Monday I got my $25 PP from Swagbucks. I also got an email that my $100 gift card had come from Achievemint.
When I clicked on the link to get it, it gave me three choices of how to redeem it - I chose PayPal. That $100 arrived today.

So on Sunday I'd emailed Fitbit's CS about my fitbit battery/back issues. They replied to me yesterday basicaly telling me they don't have any extra battery doohickeys or backs to the Zip (I can't get mine opened anymore after opening it 4 times with a quarter ... plus assorted other objects in an attempt to find something that worked ...) They also told me that according to their info, my battery was just fine and wasn't dying every 4 - 6 weeks.

Tell that to my dead as a doorknob Fitbit.

......
So ... I decided I was going to upgrade to the One so that I don't have to mess with batteries anymore.

I first checked on Amazon - $97 or $93 - the price difference was due to COLOR! Before I clicked buy though (would've been covered mostly by AGC) I decided to take a look on eBay.

I'm glad I did! I found a brand new one (had sat out on a store shelf as a display unit) for $60 + $5 shipping! It should be here by March 11 at the latest (I really hope it's sooner for a myraid of reasons - one being that I want to walk around the hospital while NEs in surgery and have those steps count!)

I think it's kind of funny/fitting (ha ha) that my reward for tracking steps, logging food, etc, etc, is now paying for a new tracker.

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I stayed home from work today. Just not feeling that great. While I am totally on track with my 40 day challenge of not *buying* junkfood, I'm not doing so well with eating offered junkfood. As in I ate two very yummy homemade sweetrolls at work yesterday. I think I would've been okay with just one. Then on Saturday I made brownies (from a box mix I already had) for a Sabbath School class potluck - there was about 1/4 of them left ....

I am really starting to think that some of my sinus/allergy issues are somewhat related to overdosing on sugar. Until the brownie incident I had been without a sinus headache for nearly 7 or 8 days.

I'm going to have to do some major evaluating of what this might mean going forward.

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NE is in O city having his pre-surgery appointments today.

He is thinking he'll be in the hospital at least two full days, and possibly a third one. He really wants me to come visit him everyday. This means a two-hour drive for me after work at least one or two days, as well as the drive to take him to the hospital.

So ... I'm thinking my gas spending is going to be high, and possibly my restaurant spending as well. Although I could just make myself a PBJ to take with me to eat in the car on the way there or something. I will definitely be doing Hardee's at least once though. (mushroom swiss burger and onion rings - so yummy! w/o the burger of course)

His surgery is on Wednesday. So if he is correct, it'll mean he goes home on either Friday or Saturday. I'll be taking Wednesday off completely from work, and was thinking about taking off an hour early on Thursday and Friday so I can spend an hour or so with him and still get home without having to drive in the dark.

However, I saw someone post that the time change is this coming Sunday? If so, then maybe I can get away without taking off early those days.

Guess I really should wait to see what info he has after his doctor visits today before thinking too much about it all.

--- It's been years since I've been in a regular hospital - do they generally have WiFi available? Do they allow cell phone usage in the waiting areas? Have plugs available for charging?

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If I get some energy here soon I want to make corn pudding and black bean burgers. I have all the ingredients for both. Maybe also a cottage cheese roast. Plan on freezing portions for later meals - although I've never frozen corn pudding before after it was baked (prior to baking, yes, but not after) -- Hmmm. Doubtful I'll get that energy anyway, but we'll see I guess.

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Oh, something really cute/funny. This morning I fed Kari, and then went back and laid down for awhile. Later I got up to make something to eat. She had barely eaten anything. As soon as I started making my food though, she started chowing down.

I was waiting to make this post until I could know for sure whether my third $25 PP would deposit before March or not ... it didn't, so it'll go for March.

Extras:
NM tax refund - $87
NE tax refund - $142
Fed tax refund - $540
Swagbucks PP - $50
FB sale - $30
PerkPoints - $25 AGC
Pact - $16
Pinecone - $10

Total: $900

Expenses:
Tithe: 10%
Giving: $30
Rent: 430
Car Insurance: Pd 215 6 mo. premium, added 36
Groceries: 69.30
Internet: 64.96
House Gas: 39.36
Electricity: 44.53
Auto Fuel: 14.53
Restaurants: 39.24 (2 ff and Chinese buffet for two)
Kari - 22.66 (stocking up on food w/coupons)
Treats - 23.21 (before starting 40 day challenge)
Gifts - $12.13 (NEs Valentine's)
Tax Prep - $34.98
ROTH - $200
EF - 10% + $1,068

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So ... for this month it gives me an approximate 70% savings rate (I'm not including the car insurance payment in this calculation because it was previously accounted for in expenses only in monthly "installments")

My groceries category is way low this month mainly because I was eating the food I purchased in January from the store that went out of business, plus the frozen fruit I bought from Sam's in December managed to last til Friday (supplemented by two bags of ff I'd bought from closed store.)

I expect my grocery bill to be much higher for March, but that will be countered by no money spent on treats (until March 31 ...)


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March is going to be interesting. I'll not only have my 2.5% raise going into effect, but I'll also have the 7% retirement contribution be taken out AND I changed my deductions from 2 to 3. Of course that income won't factor in til April, but I'll at least get to see what it's gonna look like.

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After factoring in what I know I'm going to spend in March and estimiating some other expenses, my goal is to put $300 extra into my Efund in March. (above the 10% minimum)

However, there are some items I'm contemplating ...
Shoes - $20 x 2 (my work shoes are pretty much shot - I am planning on ordering two pairs so I have an extra pair on hand in case this style goes away before I need it again - good, comfortable dressy shoes .. worth their weight in gold.)

Kari supplies - ala Cat Whisperer - second litterbox with high sides ($12), one or two mechanical toys to help with boredom while I'm at work ($30-40), food puzzle ($10) automatic food dispenser ($50)

The litterbox and food puzzle are the only two items I'm sure I'm going to get, the others I'm still contemplating. I have roughly $90 in AGC, which would easily cover what I want, plus some. I'm also hoping my reward from Achievemint will arrive soon ($100 visa gift card)

Gym - $39/month ... I won't have a chance to check it out this weekend, but I plan to next Sunday. I also want to see how my paycheck pans out for March to see if I'll feel comfortable deducting $39 from it ...

Fitbit upgrade ... I love my Zip, but the cheap batteries I got from eBay don't last more than a month or two. They were 5 for $2. To get a battery that lasts 4-6 months, it'd be $10+. So ... I'm thinking about upgrading to the next level where you don't have to have a battery - you charge it via usb cord. This would be approximately $100, although I saw a mention on YNAB forums today of someone seeing it at Walmart for $29!! If I see it for that, I'm grabbing it, no question!

I've been doing some looking into a trip out to CA in September for my grandma's 93rd birthday. I priced out Greyhound, AmTrak and Southwest. All of them came out about the same price, but Southwest was 7 hrs travel time versus 40+ hours. Driving would be ~29 hours.

Today I ran across a neat little tool - Google Flights. You input the dates you'd like to travel between and it finds the dates which would save you the most money. I found one flight for 340, but I'd have to stay for 14 days ... No can do. But I do think I'll be able to leave from L instead of O, which is what I thought I'd have to do to get a good deal. (just will have to pack very lightly)

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It got COLD here last night and today. Brr! It was -8 at noon today.

Glad I have plenty of hot chocolate to keep me warm.

---

Yesterday I went to a city health fair (during work hours!) and got a nice free chair massage. I also talked to a lady from a local gym.

*indoor track
*indoor/outdoor pool
*pilates classes (included in membership)
Plus all the usual weight, cardio, etc.

The city employee rate is $39/month for a 2 year membership.

I'm really, really tempted. The track and the pool are the two biggest draws to me (really the track is the biggest draw.)

I'm just not sure if I want to commit to $39/month for two years ... I'm most likely to use it when it is either too cold outside or too hot outside for me to feel comfortable walking outside (or most of the winter when it gets dark so early.) However, I would probably use the weights too.

I *can* exercise at home for free. No extra gas spent, and don't have to make sure I'm clothed decently.

I just think a track would help me make actual improvements, vs. stepping in place at home.

It would be about a 20 minute drive (one of the closest places to me. there is a $10/mo place no contract that is about 30 minute drive, but no track or pool)

I think I'd most likely use it Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Maybe Saturday too (too hot/cold to walk to the library)

I also like that for my Pact app that I could just check in and not have to worry about making sure I get enough movement in to count (it has a feature for home workouts which tracks accelrometer movement.)

If I do this and actually USE it, future Laura will thank present Laura for this. (health wise) If I do this and don't really use it, future Laura will beat up present Laura. (waste of money that could've been put towards savings goals)

I'm thinking I might check and see if I can get a one week membership to test it out and see if I will really DO the 20 minute drive after work during the week ... plus to see how crowded it is during the times I'd want to go. I know they'll do a one day trial, but that is hardly enough to really test it.

I just know how hard it is sometimes for me to make myself do workouts even with the motivation of watching a new episode of POI... Will I really be able to make myself drive 20 minutes .....

Sunday night NE and I went out to a Chinese buffet with his friend/wife. It was nice to spend some time with them, and NE was able to have his will witnessed.

I ended up only getting one semi-sweet food - mainly because I was stuffed! (I ate way too many corn nuggets - yummy!)

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6 days out of 40 are down now in my 40 day challenge! So far I'm not finding it too difficult to stay away from the temptation of buying junkfood ... of course I also haven't had any majorly stressful days this past 6 days. That's when the real test will come.

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I read "The Mockingbird Next Door" this past week at work. It's about Nelle Harper Lee - the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. It was REALLY good. Towards the end of the book it mentioned the movie Infamous with Sandra Bullock (based on the Clutter family murder in the early 60s in Kansas - which Truman Capote wrote the book In Cold Blood about.)

NE and I watched it on Amazon IV last night (only $2 to rent! paid out of my Amazon credits). I liked it, although I think NE was slightly bored because it was mostly talking/interacting and not too much action.

--
Today I started reading "The Cat Whisperer." I am *really* liking it so far. Ceejay, you might want to check it out if your cats are still having issues.

No spending since Sunday - groceries and dinner - roughly $48 total. With 4 days to do, I think I'll be putting over $1000k to my EF! Wish every month could be like that. (I'd have to earn a whole lot more!)

Yesterday when I got home and got on Swagbucks I saw I had had a 1500 SB infusion. I was wondering what that was from, so checked my account ledger.

It was from doing my taxes on TaxAct! I had clicked through the link when I did my taxes, but hadn't seen anything in the Shop and Earn tab or anywhere else saying pending .. so figured that since I already was a customer of TaxAct that I wouldn't get the points.

Glad I was wrong. I just need 400 more now to get my next $25 PP reward. Sweet!

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I also had a nice surprise EOB from my bloodwork. I wasn't asked for a co-pay at the time, and was expecting to pay at least $30+ for my part.

Today I got the EOB - My portion? $0!!

I have to say, I *really* like my insurance plan.

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I walked to the library today and brought back a number of items. Picked up some things that were on hold. One of them was "The Rosie Project" which I'd seen recommended by a number of people on YNAB forums.

The lady behind me saw the book and told me that her book club had just read that book, and that there is a sequel to it (The Rosie Effect.) I told her that I was looking forward to reading both. (I considered asking her about the book club, but I was in my scruffies and wasn't sure what kind of impression she'd have ... )

Later as I was heading out the door, she was behind me. She told me that she'd seen my keytag for the library card and hadn't known they had those - so she got one too. I told her that I found it pretty convenient as long as I had my id with me! (I have my id on a lanyard with the library card keytag.)

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I'm curious what your opinion is on this ...

Tomorrow NE and I are going to eat at a Chinese buffet with his friend BT and his wife. I'm paying for NE's and I's meal. At the buffet there is a fairly good selection of sweets.

Since I am paying for the buffet as a whole, if I took some sweets as part of my meal, would that count as my buying junkfood?

I'm thinking that it doesn't, since I'd be paying the same amount no matter what. So it isn't like I'm paying specifically for the sweets section.

If I were in a grocery store shopping, then buying a candy bar, etc., would be a clear cut no. Or if I was at a restaurant where you order desert separately. But when it is already part of a meal?

Just curious what you all think.

(This is in relation to my 40 day goal of not purchasing junkfood.)

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I helped NE fill out his Last Will Friday night. He asked me if there was anything specific I wanted of his ... had a hard time thinking of anything, but finally came up with one of his fishing rods. He's going to have his friend BT and wife sign it as witnesses.

I probably need to do something like this too, but I'm not sure how legally binding something like this really is. A document you get off a CD from Office Depot and print out?

How/Where do you include account information, etc? An addendum or something? Should you include a clause in there about how you want social websites handled?

I don't celebrate Lent in my faith, but after having spent three years working in a Catholic school and seeing how much it meant to the people there, I have thought about making my own Lenten type commitment.

When I was having issues with eating out too much and made the goal of no eating out for 60 days - I succeeded and in the end pretty much completely got rid of the bad habits that had been forming. Not that I don't stop for fast food once in a while, or eat out, but it isn't the norm.

So ... with my recent blood test results (lipids) I realized that there are two things that could help reverse those results. Eating less junkfood and being more consistent in my exercise.

So ... for 40 days (starting Wednesday, the 18th) my commitment is to not buy junkfood (may eat it, but cannot purchase it)and to get a minimum of 20 minutes of activity EVERY day.

My hope is that by the end of 40 days I will have broken through the bad habits I'd fallen back into the past 4 or 5 months with junkfood, as well as regaining good habits of exercise which kind of went by the wayside both with the weather and it getting dark early plus not feeling well often.

This of course will also save me money.

So far so good.

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I got the new label maker yesterday just before heading home for the day. Today I got to play with it. Our new computer system doesn't allow us to install programs on the computer, so I can't access all of the neat features - at least not until GK installs the program for me.

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I cashed out Pinecone points for $10 tonight.

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NE wants to take a friend of his to dinner this weekend (either Sunday or Monday) to tell him about his upcoming surgery, etc. Since he paid for Valentine's, it's my turn to pay. (this will be a cheaper meal - Chinese buffet vs. the V pizza buffet.) I've been in the mood for Chinese for awhile, so it'll be nice.

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I'm on track to put $1000 in my EF this month - as long as I'm really careful with my grocery spending for the coming week. There isn't too much I can think of that I'll need to get other than bananas and sweet potatoes .. oh, mouthwash too.

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I saw a recipe on MyFitnessPal for black bean oatmeal burgers. It's a fairly simple recipe, and I'm pretty sure I have everything needed. So I might make those this weekend - would be great for lunches next week, and maybe freeze some too if I have enough black beans to make extras.

http://happyherbivore.com/2011/08/easy-black-bean-burger/

Oatmeal is supposed to be really good for lowering cholesterol. I used to eat it a lot for breakfast, but really prefer the fruit smoothies (frozen fruit, banana, flaxseed, chia seeds, PB2 powder, water, sometimes carrots if I remember to get some ...)

So maybe I can get the oatmeal in at lunch in these burgers.

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I really need to get to the bank and figure out if I want to try for the $150 bonus. Every time I think about doing it I end up having one of my major sinus? headaches and am not at all productive after work.

I'd think about taking an afternoon off to do that and get my hair cut/highlighted and a few other odds and ends that aren't easy to do after work ... but with NEs surgery coming up in a few weeks I'm not sure how much time I'll need to take off for that.
At least one day for the surgery, and then he'll need me to take him home the next day - might have to take off the third day, or at least part of it. So ... will be using some of my vacation time.

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I'm thinking that I'm going to CA in September. It'll be my grandma's 93rd birthday. If I can schedule it around Labor Day, then I won't have to use too many vacation days.

My brother and I are working together to have him and mom come here (NE) in May - probably Mother's Day weekend. I'll use a few vacation days for that too.

I haven't heard anything more about my high-school reunion ... am kind of questioning whether I really want to do it anyway. NJ isn't exactly my first choice of vacation destination ...

Friday night NE and I ended up going out to eat at a local pizza restaurant buffet that starts with V. When we first dated back in 2004 I had a surprise birthday party for him there. That was the last time either of us had been there - he was saying that now that we've been back together for almost two years (1 yr 9 mos) that maybe it was time to try it out again.

It was good food, but as is the problem with buffets, it is hard to eat reasonably - and I definitely overdid it. Good thing we don't do that very often!

I gave him the maple syrup (and a card.) He seemed to really appreciate it.

He's really nervous about his upcoming shoulder surgery (March 11) - so much so that he bought a packet of last will/testament +POA from eBay and plans to have his apartment cleaned up by that date.

He'll be in the hospital for at least two days after surgery, and then have at least a 4 week recovery time, two of which he isn't supposed to drive.

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I got a message from my doctor's office - twice on voicemail on Friday. One of the things I had tested last week was my Vitamin D levels - it must have been pretty low because they called in a prescription for Vitamin D supplements to my pharmacy - take one per week for 8 weeks and then redo bloodwork. Nothing was said about my TSH level, which was the main reason for the bloodwork! If they're open on Monday hopefully I won't have to play voicemail tag with them (they close at 4:30, which is when I get off work.)

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I have an appointment to talk with my pastor on Monday.

I'm thinking about going to see a movie - Old Fashioned - afterwards. I mentioned it to NE and he had no response .. which usually means no interest. Oh well, I can go see it by myself.

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I read an interesting article today which was linked to in a journal on the YNAB forums - one of the ideas in it was that what trips most people up when making goals or plans is that they get overwhelmed by everything they'll have to do to reach the goal/finish the plan. The better thing to do is to think about the goal/plan on what you need to do to reach it *that day*.

An example given is "I want to play lead guitar in a rock band." Instead of thinking about how many hours of practice that would take and getting overwhelmed and most likely not doing anything towards that goal, think about what you can do *today*. I will practice the guitar today.

In finances I could see an example being "I want to retire at 55." That could be overwhelming in the big picture. What is a small step? What can be done *today?* I will call my car insurance to see if I can get a better price. (reduce expenses) or I will work on learning *skill* which I can eventually use to earn side income. etc. etc.

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I cashed out for $25 PP a couple days ago and already received it. Then today I cashed out again (after cashing out my Bing points) so should have that by Wednesday or so I'd guess.

I'm getting close to my next $25 AGC with PerkTV - this one's gone much slower because they reduce the point values on some videos.

Today I finally had my 6 month evaluation - my boss thought she hadn't gotten the paperwork yet, but A let her know that I wouldn't get paid for my sick leave (for upcoming doctor's appt) if I wasn't finalized. That's when A also let her know that she'd sent her the paperwork in her email.

So .. the end result is that I am offcially off probation AND got a 2.25% raise. About .40/hour Better than nothing - especially since starting with my 3/5 paycheck I'll be having 7% taken out for retirement.

Work was crazy busy all week - I didn't have time to be bored. So many calls about "Are the buses running?" or "How far behind schedule is ...?"

We had about 15 inches of snow between Saturday and Wednesday. I was super glad for the snow boots my mom gave me for my birthday!

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I got my NE and Fed refunds this morning.

My Discover Checking is now fully funded for the $50 award after March 31.

I think I'm going to have at least $1k to put to my EF this month if I'm really careful with my spending - maybe more.

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This weekend I hope to actually be productive and get some cleaning and maybe some cooking done. We'll see what actually happens though ...

I do hope to get a couple walks outside in since the temps are supposed to be pretty good.

My apartment building has three parking lots surrounding it. One parking lot is for my building, one is for an apartment building nearby, and the other one is the parking lot for a medical building.

Guess which parking lot is located directly by my bedroom? Yep, the medical building parking lot.

So .. this past week we had a total of nearly 15 inches of snow. This morning the owners of the medical building hired someone to scrape their parking lot. Starting around 3:30 (maybe earlier, but this is when I first looked at my phone) and continued to around 5:00 AM!

I get that they have to do it while there aren't cars in the lot ... but still!

It was kind of funny though watching Kari's reaction - she was standing on my dresser (which is located next to the bedroom window.) If you've seen those cat videos of cats standing on their back legs with nothing to support them ... that's what she was doing. Staring intently at the curtain. I was really surprised she didn't stick her head out the curtain - maybe she was intrigued, but also scared?

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With all the snow this week, I was really glad for the snow boots my mom gave me for my birthday. They don't fit very well (too tight) but they still served their purpose!

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I got my NM tax refund yesterday. It was less than I remembered .. not sure what happened there. I probably need to log on to the Tax site and see if I'm just remembering the wrong amount.

I should have my federal refund tomorrow (according to the IRS site.) No clue on the NE state refund.

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This week at work has been fairly good. Mostly because I have been legitimately busy! Tons of phone calls on Monday and Wednesday asking one question ... Are the buses running today? Then Mon-Thurs fielding lots of calls asking how far behind schedule the buses were ... Lots of buses getting stuck on ice or in snow drifts or in small accidents (somebody backed into a bus!!)

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I almost have all the funds in my Discover bank account to make the $50. I have to have the $5k balance by March 15 - I'll probably go ahead and get the funds in there sooner so they're not sitting at ING (I know, I know) at .75%, and then pull all of them out except $500 until September - just in case there is some problem with closing the account before six months.

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I got an offer for a local bank here - open up an account with a minimum deposit of $25 AND have a direct deposit of at least $500/month for three months - get $150.

There are local branches around here - one not far at all from me. I still need to check into fees and such, plus find out if I can have one paycheck DD to one bank, and the other to another one. If not, I could have them both DD to the one bank, and then just transfer the money.

That would be a pretty sweet kick to the EF!

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I am now officially in my 7th month at my job and am no longer on probation!! I am using my first two hours of sick leave next week for a doctor's appointment. (TSH bloodwork, etc)

I asked my boss about my 6 month evaluation, and she told me she still hasn't heard anything. Booooo! I want to know if I'm going to get a raise! (Possible 2.25%)

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Other than Sunday when I went to Walmart and Sam's, I haven't spent any money this week. I was tempted, but I knew I had so much food here (especially from all the shopping I did at the now closed local grocery store) that I really shouldn't do it!

However ... my dress heels for work are starting to come apart. Walking through slush apparently isn't very good for them to hold together ...These were a $30 pair I got from Sears in July I think .. not sure if it's worth it trying to find someone to resole them? Or better to just get a new pair? I *really* like these shoes. It's hard for me to find good shoes ...

January up til the last week or so looked like it was going to be under control ... sigh. I will do better this month.

Tithe: 130
Giving (other) 70 (hadn't put it towards anything for a few months)

Rent: 430
Natural Gas: 36.97
Electric: 37.97
Auto Fuel: 15.48
Internet: 65.60 Sigh...
Groceries: 256.xx Huge sigh (a lot of this was from a local store closing ... at least $120 worth)
Restaurants: $16.64 *hardee's twice*
clothing: $4 (washing clothes/ drying)
Kari - $3.61 (canned food)
Toiletries: $6.49 (hairspray and deodorant)
Treats: 36.13 (I think the number is higher than this .. I just didn't track as carefully out from groceries the whole month.)
Beauty - $25 groupon for highlights/cut for future
Tax Prep: 34.98 (federal + two state efiled)

Savings:
EF: 471.91
ROTH: 200

Extra Income:
Swagbucks: $50 PayPal
PerkTV: $25 AGC
Pact: $17
Pinecone: $5
eBay: roughly $16 after fees/shipping

Will be coming -- $100 Visa ecard from Achievemint (cashed in about two or three weeks ago.)

Last week was a long, stressful week at work. I spent most of Saturday wondering how I could make it work if I were to just plain quit.

I figured that I could survive at least 9 - 10 months with cash on hand, plus selling my non-inherited stocks - possibly a little longer.

Of course that would mean no health insurance.

I think part of what is so stressful to me is how utterly bored I am most of the time. There are spates of busy activity where the phone is ringing off the hook and I have lots of orders to fill or people at the window. But there is a LOT more time where it is just DEAD.

I've been doing a lot of compensating for stress by ... eating and eating and eating. Not healthy food. The few pounds I managed to lose have found me again. This is bad for my waistline and my pocketbook.

Deacon's Wife (Laura) mentioned that she thinks she might have Seasonal Affective Disorder. I'm kind of wondering if I might have something like that too.

Quitting my job isn't the answer. It might rid me of the stress of having to deal with some of the aspects of the job I hate, but whos to say I'll find something else less stressful or better.

So ... I need to figure out how to be content with where I am at.

How have I been filling my time when it's dead? Mostly by reading books I enjoy or checking out news stories on yahoo and cnn. The yahoo news/finance stories seem to be pretty repetitive, and cnn doesn't change their stories very often.

I do have a set of musical notation flashcards that I have gone through a time or two.

Once I'm off probation, I'll be able to take classes and have them reimbursed if they're something related to the job / department.

So maybe I can figure out a class I could take which could be reimbursed, and then use the dead time to study for that class?

What I'd really like to do is figure out something I could do which would result in more money during the dead hours. Something that would make it so I could retire even earlier than I think I can right now.

I really don't want to go back into a classroom - I've been out of a regular classroom for long enough that I wouldn't be "with it" on the current jargon - not to mention the whole Common Core fiasco currently engulfing education. To get a school library job I'd have to take enough classes to renew my certification and retake the certification test (it expires this May.)

Honestly, I don't know that I want to go back to working 60 hours a week even if it means a much bigger paycheck. One of the biggest benefits of my current job is that when the day is over, the day is over. I have some overtime opportunities coming up over the next four or five months, but not that much.

One of the people I work with told me his wife works at the police department dealing with the people coming in = and that she has people like I dealt with on Thursday half a dozen or more times a day. I wouldn't last long there.

I just am not sure what to do.

If I did quit, I probably could get rehired back at the call center, which would bring in 6 or 700 a month ... but that job was more stressful than this one ... It would make it so I could stretch my funds nearly indefinitely ... just no health insurance and no retirement fund matching. It would also really limit the time NE and I could spend together ... but also make it so I had plenty of time to exercise and make healthy food.

Tonight I did my taxes using TaxAct. It was interesting since I had to do two states plus Federal. When I first went through NM it said I owed $2. I thought that was weird, so just before I submitted the final button to file, I decided to go through it one more time. Good thing I did! Somehow the button had been clicked that I was a full year resident instead of a partial one. That was why they wouldn't let me just input my income from the school library.

So .. I got $540 back from Federal, and $220 back from state. It cost me $36.97 to file them electronically. Once that money comes in, it will be going straight to my EF goal!

I'm glad to be done with it for another year! (and looking forward to next year's which will be so much simpler.)

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Some days my job is tolerable. Others barely tolerable.

Today was a barely.

I had a man come up with a companion (mentally handicapped I think.) He wanted to get an $8 pass for his companion.

I did what I do for *every* person that comes asking for a discount pass. "Sure, I just need a photo i.d. please."

Mt Vesuveus erupted!

The man starts ranting and raving that I shouldn't have to ask for an id. He culminates his rant by pounding his fist heavily on the counter and stomping off.

He didn't even give me a chance to let him know I could take either person's i.d. I just needed an i.d!

It is policy for the low income program. I ask for it from every person no matter how many times I've seen them.

So ... about an hour later he returns with the companion.

He practically shouts at me saying, "Here! Are you happy now?" while holding an i.d. next to his companion. He says something about trust, and then he starts ranting that he'd worked in government before and if one of his employees treated a customer like I did (simply asking for an i.d. per policy ...) that he'd fire them.

I just took the i.d., got the pass, filled out the receipt, took the money, and gave them the pass. Said, "here you go."

Around that time the bus driver supervisor came in because he'd heard the guy shouting - he asked me if I needed help and I told him I was ok. The guy asks me if that was my supervisor - told him no, that my supervisor was in a meeting. He goes "that figures."f

Finally he leaves.

The bus driver supervisor had stayed nearby out of sight, so I explained to him what had happened. He agreed with me that I hadn't done anything wrong.

Later ... I tell my boss what happened. She tells me that maybe we should just stop asking for the id. That some of the other places selling them for us aren't asking for them.

Arghh!!!!

So should I ask for the blasted id or not? How would it be fair for me to ask for it from people, but if they make a fuss, say .. nevermind?? What is the point of having a policy if we're not going to follow it?

I plan on talking to her tomorrow more about this, because it is really really really frustrating me.

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While I was bored out of my mind this afternoon having finished my book (12th of Nowhere by James Patterson) and exhausted yahoo and cnn news stories of interest, I read the local newspaper.

One of the stories was about how NE is thinking of giving a property tax credit to low and middle income people. Not just property owners though! Renters too!!
An example they gave for a renter was someone making $29k/yr and paying $362/mo rent. Um ... I make less than that and pay more than that. Thus I would easily qualify for a credit! I didn't quite get how that would work, but it's still being hashed out as to whether it'll happen or not.

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The brownies I brought for treats today were all eaten up. I even had someone tell me they *really* liked them. Score one for $1 brownie mix!

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I found out that the lady who had jonsed after my job has found a different job with the city in a totally different department. Her last day is Wednesday, which is the end of my 6 month probation. Funny how that works out.

I know I've been going back and forth quite a bit about different budget plans / allocations the past few months.

I haven't totally been happy with any of them.

Today though I read something on the MMM blog about his 2014 expenses, as well as a couple comments, which really resonated with me.

To put it simply, MMM doesn't go by a formal budget - he simply makes values based spending decisions.

For me, before I spend money from now on outside of the basics (rent, car insurance, giving, Roth, 10% of net EF) I am going to ask myself a series of questions (from MMM blog).

1. Will buying this really improve my overall lifetime happiness?

2. Is there another, more efficient way to meet this same need?

3. Can the same benefit be had if I delay the purchase?

4. (my own question) If I purchase this item now, how will it affect future me? I.e. Is the item worth the opportunity cost.

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I redid my whole January budget. I emptied out all categories that had positive balances to put them back into the Available to Budget (ATB).

Then I created a new category - Slush - which I funded with $1000. The rule is that if it ever goes under $1000 then it is the first category to be refueled.

I still have umpteen number of small categories - they just are not funded. After asking the series of questions if I decide the purchase is worth it, then I'll spend the money in which ever category it belongs to.

At the end of the month all money that was not spent will go to the EF until I hit the $12,000 goal. I am going to focus 100% on this goal until I reach it.

This is not to say that I won't be taking any vacations or trips - I just will be scrutinizing the expenses and value of them very hard.

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So for example if I am really wanting some chocolate I can ask myself if the chocolate is really going to help me be happier overall. Let's say I'm really wanting a whole bag of chocolate. Buying a whole bag isn't going to help me happier overall, and it won't help my future self be happier or healthier. However, if I purchased a small single chocolate bar I would get my chocolate, but at a very small cost. ($.50 vs $3.49)

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Purpose of slush fund: Let's say there's a month where Murphy hits hard and I have a large expense which uses up all of the ATB - I can then use the money in the slush fund.

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Here's January for an example:
Must Haves:
Giving: 10% of Net from prior month
Rent: 430
ROTH: 200
Car Insurance: 36
EF: 10% of Net from prior month

All other categories use the ATB money.

I have 322.93 left. All $322.93 goes to the EF category.

When you add up ROTH, EF 10% and EF ATB, it gives me an approximate 48% savings rate (of Net) for January.

Once my retirement starts being subtracted, I'll look at two savings rates - Net and Net+7%.

Yesterday I stopped at the store that is closing - they were up to 25% off everything.

I walked out with $24 spent. However, I found out while I there that frozen foods were 40% off. I hadn't got a cart when I went in, so didn't get much in frozen foods.

Today I stopped by again ... and got a cart.

The damage? $44 in frozen foods.

It is all foods I can use for lunches and weekend meals for a good while. It barely all fit in my freezer.

However, it does make me about $40 over budget for January.

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I was reading a blog post by MMM today and all the comments. The one on his 2014 spending.

It is making me consider doing something a bit different with my budgeting. I'm still ruminating on whether I want to make this change or not, and exactly what it would look like.

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NE went to see the special specialist for his shoulder issues today. The SS had two possible options for him, but wasn't sure which one he'd recommend. One was a reverse shoulder replacement, and the other one involves taking bone grafts from a cadaver (ewww!!) and grafting it onto NEs humerus head. Also taking parts of tendons from other parts of his body to repair the multiple rotator cuffs that are not just torn, but are withered up.

This all could have been avoided if he could have just gone to the doctor when it first happened. UGH!

I got my replacement DC in the mail today. I'd misplaced my old one (think I may have shredded it since I never used it ...)

I signed up for the offer - spend $1k by March 31st and get $75. Normally I wouldn't go for something like this, because spending that much on my CC isn't likely to happen.

However, this just so happens to be the quarter where my car insurance renews.

So here is my plan for the 1k spend:
$215 - Car Insurance
$375 - 3 months tithe (can pay via CC online!!)
$130 - 2 months Internet (too late for January)
$225 - 2.25 months groceries
$100 - 2 months utilities (can put electric on card

I'll also put gas on it since they're offering 5% CB on that to give me a little extra buffer for the 1k spending (not that an extra $35 or so is going to be that much ... 2 months gas ... if prices hold)

And ... that does it.

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I *finally* got confirmation that my Discover checking account is open. I'm glad I didn't wait til February to start the process!

The deal is open an account with $500 by 2/28. Have a balance of $5000 by 3/15 - get paid $50 if you still have a $5000 balance.

So I'll have the 500 opening balance in there, and add the rest in March - probably the first week in case it takes it awhile to transfer over.

The bonus money will of course go to my Windfall category.

As soon as the $50 is paid, I'll close out the checking though. DC pays .9%, which is ok, but not as much as Barclay's. $50 beats out one month of interest at Barclay's though by a long shot.

NE surprised me twice on Friday - He showed up at my door at 7:30 just to say hi before I left for work (he was heading to SM - the store closing down.) Then he showed up at my door again at 4:50, just a few minutes after I got home. He had his eye on a speaker in O and thought I might want to go with him.

We did end up taking a road trip to O. I like going there because they have a Hardee's - Their mushroom and swiss sandwich (burger on the side for NE) and onion rings are SO GOOD.

NE did buy the speakers, and is planning on getting them up on eBay this weekend probably.

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I found out from my boss on Friday that starting on February 9, I will be getting a 15 minute break in the afternoon. I could have asked for one in the morning too, but there's only 3 hours before my lunch break, so I thought that was kind of pointless. She was relieved that I didn't ask for the morning break.

My plan for the afternoon break is to walk on the treadmill while reading a book. Get more steps in daily and be away from the phone!

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I finished up all my retirement benefit/life insurance paperwork. It won't get delivered til Tuesday though.

I ended up going with a supplemental 10k Life Insurance because if I decide I need it later for a larger amount, I'd have to be medically approved. So for about $1.80/month I'll have 81k of life insurance. If I leave, I can take it with me, the amount I pay would just go up.

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I received $25 PayPal from Mypoints yesterday. I also got my $25 AGC from PerkTV. I now have about $100 in Amazon credit.

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My goals for this weekend - Today is just about relaxation and rejuvenation - probably a trip to the library.

Sunday - Get the living room cleared of boxes and all pictures put up.

Monday - Make veggie patties, cc loaf, etc. to freeze for future lunches. Do some cleaning.

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Weigh In News: Even with my chocolate indulgences and Hardee's last night, I am down almost 2 lbs since my last official weigh in.

I decided to stop at that store that's going out of business again after work today. This time though I wasn't starving nor was I too stressed out from work.

I spent $16 - 2 jars of Nutella, a box of Belviata cookie, 4 boxes of brownie mix, and something else I can't remember.

The brownie mix will be used for when I'm supposed to bring in treats for the office - they were $1.25 a box plus 15% off.

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Office politics. UGH!

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I am SO looking forward to 3 days off from work in a row. Having a day off during the week is okay, but not so much of a break as a 3 day in a row break.

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I'm planning on finishing both Inferno and #19 in the Stephanie Plum series tonight. Nice and relaxing.

Last night Ne told me that a local small grocery store was officially going out of business. It's one that is only two and a half blocks away from me.

I stopped there after work today ... which probably wasn't a good idea because 1) I was hungry; and 2) I was feeling very stressed out about work.

The end result was I spent $25 or so on mostly junk food. Everything was 15% off, and I think they actually lowered their prices on some things. I did get a few non-junk food items like the egg salad, prunes, and Bush's vege baked beans ... but the rest was plain and simple junk food. Chocolate.

I ate one bag of chocolate tonight for supper. Real healthy, right? ugh

(NE likes to tease me about being so frugal but not making my own egg salad ... I'd have to buy mayo to make my own egg salad ... I don't use mayo for anything else, so it'd probably go bad or something before I used it to make egg salad....)

I'm tempted to go back to the store tomorrow to get more Nutella. It was $3.24 with the discount. Cheap. But I know how I am with Nutella. Maybe if I have NE keep the all but one jar at his place - he doesn't have the same problem with it.

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I redeemed a $25 AGC from PerkPoints tonight. I should have it by Friday.

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In my mail I received two offers from Discover.

The first offer was $50 for putting $5000 in a new checking account for about two or three weeks. I'm thinking of doing that. I just have to make sure I can do it without touching the money in the dream account - withdrawing money from that would make me lose the bonus APR at 6 months for no withdrawals.

The second offer was to get $75 if I spend $1000 in 3 months.

I'm thinking I *might* be able to do that. It would mean putting my SBs card away and maybe switching some bills over for a few months. It might be worth it. I think Sam's Club takes Discover, so then I wouldn't have to use my Debit card which I don't like doing since it doesn't earn me any points.

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One bit of good news at work today. I got my retirement benefits information!

The account is with Ameritas and has quite a few Vanguard funds to choose from, along with Fidelity and Morningstar, etc. I already figured out my allocations. Now I just have to get two people to witness my signing the beneficiary information page. (Harder than it sounds. My boss would do it I bet, and NE would do it ... but they'll not likely be in the same place at the same time anytime soon. So .. I've got to figure out a second person.)

I also found out that I get 71,000 of life insurance for $.42/month. The city pays the rest. I will be cancelling my current term insurance. That will save me 15.68/month.

There is also something for post employment health benefits where the city contributes so much a month. I get to elect how I want that money invested. That was fun playing around with percentages.

I also found out that the whole Early Retirement / Regular Retirement stuff was just terminology. No real meaning behind it. So if I'm ready to retire at 55 there'd be no additional benefit to working nine more years to make the 63/25 years of service level. I'd be 100% vested and that's all that really matters.

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Cripes! It's 12:20 a.m. I must get to bed if I'm going to be at all coherrent today.

Yesterday I went with NE to his follow up MRI appointment. He should have the results in time for his appointment with the ortohpaedist on Tuesday.

Afterwards we stopped at Arby's and he treated me to a chocolate turnover. Yum! (This doesn't count for my one time a month chocolate expenditure since he treated. ) I think I know what I want to be my expenditure though ... the Mint Chocolate shake at Arby's. Looks so yummy! (But is 720 calories, so definitely not something to do on a day I'm not getting a lot of exercise.)

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This morning I did my laundry. The first washer I put my stuff in wouldn't work in the cold/cold mode (which is what I always use since I mix colors.) My landlord came over and gave me a dollar (I didn't know that it was just that mode not working - he figured that out.)

Spent $2.


I also got a load of dishes done.

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I spent $25 at Groupon from my spending money to purchase a partial highlights deal. I bought it through Swagbucks (8 SBx per dollar) with my SB credit card.

That is one of the things I asked for for Christmas/birthday and my mom just sent me the cash to do it myself. So not only am I getting what I want, but I'm getting some extra Swagbucks for it.

I don't know when exactly I'll use it - it's good for 150 days. Maybe in March if NE is done with his shoulder stuff.

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I stopped at Russ's to do some grocery shopping.

My list had 7 items on it, but I only got 6 because they didn't have Fage yogurt. I may still get that later.

3 grocery items - $7.21
3 Kari items - $3.61
1 treat/spending money item: $3.65
1 Toiletries - $2.77 (with coupon)

I had a $.75 coupon for two packages of Oreo's that I almost used, but they had the Oreo's for 2.69 each and I know I've seen them for $.1.99 each before. So .. avoided temptation.

Here is my updated grocery spreadsheet for details:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11GJKzDizNZEKsSYZIS4C...

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I finished a book on Friday called "Penny Pinchers Club" by Sarah Straohmeyer. It was pretty funny and sad, and had some good lessons about jumping to conclusions. I think it would be something many of you might enjoy. I am planning on getting more of her books in the future. (Right now I have 4 of the Evanovich books I need to read and return ... so first things first. )

I've updated my book list in the sidebar with read and current reads.

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I came across an interesting link today in the MMM forums about planning and organizing. This is a pdf book about 52 pages long with spaces for you to list everything you can think of about yourself - finances, email accounts, location of documents, etc. The purpose being of course that if you are somehow incapacitated or die then your caretakers/survivors would have an easier time of it.

Here is the link: http://www.erikdewey.com/bigbook.htm

Ok, now I'm off to catch up on the blogs.

So NE signed up for health insurance through the Nebraska state site in December. He went with the plan that had the best numbers - low deductible, low out of pocket and low premiums.

He went to the doctor today and found out that his right shoulder is dislocated, and then went for an MRI to see about his rotator cuff, etc. (He didn't finish the MRI, but will be going back to finish it in a different open machine.)

While he was at the doctor's he found out that his particular plan is going belly up as of Feb 15. So ... he's going to have to find a new plan.

I wonder if that would count as a life event where you would be able to get insurance past the open enrollment period?

So very frustrating.

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I talked to my boss today about the retirement stuff. I found out that I'll be vested 100% in 7 years. Also that there is something called early retirement and regular retirement - early means 25 years of service and at least 50 years old; regular is 25 years and 63 years old. She didn't know what exactly that meant though (and she was dismayed to find out it was 25 and not 20 years ... she's close to the 20 year mark.)

I wonder what the difference is between when you're vested and the early/regular retirement designations are? If I am ready to retire at 55, I'd be vested, but wouldn't qualify for early or regular retirement. If I work there 25 years, that would put me at 63 and regular retirement. (UGH! Cannot imagine doing this job for 25 years. DOUBLE UGH!)

I also found out that the retirement contributions used to be even sweeter - as in for every $1 the employee put in, the city put in $2 (up to a limit.) Some group got upset about it and so they changed the plan to what it is now. Can you imagine? Contribute $50 and the city matches $100?

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For the first week of January I am down ... 5 lbs! I think a good bit of it is water weight, but I'm just glad to be heading the right direction again.

Although I have been tempted a time or two or three ... I have not stopped at a fast food place or at any other type of convenience store in January.

Tonight I watched episode 5 of POI while stepping for most of it (about 35 minutes, sat and rested for the rest of it.)

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I am thinking more and more about investing in dividend stocks. My discretionary funds are already stretched pretty thin with my various goals, but I'm just really itching to do something like that.

I do have a goodly sum in an old 403(b) plan that I want to move over to Vanguard. Maybe I could put it in a brokerage account and use that to buy dividend type stocks?

If anyone could point me to some good resources (i.e. simple language) to help me figure out what to do, I'd appreciate it. I know quite a few of you invest in DRIPS, which I *think* are dividend stocks, right?

Email notifications of post replies seemed to work for a short while ... however they aren't working again.
(to clarify - I am talking about notifications of responses to other people's posts - not my posts.)

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So I tried baking a potato in the oven sans foil twice now. Ehh... it works, but I really don't like how dry the skin gets. Almost too tough to eat. It was saved by the juice from my baked beans I topped it with, but often I like to eat my sweet potato plain. I did top them both times with olive oil and cut slits in them.

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Five no spend days in January so far! Yesterday I squeaked by temptation just barely ...

Work had some stressful (majorly) elements to it and I WANTED chocolate. I resisted though.

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I got a package from my brother today that UPS "attempted to deliver" during the workday of course. :roll eyes: So I had to drive over there to get it this afternoon -- it was a framed photo of my brother and I the last summer I was out in CA with him. How sweet

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I did two really dumb things yesterday - thankfully no consequences from either one. First, I left my purse in my car when I went in to work. I only realized this at lunch time ... I had to sit on my phone for 20 minutes before it would turn on.

Then when I got home I left my keys in the door AGAIN! The only way I found out about this is when NE came over and found them in the door. UGH!

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I watched episode 4 of POI season 3 tonight .. while stepping of course.

I also redeemed 2500 SBs for a $25 PayPal cash, and have received all $20 in AGC from SBs.

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At work today I hauled a huge load of boxes up from the schedule room on a cart. I think I may have overdone it a bit ... my back is really protesting tonight. Ouch.

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Ok, off to catch up on blogs!

We got a good bit of snow last night (Saturday) so I wasn't really sure I wanted to go out shopping today or not. However, once I got out on the roads around 4pm they were all fairly clear.

If you would like to see a more detailed breakdown of my grocery trip, go to this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11GJKzDizNZEKsSYZIS4CgdhNBmVXf2dqXIMyU19VHfE/edit#gid=0

I set out with the goal of not purchasing more than ten items. And I did it! (with one caveat - I made one purchase for NE which he'll reimburse me for later - he ended up not coming with me.)

The total of the ten items I purchased for myself is roughly $56.46. Of that, two items were not grocery category items.

So grocery spending today: ~$51.20
Spending Money - ~$1.28
Toiletries - ~$3.43

I also filled up with gas at Sam's for $1.93!!!
Total - $15.58 for 8.037 gallons.

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I did laundry, dishes, cleaned the kitchen, did a trash run, and got my lunch ready for tomorrow.

I've also watched the first part of Labor Day ... wow, so not what I was expecting. I'm anxious to finish it.

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I also posted a couple new items on eBay as well as relisting some.

When I got home from shopping though I had an awesome email from eBay -- I sold a DVD for the BIN price! $6.99. I've already got it packaged up ready to go tomorrow.

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NE will be coming over in a bit, so I'm going to enter my receipts into YNAB and then maybe read a bit on the forums - hopefully not getting lost in a rabbit hole like I did last night ...

OH! I forgot. I also did 30 minutes of stepping while watching Labor Day today. (I have a step I got from freecycle years ago.)

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Next time I go shopping I'm going to make sure I eat something before I go, even if I'm not really hungry. I got so hungry while shopping that I got a Payday bar - technically not chocolate. But still kind of stretching it a bit.

Today makes 3 days of January with no spending (other than bills.) Tomorrow will not be a no spending day. NE and I will be doing a Sam's and Walmart run.

Between the two stores I am going to try to keep my list to ten items (or perhaps less.)

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I decided to stop at my landlord's after church today to drop off my rent check rather than try to include it on my library walk. It would have been on the way - but the library is on one side of a busy road and their house is on the other side. It would have been a hassle.

It was funny because when I got there someone else had just come from their porch dropping off their rent check - must be from a different property though because I didn't recognize her.

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When I got home I had a nice warm meal of toaster grilled cheese, tomato soup and a small piece of banana bread (bought a few weeks ago on sale - two loaves - put one in the freezer which is the one I'm eating now.)

Finally about 2 p.m. I worked my courage up to get bundled up and walk to the library. Last week I finally managed to remember to sync my iTunes music library onto my new phone - so I had music to listen to!

The walk was pretty chilly - at 5:30 it's 23 degrees, so I guess it was around 20 or so when I went out. We're supposed to get more snow tonight. (Low of 0degrees)

On my way back home I had a lady ask me about the bus schedule. LOL Even away from work I can't get away from work. I gave her an estimate of when the bus should be coming by (the outbound one had passed me ten minutes earlier, otherwise I'd have no idea other than the bus come once an hour on Saturday.)

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I've got a sweet potato in the oven right now while sipping on some hot chocolate ... yummy

I'm probably going to watch a couple episodes of POI tonight - one of the things I got from the library is Season 3 of POI - that way I can post my copy on eBay and if it sells then at least I can finish watching it! I want to get it on there (eBay) before everyone who's interested has already seen it.

I also do want to watch Labor Day - NE actually watched it on his own last week! Now he's anxious for me to see it so we can discuss it.

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The scale seems to be going down right now. Who knows if it will continue or not. Hope springs eternal and all that ... I'll do an "official" weight loss post on Thursdays - since I made my first weigh in on a Thursday. However I do weigh myself just about every day and record it on an app - mainly for the ten points it gets me on Achivemint (which I'm less than 900 points away from a $100 Visa card!!)

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I'm so glad to be getting notifications of responses to other posts now! I was able to find a few people responses to comments I'd made, but couldn't remember which post it was on.

Now if the photo issue could be fixed ...

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OH I almost forgot a question I was going to ask.

Are there alternative methods to wrapping a potato in aluminum foil for baking in the oven? I'm going through a lot of foil, even when I manage to reuse a piece.

On my way home from work today I saw gas for $1.99 at a local station! Sweet!

I plan on going to Walmart on Sunday and possibly Sam's for a largish shopping trip, and also to satisfy my curiosity about Sam's gas price.

So far no spending in 2015 (outside of bills)

I am having to pay a $.97 late fee on my last electric bill - I saw it and then totally forgot about it. Ooops! Now I have it set up on automatic payment to my credit card so I don't have to worry about it. My most recent bill was up about $10 from last month - still within my budgeted amount, but I'm going to be even more careful about keeping lights turned off.

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I redeemed for $20 worth of AGC yesterday and today from Swagbucks. Although I think I won't redeem for the 5th one tomorrow - I'll keep that for a $25 PayPal instead.

I'm mainly using my AGC credit for buying my pea protein powder for my breakfast smoothies, and I only need to get that ever other month. Plus I am earning AGCs from PerkPoints ... so I think I'd rather get cash when I can.

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On Thursday I did 40 minutes of stepping while watching an episode of POI. I found out that I can still play Ptv while using the Pact app to track movement. Sweet. 3 things at once.

Today at lunch I was able to walk around the conference room for 15 minutes.

I weighed in this morning with a .1 lb loss.

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Work was crazy busy today, but I did manage to finish my Shopaholic to the Stars book by Sophie Kinsella. I LOVE that series. So funny!

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I was looking at the union contract today, and saw that once I hit the 6 month mark, I'll have a required 7% retirement contribution with a 9% match from the city! Wow! I couldn't find anything that says what happens if you contribute more than 7% (i.e. will they match more? or is 9% the max match?)

I'm thinking that next week when our Payroll person is back I'm going to ask her about that.

So one area I would like to improve upon is my grocery spending AND on the quality of what I'm purchasing.

This will help me financially and health wise too.

In light of knowing I need to improve in this area, I have decided to create a Google spreadsheet where I am going to enter all my food purchases this year.

Here is the link to it:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11GJKzDizNZEKsSYZIS4CgdhNBmVXf2dqXIMyU19VHfE/edit?usp=sharing

I am hoping it'll help me in two ways - 1. By making my groceries public, I will be less likely to buy a lot of junkfood; and 2. Because I won't want to have to enter all the information in very often, I will be more likely to limit my grocery shopping trips!

I'm also going to track which items I use coupons for and where the coupons come from (SB = Swagbucks; P=paper)

It can also function as a pricebook so I can see when prices are at stock up level.

Happy New Year everyone!

NE and I had a relaxing evening at my place. He picked up a pizza for us, and we had the final two slices of Rum cake. We also watched part of Armageddon - we didn't finish it because after stopping it to ring in midnight, we both realized we were ready to call it a night.

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So ... December spending.

I'll just highlight the non-fixed categories -

Spending:

Phone: 202.76 (Pro-rated December bill from ATT and final ETF bill)

Groceries - $148 out of $150

Auto Fuel: $23.51 (budgeted $30)

Spending Money: 90.80 (lots of room for improvement here - this is money spent on unnecessary food mainly and replacing a PO box key)

Restaurants - $15.81 (fast food - came from budgeted spending money)

Clothing - $3.20

Household goods: $21.17 (two chairs from goodwill, bundt cake pan, etc)

Kari - 22.70 - cat food, litter (bought several bags on sale with coupon)

Savings

Snowflakes and Windfalls! $279.35 (Swagbucks, Pinecone, GymPact, Class Action suit, Christmas money, etc.) This money was distributed to my other savings goals in my January budget.

EF: 200
Car Replacement/Repair: 200
Vacation: 150
ROTH: 200
Electronics: 79.77 (spent 5.30 on a new charging cable)


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Other:
Received $50 in AGC from Swagbucks and PerkTv (not included in Windfalls amount)

Had a previous balance of $27

Spent: $26.37 on pea protein powder for morning smoothies and $1.99 on an ebook.
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January Budget
Tithe: 125
Giving: 25
Rent: 430
Phone: 0 (covered by Ting credit)
Internet: 65.60
Electricity: 40
Natural Gas: 45
Groceries: 150
Auto Fuel: 30
Spending Money: 95.80 (20 budgeted plus 20% December Windfall money)
Medical: 25
Kari: 30
Car Insurance: 45 (I think my 6 month premium is due in January)
Life Insurance: 16
EF: 150
Car Replace/Repair: 75
Vacation: 151.60 (budgeted plus windfall)
ROTH: 200
Electronics: 40
House: 163.67 (budgeted plus windfall)

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Per Patient Saver's Weight Loss Challenge ...

I plan to lose 15lbs by March 31. That averages out to about 1lb per week.

My plan is: Reducing my junkfood intake by only purchasing it one time per month.

Getting at least ten minutes of movement everyday outside of any other normal exercise.

Joining the weekly exercise class at my church starting on Jan 11 ($20 for 10 weeks)

Being more careful about logging what I *really* am eating on MFP.

Checking in here at SA once a week with my progress report.

I emailed Ting with my final ETF bill from ATT on Monday. Today I received the 50% credit - The ETF was $155 +$30 in taxes and fees!! So I got a $77 credit.

I also on Monday saw my first bill from Ting. Right away I realized something was off - they charged me for two activated phones! (Over a year ago I had tried them out with an Android phone, and that didn't last long. Not because of Ting, but because of the phone.)
I received a $6 credit for that today.

So right now I have a $99 credit which will get me 3 months of free phone service, with a little left over (if my usage remains steady.)

I used to pay about $77/month to ATT. So I'm saving around $47/month. Between the new phone and the ETF (unrefunded part) I spent about $450 to switch.

In the first three months I'll save $77 x 3 (231), then in the next 5 months I'll save $47 x 6 (235). So ... it'll take about 8 months to break even from switching. Possibly less if I can find people to refer and switch. The savings will be going to my electronics fund - I need roughly $400 for a new computer, and roughly $350 for the next phone. Once those are funded, the savings would go to other saving goals (i.e. EF/House)

I looked out my window at 7 and it was nice and clear - thought to myself - good! won't have to scrape my windows. Then at 7:40 I headed outside to find my car covered in snow!

It snowed pretty much all day today. The temp is supposed to go in the negative tonight/today. Brrr!!

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Last night NE and I went to Walmart and did some shopping for the week. I spent $14 on two bags of cat food for Kari (using 2 coupons) and $7 on groceries.

After that we happened across another area of town that was beautifully decorated, so of course we meandered around there for a bit.

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I totally spaced on getting my eBay item out today. Will definitely have to do it tomorrow to keep within my two day turn around time. Oops.

I plan on taking workout clothes with me to work tomorrow and using the bus gym after work. I haven't been *quite* as exhausted lately, so maybe I'll actually be able to make myself do it.

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I stopped at the library today - had a book to return and a book to pick up.

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On FB today I saw someone in a YNAB group post say they managed to feed a family of 5 on $25/week!!! Um.... I can't even imagine. That's not even $1/day per person. I was feeling kind of good that I got my grocery spending (minus junk food) down to less than $150 for the month...

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I'm thinking of letting go of my crockpot and rice cooker/steamer. I bought them two? years ago and they both are still in their boxes.. I keep meaning to USE them but it just doesn't happen.

Can you cook sweet potatoes in a toaster oven? If so, then I could let go of my toaster too and get a toaster oven. It seems really silly to get my oven going for just one potato - but I just don't feel comfortable cooking more than one at a time (botulisim or whatever it's called that can happen in baked potatoes in the fridge ...)

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I'm wondering ... I'm getting emails about replies to my posts, but I'm not getting notices about responses to other people's posts. I've noticed a few posts with new responses by pure chance ...

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My hands and feet are SOOO cold!!

My first monthly bill with Ting ended yesterday - $21.00 +taxes. So that will be covered by my $50 credit. I don't forsee my January bill being any larger, so that will also be covered. Nice.

I need to log in to my ATT account to see if they've posted my final bill yet so I can get that sent off to Ting for the ETF fees reimbursement.

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I talked to my brother yesterday for a bit. He told me that he is preparing for a 40 mile race for the diabetes cure (bicycle) and has decided to stop drinking for at least four months starting Jan 1. Possibly for the entire year!! He wants to really focus in on getting as in shape as possible for the race.

I know how difficult this will be for him, so told him that I would do something equally difficult for me -- only purchase chocolate ONE time per month in 2015.

My diet is fairly healthy otherwise if you take away the chocolate ... so by doing this, I'll hopefully be able to lose some weight. Especially considering that as of this morning I'm now back to my highest weight ever.

We also talked about tentative plans for him and our mom to come out here in May as kind of a Mother's Day thing - the last time the three of us were together was nearly 4 years ago when I graduated with my Masters.

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I finally made a sale on eBay again! It's been at least two months since my last sale. Only $4.99 (roughly $2 profit after shipping and fees) but still, a sale! Just got the payment, so I can get it out in the mail tomorrow.

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I have $22 left in my grocery category for December. That is even with spending a good bit on Christmas dinner food (leftovers for two meals worth after ..) There are a few things I need for this week, and possibly doing a Chef Boyardee pizza for New Years. Otherwise, I think it's safe to say, I'll actually have underspent my grocery category for the first time in forever! (Of course, it has helped to take out the junk food spending and put it in my spending category ... hopefully that category will go down significantly in January.)

I'm going to wait til New Year's Day to do a definitive post on my December budget, but let's just say that I'm very happy with how much came in for my windfall category this month. I don't see the same for January, unless I can make some eBay sales (need to post some more items to help that along!)

Christmas Eve was very special. NE and I went together to a Christmas Eve program at my church. That was hugely special to me because it was the first time he's agreed to go to any kind of church function with me since the first time we dated in 2004.

Afterwards we drove around looking at Christmas lights for nearly 3 hours! There were some pretty amazing displays, and one particular neighborhood off a street that CreditCardFree mentioned that was really well done.

On Christmas Day NE came over around 5 and we worked together to make dinner - mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, vegetarian dinner roast, and crescents. It didn't take a lot of time, especially with both of us working together. We both ate too much and decided to make the cake on Friday night.

So tonight (Friday) we made the rum cakes *before* eating leftovers. One cake we made according to the Pillsbury box directions and the other we made according to the Internet recipe directions.

The second cake had us pour rum into the actual batter. The other cake only had us pour the rum infused glaze mix on the cake.

Of the two, we both definitely preferred the one with only the rum infused glaze.

After we each had some of both cakes, we went to the local grocery store and picked up some meds for NE (pain meds dealing with his shoulders.) I had a coupon that was in the newspaper a few weeks ago -- it made one of his $42 prescription only $12!!!

Then we took a huge portion of the rum infused batter cake to his friend B and to his sister. Friend B talked for 30 minutes straight without hardly taking a breath ...

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I received a Christmas card from someone in Texas ... I have NO CLUE who they are. The card was addressed with my name, spelled correctly and everything ... Weird/neat/mysterious ....

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Tomorrow I need to go to the library to pick up a few items on hold. Other than that though, I plan on being a homebody this weekend. Going nowhere and doing nothing (other than minimal grocery shopping.)