Pennies on the Sidewalk

I was able to bring home 3 hours of OT this week from work. Yay! I get paid time and a half for OT, so it's always a bonus when I can find some. Plus, I get to bring it home woth me, instead of staying late at the office, so that's an additional bonus.

When this amount shows up in my next paycheck (2 weeks) I'm going to transfer that right over to the Vegas Fund. I'm also expecting a freelance check for a couple hundred to show up in the mail next week, so that will boost that Vegas total right up.

In other work news, I recieved my 6 month review/raise. Not a huge rais, about $.25 an hour, but considering the company doesn't give raises to everyone, I'm happy. I do need to speak to my boss, though. On the paperwork, he has me down at $12 an hour with a raide to $12.25 an hour. Ummm, I ctually make $12.98 already. So, gotta make sure he doesn't push through the paperwork for me to be making $12.25, as that would be bad. Bad, bad. LOL

Anyways, the quarter an hour works out to about $40 a month, before taxes. Whatever it comes out to after taxes will be put directly into the Vegas fund. After the vegas fund is, well, funded, it will go towards my EF. I figure it will be about $25-$30 a month.

Anywho, off to work. Good day all!

$30 gas in the car
$.85 snack after lunch

Total: $30.85

Transferred a bit from my paypal balane into my Vegas fund. After I have recieved payment for items and the fees have been paid, I transfer the money from paypal into my account a little at a time. This way, I still have some money in there in case I find something on ebay I want or I list more items that don't sell and I still need to pay fees.

Anyways, sold some back issues of magazines and an action figure from the TV show Charmed, so I had a little extra to transfer to the Vegas fund.

Vegas Prev. Balance: $115.00
Ebay Sales: $15.50
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New Vegas Total: $130.50

Cashed in some of my CITB this past weekend ($8 in rolled change). On top of that, we had $10 in quarters, but we did laundry here this week. When we go visit Mums and Dad, we do it there, but we haven't been up there in a couple of weeks and the clean clothes were getting sparse.

I did find some spare change in my wallet and in my shorts from this past weekend. And, there was $5 in bills in the jeans, too! So it's all getting out into CITB for the next deposit.

CITB Totals:
Dollars $5.00
Quarters $.50
Dimes $.20
Nickels $.25
Pennies: $.32
Total: $6.27

Soda at work $1.50 (my tummy has been wicked upset lately...hoping the carbination would help).

Dinner out: $30 (this is our weekly dinner, so it was planned for).

Total spendings: $31.50

Grocery store: $108


That's it. I'm happy. No outside spending and still doing good on the grocery budget.

Made a deposit today for the Vegas trip. Topped $100. Great start for me!

Vegas Prev. Balance: $65.00
Cash In The Bag: $8
Survey check: $10
Donation from the fam: $25
B/C I wanted to deposit an even amount: $7
(Total New Deposits $50)
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New Vegas Total: $115.00

All this talk about hair lately has nudged me forward to do something with my own. I want to cut it, get something relatively funky. However, I'm not sure how work would feel about the funky I have in mind (Hot pink anyone?). So, instead I decided just to take a few inches off the end, give myself a little different look.

Did it myself last night! ANd it's even! LOL

Saved myself some money doing it myself. Although, I gotta say, I miss having it shampooed by someone else. Hmmm....wonder what BF is doing tonight...

$4 for a new headband at the festival
(lunch and a new necklace for BF were bought by Mums...how cool is she?)

$20 for dinner (least we could do)


Total: $24

Happy low numbers!

Lunch at Mall (for 2) $10.00
Drinks: $5

That was it! I got 2 new books at the bookstore, but I used my gift card for that. And I still have $25+ on it for another day.

Today we hit the festival. I'm sure we'll spend some money, but not a whole lot. I wanna run to the grocery store later as well, pick up a few things for lunches next week. Plus, I still have that deposit from last week to do at the bank. If I get time, I wanna go to Target. My great new camera I bought last month is a piece of crap. It won't work right. So, I am hoping to return it to get another one, or at least store credit to get another one.

Happy Sunday all!

This weekend, we have deiced to leave the house for something other than grocery shopping or eating out. We're about 45 mins East of Providence, RI. I actually grew up in East Providence. There are some things there BF wants to do, so we're gonna head over that way today.

Sat plans:
Go to Mums and Dads and go with the to visit my very sick aunt in the hospital. She's not going to be around much longer, and I haven't seen her in a while, so I want to stop and and see her.

Then, we're going to the Providence Place Mall. They have a HUGE Borders there and I still have some $ on my Borders gift card I got for X-mas. We're also going to go to Swan Point Cemetary to visit the gravesite of HP Lovecraft. (My BF is obsessed with him!) Also, drive around and show him some of the historic places downtown, like the house Edgar Allen Poe lived in and Thayre Street. Should be a fun time.

Tomorrow, Mums is coming up here. In the park, literally 4 blocks from our apt., is the annual Whaling Festival this weekend. It's a big faire, with carnival rides, food booths, lots of craft booths and shopping, plus games and such. We go every year. I want to look for a new charm for my braclet, but that is all I plan on buying, and they are usually like $5 each or 3 for $12.

So, we'll see how well we do. Just put gas in the car yesterday, so we should be all set there, and the plan is to eat at home before we go out.

Breaky: $4.98
Lunch with friends at work: $11
CVS: $17.18
Gas in car $30.00

Total: $63.16


Bleh, again.

Chinese $25
Breaky $4.45
DnD $1.66


Total: $31.11


Bleh.

Wednesday, did great!

$20 gas for car


THAT'S IT! ANd if I didn't get gas, I wouldn't have made it to work. Yay me!

Although we didn’t get the condo we wanted (interest rates on mortgages were just too high), we decided to keep looking for a new place. Where I lived in our current place myself for almost 4 years, BF doesn’t really feel like it is ours. More like mine he is living at. Once we get the rest of his stuff from Vegas, he’ll feel differently, but also moving into a place we pick out together will help. Plus, the neighbors are still crazy.

So, we’ve been looking for a new place, even if it is a new apartment and not a house or condo. Here comes the great story:

Last week we saw a place listed in the local paper we wanted to check out. Historic area, great price. When I called the number, turns out it was the wrong number listed. Bummer. Then Monday, BF was walking down the street and he passed a realtors. They had a sign in the window for 1 bedroom Historic apartments. So, I called them. We found an amazing place! We haven’t seen the inside yet, but the building the apartment is in is amazing! It is an old mansion in the historic district here, and was built in 1856. Used to belong to one person, now it is apartments. The apartment we are hoping to get has a living room with bow windows that form an alcove, a dining room, a large bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. It has 11 foot ceilings with crown molding. 2 marble fireplaces (LR and DR, not sure if they work, thinks one might). Our own private mini deck. All the other apartments share one large deck, but we get our own. Also, there is the main entrance and that is it for the other apartments. But ours has the main entrance and our own private entrance! Beautiful neighborhood. Accepts cats. Currently renting for $700 a month, will take $650 for it (we pay $625 now!).

Only downfall? Someone is still there, and although they are moving out, they could be there as late as October. We told them we want it, and to let us know as soon as it is available. He told us it’s ours.

So, now we just have to wait. I’m so excited! Unless there is some major issue, we’ll be moving in a few months. Oh, another bonus? It’s only 6 blocks away from our current place! Short moving trip! Same work commute! I hope this works out. We were both so disappointed over the condo. I hope we don’t get disappointed again.

Well, looks like my fancy July budget is in the crapper. I got a letter in the mail stating I never paid my June payment for one of my student loans (I was POSITIVE I did...) So, now I have to come up with $135 ($120 plus late fee) to send them ASAP.

What is really bugging meis, I KNOW I wrote out that check. I remember thinking "Oooh, this payment will be early." And I updated my Debt Tally here with it. But I checked and the check number hasn't been cashed. I guess I will assume it got lost in the fricken mail. Grrrr.

So, looks like there will be some struggles for the rest of this month, as the budget was already pretty thin. We're trying to meet new budget amounts (gas in car, gas at home, electricity, groceries, etc)but this is the first month trying it and as it is, I don't think we are going to hit those new numbers. *sigh* What's another month of struggling when you've been strugging for almost 12 years, right?

Gas in car: $20
Snack at work: $.85
Dinner: $25

Total: $45.85

OK, not really. But I got a DD from half.com today and it is going towards Vegas. So, they're kinda sending me.

Vagas Prev. Balance: $50.15
half.com DD: $14.85
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New Vagas Total: $65.00

Today has been OK for spending. I thought it was going to be a No Spend Day, but then I remembered I needed stamps. So I bought a book for $8.60. $8.60?? OUCH! Damn stamps are way too expensive. I have taken to paying all my bills online, but these were some forms for my student loans I needed to send in. At any rate, since I don’t use stamps often, these will last me a while. And they are the Forever ones, so they’ll be good even when the price of stamps raises again.

While I was at CVS (for the stamps), I also got the new People magazine. I am a huge wrestling fan and have been following the murder/suicide of Chris Benoit and his family since it happened. He was on the cover, so I picked it up. BF will read it as well, then we’ll pack it away and in 6 months or so, put it on e-bay and recoup the money.

And finally, I spent $1.66 at DnD. I bought 2 donuts. Bad for my finances, bad for my healthy eating plan. But the carrots I had with me were very metallic tasting, and you know how you get a craving and you can’t ignore it? Anyways, I don’t want to hear a single peep about how choosing donuts was bad. I know it was. I don’t need to be told that by someone else. (If I seem defensive, it’s because of a comment recently that irked me re: my food choices and eating out).

So, spending for today is done (I hope). I’m aiming to make tomorrow a no spend day, with the exception of gas in my car.

Spendings
CVS: $11.69
DnD: $1.66
Total: $13.35

Did fairly good at spending on Sunday. Went to the grocery store, and spent $69.32 This was Fab as it was down from $83.43 after I got my discounts (saved $14.11!). Didn’t get to the bank, as they didn’t open until almost an hour after I was done shopping and I didn’t want to go back there again. It’s OK, I just needed to deposit some rolled change. It’s in my purse still, so I’ll count this as exercise (carrying around heavy coins!). lol

Other than groceries, I only spent $0.40 on Sunday. We went to the annual Summerfest here and walked around looking at all the art and crafts and booths. Admission was free, my BF treated me to a Dels from his allowance money, and we didn’t get anything to eat. I bought 8 beautiful polished stones ($.05 each!) that I am going to wrap and make necklaces with.

The rest of the day was spent trying to cool off. We watched TV and took naps in the afternoon. At night BF played his Game Boy and I finally started working on my quilt.

All in all, a good day.

Spendings
Groceries: $69.32
Stones: $.40
Total: $69.72

I think today will be relatively low key. I have to run to the bank to make a deposit from CITB ($13), and pick up a few groceries. I also need to see where we are in terms of our budget after my evil spending weekend.

We found an add for an apartment we're interested in, but the number in the paper was wrong. We have a general idea of the area it's in, so I think we're going to go drive around a bit and look for it. It's $35 less a month than what we pay now, and...has a fireplace!!

Other than that, I think we'll stay in. Neither of us is handling this heat well. Well, the heat is killing me and the humidity is killing the BF. I fnished cutting all the pieces I need for my quilt yesterday, so I want to start piecing it together. I might have to pick up some thread if I'm all out, but other than that, no personal spending today!!!

Been in a crazy spending mood this weekend! Of course that always happens when I put myself on a budget. Trying to control it though.

We got a cell phone for my BF. We got a cheap $15 one that has pay as you go minutes, so it won't be really expensive. We also picked up some starter minutes. I got a new book, which is OK since I will be getting rid of some more this week on half.com. New pens, well, they were purple and cheap, what can I say? Plus I had a coupon for $7.50 off my total purchase, and the pens were only $2.99 And there is a story behind the cheap allergy meds, but more on that later.

Yesterday, Sat, spendings:

CVS - $57.34
Prescription meds: $49.09
Allergy Meds: $9.99
Pens: $2.99
Tax: $2.77
Coupon: -$7.50

Breaky - $25.00

Target - $38.83
Book: $12.00
Cell Phone: $14.99
Minutes for Cell Phone: $9.99Tac: $1.89

TOTAL: $121.27

Yuck.

Friday night wasn't as free as I was oping. Got home and just chilled out for a bit. We were hungry for dinner, but didn't really want anything in the house. So, we went to Friendlies (a very cheap but yummy place where we can both get dinner for under $15).

Those little boogers have changed the prices. Their drinks are not $2.25 each!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF????? We spent $4.50 on drinks! We asked and they said "Oh, but they are free refills." Our reply was "Yes, but neither of us had a refill!" *sigh* Really angry.

Service was bad again, too. That's it, we decided. We're not going there for a while. Too bad, too; I love their chicken sandwiches.

After dinner, we stopped st Newbury Comis. Poked around, but just didn't find anything I really wanted. The Boy got a new deck of cards, but he used ome of his allowance for that. I didn't buy anything. Go me!

Total spendings Friday:
Friendlies $24
Break $4.45

Total for Friday: $28.45

Very little spending yesterday. Put $26.02 worth of gas in my car, and spent $3.03 on DnD for an afternoon pick me up (was never gonna make it through work without it).

Today I spent $4.45 on Breaky. Went out to lunch with a friend from work, but she paid since she owed me a few bucks. Yay! Free lunch!

Hoping to make tonight a quiet night in, with no more spending. We’ll see.

We have finally pinned down a date to go to Vegas and move the rest of The Boys things out here. We are going over Thanksgiving, this year. At first we were weary of going over the holiday, but then Mums told us that my Sis and her hubby are going to Texas to visit his parents for Turkey Day and it was OK if we were away too. So, that is our plan. Now, to fund it.

I am seriously still paying off debt, but now saving for the Vegas trip, too. We'll need about $2,000 (this includes hotel, car rental, airplane tix, and money to ship back whatever stuff of The Boys doesn't fit in our suitcases). I want to do as much with cash as possible, and charge as little as possible. I know no matter what we will have to charge something, so my goal is to come up with $2,000 between savings and room on my CC by November 20th.

All extra money will go to CC debt and/or the trip. I am going to put a minimum of $2 a day into a savings account for the trip. My goal will be $5 a day, but at least $2. We have 143 days to save (July 1st - Nov. 20th). We have a tiny little Emigrant account with $2.15 in it. I will be adding to that.

Yesterday I transferred in $18 ($3 a day to take me through July 6th - Friday - which is payday).

Today I transferred in $30. Tomorrow is payday and this $30 is what we had left over from the last paycheck.

Vagas Prev. Balance: $2.15
Vagas additions: $48
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New Vagas Total: $50.15

Happy Fourth All! Today was a great day. Me and The Boy slept in (so nice) then went to Mums and Dads house for a small BBQ for dinner. My sis and her hubby weren't there, but it was still fun. My best friend (who I've known since we were 12) also came over and joined us for the cookout. We hung around and played cards for a while. It was nice and realxing and fun.

While we were there, we got about 4 loands of laundry done (yay!). We have a coin op washer and dryer in our apartment building so anytime we go to visit Mums and Dads, we bring some with us. Parents rock!!

Dinner was wicked yummy: hamburgers, cheese hot dogs, pasta salad, chips, and ice cream. One bonus: as we were leaving, Mums loaded us up with leftover food! We got half a pack each hamburger and hot dog rolls, a 6 pack of cheese hot dogs, a half bag of regular chips, a half bag of sour cream and chive chips, all the leftover pasta salad (yum! Lunch tomorrow), a tomato, 2 heads of broccoli, and an 8 pack of GIANT ribs! Mums just started cleaning out the fridge and freezer and putting things in the bag for us! And then, Dads gave me a 6 pack of my fave beer he had picked up for me! How much does that rock??

So, we got a good load of stuff for the next few days, and this kind passing out of food from Mums will help us make our $200 grocery budget for July. Yay for doting parents everywhere!

The only money we spent all day was $.50 for the newspaper, and $4.50 on DnD Iced Coffees. I like days like this!

Almost forgot, Tuesday night when we went out to dinner, our order got messed up a little bit (not a big deal at all). Because of it, our waitress (who is our waitress every week) gave us a $5 gift card towards our next visit. Sweet!

We always go to Wings to Go on Tuesday nights, becasue for $13 a person, it is all you can eat wings, fries, and soda. An order of fries, a 10 piece and a soda is about $10. For the extra bit for each of us, we end up getting a whole lot more. For example, this week, The Boy had 2 sodas, 3 and 1/2 orders of winges (10 to an order) and 1 and 1/2 orders of fries. I had 2 orders of wings, 2 sodas and 1 1/2 order of fries. We totally get our money's worth there.

Anyways, there was a delay for the last order The Boy put in, so to apologize, she gave us the gift card. After tax and it it is usually about $30. Next week we'll save $5 and that makes me very happy.

Been a while since I posted a CITB report. Just counted up all the change in the Bag. Here are the totals:

Pennies: $1.17 ($1 rolled!)
Dimes: $4.70 (only 3 more til I can roll it!)
Nickels: $2.00 (rolled!)
Quarters: $9.75 (ooooh, so close!)

Total CITB: $17.62

Yesterday was good! I ate breaky at hom (a big challenge for me) and brought lunch to work. Didn't buy any snacks or soda, but waited for lunch time to eat and kept refilling my gigamongus water bottle from the water cooler. Ahhh, free bottled water!

Only expense yesterday was dinner out, but that was planned and budgeted for, since we go out to this place every Tuesday night. We're focusing on making this the only time we go out to eat each week.

Dinner for two: $30

Total Spending: $30

When I was little I loved the library. I remember walking there with Mums during the summer mornings. I'd load up with 10 or 12 books, as many as my backback could hold. I'd usually have them all read in a day or two and go right back for more. No wonder I love books now.

As I got older and got my own money, though, I began to leave the library behind and spend time at the bookstores. I love that I got to keep these books and read them over and over. And so, my book-collection (or "book obsession" as The Boy calls it) was born.

But now, with money being tight, I am considering the library again. I know there are some things I want to read (like the Tightwad Gazette) but I don't know if I want to spend my money on them. I want to check them out first. So, it's off to the library tonight to get me a free library card and some new things to read!