Nothing really new. On day 4 of WW and still doing OK. Still within my points. Go me!

Hit the gym only once this week, but I am planning on going tomorrow, too.

In finance, not much. Threw and extra $10 on my CC bill, not that $10 will really do much right now. Managed to be good and not spend the $$ I earned at work today on eating out.

Wait, what is this??

Am I.....

Am I getting WILLPOWER???

LOL

Today I did it. Sucked it up and went back to WW. *sigh*

I hate paying someone to monitor my eating/weight, but it is the only way for me to stick to it.

Financially I got a good deal, though. No registration fee, and the monthly pass means I pay $40 each month. It works out to $10 a week, which is better than the $13 a week if you pay meeting by meeting. And BONUS: they are having a promotion right now. Sign up for the monthly pass, and you get your 2nd month free. So I basically paid $40 for the first 2 months, which works out to $5 a week.

Total savings: 64 over 2 months.

Plus I rolled change from CITB yesterday and came up with $43.50 so I used that to pay for the WW cost. Yay!

I'm so happy to be back here!!! Missed you all SO MUCH!!! *hugs*

for Monday, I need to:

1. Deposit check
2. mail out tarot cards I sold online
3. Join gym ($10 a month!)
4. Pay electric
5. Pay heat
6. Pay cell phone
7. Pay cable
8. Pay ATTCC

Last couple of days have been OK. Thursday I worked, made about $27. Slow day. Thursday night friends of ours came over for dinner. One friend is an amazing hairstylist. She dyed my hair and cut it for me...at no charge! The dye and supplies she needed equaled her half of the $ for pizza, so we called it even! I ended up with a $100 haircut/dye for $16!!! Yay!

Friday was a NSD for me. Felt good; haven't had one of those in AGES!

Yesterday (Sat) I worked and came home with a whole $13. REALLY slow day. Stopped and picked up about $100 worth of groceries for $45. Yay for discount grocery stores!!

Today I am heading to the movies with my best friend; going to see Angels and Demons. So excited! We're hitting the matinee so it will be cheaper.

Happy Sunday all!

I missed you all, too!!! Things have been crappy with finances, and I just don't feel like I have anything going on with finances to blog about. But I have been thinking of you all and miss you all!

I have almost no income right now, so Mums and Dads have been giving me moeny to pay bills/live on for the past few months. It makes me feel pathetic and horrible.

I am still waiting for a decision on SSDI. It stinks.

I am still working at the tarot store, but it has been wicked slow. I'm lucky if I make $25 a night.

I've racked my ATTCC back up to the limit. Had to deplete my EF again. No money going into savings.

I just feel defeated and I hate posting when I feel that way. I figure, why post about depressing stuff and bring everyone down?

I need to get back into the Ebay challenge. I stopped to move and I just haven't picked it up again. But I think that will help get me back in the groove.

I've missed you all and I'm hoping to be back much more regularly.

Going to a tarot party tonight. It will be fun, but I'm not in that great of a mood. I'm just feeling very down today.

Not much going on financially. Nothing new in the savings. I need to get my butt going and get back to listing things on ebay. I'm falling behind in the challenge!

Seem to be having a streak of good luck when it comes to money lately. Just small things, but we all know small things add up!

Besides all the jingly I have been finding, there have been a few other fun things:

1. Christmas 2007 Mums and Dads gave us a $25 gift card to The Olive Garden. We used half of it one day for lunch. Fast forward to this week and we went to use the rest of it, and there was a full $25 left on it. I still had the receipt from 2007 wrapped around it from the first time we used it. No idea how it regenerated itself, but it was a great surprise!

2. Stopped at Burger King on the way home from work. Ordered 3 Whopper Jr's for the 2 of us. When they did the order, they only did 2. I went back and ordered a 3rd and they said they were doing end of the night totals on the register, so don't worry about paying for it and gave it to us free!

3. Got a check in the mail from the rental company for our last apartment. Check was interest earned in the last months rent we gave them when we moved in a year ago (had to give them first and last). We earned over $50 interest! That will go into the EF asap.

4. Visited my great aunt today. Saw she was reading a book I want to read. Asked her how it was, and she said she hasn't started it yet. Then she gave it to me. Pretty much forced it into my hands and insisted I take it even when I told her I couldn't. Free book!

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Hi everyone! Ugh, these last 2 weeks have been crazy. But I'm finally starting to get back into my routine.

I don't have much to report finance wise. Money is tight with the moving expenses. Work has been dead slow...literally, only 1 client a night, bringing home like $11 for 4 hours of work. Savings has taken a hit since there hasn't been a lot of income. Haven't been selling online cuz I can't find anything...

Hoping to get caught up with everyone else's blogs this weekend. It's good to be back!

Last night when I was cooking our coffeemaker got too close to the oven and the front of it melted. None of the buttons work anymore, which means I can't program it or even turn it on.

Two nights ago out alarm clock gave out. The metal foot of our bed frame was sitting on it and cut through the wires. Lucky it didn't start a fire. Had to throw it away.

Electronic items tend to break around me or get messed up. Usually we joke and say it is because of all my psychic energy. This time it was just plain stupidity on both parts.

I just got a $25 GC for Target in the mail from MyPoints. I was going to use it for something nice for the new apartment, but it looks like I will be using it on either a new alarm clock or a new coffeemaker.

At least I won't have to cough up the cash for both new purchases. Looks like a trip to Target tomorrow.

My lucky number is 1. At least, it's my luck number for today. Who knows what it will be tomorrow.

Brought home $111 from work today. Had a slew of readings, all long ones, and some great tippers.

It has felt good working these past few days but I am exhausted. Fatigue is kicking my butt right now. I actually fell asleep at one point today when I had a break from clients. I'm so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Had another great surprise with my Mass health insurance. I think I already posted that my therapy had no copay, which rocks. And I found out yesterday that my MS meds, Copaxone, are only $3 a month!!! This is HUGE since without insurance they are $2K a month.

I really feel lucky with all these financial things turning around for me. But I think as much as it is things getting better, a lot is from the support and encouragement from everyone here. You all have helped me be excited about saving money, selling online, and aiming for NSDs again.

Thanks to you all. I love you guys!!

Last night 2 more of my auctions ended. These were for antique/vintage beaded purses from the early 1900's. Mums had been given them by her grandmother, but they didn't actually belong to her. They belonged friends of hers. Since they have no family value and Mums was cleaning out, she gave them to me. I never go out to fancy places and I have too many purses already, so I put them on Ebay.

One sold for $22.36 and one sold for $31! So that is another $53.36 for the Ebay challenge, which brings my total to $114.53! I hit my January goal! Yay!

And I have 5 more items still in open auctions, so maybe I can get a head start on Feb's $100.

In other news, I got a second ticket today. Yes, second. Let me explain: Last week I went downtown where it is all on street parallel parking. So I fond a spot between 2 cars and parallel parked. When I came back to my car, the other 2 were gone and I had a $15 ticket for parking in a bus zone. The bus zone was 10 feet in front of me, and, oh, what a surprise, a cop car was parked there. Jackass.

Since I was between 2 other cars I assumed I was safe. There is so much snow, you can't see the curb to tell if it is painted to indicated a bus zone. And there was a car further up than me. So, I said I'm going to fight this. I haven't had a chance to go to court yet.

Today I get pulled over because my car registration is expired (I had no idea). Damn it. That was a $100 ticket!!! But the cop was nice and said if I went and renewed my registration today, they disputed the ticket, the court would throw it out since I got new registration stickers the same day as the ticket. I went to the DMV right away, paid $38 for my new registration. And that ticked I am definitely disputing.

But I think I'll pay the $15 one for a little good karma to come my way. I'll need it to make sure the $100 ticket gets thrown out.

I also stopped at the post office and spent $25 mailing out 8 packages. But at least I get shipping reimbursement for it all.

And then I spent $18 on groceries. We needed cat food, butter, and milk, and I picked up 2 bottles of ginger ale. I've got a tummy virus.

Oh, and I found a penny today. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.49

Not much new to report these last few days. Still waiting for my ebay auctions to end. Did some more cleaning out in preparation for the move and found a bunch more things to put online. Think I will work on that tomorrow.

Today just feels like one of those super lazy days. I can barely keep my eyes open right now. I have to head to the library and post office, and I'm not sure I even have the energy for it.

I guess I'm not too upset about it though, as it has been a good couple of weeks since my fatigue kicked in. But I still feel guilty sitting around the house all day.

Anywho, was all set for yesterday to be a NSD, then we ended up at Walgreens craving sweets. Damn twinkies did us in.

Hello all. My sister just sent me this link. It is a FREE download of Suze Orman's new book 2009 Action Plan.

Just click on the link and follow instructions. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view it, but there is a link on this page to download that free as well.

I checked it out and it is the whole book, all 227 pages!! The link is only good until January 15th!


http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdow...

And if you would normally buy this book, add the cost of it to your $20 Challenge!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOL, Damn, BA beat me to the punch! Just say BAs post. Oh well. Just shows great minds think alike!

I NEVER agree to ship internationally when I do ebay b/c I have had nothing but problems. But I decided to ship to Mexico when a buyer asked me to. Well, instead of telling me his product hasn't received, he opens a dispute on me on paypal.

What pissed me off the most about this is that I told him with shipping it the beginning of Dec, to another country, it would take up to 2 months. Stupid fucktard barely speaks English so I guess he doesn't understand that.

Now my paypal account is -$60, which I don't have to cover if they decide to get the money from my checking. When I shipped the item it went through the UPSP and they didn't have a tracking number for me since it was international (I asked). So, what do I do now? I have to try and find the customs form, which I am pretty sure I don't have, to send the info to Fuckhead so he can see why his package hasn't shown up in 4 weeks.

I swear to God, if I have to refund him and I never get my items back, I will scream bloody murder and do something that will probably bring me really bad karma.

Fucking fuckhead fucktard!

Figure it is a good time to post my 2009 Goals.

Financial:
1. Pay off LBCC (about $1,000)

2. Bring EF to $1,000 (would love to add about $100 a month, but I am not sure I can swing that).

3. Pay Mums $200 for Laptop.

4. Meet my 2009 Budget. I took Shiela's 20K Challenge idea and worked out one for myself. Not counting rent, I want is to live on $20K this year. Actually, with the budget I worked out, it comes to $19,999.92 This budget covers the following categories:
Gas (Home)
Electricity
Home Phone/Internet
Cable
Netflix
Cell Phone
Car Insurance
Gas (Car)
Health Insurance
Meds (reoccuring)
Dr. visits (4 neuro, 1 girly, 3 reg)
Therapy co-pay
Groceries
Eating Out
LBCC payment
ATTCC payment
UMASS Loan payment
Misc

I don't think I forgot anything...anyways I have a set amount for each of these categories per month. If I go over per month, so be it, but I will try and compensate for it with going under in some months.

5. Track ALL spending EVERY month. This will be a hard one for me, because after a few days, I tend to get lazy. But I am really going to try to keep on top of this one. After all, if I don't, I really can't keep do the big 20K budget.


NON-Financial Goals
1. New apartment

2. Eat healthier

3. Exercise more

4. Have WLS (Weight Loss Surgery)

5. Earn as many merit badges as possible. My sis and I were Girl Scouts as kids (ok, until we were 18) and we both loved getting badges. Well, for Christmas she gave me a Merit Badge book for adult women! It is so cook and has great merit badges to earn, such as Wine Appreciation, Home Decorating, Entertaining, Budgeting Your Money, Learn a New Language, Visit a New Country, etc. There are about 50 or so in the book. My sis and I are doing them together, and we are both wicked competitive, so are are kind of competing to see who can do the most. All in good fun, I promise.

I think that is just about it. I want to relax and stop worrying so much this year, and take good care of myself health-wise.

Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday! Mine was wonderful...had a great time with the family, and there were miraculously no fights! Got some very nice presents, and ate a lot of very good food!

Financially, not much is going on. I haven't worked in about a week or so. Will be working tomorrow again, so I am looking forward to that.

Went to the bookstore today. Mums and Dads gave each of us a $50 gift card there! So hard to pick out just $50 with of books for me! I picked up 3 and still have about $10 left for another day.

I also received a $25 gift card to DnD and a $25 gift card to Michaels for craft supplies. Yay!

What I have learned from this site and the friends I have made has inspired me to start a weight-loss/health blog. Don't know if it will be of my weigh-loss success or failures, but I'm blogging about it anyways.

It's called Healthy By 35 and can be found at:

http://healthyby35.blogspot.com/

I hate waiting on money. It makes me so tense because I need it, and I know it is coming, but I don't have it yet.

I'm waiting on 2 checks, and a book in the mail:

$10 check from a survey
$500 freelance check
Book on palm reading so I can add something else to my "talents" to go with the tarot cards

Requested the survey check the beginning of November, and I know it can take up to 2 months so I guess I have to wait. As for the freelance check, well, that is due any day now as I expected it last week. And the book was mailed on December 3rd, so it really should be here by now.

So glad it is Friday. Been a tough week and I am glad it is over!

I'm trying to get motivated to get some stuff done. I have too much to do and too little energy!

I need to bring BF to get his Mass ID. His old one expired, so he needs a new one. Then, once he gets that, he can apply for MassHealth.

I need to send out the food stamps application, call the company working on SSDI for me, and fax them some paperwork.

There's a trip to the bank I need to take, and 2 CCs to pay. I also have to sort the mail from the past few days to see what other bills I have/when they are do.

I have to fill out forms for my 2 big student loans deferrment, and pay the mini-student loan for this month.

My car insurance needs to be renewed.

I have laundry to put away, dishes to wash, a cat to brush, soda cans/bottles to return, and a house that needs to be cleaned in general.

I have 2 holiday gifts I need to finish making, and holiday cards to send out.

And I'm sure a whole bunch more that I can't think of right now.

Happy Friday everyone!

Finally got some pics taken. Thought I would share.

These are out mini-trees. We don't really have room for a real tree, so we put up our tiny ones. PS The pink one is mine.


This is the Yule Candleabra. I used to have a Yule Log my Dad made me but that's gone now. Will have to ask him to make a new one for me.


And here are some pics of the necklaces and the pendulum I made. I am going to put these on Ebay and/or Etsy later today.




And finally, here are my babies. Wolfie is the gray kitty and Solstice is the black and white one.


Hope you enjoyed!

I know this isn't financial, but I just had to get this out:

I dreampt of someone from my past last night. This isn't the first time I've dreampt of him, but it is the first time in about 2 years that the dream has made me miss him.

It's just waying on my mind. This is an old BF, and the last time I talked to him, there was a lot of awkardness and uncomfotableness between us. We tried to hang out a few times as friends after the break-up, but I always wanted more and he didn't. The friendship faded quickly. I haven't talking to him in over 2 years, and I haven't seen him in maybe 6 years or so.

It's just sticking to my mind and making me not want to do anything but sit here and reminice.

Just kinds wanted to get it out to see if I can let it go. Thanks for the ramble space.

I finally got around to posting some items on Ebay tonight. I collect these vinyl toys called Dunny. They are these odd/adorable bunnies that stand on 2 feet. Some of them are normal, just funky colors or whatnot, and some are, well, disturbing, like the axe murderer. When I fist started collecting them, I started with the Azteca series. They are all based on aztec art and symbols. A little later, a new series came out: the Tattoo series. Having tattoos and loving tattoos, this is the series I really focused on. Now that I have all but 2 of the Tattoo series, I decided it was time to sell my Azteca series. It is kind of sad, since they were the first series I started collecting, but I've spent so much on the Tattoo series I figure I need to earn some money back. The trick is they are sold in blind boxes, meaning you don't know which one in the series you are getting. Some are common, about 2/25, some very rare, 1/500.

Anyways, I listed 11 of my Azteca Dunnys in one lot on Ebay. They usually sell pretty good, since they have been sold out for over a year. I placed the starting bit at $25, which is really cheap. I had one single Dunny from the Azteca series who was so rare, he sold by himself for almost $200 on Ebay. I'm hoping someone new to collecting Dunnys will jump at the chance to get 11 limited edition out of stock guys for a low price. And then, of course, I hope a bidding war starts. *smile*

Along with my Dunnys, I collect a series of vinyl toys called 7 Deadly Cins. There are 7 in the series, one for each of the 7 sins. I have 5 of the 7, would love to get to other two, but they are expensive. At any rate, I have 2 extras (again, blind boxes) so I put each of those up seperately.

I have a signed first edition Anne Rice book I am also going to put up. Just have to take pics first.

OK, off to find more of my fabulous-but-I-don't-have-room-for itmes to list.

*smile*

I haven't been working this last month at my temp job for 2 reasons: 1. With the health issue I couldn't work, and 2. They haven't had any work. But I got a call from them today.

They are going to send in my resume for a new assignment: 3 months as a financial expert on 401Ks!! HA! It is 3 weeks of training and then a 3 month position taking incoming calls from customers/clients and potential customers/clients. Honestly, I think it sounds like fun!!

I made sure I mentioned to the temp company that one of my hobbies is financial reading! *smile* (Yes, I do. Not just here, either. *smile*)

It sounds like a great job, and honestly, even if it wasn't, I'd take it.

In other news, made some plans today to tackle my financial crisis right now. My list of calls to make tomorrow:

1. Call the non-profit my therapist reccommended to assist me in filing for SSDI.

2. Call to get on MassHealth (government sponsored health insurance... way cheaper than my $425 a month COBRA).

3. Fill out food stamps app.

4. Check on cell phone plan. If I can cancel it without a fee, I am going to do that and just get a prepaid one. Not working, I don't use it that much anymore.

5. WORK ON BOOK Ok, so this may not technically be a financial thing right now, but if I can get it finished, I can start trying to get it published. I honestly believe it will be published, just as soon as I finish it. Been working on it 3 1/2 years. Time to finish it up.


It feels good to have a plan at least. Sure, things are tough, but I have a plan and that plan will make things better. Ahhh, feeling less stressed already!

Walking to the car today, I noticed a pebble in the same shape and size and perfect roundness of a dime. Of course, I stopped to check it out, and was a dime! Pretty much in a pile of dirt, but hey, a dime is a dime. *smile*

Cash flow is OK right now. Gave BF $5 of my last $10 cash for him to get something at work tonight. I'll just have a few leftovers for dinner. Big imporovement, since normally when BF is at work I use it as an excuse to order out or get take-out. Not tonight, though. We have $70.11 in the checking account, and all bills are paid. I'm refusing to spend it on extra food, since I picked up about $60 worth of groceries yesterday morning and we have plenty to eat in the house. Plus, I am really enjoying the fact that so far for me, it has been a NSD and I am determined to keep it one!

Just waiting on that stupid freelance check now!

Happy Veterans Day and thanks to everyone who has severved!!!!

Friday:

Checking balance: $95
CITB deposit: $35
Check deposit: $30
-----------------------
Total: $160


Saturday:
Checking balance: $160
Dinner: -$25
Half.com DD: $17.82
-----------------------
Total: $152.85


Not too bad. Plus I still have $12 cash of my own from my tarot earnings from lat week. And it was nice to get that DD from half.com today. Still waiting on my freelance check and a survey check, but I'm feeling OK.

Took a look at our cash right now. We have $90 in the checking account. I have $35 to deposit in the bank from CITB. I made $29 last night ($4 went to CITB), leaving me $25 in cash. $7 for lunch today, leaving me $18 in cash. Waiting on a $10 check from a survey site I use. Waiting on a $17 dd from half.com. So, let's break it down a little easier for me to read.

Checking: $90
CITB: $35
Cash: $18
--------------------------
Total cash: $143

Waiting on
Survey check: $10
DD half.com: $17
--------------------------
Total waiting on: $27

So that is $160, when those two things come through. This is for the rest of the month, plus whatever I can earn at the tarot store the rest of the month, or until I get the freelance check I am waiting on.

The check will be for $1100, and will be broken down like this:

Check: $1100
- Health Ins.: $450
- Replace savings taken out: $200
------------------------------------------
Left: $450 for bills, holidays, and unexpected expenses.

We have groceries, may just have to pick up a few small items, like bread and tomatoes.

Will have to pay for therapy sessions ($15 a week) plus meds for the month.

Ugh.

So stressed.

Well, it's Novemebr. Only two months of 2008 left. And I am nowhere near my 2008 goals. *sigh*

Right now my 2008 goal for the rest of the year is just to make it to 2009. Money is tight and I am sick again, so I have not been able to work. I've been out of work for the last month. I've been able to do my readings, but nothing else.

Bills are piling up, and it looks like everyone is getting homemade gifts for the holidays.

Ahh well, maybe if I just don't spend this month, I can do it. I do have an $1100 check due to me this week, so that will help a lot.

(Trying to stay positive)...

Finally turned on the heat today.

In another one of my slumps...seems like I can't get away from them this year.

Money is beyond tight. This whole working sporadically thing needs to stop. I am picking up more shifts at the tarot store, but some days there are just no customers. And since I get paid per reading, if there are no customers, there is no money. Next week I am back to temping (I hope). Hopefully they will have something for me quickly. And I am doing freelance work, but the 20 hours a week is actually more like 2!! Not helpful.

We are behind on bills, over our budget (budget? DO we even have one of those anymore??), wanting to spend and caving in, and raising our CC debt.

Some days we do good, others not so. I'd like to think I've learened something in the last 2 years here, but the truth is that I am barely past where I was then. I need more discipline.