Last night I decided to open a new credit card. What do I need with a new credit card? Nothing really, except for the spending bonus! The next few months promise to have lots of spending opportunities, so I figured it would be a good time to get a card.

Which one did I open? The Citi Premier Thank You card with a 50k points bonus after spending $3k in 3 months. This can translate into $625 travel cash (hotels/airplanes) or $500 towards your mortgage, student loan or gift cards.

Hello Honeymoon! I don't know if you can just use part of the points towards one type, and the remainder towards something else or not. If so, then after we pay for hotels, etc, we can throw the remainder to the mortgage or student loan (whichever we have at that time.

I know that I probably shouldn't be opening any more credit cards since we're getting close to the time where we're going to be wanting to look at houses, but I figured there still was enough time to clear out some inquiries.

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This afternoon I stopped at the rentals place and put a deposit down on the tables/linens/chairs.

I also made some more calls to catering places during lunch/break and came to the conclusion that using a local grocery store to cater may be the way to go.

I have a tentative appointment set with T, the catering person on Tuesday. (Could cancel due to weather. 8 inches predicted.)

I also have an appointment with the bed and breakfast owner to sign a contract for the b&b on Monday.

I didn't get my dress picked up today - the store closed at 5, and I got out of the rental store only a few minutes before five. Maybe next Friday?? Hopefully I'm not pressing my luck too much with alterations ...

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I'm really enjoying the little shift in Mr FT's and I relationship since we got engaged. It's almost like there's an extra sense of relaxation on both our parts. Maybe a little more security? As in, we really are both in it for the long haul.

The survey assessment we took for the pre-marital class said we weren't supposed to discuss the questions with our partner. Mr FT took that to mean - not even after the survey was done (until the PMC sessions.) I took it to mean - not while taking the survey. I wonder which one of us is right?

We both marveled at how much the survey harped on student loan debt. About 12 out of 200 questions were related to it. No option for - never had any.

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Am thinking of posting an ad on Craigslist for two people:

1. Someone to be in charge of the pizza/rootbeer floats Welcome dinner (setup, serving, cleanup.)

and

2. Someone to be in charge of the iPhone during the ceremony - so that the music gets started on time for the different things.

Am thinking for #1, maybe offer $40 (probably an 1 1/2.) For #2, offer $50 - for coming to rehearsal + ceremony, and then a $20 bonus if does a really good job.

I just am not sure how else to do the music - I'd hate to pull in someone from the few who are attending.
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Am so glad for Friday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Cashed out for $10 from PACT last night.

This morning I posted on a local facebook group asking for recommendations for a photographer and person to do hair/makeup. I must have posted at a perfect time, because I got a lot of responses! Good thing too, because my post was deleted! I'd even said in my post that if it wasn't allowed, please tell me where to post.

Oh well, I still got lots of good leads. In fact ... I may have a lead on a photographer who will do the ceremony/formals/reception for $500! This includes 100 edited/retouched images on a disc with full reprint rights.

I've contacted this person to see if they're available on my day or not. It also looks like they might have a symbiotic relationship with a hair/makeup person - who'd do it for $70.

That'd be awesome if it could work for that much!

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The roads were nearly clear by after work today, so I headed out to the bakery where Mr FT's mom loved their white cake so much. (Well, it's a new location actually - the one she went to closes at 1 p.m.) The lady who was there took my information and what I wanted and is going to pass it on to the person who does the cakes. At least I've got that started!

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I called one hair place here this afternoon, but they aren't open on Sundays.

I couldn't for the life of me remember who I was going to call during my break today. It finally hit me - the rental place! (chairs/tables etc.) I made a reminder on my phone for me tomorrow.

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I scheduled our first pre-marital counseling session for next Thursday. Also today I filled out a bunch of paperwork to add Mr FT to my insurance plans and change beneficiaries.

It was SO weird!!!! Writing LAM instead of LAN. After writing my LN signature, I stopped and wrote the new signature a dozen times on another piece of paper. To try to fix muscle memory. (I was using my new name because the paperwork/change won't be in effect til after 4/24 but it has to be turned in at least a month prior.)

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I was doing some research on recessional songs, and came across some really amazing songs.

You and I by John Legend
You and I by Michael Bubble (same name, different song)
From This Moment On by Shania Twain
First Day of my Life by Bright Eyes
Don't Stop Believing (Journey) Vitamin String Quartet

And I also remembered one of my favorites -
We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters

How to choose? How to choose?

I've unsuccessfully been trying to find samples of ceremonies - like how many songs/special musics, readings, etc.

Other than my brother singing, all our music will be iPhone via nice speakers. I need to figure out who to be in charge of making sure the music plays at the right time ...

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I got a call that my dress was ready to be picked up. Maybe I can go by on Friday and pick it up. Then start the process of finding the person to do alterations. And finding shoes and underthings to hold me together in it.

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I now have my W2 and the healthcare form thing, plus about half of my bank interest forms. So I could get started on my taxes ... Maybe on Sunday.

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I cashed out for $6 from Pinecone, and it came today.

First off - thank you everyone for your comments on my 24 hour post. Ya'll made me blush.

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So .. last night I talked with my mom to go over some of the wedding stuff. I told her I was planning on asking Uncle J to officiate. She told me that I better be prepared that I'd be expected to pay for Uncle and Aunt J's expenses.

I was like, "What!!" I'd planned on giving him something like $100 as a thank you, but not paying for two plane tickets and a hotel room!

So .. I call my Aunt N (the one paying for my dress.) She tells me that couldn't be further from the truth. That Uncle J is honored that I want him to do it (she'd told him) but that he might have a problem with the date.

So .. I call Uncle J. Talk to him about being the officiant. He then tells me about having a flight to Egypt on April 26 - not back til June. Aunt J is going to be in Egypt at that time too. (Yes, both of their names begin wtih J. They were high school sweethearts. Too cute.)

So ... I very reluctantly figured out that maybe April 17 would work. He reminded me that was Aunt N's birthday. Also, Grandma was having some friends from Singapore fly into LAX she wants to see.

So ... I ask Uncle J if him being here on the 24th would be too close to leaving for Egypt. He said he was more than happy to do it.

Whew!

Now I'm waiting to hear back from my brother if that weekend will be okay for him. He's a bit preoccupied right now though. So who knows when I'll hear back.

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Can I say how much I don't like Amazon's registry? The results when searching are abysmal! And I haven't figured out how to put things in there that don't come up in the search results (like for say example - different colors of the item you want!)

Supposedly there's a universal option - but I haven't gotten that to work yet. Mr FT however is able to get in to the registry and add stuff from his computer. So that way we can both work on it when we have time.

(I haven't started a Target or Bed Bath Beyond one yet - am hoping to figure out the universal thing so only have one registry to work with!)

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The last two days at work were very stressful. In fact, yesterday I went to my supervisor and asked her how bad it would be if I asked to be relieved of helping one certain person. Help which is NOT part of my job description.

Apparently this person also had gone to my supervisor. She was frustrated with me as well.

So ... today we had a meeting. I don't know if it was the stress of everything, overtiredness, or just utter frustration ... but I embarrassed myself by crying! Ugh! I hate that.

Once the tears start, it's very hard to get them to stop. And then it's hard for me to talk. (Name something that drives Mr FT up the wall ... )

I acknowledged my part in it (not being as careful as I should be in double checking the work output) and we figured out how to maybe make it work better.

We'll see I guess.

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So ... between my mom, grandma and aunt, I am being given $2500 towards wedding expenses. That's (hopefully) going to be more than 1/2 the cost.

So ... I have no clue how to word the invitations.

Mr FT bio parents are both dead, and he has an almost non-existant relationship with his stepdad. And then of course, my dad is also dead.

What I WANT to say is: Mr FT and Ms. FT invite you to come share in the celebration of our marriage on April 24, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. at place. (Or something similar.)

Not sure though if that is the "proper" wording, especially now that over half of it is being funded by mom/aunt/grandma.

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I got halfway home tonight and realized I left my phone at my desk. So turned around to get it - What a nightmare! At one particular light where I was trying to turn left, I sat through FOUR rounds of lights!

By the time I got my phone and was on my way back home, it was getting late - I was worried I would miss R at the church (wanted to ask her about her daughter doing photography.)

So I decided instead of going home and getting something to eat, then going to the library (to drop off the now overdue DVDs) and then to the church - I would stop at Walgreen's and pick up something to eat, then go on.

That's what I did. Spent $2.93 on a payday bar, york patty and a big thing of sparkling water. Then I got to the church, and R was nowhere to be found. Ugh.

I had also planned on printing out the labels for the church library books - my printer isn't working that great. (It prints, but not great quality.) My friend C is introducing me this week as the church librarian .. had kind of hoped to get some more books PUT in the library before hand.

Oh well ... right?

Going to try to get to bed a bit early tonight.

So I spent a lot of money for me today.

This morning I spent a little more time futzing with my application, and ... submitted it. Yikes.

Then I headed to a bridal dress shop I'd passed by several times before, and had seen on the knot that they had discontinued dresses and LOTS of choices for the non svelte figure types.

C, a mutual friend of Mr. FTs and I, agreed to come with me and be an opinionated eye.

I must have tried on 20 dresses. Finally there was one I could actually step INTO and not struggle to get over my head.

And .. it was just about perfect!

It's going to need a little alteration - straps removed, bust area taken in, etc. (It's probably about a size too big.)

I gulped at the price, but after having seen what most of the other gowns were going for, and realizing that time wasn't on my side to have something ordered ... I went for it.

$520 after taxes, etc. and before alterations.

What kind of made me go for the expensive dress rather than the one I ordered off Amazon is ... well, the b&b place has a staircase you can walk down as part of your entrance. I want a little bit of a train to make that entrance really awesome.

I actually think I like this one better than the one I found in Omaha - not a LOT better, but definitely better enough to forego the $300 price difference. (The Omaha one was $800+)

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I stopped by the Bakery Mr. FT suggested to me last night, but they close at 1 p.m. everyday. So ... it looks like I'm going to be delegating that job to Mr. FT. He's going to love that (actually, he might really love it. Taste some samples ...)

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I saw an almost perfect house on FB today. 77k Owner Financed. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, basement, recently remodeled insides. W/D included. They were asking for a $2500 downpayment and then $1050/month. I pm'd the guy and asked how much of a downpayment they'd need to get the payment to $700/month.

His response made me roll my eyes so hard in frustration. "It would take a pretty substantial downpayment to get to that amount." Uh ... okay. Thanks for not answering my question.

So I responded by asking if a $15k downpayment would get the monthly amount to $800? He said he could work with us on it. I guess he realized that I wasn't dumb and thinking just a little more would do it.

I would need to take money from my ROTH (the one I've had 10+ years) plus cash money to do it (from Mr FT and I both), but it could be done.

I've got an email in to Mr. FT to see if he'd like me to schedule a viewing on Sunday so we can check it out. (Thursday we are checking out the bed and breakfast.)

Nevermind ... just got an email back from Mr. FT saying it's in a horrible neighborhood. So, scratch that. Something else will come up. Just have to keep eyes pealed.

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The local library has a stinky new rule that DVDs can only be checked out a week at a time. This is going to cause me to have lots of late fines I forsee. I take the DVDs out, and sometimes it takes me weeks and weeks before I watch them. Will just have to not put more than one at a time on hold I guess. (So I don't have six of them come in on the same day .. like I had happen last week.)

I think I am going to have to drop back from posting a photo a day. I've got a few too many other things on my mind now. I will still post a picture when I find something that easily works though. Just not every day.

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So Mr. FT and I have discussed finances before, and we both have agreed about the idea of joint finances.

Once we are married, I'll be able to add him to my health insurance plan and he can drop the Obamacare plan. (Am really curious about how this will affect taxes /subsidies. I *think* even with our combined incomes, he'd still qualify for the subsidy since it'd be based off of 2 people instead of one.???) That will save a few dollars in monthly premium - but more importantly, the OOP and other co-pays will be much less than his current plan.

What I'm a little unsure of about how to handle though is the inherited stock from my dad. About 1/3rd of it I moved into a ROTH IRA account about two years ago. So that's not touchable. But the rest is in a regular brokerage account. If we're really truly combining finances, then this should be part of it. But I think I might be a little bit on the touchy side about using it anytime soon. (Especially since we seem to be in a season of stocks where NOT selling is a good idea.)

Would it be unreasonable of me to say that I am okay with considering this a part of our joint finances, but with the caveat that it won't be touched for at least ten years, or in a case of desperate need. (As in we both lost our jobs and have run through every other resource.)

The complicating thing is that he's still waiting on his small inheritance check. So to be fair, I'd have to say that he could use it however he felt best, right? Even if that meant he used it to buy a boat instead of paying off medical debt or towards the wedding/house downpayment.

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As far as the wedding goes ... I sincerely doubt that his sister is going to offer to help pay for anything that the groom's side traditionally pays for - even if/when she gets her inheritance money.

My aunt has offered to pay for my dream dress, and my mom has offered to pitch in some money too.

Other than that, it's him and I who will be footing the bills.

So ... since we haven't combined finances yet, do we divide the expenses by the traditional groom's family / brides family - where he cover's the grooms side and I cover the brides side? Or, would it be better to come up with a figure, and each of us contribute 1/2? Subtracting the cost of the dress and my mom's contribution.

I found a local photographer who has posted prices of less than $1k. I contacted him to see what he would charge for a Sunday morning wedding and a total of maybe 3 hours between the before ceremony, ceremony and reception. (We won't have dancing/drinking, so it's a much shorter shindig.)

I spent way too many hours on knot.com yesterday. Yowsa. I'm thinking I'll put together a wedding website - but want to get Mr. FTs opinion on the background first. (It's free on the knot.)

If I can make myself go outside today, I'm going to go to Barnes and Noble and use my gift card I got for Christmas to buy a wedding planner book. Glad I didn't spend it on something else!

I asked my mom to take charge of figuring out hotel accommodations for out of town guests and also to get me the addresses I need to send people invites (whether or not they're ones that would really show up.)

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Engagement parties aren't really necessary are they?

I think I've decided to not have a bridal party -i.e. MOH, BM etc. We'll have few enough people in the audience as it is. I'll probably ask my mom to help me with getting ready/finishing touches.

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I told some people at church yesterday. Mainly the people in my Sabbath School class. They were pretty happy for me.

I was going to talk to R about what would be involved in using the church, but she was pretty preoccupied with getting potluck ready.

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It is SO cold outside. The wind doesn't help matters.

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I really want to invite my boss. Mr. FT is okay with it. But ... how do I do that without inviting other people from the office? Just tell her not to mention that she's invited?

Our tagline for guests is family and mutual friends. But my boss wouldn't work as a mutual friend - Mr. FT hasn't met her.

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I was feeling really bored with my food choices last night. Ended up making a toasted cheese sandwich which was okay.

I just have to remind myself that staying out of the grocery store / fast food places is helping my budget AND my waistline. It's worth it, even if I really want a Cheese Frenchie from Amigo's or a burrito from Taco Bell ...

This morning I made my oatmeal/greek yogurt/banana pancakes and tried adding some chocolate syrup to them. Yeah, no. (The ones I did that to, burned a bit.)
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If you were registering for pots/pans, other kitchen/household stuff, what would you register for?

One thing I think I'll put on there is an InstaPot. Maybe really good kitchen knives? My dishes I've had since 1997, so maybe replace those? I don't want China or silver. Wouldn't have a use for them.

Would it be rude to put a paypal link on your registry page for gift donations towards a house downpayment fund? I saw that suggested in an article on the knot.

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I cashed out for a $25 AGC from PerkTv today. I really need to get my extra phone set up to earn the points faster. It's been sitting in my closet for a couple months now ... (a cheap $10 phone.)
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Sorry for the all over the place post. I have lots of stuff running through my head right now.

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Okay, I'm going to catch up on everyone's journals, then force myself out the door to the store.

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ETA - Just thought of a question. Do you have your engagement /wedding ring(s) insured through renter's insurance or homeowner's? I've never had an expensive piece of jewelry, and knowing how hard I'm on watches ...

Also ... the ring went ON my finger fine. And I can turn it around with no problem. But I can't get it off. Should I have sized up 1/2 a step? Or wait and see if I will keep on losing weight?

I'm not grateful for allergies. I'm not grateful for having to buy Allegra D 24-hr 10 at a time. However, what I am grateful for is having switched from Walgreen's to CVS for my medicine purchases.

Why?

Well, for one thing, CVS has their Allegra at $2 cheaper than Walgreen's.

But what else makes buying it at CVS much better than at Walgreen's? It's the $5 off $15 purchase coupons they keep sending me!

Technically, these coupons are NOT supposed to be good on ephedrine purchases. But apparently the register at my local CVS doesn't know that. I even mentioned it to the person ringing me up the first time ... they basically said that if it takes, it takes.

So ... a picture of something that makes me smile - my CVS receipt showing $6 in coupons taken off.



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Tonight I went to a free pizza dinner at a local restaurant sponsored by a local brokerage for first time home buyers. It was really good (although I could only eat the cheesesticks - oh well.)

They had a realtor talk to us, a title insurance person, a home inspector, a mortgage originator, and a home warranty person. There were lots of good questions posed by people there.

After it was over I cornered the poor mortgage guy and bombarded him with more questions.

One of them was clarifying about the employment time period. He told me that a period of no employment of six weeks would not be an issue!!

So ... that means that maybe, just maybe, I won't have to wait til August ...

I also asked him about how disparate credit scores are handled. He said they are averaged. But he also told me that if we (NE and I) came in and sat with him, he would help us figure out a game plan on how to get NEs score up so that the average would be higher.

I also asked him about roof replacement costs, building fences, landscaping, etc.

Overall, I really liked everyone who made presentations and am REALLY glad I went. I wish NE would've been able to get someone to cover a few hours for him tonight so he could've gone as well. Oh well.

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I'm debating heavily if I should sell the ten shares of my electric car stock now before they tank worse ... It seems as though the market is just going to keep going down this year, and if that is part of the money I want to use for my downpayment ... I'd just hate to sell them now, then have them go back up a month later. A week ago those shares were worth about $1300 more than they are now.

If I wasn't in saving all my pennies mode right now, I'd probably be BUYING stock!

Tonight I was in the cooking mood for whatever reason. I made a corn casserole, a big pot of quinoa, and am still working on roasting the butternut squash.

It's amazing I have any energy right now, seeing as though I woke up about 3:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep ...

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Work was so so today. Pretty busy at times, and had a meeting to discuss how we handle getting out route detour information to the public, as well as an issue related to the big route changes coming in August.

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Speaking of work ...

Remember quite a while ago I mentioned that there was a librarian position open at the local community college? I kind of bailed out on actually applying for it - just couldn't do it to my boss.

Well ... the person they hired for that job didn't work out. The position is available again. Taking applications til the 18th.

A part of me is wondering if this is God nudging me to where I need to go. I didn't listen the first time, so He's giving me a second chance.

The job description DOES state clearly that they want someone with at least 1 year of *college* level library experience. If that is truly a big factor, then I won't have a chance anyway.

But I'll never know if I don't try. I am going to try. Gulp.

As much as I love my boss, I don't know if I can really take 15 years of giving directions over the phone ... and dealing with some of the people I deal with on a daily basis.

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So ... on to the other topic. What am I talking about? 5% interest? Unheard of!

Well this is something I saw I the MMM forums a few weeks ago and decided to test it out for myself. I wanted to see how easy it would be.

Here's what I did - I signed up for a Brink's Mastercard PrePaid Card. Once I got it, I activated it and started the process of adding it as an external account to my checking account. Then I had to verify the transactions.

Next, I set up a money transfer from checking to my card. That went through today.

Finally, I moved the money from the card and set up a savings account.

The savings account pays 5% interest up to $5,000. If you ever want to get money back into your checking, all you have to do is move the money back onto the card, and then do an ETF/ACH transfer.

To avoid the inactivity fee, I also set up a recurring transfer of $2 to my card from checking once a month.

That's it. All there is to it.

A more detailed guide: http://thefinancebuff.com/netspend-5-percent-savings-account.html

Now, I also earned an extra $20 right up front - by using a referral code. That person (from the MMM forum) also received $20 after I funded $40+ on my card.

This is a great way to put away up to $15k per person (see detailed link) that you are saving for an EF or a house downpayment, etc.

If you are interested, and would also like to help me out My referral link is: http://www.brinksprepaidmastercard.com/prepaid-debit-card/applyNow.m?ctxName=b_raf&uref=3469171546

Mango is another card which pays 6%, but requires a lot more work. This card (Brink's) is paying you $270 (in a year) for less than an hour's work.

After getting a nice sleep in (sort of - Kari wasn't having me sleep in tooo long) and doing some relaxing computer activities ... I finally got off my duff and productive.

ETA - One of the things I did was set up my budget in the new YNAB program I really kind of like it. The goal setting especially. I'll wait til my trial is up to decide for sure, but I may spring for the $45 subscription. Even if I decide not to yet, I'm still locked in for that discount price if I ever do decide to go to it.

I needed 8k more steps for my 50k step challenge, plus I needed to do a GPS tracked 5k walk for another challenge.

So .. I headed to the park. Brrr!! I foolishly wore my Keds instead of the slightly sturdier tennies. My Keds are starting to get really well worn. As in coming apart at the seams in places worn ...

I got the mileage/steps in with frozen feet and wet/dirty jeans legs.

Got home and changed into something dry and headed out again.

This time to Dollar Tree to stock up on frozen fruit. They were out of most of their other frozen vegetarian options - the freezer section was pretty decimated. $11 (Also got a battery for my smoke detector.)

Then on to Walmart - bananas, apples, PB powder*, Ragu sauce*, Amy's! Chinese Noodles!!, etc. $25
*Had iBotta rebates

On the way home I realized my gas was blinking. So I decided to go a little out of the way to the cheap station - $1.89/gallon - and also get a car wash!
My car hasn't been washed since .... ??????

$19.25 gas; 5.44 car wash (undercarriage+)

Had a weird interaction at the gas station. I pulled into a parking spot to make sure the car wash was operating (doors were closed on both sides.) When I came out this lady annoyedly says "Thank you." I'm like, huh? She tells me that she can't get into her vehicle. I wasn't parked outside the lines, in fact, I was parked fairly close to the line on the driver's side. Just weird.

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Now I'm finishing up a dryer load of sheets and towels (my jeans are hanging dry.) It's been awhile since they've been washed ... I do laundry every Thursday when NE is here, but that's usually only clothes - and definitely not enough space for two pairs of jeans. So I've decided that the first weekend of each month is towels/sheets/jeans washing time!

Ok - off to get my clothes and then eat my surprise find of Amy's Chinese Noodles from Walmart.

Happy New Year everyone!

So ... today at work they had to let go of one of the bus cleaners. He apparently was very unhappy about this - as in emailing threats to the big wigs.

Had two police officer visits - one to pick up the phones/wallets from lost and found, and then the same officer was back to deal with the fired employee threats.

Also had one of the newbie bus driver trainees come by asking about how to sign up for the health insurance. He wasn't too happy to learn he had to wait til he'd been employed 90 days. He had apparently already canceled his other insurance (assuming Obamacare.) Did he not read the new employee information??

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The last few months I've been having trouble keeping my data usage in the small bucket. It was looking like I was going to go over again this month as well. But somehow, someway I was kept in the small bucket! Which means $9 less than I had budgeted. Yahoo!

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Swagbucks was annoying me today. No bonus points on any of the apps, etc. But then I saw I'd had 60 points in coupon redemptions come in! Sweet! Now if only some more will come in on Thursday so I can get my 31 day bonus for sure.

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The new YNAB is being officially released tomorrow. Which means I have until Jan 31st to decide if I want to upgrade for the 10% discount price. I know I'll probably go for it eventually, but I don't really want to have to WAM $45 to buy it right now. Sigh ... maybe I'll come into some extra money in January. Maybe I'll get away with doing my taxes for free this year (I think I can do the state taxes at least on the state website - will have to check into that.)

If you are thinking about buying YNAB4 - you'll have do it today. By tomorrow you'll no longer be able to purchase it. (It still can be downloaded by people who already have a copy, it just can't be purchased.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Electricity - 452.54 - 37.71/average

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

Car Insurance - 433.60 - 36.13 average

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Car Tax - 175.09
Yearly car tax

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

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

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

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

Entertainment - 15
Bought a CD from a concert

Movies - 10
Two movies (matinees)

iTunes - 6.41
A couple of apps

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

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

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

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

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

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

I know it's not quite to the end of 2015, but I don't think I'll be getting any more snowflakes this month. I'm not sure if I got everything possible - I kept changing how I recorded things, so I may have missed a few things.

Here are the main sources of extra income this year:

Achievemint - $100
Bing - $105 (including a $5 cashout in by next week)
Checking Bonuses - 300.00
AmEx bonus - $250.00
DataXCoup - $14.90
Discover Card bonus +some cash back - 83..90
Interest - $104.39
Ebay / cash sales -171.02
iBotta - 47.25
MobiSave - 19.60
Pact - 130.00
Perk - 150 (I think there was more - but can't verify)
Pinecone - $102
parking lot job - $137.13
SavingStar - $5.16
Class Action - $29.23
Bounts - $10
Walmart Savings Catcher - 5.18
YouGov - 100
Swagbucks - $720
ReceiptHog - $10
Walgreen's Balance Rewards - ~$70
MyPoints - $50

$2714.86

When they say that every little bit adds up, it does! I actually hadn't realized that I'd made so much with Swagbucks this year. Wow.

I'm thinking of doing a fresh budget in YNAB to clean up some of the payees / categories for 2016 - so hopefully I can also make it easier on myself to track extra income.

---
I also was looking at my networth from January til now. It had some amazing highs (namely when one particular stock was nearing $300 ....) but overall has grown roughly $16k.

After several failed attempts to pick up my afghan from the FedEx drop off, I finally have it home. It is quite lovely I think and warm too.

My aunt made this for me with yarn I picked out when I was in CA over Thanksgiving. She's taught herself how to knit entirely through youtube videos.

Here's a pic (with Kari photobombing of course.)

---
So I finally got a sort of non-auto response reply from restaurant.com regarding my $200 credit. This after three exactly the same auto responses.

It basically said to reply to this email if your issue hasn't been resolved and we'll escalate it. So ... I replied and now I wait.

---
NE and I were taking stock of what we'll need to make 5 rum cakes (he's decided he wants to take one to work.) What it boiled down to was we'd need another bottle of rum. Ugh. That stuff is expensive! The pecans also aren't going to be cheap ...

At least I already have pretty much everything we need for the tater tot casserole on hand (except the particular brand of veggeburger he wants for it.)

Even splitting the cost .. my grocery budget is going to go over.

Oh well, January I will do better!

Thursday when I got home from work I was SO hungry and SO cold ... but I knew we were going to be eating out, so I didn't want to spoil my appetite.

So .. I bumped the heat way up (it was COLD) and did about 20 minutes or so of cleaning/picking up. Then I started getting ready - actually putting on makeup! and actually fixing! my hair .. :big grin:

My manicure from when I was out in CA was still good on my left hand, but several of the right hand fingers were looking pretty sad. So ... I spent about 25 minutes taking the polish off. Then, just as I was finishing the second coat of polish, NE called saying he was on his way over! Uh ...

So he came over and I finished getting ready. Then before we left I used a coupon code that had come in my email from Restaurants.com to get a $25 gift certificate for $4.25. *Still have not heard back from customer service about my missing $200 credit!*

The fancy restaurant we went to is a repurposed home built in the late 1890s. The restaurant itself has been in business around 22 years. It is really beautiful inside the home. I kind of wanted to explore it, but thought that might be a little unclassy ...

A few minutes after we were seated, our waiter came by to get our orders. As soon as I mentioned that I was vegetarian, he went and got the chef! to come talk to me. The chef (who turned out to be the waiter's dad) sat and talked with us for at least 6 or 7 minutes. I think he was a bit flummoxed when I told him I didn't like spicy foods... When I told him that I do eat eggs, he was like "Oh, a fake vegetarian." LOL! (It was especially funny because NE teases me almost along the same lines.)

A little while later our entrees were brought out. OH MY WORD! The dish the chef created was this HUGE mound of spinach linguine with lots of veggies. I mean HUGE. I ate as much as I could last night, had some for lunch today, some for dinner tonight, and have enough probably for dinner tomorrow too! It wasn't the best tasting dish I've ever had, but it was pretty good.

The cool factor was mainly though that the chef came by personally to figure out what to make for me.

I wish we could have had someone along to take a picture of us outside of the place - very nice backdrop. Oh well..

---
So far so good with my mini goals. I've been getting in a lot of practice with Oh Well at work. I also have been making sure to get some cleaning/picking up in each of the past 3 days.

---
I cashed out for $12 from Pinecone today (thanks CCF and LibLady for alerting me about the $3 status!)

---
I think my afghan came from my aunt today - but I had to arrange delivery to a closer pickup spot for tomorrow. (Otherwise I'd probably never get it - since they like to come at 9 or 10 a.m. on weekdays ...)

Speaking of deliveries - I'm still waiting on the package from my mom - with birthday and Christmas gifts. She mailed them a week ago Saturday - I'm the only person who hasn't received their package yet.

It could possibly be in my mailbox right now ... but of course my mailbox key isn't working again! I stopped by the PO to mail my mom's package (I know, procrastinate much ...) and went to the window to ask about who I needed to talk to. I was told that it was my property managers job to take care of it.

So ... I made the dreaded call and spoke to PMs wife She said she'd have him take a look tomorrow. (Hopefully NOT a look in my apartment ... much better, but still needs work.)

I really do not like the cluster mailbox thing where you have to have a key to get your mail ... (Key was working just fine on Wednesday. But on Thursday neither I nor NE could get it open.)

---
My boss and I were talking yesterday and were discussing the person who retired from my position. I mentioned to her how I've had several people bemoan the fact that I don't decorate for all the holidays/dress up for Halloween, etc. She told me she was GLAD I don't do that. What was really funny though was that about 15 minutes after she left, one of the main bemoaners came by to buy a pass!

I'd also said something to her about how it seemed like finally after nearly 1 1/2 years that people have accepted that I'm a stickler for following policy (previous person *wasn't*) Then ... today I have not one, but TWO different people challenge me on the policy. Oh brother!

(For low income passes the only requirement is to show a photo id - plus only can purchase one pass per person per month - this gives a %55 discount from the regular fare pass. The policy used to be much more involved - people had to sign a log with name/address. Then before that they had to prove their income with bank statements/tax returns, etc. So it's NOTHING now - just a photo id!)

--
So anyway, I'm glad for the weekend.

On Sunday NE and I will probably do some shopping for our Christmas dinner / Rum cakes. He wants to do 4 this year. 1 for his sister, 1 for his friend, 1 for us, and 1 for a mutual friend.

Thankfully we have plenty of rum left from last year (that was the most expensive thing we bought last year!) He's probably going to come over here early on Christmas Eve to make the first two - since I won't get home til at least 4:45, and the CE concert starts at 6, then we'll be doing C lights looking.

We're doing tater tot casserole (vegetarian) for Christmas Dinner. I know, not exactly traditional, but he really doesn't want to do a vegge dinner roast or tofurkey. So ... we compromised.

---
I need to update my sidebar - maybe tomorrow.

---
I finally managed to get a doctor's appointment set up for the end of January. It took two days of calling during my breaks and leaving voicemails. But it's set up now. One of the things I'm hoping to do is have the doctor write me a prescription for Allegra D and Flonase so that I can use my FSA money for them. I'd much rather use pre-tax money for that stuff than post-tax .. or maybe pay for it with my regular card, then get reimbursed - so, pre-tax plus cashback.

Anyway, it's past 10, so I should be signing off here. (In preparation for that mini-goal ...)

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MG9 - Floss every day before going to bed.

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

Others may be added as I think of them.

---
Financial Goals:

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

I have 3 main savings goals for this coming year -

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

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

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

Other Goals/Decisions:

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

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

Soda is an OH WELL item.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I've decided to not go.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PPS - Work was pretty good today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Question ... how would you react?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two weeks left of Year 39. Yikes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I got back to NE mid-afternoon on Friday. Been mostly resting and relaxing since then.

The trip went pretty well. As expected, my brother didn't come. So I ended up going through the shed with all of dad's things by myself on Tuesday. Tuesday night I FaceTimed with my brother so he could pick out what he wanted to send up with our Aunt.

I left everything out on the back porch - most of it was under a roof (one of the last projects my dad finished with a lifetime buddy of his.) Guess what? That night around 3:30 a.m. I woke up to the sound of RAIN!

I ran out to the porch and got everything under cover that hadn't been. A box of books got ruined, but that was the worst of it.

I spent a lot of time on Wednesday going through my dad's slides and trying to repackage them into smaller packages.

Part of Wednesday also was spent taking my grandma and Aunt out for a mani/pedi and out to eat (my treat.)

Thursday we had one guest for dinner. We had WAY too much food for 4 people. There was even a "turkey" - I think they got it at the Village Market (Loma Linda) - it looked like a real turkey - even had a hole where you put stuffing in! Weird.

I took home a LOT of slides and a few other things of my dad's. I had brought my biggest suitcase with the bare minimum of stuff in it. I ended up filling it completely, plus a large backpack of dad's AND a reusable grocery bag my aunt gave me.

Even so ... my suitcase weighed in at 55lb! Which meant a $75!!!!! overweight fee. Ugh!

My aunt lent me a machine to feed the slides into my computer.

I bought something on Amazon for a Christmas gift which apparently gave me a year's unlimited storage space on Amazon Drive. ???? I'll take it! I'm going to have a lot of photos and video's to upload.

That's the other thing I took - numerous home videos in two different formats, and a bunch of recorded sermons on cassette tape. I'm going to have to figure out how to get the videos into a watchable format.

My plan is to get everything onto DVDs and then give them as gifts to Mom, brother, aunt, grandma next year. Hopefully I can get it all done by then.

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Tomorrow I plan on doing some shopping.

I have $21 in Walmart gift card money. I also have about $31 left in grocery money. I also have around $50 in the Medical category (allergy meds!)If I get everything I'm planning on, I'll get back somewhere between $10 - 15 from iBotta, and $5 or so from MobiSave, and a $3-4 from the other apps.

I went through iBotta, Saving Star, MobiSave, SavingStar, etc., and also printed out a bunch of coupons. Tomorrow I'm going to double check the Target app because there were a lot of things expiring today.

I have a printed out list of everything I have a rebate and/or coupon for (that I want/can use.)

I'm looking forward to shopping.

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I redeemed a $25 AGC from PerkTv on Friday.

I completed my 5 months of spending $500 on Discover - so in a week or so I should get my $75 cashback bonus.

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I'm glad to be back, although I was glad I made the trip out to CA!

I had a really bad night of sleep - finally woke up around 4 a.m. and then went back to sleep around 5 ... next thing I knew it was 9 a.m. Oops! I ended up being 25 minutes late for Sabbath School. With the way I was feeling (miserable x 2) I *almost* just didn't go.

Church service was really really good. We had a guest speaker who was born in Russia as an atheist. At the age of 24? he was given one-year to live. Someone gave him a Bible - he read it and started following some of the health principles. Started getting better. A while later he was given a book by Ellen G White about health principles. Now it's 26 years later ...

He was there to talk about his work with the Muslim population and to raise funds for an outreach project which is set to go except for the funds.

Church usually gets out about 12:15 or so ... today was 12:52. He was really good and interesting, so other than worrying about my afternoon plans, I didn't mind.

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So after church (still feeling miserable) I ate lunch with the others who were going to a place here which serves the homeless/refugee/low-income people in our city.

I came very close to deciding not to go.

When we got to the center I was put at a table with one of the staff. We had clipoards with surveys in three languages (English, Spanish, Arabic) which people were required to fill out.

This wasn't *quite* what I'd been expecting to do ... but I went with it.

I'd been there for a couple hours when another staff member came to our table and we started talking.

He came from Iraq in 2013 where he was a university professor (taught Iraq Civil Code or something like that.) We talked about a lot of things - such as how nobody *wants* to leave their home country - to leave behind friends, family, tradition, good jobs. I asked him about what he thought about ISIS/Daesh and about the US involvement in Iraq. He pretty much praised Bush, Jr. for his strong arm/stance and vilified Obama as weak - even saying that he strongly thinks that Obama is pretty much responsible for the rise of ISIS. Something about the US being able to tell people in Turkey? to stop funding the ISIS - but they haven't - and that's what's made ISIS so strong.

When we were talking about refugees - he was telling me about how beautiful Syria is - how the people are very clever/intelligent/beautiful/handsome. He also mentioned that Steve Jobs actually had a Syrian background.

About this time is when we were interrupted to go bag apples.

All in all, I am SO glad that I decided to tough it out and go despite how I felt.

On the way home though I was feeling *really* hungry (only had a sandwich at lunch because wasn't that hungry) and thirsty ... so stopped at Walgreen's for a drink and snack. $5.18. Ouch.

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Oh, at church today I was given a robe to fix the braiding on (for our Christmas drive through pageant) - hope I can do a decent job on it. I can hardly remember the last time I did any sewing. (I have til Dec 12 to get what I can done on it.)

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Now I'm just trying to keep warm without turning my heat on ...

So yesterday I wanted to check my credit card account which I use for gas only (get 5% back all the time.) Only I couldn't remember for sure what my password was and got locked out.

So this afternoon I got on the site and was looking for the customer service number when the advertisements for the rewards cards caught my eye.

I for whatever reason decided to look at the different cards ... One of which was the same card I have.

I noticed something weird though .. the fine print for the card I have showed a $25 annual fee if you didn't have a qualifying account.

Say what?!

So when I called customer service to unlock my password I also asked about this. I found out that I had been grandfathered in to no account fees, but THIS was the end of the grandfathered period! (November!)

In the end I opened up a money market account with $25 so that I could keep a no annual fee (and the 5% - otherwise it would've gone to 3%.) I can withdraw the $25 from the money market account with no penalties. So stupid the shenanigans.

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My sinuses are killing me, even with allergy meds. I'm beginning to wonder if I don't have a sinus infection. ugh!

Just 3 more days of work!!!!!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today at church our pastor started a sermon series about "reasons to believe the Bible" Today's was about scientific facts in the Bible. Such as the Bible writers talking about the Earth being round - centuries before the idea had even been postulated.

Anyway, it was pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

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After church one of the ladies I have gone walking with in the past asked if I wanted to go today (the official group is disbanded for the year.) So we set a time and a place.

About an hour or so after I got home, I got a hip call from my mom. It was kind of funny because she was talking to someone about what movie to go see - I kept trying to get her attention to no avail.

As soon as I hung up, the phone rang again. It was a high-school friend of my mom's who was in town and wanted to meet me.

So I got going earlier than planned and went and met the lady/husband/son/son's girlfriend. They seemed like nice people. I couldn't stay very long though because I had to get to the park.

We had a good walk - about an hour. My allergies are really acting up right now though. I'm so sleepy and am thinking about going to bed even though it's just past 7 pm!

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I redeemed for a $5 Walmart gc from Bounts today.
I also received $2 in rebates from MobiSave.

I haven't done very well with my moratorium on spending on sweets/fast food this week. I just have to say NO! Not an option!

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I talked to my Grandma today. It doesn't sound like my brother will be there for Thanksgiving. I'm not shocked, but I am disappointed. It actually kind of sounds like it might just be me, Grandma and my aunt there. That'll be interesting.

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When I was talking about my car service a few days ago, I forgot to mention that I found out how much it would cost to have a remote starter installed. $349.

Yeowch! I ... made a category for it. I'm going to throw "leftovers" from groceries/gas into it. If there ever are "leftovers" in the groceries category ... Maybe by next winter I can get it.

One month left in my thirties. Yikes.

My boss let me go early again today. Made a short week even shorter.

On my way home I heard the horrific news about the happenings in Paris. What is our world coming to. It just can't last much longer like this.

I'm relaxing now with a blanket and kitty covering me up and keeping me fairly warm. Haven't turned the heat on yet!

There is snow in the forecast for next weekend .. I'm flying out a week from Monday. Hopefully it won't cause any delays.

I finally got enough Mypoints to redeem for a $25 AGC card today. Now to start saving for the next one.

Anyone else with Inbox Dollars get reduced to one paid email per week? I was at almost $24 and am now earning a measly $.02 / week from emails ... It's gonna be 4ever! to get to payout.

NE and I are going to a Mexican restaurant on Sunday (his treat this month!) I'm hopefully going to be able to get veggie fajitas again.

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Our new bus routes plan has been posted. Already getting some calls about it today. I forsee people being very happy about some aspects of it, and very upset about other aspects. Can't please everyone. I wish they'd mentioned on the announcement that any changes made won't take effect til August of 2016.

(I'm going to have to relearn everything I pretty much know about the bus routes when that happens.)

Hard to believe that in just one week I'm going to have TEN whole days AWAY from work. So sweet!

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Can I just say that Pinecone is really coming through for me recently? After a few s l o w months of surveys, just this week I had 3 in a matter of two days ... and a surprise on my doorstep when I arrived home today. Plus another survey in my email.

This morning I had a surprise visit from NE. He'd gotten some paperwork from a laywer regarding his inheritance which he wanted to tell me about. Before he left I had him look at my transmission fluid to see its color. Instead of being red, it was dark brown.

So ... at Brakes Plus I had them ... rotate tires, change the transmission fluid, replace the windshield wipers AND replace the serpentine belt. To the tune of $217 (after a $25 coupon - bought wipers next door for $28)

The serpentine belt is what was causing the squealing noises. It was dry and had lots of cracks. My wipers were in pretty bad shape - I'd known I needed to replace them (although I sure didn't remember them costing so much! ... 5 or 6 years ago the last time I got new ones on my Honda ...)

So far, no more squealing!

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After I was done there I stopped and got some groceries (since I was right next to a grocery store.)

Then I went home and vegged for a few hours.

This whole time it was raining and a little blustery. The winds haven't been too bad though (although there are lots of leaves on the ground now that weren't there yesterday.)

I just got back from spending a few hours at the church going through lots of donated books. I set up an account for the church library on LibraryThing and scanned all the scannable books from the donated piles which I wanted. Later I'll print out labels for them. I also will need to manually add the ones which couldn't be scanned.

I didn't get through all the donated books, or to scanning the ones already in the library. Next time.

One cool thing about doing this - I now have the access code for the church wifi!

While I was at the church there were a bunch of kids coming for our church's version of boy/girl scouts. Some of them were very excited about ... SNOW! Most of it was melting as soon as it hit the ground though.
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When I got home I saw that I got my reimbursement from MobiSave for the Allegra D - $5.

One of the items I bought today at the grocery store will get a rebate too - $1 I think. Just need to get a picture of the receipt taken.
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All in all, this was a good day off.

So today was one of those days at work.

I had the person who kept interrupting me before I could answer their question ...

I had the person who started taking Jesus's name in vain all because they were going to have a 30 minute wait at the main transfer station ...

I had the person who came to the window on their cell phone and acted very annoyed with every question I asked / every time I spoke to them ...

Then I had someone ask me why we have a sign up about no cell phones at the window --- point to above reason ---

Then I had the person who had no earthly idea of their location and expected me to know where they were by just rattling off some business names (gas station, other places that are multiple locations ...)

So yeah ...

Not to mention that the office is super duper COLD. I think it's colder inside than it is outside! I wore a sweater today which helped, but my hands were still freezing!

Then CW who loaded a time sensitive project on me a few months ago started telling me about a new project she wants me to do. Supposedly NOT a time sensitive one - but to do whenever I have time to fill.

She of course went on and on and on off on different rabbit trails. I told her I'd be happy to do it - I just can't log off the phone very often nor for very long. (Like I had to log off the phone when she came to tell me about this project .. 25 minutes later ...)

Seriously, if she'd stop talking so much to people about how little time she has and how much she is overwhelmed, she might just get done what she needs to get done! I would guess she wastes at least 6+ hours a week talking about this to various people at the office (mostly me or my supervisor.)

She's a nice person, but I try to avoid her if I can just because she can be a time suck.

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I think I've decided to NOT do the transmission flush for my car tomorrow. I did some more reading on it, and it looks like it's not recc'd until at least 100k. I am still going to get my tires rotated and my belts looked at (Toyota Yaris's don't have timing belts - the have timing chains, which almost never need to be replaced.)

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So .. today was not a no spend day. I gave in to temptation. I stopped at Walgreen's hoping they had the chocolate oranges in.

Nope. But I did still end up buying a couple of candy bars and a Coke. Also bought toilet cleaner. ~$6 total

I was also WAY tempted to stop by BK. But I managed to resist that one. Yay me?

Thinking I'd have a sweet potato for dinner. Nope. Checked them and they'd all gone bad. Argh.

So .. finally opened up a box of Quorn Chic'n Cutlets I bought in September? Microwaved two of them according to directions.

Yuck. Double yuck. SO bland. I had to smother them in ketchup to eat.

I think the only thing to do is to fry them in breading or something. Which kind of negates the whole healthy factor (and since I'll need to use eggs to get the breading to stick ... makes them not vegan. Not that I really care about that.)

I've got around 5 more boxes of Cutlets left. 3 boxes of nuggets (which I *think* are breaded.)

These are definitely NOT going to be a good deterrent to my "stop at BK or eat at home" argument with myself ...

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Decided to NOT go to a movie tonight. Just too tired (didn't sleep well last night at all.)

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nasty. I'm so glad I won't have to field phone calls on a day like tomorrow will probably be. Doubly glad to have tomorrow off.

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Almost forgot - a bus funny -

Guy calls me and tells me he left a horse statue on the bus. I clarify with him until I get the picture that it is a 6 inch wooden statue of a horse. He had it sitting on the seat next to him. Not in a bag or anything - just out on the seat.

Another one - guy calls complaining about a couple who brought on two large dogs on the bus. Says that the bus driver told the couple they had to pay $1 per dog.

Um ... Had my supervisor talk to this guy. She figured out that he had no real idea what time this happened or for sure which bus route. She thinks he was making it all up. (No, we don't charge for animals brought on to the bus.)

Bizarre.

So today I finished lunch with ten minutes to spare (helps to bring a PBJ sandwich ...) so gave Brakes Plus a call. I set up an appointment for Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. to get my transmission flushed, tires rotated and belts checked/possibly replaced (they've been squealing.)

In all, it will come in at around $200 after a $25 coupon I have. All accounted for in my car care category.

The weather forecast is saying that Wednesday isn't going to be pretty - bad thunderstorms / possibly hail. Hopefully I'll not be out when that's going on.

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Wednesday afternoon I'll be going to the church to work on the library some more. (I've been asked to be the official "Church Librarian."

We've bought some new shelves, some book containers, and weeded out the oldest/grungiest books. Not many books were left ... (maybe 100.)

The pastor apparently has several boxes of books for me to go through and possibly add.

I'm going to set up a LibraryThing account for the church library. I'm also going to be looking for volunteers to staff the library after church to assist with check-in / check- out. (Using either a laptop or a small tablet.)

... I'm not sure I'm going to get much cleaning/cooking done on my day off.

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I've seen several people mention seeing The Intern and saying it was funny. I may end up going to see that Tuesday night. Although that's also when the storms are supposed to start ... so I'll see. I haven't been to a movie in the theater for a good while.

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Free entertainment for my cat = the little lid you pull off from an orange juice container. Kari loves to play "fetch" with it (with me throwing it) or play with it all by herself.

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So far - 7 NSDs in November! My budget's loving me right now.