Today didn't start out great. I got a phone call from E asking me to come in and work a shift. As I half-heartedly got ready to go in, I got a text saying it was a joke, and thanks for my flexibility. I was ticked off. Thankfully I was very careful in my text response, and found out that he'd truly needed me to come in - but had found another way to take care of it. E needs to learn the right time to say "just joking" and the wrong time. (today was my day off)

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Won't go into it, but the situation with my landlady still isn't getting better. I went out to Target this afternoon to look at printers, and then saw "Love Happens" at the dollar theater.

When I got home, I was just overwhelmed with the desire to get out of here asap! So I checked out Craigslist (again - been doing a lot of that lately). Miracles! There were at least 4 really good possibilities which had just been listed today!! One is for $300/mo with the additional responsibility of pet sitting their dog! Another one is just a few blocks from where I am now ($255/month). I'm kind of wondering if this isn't God providing a way out for me ...

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Here are the printers I'm considering. I'd love to hear what you all think about the options - or know about ink costs for them. (i.e. can I use the Walgreen's refills, etc.?)

1. $39 HP Deskjet F2430 All-in-One Printer

2. $40 Canon Pixma MP250 Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printer/Copier/Scanner

3. $45 HP Deskjet F4235 Multi-function Inkjet Printer, Copier & Scanner

4. $49 HP F2480 All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner

5. $49 Canon Pixma MP490 Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printer, Copier, Scanner - Energy Star Compliant

There are three things I mainly want to be able to do: 1) print stuff for school (research papers, etc) 2) print coupons and 3) scan photos

*all prices are off of walmart.com

Thanks!

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.

Yesterday I did go to church, and I did exchange the Terry's Oranges for the correct flavor, but I did not go to the animal shelter. I didn't go today either. I have however kept myself pretty busy.

I spent a great deal of time yesterday evening copying 5 audiobooks onto my computer, and then transferring them to my iPhone. I had to delete a few I already had on there (and had listened to already).

Today I got up kind of late (because I was up till past midnight loading the audiobooks!) I first went to the dollar theater for the early showing of Ice Age 3. It was really cute - well worth the dollar.

Then I went to the library and dropped off the audiobooks from Saturday night, and picked up 4 more. I would've picked up 5, but several of the ones I was looking for were checked out.

When I got home, I started cleaning and sorting through everything, and then finally got my big suitcase out.

I had to empty that also - I'd stored most of my out of season clothing and some clothes which I'd not been able to fit into when I moved in here in September. But ... two pairs of jeans which were in that category, now fit again! Yahoo! (Thanks No-S!!)

While I was doing all this packing and cleaning and sorting, I was also working on loading up my next 4 audiobooks. I wonder if I'll really have time to listen to 7 books (8 if I get the one off the website). No matter how many I actually get to, it will make for a great head start for next semester! I just have to be sure to jot down notes about the various books.

My suitcase and laundry basket are both out in the car now. (I didn't think it would be much fun to try to drag them outside at 6 in the morning tomorrow!) So, I am pretty much all ready to go!

I've been keeping an eye on the weather in Denver, and am a tad bit nervous. My layover will be there on Tuesday afternoon. They are supposed to get hit with snow by Wednesday sometime.

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Tomorrow I'm heading over to my mom's straight after work. I'm supposed to help her finish up her baking. She's making a bunch of cookies, etc. for my brother's Christmas present. She's already spent at least one full day on this ... I really hope she hasn't made a lot. There's only so much room in my bag!

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I have a business idea in my head. I don't know if it would work or not .. or if anyone would be willing to pay me as much as I'd need for it to work.

I'm also not sure what the best title would be ...

My idea is to offer my services from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. Monday - Thursday; and from 2 - 5 p.m. on Friday's. (I may be willing to do an occasional Sunday as well, depending on schoolwork load.)

My services would include: grocery shopping; folding laundry; picking up dry cleaning; picking up a max of two kids from school; tutoring/supervising homework/music practice, fixing after school snack/cleanup, maybe fixing supper or starting it, etc; chauffeuring kids to after school activities; etc. During the summer, I would offer enrichment activities and taking kids to the park, museums, playdates, etc. Other tasks could be negotiated.

Pricing would start at $25/hour for the first 20 hours per week. Hours 21 - 30 would be priced at $15/hour.

If I could get even 20 hours a week doing this, I would be able to quit the gym. I would still have the morning hours, plus most of Friday and Sunday to do schoolwork.

My mom charges (and gets) $50/hour for tutoring. Of course she already has her Master's ...

I'd have to up my car insurance for carrying kids. I'd also need to put together a contract spelling out everything parents and I agree to. Probably would also need some kind of medical release and accident waiver, etc.

What do you think of something like -- Mom's Assistant? or Mom's Third Hand???

Do you think my rate may be too much?

Anyway, just kind of mulling the idea in my head. I really would like to get out of the gym, and it would be nice to make more money than I am now (wouldn't take much!)

Oh yeah, my selling points: Texas state certified teacher with 8 years of experience, in grad school working on Master's; excellent driving record; love to play games (board games, catch, swings, etc.) believe strongly in interactive learning; may be able to save money on groceries (clipping coupons for items frequently on their list - maybe sign up for grocery game for their favorite store, and make suggestions as to what they might want to stock up on ...)

Yesterday at the gym I only had 6 people come in the entire day. I was there from 7:30 until 7 p.m. Four of those people informed me that they wouldn't be back till after the holidays.

Today ... I was at the gym from 6:30 until 2. Two people came + 1 other person who paid their bill.

E and I were talking about the amount of people expected to actually be around during the next few weeks. He decided that he'd close G2 on Wednesday of each of the next two weeks, and just have G3 open till 3 pm those days. That makes a lot more sense, but kind of stinks for those who were planning on working those days.

K, the lady who takes over on Fridays at 2, told me she had a job interview and offer this morning. She is hesitating on accepting it for two reasons - one of the days she'd have to work is her church choir day; and the other is how far of a drive it would be. Otherwise, it'd be great - 24 hours a week with a certain and unchangeable schedule for $10/hour.

K is an older lady, recently divorced (ex-h was a cheating scoundrel), has two grown children, and has MS. We get along pretty well, and I'll miss talking with her if she takes the job, but I think it'll be better for her - much more stable than the gym. E keeps changing her schedule, and recently reduced her hours to 17/week. I'm just waiting for him to do that to me. Ugh.

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My brother is finally on facebook! I tried to get him to get on it when I first did, but he obviously didn't.

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Tomorrow there is potluck after church, and then I might be going to a get together at the SS leader's house. He mentioned it last Sabbath, but was kind of vague on the details.

I bought an apple cheese danish dessert for potluck tomorrow. I had been planning on making my corn pudding again, but the kitchen was overrun by teenagers making cookies. Oh well.

Depending on if I go to the get together, I probably will spend a few hours at the animal shelter in the afternoon. If I don't do it Saturday afternoon, I want to be sure to do it on Sunday. Although I'm thinking about seeing another movie on Sunday at the dollar theater - either Ice Age 3 or Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. Ice Age has been there for awhile now, so there's more chance that Meatballs would still be there when I get back from CA.

I need to download the audiobooks to my phone, return them to the library, and get a few more and download them. Oh yeah, I need to pack too. Maybe I won't have time on Sunday to see a movie.

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Deposited my paycheck today.

My groceries today included a couple of things I could have put off till next year, the cheese danish, and a food gift for my stepdad - so a bit more than I'd really planned on.

Walmart - $14.69

I need to go and exchange the food gift tomorrow though. I bought a Terry's Chocolate Orange ... only I bought the Toffee Crunch version instead of the milk chocolate one. Not paying enough attention I guess.

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I've been checking the weather in San Jose and Loma Linda the past few days. It seems like San Jose is about the same as Dallas weather wise right now. I really don't want to take my big new coat (a number of reasons - one being how bulky it is) but am not sure if my purple coat will cut it.

Are bags still $15 for the first one you check-in?

I'll be taking a box of food goodies for my brother from our mom. Any precautions I should make? (will be in my checked suitcase) I know not to have anything wrapped ... but other than that?

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Almost forgot. I bought a Flashcards app from iTunes ($3.99). It'll come in handy next semester when I'm having to learn various terms for one particular class. But the reason I went ahead and bought it now is that I've started to get serious about memorizing Bible verses. I made up 18 flashcards this morning which I can study on the plane while in airplane mode, or of course during my 3 hour layover in Denver. My goal is to have all 18 memorized perfectly by January 1. Then I'll add more. I have two down pretty good already. I figure it's good brain work, and it's good for the soul too.

(Also in the flashcards app they have a list of 300 GRE words/def/sample sentences you can download to study. I downloaded them as well - may as well work on my vocabulary too.)

*Today my mom took me to her hairdresser and had me get a cut and highlights. It looks very nice. It'd been several years since I last had highlights put in - last time I think was at Fantastic Sam's for around $60. This lady charged at lest 4x that amount. :OO: If I'd realized how much she charged, I probably would have chosen my mom's other idea - spa pedicure and manicure. But irregardless, I really do like my cut and color.

*My mom went on a trip to Nashville this past weekend with two of her tutoring students who she watches sometimes on the weekends. The mom of the younger girl had bought her two four-inch ceremonial daggers, and had given her permission to take it to school. :OO: My mom did not know this. One of the daggers was still in the girls backpack as they went through airport security.

Luckily they chose to not call the police or any of the many other things they could have done. That was one lucky 11 year old!

*My uncle D who lives in Ohio and has never been sick a day in his life, went into the hospital yesterday with heart attack symptoms. He had surgery today where they placed two shunts in his heart, and appears to be doing okay.

* When I got to my mom's place on Tuesday night she wasn't there yet (out tutoring). So my stepdad and I had a chance to talk for a couple hours. That was really nice - we don't talk all that much usually because my mom and I tend to chat to each other mainly. We also watched a movie my mom would not have liked, but I liked it.."State of Play" with Ben Affleck, etc. I'd equate it with Primal Fear (Richard Gere) and perhaps Michael Clayton (George Clooney). Good twists and turns and an unexpected ending.

*I took my practice exam for school librarian certification on Saturday night. Today I got my results. An 80% was passing ... I got a 79%. I am very extremely happy with that, seeing as how I've only taken one class dealing with the subject matter on the exam. A year from now, I bet I'll be able to ace it.

*We have a new housemate. *He* moved in yesterday afternoon. Apparently he sleeps during the day, and works at night. This should be interesting.

*My mom didn't have a 4 candle for my brownie cake. So, instead of turning 34 yesterday, I turned 35. She told me my other two choices were 32 or 37. I was okay with the 35.

*Payday was Tuesday: $549.xx

While I did get paid for the 6 hours of cleaning, it was at the normal 7.25 rate. Pretty cheap cleaning labor if you ask me. Although, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if E hadn't said that he'd try to get us $10/hr for that time. Oh well.

So ..$55 - Giving; $55 - Savings; $55 - Tax Savings. That leaves $384 for other bills, etc.

My Dec. 30 check is going to only have 5 days on it, so will be quite small.

*I am probably going to have to up my texting plan for my phone. Before getting the iPhone, I very rarely used the texting function. Now though, I have a number of people who I text back and forth with regularly - including E (mostly about gym business - easier to make sure he has a written record of what I relay to him than just verbal).

My last bill I was 199 texts over my 200 limit - which equaled to about $20 extra dollars. So, I paid $25 for 399 texts. I have the feeling that this months is going to be similar, if not more.

So ... I think that I'll have to go to the $15/month plan for 1500 texts. I don't see myself ever using that many texts in a month ... but then again I never thought I'd actually use up the full 200. Ugh!

*Spending Dec. 15/16

Deli: $4.68 - Breakfast/lunch (treat)
Costco: $16 - 10 pk Rice Dream milk sub.

I have two dollars cash + some change left of my spending money. I don't think there's anything I'll need to get before Friday when I'll take out my next cash infusion (and deposit my paycheck).

Groceries this week should be extremely minimal, since it'll basically just be for the weekend. I'll be going back to my mom's Monday after work, and then Tuesday fly away to San Jose!

My invitation to purchase the beta version of YNAB 3 came around 5 p.m. today.

I purchased it quickly. $34.95

I don't remember exactly when I first started using YNAB, but it was before I bought my current computer, and this is at least three years old. When I first started with it, it was a very effective spreadsheet program. I'd been getting so frustrated trying to find a program that would do virtual envelopes like I wanted to do them. Then I saw the link in a SA poster's signature (Jesse) - someone who was pretty active in the forums and seemed pretty intelligent.

I checked out his program, and instantly was jazzed! Live life on last month's income! What a concept! Plus it did perfectly what I'd been looking for with virtual envelopes, without paying the monthly fee (Mevelopes - I'm looking at you!)

One thing that has amazed me from the beginning is how customer service oriented Jesse has been. A number of times I had questions, emailed him, and received a personal response in less than 24 hours. A few years ago he started a forum for YNAB users. There are many long time users who are more than happy to help out new users with questions. Some of them have become employees of Jesse in growing the YNAB business and product (because they love it so much!) Customer service is still top notch.

One thing many Ynaber's have been asking for is the program to work on a Mac. With the YNAB 3 version, it will now do just that!

Right now with paying tuition and buying textbooks, etc., I'm not really able to use it as well as I'd like -- but even so, it is helping me to assign my actual incoming dollars jobs until they're gone, and I have to go to savings.

YNAB is what helped me be able to not panic (too much) when I was laid off in February, and to not worry (too much)when it took *forever* to get unemployment checks to start, and not to worry overly much when paychecks from the gym bounced or were late.

I'm really looking forward now to the upcoming iPhone app - but that'll probably not be till they get most of the bugs worked out of the beta desktop version.

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I received my last textbook today. So now I have all the textbooks I'll need for next semester. That's just one less bit of pressure.

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I tried a new strength training routine today. Used a bunch of combination moves -- *attempted* an elbow plank w/donkey kick -- will be sore tomorrow I think.

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I better get going - need to pack to go to my mom's tomorrow. Mmmm brownie cake!

This morning I made my Oatmeal/Quiona/Chocolate pancakes. I hadn't made them in awhile, and since I'd made the recipe up myself in the first place ... I wasn't thinking too clearly. I put *all* the dry ingredients in the blender, and then added the rice milk and water. Ooops. Let's just say that it was pretty thick. I ended up pouring half of it out into a measuring cup, and then adding more liquid to the other part.

In the end, I didn't put a banana in - it still turned out pretty tasty, and I made enough for probably 4 more breakfasts in the future.

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As I was making the pancakes this morning, I was wondering if they make pancake molds. Something you can put down on the pan/griddle and pour the batter into so that it holds a certain shape - make a uniform size. Mine turn out to be many shapes and sizes - especially after trying to flip them.

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As the title states, the third time happened to be the charm today. I found the dollar theater! (with a little extra help from my step dad)

I saw "Invention of Lying". It was *SO* good! Seriously, I loved this movie. I walked out of it just feeling happy. I probably wouldn't recommend it for kids under 15 because there are some scenes with pretty frank sexual talk (not explicit - just frank). This is one I might look into obtaining a copy for my limited collection.

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When I got home I found out that Jesse (he used to be very active on the SA forums - jrmsg (something like that) ) has started releasing the beta version of YNAB 3. I might just get it for my birthday.

For those of you with iPhones or iTouch's ... he also is going to be releasing an app based on the YNAB principles soon.
I am very much looking forward to that!!

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Spending:

Movies: $1
Walgreen's: $6.42
Gas: $19.01 (saw $2.29/gallon and grabbed it!)

So ... this morning as I was getting ready to leave to head off to work, I managed to crack the toilet seat. (go ahead and laugh manically here - I did, silently.)

I left a note saying what happened and asking if landlady would like me to get a new one, or if she wanted me to just give her whatever an equivalent one would cost. (I didn't use the word equivalent ... I guess I kind of thought that would be understood.)

I got home today and asked if she'd seen my note. She told me that she had, and that she'd gone ahead and bought one at Wal-Mart for $20.

As she said this, I was thinking that sounded like a lot of money for a toilet seat. Then she told me, "They had toilet seats from $5 all the way up to $70. So I decided to get one near the middle in quality." She also told me that if I couldn't afford the $20, to not worry about it.

I was the one who broke it, so I feel like I should pay for at least part of it. I'm not so sure that I should have to pay for an upgraded version though. Am I being cheap? Is $10 a fair amount, or should I just bite the bullet and give her the full $20?
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I stopped by the bank today and got out my $40 for groceries/misc. + I decided to take out an extra $20 to treat myself to something(s) special for my birthday (15th).

I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet - maybe go to a first run movie and eat out at IHOP? Or go to a movie at the Studio Movie Grill and get a grilled cheese + dessert? Get a pedicure before heading out to CA (although with the weather they're having, not so sure I'll be baring my feet all that much)? Get a new pair of jeans? Or maybe just use part of it now, and save the rest for spending money on my trip... (Can you tell what are some of the things I'm really missing being able to do?? Not that I did any of them often, but it sure was nice to be able to do it once in a while without having to think about it *too* hard.)

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I didn't really have much I had to get for groceries today. I just needed enough to get through for the next 8 days (really 7 - I'm going to be at my mom's Tuesday for supper - she's making a brownie cake for me! Yum!- and also Wednesday for breakfast and lunch).

I was really wanting some marshmallows for my hot cocoa last weekend, but I'd already done my shopping for the week. So today I was looking at the marshmallows and saw the store brand for $.92 (minis). But then I saw a new product which intrigued me. A bag of chocolate coated marshmallows for $1.00. I *almost* bought those instead. But then the frugalite in me said that there was only enough for two cups of cocoa, while the other bag had enough for at least 10, and for less money.

So, anyway, my groceries today totaled: $17.38.

I also put some change in the bell ringer's thing - not sure how much, maybe $1.xx.

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I am now completely finished with two of my classes. On Sunday I'll be taking a 3-hour practice exam, and be finished with the third class.

Today I picked up from the library 5 books on CD which are on the book list for my Children's Lit class next semester, plus another book on the list. I can only check out 5 audiobooks at a time, so I'm planning on getting them loaded onto my iPhone this weekend, and then getting 5 more. (I found a total of 15 audiobooks from the list.)

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I've been really trying to work on certain ... words ... in my vocabulary. 99% of the people who know me probably have never ever heard me mutter them out loud. But *I* hear myself mutter them, not to mention think them. I feel for me, especially as I'm getting older, those words are an immature response to situations or descriptions. (Not passing judgment on anyone else - this is *just* for me.)

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking. There's a particular forum on Delphi which I have slightly participated in, but read very regularly since 2004. It mostly consists of women. The frequent posters can be very funny - and I find myself frequently laughing out loud at some of the things they post. They also can be very caring, rallying behind posters who are in some trouble or another (whom they're able to verify as a real situation). However, they have a tendency to use certain words a lot. And, they can be quite biting and critical and sarcastic.

I'm debating on whether I should continue to read there. If I fill my mind with some of the topics (and words they use) there, how am I going to be able to stop myself from thinking/muttering some of those same words/sarcastic attitudes?

However, I need to find something else to fill my time that I've spent there. Part of it maybe I can use to work on memorizing scripture. I'm not sure though where I can find a good, *clean* source of humor though. Any suggestions?
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Oh, for any of you who are fans of Goldie Hawn or Chevy Chase. Last night I watched (from Netflix Instant) the movie "Foul Play." If I read correctly, it was the first big part Chevy Chase had in a movie.
It's a comedy/murder mystery somewhat similar to Alfred Hitchcock style. It was really funny - Goldie plays a librarian. Chevy plays the detective who protects her from ... the Albino; the Dwarf; and Scarface. Oh, and I *loved* the Johnny Tidbits character - comedic gold!

It's set in the 70's. I think Goldie is sporting a Farrah Fawcett (sp?) do.

About two months or so ago, I decided that I was going to go see a movie at the dollar theater after work. I wasn't totally sure where it was, but knew it should be close to 35.

So, I plugged the address into my iPhone's map function and set off. The directions had me exit off of 35 and then continue along a road that changed names three times. It had me going, and going, and going. Finally it had me turn into a swanky residential area. The name of the street/subdivision *was* the name of the street for the theater, but obviously there was no theater there.

This past Thanksgiving, my mom, stepdad and I all went to Julie & Julia at this theater. It was fairly near Cracker Barrel. I tried to fix in my mind where it was so I could find it again on my own.

Tonight I was bored and had finished everything I possibly could finish as far as schoolwork and laundry, so I decided to go see "The Invention of Lying."

I took off along the frontage road because I wasn't positive which exit it was off of. When I found what I *thought* was it, it turned out to be one in a mall. Not a dollar theater.

Frustrated, I turned around and headed back home (and stopped by Taco Bell!)

I'm going to have to get precise directions of how to get there from my stepdad. Hopefully, the third time going there will be the charm!

----
Today, two of my textbooks arrived. Yay! One of them (the $66 one) arrived in a wet package. There was some water damage on the top and bottom edges, but it still looks good - and will still read just fine!

---
My heater:

While the heater isn't exactly making my room *warm* it definitely did it's job last night by helping to take some of the chill off. We got down in the low 20's.

I was fairly comfortable today sitting at he computer with just a sweatshirt, etc., and a throw blanket on my lap. (gloves on my hands)

---
A little bit ago the city's fire department had one of its trucks drive through our street. They do this every year. When you hear their sirens, you run out with a canned good. They then throw candy out on the street and go on. It was kind of exciting. The fireman on the truck didn't have a coat on - yowsa! He must have been cold!

---
Spending:

Taco Bell: $3.75

Well I finally took my car for it's inspection today. One day past the grace period. Ooops. I took it to a Quik Car place (mainly because it was open and it had car inspection people.) Less than 15 minutes, and I had my new sticker on my car, and was all legal to be on the road.

There was a *huge* sigh of relief from me. Some of you may have heard it.

---
I took my new coat out on it's debut mission today. Mmm! Mmm! Was it ever warm! When I took the dogs on their walk, the only thing more I could have asked for would've been a hood. But the collar stands up pretty far, and I had my hair in a braid on one side over one ear - I could divide it into two braids - one over each ear, as natural earmuffs.

---
I think I may be okay with that one assignment I was worried about (procrastinated on). I read a number of leadership reports from other students who also are still waiting for their membership information ... and just wrote a report on what they could. So, I think that's what I'm going to do as well. Even if I only get partial credit for it, it *should* be enough for me to pass.

Another class I am finished with everything except taking the practice certification exam for librarians. I can't do that until the professor releases it as an assignment - otherwise I'd be finished with that class.

I should hear about my grade on my barefoot running paper by tomorrow. Once I have a grade, I will put it up on Google docs and link to it here.
---
It sure is nice not having any schoolwork pressing on me to do. I may even watch a movie or two from Netflix (online).

I don't know if any of you saw the article on yahoo news the other day about Comcast taking over NBC. But for those of you who love to use Hulu, or watch programs on NBC online, you may have to start paying for that privledge, or waiting over a week after the episodes aired on live t.v.

Again, another reason I'm glad I've pretty much stopped watching t.v. (Now of course, there is Lost starting Feb. 2 .... but I can watch it live this year and not worry about when it comes online.)

---
Spending:

$39.97 -- Car Inspection

$4.69 - CVS (soda/ice cream)
$5.29 - Burger King (BK Veggie Burger/Onion Rings)

*I decided to treat myself a bit today as a celebration for my car passing inspection and being so close to being finished with the semester.

Today at work I decided that I probably should go ahead and start finding my textbooks for next semester in order to find the best possible deals. So, I entered either the ISBN#'s or the title (to find the ISBN) into Google and searched through a number of different comparison sites. Most of the books I was able to save between 29% - 50% off of retail. Even the one with a copyright date of 2010!

Even so, it was a LOT of money going out! I found a coupon for half.com ($5 off $50) and that helped a *little*. I ended up buying 3 books from half.com; one book from Barnes & Noble; and one from textbooks.com.

List price at half.com: $225
Paid (well, will pay)*: $140.97

List price at textbooks.com: $43
Paid: $31.93

List price at Barnes & Noble: $60
Paid: $29.47

Total List Price: $328
Total Paid: $202.37

The 2010 book comes with a DVD -it's list price alone was $108. I just about choked when I saw that.

*I thought my address was changed with my Chase cc. I guess I was wrong. When I tried to pay at half.com it would not take my card. I thought maybe a fraud alert had been put on (due to unusual amount of spending activity.) But it turned out they had my old address still!
I will have to wait til tomorrow to purchase the items, because their system won't "fully update" until tonight. Ugh.

These all should arrive before I leave for California, so it will be nice to be sure that I have them ready and waiting for me to start class in January.

---

I went grocery shopping at Walmart after work.

I'd been making a list all week - anticipating both getting cottage cheese (to replace the rotten one I found last Sunday!) and a Terry's Chocolate Orange.

I had a coupon from the All You magazine (freebie the gym gets) for Peter Pan pb. I needed more pb, so that was good timing.

So, I got: sweet potatoes, bananas, sour cream, cottage cheese, swiss cheese, Terry's C.O., Peter Pan PB, and 8 pkgs of frozen veggies.

Total cost: $20.60

You may be wondering why I bought 8 packages of frozen veggies. The large bag of mixed veggies is $2.06. The bag that is exactly half its size is normally $.98.
Today, they were marked $.75. I won't have to buy frozen veggies again until probably late January or perhaps February.

The coupon was a bit of a pain though. It was for a 28 oz container. I prefer crunchy pb to creamy, so I picked up a crunchy. When I got to the register, the coupon wouldn't take. Come to find out the coupon is only for creamy. So I went back and exchanged it for a creamy. Stand in a different line. Coupon won't ring up again. Cashier takes pity on me and just goes ahead and takes the $1 off. Whooh!

Before I'd gotten to my first cashier, I had the displeasure to witness a woman being extremely unpleasant to the cashier. The cashier had placed a number of items in a bag, and the lady was upset that it wasn't double bagged. Instead of politely saying "please double bag these items" she *very* snidely/angrily/rudely/condescendingly told the cashier she didn't know what she was doing and that she didn't want the bag to break. (The words themselves were fine - it was the tone of voice and look on her face - her whole attitude about it.)

When I got to the cashier I asked her if she'd had a long day. She told me that her shift had just started. And that she doesn't let people like that bother her. Most people don't want there items double bagged - so she doesn't do it automatically. Those that do, usually ask much more nicely.

As I left I told her that I hoped the rest of her shift went better.

----
It was *freezing* cold *all day* at work today. Thankfully I had the gloves I picked up yesterday at Dollar General. I cut off the fingertips of the thumb and forefinger, and it worked *perfectly*!!

Then today when I took the dogs for a walk, I put my other gloves on top of the other pair. A double layer of gloves made for toasty warm hands.

----
The potential roommate who was supposed to stop by on Wednesday flaked. But we have another very likely one. A male.

My landlady said that she hasn't rented to a man before, but she picked up good vibes from him. Like he seemed to be a good person.

He may be moving in as soon as this coming week, because the lady who'd been renting the other room moved out completely today.

This will be interesting.

---
Oh, almost forgot. I made my annual required Snapfish purchase. (To keep my "free" photo storage on their site, I have to make one purchase per year.)

So, I chose a picture, and had one copy made - sent to Wal-Mart. $.21

I can live with that.

For one of my classes I was supposed to register with the American Library Association and Texas Library Association as part of a "leadership project". Then I'm supposed to explore the sites and write a report on it.

Great, not hard at all right? Except ... when you wait until 8 days before the assignment is due and find out that you can't register online nor over the telephone. You can however register over fax. Then you find out that it takes up to 4 weeks!!! for your registration to process.

Oh, oh!

I emailed my professor and asked him what my best course of action would be. I'm not sure he understood what I was asking, because he emailed me back and told me I had to register with the associations! (after explaining that I *had* registered that morning, but it wouldn't be complete for up to 4 weeks.)

This seriously was not smart on my part. I should have registered way back in August. I just didn't want to pay the $35 fee... so I drug my feet.

This could very well cause me to have to retake the class because leadership points are 25% of our grade. (It does include a few other assignments, but as far as I can figure, this counts for half.) You have to retake any class you get less than a B in.

What a waste of money and time on my part if I have to retake it! It's totally my fault. I'm usually much more proactive on this kind of stuff - especially when it comes to grades!! ARghh!!

At least it's only a one-credit course.

----
I thought I was working at the gym today from 6:30 to 6:30. When I asked E about my schedule last week, he said this week was normal, except for opening on T and Th.

So when he gave me the actual December schedule, I glanced at it briefly and didn't see anything pop out at me.

Then today a bit after 3:00 A walked into the gym. He said he was there to relieve me. I'm like, "what?!" Then I took a closer look at the schedule, and saw that he was scheduled.

When I got in my car I called E and as calmly as possible asked what his reasoning was. He told me that he didn't want any of us working 12 hour days, and since I was opening, he put A in to close.

If he would've asked me, I would have told him I had NO problem working a 12 hour day - especially considering the fact that my Jan. 1 paycheck is going to be paltry due to my California trip. Extra hours right now are a *good* thing!

Seriously, it's things like this that really, really make me *strongly dislike* working at an hourly job. The flexibility is great for some things, but it can be a two-edged sword.

-----
Spending:

Not actually spent yet, but put into motion: $35 on Credit Card for ALA/TLA membership.

Gas: $21.33 --- Could have waited until tomorrow, but I saw a station with $2.19/gallon gas (at least $.20 less than anywhere else) and decided to jump on it in the likelihood of it being a one-day sale.

Dollar General: (cash) $3.31

two pairs of gloves (only sold in sets of two) and a knit pull-over hat (says "one-size" but doesn't cover my ears at all!)

Landlady: $1 -- two AAA batteries so that my keyboard would start working right again (I offered the money - didn't want her to feel like I was taking advantage.)

I woke up to snow on the ground this morning. I love snow, but this batch didn't last very long and was pretty wet.

It also was very cold outside - the actual temp was around 38 F, but with the wind it must have been closer to 25 F!

So ... I spent the majority of my day finishing up my barefoot running paper. I really thought I was much closer to finishing it ... but kept revising it or double-checking facts ... etc. that it was nearly 4 pm before I finally said "enough!" and uploaded it.

Then of course I needed to walk the dogs. They'd been impatiently begging for the last 40 minutes as I was finishing my paper. Funnily this time Nikki was ultra cooperative getting her sweater on, while Kayla kept butting in and making it hard for me to get it on Nikki.

I'll say it again. It was *cold*! Walking for 40 minutes with two dogs who keep insisting on stopping and sniffing - my hands were frozen! (I didn't wear my gloves because well, you know, you gotta clean up after the doggy messes, and I'd rather not take a chance of getting
*that* on my gloves!)

So, it was nearly 5 when we got back.

What had I not done yet? Got my car inspected! Ooops! I'll still be okay to do it on Friday or maybe Sunday - I'm pretty sure the grace period is at least 5 days.

---
I tried to start the process of linking my Compass account with ING, but since it'd been less than 15 days since I changed my address, I couldn't do it online. So, will have to remember to check back next week.

---
No spending today (thanks to my procrastination!)

--
Tomorrow will be a long day at work - from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Fun. I think I'll leave all my money at home to avoid the temptation to go to the deli.

Today was a no spend day.

I also felt much better than I did yesterday, although it was colder outside.

On my way home I came across two accidents. One of them closed an entire intersection, and I had to follow someone in front of me to figure out a detour. The second one was right before my street. It looked like a 4-car chain reaction accident.

Texans don't know how to drive in slick and cold conditions very well. It is supposed to maybe snow tonight. I think I might need a hat (whatever those knit hats you pull over your ears are called.)

--
Today at work I was wearing one glove most of the morning. I had four different people ask me if I was sporting the Michael Jackson look. LOL! No, it was more like wanting to be able to navigate on my iPhone and turn magazine pages look!

There are gloves where you can separate the finger tips while still wearing the glove - but they're in the $25 - 30 range. My gloves were in the $2 range.

---
I stopped at Chase today and closed my checking account. I told the person who helped me that I would have stayed there if it wasn't for the $6 monthly fee if I didn't do so many debit transactions a month. She didn't give me any hassles, which was good.

Then I went over to Compass where I had opened an account last November for the $25 account bonus and "free" mp3 player. (turned out it cost shipping and handling, so I never got it.) I deposited my funds from Chase + my paycheck in there. I also asked for a new debit card because I'd shredded the other one (thinking I'd never use it.)

*I am going to look into opening a student account at the university's credit union - but will probably do that after the holidays when I'm on school break. Spring semester doesn't start till Jan. 19!

---
Today was payday. Ouch. I sure took a hit from having Thursday and Friday off. Roughly $110. It would have been worse if I hadn't worked on Wednesday.

So, my Nov 15 paycheck was $497.49, and my Nov 30 paycheck was $405.73.

I have $30 cash left from my last cash outtake, and kept out $36 from today's deposit (what was left over the hundreds from Chase). That means I have $76 for groceries and miscellaneous to last until December 11 when I'll take another $40.

$40.50 x 3 (Savings, Tax Savings, Giving)

That leaves 248.23 for other bills.

---
Tomorrow I need to get my car inspected (yeah, procrastinated on that!) Finish and turn in my barefoot running paper, and complete another assignment for a different class.

I'm also going to be meeting a new possible roommate. My landlady's daughter is ok with continuing to give her room up so someone can rent it - at least for a short time. It doesn't sound like this person will need fridge or pantry space - which is good, because I'm using all my allotted space!

This morning I managed to get off to work with a new cannister of oatmeal, my frozen veggies and $.72 Michaleo's frozen meal, and a banana. Unfortunately, I forgot my new box of Stripples (vegge bacon) and container of egg whites.

I went to bed a bit after 9 last night, but didn't really get much sleep by 5:30 this morning when my alarm went off. Between not being able to turn off the thought machine and my allergies/maybe beginning of a cold ... ugh!

So ... I wanted more protein for my breakfast than just oatmeal. I headed over to the deli and though I did spend, it was controlled. I got one taquito (breakfast burrito - eggs and cheese); juice; and a banana. $3.33

In case you're wondering why I got a banana when I already had one ... well, I realized I hadn't gotten enough for the whole week this morning. So by getting a banana today, it gives me one less reason to go grocery shopping before Friday. Thus, more than likely, saving me money.

--
So the lack of sleep/rest also affected my driving this morning. I pulled on to the business highway where the speed limit is 60, and it didn't dawn on me to speed up from 45 until someone honked at me.

The whole day at work I was just cold. I wore my jacket the whole day. Usually I can wait till around 10 a.m. or so before I get too cold.

By the time the afternoon shift came, I was feeling plumb miserable.

---
Got home and walked the dogs. That was a production and a half. I figured that if it was cold enough outside for *me* to wear my jacket, then little thin Nikki *must* wear one too. Yikes! She was just like a little kid who doesn't want to wear a jacket!! It took ten minutes of me wrestling with her before finally getting it on. Ugh!!

Kayla was so funny. She was acting like the patient older sibling (which she kind of is, older at least) who just wants to go for her walk! She kept coming up to me like she was letting me know that she'd be willing to do whatever it took for us to get out that door!

---
I came across an interesting work at home site. I haven't tried it yet myself, but it looks good. livework.com

One of the options is doing short answer questions. You just need good writing and research skills.

---
It's only 4:25 right now, but I think I'm going to go to bed a little early. Maybe just rest a bit ... who knows.

Today I helped E and one other person clean the gym location which is closing tomorrow. It took the three of us 6 hours.

I ate about 10 a.m. and got there a little before noon. By the time I was leaving (about 6) I was *starving* and thinking about all the fast food places I could get something to eat. I couldn't actually go *in* anywhere, because I was a royal mess thanks to 3 hours of cleaning blinds and dusting out lockers + powerwashing 6 shower stalls.

But, you notice I said today was a no spender? I fought those thoughts of stopping with thinking about what I had at home that I could make quickly. I came up with a sweet potato, leftover cornbread muffin, and a veggie patty with cheese. Then of course today is an S day, so I wanted to have some chocolate. I realized I already had some chocolate at home, so there was no need to stop somewhere and pick any up.

Yay! So I made it home without falling into the trap of saying that I deserved a treat (fast food) because of how hard I worked today.

---

While dusting out the lockers, I found a dime and three pennies. When I asked E if it was "finders keepers" he gave me a dime he'd found earlier.

So, for children's offering this coming Sabbath, I have $.23 already!

Today at church I put $1.70 in the children's offering, and $1 into the loose offering.

So I "spent" $2.70.

----

Last night I was going to have some cottage cheese to go with my supper, but when I opened it up, it had gone bad. I'd forgotten to turn it upside down (a trick which has made cottage cheese last forever in the past.)

I debated about maybe going to get some tonight, but decided to see if I can hold out until Friday when I do my next shopping run.

----
I went to the animal shelter today. I almost talked myself out of going because I really wasn't feeling great - in fact, I almost left church early because I wasn't feeling good. But, I talked myself into going.

I am glad I did. Several dogs who I thought for sure would've been adopted by now were still there, so I got to walk them, which was great. After I'd had my fill of walking dogs, I went into the cat room. There was this one cat, maybe a Persian, which was just gorgeous and super friendly. It even got up on my lap after awhile.

It's really good that there is no way that I can take either a cat or a dog home.

--
I thought about stopping for a soda on the way home, but ended up not doing it. I will get one tomorrow if I really want one, but I think tonight I was thinking about getting one just out of habit.

So, all I spent today was the offerings at church.
---
Tomorrow is cleaning the gym. Yuck. But it will help pad my next paycheck a bit - which will be very helpful considering how many hours I'll be out in my next paycheck (due to vacation.)

I had a pretty nice time over Thanksgiving. Went to my mom's house on Wednesday evening. After supper we went shopping for a birthday gift for my stepdad's granddaughter. Then we watched "Sunshine Cleaning". I wasn't sure if it was going to be good or not, considering the scenes they were cleaning, but it was actually pretty good.

Thursday we all got up nice and late, and headed over to the dollar theater and saw "Julie and Julia". That was a fantastic movie, really one of the best I've seen in a good while.

After the movie we headed over to Cracker Barrel for our official Thanksgiving Dinner. I pretty much had to choose off the breakfast menu, because I read a nice little notice that most of their veggies and their corn muffins and their beans are all cooked in/with animal fats. Ugh!

Still, I got french toast, eggs, sweet potato casserole and pecan pie. It was yummy and I was quite full. No stuffing though (only trust kind I make myself to not be made with turkey dripping or some such thing.) Maybe I can make some stuffing this weekend.

After we got back home I printed out my running paper for my mom to read - she made a few suggestions, but overall said it was really good. Then I did a 20 minute recording of her talking about family history. We stopped at that point because my knees were killing me. Unfortunately, even though she was speaking loudly, the mike on the camera didn't pick it up very well.

We're going to try it again later - maybe see if we can find some kind of mike or another way of holding the camera when she's speaking ...

----
Of the $40 cash I took out, I have spent .... $3.30!

$.30 was for printing out a registration form

$3 was for the movie yesterday (I treated)

Today I stopped at Walmart and picked up $23.34 worth of groceries and some misc. items. But I paid for them with a remaining balance on one gift card, plus most of the remaining balance on a second gift card.
--
Tomorrow is church and the no-kill shelter, and then on Sunday I'll be helping E clean up the closed gym location. This time however, I *will* be accepting pay.

---
Almost forgot. E had asked me several weeks ago to work this past Wednesday which is normally by day off. I had this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I should call and doublecheck with him about it on Tuesday ... but ignored it.

I got to the gym at a bit before 8, and found that E had double scheduled the time slot! That's better than not having gotten anyone for it .... but still.

E was pretty fair I think. He said he'd pay the other person for 4 hours and they got to go home. I got paid for 8 - 3 (when someone else came). I just thought it was kind of funny.

This morning I woke up in major pain. I'm not sure exactly what I did, but the right side of my neck, down a bit onto my shoulder was in torturous pain this morning. It hurt to lay on my side, and it hurt to lay on my back. I was seriously wondering if I'd be able to get out of bed or not!

I made it out of bed, and once I was up the pain was 1/20th of what it had been - so I managed to go to work, etc. today.

I'm hoping when I lay down for bed tonight that it won't hurt like that again. Ugh!

---
After work today I stopped at the library and picked up some books (on how to study the Bible, etc.) And I printed out the application to join American Library Association and Texas Library Association. (Joining them is part of fulfilling a leadership requirement in one of my classes.)

So, two printed pages: $.30

I also stopped and got gas. My tank wasn't quite empty, but I decided to fill it up today in case prices go up tomorrow or Wednesday. $23.47

----

I needed to refill my prescription. The last time I'd refilled it, it had cost me over $40 at Kroger. I hadn't even asked how much it would be, just wanted to get my gift card.

This time I called around to find the best price.

Walmart had the lowest price without any gimmicks at $27.39

Walgreens had it at $24.95 IF you buy a $20 Prescription Club. So, with buying the Club plan, it comes out to about $26.62 which beats Walmart.

So, I dropped it off at Walgreen's and will pick it up tomorrow.

---
I stopped at Chase Bank to deposit my paycheck (yes, the one from the 15th!) and to get my $40 spending cash.

I asked about changing my account into a student account, but the age cutoff was 24. So, about 10 years too old for that one.

Tomorrow I'm going to check and see what I need to do to get online access to Compass, and start switching out to it.
I'm also going to check into what credit unions are in the immediate area and their qualifications.

I think my university probably has one for it's students - but that is a 20 minute + one way drive in the opposite direction I usually go. It *could* work, but with getting two - three checks a month which have to be deposited ... it would be a pain.

---
Tomorrow I need to get my car inspected, and I need to pick up my prescription. Those two together will be roughly $90 (adding the Club plan to it).

I haven't quite decided yet what I'm going to do about the tithe yet (posted about yesterday). But, I do think that I need to get refocused on living within my means, and below as much as possible.

So, I think what I'm going to do is each time I get a paycheck, or some other kind of income, I am going to post here exactly how that money is going to be used.

Two things which I'm going to change is the use of my debit card and my credit card.

My debit card I get charged a $6 fee if I don't have at least six transactions during the month. This is because I don't have a direct deposit going into it. So I have been making sure to get those six transactions each month ... but I think I've ended up spending a good bit more than I would otherwise. So, the $6 fee may be a less expensive way to go.

I've been putting pretty much everything on my credit card (except the 6 purchases a month for the debit). This made sense when I was paying my rent on it, and so was accumulating a good number of points each month. Without that, the points grow *slowly* and it doesn't seem as worth it.

I also think that I *do* spend more on groceries, etc. when I am using my card. I always pay it off each month of course, but I do think I'm a bit freer with spending.

So ... I have decided that I'm going to stop using my debit card completely.

I will use my credit card only for online purchases, school tuition/books, gas, toll tag, car and renter's insurance, car repairs/inspection, cell phone and prescriptions.

Everything else will be paid for with cash.

School tuition/taxes/textbooks/car repairs all come out of savings.

Paycheck (Taxable Income) Budget:

10% Tithe/Giving/To Be Determined

10% Savings

10% Tax Savings

$290 rent

$120 groceries and miscellaneous
- to be taken out each week in $40 cash - remaining change each week put in children's offering at church

$5 - iTunes - songs, apps, etc.

$40 Tolls

$90 Gas

$40 Car Insurance Savings (paid every 6 mos)

$17 Renters Insurance Savings (paid every year)

$6 Netflix

$6 Bank Charge

$80 - Phone ($30/mo pd by dad as a gift)

Would like to add back in (maybe will restart in May after paying 2009 taxes):

$50 month IRA contribution

Total: 30% + $694 + $50 (IRA)

----
My last two paychecks gave me a total of $1108.

30% of that would be $332.40.

$1108 - 332.40 = 775.60

So ... that would work for the last two paychecks.

The "excess" money would go straight to savings - at least till May (after 2009 taxes paid).

"Extra" (Non-Taxable) Money Budget:

10% Giving/Tithing/TBD
40% Fun/whatever
50% Savings

My next paycheck will be short 12 hours due to Thanksgiving (off Thursday and Friday, but working on Wednesday which is my normal day off) - so, $87.

My Dec. 15 paycheck should be fairly normal, but my Dec. 30 paycheck will only have 3 or 4 days on it due to my vacation - which means it will be *really* low.

Upcoming bills:

(Nov. 25)
Car insurance 6 month premium: $213

(January 25)
Renter's Insurance: ~$200 (1 year prem.)

April 15

Fed. Taxes - estimating $1500

Two wants:

YNAB 3 - coming out sometime before the end of the year. $35

Extra iPhone charger - $50
*would be most useful in CA on vacation - not really sure about otherwise - maybe I should talk to my brother and see if he might be able to use something like that, and we could split the cost - I'd use it while in CA, then give it to him to use.

---
November 15 paycheck:

$479

$47.90 -- Tithing/Giving/TBD
$47.90 -- Savings
$47.90 -- Tax Savings
$40 - Cash Miscellaneous/Groceries

Remainder of $315.30 forwarded for December bills.

*Credit card is already paid off for the December 7 due date. So next payment won't be due till around January 7.

---
I am going to try to be more accountable to myself here regarding spending.

Other than refilling a prescription, gas, getting my car inspected this week, and a few groceries on Friday, I don't know of any other necessary spending.

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.)

Last night I registered for my 3 Spring Classes. $2,167 for 9 credits. I'm going to have to make the first official transfer out of my six-month emergency fund to pay for it. Up till now I've only used my other savings.

This summer I'll take a 4 credit class, and then next fall I'll take 9 credits, and in the Spring 2011 I'll take a 3 credit class + the Capstone (1 week "course" where you write 3 1800- 2500 word essays - pass/fail). So, it looks good right now that I'll be able to graduate by May of 2011.

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Monday night I got home to find my landlady had acquired another dog! If you've seen the Legally Blonde movies, or Beverly Hills Chihuahua, then you'll have a good idea what the dog looked like -- except much, much skinnier/bonier. An old friend of hers showed up unannounced and told her that she couldn't take care of the dog anymore -she'd found it in a Wal-mart parking lot - and she wanted my landlady to take it.

So ... she took it. It was a very sweet and affectionate and extremely needy (male) dog - probably about six-years old and possibly used as a breeding dog (ahem..certain er.. actions constantly repeated around the female (spayed)dog Nikki ...)

Landlady put an ad on Craigslist on Tuesday, and today someone followed through and came and picked him up. His name was Bruno the Bruiser, but I thought a more appropriate name for him would be Shadow. (as in wherever the main human went he went, or wherever Nikki went, he went (until she growled at him))

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Not much else going on really. Classes are winding down. I'm still working on putting together my barefoot running paper, and have two assignments left in another class, and then a practice exam in a third class. I'm getting a few extra hours at work tomorrow, and again on Wednesday - which will be helpful since Thursday and Friday we'll be closed.

Just over a month till I see my brother again! I am really, really, really looking forward to that!

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This weekend I'm planning on putting some more hours in at the animal shelter. On Sunday I want to finish a rough draft of my running paper so my mom can help me proof it over Thanksgiving.

After work today I stopped at Wal-mart to get groceries. In the back they had a rack with a bunch of things on major discount.

I got 3 cans of new potatoes for $.34/each, two tubes of Total toothpaste for $1, and 3 3-packs of Trident gum marked $1/each.

When I checked out, the total was *much* higher than I thought it was going to be. There were a lot of people behind me, so I didn't want to challenge it at the register. After paying, I stopped by the door and checked my receipt.

Sure enough, the gum had been charged at $2.97 each.

So I stopped at Customer Service. Thankfully there was no line. The person gave me one free, and then took of $4 for the other two. In total, I received back $6.38.

Today was a good reminder to *always* check your receipt.

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I downloaded an audio book from my library's website a couple days ago called "Chocolate Beach" by Julie Carabino. I've been listening to it - mostly Thursday, then in the car during my commute, and finally finished it today.

It was really good, and funny, and sweet. I could've read the hard copy much faster, but it was kind of nice to be able to just lay back and close my eyes and let the words flow over me.

Brianna is a beach loving, Christian mom of one teenage son who is married to an extremely busy attorney. She works as a tour leader for a bus tour company in Ventura, CA. One night at Bunco, one of the ladies at her table makes a catty remark which becomes a catalyst for many changes in her life. Oh, and yes, chocolate is mentioned often, and even plays a semi-important role. Yum.

Tonight I attended the orientation meeting at the local no-kill shelter. There were about 12 women varying from 14 to 60's in the group. We were taken on a tour of the facilities, and got to go in the kitty room and the cat room, as well as the small dog and large dog rooms.

There was a couple Siamese cats that were just adorable. And there was a 10 year old Maltese who just looked so sad. Can you imagine a 10 year old dog in a shelter? How likely is it he'll ever be adopted? I'm almost tempted ... just so he'll have a home, even if only for a few years.

You don't have to sign up for particular times, just show up when you have time and they're open.

I need to volunteer at least 8 hours, and then I can take another training session to learn how to train the dogs to do various tricks and commands. Or, I can also take another class to work with the big dogs.

The shelter is about a 20 minute drive, so it's not something I could go to on a whim, but maybe once a week would be doable.

I'm really looking forward to spending time with the animals there.

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Today B, one of my co-workers at the gym told me he tried to cash his paycheck today (the one that was over a week late) and he couldn't. His check was about the same as mine. I deposited mine yesterday.

Oh joy. I wonder how long it'll be till I find out how far it bounced? At least I found out the great possibility *before* I started moving money out of the account!

I obtained the list of children and young adult books that I will have to read for one of my classes next semester, and today read one of the high-school level ones.

It is called "If I Stay" and is by Gayle Forman. A very powerful book about the love of family, and the choices we all make. The main character is a 17 year old girl named Mia. I would not recommend reading this if you are in a sad mood. I also would suggest a box of tissues nearby.
It's short, less than 200 pages, but very well worth reading.

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I stopped by the library today to print out some discussion guide questions for the books I'm reading for my class. (We have to post thoughts about the books and do blog posts - so I'm taking notes as I go to be prepared.)

I was going to print out the booklist, but it was 15 pages long, and at $.15 per page, just not worth it.

I checked to see if there were any books on running that I could use as a source for my project, but there weren't any usable ones. I do have "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougal on hold, which will be a great source.

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I also stopped by Wal-mart and by Payless to check out any shoes they had to replace my sandals. Wal-mart had a slim selection of sandals for $5, but none of them fit my wide feet. Payless had some, but all of them had way too much heel to be a comfortable walking shoe.

I was going to stop by the Dollar General, but breezed right past it on the way home without realizing it. (It is less than 1/4 block from my street.)

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I stopped by the bank to deposit my gym paycheck and the check from my dad (iPhone fees). I attempted to do both checks via the drive up ATM, but it couldn't read my dad's check. So, I had to go inside to deposit it. Not painful, just annoying.

I also pulled out the $30 I need to bring tomorrow when I go to my orientation meeting at the no-kill animal shelter.

I am feeling uber exhausted right now - maybe left over from Saturday? - but need to have much more energy for tomorrow night!

My sandals which I have been wearing now for about three years have recently developed quarter size holes in the mid-foot area. The only reason I can think of is that as I have been learning and practicing barefoot running with a mid-foot strike instead of a heel strike, my walking has also become more mid-foot.

So, since I still haven't gone and replaced the $5 sandals yet, when I took the dogs out today for their walk I wore a pair of ballet flat shoes. About half-way in my pinkie toe on my right foot was really being rubbed the wrong way. So, I took my shoes off and walked barefoot the rest of the way.

I got a few strange looks from passing cars, but the majority of the sidewalk was free from debris, and I was enjoying myself quite a bit.

I put Kayla back in the house, and took Nicki back out for our second walk. Shortly after starting, I just felt like running! So, we ran.

On our way back, Nikki actually was acting like *maybe* I'd succeeded in tiring her out just a little bit and was actually keeping almost pace with me. So, I put a little burst of speed on, and of course, found out she wasn't so tired. She did NOT want to let me run ahead of her.

It was truly a beautiful day, and I was really happy to have a chance to do some barefooting. With all the rainy/cold days we were having for awhile, I had stopped doing my barefoot runs and gotten out of the habit.

I'm planning on doing my final paper for one of my classes on barefoot running - how to get started, why it's better for you than shod running, things to watch for, etc. If anyone's interested, I can put it up as a google doc *after* it's graded. (I wouldn't want my professor to google it to see if I copied some other source and find it already online!!)

Financially speaking, barefooting is great on the pocketbook. No shoes to buy!

If you are interested, a great place to read up on it is at Runner's World online in the Barefoot Running forum.

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In yesterday's mail I got my $50 gift card from mypoints for Walmart. That pretty much wiped out all my points. I may use it for some clothes for work (if I get the job) or for groceries, then put the same amount into savings.

If nothing happens to my car this month, I think that this will be the first month since January of this year that I'll actually be able to put money into savings!!!!

Although ... I need to register for my classes for Spring semester, and they usually require a portion upfront. Well... at least I won't have to take out the full amount from savings for it!!

Monday night I stopped at Ross and bought a suit, a business casual outfit, and a new pair of dressy shoes. Total: $60

I needed the suit because none of mine fit right now. It was only $15. The outfit I'll need if I get the job - if I don't get it, I'll take it back. The shoes - my only pair of dress heels have part of the sole coming off -so not a good thing to wear to an interview.

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I finally heard back from the no-kill shelter I applied to volunteer at. I'll be going to an orientation meeting on Tuesday night. I'm looking forward to that!

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I also heard back from the receptionist job I sent a resume in for on Monday night. The contact asked me to fill out an attached application - only there was no attachment! So I replied to her, and she sent me the attachment yesterday.

I printed it out today and typed it out at the library. They didn't have a fax or a scanner. I attempted to find a Kinko's, but after fruitlessly driving around for 30 minutes, decided to wait till tomorrow and fax it from work.

Tonight I got an email asking me for an interview tomorrow at 1:30. I had to say I couldn't do it - I work from 9 to 6:30 tomorrow, and 1:30 is potentially a busy time period at the gym.

Hopefully she'll take the 1:30 slot on Friday I said I could do (would have to get K to come in early, but she usually has no problem doing that.)

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Today was my brother's 29th birthday! I called him and sang Happy Birthday. Then he told me that he'd just been showing a friend of his my video text I'd sent him a couple weeks ago, when the phone rang. Spooky.

I told him about dad buying the Wii for Grandma. He was pretty impressed too.

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I made macaroni and cheese for supper tonight. I'd thought about it before, but hadn't wanted to open up a Rice Dream (milk sub). Tonight though I really wanted some, so I opened up a box. I'd never tried it without real milk - it was yummy. (For added protein I nuked a Bocca Veggie Chicken Patty and tore it up.)

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The gym I work at is closing one of our three locations. E asked me on Monday if I had plans this weekend. When I told him I didn't, he said he might need some help with moving. I thought that he meant *he* would be moving. But I found out later that it was moving their stuff out of the closing gym location.

I'm not sure how much help I'll be - but I'll be on the clock, so the extra bit will be nice.

(in March they're supposed to be opening a brand new facility -- should be interesting)

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paychecks were late this week because E and his parents (check signers) were out of town. To make up for it, they've added $20. I'll have to see my check tomorrow to see if the money actually was added.

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I was accused of being rich on Monday - by the lady who takes the 3 - 7 shift. I had said something about the paychecks being late being more of an annoyance than a hardship. I had a real good laugh about being accused of being rich.

(It was kind of one of those under the breath things - not really directed towards her - just commenting out loud {I think I spend too much time alone sometimes} - she's not really someone I like all that much, though I suspect the feelings mutual -- K on the other hand who comes in on Tuesdays and Fridays, is a sweetheart {frugal} and we get along really well)

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This was my first Halloween since I've been out on my own that I've had a chance to see a lot of kids/costumes. Usually where I've lived there were very few trick or treaters that came by.

Here, we probably had close to 70!! My landlady had to go out and buy more candy because she'd made candy packs for 35 kids.

I'm not sure why, but she pretty much let me be the one to answer the door and hand out the candy. I didn't mind, because it was cool seeing the variety of costumes (and ages!), but I thought it was kind of weird.

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I'm really trying to get back into the mindset of making my food and not just nuking it. It's just so easy to nuke the burrito or the Lean Cuisine - little cleanup and little fuss. But that mindset isn't helping my food budget much. So, the past couple nights I've been actually *cooking* supper! I made quinoa M and T, and then of course tonight, mac and cheese.

I'm going to try to keep the frozen meals just for lunches, and do actual cooking for suppers. Maybe eventually I'll cut out the frozens for lunch as well ... I got back into some bad habits....

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.)

This morning the woman who works out at the gym every morning told me that there is a receptionist job open at her company. She said I could use her as a reference. We talk a lot and are sort of Quasi friends.

Although being a receptionist doesn't excite me, having health insurance again and more income defintely does!

If I were to get this, I'd probably have to slow down on school - maybe take an extra semester or two. But if I'm making enough to live on, go to school, AND save .... I think the extra time would be ok.

Tonight I need to get my resume polished and put together a cover letter. Then tomorrow I'll stop at the library, print them out, and fax them in. (she told me to fax it. )

So if it works out, then sometime next year I'll have insurance again!

I've kind of gotten spoiled though, only working 4 days a week and pretty much having nothing to do at work. It sounds like the phones are pretty busy, and there might be some typing letters and other projects to keep a person busy. Their current person is being promoted in the company.

So this morning I got up earlier than usual for a Wednesday (day off) and drove over to the Brakes Plus shop. There was one car who had arrived ahead of me. The person I talked to said they only had one technician on staff today, so it might be a bit before they could give me an estimate.

I told him that was fine, because I could walk home and get stuff done.

So, I walked back home. The past week we've had wet and cold weather. Today, we had clear skies, but *muggy* weather. I was soaked by the time I got back. (about 8:20 a.m.)

So, I piddle around doing various things until finally I get the call about 10:30. I'm told my rotors are shot and need to be replaced. To have the front brakes done + the rotors would be $310. They also suggested a brake flush and some toolkit thingy which would have added another $90.

I went ahead and did the $310 work.

Was told it'd be a few hours. So, I decided to walk over to the library so I could get a card, and use a computer to print out the journal articles for my research paper. (The question was released last night for our mid-semester paper - due one week from today.)

The walk to the library wasn't bad at all - except for the mugginess, and crossing two pretty busy roads. (with stoplights thankfully.)

After getting my library card, I managed to find a free computer and sat down to get to work. Unfortunately, the computer wouldn't let me set cookies, so I couldn't access the articles I needed to print.

Luckily the person working the information desk was very accommodating and let me work off one of her computers - she even went and fetched my papers for me!! Turned out that she also is a library science student at my uni, but is almost finished. She didn't know about RefWorks, so I told her about it. (great site where you can export document citation info to, and then it will format your references for your research papers.)

The 9 documents I printed out cost me $14.55, but I think it was worth it to have hardcopies to work off of.

When I was done at the library, of course I walked back home. I managed to read through all my documents, and even write an introduction to my paper, when I got the call that my car was ready.

So, I walked over to the brake place and picked up my car. When I got home, I started a load of laundry.

Then I took the dogs for a walk. Because it was so muggy, both dog walks were shortened. (I take both for a walk together, then go out again with Nikki for a longer/faster walk.) In my second walk with Nikki, we came across a lady with her dog who somehow didn't understand about picking up after your dog's #2's. Ick! The lady herself was pretty nice, and I didn't say anything to her about it ... Maybe I should've.

Well, by the time I got back from the 2nd dog walk, I was completely soaked and parched. Finished up my laundry .. and since then have been procrastinating about doing any more work on my paper!!

Tomorrow is a long day at the gym, so I'll take my netbook and all the documents tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be bored enough to actually get some more work done on it.

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I'm thinking I really need to get a copy of MS Word. For me to have the full functionality of RefWorks, I have to have Word. So far I've gotten by just using Open Office. Maybe if I could find a copy of MS Office that predates the 2007 version? I *detest* the 2007 version! (I'll have to have MS Access for a class I'll be taking this summer .. so one way or the other I'm going to have to get it.)