I made a HUGE mistake paying one of my credit cards last month. The balance was about $3000 (we charge everything and pay off each month). I tried to make an on-line payment, but I have a new computer from work, and they won't let me install the ActiveX thing (I'm no techie), so the Citibank page doesn't show up correctly. I tried to make the payment for $3k anyway.

When I went back to take a look at the account (on the day it was due) it didn't look like that payment hit. I assumed it was because of the whole ActiveX thing, so I called customer service in a panic and did a phone order (they waived the $15 fee). However, they told me I could only do a phone order for $1000, because it was the first time I was ever doing it. The rep told me I could pay the remainder of the bill the next day at a branch, and she'd put a note in my file not to charge me a late fee. So the next day I paid the other $2,000.

Well, turns out the original online payment for $3k did hit, then the $1000 phone order hit. The bank denied the $2000 payment because that would have left me overdrawn. So now I have a $1000 credit on my credit card (which will be used up by next month). Even though it will all balance out by next month, I'm short this month by $1000.

What really makes me mad is that my ineptness at handling my finances is so out of character. I'm a professional, well-educated business woman (a finance major, to boot!), I raise two children who seem relatively well-adjusted. How come I can't get my financial act together? It's really frustrating!

I did all of the things on my to-do list except return the books to the library. They were due on Sunday, so I'm going to have a fine when I return them tomorrow. No excuse. Ugh.

I'm getting ready for an incredible weekend. Friday, we have tix to see New Moon, followed by a school fundraiser (both sets of tickets already paid). Saturday, I'm going to see Jimmy Buffett with my sister (always a great time), and Sunday is DD's last soccer game. Then it's down to Dad's, and back home to clean up the house in prep for my brother and his family coming Tuesday. They're staying for a week. Can't wait!

Just updated my sidebar. Psyched that my debt is almost under $215k. And we're now adding $250/month to the Emergency Fund, so that's going in the right direction too. It's all good...

Wow, did I have a busy weekend! Friday night we had an impromptu get-together at a friend's house. I sprung for the pizza (~$25) and had a great time. Saturday we had a friend's son's confirmation, then a soccer game on Sunday. I was beat, but had a great time.

I now have to get focused again on the finances. I got paid on Friday, which means I have all of the mid-month bills to pay. I received 2 rebate checks that need to be deposited, as well as the check for $12.75 from Caregivers Marketplace that will be added to the challenge.

I also need to get back to my to-do list so I can get some stuff done. Here's Tuesday's list:
1) Return books to library
2) Deposit / cash checks
3) Drop off gift card
4) Pay mid-month bills
5) Get caught up on work

That's pretty aggressive, especially that last one. Hoping I can get it all done.

I caught DD's bronchitis this weekend and have been knocked out. Sunday and today I barely had energy to get out of bed. Thank goodness for the great deal on the box of tea last week, because I've been drinking about 5 cups/day!

We rented a dvd from a local library on Saturday. I thought they only had book sales once/month, but they had a few racks of books for sale in the lobby. I didn't have time to look through them on Saturday, but will make the time when I return the dvd (hopefully Wed if I'm up to it).

Not much else to report now.

Not a lost week financially, but health wise. I had both kids home Monday with what I thought was strep. Turns out only DS had strep. Doctor said DD's strep test came back negative, and it's just a cough. So DD went to school yesterday, and was home today after being up from 1-5am (with me, rubbing her back), because she felt so bad. Kept her home from school today, and she feels worse. Totally run down (maybe from being up all night?), low-grade fever, sore throat, etc. So now I'm thinking flu, because that's all over the school. I'm taking her back to the doctor tomorrow.

Fortunately the kids are off from school tomorrow and Friday, so we can have a pretty quiet weekend. I'm looking to lay low and recover, because we're all just knocked out. I could sleep for a day!

I did manage to read a great book - one of Mary Hunt's cheapskate books. It's the first one I've read and I really liked it. I've read a lot of these types of books and usually I'll find a nugget or two, but otherwise blow through it pretty quickly, but not this time. She suggests using an envelope-type system for irregular expenses, but instead of putting the money in envelopes you keep in the house (which I would raid every time I go to the bar with the ladies), you open a separate account and direct deposit the money in there. That I could definitely do.

So I prepared our 2010 spending plan using this method and I think it will work well. I explained it to hubby and he was on board too. At least I got something done this week!

DS's doctor called this morning. They gave him a quick strep test in the office on Friday and it came back negative. She called today to say the "real strep test" (when they send it out to the lab) came back positive, and she called in an antibiotic (only $5). The good news is that he has none of the typical symptoms of strep (no fever, sore throat). The bad news is that DD had a cough all day today, and has already had strep 3 times this year. She doesn't have a fever or anything yet, and I'm praying that it's just a sore throat and will pass. I'm just happy that it's not the flu (yet).

Hubby was very supportive of my book selling today. He saved a few boxes from the recycle bin that he thought would be perfect for boxing up the books. I told him my "frugal friends" would be proud. Then he asked me how much I made doing this. I told him that the library sale last week will net me $38 and he rolled his eyes. Hubby, frugal friends will NOT be proud of you scoffing at $38!

HUGE list of errands tomorrow. I'm going to do my best:
1) Go to Post Office
2) Go to Fed Ex office
3) Go to Bank to deposit check
4) Drop off gift cards
5) Go to library to pick up the rest of the books to sell
6) Balance checkbook
7) Pay pool closing bill
8) Pay Heating/AC company bill
9) Call Verizon Wireless - I dropped a service last month and it's still showing up on my bill
10) Send in a rebate
11) Go grocery shopping

Phew, I'm tired already!

Well, almost. DS came down with a terrible cough Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Anytime he gets sick this happens - a barking cough like a seal. We give him the nebulizer, but other than that, there's not much to do but wait for it to pass. No fever, no aches (thank goodness), but we took him to the doctor on Friday just to make sure it wasn't the flu. So he missed school Thurs and Friday, was able to get out for a bit of trick-or-treating today, and seems a little bit better. Keeping my fingers crossed that this passes by tomorrow night.

So needless to say, I've done nothing else over the last few days. I worked Thursday and Friday (hubby was home with him), so when I walked in the door from work, I needed to give hubby some time to get out of the house. I'm going to spend tomorrow doing house stuff (laundry, laundry, laundry) and will have a LONG to-do list Monday, to make up for the errands I didn't do over the past few days.

One thing on the financial front - I already received the reimbursement for the kids' dental visits. It only took a few weeks - I've never seen any health-related thing move so fast!

The other financial thing I need to do is to finish out the month and see where we ended up. I've been doing a good job of tracking as I go, so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Well, Monday at least. Hubby is travelling for a few days, so I'm working from home tomorrow. I'm REALLY looking forward to not commuting!

I have a number of things to get done:
1) Go to dad's bank and deposit checks for him.
2) Go to my bank and cash check
3) Close citibank checking account
4) Fill out next Caregivers Marketplace rebate, and one other rebate for try me free shampoo.
5) Go to post office and mail paperback swap books (6 more gone - yay) and rebates.

3 challenge boosters for the week:
1) I went back to secondspin .com tonight and checked a bunch of CDs that I have. I can get rid of 13 for about $20. These wouldn't be missed - we have the songs that we want on Itunes anyway and I can't remember the last time we listened to any of them. I just need to listen to some, make sure they don't skip, etc., before I officially sell them and send them off.

2) I'm planning on hitting one or two of the ongoing book sales at the local libraries to see if I can hit any pay dirt there.

3) I have a piggy full of change. I'm going to see how much it is and put it toward the challenge. My goal is to boost my challenge amount high enough to take advantage of one of the local banks account opening bonuses.

Should be a good challenge week...

I managed to do everything on my list yesterday, except for 2 small things: 1) I deposited the checks at the bank but didn't schedule the xfer to the emergency fund. 2) I picked up the grocery gift cards, but didn't drop them off to the person who needs them. I'll take care of #1 today. I'll have to take care of #2 tomorrow.

Some interesting (or not) facts from yesterday's to-do list:

I submitted the receipts for the kids' dentist visits. Their dentist is out of network but we like him so much that we continue to go to him. No worries, as fortunately our plan still pays 100% for the regular checkups, even though he's not in the plan. Good deal. Bad news: They only cover flouride 1x/year and he gives it to them 2x, and for one of the services, he charges $15 more than their reasonable and customary. So the total bill was $450, and I'm going to have to pay $180 out of pocket.

I enrolled in my 2010 health plans at work. Same plans as I have this year, but my premiums are going up by $192 for the year. I'm still pretty happy with it, though. Medical, Dental, and Vision for a family of four will be $3,192/year (or $266/month), and the coverage is pretty generous. Can't complain. I'm just thankful that I have the insurance!

I also signed up for $1800 in my Flexible Spending Account. I only had $1500 this year, and I blew through that in January and February thanks to a root canal and crown. Next year, hubby and I will both need glasses, and we'll have the same dentist issue as this time, along with our prescriptions and regular costs, so I have no doubt that we'll use it all up.

Other happenings: Got an email from Cash4books that they received my package. I didn't credit my $20 challenge account yet because the money is not in Paypal, but hopefully I'll see that by the end of the week.

Today's to do
1) Transfer funds to Money Market
2) Call gym for appointment for DD
3) Sign up for event at DD's school
4) Plan menu for Saturday dinner (another couple is coming over, and I'm going to be super short on time).

I went grocery shopping today and scored a few good deals: Pert shampoo on sale for $1.99. I bought 3, and had $3.50 in coupons, so I got 3 for $2.50. I bought a 2-pack of Hot Pockets on sale for $1.99 with a $.75 coupon doubled = $.50. 12-pack of Rayovac AA batteries for $.99 after coupon. You get the picture.

Sat outside for a FREEZING cold, damp, windy soccer game. Sprung for Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate - totally worth it.

Didn't get around to making my butternut squash soup today, but I have all the fixins and will hopefully get it done tomorrow.

One more book gone on Paperback swap. I'll get that in the mail tomorrow.

I also got a bit of organizing done in DS's room on Saturday. I have a bag of clothes that no longer fit ready for goodwill, and another bag full of garbage. His room became the storage place for everything in the house that had no where else to go. It's not perfect, but it's a major step in the right direction.

Should be a quiet week financially.

I had 4 more books claimed on paperback swap so I have to get them to the post office.

We're going to a concert tonight. Bought the tickets before I got back on the frugal bandwagon. We're having dinner at home before we go so it should be an inexpensive evening. The weekend is looking just as quiet. We're having dinner at a friend's house tomorrow, and soccer Sunday morning. After that, I'm all about cooking - soup, bread, maybe chili.

I don't know what's up with east coast weather. It snowed yesterday, and was about 39 degrees when I picked the kids up from school. Brrr. Damp and rainy to boot. The heat's on, but we're keeping it at 63 degrees for the day.

Totally off topic, what's up with balloon boy and his family? I don't know if it's a hoax, but that father is guilty of being a little kooky.


That's about it. Not much to post about, but I wanted to stay in the habit...

I put a bunch of kids books on Paperback swap last week. 4 were claimed right away, as customers had them on their "wish list" so as soon as they were posted they went. Four more books were claimed over the last few days, which will go out in the post office tomorrow. I also received a request for someone who wanted to get a 3 for 1 deal on some Magice School House books that are really small, and should hardly count as 1 credit each. That's 11 books out of my house in one week. I'll get credit for 9 of them.

I also received 2 Paperback Swap books in the mail today, both on frugality/saving. I haven't read either of them previously, so I'm looking forward to it.

Folded 2 loads of laundry tonight

I sometimes feel like I've got a money angel on one shoulder and a money devil on the other shoulder.

Money angel made me stop at the Target on my way to Dad's house to return DS's pants that I bought last week. $14.99 credit on my card. Bought dish detergent at the store with a TMF mail in rebate. Paid $1.79 and will get $2.99 back.

Now for the devil. I had to drop off mail to my brother. Mess doesn't even begin to describe what this man has done with his life. Deadbeat dad, alcoholic, pathological liar, sponger, on and on. He has mail sent to dad's house (because he doesn't have a permanent residence) and he asked me to drop it off to him. I got there, hugged him, gave him his mail, and was about to make a hasty retreat when the request came: "ah, hey, do you have $20 on you?". I should have lied, said no, and hightailed it out of there, but the devil on my shoulder said "no, he's worse off than you are, you can part with it". So I gave him $20. It came out of my personal fun money (because Hubby has a much stronger backbone than I do, so it can't come from house funds). The whole way home I rationalized it by saying that I only see him once or twice a year, it's easier to say yes than no, but I'm still upset with myself for not saying no. Uggggh.

DD had a soccer tournament today. First game was 9:45, second game was 4:30. In between, we went to Applebees with the team for a team lunch. One of those bonding things that's tough to get out of. I was pretty pleased, though. We had a fabulous lunch for $54 (4 people). I was so full at 6:30 tonight that I didn't have dinner! I thought it would be more (usually is when there's a large group and the check is split), so I feel pretty good about that. Other than that and a gas tank fill-up, no money spent.

Not much on the docket tonight. I'm sipping a glass of wine (ok, more drinking than sipping), planning my grocery store run for the week. That's about it. Oh, and more laundry

When I decide to do something, I usually obsess and focus on it non-stop (except losing weight! lol). I've been so focused on getting my finances back in order that I didn't do a stitch of laundry this week. Until today, when hubby and DS informed me that they have no more socks. Oops! So I did 3 loads.

On the financial front, I opened up a money market savings account at BOA for our emergency fund. Right now we have a bunch of accounts all over the place, and I wanted to consolidate. The rate is 1.05%. I checked out ING and their rate is 1.30%, which is a difference of $25/year on $10,000. So I opted to keep it local at BOA. Not sure yet how high we'd like it to go, but certainly higher than it is now. I'll track it on the side, and we're planning to add $250/month to it.

Soccer was not cancelled. The weather guy's report was wrong (go figure). I always say that if I did my job as inaccurately as they do theirs I'd be out of work!

I didn't get to Target to return the clothes. I also didn't get to BJs, which was on my list. I should be able to take care of it on Sunday. But I did get to the Post Office, so that was something.

We have a 3-day weekend. Lots of soccer, shopping for Halloween costumes, BJs and Target are all on the list. And I'd like to spend some time on Sunday cooking. Butternut Squash soup, banana bread, meatloaf muffins maybe. mmm.

I'm swallowing a tough pill as part of my "get organized/back on track" plan.

We had a HUGE credit card bill this month. I always pay the balance off in full each month, but my timing was off getting the funds to cover the bill into my checking account. As a result, I was only able to pay 1/3 of the bill, and I made the payment online the night it was due, which means it didn't hit until the next day (late!).

The balance of the bill will be paid on Thursday, but I'm still going to get hit with interest on the outstanding amount. I'll also get hit with a late fee, though I'm going to try to call them to get that waived.

Ouch! Tough lesson learned. This one will hurt for a while . I'm now moving away from the credit card and onto the debit card. Much safer. Eventually I'd love to use an envelope system, like I've read on some blogs. Slow and steady...

DD has soccer practice every Monday night, next door to the neighboring town's library. I've taken advantage of it by borrowing 3-4 CDs each week, which I then go load onto my Itunes. In most cases, I'm getting songs that I really like, but definitely wouldn't pay $1.29 for (yes, they raised the price from $.99!). Great way to build my music collection for free, and little opportunity for late fees because I'm there every week.

Didn't spend any money at work today, though I'm hungry because I only brought breakfast (not lunch) and I haven't stocked my file cabinet with food yet. No worries, we have a machine on the floor where we can get free coffee, tea and hot chocolate, so I'll grab a hot chocolate to hold me over until I get home.

Finished reviewing the September bills and tried to plan out the rest of the year. We have some emergency funds in 3 different accounts and we're looking to consolidate. Wow, rates are low right now. Even ING is only 1.30%. Our regular bank has a money market deal that's at 1.05% so we'll open the account there, even though the online rate is higher. (Net difference - $25/year on $10k. I'd rather have one less account).

Has anyone done Dave Ramsey's plan? I looked it over but haven't completely bought in. We have a manageable level of debt (though none would certainly be better) - a mortgage, car payment, and heloc. Details on my sidebar. The HELOC is the one that really stresses me out, but I can't get over his idea that I should only leave $1000 in my emergency fund until all non-mortgage debts are paid off. Doesn't seem like a big enough cushion to me. Anyway, I'd love to hear about everyone's experience with his plan.

I had a great Saturday. I spent an hour in each room and did whatever I could to straighten up the room during that hour. When the hour was up, I moved on. It felt so productive and not overwhelming, because I knew that when the hour was up, I was done. Of course the place is such a mess that I need many more hours to get rid of all the clutter and get organized, but I felt like it was a great start.

I also got through many loads of laundry, including folding them instead of just leaving them in the basket!

I spent money at the grocery store, wine store, and for a friend's birthday. The wine was unplanned, but a good deal.

Today should be a no-spend day. MIL took us to the diner for breakfast, her treat. Unfortunately I have to get some work done today (in between football games) and I'll update the September numbers later tonight.

I'm on a roll with the "not eating at work" thing. Haven't spent a dime at work all week, and have no plans to today. Wahoo...

On Wednesday I went to Dunkin Donuts with DS ($3.85) and went out for drinks with friends ($20). Both came out of my personal funds from birthday money I received and not house money, so I'm ok with both. We did take out pizza last night (even though I had chicken set to go in the fridge). I was outvoted 3-1 on that. Looks like I have some work to do with the rest of the family .

I called Verizon and cut my wireless bill by $15/month. We had signed up one of the phone lines for unlimited downloads and internet surfing, which is so unnecessary, and we were barely using the service at all. So that's done.

I'm also looking for a new "in-network" doctor. I switched plans in January and none of my doctors are in the new plan. I'm not that picky, though, so I'm choosing a new one, which will be free (no copay for well visits) instead of $100 or more if I paid out of pocket.

So all in all I feel like I'm slowly getting myself back in gear. Being on this site more regularly definitely helps!

I just cancelled my weight watchers subscription. I was a member a year or two ago and let my subscription lapse. At the end of July, I let myself get totally sucked into a "Free 7 day trial" and figured I'd get back on, make sure my points and info were still the same, and cancel within the 7 days. Of course I didn't, and was charged $65 for a 3 month subscription that ends 10/29, and $16.95/month thereafter. Even though I go on the site, I still don't get much out of it that I can't do on my own, so I just went in and cancelled. Unfortunately, no refund, so I still have use of the site until the end of October, but at least I won't be charged after that. Bummer...

Good News: 2nd straight day without buying food at work. In fact, yesterday was a no-spend day, except for a car maintenance repair that needed to happen (and was huge).

I started going back through my budget to the beginning of the year and realized that I've become really sloppy and undisciplined.

The first: I've been spending an average of $65/month eating at work! It's so easy to get breakfast and/or lunch there. I can use my id and have it deducted directly from my paycheck, so I don't feel it as much as when I pay cash. And I'm NOT a morning person,so getting out of bed 15 minutes earlier to eat at home is not happening.

I need to put a stop to it, so today I grabbed something quick at home and brought lunch. The key is having stuff I can just grab in a hurry. So my goal is to not eat at work unless I have to go to lunch with someone for a meeting, which only happens once or twice a month...

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. Thanks to Lux for the kick in the pants to get back here. No good excuse for why I've been away, other than the usual "nothing new / been busy". I've definitely been more lax about my finances while I was away. I haven't updated the budget, I've been spending on totally frivolous things, and I need to get my act back together. So while I can't swear that I'll be back daily like I should be, I'll try to use my blog to get myself back on track...

Our accountant tells us that it looks like we should be getting some money back for our taxes this year. I'll believe it when I see it, because we always owe. (In fact, if it's true, we may have him take a look at the last 2 years to make sure I didn't miss anything). So that's the good news. The bad news is that we're not actually going to see the money. Because DH has his own company, he needs to pay estimated and other taxes each quarter, so we're going to apply the money toward that. Oh well, at least it's not coming out of our pocket!

I finished March numbers today. I'm really pleased with how we're doing on things like groceries ($515 actual, $500 budget), gas ($160 actual, $200 budget). Unfortunately, we haven't been scaling back as much as we should. We ate out more than we should have (a bunch of fast food / pizza / chinese trips that could have been avoided), spent too much on clothing and other categories that we could have managed better, etc. On the one hand we're not feeling particularly deprived and we're still getting by, on the other hand, I'd prefer things to be not quite so tight.

I'm happy to see Flash back on the site. One of my favorite bloggers ever! I was inspired by one of her recent posts about "using it up" day. I know there are more than a few things in my refrigerator and pantry that are approaching their expiration dates, so I'm planning on spending some time tomorrow tracking down what they are and planning accordingly.

I went through all of my receipts since the beginning of the year and matched them up against rebate forms that I need to get out. So far I'm up to $44.50, but $6 of it is for wine that I got my dad, and they want the labels soaked off the back of the bottle (are you kidding me?). I'll ask him to take care of that for me and pick them up next time I see him. I also need to print out new rebate forms and plan my shopping accordingly.

Kids are off from school this week. MIL is doing Easter so I don't need to worry about that. I'm still busy at work, but hopefully I can use the week to catch up a bit.

Usually I'm either swamped at work or swamped at home, but not both at the same time. And usually I'm swamped or hubby's swamped, but not both at the same time. Since the beginning of November, when I took on a new job at work, and hubby prepared to leave his job and kick off his own company, we both have been swamped at work and at home. Not a great thing.

Thankfully, it's all good and challenging and relaxing, but it's tough keeping it all together. We've gotten a little lax about the spending over the past month (buying food at work, eating out more, buying things not necessarily on impulse but also without shopping around). I need to buckle down, but also need some time to do it.

Anyhow, I know there are about half a dozen rebates that I've saved receipts for. I need to print out and mail in the forms. I also have to get to the post office to mail another book from Paperback Swap. com. Hubby's travelling for work this week, and I have a few work at home days, so I'm hoping I'll be able to make a significant dent into the to-do list.

Other than that, nothing much going on with the financial front. Haven't heard back from the Accountant yet, hopefully later this week.

I've been posting here for years. And usually, around Feb 10th, I post about how I'm collecting all of my tax stuff and getting ready to do them then...nothing. Then I'll post again around April 10th absolutely flipping out because my taxes aren't done and it's so close to the deadline. (I usually owe a ton of money, too, so that never helps)!

Well not this year. One of the benefits of DH starting his own company is that we now have an accountant do our taxes. Yes, I know this is costing us money, but the peace of mind is priceless. Especially with me so swamped at work.

No doubt, we'll still owe, because he worked through the end of the year, as did I. But if I have to owe anyway, I may as well not have the stress.

So I'll report back about how we made out. In the meantime, what to do with all the time I'm NOT spending on taxes? Hmmm....

Keeping It Frugal in Texas is keeping me honest! Yes, things are going pretty well so far, but I would definitely be better off if I posted more regularly, so here I am, second night in a row!

My thought for the day: I rented (for free) 2 dvds from my local library, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Dark Knight. Now Roger Rabbit's been around since I was a kid, but Dark Knight is a really recent release - it'd be $5 at Blockbuster! I'm going to have to take advantage of this some more. We had friends over Saturday night (super cheap - baked ziti and home made bread, thank you very much), and we started talking about all of the classic movies I've never seen (Godfather, Stripes, Close Encounters). We must have come up with 100 movies. So my goal is to watch one a week until I get caught up.

Speaking of getting caught up, I need to check my rebate sites - a bunch of new ones are out there that I'd like to take advantage of, but it requires some planning. That'll be my goal for the next day or two.

Yes I've been a big slacker about posting. Ends up Facebook hasn't been taking up so much time, I've just been absolutely swamped at work!

I did manage to tally up my February spending. The good news: I'm meeting my goals for the "every month spending". Most of my utility bills are fixed (I pay the same each month). My grocery bill was $510.59 (budget $500), Eating out was a mere $12.58, and gas for the car was $160.14 (budget $200).

Two areas where I got hit hard: hubby's life insurance. During the transition from his old job to an individual policy, we ended up having to pay a few months at once (plus a rate hike). Also, we bought DD a cell phone for Christmas, so the cost of the phone and extra line hit on the credit card this month. Finally, we had a pretty big "entertainment" bill - DD's birthday party (~$250), company for dinner, and a dinner out in support of our PTO.

So overall, we spent a bit more than last month, but are still doing fine.

Other miscellaneous financial stuff: I sold 2 books on half.com, got a few rebates back, still staying on top of those types of things.

Yipes, haven't blogged for a week, though I have been staying caught up reading everyone else's blogs. Not much has been going on...I guess when you're trying to be really tight with money, you don't spend so much so there's not much to write about.

I paid my bills on the 15th. Looking forward to the end of the month, it looks like I'll be a little worse than last month, but still ok. We had a few unanticipated expenses that cropped up, including a big hit for DH's life insurance, as we were a few months behind on the premium due to his job change (the premiums are no longer coming out of his check). Ouch.

And I'll admit it, the real culprit is Facebook. I finally signed up last week and it's more addictive than I thought it would be. It's pretty fun catching up with some old friends, but I don't know what will come of it. I do know I can't spend hours a day on it! lol.

I'm also keeping tabs on my dad, from a distance. He's 84 and seems like he's doing a bit worse over the last few months. I'm an hour away, so it's hard. I need to get down to see him a little more frequently.

So a lot going on, but not much financial.

Wow, did my grocery budget take a hit yesterday. It was already high from the previous week, when we had guests for dinner. On Friday, I was all set with a pretty modest list taking advantage of great sales prices. But it went to pot (shout out to Michael Phelps!) ON Saturday.

First, DD asked if she could go with me. She's in that pre-teen stage where she doesn't know if she wants to hang out with me or be all independent, so if she asks to spend time together, I usually try to accomodate. We had to wait for hubby to come home before we went out. I'm not quite sure why, but it was a bit hectic and I left without my list. I remembered the big sale things I needed, and the other staples on the list, but I ended up with about $25 worth of stuff that I didn't anticipate buying. Then to add salt to the wounds, I actually had coupons for about half of the extras I bought, but could only find about 1/2 of them in my envelopes while we were waiting to check out. Ugh...

I need to update my grocery log...I have to enter the last 2 weeks and I don't want to get too far behind because it's so tedious. I also have 2 rebates to fill out and send in. I should be able to get to that tonight or tomorrow.

Now that I'm paying more attention to my receipts than usual, I've noticed something: many times at the bottom of the receipt, a company will list a 1-800 number and request that you complete a survey about your experience. Often, they'll throw in a freebie. Here are the 3 recent ones I got:

Children's Place - 10% off my next purchase
Burger King - Free Whopper
Dunkin Donuts - Free small coffee.

Now, I'm sure many of you are thinking "what are you doing going to Burger King/Dunkin Donuts in the first place?!", but that's not the point. If you ARE there, you may as well get something extra out of it. The surveys are painless and usually take only a few minutes.

We completed our first month on 1 fixed income and ended up only $47.05 short! This is tremendous, because we gave up about 60% of our fixed income when DH left his job to start up his own company. We cut down on our savings, cut out some unnecessary expenses and basically just watched things a little more closely, but at the same time, didn't really feel like we were sacrificing that much. So we're happy about that. We have a few big hits coming up in February which will make it a little worse, but as long as we're within about $500 or so, we can cover that with hubby's earnings.

Here are some highlights:
Groceries - came in at $493.53 when the budget is $500.
Gas for the car - $169.58 with a $200 budget. This was betweem $400 and $500 last summer when we were driving every day and gas prices were through the roof.
We were definitely helped out by some refunds, rebates and other credits that came in as well.

Over the next few days I'll project February and see where the rough patches will be. We spent some money yesterday for guests we had over for dinner. I'm breaking out the stuff that was for dinner into the "Entertainment" category so I don't blow my grocery budget day 1.

I have a few more receipts to enter into my flexible spending account. I finally got my crown taken care of last week. While I was there, he saw that another filling cracked, taking 1/2 the tooth with it, so I'll need a crown (no root canal) on that tooth. I set up an appointment in a few weeks.

I also have one more rebate to fill out.

That's about it. Other than that we'ree just hanging out at home getting ready for the SuperBowl.