Personal Finance Blog of a College Student

Even though I have to work today, I am thankful for it. We desperately need the money, and I make double-time today so I am happy to be working. At least I get off at 6:30 this evening so I can come home and have a nice meal with my husband. Now I just have to pray he doesn't ruin the turkey before I get home, lol. Happy Holidays everyone!

Well, yesterday DH and I sealed the window in his office wit plastic. We have gotten really good at it and you can't even see it from the outside at all. All we have left now are the sliding glass door and the front door. We put some of the tube insulating stuff around the front door, but I still see lots of light coming in around the top and side of the door. We have one of those plastic strips that covers the drafts on the bottom but I know our heat is being sucked out by the gaps around the door. The problem is, we can't put anymore of that piping stuff around it because then the door won't close. I don't know what else to do, but it's really frustrating me.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving. This will be our first year just the two of us. I have to work till 6:30pm on Thanksgiving, but we can still have a late supper. I bought a small frozen turkey breast, generic stuffing, a cheap bag of cheesy mashed potatoes that DH loves, got some oven bags for $1 after the sale price and coupon, crescent rolls ($1.42 after sale price and coupon), cookie mix (had a coupon, it was less than $1), 1/2 carton of eggs and smart balance (to make cookies with). We already had peas in the cupboard. Now I just have to figure out how to cook a turkey, lol. It says there's instructions included on the turkey so I hope they're good. I'll check them out tonight after work.

Oh, I did spend a little bit yesterday. I figured out we only have 1 pot, and we have so much to cook for Thanksgiving so I got worried. DH is so great at finding deals though, he somehow picked up a pot by itself on the back of the shelf that was clearanced to only $6... we couldn't find another for less than $15!! Good job DH!

Oh that reminds me, my work is now giving discounts on all foods now until Jan. 1st... although we aren't a supercenter so our grocery dept. is very very limited. I do luck out on milk though. It's usually $2.93 or so a gallon (over $3 everywhere else) and I get a discount on top of that. Unfortunately they're doing this instead of giving us our normal Christmas bonus of a coupon for 20% off any item in the store. We had been waiting for that coupon to get a new microwave and now I don't know what we'll do. Ours is really being weird. It used to just do this with popcorn, but now it does it with everything. The lights like flicker while it's running and it makes a really loud grinding sound, and sometimes smoke comes out of it. I have been trying to avoid using it, but I hate to use the stove so much b/c it uses more electricity. Maybe they'll have some good sales on them after Thanksgiving. We'll see. Well, gotta go get ready for work.

Well I'm still doing well with keeping expenses low and working on my debt. I talked to my manager and am now working full-time. I explained to her that if they can't give me full-time hours then I'll have to limit my availability there and get a second job. We'll see what happens. I know next week she gave me 38.5 hours, but the week after she gave me 5 days, but only 33 hours total. That is B.S. I'll have to talk to her again. If I work 4 days of 9 hour shifts I'd get 32 hours after lunches... so 1 extra hour for a whole extra day of being there isn't worth it. I'd lose more than that in taxes anyway. She just shortened all my shifts and spread the hours out over 5 days... So not worth it.

I've been working hard still keeping our expenses low. Lights have been staying off and appliances/computers unplugged. We've been eating in a lot and I've been using lots of coupons to try to keep our grocery bill down. I'm going to stock up on more Ramen today. DH signed us up for a free trial of Netflix the other day. If we like it we'll switch to that and drop the Blockbuster subscription. DH won't give up the movies though b/c I already made him give up cable a few months back.

I've been a little frustrated lately with DH. Let me just start by saying DH is very, very into video games. Usually he keeps his spending down by doing "flips" where he buys games at one place and trades them in to another for a profit and so on. However, sometimes I feel like he overdoes it on purchases. Just last night he was talking about some amazing deal where he can get a season of a television show for like $2. Yes it's a good deal, but seriously the show is "Gilmore Girls". When and why would we ever watch that show. Especially when we already have the movie subscription through blockbuster. I don't care if $2 is a good deal, it's not a good deal if you're just throwing it away because that's what I feel we would be doing in spending it on something we'll never even watch or give as a gift. I told DH this last night and I think I made him mad. He is just so obsessed with the great deals he finds, he doesn't stop to think,
"do we really need this?".

Anyway, I was gonna peruse the classifieds for jobs in case I do decide to get a second to supplement my first job.

Still doing pretty good. Monday I gave in and went to Taco Bell after work. I felt really guilty afterward. I have to be stronger. I finally talked DH into letting me go Full Time at work, but then when I asked about it at work, they said they aren't hiring any full timers anymore and I probably won't be able to. I'm still going to ask MY manager tomorrow night at work though. I'm already working 4 days a week, so 1 more day shouldn't be such a big deal to them. I ended up taking my full hour for lunch yesterday because I realized with my extra day this week and coming in early and taking short lunches, I'm already up to 36 hours for the week. I'm only supposed to get 31 max... so I don't want to get in trouble.

I did end up making a couple of purchases yesterday. Oh actually Monday I bought some weather stripping for the door to help seal out the drafts... I swear our door looks like it's crooked. Anyway, yesterday I bought some plastic stuff to help seal the windows and keep our heat in. I'm trying anything to keep the heat off for as long as possible. Not to mention we have 3 blankets on the bed so far, and lots more. We wear sweatshirts and warm clothes indoors to help as well.

Also I bought some pretzels for DH. He asked me to pick up some chips for him, but the ones he likes are like $3.28 a bag. He eats the Baked Lays, because regular chips upset his stomach. However, I knew that was too much for us to pay right now, so I bought him 2 bags of generic pretzels instead for $1.07 each with my discount.

Also, we still have a lot of clearance Halloween merchandise, and I saw 2 sheets of window clings and I thought they would be really nice to have when I start teaching elementary school in the next few years, so I bought them. They were on clearance for $0.10 each. So 20 cents I didn't think was unreasonable. They would have cost $3.00 before Halloween.

So, other than that we didn't spend anything else yesterday. We ate at home. We have to get groceries tonight though because we are almost out of meals. We have 1 frozen dinner each, a partial loaf of bread, lunch meat and peanut butter, 1 pack of ramen noodles each, and some frozen chicken breasts - which I might try to make, even though I'm a terrible cook. I don't get out of class till 8:30 tonight though, so I may not feel like going shopping anyway.

Well, today I have school all day and don't anticipate eating out. I wouldn't have time really. Well, I'm gonna go do a survey and then some homework before school.

So yesterday went pretty well. I got almost a full extra hour on the clock. For lunch I had applesauce and pretzels from home. I bought a newspaper for coupons (I precheck it at work before I buy it to make sure there are at least enough coupons to more than cover the price of the paper) and got my employee discount on it - we don't have the machines we have just a newsstand that they sit on and they have to be rung up at a register and it charges tax, but my discount takes off a little more than the tax. The paper was $1.20 after my discount.

I clipped coupons on my lunch break. For lunch I ate applesauce I found in the back of the cupboard and pretzels. I did buy a diet cherry pepsi for $0.40 with change left over from the paper, agh gotta stop doing that. I know for just $0.30 more I could buy a whole 2 liter of soda.

I got a referral from a coworker to a really cool site that tells you what coupon to use when an item is on sale to save a ton. She said last week she went to Food Lion and before using her MVP card or coupons her total was over $80, and after her MVP card and coupons (thanks to knowing what to buy from the site) her total went down to like $20!! I have a 4 week trial for $1 and I already have a list of a bunch of items that I can get for next to nothing. I have to do something b/c we can't live off of ramen noodles forever.

Oh, also I found out one of my coworkers was working like 7 days straight and really was exhausted and she has a shift tonight that she doesn't want so I offered to work it for her. So there's an extra day on my paycheck right there haha. It is a short shift, so I knew I could get DH to not be upset because I can still get my homework done before I have to go in.

I also returned the mattress pad after work b/c it was a lot thinner than we thought it would be. We got a foam eggcrate and a cheap mattress cover for the same price and it's way way thicker. We also bought 2 boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk. I had coupons for the cereal thanks to my newspaper coupons, $1 off each which is really really good and I got my employee discount on everything as well.

Last night I made blueberry muffins with this free mix I got from work - a benefit of working on weekends when the sample ladies are there b/c they bring us extra samples all the time. The muffins were delicious.

Anyway, this post turned out to be way too long so I'm gonna end it now.

Yesterday was pretty good. I didn't spend any money on food... but I did buy a new mattress pad that we've been saving for. Our bed is horribly uncomfortable - we bought it 4 years ago, used. We did have a cheapo mattress pad on it but it was 4 years old as well and had this kink in it that stayed in a point no matter how I tried to flatten it and it was really a pain in the back lol.

I think it was also contributing to our allergies because they've been the worst at night. So I bought one I've been saving for and used my discount on it. We put it on under clean sheets last night and slept on it... I'm not sure how we like it. I'll have to see what DH thinks when I get home this evening and if he didn't love it we'll return it and go back to the cheapo one. I'd like to wash it but our washer is tiny and I don't think we could make it fit in a million years.

I took my last apple to work with me yesterday and some pretzels. Those were lunch and I had a granola bar for a snack. I just drank water from the fountain at work. When I got home, DH and I had Ramen Noodles for dinner. This morning I had some of the last of the bread for toast with jam. Our bread expired 2 days ago, I don't know how long it's good for, but there's no mold on it yet, so I'd just assume keep eating it till there is. We can only get maybe 3 more sandwiches out of it anyway. I'm taking more pretzels to work today, though I'm out of apples.

I think there may be some applesauce stuffed in the back of the cupboard that I'll dig out to take with me. That doesn't expire does it? I'll try to clock in 15 minutes early for work (the max allowed) and only take a half-hour lunch again and try to linger for as long after time to go home as I can haha. I'll try to find something to make me busy right around time to go home so I can have an excuse to get an extra 15 minutes so I can make it a full extra hour today haha.

Anyway, time to get ready for work!

Well, yesterday DH listed a ton of my books on half.com for me. Hopefully we can make a little off of those. He also listed some things he got from his parents' house that were his as a child and they have potential to sell for a good amount. I only took a 30 minute lunch at work instead of the hour we're allowed. Also, the manager purchased pizza for everyone before we left, and there was extra so I took half a pizza home for DH and I. For lunch at work I took an apple with me and a free sample I had of some fruit & granola mix. I also purchased 1 pack of crackers for 45 cents from the vending machine because I was still hungry, and 1 can of diet mountain dew for 40 cents from the drink machine.

I have to work again tonight and I'm going to ask my manager to schedule me for full 9 hour shifts instead of the 7.5, 8, or 8.5 hour shifts I've been getting lately. I will see if I can just take a 30 minute lunch tonight as well. I have a few granola bars left at work I can eat. I will also take the last apple I have to work with me tonight. Lights have been kept off. Oh, we did buy 1 pack of energy efficient light bulbs yesterday because DH frequently needs the light in his office and I got tired of him wasting so much electricity. Well, I have to get ready for work.

I'm extremely concerned about the next few months for DH and I. DH is legally blind and is on disability. However, now that he has to report my income, I am almost certain he will lose most of it. The social security office says that basically unless I make less than $759 a month, then they feel I can support him and will be taking away his SSI payments which is $332 a month. If he starts working he will lose the other SSA payment which is $335 a month. I don't know what more I can do. We need these payments to help make rent. We've cut back pretty much all that we possibly can.

We have energy efficient bulbs, keep lights off and appliances unplugged when not in use, have low-flow shower heads in both showers, don't have an air conditioner, and keep the heat set at 55 degrees.

We are trying to get our power bill down more, but it's hard b/c we have 2 aquariums that use electricity for the filters, air pumps, and hood lights. We have the lights on timers though and they run the minimum amount of time necessary to keep the fish healthy.

We buy mostly generic as far as groceries go, and I get a 10% discount on most items through my employer.

Honestly, our biggest areas for improvement are impulse purchases, which mostly includes fast food and junk food. If we could stop these I feel we could get our spending under control. A big part of me wants to just cut up my credit card right now so I won't use it anymore, but I'm afraid I could need it for an emergency and not have it. Although honestly I've left it in a pair of my pants for the past few days and haven't had it on me, which led me to use my debit card which was a worse idea. AGH. I've got to do something though, otherwise we'll soon be sitting in the dark and freezing with no internet whatsoever, eating nothing but ramen noodles. If anyone wants to look at our monthly income/spending and offer any advice, It's below:

Income:
Work (avg): $900
Disability: $667 - soon to be $335
Surveys (avg): $6

Expenses:
Rent: $710
Electricity (avg): $60
Internet: $35
Blockbuster Online: $12
Credit Cards: $460
Student Loan: $114
Gas: $25
Groceries/Toiletries: $200
Fast Food/Impulse Purchases: $100

I know I can be successful at reaching my goals. I just have to give 100% everyday, and when I have slip-ups, keep going and don't let it become worse than it was. I have faith that I am not alone and that God is with me and helping give me a nudge in the right directions each day. I just have to listen to him and not to my impulses. I recognize that I'm a very impulsive person usually. I sabotage my financial goals with impulse purchases of fast food, candy, magazines, or whatever else I don't need. I sabotage my health goals with laziness, fast food, and junk food. I sabotage my academic goals with laziness and procrastination. Unfortunately I'm not the only person I'm hurting. I have been trying to finish college for over 5 1/2 years now. I still have a solid 2 years of courses to go but I have to actually complete the courses to finish in 2 years. I'm not only hurting myself by being lazy and procrastinating, which leads to me failing courses. I'm hurting my husband as well. He graduated almost 3 years ago. He has been waiting as patiently as possible for me to finish so we can move on with our lives. I have been wasting our time and unfortunately money as well, because of the loans I've had to take out to pay for my tuition. I feel terrible but feeling bad isn't going to make it okay. I have to do something about it. All of my goals are connected. My impulsiveness and laziness sabotage my financial, health, and academic goals. I'm going to do a few things today before work. I'm going to find my embarrassingly blank planner and fill it out with my daily to do's with homework and other necessities. I'm going to start a daily food and exercise journal. I'm going to dig out my old coupon holder and organize it with the coupons that are shoved in the bottom of my purse. I'm going to plan out for the week and make a grocery list so I know exactly what we NEED when we go to the grocery store on Tuesday. I'm going to take my debit card and credit card out of my purse and only take them with me for planned shopping trips where I have a list of what we NEED. I'm usually good at sticking to a list, it's when I don't have a list but have those cards in my purse that I make impulse purchases. I know this post is obscenely long, but it's for my own reminder of my goals and how I can reach them.

I was watching "The Biggest Loser" online today and I started thinking how I wish there was a reality show about getting out of debt. Something where the contestants must have a certain amount of debt goal to payoff like $10,000 or something. There should be rules like no declaring bankruptcy, nothing illegal, no borrowing money, etc. I would love a show like this to inspire me to keep at it and give me new ideas about saving money. I googled it and saw there was a show in 2006 but it didn't last. There's a show in Canada called "Til Debt Do Us Part" which I'd love to see, and they have episodes online but it won't let me watch them. I dunno if you have to live in Canada to access the episodes or what. If anyone knows how I can watch them please let me know. Anyway, wouldn't it be cool if there was such a show in the US?!

As I said in the last post, I wish we could just buy a house and rent it out or sell it when we move when I graduate to get the money back. Houses in Boone are SOOOOO expensive though. I can't find one for under $180,000, not even the foreclosed ones. I looked up the monthly payments on a home loan that size and it's over $1k a month, which we can't afford. I'm determined to get us out of debt though and save up for when we do move. I've been picking up extra hours at work and we're cutting back at home. Keeping lights off, stuff unplugged, no heat, coupons and generic groceries, eating less (better for my weight and wallet lol), driving much less, doing online surveys, and selling stuff on ebay. I have a ton of model horses I collected when I was little. They're really nice, but I have no use for them. They're just displayed on shelves and I could use the money. Some are worth $40 a piece so I'm gonna sell them. DH doesn't work b/c he gets disability (he's legally blind), but there's yard sales nearby every weekend so he's gonna start checking those out and doing lots of ebay sales. I reduced our blockbuster online plan to the cheapest one, and we don't have cable, so our only other bill is internet which we have no choices b/c there's only 1 provider around here. I'm determined to do it though. My goal is to have all of our credit cards paid off in 6 months and start paying back student loans after that. Then start saving for NYC (DH wants to live there when I finish school so he can get around easier - public transportation is much more prevalent). I already have $10 automatically drafted into savings each month from my checking account. I hope to have a nice security deposit/moving fund by the time I graduate. It will be tough but I know we can do it. I'm working Thanksgiving this year. We aren't going to do anything to celebrate it. Maybe I'll make us turkey lunch meat sandwiches or something lol. But at least I get paid double-time for working on Thanksgiving, woohoo!

DH and I are paying $710 a month in rent, not including electricity. I hate feeling like we're throwing away so much money each year when it could be going toward a home that we could rent out or sell down the road and recoup some of the expenses. I tried looking into the real estate market in the area, and unfortunately, living in the mountains in a popular tourist town means it's impossible to find a house for under $180,000. I did a home loan calculator online and it would cost at least $1200 a month for us and there's no way we could afford that. It's hard to find a decent sized apartment for less than what we pay in that area. The pluses of our particular apartment is that it's got 2 bathrooms (most in that price range have only 1), it has a bus stop right out front so I can ride it to class and not use gas to drive, and it's right next door to my place of employment which saves on gas as well. It just is frustrating thinking that each year we're throwing out over $8,500 that we'll never see again.

It's not like we're debt free either. We both owe on credit cards and student loans. I work 30 hours a week and have worked hard to get a big promotion and raise at work which is helpful... however, DH is on disability and can't work. His disability payments barely cover half the rent. I'm gonna have to really cut back on our spending. We have our electricity pretty steady around $50/month. We need to cut back on food expenses which I plan to do through coupons, comparison shopping, and other things. We don't have cable at all, but subscribe to Blockbuster Online, which I will be reducing down to the minimum. I'm going to try to apply for a new 0% credit card to transfer my balance to. Then I'm going to force myself to put that card in the freezer. I like having it for emergencies, but keeping it in my wallet makes it too tempting to use. I usually am scheduled 30 hours a week at work, which is the most I can manage with my class schedule, but I usually can squeeze in a few extra hours each week. I come in to work early, stay late, etc. This weekend I am on paid vacation, but got scheduled my full 30 hours at work, so I'll have extra time on my next paycheck which will be going straight to my credit card bills. Other than that, I'm going to try to reduce my power bill a bit more. I have to try to find CFL's for our ceiling fan lights - they take small candleabra bulbs and I'm having trouble finding energy efficient bulbs that fit. That and I will start leaving my money at home when I go to work. I usually buy unneeded things on my way home and it needs to stop.

Anyway sorry for the rambling, but it's time for me to get serious about getting my debt paid down before I can think about affording to buy a house.

It's nearing the holidays and I don't know about you, but I usually feel terrible that I can never give much to all of the charities in need. What I can give though is my time. Volunteer regularly and you are helping much more than you know. I also click daily on sites like ecologyfund.com, rainforest.care2.com, and thehungersite.com. All of these have multiple charity benefactors that receive donations paid for by sponsors that advertise on the site. Whenever you click the donation button daily, you are helping the charities in need. There are all sorts of charities too from helping the hungry, to helping prevent breast cancer, saving the rainforests, helping support animal shelters, and helping support needy children in other countries. Consider donating your time even if your wallet is feeling kind of light these days. Here's a complete list of click-to-donate sites by category:

Hunger:
1. http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
2. http://www.hungerfighters.com/
3. (Click the wooden toy to feed the hungry in Poland)http://www.pajacyk.pl/

Breast Cancer:
1. http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2...
2. http://breastcancer.care2.com/

Children:
1. (Health)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=5...
2. (Literacy)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=6...
3. (Children around the World)http://children.care2.com/

Animals:
1. (Shelter Animals)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3...
2. (Baby Seals in Canada)http://babyseals.care2.com/
3. (Ocean Animals)http://oceans.care2.com/
4. (Big Cats)http://bigcats.care2.com/
5. (Primates)http://primates.care2.com/
6. (Homeless Animals)http://pets.care2.com/

Earth:
1. (Rainforest)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4...
2. (Rainforest)http://rainforest.care2.com/
3. (Global Warming)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4...

Miscellaneous:
1. (Violence Against Women)http://stopviolence.care2.com/
2. (Rainforest, Endangered Animals, Pollution, US Wilderness, and more)http://ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html
3. (Poverty)http://www2.povertyfighters.com/
4. (Plant a Tree in Niagara - Click button at bottom right of page)http://www.landcareniagara.com/
5. (Click to help the poorest of the poor in Africa, Asia and Central America. Click on the red "geef gratis een gift voor een straatkind" link.)http://www.woordendaad.nl/Index.cfm?ApplicationServer=WIS

My car battery died 6 days ago. At the time, I thought maybe I left the lights on, but I wasn't sure. We've had the car about 3 years, but it was purchased used. I didn't have any jumper cables and couldn't find anyone to jump it, so I signed up for AAA online and got them to send someone to jump it. Well, here it is 6 days later and it's dead again. I tried to leave for work this morning and it's totally dead. This time I'm 100% sure I did not leave the lights on. I researched a little and found out most car batteries need to be replaced after 3 years anyway and I know ours is AT LEAST 3 years old. I still have AAA and I know they can come jump it and possibly replace it for what they say is a "good rate" but I'm not sure. I work at WalMart and can get a discount if I buy the battery there, but my WalMart doesn't have a Tire and Lube center so they can't replace it for me. Do you know if garages will replace a battery that I bought from somewhere else? When I got the car jumped a week ago, AAA sent out a local garage to do it, so there's not an actual AAA here. I tried to research replacing it myself but it looks complicated as I don't even know how to change my tires (sad, i know!) and DH doesn't drive so he has no idea how to work on cars either. I guess I just need some advice on whether I'd be better off buying the battery and calling AAA to see if the garage can install it for me, or calling AAA to send the garage to sell me a new one and install it, or trying to install one myself? My only other option is to get it jumped again, which will hopefully hold the charge this time for a little while, and drive 45 minutes to the closest SuperWalMart and buy it there and get them to replace it all at a 10% discount. I just don't know because gas will cost a fortune anyway. Thank you!

Question. I owe $6,832.65 on a credit card that has 0% interest until April of 2009. I currently have $1,000 extra in my bank account that I can use. Would I be better to pay the $1,000 on the credit card or put it in my ING Savings Account at 3.00% interest and add to it anything over the minimum payment and then pay as much as I can in March and transfer it to another 0% card. Or should I put it in a 6-month ING CD at 3.30%? Advice would be greatly appreciated!

*Edit: YES I meant 2009, not 2008, oops!

Personal Health Challenge: $2.00

So DH called to cancel cable but the problem is our cable and internet are in a bundled deal. Right now, our internet is only $15, but if we cancel cable, our internet will go up, and our total savings will only be $15 a month, versus $50 as I thought it would be. They have internet specials, but they are for new customers only. We are thinking of canceling our cable AND internet for 30 days so we can be considered new customers again and get a deal on internet. I have to have internet for school, but since I am in summer school right now, I think I would be okay for 30 days since I am taking fewer classes. Hopefully by next week we can cancel both and save a lot of money for a month, and then get a good deal on internet after that.

Well, I'm about to go to work in an hour. I have a tricky situation with walking to work. We live VERY close to my work, but to get there I have to pass buy a very sketchy trailer park. Now, I'm not judging, I grew up in trailer parks till I was 12 years old. However, the few times I have walked home, I've gotten drunk men following me, yelling obscenities at me, and it's really scary. DH definitely prefers me to drive. I hate to waste gas to drive literally 2 blocks, but idk what else to do. Sometimes, even when I get home and get out of the car, drunk men will start yelling at me and I have to hurry and get inside. I'm not assuming drunkenness either, I've seen them holding bottles either straight out, or in brown paper bags and stumbling about. The problem is, I work evenings usually, so it's the worst when I get off at 11pm, but i've had them yelling even during broad daylight. Any ideas? Should I just keep driving? Maybe it's not TOO much gas since I don't go very far.

Anyway, I better go get ready.



Personal Health Challenge: $0.50

DH and I have had issues with our weight for a while now, though it's hard to understand how being poor allows you to overeat. We buy a lot of convenience foods: chips, cookies, taco bell, etc. These foods can be cheap, but eating healthy can be cheap too. I need to prove that to myself. I'm going to start a challenge for myself to improve my health. My clothes that fit are very limited. A month or so ago, I actually split my favorite pair of jeans when I bent over. I feel guilty buying bigger sizes because 1. they cost more, and 2. I'm throwing away the money I spent on the jeans that fit for maybe a month and haven't fit since. I will give myself a little bit of a break because I have hypothyroidism, but I am on medication for that. Here's how my challenge will go:

For every meal I eat healthy, I will add $0.25 to the pot.
For every snack I eat healthy (my worst vice), I will add $0.25 to the pot.
For every 15 minutes I exercise, I will add $0.25 to the pot.

I'm not rewarding myself for pounds lost, because that isn't always a sure thing. I am rewarding myself for making healthy choices, and hopefully will turn them into regular habits. At the end of each month, whatever my total is will be my limit for buying a new pair of jeans, shirt, underwear, whatever. If I am doing really well, I should be able to fit into smaller sizes and need new clothes as I'm doing this anyway. If I don't lose anything at the end of the month, I probably haven't been doing very well and won't have much to spend anyway. I currently have exactly 1 pair of jeans that fits well, and one pair that is about to not fit anymore. I have several shirts, that I hate, that were given as gifts years ago but were always too big, that now fit, but wearing them reminds me of that, and makes me feel mad at myself.

One big thing that motivated this was last weekend, I saw a shirt that I walked past everyday (I work in retail) that I wanted really badly. I loved the color, style, everything. However, it was $7, which seemed too high. I told DH about it and he said I was being stupid and I should just buy the shirt if I wanted it that bad. Well, I decided to try it on first.

I got the biggest size they had, an XL, went in the dressing room, and... it looked disgusting on me. It was way too small, I had to double check the label to make sure it wasn't a size small or medium. It was an XL and made me realize just how much weight I've gained. At my healthiest, I was 120 lbs. (when I started college), and now 5 years later I'm in the 170's. I'd like to lose 50 pounds. Anyway, I realize I've been rambling for a while, so I'm gonna get going so I can catch the bus in a few minutes anyway.

Someone asked me in a previous blog how I keep my electric bill so low ($41 this past month), so I thought I'd share my methods with everyone. I make sure to keep lights and computers and such turned off whenever they're not necessary. I switched to the compact florescent bulbs in our 3 rooms that we need the light for the longest periods of time. I wash clothes in cold water only and only wash clothes and dishes when there are full loads. I do dry my clothes, but always make sure the lint trap is cleaned before each load, and dry for the minimum amount of time necessary. If I'm doing multiple loads, I make sure to be prompt about putting a new load in the dryer as soon as the first one finishes so the heat isn't wasted. I also unplug things that use electricity even when they're off, such as my laptop and cellphone charger, the microwave, etc. It helps that I live in the mountains where it doesn't get too hot, but we dress in light clothes i.e. tanktops and shorts indoors and use box fans and drink ice water to keep cool (we don't have air conditioning). If it's really hot, I take a quick cool/lukewarm shower so my wet hair will help keep me cool when I get out. We have low-flow shower heads in our showers which helps preserve the hot water. I use cold water to brush my teeth and rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. All of this may sound like a lot, but once you make it your regular routine, it really doesn't feel like any effort, and it truly makes a huge impact on the electric bill. Good luck everyone!

Well I panicked and asked DH to wait a couple of days before canceling cable because I got scared I would miss it too much. However, in that time I was able to discover I spend more time watching movies (we have Blockbuster Online) and playing video games we already have than I spend watching TV. So DH will be canceling it today.

Oh, and we got our power bill in yesterday, I've gotten it down to $41!! YAY!! A few weeks ago I installed the energy efficient bulbs in both of our bathrooms, and they're in the kitchen already and it sure is helping. My next task will be shopping for food. For now, we have cereal, bread for pb&j, and a few frozen meals but I'd like to get some new stuff before we run out of those so they can become back-ups for days when I have no time or desire to cook.

Oh, I also got a rebate check from my CC yesterday for almost $60! And now the balance is getting transferred to my 0% card so I will have nothing left on that card. Well, I better get going so I can catch the bus to campus on time, bye!

So my cooking skills are very limited and it's very hard to get my grocery bill down when I'm buying frozen dinners all the time. DH and I are trying to lose weight so we need to eat reasonably healthy. I buy bread and do low-fat pb and j, but there are only so many pb&j sandwiches you can eat. Plus, we usually do the sandwiches for lunches and frozen meals for dinner. My cooking knowledge is tiny, but here's what I know how to cook: spaghetti with canned pasta sauce, hamburger helper, shake and bake chicken, and boxed macaroni and cheese. I do have a George Foreman Grill, but all I've made on it is hot dogs, hamburgers, and plain chicken - and the chicken can get very boring. Hot dogs would be cheap but we only eat the low-fat ones so that adds up the price. Hamburger meat is expensive.

The Shake and Bake Chicken is something we like, but it takes so long to cook.. I think we generally like the frozen meals for their convenience. I've read somewhere about people making their own "frozen dinners" by cooking and freezing them in little trays or something. I like that idea but how do I prevent them from getting freezer burn?

I was thinking of getting a bag of frozen chicken breasts and making a bunch of them with the shake and bake seasoning and freezing the extras. I have tupperware, clear clingwrap, aluminum foil, and freezer ziplock baggies. What do I need to do to keep them from getting freezer burn, and how long should they be microwaved for when we want to eat them?

I apologize for all the silly questions, but my mom never taught me this stuff growing up, and now that we don't speak anymore, it's too late to ask. I'm also too embarrassed to ask people at work, so I hope some of you wonderful cooks out there can help me. Thank you!

Well, I've been gone for a while. I didn't feel right calling myself frugal when I was spending money on my wedding and honeymoon. Luckily, since we already live together we asked for honeymoon donations instead of regular gifts, and wow were we shocked! We got over $1800 in donations. People were so generous. Between that, my tax refund, and 2 bonuses at work, our entire honeymoon and wedding was paid back.

Now I'm back though. I am determined to get out of debt and cut up all those darn credit cards once and for all. I owe $6832.65 in credit card debt, all of which has been consolidated to a 0% interest credit card (until April of 2009). I also owe a lot in student loans, but I will target those after I tackle my credit card debt. I have been picking up extra hours at work and am working on getting a promotion which would mean a nice raise. This weekend I have picked up 11.5 extra hours already! DH will be calling the cable company Tuesday and canceling cable, which will save us a lot! We are also going to be relying on the public bus system around here instead of driving, as the bus here is free for everyone. Now, if I can just learn how to cook and get our food costs down, I will be doing great!

As I mentioned last night, I am moving in about 3 weeks. It is mostly a good thing, but I am slightly concerned, because I thought I would be able to transfer my job to their location in Boone, but they refuse to let me because they are cutting hours in January. I have asked my current manager so many ways to call up there and see if he could pull any strings, but he refuses.

I guess I'm not as valuable to them as I thought. I am disappointed though, because I thought I would be guaranteed a job up there. It is difficult to apply for a job when you are over 100 miles away. Especially when the jobs you qualify for are low-level ones that you have to apply for in person. I have checked craigslist, business websites, and classified ads, but haven't had any luck yet. I will save my bonus though that I get from work tomorrow and use that the first week we are there, so I can go job hunting, for whatever I can get, until I find something better.

Anyway, there are many good things about moving though. For one, depending on my job situation, we may not need the car at all. No gas, no oil, no nothing. Our apartment will be within feet from the bus stop for campus, and one block away is a big shopping center where we can buy groceries and hopefully where I can get a job. Not having to rely on the car will take a huge burden off of us.

Another good thing is the school I will be attending is MUCH better. This is the first school I attended for college, before we had to move to live with the in-laws, back when my parents were causing problems and took my car and wouldn't sign for me to get financial aid in my own name, and all that chaos. The professors are MUCH better and the environment is just wonderful. I love it up there.

Alright, well DH needs me to get going so we can run some errands. I sold 2 books on half.com today and MIL is taking me shopping for wedding supplies. (It is a LONG story and if you really want to know, I can PM it to you through savingadvice.com) Most of the supplies are going to be "hand-me-downs" haha from SIL's wedding. That's okay though. I am appreciative that we are able to use them. A coworker suggested I try goodwill for a wedding dress. Ok, well time to go. Bye!

I am so thankful to all the wonderful people on these forums who gave me great advice and were so nice when I was in serious trouble a while back. DH and I ended up getting some food from the food bank and were able to make it off of that until I got paid again. Things are much better now. Still trying to save money, as always, but definitely no longer in such a dire situation. I am moving at the beginning of next month, to go back to school. I ended up withdrawing from the semester a few months ago, because I needed to work more because we needed the money. I think it was stupid of me now, because I wasted the hours I had already spent in class that semester. Oh well. I am starting back at a better, less expensive school in January. The holidays have been hard though. My workplace has cut everyone's hours drastically. However, a lot of people quit recently, so I have been getting overtime every week. I stayed 30 minutes late the past 2 nights. Next week I am getting 11 extra hours to help make up for being understaffed! That will help for sure. My paycheck this week is going to be great, as we are getting our bonus! Mine is a little over $200, which is wonderful. I feel so blessed this year that I picked a child off the Salvation Army's Angel Tree and bought him his "dream gift" which was a skateboard, along with a helmet, elbow/knee/wrist pads, and some nice shoes. I got my discount on everything, but dh bought the shoes online at a discount site. Anyway, it's time for bed.

So I am really feeling guilty for buying that sun visor. It just gets so hot here, and I hate getting sweaty on my way to work. It was probably a stupid decision though, because we're running out of food. Yesterday, we found chicken noodle soup in the cupboards and ate that for lunch. Last night, I made hamburger helper using old frozen turkey burgers that I cut up, and a box of hamburger helper mix that MIL gave us from the food pantry at her church a few months ago. It was really delicious though! Crunchy Taco flavor, and had the sauce mix, plus rice, corn chips, and cheese sauce. I wish we had some left, but we were VERY hungry and ate all of it.

Today I think we'll be eating the last of the chicken noodle soup for dinner. I have one more box of mac and cheese for lunch. Then, we have 1 more box of hamburger helper from the food pantry. I only have 2 frozen turkey burgers left though, which will only be 1/2 a pound of meet, instead of the 1 pound it recommends, but that's ok. Then we will be officially out of meals. I think I have 1 little bag of brown rice, 1 can of corn, and 1 can of peas, so maybe we will have a veggie night. We do have a bunch of canned fruit. I guess it would be smarter to just have the veggies with the meals to stretch them further, wouldn't it? I need to stretch what we have 3 weeks (to feed 2 adults).

I'm going to make a list of everything so I can refer back to it:
1 box Hamburger Helper
2 frozen Turkey Burgers
1 box Mac and Cheese
4 bags Brown Rice
1 can Peas
1 can Corn
1 can Cream of Chicken
1/4 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
2 cans Pineapple
3 cans Peaches
1 can Fruit Cocktail
3 cups Raisins
1 jar Applesauce
1 bag Sugar
1 sample Coffee mix
9 servings Hot Chocolate w/ Marshmallows
1/3 can Cappuccino
2 Creamsickles
2 Ice Cream Sandwiches
2 cups Italian Ice
3/4 gallon skim Milk
4 Snack Packs (pudding)
8 bags Popcorn
2 1/4 boxes Wheat Crackers
1/2 bag Pretzel Sticks
1/2 box Cereal
1/2 bag Candy
1/2 jar Peanut Butter
20 Saltine Crackers

Yes, we have more junk than anything. Any combo. ideas? I'm thinking the Peanut Butter and Saltines could work for 1 meal. The only problem is I'm hypoglycemic and can't go more than a few hours without eating or I pass out, and sometimes have seizures. Well, I better go make lunch before work.

So, yesterday was ALMOST a no-spend day, but my sun visor for my car has been slowly dying for the past few months. I've had it for maybe 5 years or so. It just stopped staying up and would fall down, so it just wasn't serving it's purpose anymore. I had been flipping it using it frontward and backward to try to extend the life, but finally, it was just too mushy. So, I went to Wal-Mart last night and found one on clearance for $2.00. I wouldn't have bought a new one, but I feel keeping my car cool keeps me from needing the air conditioning as often, and maybe saves on gas as well. Maybe it's just psycological, I dunno. Oh well.

Well, Wednesday was a No-spend day, but unfortunately yesterday wasn't. I splurged a bit and bought a videogame. I had a coupon for $5 off, and there's a $5 rebate, but it still was $40 after those. My birthday is coming up soon though, so I will use the money I get for that to reimburse me for the game. DH and I ate out as well. I will reimburse myself for that out of birthday money as well. My paycheck yesterday was bigger than expected due to holiday pay. I'm not sure why though, because I didn't work on Labor Day. Oh well.

I'm also about to write a large check on Monday to renew our car insurance. I searched around when I got the renewal notice though, and our company is still the best deal for us. We use Geico. It's at least $150 less per year than the others quote us. This is a necessary expense though, just like my rent and electricity. Internet... not so much, but DH runs his own home business that largely uses the internet, and I have to have it for school, so I suppose that is a necessity for us after all. Especially since we live in a small town that has no public places to use it, the library is the size of a closet, really. Plus, my college is 30 miles away, so it's not practical to drive there to use it.

Anyways, I intend for today to be a no spend day. I will eat at home for all meals and take my own snacks to work. DH and I are hoping to see a movie at the theater next week (we have free tickets), but I'll have to try to eat before, because last time we tried to bring our own snacks (healthier than what they offer), they insisted on searching purses before letting people in the theater, so we left. That was months ago.

My challenge totals haven't changed since Tuesday.

Previous: $157.00
Today: +$0.00
Total: $157.00

Whoops, I also just remembered I spent about $20 this week renting a television series from Movie Gallery. I really wanted to see it, and it was around $50 to purchase, so I just rented the season for $20. That was bad, I know. I'm going to stop carrying any credit cards with me and only have cash, that when it's spent, oh well.

Yesterday was a no spend day. Today I have washed and hung laundry to dry and have unplugged everything. I will eat in today. I was very sick yesterday and did not go to school, and today was the same, so I will not be adding that to my challenge money. I did exercise, but only for 15 minutes, so not enough. However, I did a pinecone survey and made $5.00, which will go into my challenge money. I also sold 4 books on Half.com!! I will add that to my challenge money as well, not including the shipping reimbursement since that pays me back for what I pay to ship them. I made $132 today on those 4 books, wow! I would wait for the money to be actually deposited into my checking account, but I have a decent cushion in there, and if I wait, I might be tempted to spend it, so it will go into my ING right now.

Previous: $20.00
Today: +$137.00
Total: $157.00

I have decided to join the $20 challenge, starting today. I have deposited $20 into my ING Account. Technically, I did have $0.02 in there, so I deposited $19.98, to make it exactly $20 haha. I love the way Julie does her challenge, adding $1 for every mile she walks on her treadmill, and $1 everytime her favorite baseball team wins. I will add $1 for every day that I exercise for at least 30 minutes, $1 at the end of every week that I go to all of my classes, and whatever savings I incur through coupons, my employee discount at work, etc. Today was a no-spend day for me, and I haven't exercised, though I will do push-ups and crunches before bed (but it won't take me 30 minutes!). Therefore, my challenge stats for today are:

Previous: $0.00
Today: +$20.00
Total: $20.00

Today I brought a snack with me to work to eat during my break so I wouldn't purchase anything. I came home for lunch (I live about 5 minutes away from work) and ate in. I also cooked dinner, using up the last of our frozen chicken breasts. I ended up cooking extra too so it won't be so tempting to grab something "quick" for dinner tomorrow. Lights have been kept off and I unplugged everything, as usual.

I also washed a load of laundry in cold water this morning, using half the recommended amount of detergent, and hung everything to dry afterward. I sold 2 more books over the weekend so I am wrapping them (using cardstock paper that I have leftover from a long time ago) and will try to ship them tomorrow. I got a rebate check from my rewards CC (which is payed off!) for a little over $50, and will deposit it with my paycheck on Thursday (so I only have to drive to the bank once). Now I'm going to relax and watch the rest of the game with DH. Goodnight all

I washed laundry in cold water and hung it to dry. Then, I flipped the breaker for the washer back off. I unplugged everything, kept lights off, etc. I wore light clothes so I could keep the thermostat as high as possible to keep the air from coming on much. We ate out for breakfast: FIL took us out as a thank you for taking care of their dog while they were out of town. Somehow I wasn't hungry again until dinner, and we ate in: Hotdogs and fruit cocktail. Yum. Oh! I also listed a bunch of books on half.com, and already sold 2 today, making a total of almost $100! Yay!