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!

I wanted to quickly refer anyone who may be interested to my other blog, which is honestly more weight-loss related right now, but I tend to update it more often. http://nevergiveuplisa.blogspot.com/

Moving on, I am working hard trying to get our utility bills down. Mainly electric, since our water is included in our rent. I washed 2 loads of laundry the other day, in cold water, and hung EVERYTHING to dry. Everything was stiff afterward, so I put them in the dryer on the "Fluff" setting for just 10 minutes and they were nice and soft. I'm sure 10 minutes of fluffing is still much better than 60 minutes of high heat drying!

I have been keeping our lights off, only using the kitchen and bathroom lights when we need them, as they have energy efficient bulbs. I am keeping things unplugged as much as possible. We have been eating in more as well. We did eat out at Subway yesterday, but we had a coupon for a free bag of chips, so we got 1 combo (sub, chips, drink) and 1 more sub and the free chips, and just split the drink. I have definitely been drinking more water. DH loves his soda, so he gets generic, and I try to stick with water so his soda lasts longer.

If you read my other blog, you'll see that I'm working hard on controlling my eating so my snacks last longer. I find it helps if I buy things I don't LOVE, such as pretzels and wheat crackers (both generic of course!) so they last longer.

I paid off 2 of my credit cards recently (YAY!!) but noticed one was a rewards card (I had no idea) and I had enough points to order a $10 gas gift card, so I bought gas with that yesterday. Too bad $10 worth of gas isn't as much as it used to be. It only got me to 1/2 a tank. Oh well. I am doing well driving slower, keeping our tires properly inflated, and avoiding using the a/c to keep my gas consumption down. Not going many places helps with that too. It also helps because it's hard to spend money when you're not out shopping!!!

I am really happy because I got promoted at work recently, and along with my yearly raise, I am now making $1.30 more per hour, plus $1 extra per hour on Sundays. It's definitely helpful. I also earned some personal hours too, which I am thinking of using at the end of October so I can attend a birthday party for a close friend's little boy.

Anyways, it's time to get going. Remember to chek out my blog: http://nevergiveuplisa.blogspot.com/