Pennies on the Sidewalk

Today is my 1 year anniversary for writing here. Thank you all so much for the advice, the words of wisdom, the support, the encouragement, and even the tuff-lovin when I needed it.

You all totally rock!!

Since I've started this blog, I've had 348 enteries, 564 comments and 55,787 visits!!!

In honor of this blogoversary, I have transferred $5 to my Vegas account and $5 to my EF.

Old Vegas Total: $416.56
Blogoversary Gift: $5
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New Vegas Total: $421.56


Old EF Total: $41.50
Blogoversary Gift: $5
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New EF Total: $46.50

I need a place to start tracking my overtime for work. I figure since I make time and a half when I do OT, this is a great place to track it.

Monday, 8/13 45 mins

Ate breaky at home, brought lunch to work. Yay me!

$1.50 on soda from vending machine (my tummy was wicked upset so I got a ginger ale)
$20 CVS (meds, earplugs, more meds)
$5 on amazon.com for a movie I have been looking for for months! Found a used copy for $2.50 plus s/h

Total spendings: $26.50

Saturday free lunch with my friend got messed up. She had a gict certificate for Outback, so we were going to go there. She came up my way, and then we went to go to the restaurant and saw it had been closed! It was gone! Grrr...so we drove around a little looking for another Outback but couldn't find one. So we ended up at the 99 here lunch was $15 for me. Ouch.

Also picked up some groceries Sat. For the life of me I can't remember exactly what we spent, and I can't find the reciept. I know it was less than $20 so we're just gonna use that number.

Sat Spendings:
$15 lunch
$20 groceries
TOTAL $35

Sunday we went to Mums and Dads. Did laundry and just hung around. I did about 3 hours worth of take home OT for work, so that rocks. We had dinner there, then came home.

Sun Spendings: $0!! NO SPEND DAY!

Whoo-hoo!
$35 for the weekend...much better than normal!

I'm looking for a magazine that can give me new ideas on how to save money and make more money, and reduce debt, etc. I used to read Budget Living, which I loved, but it is out of print now.

Anyone know of anything like that?

We have low-key plans since money is tight and I'm exhausted from being sick last week. Today (Sat) I am going to go to the mall to return 2 pairs of pants I bought. I'm kinda pissed. I tried them both on, and wasn't sure which pair I wanted (need them for work). So I brought them both home. Well, the black pair doesn't fit. I had tried on a pair of brown ones that fit great but decided I wanted them in black, so I just got the same size in the black ones. Can't even get the damn things buttoned. And they are the same size and the same pants...WTF??? Anywho, so I decided to return the gray pair and now I have to also return the black pair since they don't fit. Hopefully I can find another black pair that fits, since I seriously need them for work. The pair I have now are actually ripped along the bottom and tearing into shreds. Going to hem them, but the um, well, crotch area is getting really thin and will probably rip soon.

Anywho, so today I am off to the mall, then my best friend is taking me out to lunch today, her treat. How awesome is she? We might hit the free beach this weekend if it gets really hot. Tomorrow is a trip to Mums and Dads for visiting and laundry.

I also have about 1-2 hours of OT work to do this weekend. Scary, but I'm really starting to like this OT.

Other than that just some cleaning out and putting stuff on e-bay. The plan is to have 1 or 2 no-spenders this weekend!!!

Thursday rocked...NO SPEND DAY!!

Friday spendings:
$9.00 lunch with coworkers
$17.00 dinner
$2.46 for a new DVD and CD

Let me explain that last one. We have really been wanting to buy the new movie HOT FUZZ on DVD and there is a CD by Voltaire we have been dying to get. So we took some of our DVDs that we never watch anymore and traded them in at Newbury Comics for store credit. We got $24 from them, and the CD and DVD we wanted came to $26.24, so it was only $2.24 out of pocket! Sweeet!

Thursday Total: $0!!!
Friday Total: $28.46

It's been a long time since I did a debt tally. I figured I'm long ovedue...

PERSONAL DEBT:
LB CC: $1,248.29
AT&T CC: $3,351.20
------------------
$4,599.49

STUDENT LOANS:
RWU: $26,475.41
UMD 1: $38,044.87
UMD 2: $2,315.76
-----------------
$66,836.04

Other: $15,000

TOTAL DEBT: $86,435.53

Updated 8/11/07

Lunch: $4.00
Groceries: $93.00
Interview clothes for the boy: $27.00

Total spendings: $124.00

Breaky: $5.00
Dinner: $19.00
Magazine Store: $10.00

Total Spent: $34.00

*sigh* As you can tell, I'm having trouble not spending this week. Time to reel it in and get serious!

Lunch: $3.00
CVS (shampoo and conditioner, face wash, and meds): $64.04 (and I saved $3.32 with my CVS card!)


Total spending: $67.04
Saved: $3.32

Got a payment from Half.com today. $25.56! Yay! This will bring my Vegas total to over $500 after next weeks make-up deposit. I've done this in about 5-6 weeks! Go me! Granted there was a big freelance check in there, but hey, it's a reat start!

Old Vegas Total: $391.00
Half.com DD: $25.56
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New Vegas Total: $416.56

Saturday
Postoffice: $17.00
Gas in car: $30
Lunch/Admission to park: $18.00
Groceries (Ok ok, it was beer, but it was last the month, at least): $25
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TOTAL SAT: $80.00

Sunday
NO SPEND DAY!

Total Sat and Sun: $80.00

We're getting better at this weekend thing.

I liked Lucky Robin and Amber's ideas of adding a little bit when you can b/c it all adds up. So I added a little to Vegas today to bring the total up to a more rounded number.

Vegas Prev. Balance: $386.60
Small deposit: $4.40
---------------------------
New Vegas Total: $391.00

Next paycheck will be another $100 to finish replacing the $200 I needed to borrow, so that will put me at right about $500. Only $1500 left!

Had dinner out last night (our once this week): $40

Fiber, card for friends b-day, candy for friends b-day, advil: $20

New purse: $7.50 (clearance!)

Watch for BF: $9.99

Good Cat (a suppliment that "calm" crazy kitties down...Goddess I hope it works): $11

Total spendings: $88.50

Lucky e-mailed me sugesting I deposit that $1.07 I had left in my cheking into my EF. Fab idea!!

Thanks Lucky!

Old EF Total: $40.43
Deposit: $1.07
-----------------------
New EF Total: $41.40

Did good yeaterday. Left work early, a I'm still feeling sick and it's been 2 weeks. Went to the doctor. It's either IBS or an ulcer. Lovely. Spent $15 there for my co-pay. Luckily, my Dr. gave me a month of meds for the pain in free samples. I guess insurance doesn't cover this pill, and it's really expensive, so she just wants me on it for a month and had enough to help me out. Kickarse.

After that went home and just slept off and on the rest of the day. Ran to the grocery store last night. Had exactly $40.68 left in my checking accout but wanted to pick up some things for dinner that night, plus breakfast and lunch the next day, seeing as how payday was the next day and I was out of stuff. Spend $39.61. LOL Came home and finished the week with $1.07 in my accunt. LOL

Thank goodness today is payday!

Dr. Visit: $15
Groceries: $39.61
Total Spendings 8/2: $54.61

I'm not really doing anything to add to my EF right now. I'm saving for Vegas and working on paying down the CC first. But I did get interest this month, so here's my new total:

Old EF total: $40.27
Interest earned: $.16
-----------------------
New EF total: $40.43

Last week I got a medical bill in the mail that I just did not have the money to cover. It was due before my next paycheck and I didn't want to pay it late. (Side note, Dads says to me..Oh just pay it when you get the money...everyone pays their medical bills late!) So instead, I opted to withdraw $200 from the Vegas fund to pay it. I have repalces $100 of that with todays paycheck, and will repalce the other $100 with my next oaycheck in two weeks. So, updated Vegas fund:

Vegas Prev. Balance: $486.00
Withdrawl for bill: -$200
Deposit to payback withdrawl: $100
Interest earned in July: $.60
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New Vegas Total: $386.60

Driving home from work yesterday I was listening to a local radio station. The afternoon DJ has an "audio blog" that he reads from everyday around 5:30. Yesterdays rant was about buying bottled water.

Most of it was re: the chemicals and how it's not really any healthier for you, and how you're drinking water that wildlife has used for a toilet (lovely...).

But at the end he did make one point that just flabbergasted me:

In one year, someone who buys bottled water on a regular basis will spend about $1,400. In one year, someone who drinks tap water instead, will spend about $.49.

Good goddess!!!!!

All I can say is YAY for Brita!!!

CITB Totals:

Bills: $6.00
Dimes: $1.20
Nickels: $.50
Pennies: $.78
Quarters: $7.00

Total: $15.48

Still a bit aways from doing any major rolling and depositing...

Breaky $5.03
CVS (ct food, cat litter, milk) $11.96

Total Spendings Wed 8/1: $16.99

Holy Bannanas, it's a long list!

Financial Things To Do

Totals for July Spendings
August budget
Details re: life insurance
-From my work
-From Dad’s policy
Allocate paycheck funds
Repay Vegas fund $200
Pay ATT
Pay LB
Return LB pants and top
Update debt tally
Recalculate CC payoff plan
Get copy of credit report
Calculate DETAILED savings plan for Vegas
Determine day/amount of bills due
Finish Woman and Money
Open new checking account
Cancel Paypal CC (don’t even know how I got one to begin with!)
Gift and card for Sis’ b-day
Mail packages (4)
Cash in points for CVS gift card
Call re: student loans
Ing to Ameritrade
Stuff on ebay
DD to savings $25 per paycheck
Research AMica vs Lib Mut car insurance
Possible to lower cell phone bill?
Total CITB

Merry Lughnasadh all! (Loo-nahs-zad). It's the first day of the harvest (in old times) and one of the 8 Major holidays in my religion (Wicca).

Here's hoping everyone has a fruitful year!

Blessed be!

NO SPEND DAY!


HA HA!


I love it!

We did FAB this weekend! I'm SO proud of us! Ready, ready, ready???

OK, Spendings, Friday 7/27
$15 for lunch with the girls at work

Saturday 7/28
NO SPEND DAY!!!!!!!! (Practically unheard of on a weekend with us!!!)

Sunday 7/29
$6 on coffee

Total weekend spendings: $21

Woo-hoo! We so totally rocked this weekend.

Not much going on these past few days. Been tryng to not spend much. Spent some money this week on breakfasts b/c we were all out of cereal, bagels, etc and didn't get a chance to go shopping until last night. Spent about $15 on that. Dropped $5 at Cumby's the other night when we ran out of tp at midnight. Picked up sme from the all night store and a bottle of soda for the boy. Yeh, convenient, but fricken expensive! I hate buying things at convenience store.

Grocery shopping finally last niht. Spent $111 and change. Not bad, as we did a major shop and picked up a lot of meats. I think it's fair to say we blew our grocery budget for July, but I a going to do the math later to see how off we were. I'm not too upset, as July was the first month on this new plan and we are in assessment mode to see how much we are over or under in budgeting in some cateories.

Got a bill from the hospital from when I was sick a few months ago. Guess insurance didn't cover all of it. Didn't have the funds in out checking account to cover it all, so I took $125 from the Vegas fund to pay it and I will replace that when I get paid on Aug 3rd.

Listed a bunch (about 20) new books on half.com this week. One sold today, so that rocks.

Now that I got a better/working camera, there are some things I want to list on ebay, like my KidRobot Bunny's, some Tori Amos concerts, some NIN videos, a Louis Vuitton clutch/wallet thingy from inside a Louis purse that is no more, and possibly a Coach clutch. I dont know about that one. I LOVE it an it matched my hot pink leather jacket perfectly!!

Anywho, that's about it here. For now, at least.

Well, we did a lot of spending this weekend, but I feel ok about it. Friday night we hit the Sushi restaurant and had a big expensive dinner. It was so expensive, I’m not even going to mention how much we spent, for fear of giving you frugalers a heart attack! Saturday morning I hit the bank, CVS for meds, and the post office. The rest of the day we stayed around the house and cleaned all day. How sad, we cleaned for about 3 hours and only got partway through ONE ROOM! ACK! In all fairness though, it was cleaning out, and we threw away about 3 bags of stuff, plus I listed around 15 books online and have another 20 or so to take to the used bookstore. We ordered in Saturday night. Then Sunday we did some errands. Hit 2 used bookstores and the regular one. One bonus was we bought a book at the used bookstore for $35, then, later on, found the same book brand new for $6! So we got the $6 one and returned the other one, thus saving us a good amount of cash. We ate lunch out on Sunday, and ran to Target as well. While BF filled out a job application for there, I returned my semi-new (2 months old) camera that turned out to be a piece of crap. Luckily, they have great customer service and they gave me store credit (I asked for store credit) even though I didn’t have my receipt. I used that credit to get a different camera, exact same price. This one is much better and there was no out-of-pocket cost for it. Also got gas on Sunday. I’d say over the weekend, we spent about $200. Seems like a lot for what we did, but when you figure in gas was $30, dinner Sat was $20, lunch Sun was $20, and dinner Fri was, well about those 3 things combined, we did pretty good. We spent about $60 in books, one which was an expensive journal for myself.

A lot spent, but all the bills are paid and we still have a good amount left over for groceries, gas, and in case something happens.

Took $5.50 I had in there and deposited it into the Vegas account yesterday. But I have some spare change from my purse to put in, and when I was cleaning yesterday, I found a dollar bill. I'm really starting to like this cleaing and finding money thing! It's like I'm being paid to clean my own house!

CITB
Dollars $1.00
Quarters: $2.25
Dimes: $.50
Nickels: $.35
Pennies: $.42

Total: $4.52

Got my big freelance check in the mail yesterday: $350! YAY! That is going into the Vegas fund (which, is also my $20 Challenge fund), along wth $5.50 that I took out of Cash In The Bag. Whoo-hoo!

Vegas Prev. Balance: $130.50
Freelance check: $350.00
Cash In The Bag: $5.50
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New Vegas Total: $486.00