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Archive for October, 2008

It's been quiet....

October 14th, 2008 at 02:01 am

It's been pretty quiet around here lately, thank goodness. Besides a few bumps in the road (like not getting my last paycheck)...everything has been pretty smooth.

I was worried about our budget on one income again, but it seems to be working out ok, so far, knock on wood.

We've even been able to keep up with hefty (as in several hundred over the minimum payment) credit card payments. We hope to have them paid off by the end of next year. We'll see how that works out. I've learned not to depend on a "plans"...something usually happens to change them.

I'll be registering for school here soon, I'm not looking forward to yet another loan. But if I don't go to school and finish my degree I'm not going to have much of a chance at a decent income. So while were baby free I think I'll take the opportunity to go.

Even the grocery budget has been going well, I've managed to spend only a hundred or so for October (2 grocery shopping days) which includes household and pet items of course. Why I never budgeted groceries before is beyond me. When hubby and I first moved in together we'd just go to the store and wing it. Sometimes we'd spend ..... are you ready .... 800 bux on groceries and going out to eat!!! Ugh, you live and learn right? :-)

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One thing I've taken notice of when we started seriously budgeting was entertainment. When "rough" budgeted (other wise paid all the bills on time, then did w/e with the rest) we'd just go see a movie whenever, go out to eat, go to the theme park, go out Saturday night with friends....While I don't regret doing those things, they cost ALOT. Of course when we first starting dating, neither of us had much financial responsibility either.

Now it seems like we get board more often, lol. Which is fine, we're becoming more productive. Getting some house work done and what not.

We'll get used to it.

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The cat is home, and my goodness she has slept for 5 days. Shouldn't she be getting back to normal here soon? She has a follow up visit Wed....ugh. I love her, but she gets sick after surgery. When we adopted her she had just gotten fixed, and she was SO sick afterwords. And here yet again, she's sick. The last time all her meds and what not cost 60+. I hope she doesn't need all of that again.

Speaking of...her vet quoted us 218 for her surgery. Ok fine, we agreed. Then I go in to pick her up... 295!!!! They charged us 41 bux because she was over 6 months, come on seriously, 41 dollars? Then the rest was medications and her collar. Thanks, I appreciate it. Grr.

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Hubby & I sat down to plan out the rest of the year over the weekend, and family finally made up there minds when they are coming to visit. They are coming for 1.5 weeks :-) Yay! I'm a little bit home sick (I miss my family) what can I say?

Anyways, I don't think Hubby and I saved enough! lol. It's ok, we'll make ends meet. We set a holiday budget(saved up the funds), that I'm sure we can stick to. I saved up money for my birthday, and Hubby wants to go stay on a beach for his (which shouldn't cost too much), and I already bought my Mom's birthday gift. That leaves New Year's (we always celebrate with something special because that's when Hubby and I met) and our wedding anniversary. Then, voila!, another holiday season will be past.

We'll see what happens.

Productive

October 7th, 2008 at 09:04 pm

Well tomorrow is 1 week down as a stay at home wife, and I have managed to get quite a bit done. If no one is willing to hire me right now for work, than I plan to at least get as much as possible done at home.

First thing on my list: Closet Overhauling! We moved in a year ago and our closets were stuffed with unpacked boxes. Well, I finally got to them. 4 closets are successfully cleaned, sorted, and organized. :-) I ended up spending $71.00 on organization but I got (3) 4 shelf units and 2 medium plastic bins (PINK! for my closet). Not too bad I think, Lowes had the wired shelves for $50-70 a piece or the plastic shelving units for 20 a piece. Since they went into closets for only storage, I decided plastic would be just fine.

I also decided against switching the pets room and the guest room. I just used the guest room closets for storage :-).

Hubby and I are going to make a trip to Goodwill this weekend (we packed 4 big boxes of stuff to donate!) and the recycling center to drop off a broken TV and monitor (that the movers so kindly busted for us).

Ahh...I love organization!

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Lucky, knock on wood, no new big expense have come up (KNOCK ON WOOD!). The cat is getting her claws done tomorrow, so hopefully that will be the last biggy for a bit.

We fully funded our holiday fund last week, but I think we'll continue to contribute all the way up until we go Xmas shopping. Even though I don't plan to spend a bunch this year, we can save the left overs for next years Xmas fund or put it in the emergency fund.

Personally I like to do my holiday shopping in October. But this year is the first year Hubby and I will buy almost all our presents together and he likes to shop online (particularity after thanksgiving). Which is fine, I can do his way too :-) I'm hoping for some good deals because I want to save money for when family is down to visit...I can't wait for them to get here. I think maybe we'll take a road trip to some theme parks here in FL since hubby has some free tickets :-)

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So I must say that I have a love/hate relationship with CVS. More love than hate lately. My only gripe is that they will put something on sale and then move it from its normal spot (sometimes) and I look like a fool roaming CVS looking for w/e or sometimes my ECBs wont print, then I have to go through customer service...we all know about customer service.

Anyways, today was a love day. I managed to get (2) Eucerin lotions (normally 15 a piece), (4) Listerine (2 small, 2 large), (3) bars of soap, (1) 3pk of hot patches, (1) hand sanitizer, and (4) sticks of deodorant for 7 bucks :-) I still have 25 in rewards for next week.

If only I could manage that sort of deal with groceries :-(. Oh well, I'm working on it.

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So I bought myself a book the other day (Ugh...why WHY don't I just go to the library? lol). Anyways...it's call "What to Eat", it covers EVERYTHING about food from organics to the chemicals in your food and anything in between.

Basically, I've come to the conclusion that unless you grow your own fruits and veggies and that is ALL you eat, your damned if you do...damned if you don't.

Soy for instance...there is just about equal amounts of literature (from what I've found anyway, I could be wrong of course) that states 1) it helps prevent a list of diseases 2) does nothing for you and 3) causes the disease it claims to help prevent.

LOL. Not to mention all the crap that is in our food. It seems to be unavoidable.

I think I'll just go on as normal. I try my darnedest to educated myself as much as possible when I don't fully understand something, but sometimes there is just a no win. Besides, I have several family members who eat nothing but straight JUNK FOOD and they are living pretty darn healthy into their elder years. Not that I plan to eat only junk food by any means.

The only thing I hope to wiggle into our grocery bill is a bit more organic food. Not all, just some (dairy for instance, and some produce that absorbs the most).

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My last day

October 1st, 2008 at 08:13 pm

So yesterday was my last day at work. It was sad to say bye to everyone (I never have been very good with the whole good bye thing anyways). It's not very often that most of your co workers make you laugh on a daily basis. Hopefully we'll keep in touch.

Several of them said that they knew of somewhere or another hiring, we'll wait and see how that is working out.

The job market right now...sucks. Looking for something to fit my schedule and close to home doesn't make things easier, if not darn near impossible.

Something always works out though, sooner or later.

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Last weekend was a bit of a spendy weekend. I spent 120 on groceries BUT I stocked up our kitchen to the brim! Publix had a rather large BOGO free sale, so I stocked up. I even managed to get some completely free items (not included in the BOGO sale obviously), like bread and veggies (frozen)...even managed two free bottles of shampoo. I don't mind free, that's for sure.

I'm going to go grocery shopping tomorrow (since I'm home...ugh), just to pick up a few odds and ends. I'm trying some new recipes this week :-D. Tonight I'm trying a Sara Snow recipe, home made Mac and Cheese with roasted tomatoes on top ... mmm.

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So I managed to pay off 1/2 my credit card and save almost 1K while working at my job. Not to bad for 6 months. I think I'll put my savings into the emergency fund, it will be a nice boost since were about to take 200 out for the cat.

Hubby and I also saved quite a bit in the Christmas fund (we'll be fully funded in the next two weeks) and saved 250.00 for my birthday fund.

I don't make a big deal out of my birthday, but every year since I was 12 or so I like to go shopping for clothes for the next year. It's just my thing, so I save up for it.

Hubby's and Mom's birthdays are 4 and 5 days after mine, so its nice to have some money put back for some extras.

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I don't know if this next presidency is going to make, break or maintain us but I hope we see something good come out of it.

To be honest I'm an undecided voter. There are so many issues on the table it's hard for one candidate to have all the right answers, so to speak. On that note, there are so many issues on the table I'm not confident that we're going to see any major changes for awhile. But maybe we'll be rather surprised and find that everything works out for the best in a timely fashion. :-)

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Fall is here! Living up north I LOVED summer time, but now that I live farther south...fall is gorgeous. It's not humid, around 65-75, and the ocean air smells just awesome. I'll be looking forward the next couple months are far as weather is concerned...