If you like free trashbags, and even making a little money on them ... then check this out. On Swagbucks right now there is a deal where you buy 1 (any) Hefty trashbags and get 400 SBs or buy two (any) and get 1000 Swagbucks. All you have to do is take a picture of your receipt and a picture of the product(s) and email them to iredeemedhefty@swagbucks.com. 60 days later you will get your SBs.

Now here is how you can make money on this deal. Currently in the coupon section of SBs there is a $1.50 off ANY Hefty trashbags. Use two of them, and add in the $10 of Swagbucks, and you can purchase up to $13 worth of trashbags for free! Not too shabby if I might say so. (The 1000 SBs could actually be worth more than $10 if you use them towards one of the discounted gift cards. I don't get them, so for me it's worth $10.)

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Last night I did a September shopping trip. Yes, I know it's fudging things a bit, but 1. I won't have the time or energy to do this kind of shopping trip on Tuesday, and 2. Some of the rebates/offers I wanted were expiring on the 29th.

So I went to Walmart, Target and Walgreens. I used the shopping apps: iBotta, Shrink, SavingStar, Checkout51, Snap, Walgreens Balance Rewards, and the Target one. I also used ReceiptPal and ReceiptHog.

I spent $88 at Walmart after coupons, $16.10 at Target after coupons and discounts, and $43.31 at Walgreen's after coupons and discounts.

I earned $9 in rebates from iBotta. I will be getting $10 back from Swagbucks (Hefty deal). I also earned about 1.60 in cashback from the other shopping apps.

I am now set for toilet paper, peanut butter, jelly, trash bags, flaxseed, dry cat food, frozen veggies, etc. for a good long time. At Walgreen's I got Claratin D and Flonase - am going to try Claratin to see if it works any better than Allegra ...

I do plan on going back to Target (the SuperTarget this time)to get another bag of cat food with a coupon they gave me, and canned cat food. (Purina One Beyond)

I was supposed to earn a 6k point bonus from Walgreen's for a $30 purchase - it printed on my receipt, but the points aren't there. I'm going to give it a couple days and then contact customer service.

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Yesterday afternoon I was FINALLY able to get into my hotmail account. So I was able to get my $5 AGC from Bing, and do all but one Mypoints emails (it expired.) I also was able to resign into Bing (and changed my main email address.)

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Today I ordered from Amazon my pea protein powder, two wall plate hangers, and a pair of haircutting scissors. After the $30 in AGC credits, plus $2.68 in Discover cashback, it cost $12.98.

The plate hangers are to hang two decorative plates I have. The scissors are ones I saw recommended for DIY ponytail haircuts ... which with a bit of trepidation I am going to try.

I'm trying to decide whether to take the $12.98 from the Household category or the Beauty category, or maybe split the amount between the two.

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If you're interested in any of the shopping apps and would like to try them out (and help me out ) just let me know and I'll send you my referral link(s). Ibotta has a team thing where you can earn extra bonuses depending on how much rebates/earnings your team does. All of them do have fresh fruits/veggies, and non-branded items options (not a lot ... but some.)

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This morning I am finally back to the weight I was at before my little staycation. Amazing how quickly the pounds go back on, and how much more time it takes for them to come off again.

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Something pretty cool on Thursday -- a delivery person from Jimmy John's came by the office to give us free sandwiches. She asked something I never thought I'd hear ... any vegetarians? Sweet! The sandwich was pretty good too.

Some things that have amused me recently:

1. Got a call from the call center/medical survey place I worked at for about six weeks when I first moved here. They were wondering if I'd be interested in working for them again ... LOL! Only if I was uber desperate.

2. I was able to log in to my new credit union account tonight - and found out that my $50 bonus has already posted! (I'd been told it would be 45 days after opening.)

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I made it to the gym again today. Did 30 minutes of stronglifts, and 25 minutes of walk/jogging. I was trying to get to 7k steps.

I can't remember the name of it, but I heard about a website/app based in the UK that pays for steps activity in the US (gift cards - Walmart is one of them.) You have to get over 7k steps to earn 5 points. A $5 gift card is 700 points. So ... it'll be awhile. LOL But, every little bit counts, right?

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I haven't heard back anything from Microsoft regarding my hotmail troubles yet. I really hope they can figure it out so I can get into my account!! I want my $5 AGC from Bing! (Plus I can't Bing anymore ... - every day I can't Bing, I lose 25+ points.) Pooh!

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I decided to go ahead and book the hotel rooms for my mom's stay. I'm counting it as a spend for September though. I was just worried that if I waited much longer, we might not be able to get what we wanted.

Gulp. 4 nights at the hotel we compromised on .... $420.xx (3 nights x $86, 1 night at $103 + taxes and fees - last night we are staying in O city.)

But .... I booked it through Expedia via the Swagbucks site. That means I'll get about 3200 Swagbucks back as a shop and earn, plus around 650 more for using my Swagbucks credit card. So, nearly $40 back.

My mom and I decided that we'd split the hotel cost, and then after all is said and done, add up all the other expenses and divide it.

Otherwise though, no spending has been done by me!

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I did confirm that my salary should be getting a 2.25% bump this coming paycheck. It's the annual cost of living bump via the union contract. I sure won't refuse it!

I'm going to let myself play with the bump for a few months, but in January, I'll probably have to lower my deductions, and so the bump will go away. (I'll decide for sure after I do my taxes.)

September is going to be expensive ...

I got my new to me phone on Tuesday (managed to have them hold it at the main Fed Ex place and miraculously managed to find the place without GPS without getting lost.)

Had some trouble getting it set up and almost thought I was going to have to send it back and get a different phone (my computer wasn't wanting to recognize it - several hours later it suddenly decided to recognize it ...)

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Talked to my mom today about hotels for when she's here (in 3 weeks!) She's going to check if she can find a better deal than the one I found (she has a special number or something for the particular hotel.) If not, I'll book it with Orbitz which will give me a $10 rebate through iBotta.

3 nights will be about $300 with taxes and fees ... gulp. Plus one more night in O town (going to stay there Sunday night and then spend the day in O town before taking her to the airport there.)

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Did some grocery shopping today. They had bananas for $.33/lb - I bought a little over a pounds worth. Kept 6 out for this week, then broke up the rest and put into baggies in the freezer - enough for two weeks of smoothies.

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I cashed out on the following this week:
$10 - Receipt Hog
$25 - Swagbucks PayPal (makes $75 this month!)
$5 - Bing AGC
$25 AGC - PerkTV
$100 - AGC from YouGov (survey site)

The $100 one I won't get for a few weeks (in the mail??) If you're interested, I have a referral link in my sidebar. It did take me about a year to get to the $100 cashout, but the surveys are all pretty easy.

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I have about $1.55 til the 1st. (in my August budget) So that means 8 days of NO SPEND DAYS! must happen.
I think the only thing I'll need next week will be apples, and maybe I can figure out something else for my lunch fruit - or just buy $1.55 worth of apples.

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I'll be leaving in about 90 minutes to go to the big University welcome thing. I'm going to get around 4 hours of overtime for it. I might see CreditCardFree's daughter while I'm there.

That overtime money is going to come in handy for paying for my mom's visit here in September! (I unfortunately have had to use the OT money from the school events and most of my vacation fund to pay for the new phone.)

I will most likely be going into my slush fund for the hotel/whatever else we do while she's here. That can be refunded in October when I've got a 3 paycheck month.

If you do, AND you have an Android phone with NFC capability, there is a really easy secret shop for payment of $65!

If you're interested, comment here (make sure you use an email address you actually check) and I'll forward you the email with the form/info you'll need.

So last night when NE usually leaves to go to the grocery store after being here, I asked him if I could come along since I didn't have to be up at a certain time. He was happy to oblige.

While walking through the second store, he was like, we haven't made dinner together for awhile. So .. we then bought $17 worth of ingredients for his Tater Tot Casserole. (Tater Tots and veggie burger alone was nearly $9.) (We are splitting the cost.)

It was an enjoyable evening all together, even with deciding to make an expensive dish. (which I will probably save my leftover half and freeze for lunches.)

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Phone ... Sigh.

I got my phone unlocked from ATT as of yesterday afternoon. I started the activation process last night - but before I could do that I had to update my operating system, back up my phone, switch out SIM cards, and then restore from my backup.

Long process.

All to find out that as a GSM device on Ting, I have to use T-Mobile's network here. Coverage in my apartment is practically non-existent.

So... another long story a bit shorter .. I ended up purchasing a refurbished 5S from Ting for a total of $323. It should be here by Monday or possibly Tuesday.

This SO is not in my budget, but I have to have a phone. I could have gone with a 4S for $100 less, but I decided it wasn't worth it since the 5S should be good / last longer (i.e. support iOS updates) than the 4S. (As long as I don't pay another stupid tax by losing my phone yet again.)

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I SO need this 4 day break from work. So needed it.

I'm going to catch up on journals and then make myself get off my duff and start on my Kon Mari my closet and dresser project! If I get that done today, I'm rewarding myself with a matinee showing of Mission Impossible on Sunday.

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Oh, I do want to give props to Ting's customer service. I emailed them Wednesday night telling them that I thought it was pretty bad not responding to a help email for 4 days (sent the email on Saturday.)

I got a response Thursday morning apologizing and giving me a $25 credit for my trouble.

So I got the SIM card from Ting today. I remembered from last time how to change it out. So I did that. Then I restarted my phone.

It's still locked to ATT!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I sent an unlock request to ATT ... says it'll take up to two business days.

Sigh.

BTW - I have had absolutely NO RESPONSE from Ting to the email I sent on Saturday about losing my phone. None. I hate to say it, but I'm getting less and less enthralled with Ting's Customer Service.

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My boss today handed me this card she got at an event she went to last week. It was a deal for opening a checking account at a local credit union.

$50 within 45 days of opening with a $50 deposit. That's the only requirement.

It gets better though. If you have a direct deposit sent to that account, do one bill pay per month (free), and 12 debit transactions ... you get ... (drumroll please) 2.5 % interest on up to $25k !!!!

Um .... somehow I think 2.5% interest would be worth the hassles of doing 12 debit transactions a month. I could put all my money into that account. Have savings and checking all in one nice big account. I'd actually earn some real money for interest!

That'll have to wait til I get my Nationwide bonus though.

The Credit Union is Liberty First CU - I'm not sure what the residency requirements are for it though.

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At work today I did the FINAL touches on the 200+ page document which has been causing so much stress for the last six+ weeks. It is done and over with!

My boss let me log off the phone, and took all the window customers so I could 100% concentrate on it. Good thing too, otherwise there's no way I would have finished it on time.

The calls have been insane this week - with school starting today.
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Oh ... speaking of insane ... I have to tell you what came in today to lost and found. Inside of a bus pass folder was a baggie of what looked like .... weed! At least 4 other people agreed that it was very much similar to weed.

I called the police and they sent someone over. He said he thought it was either an organic herb or K2, but not weed. Then told me to just throw it away. ??? So ... I did. Seemed pretty bizarre to me.
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Tuesday after I was done with my school event (went well, kept pretty busy) I stopped at Supersaver again and picked up $20 worth of stuff that was on pretty good sales.

I rarely get to a Supersaver since I have another grocery store just less than a block from me .... so that was fun.

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I got a text from my brother (texting on iPad still works at least ...) I have the feeling that he is wimping out on the September trip. ARGHH! So, it'll just be mom and I.

Hopefully I'll have phone service soon so we can talk and I can find out what is going on.

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Tomorrow is my Friday for this week. I'm SO ready for my 4 days off. SOOOOO ready.

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I cashed out for another $25 PP from SBs today. That makes $50 for August (plus the $25 from July I cashed out in August.) I did the Visa thing for 500 SBs, (connected to a card I don't use, but monitor easily), so am back to nearly 800 SBs towards my next one. Maybe I'll make another $25 in August?

Well ... the good news is that NE let me borrow his GPS unit so I could get to the after work school open house events Monday and Tuesday.

Also good news was that NE hadn't given me back the phone I'd let him use - so it wasn't thrown away by me.

Bad news is that my phone is still missing.

Also bad news was that NE's phone was still on his account, so without Customer Service being open, there was no way to put it on my account.

Oh well. With NE's GPS unit I at least was able to navigate to the school tonight, and will be able to tomorrow again. I just don't have cell service.

The officer who comes by every other week came by today, and I told him about my phone. He told me about an online reporting thing for this kind of stuff. So I've filled it out, and now will see if anything comes of it.

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The event tonight was mostly boring, but it did get busy at some points. Did more info giving than actual selling of passes though. (double checked every one to make sure I didn't make ANY mistakes!)

I stopped at a grocery store near the school (SuperSaver) and bought something called Nibblers - a cheese pack. It was pretty good actually. (I had eaten half a bagel at 3pm. but was still hungry, and knew I wouldn't eat again til 8:30 ...)

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Found out today that the mom of one of my best friends passed away today. She lived in Duluth, and her memorial service will be sometime next week. I'm debating on going possibly. First I need to find out when it'll be ... then figure out if I can make it work or not.

It'd be a bit of a long road trip.

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Not much else to say I guess.

So Thursday is Treat Day at our office. We rotate through everyone who wants to participate - which is 8 people. Yesterday was my turn.

Wednesday night I was really tired and did not feel like making anything. But I also didn't want to buy anything since I already had the brownie mix (bought on sale a few months ago.)

So I started putting the ingredients together about 8:30 p.m. Dumped the mix in the bowl, dumped the water in, broke the egg, ... then it was time for the oil.

Instructions called for 2/3 cup of oil. Somehow in my frazzled brain I read it as 1 2/3 cup.

I didn't realize my mistake - even when I used up all my bottle of oil and had to open a new one ... - until I poured it in the bowl.

So Thursday morning I left ten minutes earlier than usual to stop by the grocery store. $7 later I had the treats for the office. UGH.

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Thursday after work I did the school event - selling passes at the Open House. It went pretty well, although I found out on Friday that I had mistakenly overcharged someone for their two passes. I'd had several people before them buy a StarPass and 20 ride pass so I had that number in my head I guess .. this person bought a StarPass and a 31 day pass.

UGH! When I do the events on Monday and Tuesday, I'm going to just have to go slower, even if it means people have to wait.

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Friday was a no spend day. I was uber tired and just came home and vegged.

Finished reading Marie Knodos book "The life changing magic of tidying up." Overall I liked it (some hokey stuff in it though.) I might start on my clothes this weekend.

Leaving for church in a while. Today will be my second time picking up the Sabbath School offerings (and counting them) for this church. Thankfully the job doesn't require me to be there early enough to distribute the envelopes, otherwise I'd be in trouble. (I just can't seem to get myself going on Saturday mornings .. doing good to get to SS before the praise/request portion is over.)

Tomorrow I plan on going to Dollar Tree to get more frozen fruit. I'll probably also stop at Walmart which is nearby to get my regular groceries.

Then I'll tackle my clothes. That'll be a big project, but hopefully worth it.

Today I got to leave work a little early so that I could take my car in to have the oil changed. I also decided to have the front end aligned because I'd been noticing it pulling to the right a lot lately, and NE had mentioned it too.

So about 20 minutes after I got there they asked me to come back to the garage area so the mechanic could talk to me. Apparently there are 7 points? in the suspension/alignment throughout the car. Something called the Toe? and another one, and then something called the Custer. The Toe and the other one are the important ones that can be aligned. The Custer - nothing to do about it.

Somehow I hit a pot hole or something, and now my Custer is off by 7/8". He told me that there is no fix for it - it's just something that happens sometimes to small economy cars like my Yaris. He reassured me that it isn't a potential safety issue, and won't affect tire wear. He just wanted to make sure I understood why my car will still have a slight pull to the right.

Who knew alignment was so complicated? (I only had the front aligned, he said the back was fine.)

So that was $78. (19.99 for the oil change, $58 for the alignment)

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After the car was finished I headed to the mall to return my shoes.

You'll never guess what I did though.

I got out of my car and powerwalked all the way to the entrance. I even held the door open for someone and started to go inside.

Then it hit me.

I don't have the shoes with me!

DOH!

My shoes were still in the car.

I had no issues returning them. I'm going to let that money sit in the clothing category - may need to replace some underthings soon. And they're not cheap. A good sale is 2 for $50 at Lane Bryant.

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I did stop at Taco Bell. I was very hungry and didn't plan that very well. For tomorrow when I go to the school event, I'm going to have something extra in my lunch box to snack on.

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I got both of my SBs Paypal cards today. So that was $50. $25 of it counts towards July (I waited til the 3rd to cash it out in order to get it at a discount) and the other $25 counts towards August. I'm about halfway to my next $25 card now.

I also got paid for my second parking garage shift today. $29.xx

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I just need one more Pinecone survey to be able to cash out. Anyone else finding that the surveys aren't coming as often? Or crediting as quickly? The survey I got credit for today I took back in July.

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Recent news almost makes me hesitant to go to a movie theater anymore. Almost, but not totally. Hopefully there won't be any more copycats.

We had a sad crash here today around noon - I found out about it before it was even reported on the news. Someone called saying that two particular intersections were closed down because of a crash - they wanted to know what the detour would be.

I found out later that it was an incident involving a Chevy Tahoe and a 30 yo man on a scooter. Tahoe won.

Please be aware of the motorized two wheelers around you! I always try to give them a wide berth and get extra looky loo before making any moves if I notice one near me. It can just happen too fast.

Today after work I stopped at Walgreen's to pick up a couple of things (had a raging headache, even with Allegra D ....)

On my way to my car I noticed this really really CUTE guy sitting in a jeep parked in front of my car. He must have seen me look at him or something, because he nods his head at me.

At this point I have my door open ... and I proceed to nod my head back at him ... just being friendly.

Instead of smoothly flowing into my seat and driving away .... I end up bumping my chin on the top of my door! Then land in my seat doubled over from laughing at myself.

The guy calls out asking if I'm okay, so I manage to contain myself enough to let him know that I was fine. Just my pride was damaged.

They say that pride goeth before a fall (of which I've done plenty ...) but today it's more accurate for me to say ... pride goeth before a chin bump!

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Work was okay today. Had a good bit to catch up on from yesterday (mail in orders, end of the month bus repair reports -- so funny some of them, etc.) I had a couple of delightful callers - one is a repeat lady who makes me smile big as soon as I hear her voice; and the other was a little old lady trying to figure out the system and just SO appreciative of my help.

Kind of helped to cancel out the guy who was ticked off because the fare box ate his card and kept asking how that could happen. Um ... fare boxes eat cards sometimes?? If you saw the bus repair reports ... it's amazing more bus passes don't get eaten. (He hung up on me before I could figure out exact bus/route/time .. if I had that info then I could have had the driver contacted to check the story and get the guy a new pass.)

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The other day I took a survey abut a local e........y company. One of the questions asked about whether I'd experienced any power outages. Well, in the year or so I've been here (to that point) I hadn't!

Today that changed! A few minutes after I sat down for lunch (finished microwaving) we had a 20-25 minute power outage at the bus station. It was so weird and so quiet.

Today was my 1 yearaversary at work. Talking with my boss made me really wonder if I want to try for something else. It's not always a sure thing that you're going to find good bosses.

Plus I'm thinking about the gym ... if I go to this CC, I'd have a 20+ minute commute home and then a 15-20 minute drive to the gym. Maybe a 30 minute commute straight to the gym (not stopping by home first). I'm worried it'll be even easier to excuse myself from going.

I'm still going to do the application package though ... nothing says I will get a job offer and nothing says I have to take said job offer if it happens. Won't hurt to try.

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Spending:
Amazon - Kitty flea/tick collar, ink for printer - $23.xx after $30 in gift card and $1.50 cash back discover

Walgreen's - $2.75 (major headache cure attempt ... not health food.)

So today is NEs actual birthday, but we did the celebration yesterday.

We drove out to Nebraska City to a Chinese buffet. There wasn't much selection of veggies not mixed with meat ... in fact I accidentally took some mushrooms which had meat mixed with them. NE found plenty to eat though ...

Afterwards his GPS unit took us on a merry chase finding this state recreation area he wanted to check out. We finally did find it - it has a really nice access point for boats to the Missouri river.

When we got back we ate some of the cake I had made earlier (who knew the Jiffy mix was for layer cakes, and not full sized ones? Oh well.) He also drank some of the koolaide he'd asked for ... (said it wasn't quite like he'd remembered - I had him make it himself actually so he'd know how much sugar, etc. was in it.)

I guess I was kind of not in a great spirit because earlier that day I'd had to buy a pitcher in order to make the dang koolaide and was kind of annoyed to be adding all these extras on top of dinner out.

Then of course he's not in the mood to do anything when we get back because he ate way too much. UGH.

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Earlier in the day after my grocery trip and making the cake, I spent a few hours working on the application for the library job. On the background check form they want address history for the last TWENTY years! Um.... I can give you city and state for that time frame, but I barely remember the name of the roads I lived on five years ago (3 different places while going to grad school) let alone 8 or 9 + years.

I tried finding a way to search public records to get that info, but couldn't find a way to do it without paying for it. Ugh.

I have until August 12 to submit all my documents/application. Need to put together a cover letter and update my resume, scan my transcripts (find them first .. they're somewhere around here), scan my certifications (after I locate them ..)

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I cashed out for a $25 paypal from SBs today - got the 50SB swagup. Apparentally there's been some kind of mix up- the special offer swagup should've been up first for 150 SBs. Hopefully that'll get sorted soon - I have enough to get a second $25 PP once that is fixed.

I also cashed out for a $25 AGC from PerkTV - that should come sometime today.

Tomorrow I'll have enough Bing for a $5 AGC.

Once I have the $30 AGC, I'm planning on ordering a flea/tick collar for Kari from Amazon. She's picked up fleas somehow - I've tried a variety of other things which haven't helped much. So I'm hoping this collar will. (Bayer Seresto Flea and Tick Collar) It supposedly is supposed to work for 8 months. It better for how much it costs! ($43.xx)

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So I'm posting in the middle of the day here. Called in sick from work - I think something I ate at the buffet didn't agree with me. In a major way.

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I'm going to see about making an appointment at Brakes Plus on Wednesday to get my oil changed and see if they can do an alignment too. If I get that appointment I'll be near the mall where I can return my shoes.

Then Thursday I have my first school event from 4 - 6:30. Can you say 90 minutes of overtime?!

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I checked my FSA balance. I have just enough for 3 more Synthroid prescriptions. Then the FSA year starts over. I'm planning on upping my contribution by $10/month. I didn't use my dental insurance at all this year, and my Syntrhoid ended up being more than I had thought it would be. I still need to find out if I can do a prescription for Allegra D to have it covered by the FSA - if so, I'll need to up the amount by $30-40/month. (Our FSA year runs November to October.)

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August Spending:
1st - Fazoli's - $13
2nd - Grocery store - $57.xx (groceries, cat, NE birthday stuff)
Chinese buffet - $25 for two
3rd - hopefully none!

Well, I updated my numbers for July. Groceries and treats were my problem areas. For August I have decided to increase my grocery budget to $150 for two reasons - 1. There are more grocery trip days; and 2. One of the reasons I think I went a bit overboard with the treats and grocery spending overall this month is because I kept looking in my fridge at dinner time, and nothing appealed. So, I'm giving myself the room to be a little more lenient with my groceries in order to not spend so much on the junk.

--
I did get a full refund from Airbnb for the money I paid for my reservation. So all of that is back into my Vacation funds.

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Extra income included:
Swagbucks - $50
Pact - $16
Parking Garage - $33
Amex Cash bonus - $125
Interest - $8.36
---
Spending in areas other than fixed amounts:

Car Fees - 175 (registration/wheel tax)
Groceries - 145.91
Phone - 26.26
Internet - 67.61
Gas - 21.97
Electric - 37.88
Auto Fuel - 28.48
Medical - 40.64 (Allegra D)
Kari - 12.57

Clothing - 37.31 (two pairs of shoes - will be taking back one pair)

Toiletries - 7
Electronics - 19.45 (two android phones)

Household Goods - 20.45 (folding chair, off spray, paper towels)

iTunes - 6.41 (clothing app)
Treats - 42.70
Restaurants - 8.82
-------------------
Savings:
PT (Personal Trainer fund) - 60.15/350 (funded by extra earnings)
EF - 10% of net income + $68 = 8449.91/10,000
ROTH - $200

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August will have car insurance (funded) and some spending from my vacation fund for a staycation.

I anticipate a good amount of extra income in August, due to overtime from my main job, and getting paid for the last parking garage shift. (I'm not scheduled for any in August yet.) That money will be split between PT, Vacation and EF funds.

So Thursday after work was spent riding/driving to O city and back. Why? NE had found a 2000 Chevy Prizm for $1200 which he decided to buy.

There is some work that will need to be done to it - brakes, driver side window, etc., but mechanically it is in good shape.

I am SO glad to have my car back now (he filled up my gas tank and treated me to dinner at Hardee's as a thank you for letting him use my car this week.)

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I convinced my boss to let me have a 3rd school event in August. That'll make 4 different events I'll be doing.

I figure I can do more than my fair share now since I won't be able to help with any of the football games (they all are on Saturdays or Friday nights. Except for the one after Thanksgiving, which I'll be in CA!) (We run a shuttle service from multiple locations in the city to the local public uni's football stadium.)

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The last two weeks have been a bust financially and health wise. The numbers aren't going to be very pretty .. not as bad as May's, but definitely not as nice as June's. You can probably guess where a lot of the budget busting came from.

Ugh.

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I bought two $9 Net 10 phones from Family Dollar today (sale ended today.) I'm going to be using them for the sole purpose of playing paid videos. I think they'll pay off soon enough to be worthwhile.

I also read this article posted on FB:

http://www.thepennyhoarder.com/ways-to-make-money-at-home/

Many of the things I knew about already, but I did see one thing which interested me. Send Dollars - almost exactly like Inbox Dollars. I signed up for it and already have about $6.80 (out of $30 to cash out.)

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I did this horrible survey yesterday morning which turned out to be mainly about coffee. I somehow managed to complete it - mainly because they didn't ask the one question which would have saved both them and me a lot of time .... Do you drink coffee? Nope - they just assumed that everyone drinks coffee. Yuck.

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I managed to complete the Survey Soiree for SBs this week - 150 SB rebate. I only was able to do this due to waking up around 4 a.m. 3 out 5 mornings ... not on purpose. At all.

I don't know if my tiredness affected my viewpoint today at work or not, but MAN were people ever crabby and argumentative. There were a couple of times I wanted to ask - why are you even asking me this question if you won't take my answer?

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The local community college is looking for a Learning Resource Director. Gulp. They aren't requiring a specialized higher education librarian degree (like most universities would ...) It pays $4/hour more than what I'm making now. I'm not sure what the benefits are.

I'm thinking seriously about applying.

My two big qualms .... 1. It would put me WAY out of my comfort zone dealing with CC students; and 2. It doesn't state what the expected hours/days are.

2 is probably the bigger issue. I checked on the website for the LRC and it shows it is open on Saturdays.

I have the feeling that my stating that I can only work M-F probably would get my application thrown in the proverbial trash without further reading. But, still, it probably wouldn't hurt to try. Who knows how many other ALA certified (well, expired certified?) librarians are here AND know about the job offer. I might have a slim chance.

I do want to see what the benefits are though first - because if I got the job, my commute would change from 6 or 7 minutes to more like 20minutes + - and definitely not walkable. (but would be bussable.)

(And yes, the not working on Saturdays is completely, unequivocally, non-negotiable for me. This is partly why I've hesitated to apply for any of the various public librarian jobs - all of which require weekend hours. As a newbie, I probably wouldn't be able to say - I want Sundays only!)

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Ok, I'm now off to catch up on your blogs. (This is actually a second rendition of my post... thanks to accidentally hitting the backspace button instead of the arrow to move over tabs ...)

Tuesday night I had my 3rd shift at the parking garage. This time there was a WWE event going on. I got there about 7:40 - 20 minutes early. We didn't end up getting sent to our spots til nearly 9:20 (I clocked in at 7:55.) It seems kind of wasteful to have 8 or so people standing around for an hour+ on the clock waiting for an event to actually end. But oh well, it's more money in my pocket. (I clocked out a bit before 11. So about $33 before taxes.)

Once the cars started coming out, time went by pretty fast. Before I went, I had no energy nor desire to go. By the time I got home though, I was pepped up and couldn't go to sleep for a long time. (Still woke up about 4:45 a.m. ....)

----
Before I left for the shift though, I tried calling Vanguard again. I was being transferred to someone when the call ended suddenly. So I called back and got the name and number of the person I was being transferred to. I called and left a voice mail - more than 24 hours later, and I have not gotten a call back.

I'm going to try again tomorrow night (when I don't have to run off to Vacation Bible School like tonight, or have a shift to work.)

Hopefully, third time will be the charm.

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Work. Ugh. Still ongoing saga of 268 page document and the perfectionist who believes there is only one way to do things (she tells me to make a change, I make the change, she insists I should do it her way instead ...) My boss is also frustrated with this person (they had to do a presentation to the other co-workers yesterday - some book the staff is reading.) My boss has told me that if I want off this project, all I have to do is say so. Part of me wants to say OFF, but a larger part of me does not want to do that - kind of feel like being a quitter.

Lady sat up front with me today going over some cross-referencing in the document. I was logged off the phone. Still had at least 6 calls and 7 people come by to buy passes. She got so frustrated with all the interruptions that she told me we'd keep working tomorrow if my boss could cover the not logged in phone calls. She asked me if it always was this busy.

Ummm... the phone wasn't even logged in. Yes, it can sometimes be that busy x50. Other times, not so much. One never knows.

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Tuesday -
DMV - $175 - Car registration
Taco Bell ... $4.19

Wednesday:
Walgreen's - $20.xx (junk, locker lock for gym, deodorant, real food)

Extra Income:
$16 from Pact cashed in

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Okay, it is now 11:08. I am going to try to go to bed and see if I can get more than 4 1/2 hours sleep ...

Tuesday night I had my 3rd shift at the parking garage. This time there was a WWE event going on. I got there about 7:40 - 20 minutes early. We didn't end up getting sent to our spots til nearly 9:20 (I clocked in at 7:55.) It seems kind of wasteful to have 8 or so people standing around for an hour+ on the clock waiting for an event to actually end. But oh well, it's more money in my pocket. (I clocked out a bit before 11. So about $33 before taxes.)

Once the cars started coming out, time went by pretty fast. Before I went, I had no energy nor desire to go. By the time I got home though, I was pepped up and couldn't go to sleep for a long time. (Still woke up about 4:45 a.m. ....)

----
Before I left for the shift though, I tried calling Vanguard again. I was being transferred to someone when the call ended suddenly. So I called back and got the name and number of the person I was being transferred to. I called and left a voice mail - more than 24 hours later, and I have not gotten a call back.

I'm going to try again tomorrow night (when I don't have to run off to Vacation Bible School like tonight, or have a shift to work.)

Hopefully, third time will be the charm.

---
Work. Ugh. Still ongoing saga of 268 page document and the perfectionist who believes there is only one way to do things (she tells me to make a change, I make the change, she insists I should do it her way instead ...) My boss is also frustrated with this person (they had to do a presentation to the other co-workers yesterday - some book the staff is reading.) My boss has told me that if I want off this project, all I have to do is say so. Part of me wants to say OFF, but a larger part of me does not want to do that - kind of feel like being a quitter.

Lady sat up front with me today going over some cross-referencing in the document. I was logged off the phone. Still had at least 6 calls and 7 people come by to buy passes. She got so frustrated with all the interruptions that she told me we'd keep working tomorrow if my boss could cover the not logged in phone calls. She asked me if it always was this busy.

Ummm... the phone wasn't even logged in. Yes, it can sometimes be that busy x50. Other times, not so much. One never knows.

---
Tuesday -
DMV - $175 - Car registration
Taco Bell ... $4.19

Wednesday:
Walgreen's - $20.xx (junk, locker lock for gym, deodorant, real food)

Extra Income:
$16 from Pact cashed in

I called Valic tonight to find out about consolidating everything. Once the rep heard how much I had to move, he was trying to move mountains to get me to the right person. The wait time though was at least 7 or 8 minutes, and I had to leave for VBS. So I'm going to try again tomorrow (with the direct number & notes on my account to speed things up.)

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I am beyond frustrated at work. The document I spent a large portion of Friday afternoon working on fixing? 70% of the changes I had made did NOT stick! I KNOW I saved as I went. So this morning I had to endure yet again being told .. you remember we talked about such and such ... OMW!! YES I REMEMBER! Even though for who knows why the document doesn't show it! UGH!

I am really wishing I hadn't agreed to help out with this project.

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I got my $250 bonus from Amex yesterday. $125 of it goes towards paying NE's medical stuff that he let me put on there (what we agreed to prior, since I was not going to be able to make the $1k spending requirement.) The other half I put towards mainly two categories - Personal Training and Education. I need to save up $350 for PT and $500 for Education (will be reimbursed for classes I take, but only after I receive a passing grade.) The rest of it went in dribs and drabbles to other funds needing a little plumping.

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NE and I watched "The Theory of Everything" last night about Stephen Hawking. Very good movie.

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Funny story. Last week NE was telling me that it was my turn the last week of July to treat for a meal. I told him that it was - treat once a month, not every 4 weeks (back and forth.) That a meal out in July wasn't in my budget.

So last night we were talking about what we'd do next Sunday. He said something about maybe going to a movie .. then was like, Nope, that's not in the budget.

(This was all very lighthearted/teasing.)

I almost told him that what's gotten me to where I am now financially is actually having and paying attention (usually ...) to a budget.

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Tonight I helped out at our church's VBS at the registration table. While the kids were in their various groups I also helped out with a few little projects. Otherwise it was a lot of standing around with my thumb in my pocket... I'll be helping out again on Wednesday, but I think I'll leave once the registration rush is over.

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Tomorrow night I have my 3rd parking garage shift. It'll be from 8 p.m to hopefully no later than 10:30 p.m.

Last time I had a shift someone recognized me - but I wasn't sure HOW I knew them or they knew me. Today on of the ladies from a local agency came by to pick up passes - that was the person who recognized me. We thought it was pretty funny.

So I'm thinking about combining all my investment accounts. I think I want to put them all in Vanguard, but I'm not sure if it is possible.

I currently have two stock/brokerage accounts at Scottrade.

A stock/brokerage account and target fund at Trowe.

A defunct 403(b) account from teaching at some place called Empower Retirement? (used to be at Valic AIG, but my former employer switched companies this year.)

A traditional ROTH at Vanguard.

Almost forgot - another stock account at Cap One - formerly Sharebuilder.

And then of course the accounts I have with my new employer. (These I plan to leave alone.)

The 403b and the TROWE target fund I think can be moved over with no problem. It's the stock accounts I'm not so sure about.

I want to consolidate these accounts as much as possible for two reasons - 1- ease of tracking/accounting, and 2 - less maintenance fees eating into profits.

I know I need to just call Vanguard and ask if it's possible to move stock only accounts over to them, but I seem to think about these kinds of things on the weekend or after business phone hours.

I don't want to sell my stock holdings, just move them to another ... holder? I'm not even sure if that is possible??

Anyway, I have this on a reminder note for the August business days I'll have off to call and get the ball rolling on as much as I can.

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Oh get this! I just got a message from J of airbnb fame ... the "friend" found an apartment and doesn't need her room after all. Too bad, so sad. :roll eyes:

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I've been on a bit of a junkfood binge the past few days. All that stuff I bought Thursday ... I had thought about returning some of it before I actually ate it ... Oh well. It was a good reminder that I actually like how I feel *without* eating all that junk *much* better than the opposite.

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I cashed out Bing for a $5 AGC yesterday. Today I am within less than 600 SBs of my second $25 Paypal for July. (Ngage is back ... which can be "watched" while doing stuff in another window at the same time ...)

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I've set my fitbit sleep thing on sensitive this last week. It sure has shown me why I'm so tired! For example, last night out of 6 hrs 30 minutes "asleep" 85 minutes of that time was "restless" or moving enough to shake the fitbit. Other nights had less hours of "sleep" with roughly the same restless minutes. I wish I could figure out how to change this. Consistent exercise doesn't seem to be the answer. Eating better doesn't seem to be the answer. (the little hours sleep / restlessness are similar for before Thursday's junk food binge - so really made no difference.)

Getting TO sleep isn't the issue - it's once I'm asleep that there are multiple periods of restlessness, and then waking up at WAY too early hours (WAY before my alarm is set, and not being able to go back to sleep very well.)

---
This coming week my sleep issues are probably not going to be helped much ... Monday and Wednesday evenings I'm signed up to help out at the local VBS. Tuesday night I'm doing a parking garage shift from 8 p.m. - ?? And of course Sunday and Thursday nights are NE's nights. Somehow I'm going to fit in regular exercise into that schedule.

I just typed up a huge rant about the last few days, but then decided it probably was overshare.

So, long and short .. big project I'd worked on a few weeks ago that I had to send on before it was finished, got published to the public. Meeting yesterday with coworker and boss was about it. Me explaining what happened. Ended with me going on a junkfood spending spree after work.

*This project I worked on was helping out coworker with something. She was out for a week with surgery/recovery while I was trying to finish said project. Was told to send it on to head boss even though I told them it wasn't ready.*

This morning wasn't much better ... but got better once I got working on actually finishing the document. (got pulled from the public)

Am way overtired and hormonal which is probably affecting my reactions to this, as well as Airbnb thing. (Haven't heard anymore from customer service.)

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I've decided to look into other places to go for my getaway. Possibly Kansas City - something called Water World I think NE said is there. I may just do one night away instead of two though, then have two days at my place to r&r. Maybe take in some things around here too.

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No spend day #14 I think

Today during lunch I was browsing FB and my eyes just about bugged out. There in front of me was a 1334 sq ft house for $30k!

Everything I usually see on there is 3x+ as much. So I inspected it a bit closer to figure out why it was so inexpensive.

The main thing I could come up with was that it is a mobile home. From the pictures it looked well kept, it included a yard and a screened in back porch. It didn't sound like it was in a bad part of town, nor too terribly far from work.

I couldn't click on the link for more info, and it seems to have disappeared. However, it gave me hope that I might be able to afford something without taking on a huge mortgage or waiting ten years ... as long as I can find a mobile home in good condition and in a good / well taken care of park. And apparently there is such a thing here!

I could do 20% down on this thing with only my EF savings. Give me a few more years (and more time to research areas/mobile home conditions) and this might just be the way to go.

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I ended up walking to work this morning even though I really had not planned on doing it (so HOT yesterday morning.) It was a little warm, but much cooler than Monday a.m.

NE picked me up after work today and took me over to his place so I could use his car to go to the gym.

The drive without a/c wouldn't have been too bad if it hadn't been for the horrible traffic! It took me nearly 30 minutes to get to the gym! (In comparison, it took me 12 minutes to get home.)

NE is planning on getting the a/c fixed in his Honda, and then taking his Subaru in to see what is going on with it. If it's more than a $1k fix, he's probably going to get rid of it. If the a/c gets working in his Honda, that'll give him until October or so to get another second car (for winter driving.)

We're trading cars again tonight after he gets off work (11 p.m.) I'll be glad to have my car back.

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I figured out that my digital scale just takes AAA batteries. I have some around here somewhere ..

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No spending today (Day #11)

Tonight I was just sitting back relaxing and getting ready to enter my receipts from my Walgreen's shopping trip when I got a call from NE telling me his car had broken down just a few blocks away.

The end result is that I'm letting him use my car for at least the next few days. I'll take the bus to work, and he'll pick me up tomorrow and then I can use his second car (no a/c) to go to the gym. (He delivers pizza, and it is WAY too hot to be driving around for hours without A/C - I can survive 20 minutes to the gym and back.)

He's going to have a mechanic friend look at it, but it'll eventually have to get towed and fixed. It doesn't sound like it will be an inexpensive fix.

He's had so many troubles with his two cars (both are 2002/3 models - Honda Civic and Subaru Impreza I think.)

This of course had to happen in the midst of our first major heatwave this summer.

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After work today I went to the UPS customer center and picked up my 2" washers (IOW cheap fractional plates.) Then I stopped at Walgreen's to pick up some more Allegra D ...I also picked up some candy bars ... and a folding chair in a carrying bag. All came out of budgeted categories.

By the time I got home I was pretty hungry, plus this morning I saw I'd lost another pound and was thinking it was going a bit too fast. So I decided to treat myself to Burger King. Again, budgeted. (but no more left for the month in that category!)

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My digital scale died this morning - just after I weighed myself. I was wondering if maybe the reason the numbers had been going down on it was due to a weak battery - so I weighed myself at work. It was only a difference of 5lbs - which made sense (eaten breakfast, drunk water, work clothes, shoes, etc.)

I need to figure out how to get the scale going again.
(It's a Wahoo fitness wi-fi scale, about two years old.)

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NE paid me back today for the two things I put on my Discover and American Express cards. So as soon as that money is available, I'll send it on to the cards.

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Just a month from now and I'll be on my mini-vacation!! Woo hoo! I can hardly wait. 4 whole days in a row away from the phones! (If you're calling for directions, it's a good idea to have something to write on/with, and know the address of where you are and where you want to go ... just saying...)

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Almost forgot! Saturday night I worked my part time job at the parking garage. It was only supposed to be for 90 minutes. But the concert lasted until well after 11 pm. They finally told us to go home about 12:30 a.m.!! That definitely won't work for me on a weeknight ... But I can thank ND (performer) for 2 extra hours worth of pay!

This morning I decided to check the airbnb site again to see if anything new had come up. Guess what! I found a place for $29/night! Previously the best I had found was $45/night. I booked for two nights, so my lodging costs will be $65. Right now I have $176 set aside for my getaway, plus whatever I can add this month.

I'm thinking I will be coming in under budget!!

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I booked the lodging with my Amex card. Between paying for a portion of NE's medical bill (he's paying me back minus $125, which is half of the cash back reward) and then booking the lodging, I finally have my Amex finished! I doubt if I'll ever use it again unless some offer comes up again like the Sam's Club one, or some kind of Amazon deal. Too much of a pain.

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I also finished out my $500 for July spending on my Discover card. (Actually I just realized that I might need to do one more grocery trip with it - because once I take the shoes back, then I'll be under $500 again.) I've put all my recurring bills on it - electric, gym, Internet, etc. I also used my card to pay for the final treatment of Riddles (again will be paid back.)

*Working on spending $500/month from July to November on my Discover card for a $75 bonus. I am not spending anything I would not normally to get this.
I have no debt, and pay my balances in full every month.

August looks like it will be easy too, between trip expenses and car insurance renewal. September should be easy too - mom/brother visit, purchase airplane ticket for Thanksgiving, etc. November I'm not sure what all I'll be able to do to get it.

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Went grocery shoppigng today after the gym. I walked over there, totally forgetting til I passed the pet care aisle that I needed cat litter ... Oops. At least the cat litter and the grocery bag weighed fairly the same.

I bought: apples, bananas, egg salad sandwich, eggs, green bell pepper, Boca crumbles, candy bar, paper towels, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, cat litter.

Total of $28.70

There are 3 more grocery Friday's in July, and I have $39 left in my grocery budget. I'm going to have to try to keep my next 3 trips to $13 or less to stay within budget. That means probably forgoing the sandwich and/or Amy's meal.

(paper towels and cat litter come out of non-grocery categories)

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On the way to the gym today I was nearly sideswiped! There were two left turn lanes. I was in the far right one. I turned into the corresponding lane. Luckily out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the person on my left starting to come over! I beeped my horn and swerved into the extra lane to my right (for right hand turn people.) My adrenaline sure was pumping!

CCF you might know the intersection I'm talking about -- 27th and Hwy 2 heading towards Walmart.

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I had two people at work argue with me today. One was someone wanting directions. I even gave him to the bus driver supervisor, and the caller argued with him!! The other person was someone who came to the window with commuter checks. I told him he needed to fill them out. He told me that "NO, it's your responsibility to fill them out! The lady who I've always dealt with before never asked me to fill them out." I told him that in the year I've worked here, anytime someone's brought commuter checks, that they had them filled out already. He didn't believe me. Finally I just took the checks and gave him his passes.

(We hate commuter checks! They give them two checks for every pass AND the check numbers are LONG. Such a pain in the patookus!)

Before the arguers, I'd been thinking that this had been a pretty calm week - nothing really of note. (at work at least)

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Thursday - No spend day #8!

Friday - spend, spend .. but all within budgeted categories

I decided to walk to work today. The weather was perfect for it - 55 in the morning, and in the low 70s in the afternoon.

On my way home today I was about ten blocks away from work when a woman standing at a corner waved at me. I went over there and she asked me "Aren't you the person who works at ....?" I told her that I was. She thought it was funny that I was walking instead of taking the bus. So I told her that I only live 1.5 away from work, and enjoy the walk. However, next week (if I decide to walk) I'll probably take the bus on the way home because it's supposed to be in the 90s in the afternoon.

She told me that she calls me all the time asking for directions. She must have come by to buy passes too, although I didn't recognize her.

On the way home I thought of another way I could possibly take the bus for my return trip. It still would mean walking about 8 or 9 blocks, but then I'd be dropped off within a block of my apartment. I might try that next week.

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My mom has bought her tickets to come here in September - $137! Awesome price! Now we wait to see if my brother actually buys tickets .... or it it'll just be me and her.

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I redeemed for a $25 PP from SBs today, and thanks to my SBs Visa, I am about 300 towards my next one.

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I got an email from the place I ordered the 2" washers from - total cost with shipping is $18.48. SO much cheaper than Amazon's fractional plates. They are already here in the city, so maybe I'll get them tomorrow before I head out to the gym for my next weight lifting workout.

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I was reading "In the Unlikely Event" by Judy Blume today at work (Great story so far!) when a lady came by to buy a bus pass. She asked me if I liked to read. There followed a nice 5 or 6 minute conversation. (She also is an avid reader.) That was fun.

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No spending today. (I think that makes 5 NSDs for July?)

On the local FB sales group, sometimes people list houses for sale. I've seen houses on there for anywhere from 94k to 489k. Mostly they are between 110-40k.

On my income it has taken me roughly a year to save about 5k in my EF (the balance was already there, leftover from my moving fund/EF from NM.)

I pay $430/month in rent, plus between $50 - $100 in utilities. I put about 15% of my post-tax income in a ROTH (which doesn't even get close to maxing it out.)

So if I ever want to buy a house and have the payments be something I can manage on my income, I will probably need 40k+ for a downpayment, plus another 10 - 15k for closing costs, House EF/fix up.

At my current savings rate, that might happen ... oh 9 or 10 years from now? And that's assuming that the simple, not fancy houses (1000sq ft w/basement home for $138k type places) will not have gone way up in price.

And I'll probably be needing another car about that time too ...

I don't make minimum wage - but maybe close to 2x minimum wage. I don't have much in the way of extravagances - no cable tv, watch my pennies. I do have my iPhone and my Internet (which I cringe paying for - so expensive!) I'm also only supporting myself and my cat.

So ... how do people with families do it? How do they buy houses???

I was looking at the calculator for the 138k house, assuming a 20k down payment at 4.5% interest. My payment would be something like $900/month!! No way on God's green earth I could afford that and still save for retirement, or for car replacement, or have any extra left for once in a while vacations, or for home repairs ...

I guess it kind of makes me a bit discouraged. I know, I know ... I could get a teaching job making twice what I make here (or close to it.) But as stressful as the bus job is sometimes, it is only 40 hours a week and I'm done. Teaching .... just not the case. Plus a WHOLE nother level of stress.

--
PS - I have an ad for Sam's Club below. They just have to be advertising that they have Nutella on sale this month. Note to Laura - DO NOT ENTER Sam's Club this month.

I love fireworks, really I do. However, I will be glad when the people in my neighborhood run out of them. Really? Firing off something at 3 a.m.? (It had finally gotten quiet around 1 a.m. so I thought it was safe to try to go to sleep, then got rudely woken again.)

Got up this morning, made my SBs daily goal, then made my oatmeal banana greek yogurt pancakes (no mishaps this time!) Spent a little more time on the computer.

Unloaded the dishwasher (finally ... been clean since Wednesday.) Reloaded and started it.

Headed over to the gym. Did about 30 minutes of walk/jog/run intervals. Then went upstairs and used the stretching contraptions (need to ask how they work when there's someone actually there.) and used the thing where you place your feet under something, and bend forward and up (back strengthener thingy.)

Got home and started my laundry. Took a shower and then got started on making a quadruple batch of my black bean burgers.

Put the laundry in the dryer. Put the black bean burgers in the oven to bake. Boy does the oven make the house heat up!

I made a total of 20 burgers. I think I added a little "too" much liquid this time because they aren't sticking together very well (even after I added a little extra oatmeal.) That's how it goes when you're not really measuring. Once they're frozen and then reheated, they should be fine I think. (I'm waiting for them to cool off enough for me to put them in the freezer now.)

Just had an apple and a piece of pb toast. I didn't want to eat too much because I'm not sure where we're going for dinner tonight. It'll probably be a Chinese buffet - NE loves those places. If so, a plate full of veggies and fruits first, and then a second plate with some of the other things I like in small amounts.

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I'm just 200 SBs away from being able to get my next $25 PP. Kind of tempted to do some surveys to see if I can get any. Did a few last week? whenever they were having the Survey Soiree thing that I actually completed (shocked!)

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Spending today:
Laundry - $2

Dinner will be NE's treat.

So yesterday I talked a bit about my car registration expense of $170 and how I was thinking I'd pay it in July, but not count it til August's budget. The more I thought about doing that, the more I didn't like it.

I knew the expense was coming up (couldn't remember exactly how much, but I knew it was probably a July expense.) So ... I could have set money aside for it. I think I didn't do that mainly because I was working off the idea of just "cash-flowing" these kinds of expenses. Which would work fine if it wasn't for the fact of my making a new goal/challenge of taking half of "extra" money for June and July and putting it towards a getaway.

When I thought about having to subtract $170 from my extra amount for the month, it made me not want to do it!

But the more I thought about "cheating" the budget, the more I didn't like that idea.

So I spent some time today reworking my budget. And putting the $170 for car registration in July's spending.

I then figured out that even with taking that out of the equation, if I was really careful this month, I should still have at least $200 for my getaway. $102 for two nights lodging. $36 for park admission, $15 for living history farm - leaves about $50 for gas and food. Might still be doable. Plus maybe in August I can just budget an extra $30 or so to the Vacation category to give me a little leeway.

I also decided that maybe I should just go ahead and go back to setting aside monthly amounts for known, or possibly known expenses which don't occur regularly. So, I readjusted my July budget to reflect that. It drastically reduced my "extra" funds, but I think it probably is also a better reflection of reality.

My system worked for six months, but now some of those "irregular" expenses are coming up and like with the car registration, I almost feel resentful taking them out of my extra cashflow. If it's set aside already, then it won't (maybe) feel so painful/annoying.

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Oh about the shoes! I was almost ready to bite the bullet and purchase the DSW shoes when I decided to give Amazon one more try. (I'd looked on there several months ago when first looking.) I found a pair that aren't *quite* the same, but very close. In the size I need. $37.98. I had $26.xx in my gift card balance (thanks Perk and Bing!) and $1.xx in Discover cashback. So my final cost was 11.78. They'll be here sometime this coming week. (Womens shoes also just happen to be in the 4SBs per dollar category right now.)

If they work, then I will return the other shoes. If not, then I will return them to Amazon and go back to DSW for that pair.

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Doing Stronglifts the weight increments go up by 5 - 10 lbs a workout. That is a lot of increase for a woman. What is suggested to make the increase go a bit slower is to use fractional plates. I checked at the gym on Friday and they do not have them.

On Amazon they have a set for about $50. That's not too much, but of course I wanted to check first to see if there was a cheaper alternative. There is. I bought 6 2" washers for a total of 11.67 (don't know shipping yet - but probably about $7.) They'll be shipped ground, so might be a week or two before I get them. Until they get here, I'll probably just stick with only using the barbell (the barbell by itself is 45lbs.)

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People were shooting off fireworks til at least 1 a.m. last night. Then for whatever reason I woke up about 6 and could not go back to sleep. Got up, but was so tired I ended up skipping church and church picnic/ walking group. Still feeling really tired.

(eating the chocolate desert bread meant for the picnic probably didn't help my tiredness .... no more junk food for me this week!)

So today was the day. I finally made the trek to Dollar Tree to find out if they had the frozen fruit deals like Laura (other Laura ) had mentioned awhile ago.

The first Dollar Tree I ventured into did not have anything other than ice cream. It did however have a mom who was being incredibly rude to her daughter and the mom caught me giving her a dirty look while pressing my lips together to keep from saying something.

So I headed on to the next Dollar Tree - the one that is about 8 miles from my home. (It's a LONG way when you work only 1.5 miles from home and have a grocery store within 1/8th of a mile!) That one had the frozen section!!!!

I bought ten bags of frozen fruit (mangoes, strawberries, peaches, and pineapple), 3 bags of mixed frozen veggies, two vegetable samosa thingys that looked good, a little Hershey's pie, and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. (I was getting really hungry at this point ... my earlier shoe expedition took WAY longer than expected.)

In all ... I spent $17!! The frozen fruit should probably last me a good 6 weeks, maybe more. The veggies should be enough for July. I'm thinking about taking the frozen fruit out of the bags, putting one cup servings (mixed up) of them in sandwich baggies, and then putting those baggies into a large freezer baggie. That way I'll really know how many servings I have (and it will save me ten or 15 seconds in the morning ...) Maybe I'll do that with the veggies too, that way my servings of them are a little more ... even. (somedays I have a lot more than other days.)

Next time I go up there I'll need to stop at Walmart and/or Sam's first to get non-freezer items to help make the trip a little bit more gas friendly.

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I did buy shoes today. They're not exactly what I'm wanting, but they're the closest I could get at the mall. I spent over an hour going into every store that had a shoe section in the mall. Sears had the shoe I wanted, only not in WW. Online they HAD it in WW, but it was out of stock!! ARghh!!

If anyone knows where I could find black MaryJanes with medium/low heels and a rounded/box toe, in an 8 1/2 W or 9 W, PLEASE tell me or buy two pairs of them for me and I'll paypal you the money and shipping! Seriously.

Why do stores make it SO darn difficult to find WW shoes?? With as many ... larger ... people as there are, you'd think there'd be an incredible market for them.

I SO hate shoe shopping! When I got my last pair, I KNEW I should have gotten two pairs right then and there.

Here is a link to the exact shoe I'm wanting:
http://www.sears.com/i-love-comfort-women-s-mary-jane-girly-black/p-05487533000P?prdNo=22&blockNo=22&blockType=G22

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Okay, so besides Dollar Tree and Mall walking, I also got my library books dropped off, filled up with gas, did some more grocery shopping (at the store 1/8th of a mile from home) and got in a great workout at the gym!

Groceries: $27.80 -- canned black beans (for black bean burgers for lunches), loaf of Orowheat Everything bread, bananas, big bag of washed/cut kale, bag of apples, zucchini, Amy's frozen entree (my Friday night treat), loaf of chocolate bread (for church picnic tomorrow) and a can of Off! spray. (holy cow! Nearly $6 for the Off! spray!!! it better last a good long time!)

Gas: $25.70 - got .07/gallon discount from local grocery store loyalty card.

Shoes: $26.73 (am going to hold off on wearing them until I just can't possibly wear the other ones ... in case I find the ones I really want and can take these back!)

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Workout! I did my second Stronglifts 5x5 workout today - first one using the app. Even though I did it only using the barbell (not adding weights) and it didn't *feel* like it was very hard ... I was sweating majorly by the end.

When I was done though, I did about 15 minutes more of walk/jog/run intervals. Was *really* sweating by the end of that!

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Now I think I'm going to finish my Alex Cross book (Hope to Die by James Patterson) and just have a nice relaxing evening.

Tomorrow is church, church picnic, and the church biking/walking group. Might finally watch "Boyhood" tomorrow night (borrowed from library.)

Sunday will be my oatmeal banana/greek yogurt pancakes, making a triple batter of black bean burgers to freeze, laundry, another workout, and then going out to eat somewhere with NE (his turn to treat this month!)

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Almost forgot! On the way to the gym I stopped by my PO box (need to close it - was about to close it this last time, but got charged for it before I'd sent in the forwarding order.) I got my bill for my car registration. I knew it was either July or August. Apparently it is July. $170.

Oops. I kind of forgot to budget for that. I'm kind of thinking of cheating just a little bit ... I'll put it on my Discover card for the July spending requirements, but I won't actually count it out of my budget til August. (the CC won't be paid til then anyway, especially if I wait til July 20 or so.)

The reason for this of course is that if I take it out of July's budget, then I'll have very little to put towards my getaway or extra for the EF.

In August I know I'll be getting at least ten hours of overtime (which would count as at least 15 hours of pay) so that would pretty much cover it.

Note -- I will be making sure to set aside $15/mo for next years registration!

I almsot posted this on FB today, but then decided not to.

What I did post: Enjoying my day off!

What I almost posted: It's so nice to have a day off where I can get up when I want to, do what I want to, and not have any phones to answer! Makes me look forward to retirement all the more!

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I almost have my first daily goal finished for SBs. Once that's done I'm going out shopping. Dollar Tree for frozen fruit, and Sears possibly for my new dress shoes (for work.)I may also hit up an oil change place that's in that area to see if they still have oil changes for $19. Also need to get gas and drop off my rent check.

Once all that's done, I plan on putting some time in at the gym and doing laundry.

Off to finish up my daily goal!

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I closed a credit card and a checking account today. I'll have to wait til August when I have a day off during the week that isn't also a holiday to consolidate a couple investment accounts.

Speaking of investments ... Thanks to the surge in the electric car stock yesterday, my networth increased nearly $14k from the beginning of June. Keep it up electric car stock, keep it up!

I did so well all of June with no fast food ... but today at work I was SO tired and out of sorts. It didn't help that a project I was working on was giving me fits and caboodles (ever try making a table of contents in a document that already has a TOC? Yeah, me either til today.)

The phone calls were hopping (with some cranky people) and the window sales were pretty busy too.

So by the end of the day I did NOT want to make my own food, and I WANTED chocolate. I did NOT want to go to the gym.

So .. I did, and I didn't.

I think I may have been a bit overambitious to say I'd do strength training 3x a week right away. 2x a week plus 2 or 3x more going for walks, etc., I think is a better start. (It'd probably also help if I got better sleep ...)

So ...

Wednesday Spending:
Walgreen's - 19.xx - Allegra D
1.00 - candy
Burger King - $4.63 - dinner

I think my personal challenge / getaway goal worked pretty well.

In my Everyday Expenses categories:
Groceries - $103.92
Medical - $40.64 (Allegra D)
Kari - $9.05 (food and litter)
Treats - 18.78
Movies Out - $5
Gifts - $39.50

SO much better than May!

I earned extra income in June:
$78.xx - parking garage job
$50 - PP GC from Swagbucks
$25 AGC from PerkPoints
$10 - AGC from Bing
$10 - Pact

Besides my usual ROTH contribution and my 10% to my EF, I had $313.06 left over! That means I have $156.03 to put towards my getaway in August. (The other half goes to my EF.)


In July I'm going to do the same thing, really try to keep my spending down as much as possible. There are a few things I know I'll have to spend on though:

new shoes!!
higher electricity bill than the past 5 months or so
possibly have to renew car registration?

I know I have at least one shift at the parking garage in July, and I might be able to manage $50 from Swagbucks again. I'm also going to put some more things up on eBay and FB ... see how that goes. I think $100 more should make for a nice trip.

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My EF is at $8220.25 of my $12k goal. Sloooowwwlllyy moving towards the goal.

I couldn't believe my eyes ... when I was waiting to make a right turn from the gym again today -- the same lady in the humongous SUV was next to me making a left turn! How bizarre! At least it didn't take 5 or 6 minutes this time.

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I went to the gym today (as I said above ) and *almost* chickened out of going into the weight room. I walked for nearly ten minutes on the walking track "warming up" ... (read . getting my courage up) It was full of guys - finally I saw a women go in there. My warmup was over.

With the warmup and a five minute cooldown, I did about a 40 minute workout. I decided to go with a full body compound move workout. When I got there I tried to find out if they have fractional? plates, but I couldn't find a trainer to answer my question.

I think for now I'll just do the dumbbells for now (except for the deadlift - they have extra weighted bars for that.)

I can definitely feel that I put my muscles to the test! My arms are all shaky.

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I got my $25 AGC reward from Perk today - already spent it on my next installment of pea protein powder (for my smoothies) and a drain cleaner thingy someone suggested before (was waiting to get free shipping.)

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For those who read and/or made suggestions/comments ... the boat was not (and won't be) purchased. This came about without me saying a thing. Medical debt will be wiped out. (or nearly so) That's more like what I thought this person would do!

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We had something unusual happen at the bus station today - NO callers or visitors making complaints! That is kind of a rare occurrence.

3 more days til the long weekend!! Can hardly wait!!