in all of 2011 and 2012, I would be an extremely happy camperette!!

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I had a pretty enjoyable time overall with my dad and grandma in CA. We went up to Oak Glen the first Saturday I was there - where we saw this person who has three llamas in his yard. We also went to Santa Monica where we walked along the boardwalk and the pier, and dad and I took our first rollercoaster ride in about six+ years!! Then of course we hit Farmer's Market in LA where we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Our waitress was really good - one of the few people who can keep up with my dad -- later found out that she'd graduated from college a few years earlier and had moved cross country to LA *after* paying off all her student loans, to pursue a career as a comedian. We all were pretty impressed.

On another night we all went out to eat at a nice hotel/fancy restaurant called Mission Inn. It was a gift from my aunt to the three of us. The food was ok, but definitely not worth the cost. If any of us had been meat eaters, it probably would have been more cost worthy. (We all got the buffet.)

Something else I did which made me quite happy ... I closed my Compass Bank account! I then opened an account with BofA - it is one with NO fees and NO stipulations, other than you have to do any and all transaction online or via an ATM. There is a BofA ATM right next to the Walmart I shop at here ... so that works perfectly. For some reason I thought BofA was the bank you could do the phone scan of checks, but that is actually Chase. Oh well, as long as I can put cash/checks into the ATM, that is all I really need. I'll still use ING as my main bank.

Oh something else that made me happy ... dad and I checked at Costco about whether or not someone without a Costco membership could use a gift card to purchase things. We found out that it was true! So my dad bought me a $100 gift card (I was going to pay him back for it, but he later told me he wanted to cover it for me. Sweet.) I didn't get a chance to use it when I got back Sunday night, but I plan on stopping there after my seminar on the 18th. My trunk will be filled with cat litter.

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Something kind of cool that happened on my trip back here on Sunday. I was at the gate in Phoenix waiting for my flight (which later turned out to be wrong because they changed gates on us ...) and the airline person who checks you in announced that the flight to Austin was way overbooked. They were offering to put people up in a hotel and a $325 voucher *no restrictions* to anyone who volunteered to be bumped. The lady sitting next to me (we both were using the electric plug) got up and volunteered. It turned out that the seat she gave up went to a young military man. Later as he got on the plane he came over to her and personally thanked her.

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Well, I was going to put in five hours at school today. However, when I went over there today I found out that the phone lines and internet were both down. So that put a big crimp on doing most of what I'd planned on doing. There were other things I *could* have done, but once I realized I couldn't do most of the other stuff ... I wimped out and went home.

Tomorrow I'll be picking up a bunch of deliveries from the post office (hopefully!!!) -- books I ordered thanks to the $200 donation to the library. Since our system will still probably be down tomorrow, I'll go ahead and catalog the books at home. I should've taken home barcode/spine labels today to print -- will pick those up tomorrow.

I talked to our principal today. We're going to have our Christmas parties on Friday afternoon, but will not be rescheduling the Christmas program. I also found out that *this* is my week for morning prayer/cafe duty. A three-day week? I'll take it!! Now just have to find three prayers.

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I was checking FB earlier this morning and saw that one of my coworkers had gotten food poisoning from an order of onion rings at BK. I also learned something disturbing (for a 20+ year vegetarian who loves onion rings from BK) and that is that BK makes their onion rings in grease that has meat particles. Intelligently, I think I probably already knew this ... but ignored it because of how much I love their onion rings. But now can no longer ignore the info. Sigh. Onion rings aren't all that good for me anyway.

I bought my coworker some baby wipes and went over and walked a dog that she's dog sitting (the dog only knows to go #2 on a walk ...). My coworker and I were discussing how many times we've gotten food poisoning here, as well as two restaurants in the area shut down due to health violations recently ... and both agreed that maybe just staying home and eating in was a better idea. (considering that that is my plan anyway ... good to have some extra reasoning power behind it, right?)

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I had both of my Swagbucks AGC's come in during December. So right now I have a $10 credit on Amazon .... Also my dad had enough Swagbucks by Thursday for him to redeem his first card (which he's going to give to me.)

I have almost 4500 Beezag points, so more than halfway to my next cash out.

I think it is funny how Beezag videos are infiltrating all the different rewards websites. Both Swagbucks and Mypoints now have them. So it is possible to watch the same video for a reward 3 x in one day on the three different sites. Just mute the volume and keep your eyes out for the numbers, and you're good to go!!

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Almost forgot -- New Year's Eve dad, grandma and I went to Pasadena and drove up and down Colorado Blvd. Unfortunately due to Sunday Blue laws, the parade wasn't til today -- so nobody was there. We now have two bags of marshmallows prepared and ready for next year though!! The trip wasn't a total bust - we went through Sierra Madre and checked out all the Christmas lights. Most of the neighborhoods in that area were decked out in different themes. Very nice - especially considering that *very* few people in my dad and grandmas town did any decorating with lights.

I went to the doctor today and got my blood work done - it was a $25 copay. Not too bad I guess.

I also got my mom's Christmas gift mailed off (late I know!!) - only $5 postage - should get there by Tuesday. Oops.

Yesterday afternoon one of my coworkers came by and asked if I wanted to go into town with her and another teacher for dinner. I couldn't resist. Dinner - $8.65, and then we went to Walmart. I needed to pickup a bat of cat food because I was nearly out, but ended up buying a couple of CDs from the $5 bin. One of them will make a good addition to my dad's Christmas gift ... but I really should've skipped the others -- $23.36 (I also got a Terry's Chocolate Orange).

Guess what started again while I was at the doctors? Snow!! We've had probably another inch fall this morning. I plan on taking it slow on the way in to ABQ because around here the roads were getting kind of slick.

I stopped over at the school library and picked up a few books to read. Although I have plenty of books on my phone, there are times where you can't use electronic devices on the planes, so I like to have a hard copy book -- the last few times I ended up buying a book in the airport -- highway robbery. So this time I am prepared!! Plus I'll be able to book talk these books when I get back.

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After I got back from dinner last night, I preceded to spend the $200 donation. I bought about $70 worth of graphic novels, $60 worth of mid-school specific books, and the rest were more primary level books. I actually ended up spending an extra $15. In all, I got 47 books - from Ebay and Amazon. Only 6 of them were full price (the newer, more popular ones.)

I used my Beezag money that was in Paypal for the books from Ebay.

They should mostly be here by Jan 7. The kids are going to be so excited.

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I'm 15 points away from redeeming my next AGC from Swagbucks. Yay!

I could redeem points for a $25 AGC from Mypoints right now, but I'm only 3,000 away from a $50 AGC. I'll wait - it'll save 400 points that way.

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Ok, I better go pack. It's gonna be hard getting up though cuz Kari is sound asleep on my lap.

This morning I received my 7th payment from Beezag. That makes $56 now for 2011. I was looking at my payment history from them and realized I'd really slacked off July - November. That doesn't surprise me, because I know how busy/exhausted,e tc. I was then.

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I updated both my Frugal Living blog and my Children's Books blog. It had been quite a while for both of them. One goal I'm adding for 2012 is to update at least the book blog 2x a month. It really should be easy to do considering how many books I read to my students each week.

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A few weeks ago I went to the local clinic here for a sinus infection, and I was hoping to get a new prescription for my thyroid medicine. However, I found out that I had to have my medical records before they'd do anything more than treat my sinus infection.

So today I called to find out whether they'd gotten them or not. They hadn't gotten all of them yet, but apparently enough to feel comfortable making an appointment for me to get blood work done. Unfortunately the time they wanted me to come in (so I could get on with the new doctor) was Friday, January 6. I told the person that Fridays were the worst possible day for me as a librarian - we have so many Fridays off that the kids already get shortchanged. She was just like ... well the teachers will understand if you give them enough notice.

In my head I'm thinking, yeah right lady.

So about 30 minutes later she calls me back. I now have an appointment for tomorrow morning with the current doctor! Starting in March I'll have to use the new doc and go on Fridays, but hopefully I can schedule those appointments for when we're off anyway.

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Just as I was in the middle of writing this post, I got a knock at my door. Fed Ex!!! It was a donation check from the same man my mom dated who pd for my Thanksgiving tickets and gave me $100 towards books. A donation of $200!!! His daughter asked that instead of him giving her her usual Christmas gift, that he donate it to my school's library. Isn't that just the most unselfish and sweetest thing you've heard??

Above and beyond the gift itself, I am most surprised that FedEx will deliver straight to my door. I know UPS won't, because I have to get all my packages at the post office. But this morning I got a call from a woman at FedEx asking me where a particular address was located. I told her that I think the address she was looking for was xxxxx instead, but that there'd be no one there. So she asked me for my home address -- I was very surprised and didn't believe it till the guy knocked on my door!

This is good to know - very good to know.

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What do you think would be a good way for me (or the students) to show appreciation for the gift?

MM - he wrote the check to me, but included a letter to the school stating what it was for. Will he be able to write that off on his taxes? Or should I have him rewrite the check to the school/mission???

I'm not sure that he is doing it for a write off, but included the letter to give me a little extra "props" with the mission (that I have people donating money to the school, hence keep me around.)

Now I'm going to have to figure out the best way to use this money. Believe me, I could spend it 4 or 5 x over quite easily. Maybe allocate $100 towards mid-school level books and $100 towards primary level books??

This morning when I looked out my window, I saw that we'd gotten another two-three inches of snow overnight. But ... it has stopped snowing (for now at least - predicted to get more tomorrow/Thursday!)

I was still able to remove the snow off my car with my scraper, and pull out with no problems. There was a light wind blowing snow across the road which made visibility a bit limited, but otherwise the roads were fine.

I ended up driving a little bit past the mechanics due to the visibility, and so turned in to the drive next to his. In order to get to the mechanic, I had to drive through this open passageway.

I got stuck.

Thankfully I knew enough to stop revving my engine once I realized I was stuck. But apart from that, I wasn't sure what to do. Just as I was about to get out of my car to go get help, an older white woman came over. (I found out later that she is a speech pathologist at a school about 50 miles from here.) She told me to straighten my wheels out and gun it. So, I did that - and after a little help from her pushing down on my front end, I was able to get out.
Yay!

Once I got out I headed back to the mechanic. 20 minutes or so later the verdict was back --- only cosmetic damage!! I was practically jumping up and down in relief. The guy who looked at my car didn't charge me anything for his time either (which he really could have done quite fairly.)

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So .... if the freeway isn't closed on Thursday due to more snow ... I'll be able to drive to ABQ with no worries of my car breaking down.

I also don't have to raid my miniscule emergency fund to make car repairs!

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While I was out, I did pick up a $10 shovel at the local mini-grocer. That way I don't have to depend on others to shovel me out if I need it. (I probably ought to get a better quality one sometime - but this one will do in a pinch.)

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I was really bored last night, so did a preliminary look at my 2011 taxes. I didn't have all the confirmed numbers, so some were just guestimates. Even so ... it looks like I'll be getting back at least $7 or 800 (maybe more.) Whatever I do get back, 10% will go for fun/wants and the rest will go to my EF.

I also was playing with YNAB and doing some forecasting. If I'm really careful (and especially now that I don't have to take out money for car repairs!) by next December I *should* be able to meet all my financial goals -- and that is without counting any money from possibly working summer school!