Ms. Pearl's Journey to Living Frugally

Too busy? hmm. Let's review my last (appx) 24 hours.

Tuesday night at 11p went to work

Got home at 7:30 am.

Asleep at 8am

"slept" until 12:15pm (woke up every hour looking at the clock afraid I might miss alarm)

Pulled on clothes, brushed hair. left to pick up girls.

1pm after retrieving girls from two separate schools started off on 1 hour drive to dermatologist.

2p-3:30 spent with Dr.

3:30-4:30 drove home.

4:30-5:15 dug through laundry looking for cheerleading clothes for C. and threw frozen wings and 1/2 bag tator tots in oven.

5:15 dropped C. off at school
came back home. yelled at husband to hurry andat 5:45 drove back to school for "meet the team" night

6p-7p meet the team

7p-8:30P drove to walmart and got supplies to make pink glittery/green sponge lettered element table "radium"
9p sat down, breathed and typed this up.

also washed one load of laundry today and managed to inhale a few bites of food. I am going on 4 hours of sleep and I have to return to work at 11p tonight.

Now, I know I ultimately choose to live this life but at times I feel like I am being pulled in thousands of different directions. Who has time to deal with money?

Right now, my house is a MESS and there is no way I have energy to do ANYTHING. The kids have washed their faces, applied their magic creams, taken their vitamins, done their homework and are almost asleep.

Tomorrow will be just as hectic. I have to get my hair cut at 2p. Drive E. to gymnastics, get home and then go to work AGAIN!

My life is the reason I need to get my debt under control because I cannot continue to work 32 hours per week and run around like this. I am so tired. I know millions of women do more than this every day but I must not be strong like them.

I am just so tired and frustrated. I love being a mom but I hate having to go to work all the time.

Thanks for letting me rant everyone! I might need some prayers to make it through Friday. Friday night I took VACATION so I will have a 3 day weekend! yay!

This is turning into a very expensive week for me. The good news is that I didn't have to buy pants for E. Her best friend couldn't go to the concert so she let E. wear her brand new pants. They were one size too big but I "hemmed" them with some safety pins!

However,

I learned today I need to come up with $125 for pay to play fees for my daughters. They are both cheering for basketball. Ugh! Not the cheering part but the pay to play...and by Friday!! Luckily I get paid but this is going to throw me off a little.

The next expense is my hair appt. on Thursday. That is going to be around $75. Now, I know that sounds horrible but I am getting it cut and highlighted which I only do 3 times per year. If anyone could see my hair right now they would definitely agree I need it cut!

The third expense is smaller but an expense nonetheless. They girls have a dermatologist appt. and that is a total of $10 for the deductible. ($5 each) And the Dr. will most likely prescribe some kind of magic cream/lotion so that will be another $20-$40.

So, that is how my week is going. Probably $250 spent by Friday. $100 will have to come out of savings and the rest will come out of my pay on Friday.

I work 11-7 the night before Thanksgiving. (wednesday going into thursday) and I will get double time. Plus this is an EXTRA shift for me. So, December will be a pretty good month.

I'm off to work in a few hours...might have to take a nap!

Well, here we woke up to a few inches of snow thanks to the great lakes. Normally we don't get that much lake effect but the weather people say that the winds were from the north and blew the snow inland.
I awoke at 6a to hear my youngest SCREAMING from upstairs that there was a 2 hour delay due to the weather. Those are some of the sweetest words that exist in my life: 2 hour delays and snowdays. They mean I can go back to bed and sleep. AHH...I LOVE sleep. One of my favorite activities!

I debated taking the gas guzzling truck to the school this am. I opted not to and put my faith in my Toyota. Kind of a bad idea. I had no problem going DOWN our road and the township/county/state routes (I have to drive all three to go 3 miles to the girls' school) were cleared and salted pretty well. No problem. Made it to school.

Well, I made it down the steep township road hill that leads to our private road (that was paved last summer) and gunned it to get up the hill. I made it about halfway and then my tires started spinning and I was swerving all over the place like an idiot. I made it up the hill BARELY. This is disheartning because this snow was NOTHING. Last year, when the drive was still gravel I would not have had this problem. This means I'm in deep trouble this winter. I will have to drive the gas guzzler each time there is a heavy snow if I want to get my kids to school and get to work.

For breakfast today I had eggs and toast...very yummy, they were "dippy" eggs! My goals for today are
1. sleeping (have to work tonight)
2. buying pair of black pants for E. (choir concert tonight)

That's pretty much it. On the grocery front we are doing well. I have very little food cash at this point (like $10) and I have $13 for gas. This should be fine until Friday when I get paid. The only thing I NEED is milk but M. will insist on coke too.

I need to call bank of america today so I can get my current balance...kind of excited! In the past month I paid over 1k to the stupid card!
Well, it's off to bed for me. Will probably get up around 1p and get ready for the busy evening.
Have a good Tuesday!

Well I capitalized the good because it overshadows the bad. Let's start with the bad:

I figured out why my balance in checking was off. In October I made a transfer over the phone to take 350 out of savings and put it into checking. That didn't happen, instead, they transferred it OUT of checking and INTO savings. Well, our savings account was so whacked in October and I was so DISORGANIZED I completely missed it. Also, I made TWO online payments to Bank of America within 2 days and forgot to write one for 250 in my checking ledger.
SO...that means I have 600.00 less than I thought. OUCH.

Now, let's get to the GOOD news:
1. Bank of America balance is now 7,448.71 and as of midnight tonight will be 260.00 LESS thanks to yet another online payment I made yesterday! So that should bring it down to appx. 7188.00 plus interest to be applied next month!!

2.EVERY bill I have will be current by the end of this month and I should have about 100.00 left in checking!!

3. My checkbook is BALANCED!!

4. My online banking should be up and running by the end of this week.

WOW. This was hard to work through but I am so relieved it is all straightened out! I am also excited to know I paid so much to Bank of America and will still have money left over at the end of the month!

It has been less than a month since I started to get reorganized from my past 3 month mini-crisis and I feel like some huge burdens have been lifted. Yes, I am still in debt up to my ears and I the economy is still falling apart around me. But for now, in my own little economic world, life is ok.

To quote T.S. Eliot
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time."

Trying to inhale/exhale this am. Received my banking statement on Sat. and it seems like I have nearly $200!! less in checking than I thought. I have been VIGILANT with my checking account! I have NO IDEA what happened. As soon as I take the girls to school I'm going to the bank to figure this mess out. Who knows...

I'm also turning in my application for online banking so hopefully this won't happen again. I'm trying not to be depressed, I mean if it was never there to begin with It's not like I actually "LOST" it. Still...depressing.

In other news this was a good weekend! We stuck to our meal plan and our only splurge was $9.88 at Walmart for vanilla ice cream, rootbeer, pretzels and two packs of gum. I had a 75 cent off coupon for the ice cream! My family has been addicted to ice cream sundaes lately and I'm craving root beer floats. We need to learn to control our cravings, but I'm pretty proud because in other weekends we would have blown through at least $100 going to movies/ out to eat.

I didn't even get a movie on pay per view!!!

It looks like we've got something of a spendy week ahead of us. I will have to buy E. a new outfit for her choir concert tomorrow night...has to be black pants or skirt and she has neither. And C. and I both have hair appt. We've not had our hair cut since middle of August and I've got shorter hair and I look a mess!!
In all, I'm looking at probably around $150. Add that to the lots of extra driving to a dermatology appt. an hour away and gymnastics 40 min from home ...sigh

Good news is I've been averaging 1.60 to 1.75 for gas using my discount card. Looks like, depite all the driving I will be at $30 spent on gas for 7 days. woo-hoo!!

Have not started Christmas shopping...at all! I have a bunch of coupons for bath and body so I'm going to go there this week...they sell the victoria's secret pink line and everyone in my extended family is addicted to that right now!

Ok. M. (husband) got paid today and I flew through A LOT of money. Yikes.

Here's a quick breakdown:

2,100 to checking

200.00 cash

45.00 savings #1

What I spent thus far:

325.00 home equity loan

187.11 groceries/household supplies

20.15 toilet kit at Lowes to fix leaking toilet

15.00 gas
Total spent:532.26

Balance in checking: 1723.66
balance in savings #1: 100.43
balance in savings #2: 387.62
balance in savings # 3: 26.73

I have to pay bills this weekend so that total in checking is going to drop...a lot! I spent a lot on groceries and supplies but this is for meals for the next 7 days, plus there is extra meat, lots of fruits, fresh vegetables, canned veggies and fruits, cereals, 2 dozen eggs, milk, snacks and 3 loaves of bread! We're good to go for awhile.

I got a ton of food! My freezer is busting and I think I did a pretty good job. The only splurge/impulse buy today was 11.45 on 2 half gallons of ice cream, peanuts, hot fudge, whipped cream and caramel topping.

We were in Lowe's and C. asked to go to Coldstone Creamery...well there were four of us so that would have been pretty pricey so M. suggested we buy our own stuff and make sundaes at home. We got a lot of stuff that will easily last us through next week until I get paid again so I don't feel too guilty about it. Hey, we saved a lot of money passing up Coldstone. It was a small victory.

For supper we had turkey patties, corn, noodles and onions and applesauce. M. didn't eat the turkey patty but he didn't complain either because he agreed to the "meal plan."

On another tangent, I am quite upset about something that happened to a close friend of mine. This person is transgendered (I'll call her R.) and she was riding in the back of another friends car and they got pulled over by a highway state trooper for a missing headlight. Well, turns out the new boyfriend of the girl driving the car had a warrant for his arrest regarding not paying fines or something like that.
However, not that I approve of that, but I don't understand why the trooper asked to see everyone's ID in the car, the warrant boy wasn't even driving! But anyway...
Warrant boy was asked to get out of the car and the state trooper pulled him aside (quite angrily I'm told) and yelled "What's wrong with your friend back there, is there something wrong with his head? Is he crazy?" (Trooper of course was referring to R.)

Well, warrant boy lost his temper with the trooper trying to defend R. and explain she was transgendered. The trooper ended up handcuffing warrant boy and taking him away. I think he might be getting charged with something else other than not paying fines but I'm not sure.

This is so disheartening to me. Why the hate? Why the anger? R. is a peaceful, wonderful, loving person. What gave this trooper the right to say she was "crazy?"

Wow, it just disgusts me the ignorance and hate of some people. I understand you don't have to agree with everyones lifestyle and choices but to be downright hateful and mean is ridiculous.

Well, that was my rant for now. I have to work tomorrow...sigh. Time for bed.

Well, I added our home equity to my sidebar. I had been toying with this off/on and decided it's a huge part of the reason we're in this MESS so I just need to add it up. The only debts I have not included are:
mortgage (about 209k)
student loan (about 9k)
car and truck (about 10k)
The reason I am not adding these debts is I consider them kinda sorta "good" debt. (isn't that an oxymoron? yeah...)

The mortgage is going to be there for awhile and we are not planning to move in the next 10 years. My student loan has a ridiculously low interest rate so it is the last debt I am worried about.

Now, the vehicles. Many would argue that is bad debt. Ok, it is/isn't. In a perfect world I would be wealthy and have no debt but that is not my reality. We will always need the cars if we are to work, etc... SO, these two loans are also at the bottom of the priority. Besides, my car will be paid off soon and that will be $250 I'll shuffle to the credit cards and $60 to the EF.

In other news, DH didn't get home until almost 12:30 am. He was flying out of Charlotte and the plane had been in air appx. 30 min. and had to turn back due to some mechanical problem. He said he wasn't scared but if that had been me up there I would have had an anxiety attack. I'm just glad he is ok. I don't think much about him flying because he does it so often but when things like this happen it makes me worry more.

He was upset last night because the dogs got into a garbage bag in the garage. oops, I forgot to close the door. There was garbage strewn from one end to the other and even out into the yard. It was NOT pretty. Hopefully his mood improves today. He is sleeping in. I had to get up 15 min. earlier than usual to french braid C's. hair. She has cheerleading pics today. The braiding went well and I could have slept another 15 min but oh well.

I am heading out soon to do the banking and my big shopping trip. It's going to be exciting to have food in the house! I will probably take a nap when I get home because I've only had 4 1/2 hours of sleep.

Didn't have to work today and I knocked off some chores on my list for the next couple days. Feels so good. Here it is:
1. Cleaned refrigerator
2. Cleaned pantry
3. Took food/supply inventory
4. Planned meals for next week
5. Made shopping list for tomorrow's excursion!
6. Scrubbed sink and counter tops
7. Took a nap

Ok, the nap part wasn't on the list but I worked my butt off cleaning that refrigerator and fighting with the remnants of melted popsicles on the bottom of my freezer courtesy of Hurricane Ike.
We live nowhere near the coast but we were the unlucky recipients of its windstorm that knocked our power off for 3 days.
Aside from the sticky mess, the freezer was the easiest because it had just been emptied from the hurricane. I had one minor science experiment in the frig, a plastic container of strawberries with beautiful gray fuzz adorning the top.

It got thrown away. The plastic container too. Sorry environment.

I scrubbed and organized (mostly scrubbed) from 7:30am til 10:30am. I then laid down for my quick siesta that turned into a 2 hour snooze. But, I've been nursing an off/on headache for a couple of days, (tension, sleep deprivation) so I NEEDED it.

This is turning into a long post so sorry but I need to mention one more thing. All the hours and heavy labor I put into organizing/cleaning every inch of my kitchen this summer came back to help me today. Household karma. It made it so easy to clean the pantry because I had my system set up. I can't tell you how happy I am I took at least a week this June to do this!

I'm certain I will go WAY over budget during tomorrow's shopping trip. I'm estimating just under $200.I'm going to take from savings #2. I have to buy dog food, garbage bags, and a TON of food and staples. We were really low on food. It was ridiculous. We lost all our meat from the storm and have eaten most of our pantry...well the contents anyway.

Ok, so that wasn't one more thing but I needed to add it.

So far this is a NSD but I'm heading to town after picking the girls up from school and buying three stamps. Not too shabby though! Tonight is soup and grilled cheese...yummy. (for real) I plan on tackling heaping piles of laundry the rest of the day and yelling at E. to clean up her room as I walked in it today and had to hold my nose...she has an empty container of yogurt on her nightstand along with some dirty dishes. (This explains why I washed so few glasses the last day or two) sigh...I am definitely not the worlds cleanest mom.

Have a good day all!

Tonight is my daughter's fall sports award banquet and because of the amount of weight I have gained this past year my good black pants from the Limited are not zippable or buttonable! I have to wear something other than jeans tonight. My first inclination was to hit Walmart but I stopped myself and headed to the thrift store!

I walked out with $7.19 less than I came in with but it was a victory nonetheless...in more ways than one. First off, the obvious victory: my outfit!

Lambs wool gray cardigan with bead work on bottom= 2.00
Black Dress pants (I'm not saying the size): 2.75
Pink tank: 1.00

Grand total:5.75 (plus tax)

Nice. I also bought my eldest a scarf for 1.00 thus bringing my total to 7.19 So, that was my material victory.

On to the other victory. I guess one might call it emotional or spiritual? Not sure. As I was rummaging through the multiple racks of clothing I came across a Lands End tunic, a lavendar cable knit sweater, a navy button up, an Abercrombie shirt (for C) and a Limited sweater (for C.)
I could feel a high coming on. Epinephrine was spilling into my system and I could almost hear the waterfall of serotonin about to flood my brain. I had removed my coat and was holding the shirts up to me, trying them on.

But then I stopped.

I looked at the lavender sweater calling my name and asked myself, "Do I need this or do I want this." The answer of course, a resounding WANT. So I put them back. One by one they found their place once again among the racks, waiting hopefully for someone who NEEDED them.

This was my victory for today.

I am off work the rest of the week and have a large list of tasks I need to accomplish but tonight I am going to do a yoga tape, just to get back in the swing of working out.

Baby steps.

I'm on my lunch break at work right now. It is three am! I clocked in 45 minutes early to help another nurse so that will be some extra money!

I think I have done fairly well this week considering the unexpected $50 I spent Sunday. I will take that amount from my savings to get groceries but at least I am using cash and no credit like I would have if this situation arose in the past.

DH had to get tags for the cars today. (We have two small cars and a large truck that we drive if the weather is bad or to haul stuff.) We live in a VERY hilly place and without that gas guzzler I would not get to work in bad snow. We paid $133 for the tags and I had plenty in checking.

So, all in all this has been a good week. No credit cards, all cash! DH gets paid Friday and we will end the week with $25 in checking, $60 in savings #1 and a total of $414 in savings #2 and #3. Last week I ended with barely $12 in checking so I doubled the amount!!

Not too bad.

I have been thinking about how my credit cards got so high and the sad part is that really, we have nothing to show for it. So much of it was impulse buys and we did a lot of eating out.

Well, just some thoughts.
Sleep tight all and sweet dreams.

Ok. My last two posts have been downers so I've decided to post my Christmas list of things I'm getting for my daughters.

C.
Abercrombie jeans
Sweater (from American Eagle or Hollister hopefully on sale)
2 or 3 tanks/camisoles
Victoria's Secret undies
Books
Makeup
Earrings
Necklace
Victoria's secret perfume
Pajamas
socks
slippers
thrift store finds

total: appx. $300

E.
Abercrombie jeans
sweater (Hollister/Aeropostale)
Tanks/Camis
Victoria's secret undies
Victoria's secret perfume
Books
Earrings
Necklace
Pajamas
socks
slippers
new pillow
Wi game

appx. $300

So, yeah I plan on spending around $600 for them. They are kind of spoiled but we don't frequent the mall or other clothing stores (other than thrift) often. The only time they get clothes are:
Back to school shopping
Christmas
Summer clothes shopping
special occasions (dances, choir concerts)
They already have ipods, cell phones, too many shoes/boots to count and they are wearing their winter coats from last year, so I think they will be happy with this list.
I plan on shopping the day after Thanksgiving and here and there throughout December looking for bargains.

OH! and I forgot to mention this will all be paid for IN CASH!

I am kind of irritated with my husband. If anyone read my last post they know we spent 54.00 yesterday that I didn't prepare for in our budget. Now he wants 15.00 to get a haircut today. I don't understand why he can't wait until the end of the week when he gets paid.

I haven't got my hair cut for over 2 months now! Sorry to sound so negative. Also, we have propane heat which is very expensive IMO and he turned the heat up to 67 last night after I fell asleep. I am starting to feel like the heat nazi but we both agreed 65 at night and no more than 67 during the day. Personally, when he is not home I keep it at 65 in the day and 63 at night.

Well, that was just a quick rant. I will try to be more positive next time!

Well, it was a good and bad day. We were at a cheerleading competition all day. C. and E. both placed 2nd in their divisions. We're all happy!

What I am NOT happy about is the money that was spent today! 14.00 at McDonalds, 20.00 to get INTO the competition, and this was a school event so I think that is crazy. 15.00 for a T-shirt and 5.00 on snacks. How much is that? 54.00!

Totally blew my budget for the week. I will have to dip into checking because I need at least 50.00 in groceries and at least 20.00 in gas to last me until Friday when DH gets paid. I am trying to find a bright spot in this whole mess but the only one I can find is that I know I will not use my credit card.

Yes, it will hurt to take money out of savings but at least it is cash!

We all had cereal for supper when we got home because we're all too exhausted to even think straight.

Hopefully the rest of the week goes according to plan. I'm going to try my best.

I have been reading up on the "snowball" effect related to reducing debt. That is pretty much how I plan on doing it but I've been rather haphazard. There were many times I could have paid off the gap card but applied larger sums to the two big cards because their high balances make me nervous. So, in the spirit of the approaching winter solstice I will set up a "snowball" budget. Here it is if anyone is interested. (It just REALLY helps me to write it down)

Gap: 50.00

Newegg: 50.00

Capital one: 100.00

Lowes: 175.00

Chase: 235.00

Bank of America: 250.00

Any extra money will go to the gap card. November and December are super tight for me because I played catchup this month and December is Christmas so savings will be minimal. BUT, I believe in January I will be able to pay gap in full so then I will transfer that balance to Newegg. By the time I get to Bank of America, I will be applying a minimum of 860.00 per month.

Wow. And these are all minimum amounts that I can easily pay. It still leaves me with breathing room in the budget. That means extra money will be applied to these accounts. How long will it take me to pay these in full? Not sure but in the next 12 months I hope to make a HEAVY dent in them.

I feel like I can breathe a little better. The last several weeks I have been suffering from a lot of stomach pain. I assumed I had gallbladder problems or an ulcer. The last few days since I have tackled this budget I have noticed the stomach aches are going away. I also have noticed I have more energy. My house still needs some organizing but I feel like I have cleared out a ton of mental clutter and anxiety that was torturing my brain daily- I am in the process of organizing my brain.

I still have debt but now I have a plan and, to steal from Robert Frost --that has made all the difference.,

Here is the poem in full:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20

Yay! I got paid today!

pay= 1237.19

How it was distributed:
$1,000 to checking
$200 CASH
37.19 to savings #1

Here are the bills I paid:

Medical bill= 5.00 (account paid in full!)
Bank of America= 200.00 (balance= 7698.71)
Wells Fargo= 60.00 (balance= 983.00)
Car Insurance= 221.00
Overdue Rental Movie fee= 20.00
Electric= 45.00 (yes, 45.00! love it!)
Capital One= 25.00 (extra payment, bal.=2413.58)
Phone= 80.64

Current balance in checking after paying bills= 354.22

balance in savings #1= 109.90
savings #2= 387.62
savings #3= 26.73

Total in savings=524.25

Ok, the GREAT news of the day was that I found that 387.62 in savings #2. I hadn't checked my bank statements for a couple of months (my crisis) and thought I only had maybe 20.00 in there. So, to discover I have almost 400.00 has made my day.
Sure, I am still buried in debt but this will bring me closer to my goal.

I have to work tonight but if I have any down time I am going to work on meal planning for the coming week. Tomorrow, the girls and I are going shopping and my goal is to spend no more than 125.00 on food. This is a little higher than I normally want to spend but I need to restock some basics.

Also, my phone bill was high this month but next month it should drop to around 35.00 - 45.00 (depending on usage, my basic fee is 32.00) Also, my insurance renews in November and my payments have decreased to $156.00 per month.

S0, that means next month I will be saving appx. 80.00!!!!!

I plan on applying that to the dreaded credit cards. As far as the found money in savings today, well I am going to use 150.00 on it for the girls Christmas presents. I think I will be able to come up with another 700.00 for christmas by mid December. That brings me to 850.00 for Christmas. Not too bad.

We are having cheap frozen pizza for supper tonight. Not my favorite but better than starving!

Have a good Friday night everyone!

I am feeling much better after my little break down. I have a budget and I get paid tomorrow. Also, I cleaned the kitchen and found $.87 so after giving girls lunch money I have $1.80 left! I'll take that as a victory because I have not touched my credit card since early September...and I REFUSE to do so!

Tomorrow I am sitting down with my girls and we are going to make a menu for the next week, including snacks. Then they are going grocery shopping with me. We are not spending an arm and leg on junk food and I told them what snacks we do buy, they will have to last until next Friday when DH gets paid. I am shopping at Save a Lot for groceries (except not meat or fresh produce)

I rummaged thru the frig for food and for supper I made omelets with mozzarella cheese, green peppers, onions and ham. (minus ham for E. the vegetarian.) And we each had a piece of toast. So, we will live to see another day!

I have 3 more car payments after next week so that will be an extra $310 every month. Plus, we should receive several thousand back in taxes around Feb.

So that is the good news. If I can get through this November and December semi-intact and stay on a strict budget January should bring relief. But I want to say thank you for all who left such helpful comments after my last post. It means a lot to me. Thank you from the bottom of my cash strapped heart!

Did I mention my recent sabbatical from reality the past 3 months?

It's kicking my a**.

I organized my bills for November and there are so many ones I need to make double on because I missed them last month. Plus there are late fees to take care of. I want to cry. I want to have a melt down. But instead I will take out my frustrations with these words and this blog. Acknowledging you have a problem is the first step right?

1. I have a problem.

Ok. Inhale. Exhale. The good news is that I am facing this financial mess and am attempting to get current on EVERYTHING.

The bad news is that...well just the entire situation. Christmas is coming and I have no idea how I am going to pay for it. This is horrible! Because of this effed up economy my husband will not be getting his bonus (was going to be $5000 before taxes) so I feel like I am about to suffocate.

Sorry I am ranting, it's either this or I get in my car, with my passport and American Express card and fly faraway. No, I wouldn't do that but I have a silly imagination. Plus, we have no money to pay AMEX.

One extremely small bright spot to my day is that my phone bill will be appx. $16 -$20 less per month because I downgraded plans.

That is it. Right now I literally have about $4.00 cash on me. I have 11.85 in checking and 72.71 in savings. I have another savings account but I think it only has like 10 or 20 in it.
We have a retirement account that is currently getting pummeled, ravaged and raped by the stock market. So, I feel like my head is going to explode. I am 33 years old and I am so ashamed of myself for letting this happen.

Inhale...exhale.
Will update tomorrow with exact figures/paycheck.

Please say a prayer for me and I will send prayers to all.

Wow. I am ELATED! The blisters on my feet were worth it and history has been made. I am exhausted and relieved.

This election has nearly made my head explode and I am so glad it is over!

I have done fairly well this week with money. I have not had to spend any money on gas since I still had $10 left on my grocery discount card from last week. I have not quite a half tank in my car and I get paid Friday morning so I'm good to go!

Gas in my area is done to 1.99!

In other news, DH is in Virginia today working but will be home tomorrow. I have a lot of cleaning to do since I have basically neglected most of the house the last few weeks due to being wrapped up in the election.

On Friday I will post my pay and what bills I am paying etc...
Everybody have a great day. I'm going to take a nap now!

Can of pop at work: 60 cents

That's it!
Tomorrow I am voluntering for my "guy" and knocking on doors/putting fliers on doors. On Tuesday, I'm helping people get to the polls. When I get home each day I plan to tackle the medical bills. All the bills are up to date until Thursday when I'll sit down and pay some.

My husband and I were talking about Christmas this year. C. and E. want clothes,books, makeup, "girlie" gifts, and E. wants a designer purse which I don't think is going to happen. I have never owned a purse that cost more than $50 my entire life so the idea of my 12 year old carrying around a $150-$200 handbag seems ludicrous. C. the eldest daughter is the more rational and thrifty one. Much less inclined to want designer. She loves thrift stores!

Speaking of the girls, E. (the 12 year old) has been a vegeterian since the end of July. I have to give her credit, I didn't think she would stick with it but she has. The only problem, which shouldn't be, is that we spend a little more in groceries. She eats a lot of boca burgers and food in that line which is quite pricey. I need to learn how to deal with tofu and such but I have not the slightest clue at this moment...another goal for December perhaps.

I will probably hit the thrift stores for Christmas pretty hard to find unique gifts. Our Christmas budget will be very limited with the bulk of it going toward C. and E.

I deal with this every year. Somehow the meaning of Christmas eludes our family and we get sucked into the materialistic consumerism that leaves me feeling shallow and spiritually empty. I would like this Christmas to be different. Perhaps that will be my goal.

My first pay for November is Friday. I will break down exactly what each cent is going toward later this week.

Sleep tight all!

It's early Sunday morning and I have to leave for work soon (work 7-3 today) but I feel posty and EXCITED to vote in 2 days!

I won't go into my politics but I am EXCITED to vote and I watch Rachel Madddow regularly so one might be able to infer my candidate is .... well, you know.

I am addicted to the polls and all the cable news channels, you could say I've developed a healthy obsession. Healthy in that after Tuesday I will resume my regular life and not hang on every word of every pundit and every poll!

Whoever your candidate is please go vote on Tuesday or Monday if you can. I have decided to wait until the 4th just because it's such a historic election and I want to feel a part of everything! I know this doesn't have much to do with money directly but indirectly it does. I feel confident in my candidate to help change this economy. I also am a strong believer in some sort of universal health care...I know I might get blasted for saying that but it's just how I feel.

Well everyone, have a good Sunday. I hope it is a day of rest for most...it will be for me after 3pm!

Remember to VOTE VOTE VOTE your heart and your dreams!

My daughter and I went shopping at our local thrift store. This is what we got:

Three button down shirts for me, total price= $5.00

Sweater vest for C: $4.00
Scarf for C: $1.00
Belt for C.: $.25

Total: $10.25

I recently received a small raise at work so now my paychecks are around $1,250 every 2 weeks. I work as a Registered Nurse so sometimes it is more if I pick up or work over but that is VERY rare. (I get paid hourly)
I work 32 hours a week.

My goals for November are as follows:
Clean out cupboards and do food inventory. (I did this in the summer and managed to stay pretty organized so this shouldn't take more than an hour.)

Plan out meals one week in advance and shop accordingly.

Go to save a lot for some groceries. (not meat or fresh produce.)

Clip Coupons and limit my spending to $175 per week. This includes groceries (100) gas (25) lunch money (20) allowances (20) with $10 left over. DH doesn't think this is realistic but I'm going to try really hard. I'll let you know how I do.

Call about all my medical bills that are in a big pile. (DH had $165,000 in surgeries this year, he is going to be fine and thanks to wonderful insurance we don't owe much but I need to get everything organized.)

C. is out on a date tonight so I'll be up until at least 11:30 (curfew) worrying. Thank God for cell phones! E. has friends over...again! That is another reason I fly through food, I feed what feels like hundreds of children every week. But it's worth it.

I am thankful for the extra hour of sleep I get tonight!

Next month I plan on adding some more goals related to money and health but this is all I can handle right now.

More later, have a blessed All Saints Day.

A couple days ago, using my grocery discount card, I got a discount of 1.50 at the pump...I only paid 79 cents per gallon! For 5$ I filled up and still have almost a half tank left! I have $10 left on this gas card so I will easily get through the next week without paying anymore for gas!!!

so excited!
I went to Walmart tonight and spent $50 for groceries...well, uh, some junk food too. But my daughter is having friends over and its halloween!

My daughter and her friends went dressed up in 80's garb. I did their hair and it was a poofy teased mess! But they looked so cute.

Gotta work tomorrow morning, just finishing watching Rachel Maddow. I am suffering from election anxiety. My adrenal glands might go caput by Tuesday


Have a good night all!

Good night all!

Hello all!
I have been gone for several months due to various crises (nothing too earth shattering and mostly resolved now) and we've been very busy.

Anyways, I have been bad and have not been living very frugally these past couple of months...BUT! I am ready to start anew.

A few days ago I balanced my checkbook to the penny. The bad news is I still have too much debt but some good news is that I have 4 more car payments and then I am looking at an extra $310 per month!! 4 months seem like an eternity though...sigh.

I'll be back later with some details.
Happy Halloween!