I ate one of my frozen meals. It is not what I wanted. I wanted a sandwich and salad from Longhorn's. But I resisted the urge and ate my ravioli instead. It didn't hit the spot but will get me through until dinner.

We just discovered that our work email isn't working. I called the hosting company and they are aware and are working on it. I wondered why I hadn't received any response to my emails this morning.

I guess since my email is down I will work on my budget for December. Been putting it off because of Christmas. I am not planning on spending much this year.

I am going to try to get out of the grocery store on Friday for $50. I think it can be done. I have $100 budgeted but really need to stay under that since I am short for the next two weeks by about $20.

Went to the grocery store just to get oj to last until next Friday. I also picked up some milk for my sister. She usually gives me the cash when I deliver it but she didn't give me the cash this time. I know she is struggling right now.

My sister is on disability and never opens her mail. It is spread out on the floor of her apartment. Apparently she was sent a letter in July to renew her doctors statement for her disability. She never got it. So she didn't get the $3000 deposited into her account in September or October. She just discovered it. I would have missed it the day it was supposed to be deposited. She just doesn't keep up with things like that. It is very frustrating. I think she needs to see a psychologist but I doubt she would go.

Since I had to get that prescription yesterday it threw a monkey wrench into my budget. I will only be able to give my mom $150 this payday. Hopefully nothing else will come up.

I filled up my gas tank yesterday for $49.04. I read alot of posts where the gas is over $4/gallon. I feel lucky that gas here is $3.52 per gallon.

Even the best laid plans can fail. I cut myself down to $8 for the week after gas. Then DD calls me to tell me that she has a yeast infection. I have the money in the rental checking so I guess I will have to rob peter to pay paul. I will have to make it up next week.

I took a long hard look at my budget today to try to squeeze out some money to give my mom each month. The only thing I could come up with was to cut my grocery budget to $100 per pay day. It will be tight but I think I can do it. I also adjusted my gas allowance. I have only been using $75 and putting the extra in my savings account, about $30 a week. So i changed my allowance amount to $75. By doing all this, I am able to give my mom $200 a month. Not as much as it should be but I just can't squeeze any more out of it. Maybe in January I will be able to do more.

I have been thinking and it is pretty sad that I can't even pay for the roof over my head. If it wasn't for the kids renting the house, I wouldn't be able to make that payment. So even if I sold the house I am in and moved back to the trailer, I still couldn't make the payment. I have got to get these medical expenses under control. They are killing me.

I got a call from the bank that has my rental checking. It seems that I tried to do a internet transfer to pay my mortgage and there wasn't enough money in the account. I was stunned since I deposited enough money in there yesterday. After some investigation it was discovered that the deposit didn't post. The machine mis read the account number. So that has been fixed and the payment will be applied.

I finally opened the box of clothes that my sister sent me. There must have been at least 10 pairs of jeans/pants. And they all fit. They are two sizes smaller than the jeans I have. Saves me from having to buy more jeans. And most of them don't need to be hemmed either. SCORE!

I just couldn't get myself motivated this morning to get going and out of the house. I didn't sleep good at all last night...couldn't get to sleep. So I decided to work from home today. Been pretty busy so that is good.

I made the deposit today and paid the past due mortgage payment. That is completely caught up and I already have the money for the payment on the 15th.

The children's hospital called today and I set up payment arrangements. I was paying $100 per month on one bill but now I am paying $200 for both bills. It will take forever to get the $3000 paid off, but at least they are taking payments.

I have to take my sister some milk when I pick up DD from school. Otherwise it is a NSD. She should give me the cash for it when I take it to her. But I think her checking account may have been frozen by the IRS again. I thought she was taking care of that but apparently not. So glad I have always paid my taxes and taken care of that.

I caved yesterday and turned the heat on. It was 64 degrees in the house so I turned it to take the chill out of the house. I also put the heating blanket on my bed, which made me to hot last night. I won't turn it on tonight but it will be nice to have that extra blanket on.

Today is a NSD. I haven't left the house. I took the day off work. I just needed an extra day to get ready for the work week. Since I didn't use any gas today I probably won't need to fill up tomorrow. Will have lots left in my gas budget to transfer to the online savings account.

Not too much to report here. It was almost a NSD until I needed to get $10 for DD. She got a check from my mom for $20 and she needed me to cash it for her. She owes me some money so she only got $10 of it. But unfortunately you can't get $10 at the atm so we went to Food Lion and purchased a kit kat bar and got $10 back. We are now back home and I am watching a football game. Love my football. Falcons won this week making them 5-0 for the first time in their history. Georgia lost miserably to South Carolina.

My mom gave me the money today to get my mortgage caught up. She was worried that she only has 3 checks left. I suggested that I just go to the bank and take out the money but she didn't want to do that in case some of my siblings(brother) looked into her finances she didn't want them thinking that I did this without her authorization. It is sad that when she dies there is going to be a fight with my brother. My parents have provided him with a place to live on I think 3 acres and he still wants more. My mom has some land to sell and he thinks that she should give it to him. I just can't believe how ungrateful he is.

Anyway...Since I made a mortgage payment yesterday I only owe one past due. So I will use the rest of the money to cover the health insurance for DD since my child support will be a day late due to the holiday tomorrow. I will then transfer the money back to the rental checking. It will all work out.

I resisted the urge to go to Taco Bell for dinner. Instead I came home and ate a PB&J.

We only spent $96 at the grocery store. Don't feel like we got much groceries for that. We had to get cat food and laundry soap. Plus some other expensive items. The cart wasn't even full. Pretty discouraging the price of things these days. The laundry soap used to be 8. I can't believe it is now 11.

I got the rest of the rent from the kids in the other house. I did a transfer online to make the mortgage payment. First time I was able to do it like that. I usually have to make a deposit into the rental checking and write a check out of the rental checking for the payment. This time...all the money was in the bank and I was able to just do a transfer. So simple.

I am having a pitiful me day. I broke down and asked my mom to help me get the mortgage caught up. I told her that I would pay her $50 a payday to get it paid back but she told me to put that money toward DD insurance. I just feel like a total failure that I can't take care of myself and have to rely on my retired mom whose income was cut in half when my dad died. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for everything she does for me. I just wish that I was able to contribute to my own well being more.

It seems that every year around this time is when I hit rock bottom. Not sure what it is about fall...maybe I have just scraped by barely keeping my head above water and the fall is when it catches up with me.

Income:

from DS for Car Payment- 90
salary - 1079.09
From DS for Rent - 100
Child Support - 339.00

Total Incoming - 1608

Expenses:

Loan from MIL - 100.00
Dentist for DD - 174.00
Cell Phone - 379.24 *
Gas - 200
Groceries - 200
Medical- 546.46
School lunch - 50
Tumble for DD - 55
Savings - 50.00
weight watchers - 42.95

Total Expenses: 1754.70


beggining balance in account - 83.87
pls income - 1608.00
Less expenses - 1754.70

Short $63.83... Will make this up through the grocery and gas budget which I always overestimate.

* ExDH is supposed to pay this but as of today he hasn't. I have it set up to pay tomorrow. I have told him that I am close to cutting the phone off. It would be cheaper to just pay the $10 monthly access fee for the next two years instead of paying for the overages he has caused. He isn't working right now. Not my fault or problem.

The monthly charge for my car insurance came out today. It is $30 more than usual. I called to ask about it and was told that there was an across the board increase in uninsured motorist. I don't want to drop that so I guess I will just pay it. I also asked about taking ExDH off the policy. It would raise my premium by almost $1000. So for now he is staying on it.

Didn't stop for breakfast today. So that is day 2 of not eating out.

Called to get an estimate on how much it is going to be to remove DD's wisdom teeth. It starts at $405 per tooth. Plus the office visit of $90 and the anestia(?). So we are looking at about $2000. I am going to change my direct deposit so that $100 per pay day goes into my online savings account. Right now I only have $50 going into it. It won't give me all the money but it will be a good start.

DD had her dental cleaning today. Somehow it has been 2 years since her last one. Not quite sure how that happened. Anyway, she had no cavaties! And her wisdom teeth don't need to come out yet. At the next visit he might decide that they need to come out but right now they are still too far below the surface. I need to call the oral surgeon and see roughly how much it is to have 4 wisdom teeth taken out so I know what I am up against.

We filled up the car today and it was $41. More than usual because I made two trips to Morganton and a trip to Blairsville for the dentist. I had $74 in the budget so I transferred the remaining $33 to online savings.

I didn't stop for breakfast this morning! That was the first step to not eating out. The first day is always the hardest.

I got a nice surprise in my check this week. They didn't take out my health insurance or disability payments. I found out why and there is a long explanation about 3 pay periods that I can't really explain. But for me it means more money in my check. YEA!!

I have been playing around with the budget feature in Quicken. I love my Quicken and would like to start keeping up with how much over/under my budget items are. I have discovered a few disturbing things by putting my budget into Quicken.

I have found that my grocery budget is pretty close to what I spend. Although the big grocery trips have been less than I budgeted for I end up spending the rest of the budget on fill in items. I will need to fix this. According to Quickn, I spend 10.5% of my income on groceries. I would like to get this number down but I don't know what an acceptable number is. Any suggestions?

I also discovered that I spend a whopping 17% of my income each month on medical expenses. I don't know how to make that any less. This is followed up by my mortgage which is 14% of my income. I think that is high for what they say your mortgage should be. Of course this is covered by my rental income.

The bottom line according to Quicken is that I am $400 short to be able to pay all the budgeted items. That is if I have entered everything correctly. It is a pretty bleak outlook...very depressing. I don't know how to dig myself out of this hole. Looking at the numbers I can't even figure out how I have managed to keep my head above water.

At least by looking at it this way I can tell where I can make improvements and what I need to work on.

Income:
Salary - 1960
Child Support - 679.
sale of stove - 400
Transfer from Saving - 200.00

Total Income: 3239

Expenses:

Tumbling for DD - 55
Student Loan - 323.28
Amy - 83.83
Fuel 252.75
Eating Out : 142.33
Entertainment - 17.99
Groceries - 363.4
Car Insurance - 247.87
medical - 898.01
Cell Phone - 28.53*
Utilities: 188.71
personal loan - 200.00
loan from MIL - 100.00
transfer to savings: 85.30

Total Expenses: 3239

* There was a credit issued on my account bringing the payment down.

After looking at the numbers last month, I vow to do better this month. I was horrified at the amount of money i spent eating out. I am apparently not the type of person that can eat out once in a while. It just leads me down the road to more bad habits. My grocery spending was down this month by about $100. I will post the full results for last month shortly.

I did horrible for not eating out in September. I need to get a handle on eating out again. I know I can do it, just need to give myself the motivation to do it.

Went to the grocery store tonight to pick up a few items. It was $32. More than I planned on spending for just a few items, but I guess the dog food pushed it up.

I got Dog food, puppy food, 3 cartons of orange juice and peanut butter. I got a bigger jar of peanut butter than I usually get. It sure adds up fast.

I filled up the gas tank today for $26. I still have $74 left in the gas budget for the next week.

I spent $108 at the drugstore for my prescriptions. Since my scripts were less than I had budgeted for I went ahead and picked up my son's inhaler. He hasn't had to money to get it. I only overspent by $8 so I am happy.

I now have $25 to last until next Friday. I won't need all $74 for gas so that will get me through.

I had my weekly weigh in at WW tonight. I lost 2.6 pounds. I am not sure how since I have been drinking soda this week. But I will take it. I have lost 10% of my starting weight and I got a key chain.

Financially, I am looking good. I have $40 to last until next Friday. I still have to get my prescriptions but I have budgeted for them. Hopefully they won't be more than $100.

I have to fill up tomorrow but I have used very little gas. I didn't have to drive to work yesterday so it was a no gas day. Shouldn't be too much to fill up.

DD is sick with a stomach virus. She stayed home yesterday and came home sick today. Hope she gets over it soon. She can't keep missing school.

Ready for the football game tonight with the regular refs. Let's hope it is better and there is no controversy.

Today should be a NSD. I haven't left the house. I decided to work from home today since I would be the only one at the office. Easier to resist spending money when you don't leave the house.

It was a little more than usual for a Tuesday. I always fill up on Tuesday and Friday. Friday fill up is usually around $45 and Tuesday is usually around $28. Today it was $37. It is due to the fact that I had to make three trips to Morganton this weekend. It is roughly 10 miles one way. I usually don't do any driving on the weekend so of course I used more gas than usual. I had $58 in the gas budget so I was still under. I transferred the extra $21 to my savings account.

I went ahead and transferred $200 from my savings account today. It should show up by Friday. I needed to cover the dentist visit and the mortgage. I hate taking money out of savings but I guess that is what it is there for. I should be able to put it back in October.

Well...I had budgeted $200 for the grocery trip today. We spent $158. I had hoped to get by with $100. We did go with a list and apparently I was bad at estimating how much the items on the list were. Oh well at least we were under the amount I had budgeted.

I bought bacon and tomatoes and just had the best bacon and tomato sandwich for dinner. It was so yummy.

I am still $15 short for the dentist visit on October 2. I will be able to make that up with my gas budget for the next two weeks. I just need to get back to not eating breakfast out. I have the will power just wish it was easier.

We got lucky. The doctor's office didn't charge me a copy for DD's shot. It was just a nurse visit and they said the insurance should pay for all it. Sweet!

Going to the grocery store this evening. I have my list all ready. It became a pretty good sized list when I started thinking about things we need/want for the next couple of weeks. We should still be under $100 though. Hoping anyway. I might cross off a few things to insure that. Will let you know how it goes.

Today has just been a lazy day. Catching up on some tv shows.

Payday has come. I am glad as I only $4.69 left in my account. The first of the many medical expenses will be today. Have to take DD to get her shot. I am hoping that we won't have to see the doctor(we actually see the nurse practitioner) and only have to pay for a nurse visit. Keep your fingers crossed.

Friday is also the day that we do our grocery shopping. I just made our list. Nothing had made it to a list so I guess we don't need too much. Should have no trouble staying under $100.

It is just me at the office again today. It gets so boring when it is just me. Fortunately I have to leave early to take DD to the doctor.

Income:
From Son - 170
Paycheck - 936.96
Child Support - 339.00

Total Income: 1445.96

Expenses:
Groceries - 200*
Gas - 200**
credit card - 50.00
medical - 340
transfer to savings - 33.80
son's car payment - 229.20
auto insurance - 247.87
dentist - 174

Total expenses - 1474.87

Income : 1445.96
expenses: 1747.87

Shortfall - 28.91

* Budget 200 for groceries but have been getting by with about $100.

** Budget $200 for two weeks but have been getting by with about $150.

This two week period is heavy on medical/dentist expenses. I have to get my monthly prescriptions and DD has to get her shot, which involves the shot and the doctor visit. Plus I am paying on some other medical expenses that I am making payments to.

Computer problems have left me totally frustrated today. The IT guy took my computer home last night to reformat it. He wasn't completely finished with it this morning so I have spent the day loading software and trying to get my email to work. At one point I was ready to throw it out the window!(good thing I don't have any windows in my office!)

And I got this brand new printer/copier/fax machine. I got it installed and all is well. However, I needed to print something on paper that is stiffer than normal paper. All it did was curl that paper. I had to drag my old printer back into my office, install the software and use it for what I needed to print. UGH! But I got it done.

I got gas yesterday for $26.20, far less than the $60 I had budgeted for it. I have set up a transfer of the difference to go to my online savings account on Friday. I need the buffer until then.

I have my rough budget(kind of like a rough draft) done through November, but I expect that there will be many changes. But at least the groundwork is done. November will be a 3 paycheck month for me so I am hoping to get the Mortgage caught up.