This will be much shorter that it was - submitted the orginal post and was told *you are already registered as frugaltexan75* --- so post was gone. Ugrh!

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Received $20 in Amazon gift cards today from Swagbucks for January. Waiting on the 5th card.

Only 7 points away from my first Amazon card on irazoo!

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Took the practice test for librarian certification today for the third time. 1 - 79; 2 - 81; 3 - 81. 80 is passing. The real thing is on the 29ths. So, I need to hit those flashcards hard!

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Letter from my bank today telling me that they're going to start charging $8.95/month for checking starting in February. Two main ways to avoid it is direct deposit of $300/mo or maintain a balance of $1500. Can't do #1, so am considering #2 just so I don't have to go through the hassle of switching banks. However, at some point in the next four or five months I would not have that much to maintain - so would get the charge anyway.

Will have to think some more on this.

Today I received the codes for $20 of Amazon.com gift cards from Swagbucks. The 5th one should be coming very soon. (If it happens like last month, it'll probably be there by morning.) So right now I have $70 in my Amazon account.

I am 7 points away from being able to redeem for my first Amazon card with irazoo - thanks to a 33 point search win this evening.

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Today I took another practice test - the last one I can take before the real thing on the 29th. The legalese said to expect it to take 5 to 7 business days to find out how I did -- the score came back in less than two hours. I did *exactly* what I did on my last practice test. An 81%. Ugh! It's passing yes, but by a very slim margin. I really need to hit the flashcards hard the next two weeks.

Only one week till classes officially start for me. (Should I say ... class.)

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I got a letter from my local bank today. Essentially it said that starting in February, I will be charged $8.95 a month for my checking account with them. Unless: 1) Direct Deposit of $300+; 2) Maintain a balance of $1500+, or 3) Student under 25 years old.

I'm going to have to do some checking around to see if I can find anything less. Or, I may just put my scholarship money in that account - that would hold off the charges for 3 or 4 months maybe ... If it wasn't for the fact that I need a local bank to make cash deposits at, I'd go totally online. But I get paid mostly in cash ...

Chase at one time only charged $6.95/month. Before I look into changing banks though, I'm going to talk to the ladies at my branch and see if there are any other options there.

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I filled up today for $2.829/gallon at Walmart using the shopping card for the 3cent discount. $29.29

On Saturday I had to get gas at this little expensive station on my way home from church - was running on fumes. $2.99/gallon gulp! (3 gallons)

If I would have filled up on Friday at Walmart, it would have been $2.78/gallon. I thought I could hold out til Monday, and the price might be better ... oh well.

Hi everyone! I have my first tutoring appointment today at 1:15 p.m. so I don't have a lot of time right now, but I just wanted to stop by and say hi!

My stepdad and I arrived back home at 2:40 a.m. this morning! Boy, was it good to get back to my own room again.

I had a great trip and did a lot of fun stuff. I'll try to post a bit more about that soon.

Today though I worked on updating my sidebar with one of my financial goals for this year -- tracking my earnings with the various rewards sites. My goal is to earn $800 by November 11. I'm including the $50 I earned from Swagbucks in 2010 towards that goal.

I made a financial leap of trust (or stupidity, depending on what happens ...) today. I took out some money from my Roth IRA and used it to purchase shares of one particular stock. I read a lot about this particular company over vacation, and all of my California family members have put money into this particular stock. This could turn out to be a fantastic decision, or one where I lose most of what I put into it. Either way, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't a lot of money. (There won't be tax consequences as the money I took out came from my own contributions.)

I am starving right now, so I probably ought to go get something to eat, and then get ready for my first session with my new student.

Ugh! I was almost finished with this post when I decided to check something, and without thinking, hit "search." Goodbye post.

Anyway ...

I had a good day with my mom on Friday. We ate at Olive Garden, and then went shopping. She bought me a red coat from Costco, and an HP ePrinter from Wal-Mart. Then we watched Beezus & Ramona at her apartment. (Sweet!) Then I signed her up for Swagbucks. My second referral!

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Sabbath School class on Saturday was chaotic. My usual helper wasn't there (told me last week) and of course there was the Christmas program. So at 10:30 I had 15! kids, and then at 10:35 I had 6 kids. The program was fantastic! By the time we ate potluck after church and got the money counted, I got home around 5:00 p.m. It was a long day - but good.

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On Sunday I worked with my senior high-school tutoring student helping her fill out college applications. I'm really glad we went back through them, because on one she had flip flopped the GPA numbers (i.e. where it asked for her GPA, she put 4.0, and where it asked for the weighted score, she put her actual GPA.) She gave me a giftcard which turned out to be an Amway gift choice. After entering in your redemption code, you are given a selection of possible gift options. There wasn't anything which really stood out to me, but in the end I chose to get a fish aquarium thingy for beta fish. Might be a nice stress reliever.

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I now have enough Mypoints for a $50 Wal-mart gift card. Of course, there are none available right now, so I'll have to wait until January. I also have nearly enough Swagbucks for a $50 Amazon gift card (5108 - need 5900.) I'll probably just wait til January and get the $25 (5 $5's), and then keep on doing that till I have enough for *both* a $50 and a $25.

Swagbucks and Mypoints are my two main focuses, but I am also using a number of other sites. They include: irazoo, zoombucks, sidetick, beruby, and beezag. Of all of these, I think irazoo is probably the easiest to make money from - easy 100 points a day, which equals one $5 Amazon card per month. Beezag is interesting in that you watch these commercials and then enter numbers at the end to prove you watched it. Each commercial is worth a different number of points. Once you reach 8000 points, you can cash out for $8.00 PayPal. Most videos seem to be between 50 and 70 points, and you get two - three a day. Zoombucks I think I'll probably focus more on just entering zoom codes whenever I see them, and maybe go search once a day. Otherwise the site is kind of annoying. Sidetick ... it finally seems to be crediting me properly. Essentially you can earn $.50 a day by opening an email and posting a comment on the daily blog post. Payout is $25.00. BeRuby is something I just started using. All you do is click on websites (CNN, Yahoo, etc.) and get paid from half a cent to one cent each. Payout is $10.00 Paypal.

So ... I decided that my goal in doing all these different sites is to earn $650 by November 1, 2011. This money will be used to purchase a new computer (assuming my current one doesn't die on me by then.) I already have $50 towards this. So .. 600/10 .. that means I need to average about $60/month from these sites. Hmm... I may have to supplement this money from other sources ... I think $30/month is completely doable, and perhaps $35/month, but $60 is really pushing it.

... Maybe I can count the money I get back from statement credits using my credit card rewards points? Today I redeemed 3000 Chase Freedom points for a $30.00 statement credit. On my Citi card, I'll be getting 2000 Thank You points for my GPA this semester (if I can figure out how to get an acceptable grade statement for them.)

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Ok, I probably ought to be going. I need to make sure YNAB is up to date so I can update my YNAB app for the trip; plus there are still a few things I need to do packing wise. SD is taking me to the airport at 5:45 a.m. Gulp! That's the earliest I've had to wake up in a long time.

I don't know how often I'll be getting on here in the next few weeks ... So in case I miss it ...

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Years!

I'll start with the Good News. I had to file an appeal for the second half of my scholarship. One of the requirements was that you are enrolled full-time - meaning 9 semester hours for graduate students. Since I only have 3 credits left, I had to file an appeal.

Well, you can guess where this is going. I got an email today telling me that my appeal had been approved. In early February I will get the second $1000 scholarship money! Woo Hoo!

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Not so good news. My birth certificate that dad mailed out to me on Thursday did not come today. So after I was done with my tutoring students, I stopped at my storage unit and opened a few more boxes that were possibilities. Nada. When I got home, I looked in the one and only possible place I could have it, and ... nada.

So, hopefully it will come tomorrow before I have to leave for my evening tutoring students. If it does, I will have the pleasure of spending part of my birthday in the DMV. If it doesn't, then I hope that they'll take an expired driver's license...

I mentioned awhile ago that I had signed up to be a group leader in a weight loss program my church is holding in the new year. Well, yesterday we had our first volunteer meeting after church. I found out that the program coordinator had told a friend of mine (church assistant treasurer who I help with counting money each Sabbath) that she wasn't needed. Doh! I count it as the age of this person (she has to be in her early 20's.) But seriously, when are there ever *too many* volunteers for a church function??

Anyway, today I finally got around to reading the group leader handbook. By the time I finished it, I decided it wasn't for me. First of all, it was pretty offensive in how they discussed people with weight issues. Secondly, the time commitment required of a group leader was more than just the once a week meeting - it also involved calling 6 - 8 group members on a daily basis. Thirdly, I just plain did not agree with some of the ideas in the lessons.

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Has anyone else been having problems with Mypoints recently? I've been a member since 2005, and have earned nearly 90,000 points (redeemed 83,200) and until November, never had an offer or email not credit. In November, I had two offer sign-ups not credit (freebie things), and in December I had two sign-ups that have not credited yet, and one survey non-qualifier. I contacted customer service regarding the survey non-qualifier, and one of the November offers (waiting for the 30 day period to pass on the others.) I finally did receive credit on the one offer (Pet Centric, upload a picture of your pet to their site, then share it on Facebook - 165 points total!) And customer service gave me "goodwill Points" for the survey non-qualifier.

I'm afraid to complain too much about offers not crediting because I've heard too much about people being deactivated without warning. I have nearly enough points right now for a $50 Wal-Mart card (need about 120 more.)

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I got a good bit done today that I'd been slacking on. Cleaned out my closet, and found my two sweatshirts. (I'd put them in a suitcase a few months ago for a Sabbath School lesson, and forgot I'd done that!) Cleared my drawers/bookshelves, etc. of accumulated junkmail, etc. Did three loads of laundry. And still managed to spend a lot of time on the internet.

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I got comments from my professor today on the grant proposal my partner and I did. From her remarks, I think we may have gotten a good grade. She said that she thought our proposal was unique and a contender. So, I just may still have my 4.0 going into Spring semester.

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I was reading a blog focused on Swagbucks today, and indirectly was led to a freebie site on Facebook. Then as I was reading through *that* I found out about two new interesting money making sites. One is a social network where you supposedly can earn $15/month *just* by logging in every day, reading any email in your site inbox, and making a comment on the main blog post.

The other site I found out about, is one where you watch these advertisement videos. During the videos two numbers flash across the screen randomly. Then at the end of the video, you enter those numbers to earn credit. 800 points = $8.00 (cash out) I spent about 10 minutes checking the site out and watching videos, and earned 39 points.

I'm going to play around with both of these sites and see if they really pay out, then I'll post their names here. The first one (social site) you get $1 for every referral, and $.25 for every person your referrals refer -- but you do use your real name. So .. I probably would only give my referral link to people here who already know my real name.

Anyway, none of these sites really take that much time, and if they really do pay out, it's a nice bit of extra money each month.

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Did you hear about the roof collapsing on the

Metrodome in Minnesota where the Vikings play? If the other team hadn't been rerouted on their flight plan, and it had happened just a little bit later in the day ... Yikes!

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Tomorrow night I'm meeting 5 other ladies from my church for a December birthdays get together at Soup Or Salad. I think that sounds like fun. With my birthday being so close to Christmas, I usually get left out of any birthday rememberances at work or church, etc.

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My birth certificate didn't come yet, hopefully it will arrive tomorrow so I can get my license taken care of before Wednesday (when it expires.) If I have to, I'll go to the DMV on Wednesday, but that day is SO full already. Besides, do I really want to spend my birthday at the DMV????

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One last thing ... Restaurants.com is having their 80% sale right now. I think this code expires today?? But if you enter code: Joy at checkout, you get a $25 gift certificate for $2! I bought one for a vegetarian restaurant near where I'll be visiting my dad/grandma in CA. So, I'll be able to treat to a really nice meal for around $27 (after tip and required spending amount of $45.)

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This week I think I'll probably only have tutoring through Wednesday. I know my high-school Junior was trying to get out of Thursday, and definitely Friday. My Senior might still want to meet on Thursday - hopefully - we've been working a lot on college entrance essays, so that's not dependent on a school schedule.

This evening I got email confirmation of my 5 Amazon gift cards I'd ordered from Swagbucks for November. So now my Amazon.com account has $50 just sitting there waiting to be put to use. I already have enough Swagbucks for my January $25 -- I may just try to get a $50 one this month ... hmm...

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Monday and Tuesday afternoon I worked with the College Freshman on his research paper. It was on the Chosun Dynasty and the four hereditary classes (Korea.) I was mangling the pronunciations so much, that he finally said, "Just say Y" (for Yangin.) LOL! Between the two days I worked with him just under an hour. So, I only charged him $20.

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If the family of the two boys I work with on Wednesday nights can reschedule their boys math tutor, I will be having a second night with them. They want my mom to work with their two oldest boys at the same time as I am working with the two youngest. If it works out, that would be an extra $200 per month. The boys are quite pleasant and fun to work with.

Actually, I can't say that I have *any* tutoring student that I don't enjoy working with - ... well, maybe one who can sometimes be quite frustrating, although I know it isn't his fault ...

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On to the Driver's License Renewal Troubles:

Yesterday I was driving to my late evening tutoring session when it dawned on me that I needed to renew my license ASAP! Why? Well, if I want to get on the plane on the 21st to go to CA, it would be a good idea to have a current license!

So, this morning I get on the TX DL site and enter my information to renew online. DENIED! What??? After reading the eligibility criteria closely, I saw that you can only renew every other time online. That means that in order to renew, I must go in person. Ugh!

Well, I figured that all I would need would be my current DL, and my birth certificate. Nope! Not good enough. When I go in, I will need my birth certificate, plus two other forms of i.d. (I'll be taking my SS card, and a letter from my car insurance stating I've had continuous coverage for more than 2 years.)

As you may know, I have a lot of my things tucked away in my storage unit. Guess what one of those items are? Yep! My birth certificate. I was ready to order a new one from my birth state rather than dig around and through all my boxes ... but luckily I called my dad first. Guess what he had, and knew how to get to it in less than two minutes? My birth certificate should arrive by Saturday or Monday. I'm hoping my assumption is correct that they'll give me my new license right away - otherwise I won't have any current picture i.d. This would be very bad.

I know this whole ordeal is my fault due to procrastinating (and not having a central place where all my important documents are kept within easy finding.) Still, though, it irks me that I have to go to such lengths to prove who I am, and that I can't just renew online again. Oh well, guess that's life.

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Oh! I ordered the flashcards for my certification test. They came on Tuesday. I haven't done much with them yet, but from what I've seen, they look like they'll be helpful.

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Last night my mom and I were talking after finishing our tutoring session. She asked me if I wanted the Nook as a birthday/Christmas gift. I told her thanks for the thought, but my iPhone does the job just fine - and is only one device to carry. So she asked me what I'd like ... I told her a mani/pedi and a bike saddle seat. (She was looking for the $100 range.) I'm going to go over to her apartment next Friday and set her up on Swagbucks, as well as maybe watching a movie and dinner somewhere. (My birthday is Wednesday, but neither of our schedules work out to do anything that day.)

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I am curious to see what my January tutoring schedule is going to look like. If new students/hours keep at this rate, I am going to be one busy lady!

As my title indicates, the scholarship money I found in my account yesterday was NOT a mistake!!!!!!

I received an email back from the financial aid office telling me that it is actually a scholarship from my university, and that I'd be receiving another email with more information on it today. I just about fainted dead away.

$2,000.00!!!!

The email with more info was in my university email account (which I rarely check.) It looks like it was some kind of a competitive scholarship which I was entered into back in the fall when I filled out info for a dozen+ scholarships. One of the requirements is to be enrolled in at least 9 graduate hours per semester. This semester I am enrolled in 9, but next semester I only have one 3-hour class left. I've already emailed them to ask about that.

So, it may be just $1,000.00. But ... even so ... $1,000.00!!!!

My second semester is completely paid for now, AND I'll be getting money back. Somewhere between $500 and $1500.

It is just so amazing to me how God has provided for me throughout my life - but especially the past few years while I've been back in school. I'd been worried about how I was going to afford going on interview trips, let alone living expenses until I find a job ... and here drops a huge sum of money from out of nowhere!

Tonight I logged on to my university account to see if my scholarship money had been posted yet. Once it is posted, then I can pay the remainder and be finished with paying for school.

Well, I received the shock of my life. Underneath the listing for my $400 scholarship, there was *another* scholarship listed for $2000.00!!!! I clicked on the link to find out what it was for. It said that $1k had been awarded for the first semester, and $1k for the second semester. I then Googled the name : USC continuing students. From the information I found, it appears that it is a scholarship for students who are continuing students at the University of Southern California.

I've already emailed the financial aid office to let them know. Sigh ... it sure would be nice if that money really *was* mine. Maybe I should have gone to USC instead (though their tuition is probably that much higher too.)

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I'm up to 2,454 Swagbucks now. So tomorrow I'll be able to start buying my December Amazon cards.

Groceries - $77.89
Auto:Gas -- $74.32
Auto:Insurance -- $206
Auto:Repairs $127.50
Gifts - $57.36
iTunes -- $11.30
Prescriptions - $45.30
Subscriptions/Fees - $60

Groceries - Two main reasons I think this category was under budget this month. One is the challenge between my mom and I (me, limited sugar; mom - one 12oz coke/day.) Two, was I cooked and froze 2lbs of pinto beans, and 8 servings worth of lentil soup - plus ate quite a bit of homemade burritos. It could have still been less, but on the most recent shopping trip (after the challenge) I bought more sweets than I really should have.

Auto:Gas - This would have been less if I hadn't made an extra trip to L************ to help the local church school teacher. This extra expense was offset though by her giving me $20 in gas money - which I first refused, but then accepted.

Auto:Insurance - My six-month premium with Geico. Reflected is a 10% Defensive Driving discount, plus an additional $6.60 for Roadside Assistance. (I canceled my $3/month RA plan with AT&T as of Friday.)

Auto:Repairs -- Replacing three outside belts to stop my car from squealing constantly.

Gifts -- Mostly Christmas gifts, but also one Mother's Day gift. All bought via Mypoints or Swagbucks.

iTunes -- Got a bit carried away with purchasing tutoring apps for my new preschool student.

Prescriptions - Renewed Walgreen's Prescription Discount card, plus monthly prescription.

Subscriptions/Fees - $60 - Renewed professional memberships in American Library Association and Texas Library Association.

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"Passive Income"
In November I earned around 1200 points at Mypoints. I need another 1200 points to redeem for a $50 Wal-mart card. I may be able to do this by sometime in January. (Most of the points are from two sources: clicking on paid emails, and survey non-qualifiers. I did make one purchase this month (gift) which gave me 200 points, and I did upload a pet photo for a contest and shared it on Facebook - for another 225 points.)

I redeemed 2,250 Swagbucks for $25 in Amazon.com gift cards. Plus I have earned an additional 2,109 Swagbucks in November. I will most likely use those to get another $25 in Amazon.com gift cards in December. I have at least one family member who may sign up under me (mom), and am going to try for two others over the holidays.

I redeemed 8900 Chase CC points for $89.00 in statement credit.

I found out yesterday that I earned $2.86 in advertising income through my Frugal blog for Amazon.com. Of course, I can't get that money until it reaches $10. Which may be never (considering this was from a sale in August ... the only sale so far.)

Tutoring Income
Also in November I acquired two new tutoring students. This added an additional $150 income. Which almost made up for the week of Thanksgiving where all but my new students canceled.

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Future Spending/Income

In December I am pretty sure that both my gas and groceries categories will be a good bit less with my going on vacation from the 21st thru the 3rd. My family will pretty much not let me pay for anything. Although I will offer - and I am looking for the $3 deal for a $25 Restaurant.com gift card. I'd like to treat to this one particular vegetarian place.

Also, I should receive the scholarship money I was granted in November. However, I will also be paying my last semesters tuition (Due December 20?? I think.

We had a pretty small group for Sabbath School this weekend, just six kids. Of course, church itself was pretty empty. I guess a lot of people out traveling.

Yesterday I got an email from Amazon telling me that they had money for me, but didn't know how to get it to me. (I'm an Amazon Associate on both of my blogs.) So I went to the site to find out what they were talking about. I had to search all the way back to August to find ... one person had bought two items (quinoa and something else)through one of my links! My advertising profit? $2.87. Of course, the minimum payout is $10, so I'm not sure why they were stressing about me setting up a payment method. I think its so funny that I made my first "sale" through my frugal blog on which I have *very* few Amazon links, rather than on my book blog in which I have links everywhere!

This weekend has been incredible with the wins on Swagbucks TV. From Thursday through today, I have had an average of ten wins per day. That's nearly half of a $5 Amazon gift card! (The normal average is two-three a day.)

Today my stepdad and I went over to my moms new apartment and helped her get more settled in. We brought Buddy with us - he was so happy to see mom. He followed her everywhere she went. On the way back home I asked SD to stop at a gas station because I wanted a Cherry Coke (challenge is over! thank you very much) Buddy went nutso in the car with SD while I was in the store. I think the little guy is getting a really bad complex.

Friday I went out grocery shopping pretty late. If I hadn't needed to fill up with gas for the weekend, I would have just skipped it.

I had about 15 items in my cart - all the lanes were packed (that were open.) So I chose the one with only one person who had two FULL carts. I figured that the one person had a better chance of getting through quickly than a line of 5 people with 15 - 20+ items (more chance of um... problem customers.) So anyway, while I was waiting, a cashier opened up the register just behind me. When I noticed it, she was about to start ringing a guy up behind me. He saw me notice it, then looked at my cart, and told me to go ahead. Really cute guy too. (Probably early to mid-twenties though. Too bad.)

I forgot to make an actual list, so didn't pick up spinach. SD picked that up today for me though.

So groceries -- $27.40 (fruit, cheese, Rice Dream, Orange Juice, hot chocolate, marshmallows, etc.)

Gas - $2.49/gallon $22.86

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November Spending:

Gas -- $74.78
Groceries -- $77.99
Auto Insurance -- 206.62
Subscriptions & Dues - $60 (
Prescriptions, etc. - $45.30
Gifts - $57.04
iTunes - $11.xx
Auto Repairs/Maintain - $127.65
Phone - $80.62

I did really well with my grocery spending this month. I think doing the challenge with my mom had a large part in it. Also, making crockpot beans and freezing them, as well as lentil soup, and eating lots of homemade burritos, cut down expenses.

Gas was okay. It would have been less if I hadn't gone down and volunteered at the local church school (I could have waited till December to fill up.) But .. I did get $20 in gas money from the principal/teacher (which I did try to refuse, but she insisted.) That isn't figured into the gas amount.

Auto Insurance - I chose to stay with Geico. The amount reflects the Defensive Driver's Discount, and adding back Roadside Assistance. I called AT&T on Friday and dropped their RA, which cost $3/month versus $1.xx/mo for Geico.

Subscriptions/Dues - After much thought I decided to renew my membership in the two professional organizations. Hopefully next year I'll be working in a library that will provide those dues for me, but for now, it will be good to have on my resume.

Prescriptions, etc. - My monthly scrip, plus a renewal of Walgreen's Prescription Club Discount card.

Gifts - Most come from an order with Lakeside Collection. VERY slow shipping. The order also earned some points through Mypoints. A few of the others are from two different photo deals I did through Swagbucks. My Christmas shopping is done. Oh yes, almost forgot - one gift was for Mother's Day (also a Swagbucks deal.)

iTunes - Got a bit carried away finding apps for my new tutoring student (pre-schooler)

Auto Repairs - Replaced three outside belts when the squealing got really bad in my car.

Phone - This should go down a little bit next month, now that I've canceled Roadside Assistance

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I did have some unexpected new sources of income this month, such as the two new tutoring students, and the reimbursed gas money. I also redeemed $25 worth of Amazon gift cards (through Swagbucks) which are currently sitting in my Amazon account. Not to mention the scholarship I found out about!

So, I definitely could do better next month. After the 21st, I doubt I'll be spending much of my own money (being out in CA.) I will offer - but will more than likely be turned down. (I am hoping one of those $3 Restaurant.com codes come out so I can get a gift certificate for this one restaurant out there and "treat" for at least one meal!)

Last night I worked with two new tutoring students, a 2nd grader and a 5th grader. They're both great kids and I think it is going to be lots of fun finding things for them. Their mom insists on them having homework between sessions. My mom had been working with the fifth-grade boy, as well as his two older brothers. But she wasn't able to work with the second grade boy.

Today as I was waiting for my high-school boy, I ran into the mom of two of my mom's former students. (She'd exchanged hair styling for tutoring.) She asked me if I'd be willing to work with her 4 year old daughter and help her get ready for kindergarten. One or two times a week for an hour each. Right up my alley! We'll possibly start in January.

Then near the end of my tutoring session with the high-school boy, his host mom came home. She's the same person who has essentially helped me get most of my students. She asked me if I thought I could tutor someone in Algebra 1. I gulped, and said that I thought I could. I'd have to get some books and such from the library to review, but I think I could do it. As long as I stayed ahead of the student.

Wow! if both of these new students pan out, I'm going to be quite busy! Yay!!

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Grocery Spending:

11/17 -- $8.01 supper, chocolate oranges (2)

I needed something to eat before tutoring my two new students. CVS had the chocolate oranges on sale 2 for $5. I *love* those oranges, and that is a good price. So ... they are put away until Thanksgiving when the challenge is over.

11/18 -- $7.06 bananas, shredded cheese, green onions, frozen veggies, cream corn,

I decided to make the corn pudding for potluck on Sabbath, so needed a few more ingredients.

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Wow! Yesterday I completed a special offer on Swagbucks for comparing insurance offers. (It gave me enough to get my 5th Amazon card, and have 300+ left.) This morning I was inundated with phone calls and emails. On Tuesday I had written a blog post on

how I've managed to stump car insurance agents. This morning to my utter shock, someone actually managed to beat my rate by $3 (per six-months.) I told them I didn't want to make a decision right away, but would need to think about it. Or, in other words, research the company.

Good thing I did! It has absolutely terrible ratings for customer service and claims handling. As I was talking to the five different people (the ones I actually answered the phone for) a reoccurring statement made was that I had only been insured for one-year. I thought that was really strange since I was pretty sure I'd been with Geico since at least 2001. I also found out that Texas passed a law raising the amount of the mandated minimums.

So I finally went ahead and gave Geico a call. I found out that most agents when making a quote will just automatically put one-year, and that I had been with Geico nearly 12 years. I also found out that I won't need to worry about the increased coverage rate until my May renewal. Then I asked the agent to add roadside service back to my plan. I couldn't remember why I had taken it off my plan in the first place ($6/term). He reminded me that it usually is only available for people with comprehensive, but that since I've been with them for so long, he'd make an exception. It just so happened that he was a supervisor!

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As I was typing this I got a call from the mom of the 4 year old. She and her husband have decided to have me work with their daughter twice a week! Yes! Apparently she has to pass a test to be admitted into the particular Kindergarten. The mom is going to talk to the pre-school teacher to find out what skills need to be worked on. I'm really running the gambit here - working with 4-year olds all the way through college!

Last night around 10:30 I was typing away on an entry here, when Poof! the power went out. It stayed out for over 90 minutes. We'd had a little bit of thunder and lightning, but nothing major. So ... that was weird.

I cashed in for my 4th Amazon $5 gift card yesterday, and deposited the second one in Amazon. I love free money.

Last night my mom asked me to help her with two of her tutoring students on Wednesday nights. This particular family has 4 children. I'll work with the two youngest, and she'll work with the two oldest. That adds an extra $200/month for me! Woo Hoo!

Today I spent quite a bit of money (well, for me anyway.) I decided to renew my memberships in American Library Association and the Texas Library Association. A total of $60 for both of them (student rates!) I'd been debating on it ever since I got the renewal notices. I finally concluded that if I want to have any chance of getting a job, it probably is a good idea to have a professional membership.

I did something else really unusual for me today. I opened up a credit card offer! It was for a Citi Visa for students. Even more highly unusual for me is that I applied! What got me? Two things: 1 - You can earn up to 4,000 points per semester based on your GPA; and 2 - Every month you pay on time you get 25 points. Boo Ya! Easy free points! I was approved for $4,000.00. I'm hoping that I can send them my grades for Spring semester and get the first 4,000 points. It'll motivate me to work even harder to make sure that one class this semester that's making me nuts becomes an A, for another 4,000 points.

Speaking of Credit Cards. Today I checked my Chase Visa account, and I had enough to redeem for $100 cash. Before it changed over to Chase Freedom, I could just apply that as a credit on my statement. But now they have a feature where you can apply a credit to your statement for *specific* purchases and purchase amounts. This is good and bad. I'll probably use it more often, since there is no incentive to save for a better deal on statement credit. However, it is very rare that an item is exactly within a certain range. Like today, I didn't have anything that was in the 70 - 75 range, but I did have a number of items in the 23 - 25 range. So, I ended up using 8900 points for an $89.00 credit. Next statement I'll have enough for a $20 credit (the minimum.)

I was supposed to buy bananas tonight, but totally forgot. By the time I was finished with my high-school boy (we worked 80 extra minutes) and made it through the construction traffic, my brain was fried. So, no banana for breakfast tomorrow.

I watched last night's Dancing with the Stars tonight. Wow! I just so love Jennifer Grey. She is so fantastic. I haven't heard the results yet from tonights vote off, but if a certain person on there stays, and Jennifer goes ... ARGHH!

I just checked my email and found out that I was awarded a scholarship for the Spring semester! Yahoo! It didn't say how much it will be for, but I'm hoping it'll be at least $400 like for this semester. That'll definitely help put a little extra breathing room in my budget.

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Last night I was really, really bored and not feeling like doing school work. So I made the first video for my Living Frugal blog, and then I also made a second video for my Children's Books blog. It's a book review in an interview format.

Book Talk with Dan and Laura.

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Spending Report:

Filled up with gas: $23.57

Bought bananas: $1.43

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I'm about 70 Swagbucks away from redeeming my 3rd Amazon gift card -- and I haven't even been doing it for two full weeks yet! Of course, the proof will be when I am able to actually redeem the gift cards.

I did some Mypoints emails today, and looked at the rewards page. Recently, it had looked like 60% of their gift cards were gone. But it must have just been a glitch, or maybe they restocked. I have about 5600 points right now, so I could get a $25 gift card, or wait a few months more and get a $50. I'm debating on getting a Walmart card and use it for new clothes, or get an Amazon card to add to my SB winnings for something larger. I'll probably end up waiting to have enough for a $50 card.

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I feel really badly for my sixth grade tutoring student. Last week he had his finger slammed between 50lbs of weights when he was in weightlifting class. He actually broke the tip of it! So today I had him do his vocab quiz orally, and then I was his scribe for our essay writing work. (It was his writing hand.)

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My mom may have found the house she's going to move into. She's going to leave Buddy here for the most part so that he's not alone for 8 or 9 hours a day. He's going to be one confused little puppy.

Today was another NSD.

I redeemed some of my Swagbucks for a second Amazon gift card, and have 200 towards the next one. My earnings are going to slow down a good bit probably, because I finished all the profiles, and completed most of the special offers which didn't require a phone number or credit card info (or a download).

I think I'm going to stop recording no spending days, and just record when I actually spend money.

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I finally input my paypal address to Adgitize so that I could get my money. Adgitize is an advertising company for blogs. When I was more active with my living simple and childrens books blogs I actually bought an advertisement one month -- and thus earned most of the cost back. Until today however, I just kept forgetting to put my paypal address in!

So ... Income: $11.97

For the last six months or so, I've been sweating doing my 2009 taxes. From the calculations I'd made with the 2008 turbo tax, it sure looked like I was going to end up owing around $1500 due to Self-employment taxes. It really worried me how I was going to make my savings last for tuition AND paying the tax.

I was basing this off of making roughly $10k at the gym (plus the w-2 income from January/Feb). Today, though, I found out I'd made about $7500. And that right there made all the difference. Seriously.

First, I qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit. That put me down to owing about $200. Then, I put in my education expenses. That brought me to a REFUND!!!! of ..... $62!!!

This puts me in a real conundrum as to how to do estimated taxes for 2010. I more than likely will make less than 12k for 2010, and will have a similar amount of an educational deduction. So ... with EITC and the education credit, I doubt I'll end up owing more than a few hundred dollars, if that. Maybe just go ahead and send in $300 a quarter, and then get it all back later (most likely)? Just to be safe? I probably need to talk to a small business tax person - I just hate to do that since *every penny* counts right now.

Ugh! I'd so much rather be getting W-2's than have to be messing with all of this kind of stuff.

Overall, my California trip went really well. My very favorite part of the trip was the day my dad, grandma and I spent with my brother in San Francisco and finally at his home in Napa. We stopped at Ghiradelli's and had hot chocolate, then somehow wound up under the Golden Gate bridge where we discovered a part of San Francisco none of us had been to before - Fort Point. Later, we played three games of Rook, and finally played Wii bowling.

We were planning on visiting Hearst Castle on our way from San Jose to Loma Linda, but we got started at nearly 1 p.m., and by the time we were within 30 minutes of Hearst, it was past time for the last tour of the day. So, we all agreed to continue on to Solvang.

A *lot* of eating out was done on this trip. So much so, that if I don't eat out again until this summer, it'd be just fine with me! On New Year's Eve we ate out at the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills (by the Farmer's Market/Grove). The tip for that meal, and the hot chocolate at Ghiradelli's, were the only things I paid for the entire trip.

My grandma wasn't quite sure what her Wii was all about. She kept calling it "wi fi". Once we got to her place, and I set it up so we could bowl, she got the hang of it.

In Denver, (layover) I experienced my first deicing while on a plane. I was quite happy that my return trip was non-stop.

I got quite a few new clothes. We went shopping at an outlet place - Coldwater Creek, Liz Claiborne, and Izod's sister store, all contributed to my wardrobe. Then we also hit up JC Penny's for one more item we couldn't find at the outlet place. All in all, for just a bit over $100 I got - two dressy tank tops; a new purse; a short sleeved sweater top; two other tops, and a dress.

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One downer of my trip, which really had nothing to do with the trip at all. I got a call from E telling me my hours had been cut to 27. When I asked him where those hours had been cut (thinking only 4 had been cut) he told me Thursday. I used to work from 8 to close - he was putting me as noon to close.

I asked him if I could have 8 to 3 instead, to keep my schedule basically the same. He told me that K was the one wanting the morning hours. So then I told him to cut a few hours on T and F to equal out the 4 instead. He then tells me that those hours had already been cut!!

So then I asked him how he was figuring 27 hours, because it sounded like 8 hours were gone from my schedule. In the end, he made it so I have 29.5 hours.

I was expecting a cut in hours, but it still hurts (financially).

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I had an interesting homecoming (to where I live). I was greeted at the door by all 4 animals. The two dogs raring to go for a walk.

However, the first acknowledgment/greeting I received from any of the humans was 6 hours later when I went out to the living room and told the daughter that Kayla was outside whining. She snottily informed me that Kayla was not whining. Umm ... ok. I just walked out to the living room for no reason, and happened to see Kayla at the door.

My next acknowledgment was from my landlady this afternoon after I had placed the doggy bag in the trashcan. A short curt "Be sure to lock the door!"

Nice. Adding to that the lovely argument I got to overhear last night between the mom and the kids ... is it May yet???

At least the animals are friendly to me.

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The dishes situation is completely ridiculous. I had a mug of hot chocolate last night. I rinsed out the mug and the spoon, and placed them in the (empty) dishwasher.

Tonight, I went out to the kitchen to put groceries away, and found this note taped to the mug cabinet "Wash your own dishes!!"

I am seriously contemplating buying paper plates, cups, and plastic ware. I hate the waste and the expense, but it might just be worth it for the peace of mind.

I am also contemplating about whether it would be all that horrible to move during the semester if I found the right situation ...

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Something which may help me be a bit more flexible in how much I can budget for housing ... my mom is letting me "have" one of her students for the $25/hr rate. She's been tutoring him at the $50/hr rate, but the mom just isn't able to keep going at that rate.

It would be 4 hours a week, so $100/wk. But it would be about an hour's drive one-way (assuming no major traffic snafus.)

If I do well with this kid, then it might lead to more people willing for me to tutor their child. So, this could be a good thing - especially with my hours being cut.

I'll be meeting the mom/child on Thursday to try it out.

My two biggest concerns are: 1)My mom is going to somehow hold this over me - that there is going to be some kind of extra expectation of me which hasn't been stated yet (like "I'd be glad to help you with getting a different car, but you have to promise me that you'll keep it clean and neat."), and 2) That for one reason or another the child and I won't gel, or I'll have no idea what I'm doing, and completely mess it up, and that somehow that will end up messing up my mom's tutoring business ...

I guess I shouldn't worry over milk that hasn't spilled yet ...

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While I was in San Jose, I ended up telling my Uncle about all my car troubles this year. He basically offered to either co-sign on a loan for a new car, or pay for it up front, and have me pay him back when I can.

The offer does appeal to me very much. Every time I get in my car I wonder if something is going to go wrong.

My dad recently replaced his car. He looked for months for a used car, or even for a few years old car (like an 09 leftover on the lot). He found that the used vehicles were going for as much, or more, as the new vehicles.

My uncle is big on Subaru's. They're good cars .. if I could find one that was similar in size and gas mileage to my Honda, I might go for it.

I just am not sure how I feel about going into such large debt to a relative. Paying it back in good time would depend so much on my finding a *real* job (i.e. not minimum wage!) once I graduate. But if my car dies on me, or gives me more mechanical headaches ... I'll end up having to do it anyway, plus have used up more savings to try to fix it.

Ugh! I've got such a headache thinking about all this!!

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Spending:

Gas: $22.41 (Sunday)

Deli: $4

Groceries: $22.78 (replenishing things I ate up before the trip, etc.)

Almost forgot -- extra monies:
Brother - $40 (birthday money)
Grandma - $50
Dad - $200 (cell phone, space heater, baggage fees, + extra just because)

I'm thinking about getting a portable DVD player - something I can take to the gym to watch movies on, or use at home (since my computer's dvd program still isn't working!).

$10 of my brother's gift goes to saving/giving, but I could put the other $30 towards a portable DVD. Then if I used $30 of the money grandma gave me -- I'd have $60. If I used $25 of the extra my dad gave me, that would give me $85 to buy one.

I've seen them for right around $80, but need to do some research to see if I can find one for less. (I was told by all three that they *did not* want me to put all the money into savings or just bills - they want me to use it for something frivolous.)

I also kind of really need a new printer. It needs to have the scanning capability. Two or three rounds of printing out journal articles for research papers at the library would probably equal out to the cost of one. (my mid-term paper research cost about $18 in printing costs at the library)

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Sorry if this is all over the place. I think jet lag + plane leaving 6:20 a.m. CA time on Sunday, and then getting up at 5:30 this morning for work all are coming together to make me very tired and out of sorts.

I have been wondering lately if I really qualify anymore to be called frugal.

No, I don't have any credit card (or other) debt.

Yes, I got rid of a bunch of extraneous stuff and downsized majorly in terms of living space and monthly rent costs.

But ... even though I went from paying $660/month in rent to $290/mo ... I'm not really sure where that money has been going each month.

Considering the fact that I am having to chip into my savings, and soon my EF to pay for my school tuition, you would think that there would be NO extraneous spending .. and that I'd be doing my utmost to make my grocery bill as minimal as possible.

But ... that hasn't happened.

For example, the iPhone. I love it. No, I adore it! But ... it is *way* too easy to buy music from the iTunes store, or purchase apps from the App store.

One night I got into this huge spree in iTunes and bought $23 worth of songs. Yes, they were songs that I like a lot, but ... if I would have had a little patience, I could have found most of them on CD's at the library and gotten them for free.

Some of the apps I've purchased, have been really useful. For example I bought one called Pocket Tunes which allows me to connect to my local radio stations. (My car radio is non-functioning. I really missed having local news/weather/traffic.)

But then there's iTreadmill. At first it worked great, but after a couple weeks it started calculating the distance completely wrong. I'd finish up a two-mile run/walk and it would show 5 miles.

And then yesterday I purchased a budget app called Pocket Money. Even though I read on its forums that there was no way to make unused budget amounts "carry forward" to the next month's budget (ala YNAB). And after playing around with it last night, realized that there is no way to add "extra" amounts of income to the budget. So, unless I figure out a fix for this, I just wasted $5.

Then .... there's the groceries. Once a week I go to Walmart and get around $23 - 26 worth of groceries. It is supposed to be for the week. If that was all I bought during the week, I'd be doing really, really well.

But ... then I stop at the deli near the gym and spend $4 - $6 on "breakfast" -- even though I have a canister of oatmeal, Rice Dream, box of brown sugar and butter and Stripples (veggie bacon) at the gym. Sometimes if I'm in a really bratty mood (deciding for whatever reason not to follow NO-S that day) I can spend up to $9 at one shot there.

If I did that once or twice a month, well, not great, but okay. But I've been doing that *at least* once a week, and more than one week, two times in a week.

Still, that wouldn't be so terrible on my budget .... but then there's the stops at 7/11 or the Dollar General. 7/11 is for their egg salad sandwich, and the Dollar General is for their junk food (even though I try to get my weekend junk food at Wal-mart and say thats it.)

Then there's all the spur of the moment spending. Such as buying this ebook on barefoot running which I knew didn't really contain anything new, but I just wanted to read it (it was 9.95). Or, like right now I'm really tempted to buy this extra battery doohicky for my iPhone ($50) so that during Christmas if we're traveling a good distance and I can't get to an outlet to recharge my phone, I have a backup.

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My dad has been SO generous with sending me surprise amounts of money - he had told me he was going to only pay for the extra charge on my phone bill due to the iPhone, but every month he's been sending me enough to cover my *entire* bill + a bit more. He tells me to get clothes with the extra money, or go out and do something fun.

The problem is, the extra money is generally going towards paying off my credit card bill each month. Those checks have been what have helped me to stay away from reaching into my EF (until now.)

I feel as though I am still living on the income I had before. That even though my actual living circumstances have changed drastically, my mindset of how much "room" I have to spend each month hasn't really. It's like intellectually I see the fact that I'm having to break into the top part of my EF - and the sick sinking feeling hasn't been enough to wake me up.

Tonight I went to the Dollar General and to 7/11. Between the two places I spent around $18. I walked there, and walked back.

Walking back a young man was coming down the side street. I was more than slightly uncomfortable. He started approaching me and even greeted me. I said good evening to him and hurried on my way before anymore interaction occurred.

But ... as I was going on I started thinking... what if the young man had been about to ask for money for food? I could have honestly told him I didn't have any cash on me ... but to say I didn't have any *money* to help him with ... when in my bags I had $18 worth of junkfood, egg salad sandwich, shampoo/body wash, and a cat toy .. in other words, things I really didn't need ... would be totally dishonest. (maybe a better word would be disingenuous?)

I truly *can't* afford to be spending frivolously like I have been. Not if I want any chance of my savings (EF) to outlast my tuition (and taxes!) Somehow, just knowing I have so much money to draw off of when my spending outgoes my income, has made me not be careful. That was okay when I had enough income to be a *little* frivilous with and still have a good bit left for savings. Not so okay when I don't have much wiggle room at all to be able to put some in savings.

*warning - Religious theme ahead. I understand not everyone has the same viewpoint. Some may even strongly disagree. That's okay, but I am not saying any of this to start a debate on it. Please.

Although I have been feeling kind of hypocritical for a few months, and have really tried to reign myself in a number of times, today in Sabbath School (similar to Sunday School) part of our lesson was on tithing.

I believe in tithing. 100%. The money in my bank accounts, etc. is not mine - it is God's.

However, I have not paid tithe in about 5 years. At least not in the way God really intended. I stopped paying it about the same time I lost faith in the Conference administration. (Our denomination is divided up into regional conferences. Most of Texas is called the Texas conference. There is also part of Texas and New Mexico which is called the Texaco Conference. All the conferences in the US and Canada make up the North American Division. etc., etc.,)

But today, the SS leader said something which really hit me. I had expressed my reasons for not paying tithe. Had said that I had given money to the local church body and to the local schools, etc., but just couldn't stomach the idea of putting money into the hands of some of the people in the higher level administration.

Paraphrasing -- he asked me who's money was it? God's of course. So, if it is God's money, and we are faithful in giving back the 10% portion he asks (as a show of our faith/trust/obedience), then do I think He will make sure it gets used in a good way?

So, this afternoon I took the dogs out for a long walk. During this walk I had a long talk with God. I acknowledged that the real reason I haven't let myself get past my feelings towards the conf. admin. and feel right in tithing really has nothing to do with them, but has to do with a lack of trust on my part.

My fear that if I really take 10% off the top of my already meager paychecks, that I'll have to tap into my EF for more than just tuition and tax bills. That the money will run out before I'm finished.

Then I got to thinking about how I've been spending the money I've been entrusted with. 10% of my monthly income would be roughly $85 - 95 Gross. Net I think would be maybe around $70?

I think I could easily say that I've been spending $70+ month very frivolousy/needlessly. Probably closer to $100 - 120.

So, my choice is to continue to spend 10 - 12% of my gross income each month on things that either add clutter to my life or add unnecessary calories to my body - and ignore the fact that I'm using what I've been entrusted with this way. And probably end up tapping out, or coming close to tapping out all my savings.

Or ... cut way down on the needless spending, and start to give back to God a portion of my income. (Of course then the question is, should that be of Gross or Net? Something I've never been fully satisfied on about the answer.) Doing this *may* help my relationship with God because I'll feel more in tune / in step with His will. And maybe that will help me in other areas of my life / walk which still get me down at times. I may still end up tapping most, or even all of my EF, but ... maybe not.

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In a totally unrelated note....

Today we had a Thanksgiving potluck lunch at church. I made my family's traditional corn pudding (aka cornbread casserole). Muy easy and muy delicious. It was a hit. Every bit of it was gone -- and best of all, I had someone ask me for the recipe.

Better yet, the person who asked me for the recipe turned out to be a relative of one of my former students (a real sweetheart of a girl.)

This weekend I went to my mom's place. I'd been planning on going next weekend, but when I found out she was going to have gall bladder surgery on Wednesday, I figured it'd be better to go this weekend.

Anyway... mom came with me today to an international food festival fundraiser being held at my local church. Then after that, we took the dogs for a walk. During the walk, we came across a $5 and a $1 bill!!!

I hardly ever find money on the ground, so this was pretty darn awesome!!

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I also stopped by Walmart and picked up a 50 ft Ethernet cord. Thankfully that seemed to do the trick. I may even be able to view Netflix (streaming) on it (watched a couple youtube vids and they worked really well.)

I worked an extra shift at the gym today. So, that will be a nice little boost on the 15th.

But ... the real reason for this post.

When I got home from work, I had a letter from my old apartment complex. It was kind of thick, so I was wondering what in the world it could be. Were they charging me for things in the apartment??

Well, I opened it up and was shocked to see a check for $314!!!

When I moved in, I paid a $300 pet deposit and a $99 Security Deposit. I am pretty sure that half of the pet deposit was non-refundable.

When I moved out, I didn't put too much effort into cleaning ... so basically wasn't expecting much, if anything back.

They charged me $85 for cleaning, etc, and gave me the remainder!! I'm sure not going to argue with them about it.

That money will come in handy next week when I get my brakes worked on.

Note: I'm writing this while at the gym and on my iPhone, so please forgive any typos.

On Wednesday when I got a new tire for my car and bought a bike, I also was given a strong suggestion.

Get new brakes --- Soon!

The mechanic told me I have about 20% left.

Oooops!

I'd known that it had to be coming soon. After all, it has been at least six years since I last had my brakes done. But I'd been hoping to hold out till November so I'd have a couple months of lower expenses before messing with them.

I considered going back to the mechanic I used during my Murphy month. But then I realized that he'd told me my tires were fine and made no mention of my brakes. ( this was after me specifically asking him to tell me if he noticed anything else) Not to mention that he's way out of my way now.

This doesn't seem like something I can put off for very long. I hate to put more money in the car if I'm just going to be trading it in soon. But I was really hoping to wait for a car sales crunch time - esp end of qtr and end of month when they're desperate to make a sale.

The last time I got brakes, I think it was around 100. But I don't think they were as far gone. I'm worried it's going to be a $$$$ job.

I probably just need to take it to a mechanic ( maybe my stepdad can suggest one - he used to live in my new area) and get an estimate.

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I ordered a cashback reward from Chase before moving for $100. It came on Tuesday, so last night I deposited it and my paycheck. Guess all my car troubles and tuition bills are good for something.

It will add up much more slowly now because I can't put my rent on it anymore. Cheaper rent is worth it.

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I checked into a local bike club. There is only one ride for novice bikers, and it is on Saturday mornings when I'm in church. So that won't work.

I found a book on bike care at my library which I put a hold on. It's written for kids, but I bet the info will still be useful. There was one book for adults, but there were no copies. ( I've asked why they have books in their catalog if they don't actually have any copies. I was told that it means they did have a copy at one time, but it was lost or irreparrably damaged.)

Lux, I checked out the bike tutor site. Lots of good info. The main thing I was looking for though was how to know if your chain is on correctly. My chain had come off the gears when I took it home. I put it on the lowest gear and was able to ride it, but there is a clicking type noise once every revolution.

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I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Nowhere to go, just relax and see if I can work ahead in some of my classes.

There's another reason I love weekends, but I'll have to save it for another post.

This weekend I went to my mom and stepdad's place. Saturday night we drove to another town to go to a church concert that one of my moms friends was singing in.

When we got back to their place, it was nearly 10:30 p.m. and it was 95 degrees out. But I needed to do my 4 mile run - all three of us went out together, but I ended up just walk/running the two loops with my mom and stepdad, which put me at a bit over 3 miles.

This morning mom and I got started early (for a Sunday) and made Special K Roast; Cottage Cheese Patties; Banana Quinoa Oatmeal Pancakes; and Crustless Quiche. All of these items are now sitting in my freezer being flash frozen. I put the Special K Roast in muffin pans so it'd be easier to freeze individual portions.

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When I got back home and had put away my laundry and the food, I went to check my mail. I usually only check it maybe 2 or 3 times a week.

I had a very nice surprise today! A very thoughtful and sweet person sent me a bit of money, with the stipulation that it was to be used for something I want.

Hmmm... could that person be reading my blog? No, the money was sent the day before I posted about my salivating over the Garmin.

Well, from some of the comments on my Garmin 305 post, I decided that wasn't the way to go, even if I had the money. But, I have been doing some more looking, and I think that maybe the Garmin 50 with the footpod would work -- I've found it in several places for less than $90.

Although I already have a sportswatch/heart rate monitor, the three big things the Garmin 50 has that I really really would like:

1. Track my distance without having to calibrate step stride or mess with GPS

2. Track my pace/speed

3. Able to upload info to Garmin tracking software - see trends on heart rate, distance, pacing, etc.

I really could have used the Garmin 50 last night. I was supposed to do 4 miles, but my mom and dad only had a 1.5 mile route set up. My stepdad tried to explain the route to me, but there were too many turns, and with my err... directional talents ... I decided to just stick with them. If I'd had the G50 I could have struck out on my own till I hit the 2 mile mark, then just turned right around.

Though the 3 + a bit miles pretty thoroughly wore me out. How am I going to do 5 miles this coming weekend!!!!???

So ... anyone have any experience with the Garmin 50?

This Wednesday my mom is going to be coming over and help me do a major decluttering/disposal/cleaning of my place. Since in about 5-6 weeks time, I'm going to have very little free time anymore (yay!) I figured I need to start getting prepped for moving out earlier than later.

So, anyway. I decided to get a bit of a head start on it today, and took everything out of one of my dresser drawers. Only maybe two of my dresser drawers has actual clothing items in them, the other 4 are either empty or just have "stuff" in them.

Well, as I was cleaning it out, there were a bunch of envelopes. One of them was a mypoints envelope, and I felt something hard in it. So I looked in it, and lo and behold - there was a Walmart gift card!!!! Who knows how long it has been in there - but I checked the balance, and it is worth $25!! I can get a lot of food at Walmart for that!

I wonder what else we might unearth on Wednesday.

Last night I talked to my dad for awhile. He told me I really should check my mail. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs with a good bit of lightning thrown in for good measure. So, I didn't get to the mailbox till this morning.

In the mail was a letter from my dad, and an envelope from my grandma. In the letter from my dad was a check for $100 -- for FUN not Savings -- was clearly specified on it. Heh, he knows me so well. It was totally unexpected and so sweet of him.

In the envelope from my grandma was a dvd of Les Meserables (the one with Liam Neeson.) Nice! She and I saw the traveling broadway production of it in San Antonio in 1996??

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I spent a good portion of my evening yesterday trying to figure out how to get comment luv off my other blog. Comment luv is this add on that is supposed to make it so that when a person leaves a comment along with the url to their own blog, then a link to their latest post shows up. Well, not only have I not been able to get it to function like that, I also can't figure out what feed the comments are on --- this is a problem because my recent comments widget and my top posts/most popular posts widget can't work either!

Never did figure out how to get it off, but did end up switching to a totally new template/design. I also made my own header for it. Not completely sure I like it just yet. I may need to do a bit more tweaking of the header.

I posted about my

Tom Thumb shopping trip on Living Frugal and Simple.

And on Children's Books for Storytime I posted a review of Mandie and the Secret Tunnel. A great children's mystery book (Christian fiction.)

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I feel bad for E, the gym manager. Three weeks ago his grandfather died. Then on Friday his grandmother died. He asked me to call all the gym workers and let them know that the paychecks wouldn't be ready until Wednesday. One person I called and told this to was so callous - saying 'it's always something.'

While that may be true, the poor guy has lost both of his grandparents in less than a months time!

This same person told me that he refuses to do anything other than sit and watch the gym, do towels, etc. If E wanted him to make phone calls to people regarding invoices due, or call other gym workers on various issues, or update the waiver file, he'd have to pay him extra.

Me on the other hand, sees how much E has to do and how overloaded he is. I see how much free time I have while at the gym, and for two reasons: 1. To help E out; and 2. Hope to help E be more ...errr.. organized -- have volunteered to do anything I can to help lighten his load. (which he has taken me up on -- and I still have plenty of time on my hands!)

In the mail today I got a coupon for $5 off my next $50 purchase at Tom Thumb. So, with the $30 gift card I got the other day, I could get $50 worth of groceries for $15 -- and that's assuming I don't use any coupons. Hmmm... Of course Tom Thumb is more expensive than Walmart, but even so, I think I should be able to get a comprable amount of groceries for $15.

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I logged into my UI account last night, and guess what? It shows the last six weeks of payments as having been processed. Yay, right? Not so quickly. They ALL show as "Benefit paid: $0.00" WHAT!!!!

I checked it again this afternoon, just in case it needed processing time or something. But nope, it said the same thing.

So, I sent my third email to them asking what the hockey sticks is going on! Supposedly they are supposed to get back to you within two business days. Considering the fact I sent my first email about a month ago, and the second one a week ago, and yet to have heard back . .. yeah, we'll see where that goes.

I wish I knew what else I could do to get some answers.

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Today I posted the first of a new Thursday Thirteen series on using Baking Soda called

Thirteen Ways To Use Baking Soda In Cooking.

Then I suggested a fantastic children's book about a boy named Walter called Just A Dream.

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I stopped in at Walgreen's tonight to pick up a couple things. There was this lady in front of me who was buying a whole bunch of things on sale or clearance. I think the cashier was getting kind of frazzeled, but he remained polite. He'd finally finished ringing her up and announced the total price . .. then was like "Oh! I forgot your coupons!" Saved her nearly $10.

Although I was halfway annoyed at how long I was in line, I enjoyed watching the whole little show more - especially when the lady saved a nice bit of money.

Oh and a funny. You know how I moan and groan about how math and I just don't agree? Well this lady was asking what 50% of $1.70 was. Someone nearby with a puzzled look on their face piped up ???$.90? A second later I said $.85.

Now why couldn't the GRE ask questions like that??

I got a phone call from E this morning at 6:47 a.m. asking me if I could go in early - as in ASAP. The person who was supposed to be there had gotten a bad sunburn and was pretty ill.

I made it over to the gym by a little after 7:30.

One big accomplishment today -- for the first time since before Christmas break, I did my 30 minute run! Of course, I scaled it back a lot since it had been such a long time, but I ran for a total of 18 out of 35 minutes. Yay!

I found out from E that both of the people who I'd talked to about joining the gym have signed up! Bonus time!

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I got my Cobra letter today. Just for Medical it'll be $398/mo. It didn't mention anything about the 65% Stimulus discount - but it was dated on the 17th.

I'm going to call them on Monday to clarify about that, plus some other items.

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Today's accomplishments:

1. Gym from 7:30 - 5 pm
2. Cashed gym check
3. updated blog
4. 35 minutes exercise session!
5. Checked Craigslist

Saturday Plans:

1. Church
2. poltluck lunch
3. update blog
4. Out on town with friends
5. Clean counters (one of these days I'll actually do this!)

* Watched the Ben Carson story "Gifted Hands' on TNT at my mom's house Saturday night. I'd read the book years ago, and always thought it was a very amazing story.

* My mom and step-dad's dog Millie who I dog sat for a number of times is really failing. She's been pretty much deaf for a few months now, has cataracts, and just this past week her back legs are not supporting her very well. She is such a sweet dog. I'm afraid my mom and stepdad are going to have to make a hard decision soon.

* Coke Rewards program seems to be attempting to lessen the amount of points possible to earn. Starting soon, you'll only be able to enter 120 points per week. It used to be a limit of 10 codes per day with no point limit. I have the feeling the program is going to be eliminated completely soon.

* I had an ING referral bonus. First one of 2009.

* A man who I had a major crush on from Kindergarten till 5th grade friended me on Facebook. He was always so nice to me, even though he was a few years older. When my family moved away when I was in the 3rd grade, he and I exchanged letters and cards all the way till I went to college. His wife and I even graduated in the same class from college.

* I treated my mom and stepdad today to a matinee of "He's Just Not That Into You." We were going to see "New In Town" but we missed the early showing for it, so went with the other one instead. It was pretty funny and sweet.

* One week from today is my 3-year anniversary at work. Time really flies.

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Yesterday's post:

Simple Pleasures: Postcards from Malaysia

Todays Post: Sunday Sustenance: Danish Oatmeal Pancakes

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Yesterday I picked up my gym paycheck from E. He didn't give me my timecard this time, so I am not sure how much extra he added to it, but the $35 extra was def. there.

He assured me I was fine to cash it that day - but then I reminded him of the two other checks I had. He asked me to wait till today. Which I did.

My coworker and I went to the bank the gym has an account at during our lunch break. My coworker waited for me in her car. I had to put my thumbprint on each check . . but . . they all cashed! Yay!

After work I stopped by my bank and deposited it, plus another check (refund from old administration company.) So, I added $210 to my extra monies funds today. Although, actually, $35 of it needs to go back into my buffer to pay myself back - so it's actually $175. Still, not bad.

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My post today, continuing the series of

Twenty Days and Ways to Show You Care Without Breaking the B... is Day 2: I Care Coupons.

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Quick curious question. What is the deadline for 1099's? Is it different than for W-2's?

Yesterday I stopped by my apartment's management's office to pay my rent and also to check about my lease.

I mentioned to the lady working there that I was trying to figure out what the best thing was to do, go month-to-month, or do a 6-month term.

She told me that whether I go month-to-month or 6 month, I still would have to give a 60-day notice, or pay the reletting fee. If I go with the 6-month term, and leave before it's up, I would be charged the reletting fee, plus probably the remainder of the lease.

I mentioned to her that I had been surprised that the price variation between the month-to-month and the 6 month term was so little - just $45. And that was part of what was making it hard for me to decide.

She then tells me, "Just stop having your nails done, and that will give you the extra $45/month."

She didn't know this of course, but the last time I had my nails 'done' was over two-years ago - and that was a gift from a friend. Of course, even that wasn't really what I think she was talking about. I think she thought I had those fake nails - those would definitely cost in the $45 range.

Nope, just have naturally long nails. I usually don't even notice their length until one of them breaks - then I chop them all off.

It was good advice really, just not anything that helped me much! LOL

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This month I am doing a series of posts called: Twenty Days and Ways To Show Someone You Care Without Breaking The Budget.

Todays post:

Day 1: An Indoor Picnic

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I stopped at Albertson's tonight on my way to the library. While there I picked up a couple of the individual portion ice creams, along with some other grocery items.

When I got to the self-checkout and scanned them, the disembodied voice of the scanner told me that the item was recalled and couldn't be purchased.

So I guess you could say that the recall saved me from myself!

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Oh, I almost forgot! I updated my sidebar last night. And . . .

My Car Fund is Fully Funded!!! Woo Hoo! Now I can concentrate on my House Downpayment fund.

I will still continue adding to the Car Fund with HSBC interest, because of course there will be car repairs here and there, so better to have a bit more than a bit less.

Yay! Two days in a row where I was busy the whole day! Plus, I have enough left over to keep me occupied for at least the morning tomorrow.

My company switched HR companies as of Dec. 26. As soon as I got the email with the sign up information, I filled out all my info and signed up for all the benefits I'm eligible for.

I didn't get it done though early enough for my Jan 2 check to be direct deposited. Our Office Manager has been out sick yesterday and today. So this afternoon I asked the owner's daughter if she could see if I had a check in our OM's desk. I did! (I was slightly worried because she told me that our OM hadn't gotten a check on Jan 2.)

I realized tonight that January is a 5 paycheck month.

I'm considering putting $400 of it to my Car Fund, which would finish it. Then in February I'd be able to concentrate really hard on my house down payment savings.

But, I'm also wondering how much I'm going to owe in taxes this year. Last year I owed $144. I made pretty much exactly the same this year at my main job, but from ChaCha and the gym I've probably made an extra $1500, plus I've made a lot more in interest income. So, I'm wondering if I should set it aside for taxes, then whatever remains of it can go towards whichever savings goal I have that needs funding.

OR, I could just go ahead and put $400 of it into my Car Fund, then once I know how much my taxes are, I can just fit it into my budget for March and April.

Hmm.. . I think I like the last idea the best. I deposited my Jan 2 paycheck, and my gym paycheck, plus some cash my dad gave me (for the baggage fees) into my local checking. Once I have transferred them to ING, I will count my Car Fund as fully funded! Woo Hoo!

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I have found another way to make a little side income. (So, yes that means I'll have 3 places I'm earning side income from.)

The website today.com is accepting new bloggers. It can be about any of a variety of topics - but need to be at least 100 words or more per entry. (Ha! No trouble for me!) They pay you for one post per day, plus for page views.

I've been coming up with ideas of things to write about there that are somewhat different from what I post here, although still on a similar vein. It will be challenging for me to keep my posts close to the 100 word mark - but probably good for me too.

If you'd like to check my blog out, it is:

http://thesinglefrugalton.today.com/

I'm going to add it to my sidebar as well.

Oh, if you do join, and get accepted, let me know and I'll add you to my blogroll!

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spending today:

Wal-mart: $9.96 (bananas, Rice Dream, sweet potatoes, 1 frz dinner, sm box Jr Mints)