I couldn't fall asleep last night so I took a couple tylenol pm. I fell asleep alright. Then once I woke up at ten I moved to my recliner and fell asleep again. I slept right up until 5:30. I only saw one quarter of my beloved ga bulldogs. I recorded it so I can watch it later. I am waiting for the tn game to start shortly. Hopefully I will make it through it.

I didn't leave the house so of course I spent no money My mom called me and she was too pooped to carry in her groceries. I was going to go do that before the sleep attack happened. I called her and she said it is nothing perishable so it can wait.

DD is at her dad's this weekend. She sent me a picture of my ex's live in girlfriend's old car and said that it is now hers for when she turns 16. I am glad that burden is off my plate. But I hate that it was once the girlfriends car. Can you tell I don't like her at all?

I am also watching my dd's dog. She is a handful but she slept right along with me today. We have to padlock her in her crate because she gets it open somehow.

Today is my payday. This is the first payday that I get an "allowance". I get $40 for the two week period. And my debit card will be left at home.

Today is my last day of work for 9 whole days! I can't wait to be able to sleep in everyday. I am so not a morning person!

We saw the new Twilight movie last night. It was really good. I wish it didn't have to end, but the series is now over.


We won't be going to the grocery store until Monday since DD is going to her dad's this weekend. I am making a corn casserole for Thanksgiving and I have to get the supplies.

Think that is about it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I have been spending alot of time cleaning up my Quicken accounts. One of the things it does is calculate your net worth. Right now my net worth is -33857. Most of this is due to a huge student loan bill. My ex husband and I stupidly took money out to live on while I went to a technical school. Of course who knew that we would get divorced and the debt is officially mine. The fact that I haven't paid it for 20 years also compounds the interest. I hope to be able to start paying this after the first of the year.

I bought my first christmas present today. I went into the shoe store to get shoe strings and to look at tennis shoes for me. The pair I have are over 2 years old. Considering that we found them in the street and they cost me nothing I think I have gotten more than my money out of them. But it is time for new ones. I found a pair that will do on sale for $39. While we were there, dd picked out a pair of cute rain boots. They were $24. I told her that I would get them for her but they are part of her Christmas and they have to go under the tree. So I have officially started my christmas shopping.

I really wanted to stop for breakfast this morning. I tried to rationalize it every way I could. But in the end I drove right past Burger King. I am fixing to go make my oatmeal.

DD and I went to the rec department last night and walked around the indoor walking track. We went around 7 times which equals a mile.

We stopped by the apple orchard on the way home and I got some red delicious apples. I thought they would be better than the ones I could buy at the grocery store, but sadly they weren't. They were about the same. Lesson learned.

Apparently I didn't cancel my weight watchers correctly because I was charged for it today. I went in and cancelled it right and emailed them requesting a refund. Hopefully they will do that.

You that have followed my blog know that this is huge! I stopped last night and got a quart of milk so that I can make oatmeal for breakfast this morning. And I brought a frozen meal for lunch.

The first day is always the hardest!

I just received a call from a collection agency for diagnostics from DD xrays. I just paid one of them off. But here is another one. $148. I set up payments of $50 per payday. I have spent $8884 on medical expenses this year. Will definately get to claim some of that on my taxes.

I also set up an allowance for me of $40 per payday. I am going to start leaving my debit card at home. I will get the cash for the groceries and gas on Friday's. I think this will help me with the eating out.

Since I posted my numbers for the month so far and by far the largest overage was eating out I though I would post the detail on it.



You can tell that most of it is 2 or 3 dollars at at time. Part of my problem is that I think 2 or 3 dollars won't matter. But clearly it does. I would love to have that money back.

I put in my request to take of the three days before Thanksgiving next week. We are off for Thanksgiving and the Friday afterward. So I only need to use 3 of my vacation days to have 9 days in a row off work! I can't wait.

Maggie suggested that I look at my budget for November since it is almost 1/3 over. So here is my budget so far for November.




I don't think it is accurate for the budgeted amount since it prorates it for the month. But I may have already paid all of it.

I know there are areas to work on...specifically the dining out category. That will get better as I started the new diet today. Will stop and get milk on my way home and start eating my oatmeal for breakfast again.

Yesterday was a NSD. Only left the house to go to my mom's for a little while. Then had to stop by my sisters to fix her computer. I sent DD up to do that. Somehow her screen had turned upside down. Don't know what that is even a setting, but it is.

Been watching football all day. The Falcons finally lost a game. Bummer. But they will probably make the playoffs with their record.

Today we had to get shampoo, soap, and hot choclate at the grocery store.

I weighed in this morning for myfitnesspal. I have lost 11 pounds since I was last on the site. I have one dr pepper left in the fridge and then I will be all in.

I realized today that while I have no problem telling DD that we don't have money when she asks for something I don't have the same discipline when it comes to me buying something. I need to get more disciplined with myself. Not only will my budget benefit but my health will too.

I have decided to not take the money from my mom and continue on Weight Watchers. Thanks for everyone's comments. They all gave me something to think about.

I am going to try to count calories with myfitnesspal. I just have to be more disciplined.

I got the paperwork to apply for free or reduced lunches. I don't qualify. If I didn't have to include the child support I get I would make it. Apparently I make too much to be considered low income but not enough to be able to take care of myself.

I also reapplied for the state insurance program for DD. I don't think I will get approved. Again...if I didn't have to include the child support I would be golden. It just burns me up that people cheat the system to get this stuff. I am just not the kind of person that can do that.

I told my mom that I cancelled my weight watchers because I couldn't afford it. I told her that I was upset that they are offering the same thing I had for $18 a month vs the $42 I was paying. She offered to pay the $65 for me to sign back up at the $18 per month rate. She is really supportive of me and really wants me to lose this extra weight. She would only have to pay for the initial payment because I could handle the $18 a month after that.

I am in a dilemma. I like being a member of weight watchers and feel a commoroderie(?) with the members there. I like the accountability of having to weigh in each week.

But I don't really want to take any more money from my mom. This was the first month I was able to give her any money. I could pay her back $20 a month for three months. Just not sure what to do.

What do you suggest?

DD informed me yesterday that she owed $12 as of Friday for her lunches. I never get any warning for this. I just sent $50 October 6. I can't believe that the school lunches cost $50 a month. Of course that includes breakfast. I guess it is pretty cheap when you think about it. It comes to $2.18 a day. It just seems like so much. Anyway, I dropped off a check for $30 that will hopefully get her through until payday next Friday.

I decided to cancel my weight watchers subscription. I decided I couldn't afford it anymore. Then when I went to the site to cancel it I found out that they are offering it for $18.95 a month. I was paying $42.95 a month. So for a total of $65 I can pay the sign up fee and three months. Then it becomes $18.95 a month. I might consider signing up for that. Right now my motivation is not where it should be so I am not doing anything right now.

I dropped off the vacuum this morning to be repaired(see previous post about puppy). It is in Blairsville, which is 25 miles in the exact opposite of the way I go to work. He called me at 2:30 and said that it was ready and he was only going to be there until 3:30 and he would be gone the rest of the week. So I frantically packed up and headed to Blairsville. So I had roughly 100 extra miles of driving today. So of course when I went to fill up for my regular Tuesday fill up it was $50. It is usually $35, $40 at the most.

So it was $23 to have the vacuum fixed and I am also charging my daughter $5 in gas money. I should charge her more but she vacuumed the whole house when I got the vacuum back.

The puppy that my DD got is an escape artist. We starting putting her in a crate when we aren't at home to help with the potty training. But each day when we got home she was out of the crate. On Friday of last week she got out and chewed the electrical cord on my mom's brand new Dyson vacuum cleaner. I was panicked at first. But I found a place in Blairsville that will replace the electrical cord. Problem solved. Hopefully it won't be too much and of course DD will be paying for it. We bought a padlock this weekend and use it to keep the puppy in the crate. Let's see her get out of that!

I transferred $75 from my savings account to get through to the next payday. i didn't think I would make it on 55 cents. I will have to transfer money out of the savings account for Christmas. That is why my short term goal was. Then I will start building up for the New York trip.

I had the oil changed yesterday and tire rotated. While there they brought me out the air filter and said it needed to be changed. total spent = 65. Still cheaper than a new engine!

When we went to the grocery store on Friday we spent $121...21 over the budget. So I have very little money to last me until the next payday.

Yesterday was a NSD. My dd went to taco bell...she offered to buy me something but I declined. I don't really care for taco bell. I came home and at a pot pie that was purchased at the grocery store.

I have to go to Ace hardware today and get some draino. the drain in my shower is slow and from past experience it only gets worse, which leaves standing water in the tub with leads to mold and mildew. Want to avoid that.

Other than that it should be a pretty lazy day. Just waiting for the football games to start.

Today is payday. Here is what I plan for the money:

Income:
salary 1462.
from son for rent - 100.00
From son for car pymt - 90.00
Child support - 340

Total Income: 1992.

Expenses:
personal loan from MIL - 100
car payment - 300
gas - 150
groceries - 100
cable/internet - 157
transfer to rental checking - 280
to mom - 175
cheer - 55
Health insurance for DD - 486
weight watchers 42
savings - 100

Total Expenses - 1945.00

beg balance - 4.10
plus income - 1992
less expenses - 1945.00

leaves %51.10 for the two weeks.

It felt really good to be able to give my mom some money. I hope I can keep it up.

Well...today was a failure. I had to buy flea medication for the dog. She was covered with fleas and it really couldn't wait until next week. But that was all. I didn't eat out at all today. Should be good for the rest of the week.

I am preparing to do a fiscal fast. I got the idea from the show Extreme Cheapskates. I am planning on starting tomorrow and going through Friday. The only money I plan on spending will be for gas, which has already been budgeted for.

I explained what I am trying to do to DD and she is on board. So we will see how it goes.

I have had a very good day at work. I cleaned out my in basket. I did some billing. Sorted the mail. I have been a busy beaver. I also got rid of all the boxes in my office. No one told me we were out of trash bags and apparently we are! So I emptied my trash and have nothing to put in my can! URGGGG!

I picked up DD about an hour ago. We are heading to Tumbling.

We splurged and got sandwiches for lunch today. So it isn't a NSD.

For my DD 16th birthday she wants to go to New York. So I have begun to plan this trip for next July. I should be able to save enough for it. We will drive to my sister's house outside of DC and then take the train/bus to New York. We will be there two days, so only one night in a hotel. She is looking into what things she wants to do while there. I want to go to the WTC memorial but other than that I am open to whatever she wants to do. I am looking forward to spending the time with her.

I am going to try to do a fiscal fast next week. No spending what so ever. We will have to get by with whatever we have. It might be difficult with DD because she doesn't plan ahead and might need something like hair bows. We will see how it works out.

I went to the doctor this morning to inquire as to why I have been on my period for 2-3 months straight, with some days be so heavy I Have to change pads every hour. I heard about this prescription that could help with that. The result is that I have to have an ultrasound done on Thursday to see if I have polyps on my uterus. She also had my blood drawn to check my thyroid.(took three sticks to finally get blood!) The copyay was $20 at the doctor's office. I also picked up my monthly prescriptions while I was there. $55. I didn't pick up my thyroid prescription up in case there is a change in dosage.

I have decided that instead of borrowing money from my mom I am just going to wait and pay the mortgage on the second. It won't be too late and I can get it back on track next month.

I have no plans for today. I will relax and watch the football games. Since I have no where to go today will be a NSD.

Tammy asked me on my last post how much I have spent eating out this month. It was quite a high number at $173. I had no idea. Most of it was $4 at a time. I can't believe how it adds up! That was the jump start I needed to get my spending under control.

I wanted to spend under $50 at the grocery store. But then looking at the list I felt it would be more like $100. Well it was $140. I only had $100 budgeted for it. I am now short $109 on the 1st of November. I will probably borrow it from my mom. I get paid on the second so it would only be for one day. I could transfer it from savings account but I am more likely to pay my mom back than myself. I just don't have that much will power.

My sister gave me the $10 for the milk I bought her last week. That will help. I also have two $20 checks that my mom gave my daughter to deposit. I have already given her the money. I took that into account for my balance on the first.

Settling in for a quiet night watching Georgia football. GO DAWGS!

I took today off for doctor's appointments. I had an appointment with my psychologist this morning. Then I drove DD to Kennesaw to have an x-ray done of her stomach area. Still trying to figure out why she has such bad stomach pain. Kennesaw is about an hour away. I stopped to fill up my tank half way there for 3.49/gallon. Still took $54 to fill it up. So my gas budget for this week will probably go over. I also had to pay a $35 co pay at the clinic.

Today was payday but everything has already been allocated. So I have nothing to do. We are going to go to the grocery store tomorrow. I was hoping to spend less that $50. But the list is kind of long so it will probably be closer to the $100 I have budgeted for it.

I have recorded this show after someone on this site mentioned it. I was blown away by how some of these people live. One lady, a cpa, dumpster dives for food. She hasn't bought food in quite a long time. She also doesn't use toilet paper, which seemed to be a common occurance among all the people. One family used fabric that they washed for toilet paper. It is usually the man that is the cheapskate and the wife just puts up with it. Another family made a $96 purchase at a restuarant with loose change. They only go out once a year and use the change each time. This same guy won't buy furniture for his house. They have a card table in the living room and the tv sits on the floor. But he also has close to $200000 in the bank. Another guy bought goat heads for $7.50 from the butcher complete with eyes, teeth and brains and ate every bit of it(except the teeth). I had to fast forward through him eating it as it made me sick.

I did get a good idea from one of them though. About five times a year, they have a fiscal diet. That means that they go a week without spending any money. They live off what they have and just make due. I think I might try this in the future.

Income:
Paycheck 986.00
From DS: 295.00
child support: 339

Total Income: 1620.00

Expenses:
Medical 360
Gas 150
personal loan 200
Mom 150
water bill 67*
rental checking 550
credit card 50
car insurance 271
savings account 100
groceries 100

Total Expenses: 1998.00

Checking account balance: 271.13
Plus Income: 1620.00
less Expenses: 1998.00

Shortfall ------ 106.

*water bill includes water, sewer and trash service

Will try to make up this shortfall by only spending $50 at the grocery store and my prescriptions shouldn't be the full budget amount.

I was looking at my budget this morning and discovered that I failed to include a payment to the credit card this Friday. I only pay $50 a month but that put my shortage on this paycheck to $100. I am going to try to make some of that up with groceries. I plan to stay under $50. We really don't need much. And I think I can make some of it up with my prescription budget. I budget $100 but I think it will be more like $50. Now if I could just get my spending under control. I think I am going to leave my debit card at home unless I have to get gas.

I woke up late this morning and had to rush to get ready. In my rush I forgot to stop and get milk to make my oatmeal. I stopped and got breakfast so I could make it to lunch. I will get my milk this evening so I don't have to worry about it in the morning. I did remember to bring my lunch though.

Our email at work has apparently been shut down due to spamming. Apparently someone got ahold of our email account and has been sending spam. We had to change the email passwords on all the email accounts, scan for virus and spyware and let them know that we had done all of this. It could take 24-48 hours for them to get our email back working. My boss is livid. Fun times.