Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Joined the May Challenge.

I finally signed up for the May Grocery Challenge over at Give Me Back My Five Bucks. My grocery cost vary widely, but I'm hoping to keep it under $125.

I might have mentioned that work provides for my lunch every week day, so I don't have to worry about that. The problem is that I have a bad habit of buying groceries and then getting too busy to make breakfast, and hitting a patch of eating out and the produce goes bad. I'm a horrible cook with no motivation. But I am determined to change!

Here's the plan- I'll eat my way through the pantry. I have quite a bit of food in there that needs to be eaten. Let's take a look-

3 Boxes of Cereal
1 can of oats
4 Microwave soups
4 cans of soups
4 jars tomato sauce
4 cans of veggies
3 boxes of rice
7 boxes of pasta
3 bags of beans/lentils
3 jars of nuts
20 cubes vegetable boullion
2 packets of ramen noodles

and a whole lot of miscellany.

I'll be updating each week on what I've spend and what I've consumed. You know what that means- the tough broad has some cooking to do...

Stimulus!

Is anyone else checking their online banking every morning to see if the stimulus rebate has been deposited? Or is it just me?

Monday, April 28, 2008

Rolo Turtle Prezels



Wow, these Rolo Turtle Prezels look Delicious!

If they're are at all as easy as they seem, they will soon be a dinner party staple!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Do you count calories (or pennies) when you're sick?

I have a cold.

A bad one. I haven't been sick in so long, and it's ruined my whole weekend.

I was talking with a skinny friend about my recovery methods- soup, candy, smoothies, and orange juice, and she was taken aback by the calorie content! Who counts calories when you're sick? It's never even occurred to me. Then again, I don't count calories when I'm well, so...

But it got me thinking, and I realized that my thrifty-ness goes out the window when I'm sick, too. I buy the fluffiest tissues and get my juice at the convenient store on the corner instead of the supermarket where it is much, much cheaper. When I had my cable box, I would splurge on a pay-per-view movie or two.

So, dear readers, do you count calories and pennies when you're sick? Or are you a princess like me?

Friday, April 25, 2008

Stimulus and Sweating!

According to CNN, I'm getting my stimulus check by May 9th!

I went to the gym 3 times this week, and I'm going to try to go twice over the weekend. Honestly, I really don't like the gym. I have back problems so I don't usually feel any better when I'm done. But I know I need to be healthy, and I should use it since I pay for it, so I went.

Now I have stinky gym clothes and need to do laundry.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Payday!

I bit the bullet and transferred $459 to the credit card which brings my debt under $7,000! Woohoo!

It's so weird to think that I'm really only halfway there (or not even, if you count the student loans). I just feel so much better about the state of my finances. I have a plan, and I know that it's working, and I only have one monthly payment instead of FIVE. This time last year, my cards were all within $100 of their credit limits, and today I feel like the burden of debt is gone. All I have to do is keeping living like I have been for the past year, and it will be paid off. It's amazing!

Thank you guys so much for your support and for keeping me on track!

Things I DONT buy!

The Suburban Wife has a great new post about all the stuff she doesn't buy. I thought I'd list a few things myself.

1. Coffee - I never liked the stuff.

2. Tobacco - My mom was a heavy smoker when I was growing up, so I never touched cigarettes.

3. Meat - I'm a vegetarian going on 8 years now. There are lots of reasons to avoid the meat, but I do it for health reasons.

4. Cars - I pay $30 a month for a subway pass and I do just fine.

5. Technology toys - I have the free cell phone that comes with the plan, a laptop, TV and DVD player that were a birthday/xmas gifts from my college days, and a stereo that's a 10-year-old hand-me down. I did buy an IPod, but it was at a discount for a charity event. Gadgets don't get me excited.

6. Pets - I have thought alot about getting a dog, a cat, or even some fish, but I'm not sure I have the time or the disposable income to take care of them. Right now I just spend alot of time with my friends' pets!

7. Lottery tickets, casinos, raffles, ect. - It's just not my thing. I tried playing Bingo earlier this year and almost fell asleep!

8. Waxing/bleaching my upper lip - Many of the women in my family get this done, and I just don't get it. I'm sure for many women, it is a problem and they feel better taking care of it, but our coloring isn't "bad" enough to justify it, in my opinion. Earlier this year, I got my eyebrows waxed and the waxer suggested it, and I polietly declined, but in my head I was like, "Yeah, you just want another fifteen bucks to spend thirty seconds smearing hot wax on an inch of my face that is perfectly fine already. Um, no."

What don't you spend money on?

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Wednesday Surprise!

I logged into my bank account worried that I'm might be dangerously low as I wait for the direct deposits from the second job (tomorrow) and the full time job (Friday). To my surprise, my tax returns were there! What a happy number! I only got $480 back. I think that's great though, since I changed my deductions early last year so I could pay off the debt and not "loan" it to the govenment until April. I just transferred $350 to pay off credit cards, which means:

1.) I'm up to $900 of the $1200 I promised to put toward cc debt this month.
2.) I PAID OFF CREDIT CARD #4!
3.) My New Credit Card Debt is $7,456.75! I've paid off $6,812.25 in less than a year.

I really wanted to pay off my credit card debt by August, and right now that means I'd have to pay about $1850 a month for the next four months. I'm not sure that's possible, but maybe with the stimulus check, three paydates in August, and a lot more hours at the second job, I'll get pretty close...

Monday, April 21, 2008

Getting Rid of Clutter!

The nice weather is here, and I'm welcoming it by packing up the sweaters. I have so many clothes that don't fit right or that I just don't care for anymore, so I'm packing them up and getting rid of them this week.

I'm also trying to go through drawers and boxes and throw out the junk I don't need. I'm the classic pack rat who loves to save every birthday card and ticket stub, so whenever I'm in the mood to trash stuff, I do it before the urge passes!

I signed up for Netflix, and was supremely disappointed until I saw all the fitness videos on demand. I've been checking them all out (especially now that I getting rid of clothes because they're too small!), and it's a really nice feature.

I also got to watch "Maxed Out". I already knew most of what it was about, but it was particularly heartbreaking to see family members who had lost loved ones to suicide. I can't imagine killing myself because of my debt, but I've definitely had hard months when I couldn't make those minimum payments. I'm glad to have family that didn't think twice or ask questions when I've needed a loan. I'm also lucky that I've always been offered more paying work than I could physically do.

I'm glad that except for a few stumbles, I've remained committed to living a frugal life and paying off my debt.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Ok, I got tagged by bouncing back. Here is my six word memoir!


There are no victims- only volunteers.

The rules of the meme are:
1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post
4. Tag at least 3 more blogs (I cut the number down not everyone likes to "play")
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play

I'm tagging-

My Money Story
shegazelle
Dump the Debt

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Budget update!

I put $200 toward the debt last week, and another $350 toward it this week. That puts me under $8,000 in credit card debt! I know that may not sound that great, but after seeing that dreaded number go UP, I'm really excited to see it hit a new low.

I might not be able to put anything toward the debt next week, but the week after should take care of Credit Card #4, leaving just one more to go (with a balance over $7K, but I'll take whatever I can get).

To do next week: Work, work, work at the second job.