Journey Towards Financial Freedom

Well, the Lunch Challenge last week was great. My salads were not only yummy, but also gluten free, frugal, nutritious, and also elicited comments from others of "wow, that looks good!"

Per hubby's instructions, I did gluten free shopping today for both of us. This is going to be very difficult to do. The dh will eat frozen vegetables that have been steamed, but refuses to eat salad, because he says it is "rabbit food." He is basically a carnivore who sometimes eats veggies.

I am definitely not a vegetarian, but I like to eat a lot of veggies and fruit, and a good mix of beef, chicken, and fish.

Some things the doc recommended as possibilities that I know he will eat are: sweet potatoes and steamed, frozen veggies. So, I bought a sweet potato and 2 kinds of frozen veggies, but I am probably the only one eating the fresh fruit.

But he absolutely hates giving up bread, so I did buy some gluten free bread mix today. It has been so long since we actually made our bread that we no longer have our breadmaker or even a bread pan.

Eating gluten free is a little more expensive, because we can no longer buy generic spaghetti noodles or generic oatmeal, for example. Both of these things are not available in gluten free formulas.

The Lunch Challenge goes on despite my gluten free lifestyle. My lunches this coming week will be chicken and vegetable soup (chicken, canned tomatoes, drained, canned beans, drained, rice, fresh squash, chopped onion, and spices), fresh fruit, raisins, nuts, and a bottle of filtered water. I, like most of you, probably, have Monday off. It will likely be a NSD for me.

On the financial front, I got a survey check for $20.00 in the mail. I am going to deposit it to my Professional Account, because I need to accumulate about $1500 for attending a conference next summer. Another statement for Hospital Bill #1 should come soon and I will make a payment of $20.00 to it. After we moved into our new house, I sent my aunt (one of my only living relatives on my dad's side) a letter to let her know of the change in address. She sent a congratulatory card and a check for $100.00 to buy something for our house. Even though there are things I want to buy for the house, most of them are more than $100, so the check will probably be deposited to the House Account. Tops on our list of things to replace/fix are: getting the chimney cleaned before winter, putting insulation in the attic, new windows, siding on the back side of the house, fixing the driveway, installing an energy efficient furnace and A/C, and installing solar panels. And the list goes on. I have a list of projects on my computer, that if printed out, would probably be several pages. I think we can probably do the insulation next spring with our tax refund.

I was doing beautifully with eating gluten free for almost a week. Then, Wednesday my dh says "let's go out to eat." It was a Chinese place. I thought "great time to test out the gluten idea." Well, an hour after we ate, I felt like I was going to die. Never again. I told my dh so. Even if I have to eat every single meal at home prepared by my hands, I don't want to do that again. Today, I went to see my chiropractor who also practices acupuncture and reiki. She did what is called muscle testing on me and said I am definitely positive for gluten intolerance and so is my dh. She is very up front with her patients. She does not tell patients they have to do anything, because she is realistic to know that some people are too lazy to do some things. Others are just unable to confront the challenge of giving up something that is bad for them, such as smoking. But she did tell us that we have to find a different way to eat if we want to feel better. Especially dh. He eats about 6 to 8 pieces of bread a day. DH actually said he wants to do, but I am not sure he will stay with it, because he has trouble sticking to any kind of diet. Anyway, time to begin cleaning out kitchen cabinets and making a gluten free shopping list.

Oh, I did go out for lunch on Thursday with colleagues. I was able to easily pick something from the menu that was gluten free and ask for "no cheese." It was quite tasty. I do miss drinking Coke, though.

Well, I went on my first gluten free shopping trip and I have to say that I am impressed. I was not sure that I would find much that I could eat outside of fruits, vegetables, and meat. But I mentioned to the produce manager my problem and he showed me the gluten free products, including Bob's Red Mill baking and cereal products, some brands of pastas, almond milk, and rice milk. I already knew about the almond milk and rice milk and have been using them for about 9 years now. I actually did very well and bought all my shopping with cash today and for less than what I have been spending. I have been eating gluten free since before 12:00 noon on Friday and I can already tell a huge difference in how I feel. And except for wanting to eat cupcakes and drink Coca Cola on a frequent basis, I feel excellent. I can also continue to maintain the Lunch Challenge. I think I am going to a lot of lettuce and spinach salads with chicken or tuna alternated with something like peanut butter on carrot or celery sticks. Woo-hoo! Here are my lunches for next week:

Monday - Spinach/Lettuce, diced canned tomatoes (1/2 cup), black beans (1/2 cup), chopped fresh zucchini, tuna in foil packet, apple, filtered bottle of water

Tuesday - Spinach/Lettuce, diced canned tomatoes (1/2 cup), black beans (1/2 cup), chopped fresh zucchini, tuna in foil packet, apple, filtered bottle of water

Wednesday - Spinach/Lettuce, diced canned tomatoes (1/2 cup), black beans (1/2 cup), chopped fresh zucchini, tuna in foil packet, apple, filtered bottle of water

Thursday - Tuna in foil packet, Minute rice serving with diced canned tomatoes and fresh zucchini, pear, filtered bottle of water

Friday - I have the day off and will be spending it with my husband. We will be in a nearby town and have lunch there. I am scared to death to eat lunch out with this new diet.

I think I am gluten intolerant and probably have been for years. However, recently I have begun to feel worse than normal. A friend happened to mention "gluten intolerance" to me and wondered if I have it. Well, this morning while I had a few minutes, I did some searching for a list of symptoms and a symptom quiz. Well, I am pretty sure I have it. I am going to my doctor next week to discuss it, but I am already on a dairy free diet and have been since 2001. That has been very difficult to maintain, but it has been SO worth it. I was wondering if any of you have this problem and how do you cope with it in the way of buying different food while not going broke? So far, all the foods I have come up with to buy (outside of normal fruits and vegetables that I would buy anyway) are probably going to be more expensive. Anyone have any dairy free and gluten free recipes? This would likely be something for me only, as my hubby hates fruits and vegetables and definitely loves bread.

Well, hubby and I closed on our mortgage last month and we are already meeting up with an obstacle that makes us both go - uggh! The company which gave us the mortgage sold it to BOA. Not something I am happy about at all. I would never have intentionally dealt with BOA after everything I have heard about them. I get paid every two weeks, which usually comes out to twice a month, and as I blogged about earlier, I had planned on pre-allocating money out of each check and then when it is time to mail the check, just write the check as normal. Someone else who has BOA told me that if you send in your payment and it arrives a couple of days early, they don't count it as a regular payment, but like an extra payment. But they expect you to make a "regular" payment on the due date. Otherwise, the count your account as delinquent. So, I looked in detail at our payment coupon. It says payment can be accepted in person at Bank of America banking centers. Are all Bank of America banks "banking centers"? If so, we can go in person to a local BOA bank and make our payments. Or, I could do online payments, but I am not too keen on giving out my banking information online.

This Lunch Challenge is really helping me to think logically about what to make for my lunches rather than just to wing it. I haven't exactly quantified what I have saved, but I haven't gone out for lunch in probably 3 weeks. I do sometimes go somewhere and get some iced tea, etc., but that's about it. I feel really good about my progress.

Here is what I am planning for the coming week.

Monday - Canned chicken, fresh tomatoes and onion chopped, mayo mixed with chili seasoning, wrap, salt, pepper, banana, pork and beans, bottle of filtered water

Tuesday - Canned chicken, fresh tomatoes and onion chopped, mayo mixed with chili seasoning, wrap, salt, pepper, banana, pork and beans, bottle of filtered water

Wednesday - Canned chicken, 1/3 can of tomatoes, diced, fresh onion, chopped, mayo mixed with seasoning, wrap, salt, pepper, apple, pork and beans, bottle of filtered water

Thursday - Lunchmeat, mayo, wrap, apple, pork and beans, bottle of filtered water

Friday is my payday and I have the day off. I plan to eat lunch out with my husband after running a few errands.

I was going to buy some bacon for my wraps at the store and then I saw the extremely inflated price, hassle of cooking, and so I declined. Later, I thought about bacon bits. I think I will get some next week. I know they are not nutritious, but they sound good.

I will be going to the credit union to put more money in savings and the post office to mail bills, including my first mortgage payment. I know it probably sounds ridiculous to be excited about that, but the hubby and I have wanted and been trying to get our own home since 1999! Various things, including moving several times, a failed home-based business, medical debt, and bankruptcy, got in our way. I'm so proud that we finally did it! We also will go to a nearby town to return a wall mount bracket we bought for our new home. We will in turn use some of the money from returning the bracket to buy a digital scale.

Well, today I received another bill for Hospital Bill #2. I have already written the check and it is in the mail ready to send out. This brings the balance to $502.60.

I also have survey money on the way in the amount of $14.00, I believe. When I receive the next bill for Hospital Bill #1, I will mail them a check for the normal payment amount of $20.00 plus whatever the survey money is. The survey money is part of the Spare Change Challenge.

These are my stated goals for the years 2010 and 2011. Given that I am now a home owner, I feel the need to revise them for current circumstances. I have marked in red what I changed the goal to.

2010 Financial Goals
1. Pay Hospital Debt #1 off in full by May 2011.
2. Pay Hospital Debt #2 off in full by May 2011

Note: If these first two debts are not paid off by the time the tax return arrives, I will pay them off with it. I will put the rest aside for increasing the insulation in the attic.

3. Establish $1000 Emergency Savings Balance by June and Maintain it
4. Beef up House Savings

2011 Financial Goals
1. Eliminated Goal #1 of paying off hospital debts
2. Pay off Credit Card
3. Accumulate $3000 in Emergency Savings
4. Accumulate $2000 in House Account
5. Accumulate $3000 in Car Account

Well, the Lunch Challenge is going to become even more important now that I am a home owner.

By the way, the way hubby and I chose to resolve our issue with house payments is to actually pay one time per month, but every two weeks when I get paid, basically pre-allocate that money by writing it into the check register as if I were writing a check. Then, when it is time to send the payment, send the payment as normal. Assuming this goes well, I will continue to do it this way. If it does not, I was thinking of opening a separate savings account and temporarily putting mortgage money there until ready to make the payment.

Well, I had some Tyson beef strips, raw carrots, and 1 can of canned chicken left over from last week. Don't worry. Nothing will go to waste in this house. Whatever does not get eaten in my lunch will be eaten for dinner. Here are my lunches for this coming week.

Monday - Tyson beef strips, Mission flour tortilla, burrito size, mayonnaise, banana, snack size bag of carrots, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers, bottle of filtered water

Tuesday - Butterball turkey lunch meat, Mission flour tortilla, burrito size, Thousand Island dressing, banana, serving of brown rice, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers, bottle of filtered water

Wednesday - Butterball turkey lunch meat, Mission flour tortilla, burrito size, Thousand Island dressing, banana, serving of brown rice, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers

Thursday - Store brand lunch meat, Mission flour tortilla, burrito size, Thousand Island dressing, banana, apple, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers

Friday - Store brand lunch meat, bread, Thousand Island dressing, apple, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers, pork and beans

I know I could put a lot more exotic things in my wraps, but I am trying to use up the stuff I already have at home.

Speaking of homes, when we moved into our house, we found that the previous owner left behind 2 boxes of dishwasher detergent, 2 bottles of dishwashing liquid, a wooden cart that we can store stuff on in the basement, several pieces of furniture, one of those things that you can roll a garden hose onto for storage, and other stuff I can't remember right now. It's actually pretty cool. We probably won't need to buy dishwashing liquid or dishwasher detergent for at least a month.

I also discovered when packing to move, that I had about 5 cans of oven cleaner and about 4 cans of furniture polish. Where we had stuff like that stored in a cabinet that was kind of hard to look through because it was dark, so it was like opening a present when we discovered it.

Hi, everyone.

I have been out of touch for awhile. The hubster and I just bought a house and this is our first one, so we are pretty green. Just the process of buying it with all the inspection fees, appraisal, reappraisal, an engineer's report on a small issue that turned out to be nothing, and moving brought our available cash and savings down to almost nothing.

To make paying our mortgage a little easier for us and make sure we don't wind up spending the money on something else, I would like to make the mortgage payment in 2 parts. I get paid every 2 weeks, which is usually 2 times a month. As long as the payments are both there on time and the total amount is paid, do they really care? Our mortgage was sold to Bank of America, if that matters. Does anyone do this? If so, has it worked for you?

Well, last week I ate lunch out two days. One day was when a person came to interview for a job at my work. We always go out to lunch with them. It was fairly inexpensive, only $9.53 for my portion. The other day I went out to lunch was free for me, because it was a vendor we deal with who took me to lunch and paid. So, good for me.

Anyway, because of that I had 2 tuna pouches and 1/2 a bag of carrots left over that I need to use.

Monday - we are closing on our house tomorrow, so I have no idea what lunch will be. I am taking the day off from work. If I am back at home by lunch, I will eat lunch in, probably a peanut butter sandwich. If not, who knows?

Tuesday - Starkist tuna pouch, mayo, seasonings, saltines, bag of peanuts, apple, filtered water

Wednesday - Starkist tuna pouch, mayo, seasonings, saltines, bag of peanuts, apple, filtered water

Thursday - 1/2 bag of Tyson refrigerated chicken strips, mayo, bread, handful of almonds, apple, filtered water

Friday - 1/2 bag of Tyson refrigerated chicken strips, mayo, bread, handful of almonds, apple, filtered water

I got an excellent deal on the Tyson refrigerated chicken strips. Sometimes the store puts meat like this on markdown because it will expire soon. I always check the date to make sure I am not getting old meat. It was marked down to $1.99. I had a $0.55 coupon which doubled to $1.00.

Well, Friday I was not feeling well and so did not go to work. I did have to go to the grocery store and get a couple of cans of soup, crackers, and juice, though. So, I guess I did spend money to buy that lunch.

So, I am still doing the Lunch Challenge. Here are my lunches for the next week.

1) Romaine lettuce salad with Starkist tuna, carrots, olive oil for dressing, and a little salt; apple; handful of almonds; 2 tea bags; bottle of filtered water from home

2) Romaine lettuce salad with Starkist tuna, carrots, olive oil for dressing, and a little salt; apple; handful of almonds; 2 tea bags; bottle of filtered water from home

3) Romaine lettuce salad with Starkist tuna, carrots, olive oil for dressing, and a little salt; apple; handful of almonds; 2 tea bags; bottle of filtered water from home

4) Starkist tuna, mayo, saltine crackers, and lemon pepper seasoning; apple; carrots; handful of almonds; 2 tea bags; bottle of filtered water from home

5) Starkist tuna, mayo, saltine crackers, and lemon pepper seasoning; apple; carrots; handful of almonds; 2 tea bags; bottle of filtered water from home

I am so proud of my grocery shopping savings today. Hellman's mayo was on sale for $2.99 at Walgreens today. I also had a couple for $0.75, bringing the total way down. Hellman's mayo is usually over $5.00 at the grocery store, so I was thrilled. I also needed Q-tips, which I had a $0.30 coupon for. At my grocery store, I took my fabric shopping bags with me and got a $0.05 per bag discount. I had a store coupon for $1.50 off if I bought 4 bags of frozen veggies, which were on sale for 10 for $10.00. So, I bought four! I also needed to buy about 10 to 12 oz of canned chicken to make chicken sandwiches later in the week. I was going to buy the Swanson's canned chicken, which was on sale for $1.99 for a 5 oz can. Then, I noticed the Hormel brand was on sale for the same price and I had a $1.00 coupon if I bought 2. Knudsen's juice was on sale BOGOF. I needed to get Friskie's cat treats for my furbabies. The treats are always $1.69 unless on sale. I had a $1.00 coupon. The biggest surprise was that I needed to get some Scotch Brite sponges which were on sale 10 for $10.00. I had a coupon for $1.00 off if I buy 2, so I got 2. I saved $16.54 just at the grocery store and $3.05 at Walgreens.

Oh, I also added $20.00 each to my car savings and professional memberships/conferences accounts.

Well, I got paid again today. I set aside $150 for moving costs, as we are moving out by the end of the month. We will be closing on our house by the end of next week. I am excited and scared to death at the same time. Today, we had to go out and buy some paint to do some little touch ups to the outside of the house to satisfy the appraiser. I also made another payment on Hospital Debt #2, bringing the balance to $577.60. My husband was both surprised and pleased when he realized the hospital bills would be entirely paid off early next year. He didn't really acknowledge it other than that, but he did seem pretty surprised. I don't usually tell him anything about that, because he seems to get upset when I tell him how much debt we have left to pay. Oh well.

Well, I only had lunch out 1 day last week. I probably shouldn't have even done that, but I was having a bad day at work and needed to get out of there for awhile. As most everyone else, Monday is a holiday for me, so I won't be going to work, or probably anywhere else for that matter. So, no worries about having lunch out that day. Here are my lunches planned out. In my effort to drink less soda, I have packed twice as many tea bags as usual.

Monday - peanut butter and honey sandwich; slices of cucumber with salt; glass of filtered water or organic vegetable juice

Tuesday - sliced turkey sandwich with mayo and slice of onion; apple; boiled egg with salt; bottle of filtered water from home; four tea bags

Wednesday - sliced turkey sandwich with mayo and slice of onion; apple; cucumber slices with salt; bottle of filtered water from home; four tea bags

Thursday - sliced turkey sandwich with mayo and sliced onion; apple; boiled egg with salt; bottle of filtered water from home; four tea bags

Friday - sliced turkey sandwich with mayo and sliced onion; apple; cucumber slices with salt; bottle of filtered water from home; four tea bags

I already had peanut butter and honey on hand at home, so the cost is minimal there. I got the package of sliced turkey at the grocery store. It was on sale 2 for $7.00. I bought one package and had a $1.00 off coupon and it has 4 servings of turkey in it, bring the cost per serving out to about $0.62. Cucumbers were on sale for $0.75 each. I got two. Eggs were on sale for $1.00 per package. I got two because dh likes to eat a lot of eggs. I can't remember the cost for the eggs. The apples were on sale for $1.49 per pound and I got six.

Well, the numbers are in.

I had lunch out twice in the month of June. That's excellent for me, as I have been known to do it at least 3 times a week. I did spend an average of $2.50 per day on iced tea, soda, snacks, etc. I don't always remember to bring my own tea bags, so then I can't make my own tea. And don't even get me started on Pepsi. I know it's bad for me. It's probably not really good for anyone, but I do occasionally drink it. I think my challenge for next month will be to see how many days I can take my lunch to work AND also not drink any soda. Iced tea, hot tea, water, or anything else, is okay, but not Pepsi.

I am following in creditcardfree's footsteps here. These are the Financial Goals I established and are posted in the left margin of my blog.

2010 Financial Goals
1. Pay Hospital Debt #1 Down to Under $400
2. Pay Hospital Debt #2 Down to $400
3. Establish $1000 Emergency Savings Balance by June and Maintain it

Goal #1 is well under control. I made some huge progress earlier in the year with our tax return and some survey payments that let me make higher than normal payments. The balance on Hospital Debt #1 is $357.58! Yeah!

Goal #2 is also under control. The balance is currently $652.60. If I continue to pay as normal, the balance will be $202.60 after the December payment. [Insert a big Dukes of Hazzard Yee-hah here!]

Goal #3 is not under control at all. I don't even really want to talk about and I am ashamed, but that's how it is. You win some and you lose some.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with my progress.

I have been trying to view my page most of today. The top part on the left loads okay, but my blog entries don't show up and my networth iq widget and an animated graphic don't show up at all. Just wondering if it's just me.

Well, I got paid again yesterday. I made another payment on Hospital Debt #1, bringing the balance to $357.58. I also put more in savings and retirement. I am only going to check my retirement balance quarterly from now on, though.

Hubby and I are still in negotiations to buy a house. It is getting down to the wire and I am excited and scared to death at the same time.

I have been trying to think of another way to make some extra money for paying off debt. My mind keeps coming back to selling my old Lenox and Belleek china. Although I like it, I have had it stuffed away in boxes for over 10 years and have never even displayed it. I talked to someone who is an ebay trading assistant about it. She couldn't stop talking about this fee and that fee, and reminding me that she can't guarantee whatever price it will sell for, etc. It made me think she wasn't interested. I also looked into selling it to one of those companies that buys and sells replacement china pieces, but they wanted me to ship it them at my expense without any guarantee of whether they will buy or the price. However, there is a local flea market type place where I could rent a shelf in a glass locked shelf for $7.50 per month and sell my stuff. The store gets a small amount, 10% I think, from each sale. Have any of you every done anything like that before? Are people buying stuff like antique china during this bad economy?

Well, here are my lunches for the next week:

Oscar Mayer turkey breast slices with bread for sandwiches, slices of tomato, slices of onion, mayo, apple, handful of nuts, 2 tea bags, bottle of filtered water from home

Well, I did pretty good this week. I only spent around $2.00 each day on snacks and such and brought my lunch 3 days this week. I went out to lunch two days this week, but those are the only two days I have gone out to lunch so far this month.

On a more personal note, I am having some family issues. Some of you may remember that I had a major blowout with my mother about September 2007, I think. I have really spoken to her much since, and haven't spoken to her at all in almost a year. Because of not wanting to cause further trouble in the family, I had basically not spoken to most other family members. I did not want to get them in the middle of the dispute and make them feel like they were being pulled in both directions. My uncle found out how to get in touch with me and urged me to come visit. We originally had plans to visit on July 4th weekend. I just got an email from him saying mom told him and my aunt that if they remained in contact with me, she would refuse to speak to them. So, now she's not just messing with and trying to control me, but other people, too.

Monday - canned chicken salad sandwich with mayo, lemon pepper seasoning, tomato, and onion, packet of celery, apple, water, handful of nuts, and 2 tea bags

Tuesday - canned chicken salad sandwich with mayo, lemon pepper seasoning, tomato, and onion, packet of celery, water, handful of nuts, and 2 tea bags

Wednesday - canned chicken salad sandwich with mayo, lemon pepper seasoning, tomato, and onion, packet of celery, water, handful of nuts, and 2 tea bags

Thursday - peanut butter and honey sandwich, tomato, apple, water, handful of nuts, and 2 tea bags

Friday - lunch out somewhere on my payday

Another thing I recently came up with to save money was in making iced tea. When it is cooler, I usually have a cup of hot tea in the morning when I begin my day. Lately, it has been so hot that the thought of drinking hot tea just doesn't sound good. So, I make a cup of hot tea very strong, stir in stevia, and pour it into another cup with ice in it. Today, I am going to make some sun tea right on my back porch. This saves me money and insures I don't have to leave air conditioning to get my caffeine.

Hello, everyone. I am in the midwest. Summer is starting to heat up and it's only going to get hotter. DH and I are talking about not doing any more cooking in the oven for the rest of the summer. So, I am sitting here with the beginnings of a shopping list trying to stuff to buy to make next week's meals. Here is what I have come up so far:

- Buy a rotisserie chicken and make chicken sandwiches with it (maybe 2 meals)
- Buy Some Already Cooked Beef at the Deli and Mix With BBQ sauce for sandwiches (1-2 meals)
- Egg Salad Sandwiches (1 meal)
- Peanut butter sandwiches (1 meal)

I just hate to eat sandwiches every single day, though. Any of have any good ideas for something besides sandwiches?? I should mention that DH hates what he calls rabbit food and he doesn't even want to cook pasta or hamburgers if we can get away with it. I just want to ask him if I have pointed ears and hop around on all fours.

For my lunches, I am thinking of possibly wraps with lunchmeat, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. along with a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts.

Hello, everyone. My Challenge last week was pretty successful. I brought my lunch every day and spent about $2.00 per day on extras. Here's what I have planned for this coming week.

Monday - 1 Lunchable, carrots, apple, water, handful of nuts

Tuesday - 1 Lunchable, brown rice, apple, water, nuts

Wednesday - 1 Lunchable, brown rice, apple, water, nuts

Thursday - 1 Lunchable, brown rice, apple, water, nuts

Friday - 1 Lunchable, brown rice, apple, water, nuts

I got the Lunchables on sale for $0.99 each way cheaper than the alternative boneless chicken breasts I was about to purchase. I already had a couple of apples, so I just bought 3 more. The apples I bought were on sale about $0.20 per pound off. The rice was both on sale and I had a coupon. I already had the nuts at home from a previous purchase. The carrots were leftover from last week and need to be eaten before they go bad. I calculate about $1.98 per day to feed myself lunch.

Sometime in the near future, hubby and I plan to visit family a few hours away. We don't want to kennel our cats. They hate being even in cat carriers during a ride to the vet clinic, so I am pretty sure they would a cat kennel. I know someone really well who has a couple of cats and might be amenable to feeding our cats in our home while we are out of town. I would need that person to come to our house twice a day and feed them, give them their cat treats, and play with them for about 30 minutes. For those of you who have hired pet sitters or actually done pet sitting, how much would be fair to offer a pet sitter?

Well, in addition to the little tantrum that my hubby was throwing about the situation I described earlier, I also got paid today. I made another payment on Hospital Debt #2. I believe I have estimated that if I continue to pay it off at this rate, it will be paid off next spring. More money is in savings and retirement also. More money has been paid to the credit card. On Monday, we have to pay $175 to a house inspector and $50 to a termite inspector.

Hubby and I decided to begin looking at buying a house a few months back. He is a vet and so qualifies for a VA loan. We looked at hundreds of houses, driving by them and saying "no way" and many others we looked at. We finally found one that we were willing to place a bid on. We filled reams of paperwork with the real estate agent and the lender. Many of you have bought homes, so you know about having to tell them social security numbers, addresses, debts owed and to whom, and also having to give them identification like a social security card and driver's license or the like. I recognize the reasons why they need this information and appreciate it. However, I am also cautious about who gets my personal information and why. My doctors and health insurance company don't have my ssn, for example. My hubby is very particular to the extreme about this subject. He refuses to give the lender any identification except his passport, an expired passport. This lender is questioning whether this id is valid. Not knowing much about passports, I probably would, too. Would a lender really refuse to lend us money over this?

Hello, everyone. For several months now, I have been carrying around a small Mead spiral notebook with me in my purse to help me keep a better handle on my budget. I keep a running balance of budget categories (in pencil) so that I know what I need to leave room for. My problem is that it is not big enough. I need something small enough that it will fit easily into my Ameribag purse (medium size, I think), but large enough to contain information about my budget which is 25 lines on an Excel sheet. Would a Moleskin notebook, maybe the one with gridlines that is about 3x5, do the trick? Wait a minute. Hold the phone. I just measured the spiral notebook I already have and it is almost 3x5, so I am going to have to get something bigger. I will check at a store tomorrow, but can't spend the money until Friday or Saturday. I ask because I have only seen them on the internet, but I think I could probably pick up one at the campus bookstore or Hastings.

My other choices include a small Mead Five Star notebook in either 3x5 or 5x7 sizes or just a plain lined journal like I have seen at Walgreens, etc.

Anyone have any ideas?

Well, I did pretty good this past week. I took my lunch to work every day. I spent between $1.60 and $2.50 per day on snacks. I feel very good about that. I am continuing my challenge into the next week. Because I incorrectly calculated on the amount of food I had, I had some food left over, including a baked chicken breast and raw carrots. I have purchased a BPA free plastic bottle to take filtered water with me each day. This means I don't have to spend money on bottled water.


Monday - leftover chicken breast, raw carrots, raw organic apple, bottle of water

Tuesday - beef strip stir fry with onions, tomatoes, and carrots, organic apple, bottle of water

Wednesday - beef strip stir fry with onions, tomatoes, and carrots, organic apple, bottle of water

Thursday - Starkist tuna packet, 2 slices of bread, raw carrots, organic apple, bottle of water

Friday - my payday - I am treating myself to lunch out.

Here is a list of money I have coming in or already have.

$ 6.00 spare change
$ 6.00 check from survey company 1
$ 20.00 regular payment on Hospital Debt #1
$ 28.00 difference in car insurance
$ 5.00 check from survey company 2
$ 10.00 check from survey company 3
$ 10.00 check from survey company 4

$ 85.00

The amount for Survey Company 3 has not happened yet. I have to have $10.00 to be paid and right now, I have $9.00. As soon as I have $10.00, they will pay right away. The car insurance is the difference between what I used to pay for insurance before I sold my truck and now when I am only paying renter's and car insurance. All of the others will be arriving shortly.

Total to Be Paid on Hospital Debt #1 on June 11th is $85.00

Holy Cow! How Did I Do That? How Do I Make it Happen Again?

My hubby told me last night that as a result of our selling our truck, we had to turn in the license plate. We will be getting a partial refund on the license fees for the year. I have no idea how much, but anything is great! I am so grateful for my abundance.

This is an update to my part of Househopeful's challenge to eat frugally. Here is what I have planned.

On Monday, I have the day off, so it shouldn't be too much of a challenge to eat frugally, but I am going to stick with it anyway.

Monday - egg salad sandwich, carrots, apple, water

Tuesday - Chicken and pasta chili mac, apple, orange, water

Wednesday - Chicken and pasta chili mac, apples, water

Thursday - tuna sandwich, apple, carrots, water

Friday - leftover baked chicken breast, apple, carrots, water

I was going to make egg salad anyway to have for dinner one night this week. The cost of ingredients is minimal. The carrots and apples are inexpensive and fresh food, my effort to eat frugally and healthful at the same time. The apples were on markdown for only $.89. I bought the pasta for the chicken and pasta chili mac on sale for $0.99 markdown. I bought the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce on sale also. The tuna is leftover from last week when I went out to eat for lunch instead of eating my packed lunch as planned. The baked chicken breast is left over from a couple of weeks ago.

carrots 1.5
apples 0.89
chicken 5.00
leftover chicken 1.00
tuna 1.45
tomatoes 1.14
tomato sauce 0.59
filtered water from home 0.10
pasta 0.99
12.66

I calculate I am spending about $2.53 per day to eat lunch. We will see how this goes.

Well, I got paid today. More money went into savings and retirement. My retirement account went down, though. What's up with that? Also, I went to Coinstar and cashed in my spare change. I have $6.00 and some odd cents. I deposited $6.00 to my Spare Change Challenge account. I also cashed in $6.00 in survey points. That should come in about 2 weeks, at which time I will make a payment to Hospital Debt #1. I will work really hard to come up with some more ways to make money in the next 2 weeks. Here is what I am thinking.

$6.00 Spare Change
$6.00 Survey Check
$20.00 regular payment on Hospital Debt #1
$28.00 excess from changing car insurance after selling truck

That makes for a $60.00 payment on Hospital Debt #1. Woo-hoo!

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I just cashed in more survey points, which will give me another $5.00 for my Spare Change Challenge.

Well, after a great deal of frustration, the hubby and I sold our truck. It was a 1990 Chevy Blazer. Last Saturday, when I went shopping at Walgreens, it died when I was getting ready to park in the parking lot. We could not start it. We have known for some time that it had been leaking oil, which probably means it had a crack in the engine block or something like that. It also had multiple other problems, like the horn wouldn't work, the windows sometimes wouldn't go down or up, and it got horrible gas mileage. Fixing the engine alone would have cost over $1000, something we just couldn't do. So, because of the significant problems with it, we felt a used car place probably would not want it and we took it to the salvage yard. We got $80.00 out of it, which we are going to put into doing some maintenance on the car Friday. This also means our car/renter's insurance is going down by about $28.00 per month. Guess where that $28.00 is going? Yes, into paying off Hospital Debt #1!!