So I realized that I was about out of allergy medicine today. I remembered that I'd gotten an email from CVS a few days ago offering me $5 off $15. Usually they won't let you use those on psueduedorphine (SP?) products ... So I looked to see what else they had.

Toilet paper .. buy $15 worth and get $5 in ECB. Ok, I'm down to my last 4 rolls (from about a year ago or so ... big pkg from Sam's.)

So I go to CVS planning on doing the toilet paper deal, use the $5 coupon on the toilet paper, and then the $5 ECB get some chocolate. (Technically NOT spending money on it ... )

Well when I get there I ask at the pharmacy for the cost of the Allegra D and my Syntrhoid just in case it's cheaper than Walgreen's. The Allegra D is cheaper! (Synthroid is the same.)

So I buy the Allegra D - the lady uses the $5 coupon on it! I tell her that I didn't think it could be used for that .. but she says, "it worked" shrug. O....kay.... So instead of $16.96 ($2 cheaper than Walgreen's) it was $11.96.

I have a coupon on the MobiSave app to save $5 on Allegra D 24hr 10 count. So 2 weeks worth of Allegra is ending up costing me about $7! Suh-weet!

I also decided to go ahead and transfer my prescription to them. (CVS)

Then I picked up $15 worth of toilet paper (actually, $17 after taxes.) That should last me a year.

I did end up spending $2 after the $5 ECB for chocolate. I was really hoping to find a chocolate orange ... but they only had a dark chocolate version. So I got some other items.

It made me happy to do everything I wanted to do in one store. (The cheaper Allegra D also definitely made me happy! Here's hoping the MobiSave coupon keeps repeating indefinitely!!)

--
I also paid my tithe/charitable giving today for October and November.. Oops. Totally spaced doing it last month. It works out though, because I put it all on my Discover card and it puts me close to the required $500 spend for November. If I use it while in CA, I should have it easily covered. Then I can stop using it!

(I'll have completed the spend $500/mo for 5 months get $75 deal.)

---
I have Wednesday off. I was thinking about seeing a movie Tuesday night ($5 all day Tuesday) but just don't see any I care enough about to see.

I'm thinking of doing a cooking / freezing / cleaning day on Wednesday. So today I'm taking it easy. It will be so nice to have a 4 day work week.

Then not too long later, I'll have TEN days away from work in a row! Oh my, I won't know what to do with myself ... (5 of those days I'll be here, 5 I'll be in CA.) Not looking forward to that at all, nope, not at all.

--
Almost forgot:
Redeemed $5 AGC from Bing
Redeemed $25 AGC from PerkTV

Spent $45.xx AGC for 2 canisters of protein powder (bought 2 to get free shipping - instead of trying to figure out something else to get to $35 for the free shipping - will last a LONG time.)

Today I stopped by the grocery store after work and picked up some fruit and and an Amy's meal. It's gotten cold here (today!) and so I wanted something warm and easy.

Spent $9.98 and didn't pick up any sweets, etc.

When I was checking out, the cashier said, "Hi neighbor!" I had to do a double take - and realized that he was a neighbor I met a couple weeks ago in the laundry room. He and his gf live in the apartment above me.

--
Something kind of strange at work today ... about 4pm my boss calls me to her office. She tells me to go ahead and log off the phone at 4:15 and head out without saying anything to anyone or turning lights off, etc.

There was someone in the office with her, otherwise I would have asked what prompted this.

Instead I just said, Ok ... thank you!

I sure don't mind getting off work 15 minutes early.

--
NE called me this evening to tell me he finally sold his car! It's been sitting on Craigslist for 6+ weeks with progressively lower price. It sold for $300. He's just glad to be done with it. (A 2001 Subuaru Imprezza?? with lots wrong with it.)

Another piece of surprising news - we checked his credit reports last night and paid for one credit score. The number was MUCH higher than either of us expected.

We talked about him getting a Paypal credit card to add a revolving account (he's got lots of installment accounts - i.e. student loans) to improve it even more.

I'm now very curious about how our two credit scores would merge together for when we're house hunting next year. Do they just average the two scores?

---
I'm leading the SS discussion tomorrow. WAY WAY WAY out of my comfort zone. The only reason I said yes was because the person who usually does the first Sabbath discussion was in a major car accident a few weeks ago (is out of ICU now, but still in hospital - will be going to rehab next week possibly.)

It's about Jeremiah and the different symbols / symbolisim used in the Bible - such as the clay and the potter. It's a topic I really enjoy, but the breadth of what one weeks lesson covers ... Ugh. I much prefered the SS lessons for the early primary age kids - simple story, simple activities connected to it, a couple of songs.

Am hoping for a SMALL group.

Today makes 4 days of no spending! Of course it helps that I still have a bit of a stash of chocolate from October ... When that runs out, things will get more interesting ...

--
I kind of realigned my budget last night. I decided that instead of putting all my savings into one lump EF sum, etc., that I'd divide it out a bit more. I also changed the name from "savings" to "Long Term Planning."

My categories are: Income Replacement (Expenses only) - $6k; Car Replacement - 10k; House Downpayment - 7k; Health deductible - 2k; Car Deductible 1k; Vet Emergency - 1k; and Travel Emergency - 1k.

I downgraded my slush fund to $200, and moved the $800 into Long Term Planning categories. Income Replacement, Car Deductible, and Health Deductible are fully funded. Vet and Travel Emergencies are 1/2 funded. At the moment, there is just a bit more than $10k in the Long Term Planning category.

I think I like this structure better than having a huge amount just labeled EF.

*Vet emergencies are for things not covered by the Kari category - over and above shots, etc.

*Travel emergencies are for sudden trips - such as attending a funeral, or other unplanned but necessary travel.

Today I spent probably 3 or 4 hours reconciling ALL my accounts. It was a bit of a mess ... but now all are to the penny. I don't know how I missed some transactions, but I did. From August and September.

They were even spendier than I realized.

So ... for October. Did I manage an actual spending freeze? Ummmm no. Did I do better than August and September? Definitely, yes!

October was a 3 paycheck month for me. With the third paycheck I ... covered the airplane tickets for Thanksgiving (will be reimbursed), replenished the slush fund to $1k, added extra to the EF, added money to a number of rainy day funds needing a boost, and sent extra for tithe and giving.

I definitely overspent in the treats and restaurants categories - although the restaurants categories include two meals out with NE. Treats ... well I guess I wanted to get some before starting my 62 day treats, junkfood, fast food moratorium.

I did end up filling my car up after the roadtrip. I might have been able to get by til today, except I had three unplanned trips this week - enough to use up the last fumes.

2 trips were related to my church's Halloween alternative program, and the third one was related to helping NE out with a flat tire on Saturday.

So, without further ado, here is my October spending.

Groceries - 154.53
Phone - 18.82
Internet - 77.44
Nat gas - 23.20
Electric - 54.36
Fuel - 47.50
Medical - 50.94 (dentist, etc)
Clothing - 45.29
Treats - 57.96
Restraunts - 74.73
EF - +289.22 (8936.76 as of 10/31/15)

Extra Income:
Swagbucks - $75
Pact - $10
Bing - $5
Interest - $23.89

I really don't get some of the regulations surrounding government employees.

One of them is about gifts.

Thursday a customer brought in a bouquet of flowers for one of the drivers to show his appreciation.

After letting my boss know what I was doing, I took them down to dispatch.

Grumpy old man dispatcher was on duty. He wrinkled his nose and said, "We don't do flowers down here!" Umm ... yes you do. I've brought flowers down before for other people. :roll eyes:

My boss tells me to give them to the bus driver supervisor. BDS is in with Big Boss.

Big Boss says, "Oh, we can't accept flowers from a customer." I barely control my mouth and ask how flowers are different from the cookies we got at Christmas (a HUGE platter of cookies.)

Cookies were consumable, but flowers aren't.

Um ... okay.

I'm told to either throw them away or find a vase to put them in and display them in the main office. My boss found a vase and I filled it with water.

I'm wondering exactly how I'm going to explain this to the person who brought the flowers. Ugh.

---
Cue Friday.

My afternoon break is at 3:00 p.m.

I get a phone call at 2:51 p.m. from fast talking lady. At 2:53 p.m. Customer who tried climbing the stairs on his backside when the elevator was broken last year rolls up to the window.

I tell fast talking lady that I need to put her on hold. She very grumpily says ok.

Customer takes several minutes to complete transaction. (I'm having to help him a lot.)

2:57 I get back to fast talking lady. She snottily tells me that this better be fast because she's going through her Tracphone minutes.

2:58 New customer (never seen before) comes to the window. I mute the phone for a second and tell him to ring the buzzer because I'm going on break shortly.

New customer says, "What, you're too lazy to take a few minutes to help me before going on break?"

I'm utterly flabbergasted and have lots of responses in my head. None of which I verbalize.

2:59 I finish with fast talking lady. I go to the window to help rude customer and see several people behind him. I ask him to ring the buzzer again.

3:01 I'm almost finished with his transaction when person covering my break comes out.

3:15 I'm still fuming.

3:16 I get call from "Hello, friend!" lady who always puts a smile on my face no matter what kind of a day. I actually tell her this today (she asks me how my day is - usually just say good or fine - today I said 'better now that you've called - you put a smile on my face) She was really surprised - thought she was a pest.

3:18 Still very annoyed by rude customer, but feeling somewhat less upset.

---
How is the above financial in nature? It's called MOTIVATION for SAVING for RETIREMENT!

At my dentist visit today I did end up having a filling done. It was going to cost $84 after insurance. Zoinks!

I handed over my FSA card thinking there was maybe $5 or $6 left on it at most. Nope! There was over $50 left! Yay!

So since I was in a celebratory mood ... (ya ya sure ... I was using any excuse) I headed to Target and got my fave Amy meal x 3. Plus a few other things.

Spent about $24.

---
BUT .. today I saw my last October paycheck. Which is the second one going to November.

After entering it in, and filling in the numbers in my various categories ... and knowing that I'll be getting reimbursed for the plane tickets to CA for Thanksgiving ... and knowing that December should also be a 3 paycheck month ...

I came to the following conclusion --

I will be able to meet my $10k in my EF goal by the end of this year!

This goal originally was $12k, but I realized that I wasn't funding some categories properly (i.e. car tags, etc.) and so reduced it to $10k. With some of the larger medical expenses I had this year, I wasn't sure I'd even make that one.

But it (knocks on wood) looks like I just might!

Then in January I can start aggressively saving towards the house downpayment! YES!

--
I have decided (once again ...) that I am going cold turkey on purchasing soda or any junky food for November and December. (Not saying I won't EAT any junk food - just I won't purchase it myself.)

I've let myself get way too lax with the junk, and I'm hoping by putting forth this moratorium, I will both save money (since many trips to the store are merely disguised trips for junk ...) and help me get back to LOSING weight. Maybe help with my lack of energy too.

---
Okay, so now for the funny ...

Our bus system has a number of routes which are interconnected. This means that when Bus A is South of O street it is for example #46, but when it is North of O Street, it is #45. A rider could get on Bus A when it is the #46 and ride it from the North to the South and get off of it as the #45.

So ... today I get this call from a woman who was at first and O St. She wanted to know when the #45 bus would be coming by.

After checking to make sure if she was wanting to go downtown or outbound, I told her that the #46 bus would be going by her in about ten minutes.

(The #46 bus goes out from our transfer center west along O St from 11th to 1st, and then the numbers start going back up (Nw 1st, Sw 1st) When it gets to NW 48th and O it heads North. This happens from 6:10 a.m. to 6:10 p.m. Monday thru Friday.)

She then started arguing with me that the #45 bus came by first and O in the morning, but not the #46 bus.

As she was hanging up I heard her say to someone nearby ... "The lady doesn't know her buses very well." LOL

---
Almost forgot!

I filled out a comment card at the restaurant the other night. Today I got an email letting me know that I'd won a $15 gift certificate!

I wonder how long that will be good for ... cuz' I'm guessing it'll be a long time before I'll be getting back that way.

NE calls me up pretty early on Sunday. (earlier than I'd planned on for our roadtrip) He tells me that his laptop has fallen apart on him. The one he bought used maybe 3 months ago? Maybe less?

He wanted to go to Office Max to check out their Chromebooks. I was elated he finally was going to actually buy something NEW. When his last laptop broke I casually mentioned to him that if he added up how much he's spent on used laptops just in the two years we've been back together, he could have bought a pretty nice brand new one!

Office Depot didn't have a great selection, so he's borrowing my iPad and ordering something online. Good thing I hadn't actually gotten around to *selling* my iPad yet.

--
Our roadtrip to Norfolk, NE went pretty well. It was a LONG drive though. I drove there, and he drove back (I'm terrible with night driving.)

My GPS cut off before we got to the restaurant, and so we ended up driving past our turn off. Then once we got it going again, there wasn't great signage ... and then when we pulled up ... there was only ONE car in the parking lot!

We were worried that they were closed.

Thankfully, they were open. The food was REALLY good. I had a veggie burger that was their own creation - so yummy! NE had chicken fried steak - which he said was "the best I've ever had" which coming from him is HIGH praise.

When we were done eating I asked about the jukebox. No jukebox anymore (old pictures I guess.) But they did have an upstairs lounge area with airplane memorabilia. There was a mural of a famous actor in an airplane film (older film) with this look on his face like he smelled something really bad. So ... since we were in the room all by ourselves ... and NE is a guy who loves breaking wind ....

It was just too perfect. We got several tame selfies of us in front of the pilot mural, and then a couple other ones where NE pretended like he was giving the pilot something to smell.

Maybe I'm 12 years old too ... it was really funny. (I pity anyone who went up there up to ten minutes after we vacated though ....)

---
So ... in other news ... someone posted a link on FB today about a new app which links students to scholarships which fit them. There's SO many scholarships that just don't get claimed because people don't know how to find them, or think they won't qualify or whatever.

My philosophy is, you won't know if you qualify unless you go for it. I got several scholarships in grad school that I wasn't sure if I really qualified for or not. Every $50 and $100 helps!

Here's a link to the story about the app:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/app-matches-students-college-scholarships-they-can-use-180954741/?no-ist

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My dentist appointment is tomorrow afternoon. It will be nice to get out of work early. I'm going to have to talk myself out of going to Target which is really nearby and has the Amy's meal I *really* *really* *really* like (Chinese Noodles & veggies in Peanut? sauce) I SO don't have ANY grocery money left for October. No spending money either ...

---
Got to bed pretty late last night - due to the roadtrip, etc. So my goal tonight is to be in bed no later than 10 p.m.

It seems like the season has started where I need to check my windshield by 7:25 a.m. to see if I need to start the car or not. The windows were a bit frosted over this morning - not enough to require scraping, but did need wiping.

Got me to thinking again about the remote starter ... NE and I were actually talking about that last night. As much as I'd DEARLY Love to have it ... I'd rather have the money for the house downpayment fund ... where maybe we'll have a GASP garage! Then I won't need a remote starter anyway. (Wishful thinking, as the house in our price range generally don't have garages ...)

---
Remembered the actor's name (mural on wall) Jim Belushi! My brother told me it's from the movie Blue's Brother's. (My boss is the one who told me the name of Belushi - but I couldn't remember it til shortly ago.)

I have been neglecting YNAB lately, and so tonight I bit the bullet and spent the necessary time to get it up to date.

Overall, it's not looking too bad. My available to balance is in the red due to waiting on the check from Swagbucks for the double payment refund. I also have spent more in groceries than I wanted to, but still WAY less than half of last months spend fest.

I also updated my investment balances... Over the last 3 months I've lost nearly 28k. Mostly due to the electric car stock. Of course, the loss is all on paper right now - it would only be real if I were to be foolish enough to sell. (and even then it wouldn't *really* be a loss, considering the cost basis of most of the stock is around $25 - 30...)

I'm hoping to hold out until the 1st for any more grocery shopping. Other than budgeted spending (i.e. bills) I don't see anything I'll need to spend on for the rest of the month.

--
One exception to the above ... NE and I are going to be making a road trip on Sunday to a place about 2 hours from here. We'll be going to a really neat restaurant/museum/place with a working jukebox. He only knows we're going to be going to a restaurant ~2 hours away.

I still have pretty much a full tank of gas, so all it will really cost is whatever food we get. There isn't much on the menu for me other than sweet potato fries ..

---
I closed out my Nationwide checking as of today (after double checking I won't get dinged the $200 bonus.)

Yesterday (or maybe Wednesday??) I cashed out SBs for a $25 Paypal. I got a 200SB swagup.

I don't think I'll be getting too much in Swagbucks in November with being gone most of a week. But it'll be worth it.

--
My FF browser is being a real pain. I can't watch any kind of videos on youtube or FB anymore without it freezing completely. I've done some of the tricks which worked before, but they haven't helped. So if I want to watch a youtube type video, I have to do it in a different browser.

I've started seriously looking at new computers ... I have around $150 in Amazon credit right now (after having bought some freezable food containers for lunches/frozen fruit) I think I paid around $400 for my current computer in 2011. (Used Swagbucks credit and graduation gift money mostly for it back then.) I hope I can keep the computer limping along for awhile longer.

---
I'm curious / excited about the new YNAB version that is in beta right now. A totally web based version. I need to probably start putting money away in a category for that ... Someone posted a link to the user manual for the beta version on FB today ... some neat new features it sounds like.

**Note - If you already have YNAB 3 or 4 etc. you can keep using them for as long as you want, even after the web version comes out. If you just recently purchased 4 (like CCF and someone else I can't think of right now) Jesse most likely will make a VERY sweet deal to upgrade if so desired.

After work today I stopped by a local Lane Bryant store to pick up my order. Upon walking in, I saw signs advertising "up to 80% off" ... and so I started looking. I ended up trying on 5 different items - two of which I liked well enough to check the prices. Yeah .. no. Neither of them were liked well enough to pay the asking price (neither of which were actually on sale, even though I pulled them from a sale rack ...)

I've had good luck in the past shopping a LB sale, but not today. I did try on one of my new bras before leaving to make sure it fit well.

---
On FB I belong to a MMM group. Someone started a thread a few days ago asking about car insurance. I mentioned I'd been with Geico for 12++ years, and even with shopping around every so often, hadn't found anything cheaper for me.

So ... someone mentioned that they too have Geico. BUT they mentioned something I'd had NO IDEA about. If you own a share of Berkshire Hathaway stock (BRK.b) you can get a 8% discount on your Geico insurance.

All you need is ONE share (currently at about $134.) I pay about $218 every 6 months, so it would net me a $22 or so discount - so would take about 3 years to equal the share price. But maybe the share will go up in value?? I'm debating on whether I want to do this or not .. but wanted to share for others who might have higher car insurance than I do.

---
I redeemed $10 from Pact today.

--
Update - I just got off the phone with Geico. I've actually had the policy for 16 years. My rates are as low as they can go - the only available discount would be if I were to get renter's insurance. Or ... if I were to add a second vehicle/get married.

Oh well, it was worth a shot.

I checked yesterday with our HR person about whether my union had any other retirement plans available other than the one the city contributes to for us. He told me he'd send me info.

I got the info today! There are three different companies offering 457 plans. Contributions are pre-tax, and count towards the tax savers credit (although I *think* my 401(b)contributions do that too ...)

So ... I decided to open a 457 with Ameritas (had the best options = lots of Vanguard Index funds) and put in there the amount that I'm currently putting in my ROTH right now. Of course, since this is pre-tax, it won't actually be the full amount.

So, I'm going to take the "leftover" amount plus a bit more, and continue to add $50/month to my ROTH. That way I'm still adding $600/year to an account I can access penalty free if an absolute emergency occurred before I'm 55 and retired ... but in effect increasing the total amount being saved towards retirement with very little effect on my actual net income. Then when I get my next raise in February, I can add a little to the 457 contribution amount very easily.

Overall, I think it adds maybe 1% to my retirement savings amount - 17% employer/employee match; ~10% to 457, ~.75% to ROTH. I have it set to start in November since my October ROTH contribution has already been set to go.

I love how it says "contribution limits per years are $18k" Hah, hah, ha ...... I'd be rolling in it if I made enough to contribute $18k a year .... Shoot, I'd be retiring in 5 or 6 years instead of 15 or 16 if I made that kind of money ...

---
I was wishing I hadn't checked my electric car stock today. Ouch. My net worth dropped by ... oh .. $5k or so thanks to stupid Consumer Reports.

---
Anyways ... I redeemed for a $5 Walmart card from Bounts today - got it in my email oh about 30 seconds later.

Between the Bounts cards and Savings Catcher I have a little over $15 to spend at Walmart. I'm probably going to save them up til I have more like around $50 or so. Or enough for a manicure and pedicure. Nice way to treat myself for doing lots of walking.

---
Got an email today telling me my Lane Bryant order is at the store! I'll probably go pick it up tomorrow after work. (I was walking home today, so once I got home, just wanted to cool off - not go drive to the store ...)

---
I found my lanyard with my library card and ID badge! You'll never guess where it was ... if it were a snake it would've bit me. Right under my keyboard on my desk. :roll eyes:

---
I joined a rewards program for the local Internet company. You can redeem points for cash or gift cards or money off your bill. Works for me. Whatever I can do to get that horrendous bill down a bit is good.

Today I received a couple snowflakes -

$50 PayPal from Swagbucks
$25 AGC from PerkTV
$5 AGC from Bing

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I'm seriously considering dropping my gym membership. I don't know how much it'd cost me to break my contract, but I'm just not using it. And I really don't see myself using it ... the traffic to get there is just miserable.

There is another gym where I wouldn't have to deal with such miserable traffic - no contracts. I drove there today after work in 7 minutes flat, even with kind of guessing how to get there. (I didn't go in because I was in the wrong lane to get into it ...)

I need to find out how much both the new place would cost and how much it will take to get out of my old place.

---
NE and I were talking a bit more about houses last night. There really aren't too many in the price range I could qualify for by myself. I told him that if he really wants something in a higher price range, then the only way we'd be able to do it is by combining our income qualifications. Which means he really needs to work on his credit score.

He told me that he'd paid all his bills on time since the last time we'd started talking more seriously about this.

I was saying something about maybe looking into getting a small installment loan of some type to help build the score as well - he was wondering if the medical bill might not qualify as that. Hmm... He'd been thinking of paying it off in one lump sum once he gets his inheritance money, but maybe it'd be better to stretch it a bit longer.

It seems a bit of a catch 22 though ... the medical debt would count as debt (obviously) but could also be a way of showing on-time monthly installment payments. By the time we'd be doing the house looking, my one installment payment loan (car) would be nearly 2 years old, so wouldn't count too much I think.

There was this one house on FB yesterday that was just *perfect* Walk-out basement (so he could come home from work and go through the basement without waking me up at 3 or 4 a.m.) finished basement area, two bedrooms upstairs (my space!) and a finished attic space - 1 1/2 bathrooms. And a 2 car garage, porch, and good sized yard with mature trees.

Only problem was it was listed at $123k. I really need to stop looking at the home listings on FB ... at least for another 6 months or so.

---
When I was getting ready to walk to the library today I realized I'd misplaced my library card/work badge! Thankfully the library took my driver's license to check out the book that was on hold (Homebuying for Dummies) ... but I still need to find the card/id..

Only three places I usually keep it - my car console, my purse, or in the bag I take to the library to carry books. Hopefully it'll turn up soon.

---
It looks like my 401(b) is FINALLY migrating to Vanguard. I got an email notice today that they'd gotten a check - but it hasn't shown up in my accounts yet. It'll be so nice to have that all finished for once and all.

Speaking of retirement accounts ... I emailed the city's person who deals with that stuff to ask about whether people in my particular union have any other retirement savings options other than the one the city contributes to. He said there are two other options which he'll send me info on.

He also told me that I could contribute more than 7% (9% match) BUT it would not be pre-tax and it wouldn't be through payroll deduction (and no extra match). Hmm ... kind of takes away the desire to do it when it isn't pre-tax. (Not that I'm anywhere near being able to do that yet anyway ... need to get my ROTH to compacity first before thinking about upping other contributions.)

I'm curious to see what the other options are. The lady I met at my MMM meetup said she contributed $20 a pay period to a 457? and got a 100% match (up to $20.) She works for the city too, just in a different union.

This afternoon as a colleague was heading out the door ... she let slip the S word. No .. not a four letter word. A five letter word. Strep.

As soon as she said it, my radar pinged wildly.

I am someone who catches strep almost at the mere mention of the word.

I have been feeling more and more run down this week - which I thought was due to maybe overdoing it with the walking.

I really, really, really hope I do not have strep. In any case, I plan on taking it very easy this weekend. Which is kind of disappointing because there is a free concert at my church tomorrow night I wanted to go to, plus I've missed 3 weeks now of walking with the church group on Sabbath afternoon.

Ugh.

---
I redeemed 5k Swagbucks for a $50 PayPal card on the 14th - mistakenly thinking that was the day the swagups went into play. (They don' til the 19th.) I have about 1700 towards the next one, so hopefully will be able to make use of the swagups I earned (I think I earned 200.)

I also redeemed Bounts points for a $5 Walmart gift card which I have already received (ecard.)

---
I am considering making an extra trip out to CA in December. No, I can't really afford it without missing my savings goals for the year, but ... family is more important than savings goals sometimes. I'm going to call my aunt tonight and see what she thinks.

NE told me he's surprised I'm even thinking of going because his family experience is such that his sister didn't do more than call him when he was in the hospital for shoulder surgery in March (she lives in the same town, but we were in a town an hour away.) But he also said he'd fully support me if I decided to go.

My boss has also told me that she'd make it work if I needed to take a few days off to do this.

Pricing tickets, it looks like somewhere around $375, plus I'll probably have to do a hotel room ... in San Francisco....

If my dad were alive, I know he wouldn't let money keep him away from his kids who needed support.

I just don't know ... Part of my hesitation is that nothing is in stone yet. So dates could change.

All I can say about all this is ... I hate alcohol.

I participate haphazardly on the Mr Money Mustache forums and a few weeks ago there was a thread on there asking if anyone in this city wanted to get together for a meetup. I said I would like to.

Tonight was the first meetup! Including myself, there were three people. Someone who works for the city, and someone who works for the college CCF's daughter goes to!

We chatted and got to know each other for a little over an hour. (We met at a beautiful park near the zoo.)

We talked about maybe making this a regular thing. That'd be great I think.

They both were a lot younger than me, so I am a little envious that they've gotten started on the good path so much earlier than I did. Not really though ... without the path I took, I'd be a different person today. We all have to take our own.

---
I ended up walking to work today - barely. If I'd left any later I would have had to drive. Just as I was getting breakfast, I got a text from my boss telling me to wear jeans today - we were going to clean the schedule room!

I was glad to hear that because the last time I was down there, it was a mess! (I had told her that.) It made it a royal pain to get what I needed.

So today we spent nearly two hours cleaning, discarding and reorganizing the schedule room. It was so DUSTY and full of spider webs, etc. But now it looks marvelous! We jokingly bet each other how long it would take for it to get back to the way it was ...

---
So with the walking to work and back, the cleaning out of the schedule room, and then the meetup tonight ... I got in 14k steps! I can't remember where I was at yesterday, but I think I just surpassed 50k steps for this week.

Here's hoping this will mean a really good nights sleep tonight. Only got in maybe 4 1/2 hours last night.

Today we had an employee appreciation meal + safety meeting (blood borne pathogens .. such a good topic to pair with eating ...) I don't know where they got the food from, but they had a veggie wrap just for me. There was one more veggie meal left over too - that they kept out for me. So, I have food for two more lunches (the wrap was pretty good, and good sized.)

I've put my quinoa/sweet potato lunches in the freezer for next week.

----
So I just did not feel like going to the gym today, especially since my plan was just to walk on the track to get more steps in. Instead, I decided to walk to the library. I didn't have anything to return, nor did I have anything to pick up ... but I went anyway.

Got in over 7k steps (4k on the walk + work) so am now at over 40k steps for the challenge.

I'm planning on walking to work tomorrow - today was a major headache. The major road I turn on to get to my building was blocked off. I was already arriving with no time to spare ... the detour took at least another six minutes. THEN finding a parking space! One whole side of the street was blocked off for parking!!!

The only good thing was that my boss arrived at the same time ... I've never been that late to work before (nearly 14 minutes!)

So I'll be walking to work probably the rest of this week to avoid that mess.

---
On my way back from the library I stopped at Walgreen's because I really wanted some chocolate and soda. I'd brought my Swagbucks card with me.

I went up to the counter to pay for my stuff ... and it was not authorized! Say what?!! I tried again. Same thing. The cashier tried, but it required being read (chip card.) So ... I left.

When I got home I called the bank to find out what was going on. This is the same card which I'd overpaid and am waiting for a refund check.

Apparently the issue is with Walgreen's - they are updating their machines and there have been a lot of declined cards today.

I guess it was for the best, since I don't want the chocolate and soda badly enough to go back to the store! Money saved. Calories saved. Guess I should say ... thanks new chip technology.

---
Almost forgot - something pretty sad.

A woman who is a major contributor to our church and is part of my Sabbath School group was in a majorly bad car accident with her two granddaughters this weekend. She and one of the granddaughters are in ICU, the other one is just in the hospital. She was t-boned.

So .... I've been asked to lead the class discussion every other first Sabbath until she can be back with us. Hopefully this won't be more than once. I said yes with great trepidation. I just don't do adults well. Kids I can handle - adults ... I just don't do well with (leading discussion / talking in front of.)

So yesterday after going to the grocery store, I decided to go to the park and do some walking. This partly was because I wanted to rack up some steps for the challenge (50k steps by Friday) and partly because I just wanted to get out into the fresh air.

About this time I got an email from Bounts telling me that they'd reduced the time between GPS tracked activities from two hours to one hour.

This got my wheels turning.

So, in total I spent two hours at the park.

I did a GPS tracked walk for 20 minutes at 2.5 mph+ and then set my timer for 62 minutes and ... kept walking. It was pretty hot yesterday - in the low 90s! I was really feeling it by 40 minutes in to the 62 minutes. But I kept going. Finally it was time for the second 20 minute GPS tracked walk. I ended up walking around my car in circles (in the shade) for the last 3 minutes or so ...

But between walking to the grocery store, the walk in the park, plus a little bit more walking in the evening with NE (IHOP, Dollar Tree) I got in over 15k steps!

I also made lunches for the week - quinoa w/mushrooms/onions/tofu and 3 baked sweet potatoes which I divided up into 4 meals. (tomorrow we are supposed to have a free employee appreciation meal ... we'll see if I can eat any of it or not...)

---
Today I managed to get in another 10k steps = nearly 6k of them at work. I went down to dispatch twice for lost and found items (people were leaving so many wallets on the university buses today - it was ridiculous!) I also walked on the treadmill during my 15 minute afternoon break. Plus going up and down the stairs multiple times more than necessary to refill the brochures in the lobby.

So ... I'm at 33k steps out of 50k. I think I'm going to make it.

---
After work today I called Empower Retirement to find out why my 403b STILL hasn't been transferred to Vanguard. The person who I talked to told me that they had received notification of my termination date, but there was a 45 day hold. He saw the ridiculousness of this statement as he said it ... given that said termination date was on June 30, 2005!

So ... that should be set in motion (finally!) tomorrow.

---
I also called my Swagbucks card provider and after a bit of back and forth, they are sending me a check for the overpaid amount. (I had my paid in full amount taken once from ING and once from the CU account.) 7 - 10 days from now .... the check should arrive.

--
I also called the bank that had my Mypoints card - which I haven't used in 15 months ... mainly because the SBs card is a better deal, but also it doesn't have the option of automatic payments. I'd gotten a letter saying they were going to close it if I didn't make a charge. Well, I couldn't find the card (probably shredded it) so I called to claim it as lost and have a new one sent. In our discussion though, I realized that the deadline was the 14th to make the charge ... so I said go ahead and close it.

This will probably have a negative effect on my credit score since I think this is one of my older cards. But by the time I'm ready to do house hunting for real, it'll be right back up there I'm sure.

(Anyway, an article I was reading today said something about how if you're score is above 740, you really don't need to care too much about what the number is. Because it doesn't really matter at that point other than being a number.)

---
I got my Pinecone credit today so I was able to cash out = $15.00.

I've been using the website/app Bounts for a little over a month now I think. I'm really liking it. I did upgrade to a paid plan because I thought I could check in to my local gym here ... but so far, that's a no go. Anyway, I've earned nearly 1000 points so far. Just need 300 more for a $10 Walmart gift card.

A couple weeks ago they had a challenge where you had to do 5 activities in one week for a bonus 50 points. Got it.

Starting tomorrow there's a challenge to do 50k steps by Friday for a bonus 50. Will do it!!

You also get 10 bonus points for working out on Saturdays, and 5 bonus points for sharing your workout status on Facebook. (Note - you can set it to post only to yourself. That's what I do for most of the apps that ask to post on FB for me ..)

If you're interested in trying bounts out, and would like to give me some referral points My referral code is: laura1828 The website is bounts.com. If you are UK based, you'll have a much wider selection of giftcards and points opportunities.

----
I finally got another Pinecone survey today, so will be able to cash in for $15 by Monday probably.

I'm kind of wondering if I should have cashed out some of my stock when I was considering it earlier ... lost about $30/stock since I first considered cashing in for a house ... Oh well, I have faith it'll go back up. Eventually.

I had some woman from Madison call today asking about our shuttle service to the big game tomorrow. She spent most of the call letting me know how arse-backwards our transit system is here. How nice. :roll eyes: As if I don't get enough of that from city residents.

I had someone else call and complain because the bus was ten+ minutes late at a major transfer point. After finding out that it was coming off another route which ran late, I told that to the woman. She then starts moaning and groaning about how she was late for an appointment, and so and so was late for tutoring, and on and on. Seriously - do you really thing I can do anything about that?! Do you really think the bus is running late on purpose? Just to make your life miserable?

SO glad the week is over.

---

Stepping on slight soap box ...

NE and I were talking about what Ben Carson said about what he would do if he was in a similar situation as the Oregon state students. He agreed with me that if he were in a similar situation, that he'd hope that he would find the courage to rush the gunperson. I KNOW that if I was in that situation as a teacher, I would do whatever it took ... but when it's not my students lives on the line .. I would hope that I would choose to go down fighting.

We also talked about the backlash Carson got from this statement. I think that it was kind of an unfair question for him in the first place - making him put himself in those students shoes. I also think that he wasn't saying that he thought he was better than those who didn't fight, but that he thought he would do it differently.

NE and I agreed that the mentality of lay back and take it, or negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, here in the US especially may be coming to an end as these horrible events keep piling up. Soon maybe there'll be more incidences like on the Paris train where people choose to fight.

Let me make myself clear - I am NOT blaming the victims at all. I'm just saying that I think it is the generally taught/accepted mentality of people in the US - to NOT fight. Running and hiding are good first options, but by the time you are trapped in a room with a man ordering people to stand up and state their religion ... the time to fight has come. We just have to change our mindset to do it for real.

Tripping off soap box ...

So where I work I often get calls from people about items they've left on the bus. Lots of times it's wallets, id's, phones, lunch boxes, bikes, computers ... the list goes on. Many times I have been able to reunite people with their lost item.

Sometimes the person coming to pick up their lost item is extra enthusiastic. Sometimes even overemotional ... going as far as telling me "I love you!"

I get a kick out of these types of people.

Today though I had one which I think may be the funniest one so far. (I shared the above info to show that I find humor/pleasure from people of ALL walks of life and their reactions to being reunited with their item.)

About 9 a.m. I get a call from a man who is in an absolute panic about an item he left on the bus that morning - one he'd gotten off of around 6:40. What was that item? A hairbrush.

I dutifully called down to dispatch and told him what I was looking for. I could just hear dispatch rolling his eyes. Dispatch couldn't raise that particular driver right then.

So thence commenced five calls from this man in the space of about less than 2 hours. Until he finally got the news he was waiting for - his brush was found and in the driver's possession!

Near the third or fourth call, I got the song "Where is my Hairbrush" from Silly Songs with Larry Boy stuck in my head(Veggetales - if you don't know what I'm talking about - look it up. Seriously cute and funny stuff. Kids songs, yes. But funny!)

I was SORELY tempted to ask the man if he was familiar with Veggietales or Larry Boy. Somehow I refrained.

Around 4 p.m. the man came to the office to retrieve his hairbrush. It was a metal? hairbrush good for kinky hair I think.

As soon as I gave it to him, he immediately removed a bandana from his head - telling me that he'd kept it on all day because he didn't have his hairbrush to smooth his hair out.

Then he preceded to groom himself, almost like he was in ecastcy (sp?), there at the window.

I sat there watching him with a big smile on my face, and trying to contain my giggles. I wasn't laughing at him really (and I really hope he didn't think I was ...) but more laughing at the pure joy he was getting from a hairbrush and the bizzareness of having someone brushing their hair at my window...

Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where.... is my hairbrush? Oh where, oh where, oh whaaarrreeee!!!! is my HAIRBRUSH?!

-----
I got a call right after work today letting me know that a 5:00 appointment at my dentist's office had opened up. So I made my way through traffic and managed to get there by 5:01. (26 minute of traffic torture ...) I had my teeth cleaned and x-rays done. It looks as though I may have a new cavity. Darn it!

I'll have to back in a couple weeks for an eval and possibly a filling. I really need to do better about flossing.

So ... my dentist's office isn't too terribly far from the Super Target where they have a large variety of Amy's meals. I *know* I said I wasn't going to spend any more this week. But I did spend more. And of course I didn't stop with just a couple of Amy's meals.

Part of the problem was that I was pretty hungry by the time I was done at the dentist. I'd forgotten my lunch box at work, so had only had a plain cheese sandwich and a twix bar. (so healthy, I know ...)

I would say that next time I just won't bring any payment methods with me, but I can't do that since I'll need something to pay the dentist with for the cavity if the cost exceeds my leftover FSA amount. Maybe just bring my checkbook. Hmmm... that might work.

-
I got my flu shot today. I also wore one of my new to me tops from Schoola. Although I LOVE the top, I'm not sure it is a keeper or not. The nurse giving me the shot asked me if I was pregnant. Nope, just fat, I told her. She was kind of embarrassed, but I understood she had to be doubly sure since if I was, I'd have to have permission from my doctor to get the shot. But ... that made me realize it wasn't my imagination that the design of the top might over enhance my stomach a bit..... It's too bad, because I really do like the top.

Maybe I'll take a picture of me in it, and see what you all think.

This past weekend I had a chance to talk to my Aunt and confirm my dates and her dates. She has offered to pay for my tickets. At first I told her I appreciated it, but she really didn't need to do it. She insisted she really wanted to. So ...

I'd checked ticket prices a few months ago, and for leaving on Monday morning and returning on Saturday or Sunday it was around $450. Apparently all the cheap return flights on Saturday and Sunday are gone. Returning either of those days added $400!! to the ticket price.

Returning on Friday though kept it to $460. So .. I'll be returning on Friday. Keep me away from the Black Friday sales. (Not that I do them anyway ...)

I'm looking forward to seeing my grandma and aunt again - it'll have been nearly two years since my last visit there. Grandma is 94, so who knows how many more times I'll get to see her. (Just as feisty as ever though!)

---
Today at work our accountant passed around a document that made me feel pretty panicked. It was a spreadsheet delineating the costs of having bus passes.

IOW it showed how much money / time would be freed up if we stopped doing passes and just did free rides. Relied totally on Federal funds I guess.

40-50% of my job is bus pass related.

So you can guess where my head was going with that.

My boss told me not to get too worried, that they are always coming up with ideas/plans that never get off the ground.

Still though ... All the more reason to have a beefy Emergency Fund!

If it were to come to that, they'd first have to try to place me in a similar positon/pay grade. Failing any openings (for people with less senority than me) there is some kind of severance package.

Ugh!

---
Stopped at Walgreen's today .... $13.xx later (meds, treats)

I'm now topped out at my $20/week spending. So no more money spent this week (other than bills, or stuff like the airplane ticket.)

---
I got my Schoola clothes! They all are in beautiful shape, and I LOVE two of them and like the third. I have $30 to spend today there ($15 + the code for 50% off - good through today.) I am going to see what I can find!

---
I also got the letter for Kari's license renewal - $21. Will pay it today.

---
Oh, another PANIC today ...

I have my credit cards set up on auto pay so I don't have to think about it.

Usually that is no issue.

However, with the new 2.5% checking account having the majority of my money ...

I paid my Swagbucks card in full on Thursday from my new checking account - thinking that would cancel out the auto payment for today from ING/Cap one.

I was wrong.

So this morning I applied for and was gifted a $1000 overdraft on my account. (Instantly!) Why did I need this? Because my rent check will be coming out from that account in the next day or two!

I've already set up a transfer from new account to old account to cover whatever isn't covered. So hopefully if I go into overdraft it won't be for more than a day or two.

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

(I also contacted my CC to ask them for my money back!)

Sigh. Like I've mentioned before, September was SPENDY. I did manage to not spend anything except one grocery visit of $12 in the last 10 days of September. So yeah, all this spending happened in the first 21 days.

I logged in to the CU account this morning - the one I am supposed to be getting 2.5% interest ... $.44. Jaw drops. I KNOW I met the requirements. A message has been sent to customer service.

The main budget busters this month were groceries and vacation related categories. The whole mess with the apartment also sure didn't help. I had to take money from the slush fund to cover the hotel costs and other vacation expenses, so I WAM from any category that I could, including sadly, the EF.

It would have been far worse though without some of the extra income that came in this month.

Next month WILL be better.

So without further ado, here is the not so pretty picture:

Spending
Tithe - 10%
Charitable - $60
Rent - $430
Gym - 41.73
Groceries - $345.19
Internet - $82.61
Gas - $21.68
Electricity - 52.21
Fuel - $23.49
Medical - 105.46
Kari - $104.20
Health - $15.71
Clothing - 73.65
Electronics - $10
Household Goods - 219.15 (cleaning, supplies)
Vacation - 420.96
Treats - $43.77
Restaraunts - 123.13
Misc. 4.35 (library late fee)
ROTH - normal contribution

Savings Categories:
EF - $0
Slush - -$153.56

Extra Income:
$10 Bing AGC
$100 AGC YouGov surveys
$75 PP Swagbucks
$200 - Bank bonus
$10 - Pact
$27.61 - Ibotta
$200 - Reimbursement from Mom

So I was reading an article today in our local online paper about ten ways to make more interest than a savings account.

When I first opened it up, I expected to find nothing new, but decided to look anyway.

Well ... there WAS something new (to me at least!)

One of the ideas they talked about was the Mango Money Pre-Paid card. (https://www.mangomoney.com/)

It is a pre-paid spending card with a savings account attached to it!

If you have at least $500/month direct deposited to it, they pay 6% interest on up to $5,000. Over $5,000 is .10% and there is a limit of $10,000 total.

Once the money is in the savings account, it can only be transferred to the money card/pre-paid card.

This won't work for me because I only can have one bank for direct deposit - but if your work allows you to split your deposits (like the place did when I was teaching in TX) then this might be a great way to put a little bit away for various goals.

Anyway, I though ya'll might find this interesting.

So far the spending fast is going well. I haven't spent a penny Tuesday - today.

There's been a number of times driving home, etc. where I get the thought in my head "let me just stop and get a drink (soda)" and then I'll remind myself that #1 I can drink water when I get home, and #2 I am NOT spending any money unless I absolutely NEED to. So far, so good with that. (It kind of helps that thanks to my major overspending, I have a stash of not so healthy food in my place ... so when I'm overly stressed the food is already there ... no need to buy it ... good for the pocketbook, not so much for the waistline)

---
NE and I did some more talking last night. He wants me to go ahead and do the research/get started on figuring out how to get pre-approved for a home loan. From the various calculators, based just on my income debt/income ratio, we should be able to get something around $75k - or about $600/month total cost (mortgage, insurance, taxes, PMI) That'd be nearly $400/month less than what we're paying in rent currently.

By combining expenses we'll eliminate one Internet bill ($80/month Gulp) and probably cut utilities by 1/3 or so (depending on how big the house is of course.)

He's on board with the idea of a 15 year and paying extra to it so as to get it paid off as quickly as possible. I've also stressed to him that we need to have money set aside for repairs/maintenance/improvements.

I asked a lady at church (at women's ministry meeting) what Realtor she'd used when buying her recent rental property - she gave me the info for her and said she'd highly recommend. Before going with a Realtor though, I want to get the pre-approval thing done. Not sure if I should try through an online place like Cap One or through a local credit union. I'd really like to try to see if I can get the 2.75% rate ....

I read somewhere that some of the first time buyer programs that offer downpayment assistance have clauses such as they get your profit when / if you sell your home later?? I'd kind of get that if they asked you to pay back the money they assisted you with, plus maybe a little extra ... but all the profit? (Not that I think I'd really need to worry too much about that, because whatever house we buy, we will be staying put in - not planning on doing the whole "starter" house thing.)

Like I said though, still need to do some research on this whole thing.

---
So ... possibly a little prematurely and presumptively .... based on some conversations NE and I have had recently plus the house talk getting more serious (and him knowing my viewpoint for MYSELF about living with someone I'm not married to) ... my mom and I went to a dress shop while she was here. Yes, that kind of a dress shop.

I found *the* dress. $847. GULP. THE dress. It fit nearly perfectly. (I could possibly get the price reduced, as it is a stock dress. Alterations would be less than $50 ... Sigh.)

I can't do it. I won't do it. But me oh my ... if I had the budget for it ... and a venue/large enough prospective guest list for it ... and didn't want a house more than THE dress ... It would be mine.

Even though I'll more than likely end up getting something off the rack at Macy's or JC Penney's etc., it sure was fun to have the experience and to know that there really IS that experience of finding something that really IS THE Dress. Even if you don't actually get it.

(When/if it happens, it'll be just family and a few local friends. NE only has a sister and a close friend here, possibly a nephew that might come. We have a mutual friend here. I have a slew of family that'd come. Still, the total guest list would probably be under 20, maybe 15. So something *really* simple. Maybe even a courthouse one. My recent experience has made me rethink whether that is totally out of the question or not.)

---
I am at home today. Woke up feeling pretty miserable. Yesterday at work was pretty miserable (plus stressful .... Why oh why would someone ask you to do something for them, and then while you are doing what they asked, they go ahead and make their own version? Which of course is *exactly* what they wanted/pictured. And this is the person who's always talking about how she is SO behind and SO overwhelmed. Of course you are - even as you supposedly delegate tasks to me, you are either doing them yourself, or spending 20 minutes plus explaining it ...(whereas a note telling me what labels she wanted created would've been more than sufficient ... I don't have ANY interest in her job, so the explanations have ZERO interest to me ...)

--
So anyway ... since I am at home today during regular business hours, I plan on calling the horrible company that holds me hostage to their prices for Internet. My "promo" expired and went from $67/month to $82/month. Cannot comprehend spending that much money on Internet. (A phone line is included in the cost - it is required for whatever reason. Believe me, I have tried to tell them I refuse to have the stupid phone line. Didn't work.)

First though I'm going to call the *other* company here and see if they have a better offer. Last time they didn't.

It just galls me to pay this much for it, when in NM and TX I paid less than $40/month, and even less than $30/month (in TX.)

===
I got credited for my hotel stays on SBs - 2888SBs. Of course I'd seen they had a credit pending for just the first hotel stay, and I wrote CS an email asking what was going on ... CS credited me with 2888SBs. Only in my ledger it shows as for Groupon. Not Expedia. I wrote them back to let them know they made a mistake, but so far I still have the SBs. So I have enough to redeem for a $50 PayPal with plenty left over ...

Will give it a few weeks though to see if they take the SBs back or not.

It was way worse than I thought. Even after entering the $450 extra($200 bank bonus, $200 from mom, $50 from Swagbucks) I STILL had to take money from my slush fund to get rid of the red in multiple categories.

So for the remainder of September, unless it is an *absolute* necessity, I will not be spending one more penny. (Okay, I still have to do one more transaction for my checking account to get 2.5% - but that will be a less than $5 transaction.)

In October I can't make it a fast because I've already agreed to going away overnight with NE. Hopefully we can keep the expense to a bare minimum though.

I think I will bow out from the children's conference though - that's $40 I can't afford right now - not with the MAJOR overspending I did this month. I also am going to skip the mani-pedi - that money that was budgeted is going to pay for overspending in other categories.

I really let the stress of the property manager get to me overly much ...

October will be a 3 paycheck month so I can replenish the slush fund, and almost finish the EF. It makes me sick to know that had I not done this, I would be able to finish the EF and get a good start on the car fund in October.

--
I tried to cash out my iBotta tonight but it just kept spinning and spinning after I clicked the link to confirm my paypal account. I have $27.25.

I did cash out Pact for $10.

I also cashed out another $25 in PayPal from Swagbucks tonight.

PerkTv is driving me nuts with this ad that keeps freezing - if it wasn't for that, I'd be really close to my next $25 AGC!

---
I'm trying to figure out if I'm correct ... If I have $10k in an account which earns 2.5% interest, that would be $250??? Or would it be $25? If the first number is correct ... then that just boggles my mind. It really seems to me like that first number should be correct ... If it is ... then my EF will be finished much quicker than I imagined, and my car fund will be getting started really soon!

(I also think I could persuade my bf to do the debit card thing for me if I gave him $50/month off of whatever he used it for to do it. That way I wouldn't have to dream up 12 reasons to use it in my own transactions, while at the same time making sure to get my $500 spend for Discover.)

I'm back home now from taking my mom to the airport today.

We had a good visit together. We did some shopping, we rode the bus and took a tour of the bus station where I work, made eggplant parmesean at my house, ate out twice with NE, etc.

One of the places we ate at is the vegan restaurant which Ceejay recommended a long time ago. Overall I'd say it was a good place, and that some of the food was pretty good. The atmosphere was WAY noisy though (especially this one lady who did not understand how to keep her noise level to inside levels ...)

Friday afternoon my mom and I had a really interesting experience. She and I were sitting in a booth at a downtown Casey's store (gas station.) An older lady came in and was trying to get someone to come be a witness to her wedding - she was willing to pay $10.

I was kind of wondering if she was trying some sort of scam, but when she got to us I decided to go with it and see what happened. My mom agreed.

So we followed the lady outside to where her fiancee' and another person who'd agreed to be a witness were standing. Apparently both of their witnesses had flaked out (decided to go get drunk instead of coming to their wedding ... a daughter and son.)

We headed over to city hall where we stood waiting for about ten minutes while the lady chain smoked and gabbed about many way too personal details to tell strangers.

Finally we headed inside where we had to go through a metal detector and went into a courtroom. The judge met us there and explained what was going to happen. He seemed like a really nice guy, very easy going with a good sense of humor.

After putting on his robe, he conducted the ceremony. It really was quite beautiful for a courtroom ceremony.

At the end I had to sign my name and write my address on two documents (as a witness.) Both I and the other lady refused the $10 when offered. Then before leaving gave the bride a hug and good wishes.

(She and the new husband had been together for 19 years - had been homeless, drug addicts, etc., but now she is on disability and he is a truck driver. She recently bought a house on her credit, and insisted on "making it official.")

All in all ... an interesting experience.

---
The Walk Through ... got a voice mail Thursday night from property manager. Said "Your place looks like a million bucks. I am so impressed. Thank you."

Ugh. At least it's over now.
----
Now that my mom is gone I am going to be putting myself on a Spending Reduction.

This means that I can only spend $20 per week on anything outside of gas for my car, regular bills/contributions, October trip with NE, October restaurant w/NE, and the mani/pedi which I still haven't done! I also may add in there the registration fee(s) for a Sabbath School workshop and a fundraiser 5k I might participate in during October.

Yikes .. lots of exceptions. But even with them, I think it will help me get my spending muscles back into check after the spendalooza that has been August and September so far.

This spending reduction is in effect until November 19 (before I go out to CA for Thanksgiving.)

I'm going to be entering all my receipts, etc. into YNAB tomorrow night and see how much damage has been done ...

----
Extras:
$200 account bonus from Nationwide
$200 from mom for her part of the hotel, other stuff we did together
Have enough SBs to cash out for a $25 PayPal, but am waiting for the next Swagup to come available.

So my place is as ready as it can be for ... the walk through ...

I went to Target tonight and bought new cat litter and a new high sided litter pan (both on the cartwheel) along with some other stuff. Sigh ... I will be doing some kind of a spending moratorium after my mom is gone. Sorely needed. Earned $6.50 in ibotta rebates/bonuses ... (up to $26.70 now)

I've been looking on Craigslist at apartments in case I decide to say enough is enough with this deal. There really isn't much available in my price range right now. (At least not in areas I'm willing to live.)

So ... I also have been looking at houses.

I've been seeing some that are very interesting, and under the $75k price mark. One I'm quite interested in is about $69k. 3 br/2b/full basement/large yard/large front porch

If NE and I end up getting married .... our credit scores are worlds apart. He spaces on paying bills a lot ... (which is why I would be taking over that aspect presto pronto - which he agrees with totally)

So ... I'm guessing it would be better to work on getting a mortgage/approval prior to saying I Do and having our credit scores merge (as far as getting a mortgage goes) It would then just be my name on the deed (if just my finances are used to get it.) Later on though, when we've gotten his score back up, we could refinance or something and add him to the deed??

(And yes, I do plan on making sure that I could handle the house payments/bills on my own if necessary. He'd really be taking most of the risk here by contributing monetarily to a house that doesn't have his name on it.) How would that affect taxes though? If we file jointly, could we still claim the mortgage interest thing if it's in just one of our names?

I'm thinking that the time of the low interest rates for mortgages may be coming to an end soon ... and so that is also kind of making me thing it may be time to act sooner than later. (Not *just* because of stupid property manager's wife )

I should start looking into those links you guys gave me last time for first time home buyers and such not. Though that'll have to wait til next week after my mom is gone and hopefully my stress level will have gone down 50 notches.

Picking her up at the airport tomorrow and then eating at the vegan restaurant Ceejay recc'd so long ago! Good thing I get to sleep in on Friday!

So far today I:

*cleaned out litter boxes and refilled

*took out trash

*decluttered my kitchen drawers

*put together a box of books and other things that I had been planning on selling on eBay, but have just been sitting there for a year on a shelf ... and took that box plus stuff from the kitchen drawers to Goodwill

*cleaned out my car - found $1

*figured out how to hang the shelves I got a few weeks ago without buying a drill bit (like NE said I'd have to do) Hmph! Girl power!

*moved boxes from beside the back door to behind my bed

*moved suitcases from beside back door and put into my closet (this only made possible because of KonMari'ing my clothes a few weeks or so ago - otherwise would not have had the space in the closet!)

*attempted to put plate hangers on my two deco plates, but found out the hangers were TOO big! (plates I think are 8" and the hangers are for 10-14")

*Went to Walmart and spent way, way too much ...

but ... got two bathroom rugs to go under litter boxes
.... got a new shower curtain w/hooks that *I* like (not the drab brown the guy who lived here before had left)
... got a new hand towel and washcloth to spiffy the bathroom up
... a lot of other stuff (mostly groceries)

*got home and got everything scanned to my various apps ($3.70 Ibotta, $2.75 SavingStar, $.25 Shrink, $.25 Snap)

*got everything put away, and just finished a late lunch. Now am going to relax a bit until it's time for NE to come over (we're going out to a place called Pizza Ranch tonight - his treat!)



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Yesterday I went for a 4.5 mile walk with some people from church. Overall, I got in over 14k steps!

I used the Charity Miles apps and earned $1.06 for a charity, and I also earned 40 bounts points - 20 for fitbit (14k steps) 10 for RunKeeper, and 10 for a weekend activity. I'm up to 590 bounts already. Sweet!



Now I just need to get my extra key to the cleaning lady so she can clean my place tomorrow.

This afternoon I met with a lady who is going to do the cleaning I need done. She suggested I get something called Draincare to help get rid of the future possible clogs.

She's probably going to come on Monday. I agreed to pay her $100 (the bathroom with the litter mess was a bit worse than I'd realized.)

I need to figure out a better solution for keeping the litter off the floor. I have tried the hooded boxes before, but really didn't like them (neither did my cat(s).) I've also tried a variety of litter mats ...

This is something I'll deal with once my mom is gone though.

I bought the draincare stuff, some lightbulbs, replacement liner things for the stove burners, and ... some chocolate.

This weekend I'm going to focus on doing more decluttering and getting my car cleaned out.

I made it 3 days with no spending so far this month ...

This month's totals are going to be so disastrous. At least I have a good slush fund to handle it without missing a beat. I just don't like actually *using* the slush fund.

I have pretty much spent all of my grocery budget for September at this point. And will have to do some major whack a moling for other categories (household, Kari, etc)

I don't know what set me off on this, but part of it I guess was getting sucked into the apps ... Did I get some things I really DO like and really WILL use? Yes, yes I did. Did I get things that I haven't bought in a good long while mainly for being expensive for what they're worth? Yes, yes I did.

Are the rebates and cash back going to make up for that? Not much ... maybe $33 in rebates/cash back, and some of it who knows when I'll actually see it because of cash out limits.

It's months like this one where before I just threw up my hands and said, what's the point of recording it all? But I'm determined I'm not going to do that. This month is going to be ugly. Very ugly. There's still 3 weeks to get through, plus a 4 day visit from my mom. It's going to be an ugly end of the month report.

I didn't get anything done pretty much for a 3 day weekend. Other than getting two workouts in and making a tater tot casserole - I did nothing.

Considering that I'd wanted to - clean out car, clean kitchen, clean bathroom, organize pantry and get my papers sorted/shredded ... yeah, this was not a productive weekend at all.

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In good news ... my brother and I had a chance to talk today. We are back on good terms.

In other news ... SO has been asking me some questions recently which are making me think that I may be getting a visit here from a lot of family members all at once in the somewhat near future. Only time will tell.

SBs awarded the monthly bonuses early and my SB cc points also came through - so I now have about 5500 SBs. There are two Swagups (rebates) going live on the 14th though, so I'll be waiting til then. I could easily redeem $75 - $100 from Swagbucks this month. Wow.

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I took a break from Pact for a few weeks in August, but started back with it this past week. Just on a smaller scale. The break was nice, but it will be good to have another avenue of earning money again.

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I have been using two new apps the last few weeks. Both connect to my Fitbit and to Runkeeper.

Bounts is a UK based company which rewards you for every day you go over 7000steps or do a 20 minute+ GPS tracked walk/run/etc - if you upgrade (pay pound 9.99/yr) you can also earn more points by checking in at approved gyms.

The rewards available for US residents are limited, but still worth going for. A $5 Walmart card is 700bounts/points. I have 260 bounts already.

It's a nice easy addition to all the other things which I earn money with just by using my Fitbit and connecting the various apps. (If you're interested in this - we both can get 100 bonus points if you use my referral code - I don't want to post it here because it uses part of my last name. I will email the link to you though if interested.)

The second new app I just used for the first time yesterday is called CharityMiles.

You connect your fitbit (or other tracker) and something similar to Runkeeper. Then whenever you are getting ready to do a fitness activity you open it up and choose a charity from their list. Then start your activity. When you are finished, go back to the app and stop it.

Yesterday by walking 2.2 miles I earned $.56 for a charity which helps kids get books.

I do wish it was a little bit less involved (you have to choose a charity from the list each time. There isn't a way to save favorites.) But still, it's nice to know that at the same time I'm doing something for myself, I'm also doing a little something for someone else.

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I did another shopping run last night - Walgreen's, Family Dollar, SuperSaver and Target.

Walgreen's - toothpaste and deodorant

Family Dollar - cereal (3 for 6, $1 off SavingStar app, $.20 off iBotta), new $10 Android phone

SuperSaver - tatertots, cream of mushroom soup, canned cat food (20 cans - two coupons used), can of Vegeburger, Morningstar corndogs (on sale!), misc.

Target - soda, Quaker granola bars ($1.50 iBotta, 10% Target app), Kellogs Nutri grain bars ($1 Checkout 51), Quorn ($2 iBotta), Amy's, misc.

**I discovered a new Amy's meal. Noodles w/cashew sauce and veggies. It is SO good. Target has it for 3.99. I bought that rather than getting something from Taco Bell. So much better!

I stumbled across the canned cat food at SuperSaver by accident. I'd planned on getting it at Target for $1.07 a can - coupons - but SuperSaver had them for $.98/can! They also have much cheaper frozen veggies than Walmart.

I have a ton of food and household products now in my pantry/fridge/freezer. Other than fresh fruit and veggies, I hopefully will not be spending much more on groceries / household this month.

*NE and I are doing dinner again tonight - tater tot casserole - which is why bought some of what I bought.

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NEs laptop died on him yesterday. So I erased my iPad and reset it up so that he can use it until he gets a new laptop. I'm thinking about just letting him have it. All I ever use it for is to run paid video apps. I can accomplish the same thing on a $10 smartphone (like the one I bought at Family Dollar.) I'll have to see how much he likes it first though.

If he ends up not liking it, then I may just go ahead and sell it. It may fetch $50 or so possibly.

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I plan on hitting the gym today. We'll see though ... didn't go to bed til after 2, and then Kari woke me up about 7 ... Thanks Kari. (Thankfully it is a 3 day weekend!)

Today I got to see what my new salary is with the recent cost of living raise (2.25%). With it, I now make about $.20/hour more than I did before I was downsized from my oil and gas job in 2009.

After work today I went to Target and to HyVee (a grocery store here.) When I submitted my Walmart receipt to the Savings Catcher, it gave me money back for the cat food - saying that they found it at HyVee for $2 cheaper.

Yeah ... it was a different kind. Same brand (Purina) but not Purina One Beyond. I still did buy two bags of it from HyVee because it was $.50 cheaper than Walmart (plus my $2 coupons of course.)

At Target I found the canned food (after asking for help from a store person) which was $.08 cheaper than the local grocery store - had a coupon Buy 8 get 2 free. I only used one coupon. I might go back and use my other 3. (I give Kari one can a week - her Sabbath treat.) I also bought a 3rd bag of her food ($2 coupon only usable in Target.)

I now have $12.50 in Ibotta rebates, $4.87 in Walmart Savings Catcher, and about $4 in other savings apps.
I can cash in the Ibotta anytime, but I think I'll wait til I get closer to the end of the month in case I decide to do any other rebates.

I am SO set on cat food right now it's ridiculous. I always buy the 3lb bags even though they probably aren't the best value money wise, but they also don't go stale before Kari gets through a bag. (I keep it in a plastic container .. but still, I think by the time we get to the bottom of it, it's starting to get stale.)

On my way home I almost stopped at Taco Bell. In fact, I did. But after waiting 6 minutes and still not being at the order board ... I decided to just go home. For the best.

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With SBs giving out the monthly bonuses early today, I have over 3200 SBs! I'm going to wait til the 14th to cash out so I can use my 50SB rebate.

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I'm not sure what is going to happen with my mom's planned trip out here. Brother told me yesterday he'd reimburse me for the hotel if I really can't get it refunded. (It can't be. It was prepaid.) So if mom ends up not coming out here, I'll still have a paid for hotel room here. Hmm ... maybe go and stay there anyway with NE for one night, and/or by myself for the other nights (at least Friday and Saturday.)

I hope we get this figured out soon because mom's supposed to be coming on the 17th!!

Brother says he doesn't want to nail down another date until "he doesn't feel like he's being manipulated." I'm tempted tell him that I already have plans for October and November, and so would rather not change the September plans. If he wants to come out and visit some other time, great, if not, that's up to him. But I can't keep my plans in limbo until he "feels not manipulated" :roll eyes:

Sorry for the venting. Just feeling so frustrated by this situation. I kind of wish he'd never suggested the idea in the first place .. back in February???

So ... NE and I were talking last night. Somehow we got onto the subject of gifts. It came out that he had been curbing his gift giving to my style. (small, always less than $50, usually more like around $10 ... but trying to be thoughtful.) He told me that he was used to previous girlfriends giving him $300+ gifts, and he reciprocated.

I just can't fathom giving those kind of gifts.

My parents (mom mostly) showered us with gifts as we (brother and I) were growing up. Although I always told her I appreciated her thinking of me, I also told her that she didn't need to do that much. To this day I still tell her that she doesn't need to get me anything, but will give her ideas since I know it's not a battle I'm going to win.

I guess in my mind/viewpoint that I have so many money related goals, and not that much money to stretch to reach them, that buying someone a $500 camera or $300 tv that they don't really need .... is just ludicrous. NE doesn't see it that way ... he sees that buying stuff like that is fun.

I think it is so much more fun to know that I'm getting closer to my goals of having a house, retiring, doing some travel ... and to come up with small, practical and thoughtful gifts.

Not to mention that I already feel like both he and I have WAY too much stuff as it is.

He told me that he doesn't think of himself as frugal, but as someone who makes better decisions with his money than most other people.

He also mentioned about me buying the iPhone and my planned (canceled) trip to Des Moines, etc. I asked him if he resented that I spent money on those kinds of things, but wouldn't spend that same kind of money on gifts. He said he didn't.

I guess the whole conversation made me start wondering if maybe I'm being selfish. Not just now, but throughout my life. I've never been one to spend a lot of money on gifts for other people, and I've never expected them to spend a lot on me. They just have! (like my Aunt offering to pay for my flight to CA for Thanksgiving ... I would NEVER expect nor ask for her to do that - was totally planning on paying for it myself - but she WANTS to do it for me. I definitely am not in a position where I could reciprocate, other than letting her know how much I appreciate it and maybe treating her and grandma to a mani/pedi while I'm out there.)

What do you all think? Is it fair for me to do homemade/inexpensive gifts for others when they give me things that are definitely not inexpensive? How can I figure out a way to help NE not feel like he's getting shortchanged, but also keep with my own values/goals?

NE just called - coming over unexpectedly. Gotta go.