I went this morning and had it fixed. $45. That is all. If I had known that I would have had it fixed a while ago. They said it was completely out of freon and there may be a leak, but they couldn't find one. Hopefully it will last for a while. It feels so good.

I haven't heard from the renters so I assume they don't have the rent. Bummer. Now I have to go through the eviction process. Unless like someone said they moved out this week.

I had to do some grocery shopping for my mom today. She had her first chemo on Wednesday and doesn't feel real good. As a result I don't feel like doing my own shopping. Might put it off until Monday or Tuesday.

My sister gave DS $500 toward his lawyer. We have the initial payment now so when the lawyer asks for it we have it. My family is so good to me and my kids.

Today is payday...but that means little to me. I already have everything set up in bill pay and I am already broke again. Keeping my fingers crossed that the renters will have the rent tomorrow. Really looking forward to getting the air in my car fixed. I hope it is nothing serious.

DD sprained her ankle at cheerleading last night. I took her to the walk in clinic where they did xrays and said that it is just badly sprained. She is on crutches until she can put weight on it. She is very upset as she might not be able to cheer at the game next Friday. Thank goodness she has excellent health insurance so I had no oop expenses, not even for the crutches.

I have been looking at the phones with AT&T and I can't find one that I like that gets good ratings. I just want a simple phone that makes texting simple. Everyone that looks good has terrible ratings! I don't want a phone that is going to have problems. So I plan on going into the AT&T store tomorrow to look at the phones. I don't know what I will do if I can't find one that will work for me. It isn't that i want fancy...i just want a simple phone that has a full keyboard. Most that have a full keyboard require a data plan and I don't want a data plan. I'm trying to reduce expenses, not go from one high plan to another high plan.

You guys got me thinking. So I looked at AT&T to see what plans they offer. Their prepaid phones would be $50 per month per phone for voice and unlimited texting. That is $150/month. However, if I go with a plan, I can get three lines with unlimited texting and calling to any other mobile phone, regardless of the carrier. This would be about $130/month after the fees and everything is added. How can they be that much cheaper? I just don't understand it. But DS contract is up on the 24th of this month so we will wait until then to change. The cancellation fee for the other two lines will be $200. Then if XDH wants to keep his line, he will have to go in and assume responsibility for it, which I don't think he can do because of his credit. Those contracts are up in December.

I have verizon cell phones with 5 lines. Three of the lines are for me and the kids. My EXDH has the other two lines. This bill is roughly $300 per month for 2100 minutes. We generally go over 1400 but are way less that 2100. So I can't reduce the minutes to save money. However, XDH uses most of the minutes. He used 1052 of the 1488 minutes used. He was just paying what the charges were for his line, 9.99 per month for the line and the ringback tones. This month I asked him to pay $125 of the bill since most of the minutes used were his. He was fine with this. So from now on, I will be getting more money from him for the cell phone bill. That will really help me out and it is only fair I think. I can't reduce the amount of minutes due to his usage.

My budget is looking very good. So good in fact that I think I am going to get the air in my car fixed on Saturday, as long as it just needs to be charged. If it needs extensive work I can't get that done, but it will only be about $50 to get it charged and see if there are any other problems. It is just brutal sitting in a car with no air where the drivers side window won't go down and now the the controls on the driver side won't make the passenger window go down and I am too short to reach across the passenger seat and roll down the window. Even with the back windows open if feels like a sauna in there. Keep your fingers crossed that it just needs some freon.

I have totally reworked my budget. Everything is looking good for the next couple of weeks. I am hoping the renters come through and have the rent for me on Saturday. Otherwise I will have to rework it again. I have decided that I don't like being a landlord very much but I don't think the house would sell either.

I am having a very boring day at work. I am the only one here and I find it hard to start anything. I am so bored!

I had sent the tenants a notice that if they didn't have the rent by Monday I would have to start eviction proceedings. She sent me a message today begging to have until Saturday. I told her that was fine. I mean it would take me that long to get the ball rolling on the eviction. She said that she has no where else to go. She then sent me a message that I have been a blessing to her and her family. She is one of the sweetest people I have met but I still can't continue to cover her. I told her that she would have to have the power bill as well but I doubt she will have it.

I sent the tenants a text message to see if they had the rent money for me. She responded that they are currently selling everything they can to come up with the money. I responded telling her that if I don't have the rent by Monday was going to start eviction proceedings. I am hoping that will scare them into paying. I mean they had a whole month of not paying any mortgage because that community action group paid their rent last month. They should have plenty of money to pay this month's rent.

I am afraid that they are going to turn beligerent and act like it is my fault. She has been very apologetic in the past, but I think that my have ended. There is an issue with the dishwasher not working, but really is that enough to not pay rent? I don't think so.

I went to get my dog out of the vet yesterday and the charge was only $140. I was so pleased. They had to neuter him due to where the laceration was. This is something that I had been wanting to get done. As pleased as I was about the charges, I am completely bummed that I had to use the credit card to pay for them. I don't have any extra in my checking account or savings account. They let me break it down into two payments. So I made the first $100 yesterday on the card and I will make the remaining $40 in the next month or so.

I hope the renters have the rent money for me today. I really don't want to go through the eviction process. but just in case...can some of you tell me how to do it? Do I just go to the courthouse or is there papers that I need to fill out that I can find online? Serves me right to not have gotten all of the security deposit up front and "working with them". That is what she always says...if I can work with them.

My dog got out of the fence on Monday and I haven't seem him since. I called animal control to see if they had him. Found out that he got into a fight with another dog and was pretty badly chewed up. He is at the vet clinic and has been there since Monday. Wonder what this is going to cost me? I am supposed to go visit him and they will let me know if I can take him home or not. Problem is I left work early yesterday and I have 2:00 meeting today. There is no way I can leave early today to go visit him. I will have to go in the morning. I think they open at 8:00 and I don't have to be to work until 9:00. I hope they will take payment arrangements.

I feel like I need a meeting for my spending. Some people would look at it and say it really isn't that bad. But I know you guys will understand that any unnecessary spending is bad. I stopped for breakfast again this morning. I think most of my motivation is coming from the amount of stress I am under. But I have food at work to eat. Why can't I just step up and not eat out?

I sure hope the renters give me all of the rent for this month by Friday. I need to make the mortgage payment and I can't make it until they pay me. I hate being relient on other people. But at the same time I stop short of telling them I will evict them. I have such a hard time being firm. I need to grow a back bone and just tell them that if they aren't caught up by September 1, I will start eviction proceedings. Wish me luck on that.

And the warrant has been issued. He is charged with statutory rape. A misdemeanor. Thank Goodness! he has called the lawyer to find out what to do. If he should turn himself in or if the lawyer wants to be there when he turns himself in. At that point I will file a property bond and get him out of jail. I wish this was already behind us.

I went to the grocery store last night. Spent $145 and my budget was $150. I feel like I got alot of food so I was happy with it. Have to get gas this afternoon.

I had a binge weekend. I had to enter all of my receipts today and it seemed like they were crawling out of the woodwork. I had not idea I spent that much. It is very frustrating. I was doing so well. It was a little here and a little there. No real big expenses.

I haven't gone to the grocery store yet. I have the money set aside for it, just need to go and get it over with. Probably tomorrow I will go.

I have left a message for the renters. I plan on telling her that I have to have at least 1/2 the rent and the power bill this week and the other half of the rent next week. I think that is more than fair. I hate to have to evict them...it is such a hassle. I also am going to tell her she needs to pay the rest of June's rent that is hanging out there. This money is due to my son and he really needs the money for his lawyer.

The warrant was not issued for my son last week as the warrant lady was on vacation. It should be issued this week and then we will know what we are dealing with. The waiting is killing us. We really need to know what he is going to be charged with. Can't get the investigator to return any phone calls. I really don't know how she manages to keep her job. If I didn't return calls, I would lose my job, or at least be disciplined for it. Our city government at work.

Today is pay day. Unfortunately I am already broke! That is okay. I don't mind because it means that I am paying stuff.

I called the renters today to see if they had the money for the power bill that was due yesterday. They said they are working on it. That makes me nervous for the rent payment. I hope that they give me something. I hate to have to go through the courts to evict them.

We hired a lawyer yesterday. He called the inspector and gave her all of his contact information. We still don't know what DS will be charged with. If it is a misdemeanor(which is should be) it will be $1500. If they charge him with a felony, it will be $2500. My son was supposed to be calling him today to see what kind of payment plan can be worked out. I am very adament that I want DS to pay the lawyer fees. Problem is that he doesn't have a large sum of money sitting around and neither do I. I have put an email our to my family asking for them to loan him the money. I will then give them back the money as I have access to his checking account. he has direct deposit and I can just transfer to my account and then give to whoever. I know he should have to make the payments but since I am the one "guaranteeing" payment, I like to have control over it. I can then make sure that the payment will be made.

The hardest part is just waiting. Waiting to see what he will be charged with. Waiting to see how much the lawyer charge will be. Waiting to see what will happen. Just wish this was already behind us.

Yep...I am still not eating like I should be. I think the amount of stress I am under dealing with my son has taken it's toll on me. I don't have any food at work and the idea of going to the grocery store just makes me feel more stressed. Like that is just one more thing to add to my plate that needs to be done. I know I need to stop. Financially I am killing myself.

Haven't heard from the lawyer yet. EX DH is supposed to be calling him. I left a message for the inspector yesterday and she hasn't called me back. No big surprise there. DS left her several messages that she never returned. I just tried to call her again and got her voice mail...again. It is so frustrating when you call people and they don't call you back.

Lunch time...I am going to head to the grocery store and get some food to keep here at work.

We found out why the investigator was looking for DS. It appears that he had sex with an underage girl. He will be charged sometime this week and will then turn himself in. I am devastated not because he had sex, but that he lied to me and told me he didn't have sex with her. I am terrified that he is turning out just like his father, not able to resist anything.

Now we need to come up with the money for a lawyer. Of course DS will need to pay it since it is his problem. But none of us have money sitting around so I am not sure what he will do. His father is calling the lawyer this morning. He is supposed to let me know how much the lawyer wants. he is 18 years old so he will be treated as an adult. There is something called the close in age law in Georgia. If the two participants are within 4 years of age of each other, than it is treated differently. They were so we will find out how that works when his father talks to the lawyer.

Today has been a spendy day. It started off with a $118 payment to cheer. Then she needed blue shorts to wear to practice on Monday. The only blue shorts we could find(in a small town) were $21. Because it was so hot we stopped and got a drink and an ice cream at Wendy's. I don't have any ac in my car so by the time we made the thirty minute drive we were sweltering in 90 degree weather. And then just now we had to go get milk. Am looking forward to tomorrow so I don't have to spend any money!

I screwed up yesterday. I let myself get too hungry while running errands after work. I always make bad decisions when I am hungry. So I did make a bad decision. I stopped and got something to eat. But the joke was on me. The sandwich wasn't that good and the fries were just mildly warm. Serves me right. I took DD to Arby's this morning for breakfast as a treat because she is starting cheer camp today. She was really nervous. And then tonight I am meeting my sister who is in town for dinner at Zaxby's for a good salad.

We have water again. Turns out that the hose on the back of the house was left on and the pressure built up(has a nozzle on the end of it). It eventually popped. So the hose had been running all day. No telling what my water bill is going to be. But thankful it isn't a leak between the meter and the house like I was afraid it would be.

I got the check fur July's rent from the community action place. Now just to worry about August rent and the rest of June's rent. They still owe $305 for June's rent.

EX-DH is putting $50 into my account today. That means he still owes me about $110. Maybe I will get some more of it next week. Slowly but surely he is getting it paid.

I went to take my shower this morning and we had no water!!! If I didn't have several projects that needed to get done I wouldn't have come to work today, all smelly. Just kidding...not that bad but I feel nasty if I don't get to take a shower in the morning. Hopefully it will be fixed by the time I get home.

Today is also the third day of not eating out. My budget hasn't changed much in the last few days. I had to buy milk yesterday.I will have to go to the store tomorrow to get food to keep at work. I am eating my last bagel today.

I should get my rent from the tenants Pretty soon. They said it would take about two weeks and today marks two weeks. They are supposed to call me when they get the check to come pick it up. My gas allowance for next week comes out of that so I need it sooner rather than later.

Today is day one of no eating out. I temporarily fell off the wagon but am back sitting pretty today.

I have looked at my budget for the next month and made necessary adjustments. As long as the renters give me what they should, I am looking pretty good. I am sure I will have to make some subtle changes, but everythiing should work out.

DS decided she wanted to play soccer this year. I am scared to death because she hasn't played in years and the age that she plays is when the pushing and almost violent playing starts. She just isn't used to that. Hopefully she will figure it out. Sent the check for her to register today. Boy it has gone up since she first played. $45. Wasn't expecting that. And we will have cleats and shin guards to buy. Need to adjust the budget again.

Today was a blow it day. I stopped for a croissant for breakfast and I just ran out and got Arby's for lunch. But come tomorrow I will be back on my no eating out challenge. Of course the other down side is that I won't be hungry for dinner tonight.

Today has been a stressful day at work, which is probably why I felt the need to get something to eat. Booking last minute airfare is never simple, but with my boss it is even worse! He wants you to check this out and what if we did this and how about that? It drives me crazy! In the end we end up booking the first tickets we looked at anyway! UGGGHHHHH!!!

Talked to the renter yesterday. She apparently took her husband back. She said that they would have August rent on time. that will be a big relief. I wasn't sure what I was going to do come Aug 1. If they start paying again like they are supposed to I should be on easy street. but we shall see.

It always tastes better when you plan for it! It was $15 more than I thought, but it was worth it! We then went to exchange some shorts and for DD to spend her birthday money. I didn't spend any money there. Quite an accomplishment for me. I am a sucker to buy my kids clothes when we go shopping...to go overboard. Budget is still in tact and looking good.

Really don't want to go to work tomorrow. Feel like I need another day to relax.

Today has been a lazy day. I slept late and then took my daughter to my parents house to cut the grass. I swear she does it in record time. It took my son hours to cut the grass. She also does things around the house to help them out. She is such a good kid. She doesn't mind doing stuff for people.

We made sweet and sour chicken for dinner. It was actually pretty good. And very simple. Hardest part was cutting the chicken. It is definately something that we will make again. Thanks CeeJay!! Got the idea from the website you sent me. I honestly had never thought about making chinese food at home before.

Today was almost a NSD. I got my daughter an icee to reward her for doing stuff at grandma's house so nicely. Tomorrow we are going to Canton so My DD can spend her birthday money on some clothes. We are going to eat at Olive Garden as a treat for not eating out for 19 days...almost 3 weeks. Plus we hardly ever go to canton so it is kind of a treat.

Made arrangements for DS's girlfriend to take DD shopping for school clothes. I hate taking DD. She is very picky and it could take hours to find even one thing she likes. So I am very relieved that someone else is taking her! Speaking of DS, he called the investigator who left a message on our door and hasn't been able to find her in the office. He has called twice and had to leave messages. She hasn't called him back yet. Hopefully they will call him back so we will know what is going on.

I went to the grocery store last night and was looking for a pork loin to try to make sweet and sour pork. There was quite a selection of pre marinated loins, but I didn't want one of them. The only other loin was well over $20!! Granted I could have gotten 2 or maybe even 3 meals out of it, I wasn't going to pay that much for a pork loin. Am I missing something? Are pork loins just that expensive? I got some chicken tenders instead and will try to make sweet and sour chicken.

I went $30 over my budget for the grocery shopping this pay period, but I got alot of food. I restocked our meat selection in the freezer so we will be good to go. I mistakenly thought that we didn't have any hamburger meat in the freezer only to find 3 pounds when I was putting the 4 pounds I bought in the freezer. So I guess we will be eating alot of hamburger meat in the next few weeks!

Woke up this morning to a random boy sleeping on my sofa. I am sure that it is one of my son's friends. Speaking of my son, there was a note left on our door yesterday by the sheriff's office looking for him. He swears that he hasn't done anything. But I guess we will find out today when he calls them. The suspense is killing me.

Tomorrow is payday and I have $12 left in my checking account. I also have $31 left in my fuel allowance. I have 3/4 tank of gas so I won't need that $31...straight into the Car Maintenance fund it goes.

Today is day 17 of no eating out. I am feeling more and more motivated. We are going to eat at Olive Garden on Sunday as a treat. We have to go to Canton anyway so it kind of makes the trip worth it.

I also made it not going to the grocery store. I was trying real hard to just eat what we had and not make a trip to the store. We will have spaghetti tonight which we have everything for and I can go to the store tomorrow. It is not going to be cheap because I have to buy meat. All we have in the freezer are roasts. But I hope to stay in my budget. Thanks to CeeJay for the recipe website. I am going to try the sweet and sour pork this weekend!

Captains Log Day 16: I have forgone fast food for 15 days now. Today is the 16th day. I am really craving biscuit and gravy from Chick Fil A. I must resist for 30 more minutes, then they won't be selling them anymore as they get ready for the lunch crowd.

I almost forgot to stop and get my dr pepper this morning. Perhaps that is a sign that I am ready to work on getting rid of that as well. I could purchase a 12 pack to have here at work and just drink that instead of stopping to get one. I think I will start with once a day getting a $1 drink and drinking a canned soda with lunch. Think I might try diet dr pepper and see if I can drink it. That would be a huge reduction in the amount of calories I eat in a day.

The renter is getting help from a local agency with July's rent. I should receive it in about a week. That will still leave $305 for June rent and then August is approaching pretty quickly. I think she might have taken her husband back again. Just a gut feeling. Hopefully she has and then the rent will be paid. I mean I hate for anyone to be in a emotionally abusive relationship, but she picked him and I need my rent money.

I can't believe I have gone 15 days without spending money on fast food. Next up is to work on the soda habit. Baby Steps.

Filled up my car yesterday for $49. I still have $30 left in my fuel budget to last until Friday. I should make it no problem.

DD was going to take some Hamburger out of the freezer to make hamburgers tonight but she forgot. To tell the truth, I don't even know if we have any hamburger meat in the freezer. I would be surprised if we don't since I tend to by alot of that and we hardly ever use it. I guess we could have spaghetti for dinner tonight. We have all the ingredients for it. We will figure something out. All this talk about dinner and I am getting hungry! Looks like it will be an early lunch day today.

I got my dr pepper from Burger King at lunch. I know it is a dollar more. But it is so much better than the dr pepper from McDonalds. It was so worth it. Now back to the dollar drinks from McDonalds.

I am not sure what we are going to do for dinner but I don't have any money to eat out. I only have about $40 in my checking account until Friday and about $17 cash in my wallet. I know we need milk. We have really gone through the milk this week. PANCAKES!! That is what we will have for dinner. It just came to me. Isn't that funny how you can be thinking about one thing and something else completely random comes to mind?

Anyway...I am fixing to leave work and head home. I have to go pick up DD since my mom isn't feeling too well from her radiation treatments. She is just about done with them so that is good.

Not intentionally. I mentioned in my last blog that I wasn't going anywhere and wasn't going to spend anything. I forgot that DS needed a new shower curtain for his bathroom. Desperately needed. So I went to Dollar General and spent 4.18 on a shower curtain. DD wanted McDonalds so I drove her there where she spent her own money on a meal. She didn't want the fries so I got them. Best kind of food...free food!!

I put $40 of the money left from the birthday activities into my checking account for a little cushion and kept the rest in cash. I should coast into payday on Friday.

I don't have any plans of going anywhere today so I will be a No Eating out day as well as a nsd. I am not counting the papa's pizza yesterday since that was a planned outing paid for with budgeted funds for the birthday party.

I fell yesterday climbing up the rocks to see my DD go by on the boat. I have a nasty bruise on my knee and a rip in my pants. Just reminds me how old and out of shape I am.

I think that my bank has stopped their points program. I have had 804 points for a long time now and I have not seen any increase although I am using my card. I knew it was probably coming as banks are all eliminating the points for debit cards. Bummer.