I finally got to our local library and got myself a library card. I also took home 5 books. I got 3 Tightwad Gazettes (and am almost done with them all) and two others on personal finance. I figure if I can't do a lot with actual money right now, I can at least read about it and get some new ideas.

I stopped at the $1 store yesterday. I managed to pick up some good grocery deals:

baking soda
starfis tuna
louisiana seafood spices
ground cinnamon
garlic and pepper spice
parsley
buffalo hot sauce
habenero hot sauce
cake mix
frosting
microwaveable popcorn
bags of rice
green tea
caribou coffee bars

and a bunch more stuff I can't remember. Spent $20 and I feel like I stocked the cabinets pretty well with spices and staples. I am working on following the Tightwad advice of stocking the pantry with staples and doing way more cooking from scratch. Slow going, but hopefully I will get the hang of it.

And I found a penny in the sidewalk. New total: $1.27

I seem to be finding mostly dimes on the sidewalks these days. Still a lot of pennies, but a lot of dimes. Maybe dimes are lucky for me now, or the #10. Or, I'm just reading too much into this and should be saying Whoo-hoo! Found money!

At any rate, I found 2 dimes on the sidewalk today (in two different places; 2 different cities, actually). New Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $1.26

And I found 2 pennies on the sidewalk. New total: $1.06

Yesterday we went to Mums and Dads for the day. It was too hot and sticky out to do much, so we just hung out in the AC and watched TV. Did a bunch of laundry. Mums made my fave for dinner: homemade baked mac and cheese.

Our only spendings was a stop at DnD on the way to their house. Spent $10.98 for 2 bagel sammys and 2 large ice coffees. We had it at 11, so it was our breakfast and lunch. Not bad. Works out to about $2.75 each per meal.

In the DnD parking lot I found a dime and a penny. Another 11 cents to Pennies on the Sidewalk. New total: $1.04 I seem to find a lot of dimes and pennies with each other. Maybe 11 cents is luckt to me somehow? If I played the lottery, I'd play 11...

Today is another hot and sticky day. We talked about going to the Boston Aquarium (I've been dying to go there for years) to spend the day in the cool AC. But it's about $25 per person to get in!!! CRAZY!!! We might just have to wait on that one. See if I can find a way to get a discount admission first.

I think today will be a day of hanging in the AC, watching movies, reading. I need to get some stuff on craigslist/ebay and I want to get more work done on the spare bedroom. We rte doing it in purple. Well, the accents in purple. Since we rent, we can't pain the walls. But we hug a purple wall hanging, and purple curtain. The computer chair has a purple curtain and a purple quilt on it. The filing cabinet has a purple scarf draped over the top. There is a painting of a purple flower on the all, and an antique purple vase with fake purple and yellow flowers on the wall, and another purple vase with pinky-purpley flowers in it. I spray painted the curtain rods dark purple, and today I need to finish painting a shelf purple and hang it. Needless the say, The Boy is not overly enthused with it, but we made the deal we could have a purple room.

Oh, and we need to take The Boys laptop to Best Buy to try and fix it. It broke, again. With all the broken laptops on the blogs lately, I'm getting a little scared on mine!! Hopefully his can be fixed fairly cheap. He's had it less than 9 months, so it should still be under warranty. We'll see.

Not much going on the last two days. Looking for a job, cleaning out for a yard sale, stalking Bruce Willis. LOL He is filming a movie in the town where my sis works, so I went up there for lunch yesterday and we went by the set. Didn't meet him...yet. He'll be filming here all summer. Mark my words, I will meet him.

On the financial front, not much. Waiting for my first unemployment check. Calling places to figure out why I have 3 blls for 3 different amounts from the same place. Stuff like that.

Some bits and pieces from my last few days:

Day before yesterday was a No Spender. Yay us!

Found 11 cents when I was cleaning. Went to CITB. Whoo-hoo!

Had to pay $2.50 in tolls each way to my sis' yestday. $5. That stunk.

Had a major breakdown in spending yesterday. Went to the bookstore. Saw about 6 new books from some of my fave authors (and countless new authors). Bought 6 books. Ugh.

Found 2 pennies on my walk the day before yesterday. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: 93 cents.

Requested new forms to apply for deferment on my student loans (again). Since I am unemployed, I am taking advantage of that. Of course, this means I'll be paying the damn things off until I am 100.

Speaking of which, made a payment to my mini-student loans. $120

Also going to apply to have assistance paying for my COBRA payments through the unemployment office. The $400+ a month takes up almost 2 whole unemployment checks. Crazy!

And that is about it. Nothing too exciting planned for today. Picking up another pair of trial contacts. Picking up a few groceries. Watching a netflix movie I got yesterday. Happy Friday!

'Nother penny. Up to 92 cents.

Found 4 pennies today on my walk to 7-11. New total for Pennies on the Sidewalk: 91 cents

Oh, I forgot to add to my other post, I found 11 cents at the Dollar Store. One penny and one dime. New total for Pennies on the Sidewalk: 87 cents

Today I am going to see one of my best friends' band play. He is going to be part of this huge local bands show that is a fundraiser for The Station Night Club Fire. This was a club that went up in flames about 4 years ago. Hundreds of people were trapped inside the building. There were a lot of deaths and even more injured. My older sister and I almost went to that show, but decided not to at the last minute. Thank Goddess for that. However, we still know people who know people who either died or were severly injusred in the fire. A bandmate of my cousin passed away in the fires, a local DJ from the radio station we always listen to passed away, and so many more. So, today, there is a funraiser for the survivors fund. It is anall day long event, with a bunch of local bands and a buffet. $10 a person, and it goes to a fantastic cause.

Other than that, I am just bumming around the house, gathering stuff for an upcoming yard sale.

I spent $7.62 for breaky this morning. I will be spending $10 for the show, and $50 for some of my meds later in the day.

Oh yeah, and I found a dime on my walk to breaky this morning. (New total: 76 cents)

I had a busy day today. I made a bunch of phone calls, and then went out and did some errands. I filled up the car before prices get much higher. Hopefully this fillup will lat me at least 2 weeks. Ahh, the joys of public transportation!

I also checked out a local consignment shop that sells women's clothes. I got all the details about bringing clohes in to them. I'm really excited they take plus size clothes. I have so nice pieces that I never even wore. Plus, they give you 50% of what the item sells for. Pretty nice! Tomorrow I'm going to go through my clothes and see what I can rustle together.

Made a payment on my ATTCC, $200. Works out to about $120 on the principle. Slow going, but at least it is going.

I've deciced to start tracking my daily spending again. Spendings today:

$8.83 breaky for me and the boy at Dunkin Donuts

$15.75 at the Dollar store (new shower curtain, new can opener, package of yard sale price stickers, air freshner, hand soap, etc.)

Total: $24.68

And finally, I found $.06 on the ground today (all pennies!). (total: 66 cents)

Saturday I went out and did a bunch of errands. When I walked out of Walgreens, I saw the twinkle of change on the ground. $.36 Whoo-hoo!

Sat: 1 penny, 1 dime, 1 quarter (total: 60 cents)

I've noticed since I started working (and now living) in a big city I find a lot more change on the ground. In fact, I pick up spare change almost every day. Even though it is halfway through the year, I have decided to keep track of how much I find each day.

I don't really know how much I have found up until now, but if this second half of '08 is as good as the first half, I could have a few substancial finds. Besides a bunch of change (including quarters), we found $22 in bills already this year. The big find was a $20 in bush in a parking lot! All the spare change we find goes into our Cash in the Bag.

Here is this week, so far.

Mon: sick, didn't leave the house
Tues: sick, didn't leave the house
Wed: 2 pennies, 1 dime (12 cents)
Thurs: 1 penny, 1 dime (23 cents)
Fri: 1 penny (so far) (24 cents)