Journey Towards Financial Freedom

Woo-Hoo! I am doing a happy dance now! My car is fixed, so I don't have to take the bus or walk anymore. We can now go to the store any day of the week and not have to worry about taking the bus or a cab home! No joke, we have been doing that since the beginning of October. Our car's engine died because of a busted camshaft. Apparently, Pontiac Prixs have a problem that way at least for the 1995 model. Knowing that, we are going to start saving up right away to buy an entirely different car in 2 years or less. We will look for something 5 years old or less with less than 100,000 miles on it, and also something where we can either buy it outright or make a down payment of at least 30% so that the payments are not so bad.

Hello, everyone. I got paid again on Friday. More money went to savings and retirement. Speaking of which, I need to update those numbers. Done as of 5:11pm on 3-19-2011.

The repairs to the car should be complete on Wednesday and we can go pick it up. That will be a relief. Hubby and I agree we should immediately start saving for a replacement car. We thought seriously about getting a different car now, but everything we looked at was out of our price range and we did not want to go into debt for a car so shortly after buying a house. I also added more money to the Conference Challenge. I cashed in some survey points, which will get added to the Conference Challenge.

I also hit another major milestone. I PAID OFF HOSPITAL DEBT #2!! Woo-hoo!

This debt was close to $10,000 in 2006. My husband had no insurance and I had to take him to the ER. He has insurance now thanks to my pointing out it might have cost less than 1/2 that if he had had insurance.

In other news, the Lunch Challenge continues. Next week, it is Spring Break at the college I work at. I will be working Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday through Friday I will be on vacation. My progress so far this much is that I have eaten lunch out once on last Friday. I spent about $10.00. I also bought ice tea or soda several times, but I bring my own cup which makes it cheaper because they give a discount for that. Here are my lunches for next week:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - leaf lettuce salad, carrots, cucumbers, tuna in foil packet, oil and vinegar for dressing, orange or apple, water

Wednesday - Wednesday is the day we expect to pick up our car, so I think we may go out to lunch to celebrate

Friday - maybe an almond butter sandwich on gluten free bread, orange, apple, carrots, water

Another thing I have planned to do on Wednesday is to go to Home Depot and buy stuff to fix our toilet that runs frequently. Our last water bill is $60 and we only have 2 people living in our house. I think the water bill should be about 1/2 that much. Have any of you ever fixed a running toilet? Is it difficult?

Well, we had a little family drama last night, which resulted in me being up later than I like and not sleeping well when I did get to sleep. I feel exhausted now and just want to go back to bed.

Here are my lunches for the week:

Tuna salad sandwich, mayo, gluten free bread, yellow apple, raw carrots, snack size ziploc bag of cashew nuts, and bottle of filtered water.

Okay, I am going to drink a cup of tea and then go to bed.

Hello, everyone. I am having a terrific day.

Earlier today, I cashed in survey points from one of my survey sites for $25.00 which I will received in a couple of weeks via paypal.

I also just cashed in points from Beezag for $8.00, which I will receive within 2 weeks via paypal.

Both payments are allocated for the Conference Challenge.

Because of some minor emergencies, the checking was REALLY low when I went shopping yesterday, so I wound up putting the groceries on the credit card.

Oh well, the Lunch Challenge continues. This coming week I am having spinach salads with tuna for my lunches. I have been taking my own fork or spoon for my lunches for weeks. It is a small act sustainability, but I also have 4 other people doing it, too. If enough people do it consciously, we could save our organization a considerable amount of money.

I already had 2 foil packs of tuna from another time which I did not use then. I bought 3 more packets.

Salads: Spinach, sliced, fresh mushrooms, grape tomatoes, sliced carrots, onion, olive oil and vinegar (Yum!)

Sides and Snacks: Yellow delicious apple, handful of cashew nuts, 2 spoons of organic almond butter

I decided to spice up my stir fry and came up with this recipe. It's kinda spicy, a lot of like jalepenos, so if you don't like spicy, you could use gf soy sauce or something else if you like.

2 lbs. chicken (I used fresh, but you could use canned)
3 cups fresh stir fry veggies in a bag from the produce aisle
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 onion
olive oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
rice
garlic, to taste
chili sauce (I used about 1/4 cup) - I found it in the oriental food section of my grocery store.

If the chicken is fresh, cut up into about 1 inch pieces. Put some olive oil into the pan and cook the chicken until golden brown. In the meantime, dice the onion and any other vegetables. Toss into the skillet and mix well. Add seasonings and chili sauce. Simmer on low 5 to 10 minutes. Serve over rice. Delicious and spicy.

Well, last week, I brought my lunch every day I went to work. I say it like that, because 2 of those days my work was cancelled, so I stayed home. I was basically snowed in, because the roads were terrible, so I did eat my lunches at home. I did get paid for those days, though, so that's good. For the days I went to work, I did buy an iced tea at lunch time, but that was my only real food spending.

And so the lunch challenge continues. I am constantly on the lookout for new recipes and things to eat. My palate gets bored easily. Here's the original recipe that I decided to use.

http://gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com/2011/01/gluten-free-one-...

I read this recipe on the GingerLemonGirl blog that has ground turkey, quinoa, carrots, and spinach in it. I modified it by substituting other ingredients such as cut up chicken breast, frozen broccoli, brown rice, and turmeric. I couldn't find quinoa anywhere, I already had 2 lbs. chicken on hand, and I don't really like cooked spinach. It has kind of an Indian flavor to it. After dishing it up into serving size containers for my lunches, I had some left over, so I gave some to my husband for lunch. He doesn't even like veggies or rice much, but he loved it. Anyway, here's the recipe as I modified it.

1 cup uncooked rice, quinoa, potatoes, or pasta
2 lbs. cut up chicken breast
olive oil
3 carrots cut up lengthwise
1 onion, cut up
2 cups broccoli, fresh or frozen
1 tbsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
garlic
red pepper flakes

This actually wound up being a 2 pot meal for meal because I cooked the rice in a separate pot. Cook rice or other product according to package directions. Cut up vegetables. Fry chicken in a pan with olive oil. Add seasonings and vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes or so. Mix with rice. Serve. Made about 7 servings for us. Adjust the spices and veggies to your taste and food tolerances.

Howdy, financial friends and neighbors. I am plugging right along with getting my goals accomplished.

I am right on track to pay off Hospital Debt #2 in March. Because the last payment will only be $52.00, I will have $25.00 to spare. I think I will put this towards my car repair fund. After March, I will put the whole $75.00 to my Conference Challenge until June, then start whacking away at the credit card debt.

I am going to a conference in June with funds I already have put aside. With my reimbursement from work, I will pay off hospital debt #1 and the lawn mower debt. I will have some leftover, which I will probably slap on the credit card.

This coming Friday, I am planning on taking the afternoon off and going to the hardware store for parts to repair our toilet. It runs frequently, and as evidenced by our recent $55.00 water bill, it is costing us money. I also plan on buying some expanding foam to fill in some holes in our walls that are probably making our gas bill higher.

My lunches for the coming week are gluten free pasta salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, black olives, and salmon with olive oil and cider vinegar for dressing. I have apples, cashew nuts, and water also.

I have a $20.00 survey check coming in about 5 weeks that I will put towards the Conference Challenge.

Well, on Friday, when I was at the grocery store, chicken tenderloins were on sale for $2.49/lb. Not a bad price at all. So, I bought two packages. One went into the freezer, but I am not sure what I will do with it yet. I cut up the other package into little pieces and fried them in olive oil and spices. I also bought some lettuce and tomatoes.

My lunches this week will be the following:

Lettuce salad with tomatoes, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, chicken, and oil and vinegar for dressing. Fresh fruit, handful of nuts, and filtered water.

Next week, I have planned eating salads with a packet or tuna or salmon along with fresh fruit and nuts.

On goes my quest to eat healthy, gluten free, and not go broke in the process!

Here is a printable coupon for Silk Soy Milk or Almond Milk products. I use the almond milk. It's delicious and dairy and soy free.

http://www.drinksilk.ca/coupon/13307_SK_Canada_eCoupon_Opt-en.pdf

When the hubster and I moved into our new-to-us house, there was only a bathtub in the bathroom. The bathroom is designed such that short of major redesign and renovation, putting in a shower is impossible. There is a wooden storage cabinet right above the bathtub faucet.

However, there was also a shower in the basement. It had no shower enclosure and only an extremely moldy shower curtain. The cement flower is sloped so that the water drains into a pipe that goes outside. It is the same pipe that is used by the sump pump. First, we got rid of the moldy shower curtain. Then, we had to buy a new curtain. There were already rings. Well, when we finally got it all put together, it was not how I would usually take a shower, but it does work. I feel pretty confident that because I take pretty short showers (about 7 minutes or so), that we will use substantially less water and gas that we were with taking tub baths.

I feel great about this. Any "extras" that I see we would have normally paid towards our water bill I will put towards our challenge.

Click here to see some pics of a vacation home. Of course, they are not pictures of our house, but the one of the shower looks very similar to ours. Ours is in the basement and the frame the curtain hangs on is made of pvc pipe.

http://www.keylife.com/vacation/homes/275/

Just to be clear, we don't plan on keeping it this way forever, but we need to pay off some other debts first and fix some other things on the house before we begin to remodel the bathroom. After we replace the ceiling fan/light, we will start saving up to replace the four windows on the back side of the house.

So far, it has been a no-spend day for me. Hooray.

I have, however, been working on cooking all day. I made breakfast for the hubby and I. Yesterday, I bought 2 3-lb packages of ground beef and divided it up into patties and put them in the freezer. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth it since the large packages cost less per pound. Then, I got right to work on making my lunches. I made the following gluten free recipe for Chicken Cacciatore.

http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/celiac/cc.html

Don't worry. If you want to make it, it's delicious. I spiced it up a bit by adding cumin, red pepper flakes, substituting roasted canned tomatoes for the can of tomatoes, and adding about 4 ounces of canned corn. Yummy. I made rice to go with it. I only needed enough for 5 lunches, but I got 5 lunches, plus a little extra. Yea for me!

If I had a digital camera, I would take a picture, but I don't.

I just found out a survey check is on the way. I should get it tomorrow or the next day.

If any of you would like to earn a little extra money by watching videos and answering surveys, click here to sign up with Beezag.

http://www.beezag.com/index.html?utm_source=beezag&utm_mediu...

I get paid today, so I have pre-allocated money to make payments on Hospital Debts #1 and #2, as well as the mortgage. I have also paid the internet bill and one other bill that I cannot remember. There is more money going to savings and retirement. More money is going to the conference challenge. This is great.

I already have my lunch and dinner menus planned out for the next two weeks and am going shopping today to do that.

My lunches for the next two weeks will be:

1) Chicken salad sandwich on gluten free bread, fresh fruit, handful of nuts, filtered water
2) Chicken cacciatore with rice, green peppers, and spices, handful of nuts, filtered water, fresh fruit

Hospital Bill #1 is $237.58

Hospital Bill #2 is $202.60

The lawnmower loan is $370.00

The mortgage is $73139.98.

The savings account is $391.23.

The car account is $544.34.

The house account is $88.15.

The professional/memberships account is $598.48.

My retirement account is $29607.54.

Woo-hoo!

1. Pay off Hospital Debt #2 (March 2011)
2. Pay off Hospital Debt #1 (June 2011)
3. Get car repaired (money already allocated and will happen probably Feb. 2011)
4. Pay off lawn mower loan (June 2011)
5. Accumulate $2000 in regular savings by Dec. 2011
6. Accumulate $1000 in house savings account by Dec. 2011
7. Pay off $500 in credit card debt by Dec. 2011
8. Complete some minor maintenance on house (replace ceiling fan, replace smoke alarm, replace furnace/a-c filters frequently)

Well, if you have been following my blogs in the last couple of weeks, you know that my car is dead and we are planning to get rid of it. However, we cannot get another car right away. We refuse to go into debt for a car. (What a refreshing viewpoint for my hubby to have!) I had been putting aside money to replace the car when it came time, but there is not very much in it, barely enough to pay for the tag fees. What I need to know is if sell my car right now, whether to the salvage yard or someone else, does the insurance company find out if I don't tell them? I do not want them to cancel my policy. I have had insurance with them since 1992 and have discounts for longevity and clean driving record. I also have a multi-line discount, because my home owner's insurance is with them.

You remember me talking about my car problems in my last blog? The latest update is that not only do the coil and timing belt need to be replaced, but we also have a busted camshaft. I have no idea what these things are or what they do. The mechanic has told us that we really need a new or rebuilt engine. A rebuilt engine would cost approximately $1200 without labor. A completely new engine is about $2000 without labor. We have opted for option C, which is to replace the car altogether because we have put a lot of money into this car in the last couple of years, but the engine is where I draw the line. I did buy a rebuilt engine for another car once and it was a big mistake. What we are planning on doing is to sell the car to a friend of ours if he is interested. He is a mechanic and well aware of the issues, so we are not deceiving him. If he is not interested, we will probably take it to a salvage yard. Either way, whatever money we get out of it will go into buying another car. After we do our tax return next year, we will take whatever we get from that and buy another car. In the meantime, we will be taking the bus, riding our bike, and walking wherever we need to go. The money we save on gas will go into our car account. I originally labeled this entry "Murphy Report," but changed it to "An Opportunity . . ." because we have been blessed with an opportunity to upgrade to a better car.

Well, I did finally get a paypal payment from cash4books.net for a book I sold them. I put it into the Spare Change/Conference Challenge. I am seeking other sources of possible books. It's kind of hard right now, though, to do anything with this. Last week, my hubby went to a nearby town to take our car tax and registration payment to be applied. Normally, I mail it, because we never normally go there and it would have been late if we had not have taken it there. Anyway, on the way back, the car died on the highgway, but he was able to get it off the road and call AAA for a tow. Anyway, I took off work a little early on Friday anyway. Because of having no car, I knew I would need to get groceries on Friday, because the city bus does not run on weekends. I live in a small town and it is a miracle we even have a bus. So, because of my car dying and needing an $800 repair, my hopes of shopping yard sales for books to sell are shot out of the water. Apparently, I am not the only one with car and other mechanical problems, though. I was talking with a couple of friends today who were telling me of similar problems. Must be something in the air. Anyway, I told the hubby that until we get hospital bills #1 and #2 paid off, we are going to occasionally have little problems like this because we don't have a lot of wiggle room. He said that it sounds like we need to pay them off with the tax return, but I told him by the time the tax return gets here, #2 will probably be paid off. #1 will have a couple of hundred left on it. I think with whatever is left, we should put 1/2 into the regular savings and 1/2 into the house savings. After living in our house for a year, we can also get level payment plan on the gas and electric, so then gas and electric won't be such a problem.

I get paid tomorrow. I have made a payment on Hospital Bill #1, bringing the balance down to $297.58. I also paid the water bill. I am also supposed to get an extra payment on my paycheck. It's not overtime, but part of a pay raise from a union contract that was not finalized until after the beginning of the July 2010 beginning of the fiscal year. My savings will be $151.15. We also got a check in the mail from a utility company for $104.00. We also got a bill from another utility company that says "no payment due."

Woo-hoo! I'm on cloud nine!

Well, the Lunch Challenge continues for me. I took my lunch to work every day last week. I ran out of salad mid week and took peanut butter sandwiches on gluten free rice bread the last two days.

This coming week, I have planned lunches with salmon or tuna in foil packets, as well as zucchini squash chopped up, canned tomatoes, and seasoning. I also have Minute Rice microwaveable packets. It will make a sort of stir fry type meal and be quite yummy.

Well, I sold one book already, on Monday I think. I mailed it off (shipping is free). I am supposed to get payment within 3 days. I am already looking at frequently a local ongoing book sale, buying books that cash4books will buy, and selling them. I looked some up to see what types will sell well. It's a little bit of everything. I am putting the loot into my Spare Change/Conference Challenge.

Oh, and I got good news on the Conference Challenge. I have applied for additional funding at work to attend the conference based on doing a presentation there. If the funding is approved, they can pay for my conference registration as a loan out of the reimbursement I would be expected to get.

More new on the gluten free front also. I finally found a bread I can eat that does not have any wheat, barley, rye, oats, or dairy in it. It is definitely different than regular bread, but it is quite tasty.

Hi, everyone. Cash4books.net is my effort to boost the household income by selling books that we no longer need. I am going to the put the proceeds in my Professional memberships/conferences account. In some ways, it is better than ebay, because you don't have to wait for the bidding war. You know immediately if they will buy the book and they pay for the shipping of the books to them. I have already sold one book and will put it in the mail tomorrow.

I need to raise about $1300 by next spring to attend a conference in June.

I don't really want to, but I am changing the direction of the Spare Change Challenge funds to my conference. To try to do both the debt payoff and the conference account makes it very difficult to accomplish anything.

Well, I got paid on Friday and already most of my paycheck has already been gobbled up. You see, when we were getting ready to close on our house (July 15th!), my hubby went to or called the utility companies about switching over service. We knew there would be some overlap, as we needed time to clean the old house before we could turn in the keys. Apparently, he only told the gas and electric companies that we would be moving out on X date and would need a few days past that to get the house closed up. Apparently, that was not specific enough information and so they charged us for our level payment for August, but also made it our final bill. So, between one electric bill at the old house for $271 and one at the new house for $264, I spent over $500 this month on electric alone. The gas bills were pretty minor in comparison, but still annoying. It's a good thing I got a survey check and also a housewarming gift check from my aunt in the mail. They helped to pay for the excess on the utilities. We will survive. I know that because I have survived worse.

One of the items I paid with my paycheck was $75.00 on hospital debt #2, bringing the balance to $427.60! Yahoo! (not an endorsement of Yahoo!, just my expression of excitement)

Also, my automatic deposit went into savings. It is my goal that when hospital debt #2 is paid off (probably February), that I will be taking that money and putting it into savings. I don't like these issues coming up that leaving me without anything. I will beef it up until $1000 and then pay off some other stuff like hospital debt #2.

The Lunch Challenge continues in my house. I am making salads with romaine lettuce, random fresh vegetables including cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli, olive oil, chopped up boiled eggs, tuna from a foil pouch, tea bags, and filtered water from home.

Well, another week of the Lunch Challenge has finished. I actually took my lunch every single day. I think I bought a bottle of unsweetened iced tea 3 or 4 times, though. Hey, I am doing a lot better. I was buying sweet tea or Coke, so it's an improvement!

Well, for the coming week, I have planned more lunches for the Lunch Challenge:

Monday - lettuce and spinach, cherry tomatoes, chopped up green onion, sunflower seeds, tuna in a foil pouch, banana, bag of peanuts for a snack, bottle of filtered water

Tuesday - lettuce and spinach, cherry tomatoes, chopped up green onion, sunflower seeds, tuna in a toil pouch, apple, raisins for a snack, bottle of filtered water

Wednesday - lettuce and spinach, cherry tomatoes, chopped up green onion, sunflower seeds, tuna in a foil pouch, apple, bag of peanuts for a snack, bottle of filtered water

Thursday - lettuce and spinach, cherry tomatoes, chopped up green onion, sunflower seeds, tuna in a foil pouch, apple, raisins for a snack, bottle of filtered water

Friday - Friday is payday and I plan on going out to a local place for a tasty, gluten free lunch.

It's only been a couple of weeks on the gluten free diet, but I can already feel a substantial rise in my energy levels and also a drastic decrease in allergy and other symptoms.

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.