I accomplished most of what I wanted to yesterday. Most importantly, I booked DD's birthday party, and wrote out the invitations. I still need to get addresses for 3 of them, which I hope to do today, so they should go out in the mail on Friday. Also, I wrote out 15 Christmas cards. I just need to add the kids' picture and stamp them, then they can go in the pile for a December 1 mailing. I went to the bank, did 2.5 loads of laundry, bought the gifts I wanted, and called the doctors. All in all, a good productive day.

Hubby took the day off today, and will be picking the kids up from school. That will give me some time to run a few errands after work:
1. Go to the liquor store (didn't do that yesterday).
2. Buy ornaments for friends (instead of exchanging gifts, we exchange ornaments with 5 other couples. Much cheaper and just as meaningful). The first 2 couples are coming over this weekend, so I really need to get this done.
3. Call dentist to reschedule the kids' appointment.
4. 2 more loads of laundry.
5. Straighten up the house and begin putting up some of the indoor decorations.

DD never got her haircut yesterday, and it won't get done today. Maybe this weekend? That's the great thing about long, straight hair...when it's in a ponytail or hairband, it really doesn't matter if it's a little long!

What a lucky break I had yesterday. I needed to schedule my eye doctor appointment, and wasn't sure when it would get done, because mine and hubby's schedules are so nuts over the next few weeks. It turns out they had a cancellation last night and I was able to get in. We have a great vision plan through hubby's company, so it cost me $10 copay for the exam, and $93 for the glasses (normally $180 frames, plus transition lenses). I'll be reimbursed through my FSA for the entire amount, and we should still have enough leftover for hubby to get his new glasses in a few weeks.

We're spending Thanksgiving at DH's cousin's house, about 15 minutes away. All we have to bring is the wine. I'm working on Friday, which is kind of a drag, but so many other people are off that it will be a quiet day anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

and I'm in a good place. It will be a busy 6-7 weeks, but they'll be great. I have a good grip on what I need to do to get through the holidays, and now it's just a matter of taking each day at a time and getting done what needs to be done. One of the local radio stations started playing 24 hours of Christmas music from November 15, which is a bit early for my taste, but I'm starting to get into it.

Today I spent money on my usual tolls and parking, $.85 for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch , and sneakers for the kids, which I was able to pay with gift cards, so no cash out of pocket. Tomorrow is my at home day, and I need to get a lot done:
1. 3 or 4 loads of laundry.
2. Book the place for DD's birthday party.
3. Deposit a check at the bank.
4. Go to Target to buy 1 BD and 1 Christmas gift.
5. Call 3 doctors to set up appointments
6. Go to liquor store to buy wine for T'giving dinner
7. Take DD for a haircut

If I can get all or most of that done, I'll be in great shape. I also need to straighten up the house a bit more, and take down the remaining Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations. Our plan is to start our indoor decorating later this week (Wed/Fri), then do the outdoor decorating after the leaves have all fallen (probably the weekend of 12/3). At some point, I need to write out my Christmas cards, but I need to have a strategy for that. I send out about 50, so if I could do 10 or so a night, I'll make my goal of getting them all mailed on 12/1.

So I'm in a good place. We'll see what the rest of the week brings.

Wow, I usually don't go five days without posting...

It turns out that I didn't have to work this Saturday - it's been postponed 2 weeks. The timing was great, because I really needed the weekend to regroup...work has been so crazy lately I haven't had time to think! Friday night I picked up the kids' Christmas pictures from JCPenneys (cute), then we had dinner home and relaxed. On Saturday, I was up early, the cleaning lady came, I went to BJs, we had DD's last soccer game, then I went to dad's to do his shopping and for dinner. Phew. Today, I got to sleep late, then we just hung out all day. It was gorgeous! We did some yardwork, I cooked a great dinner, and we relaxed. Now I'm geared up for the week.

Tomorrow, I need to buy sneakers for both of the kids, and DD desperately needs a haircut. I also have to do some minor grocery shopping. I hope that's it...

I received my $100 Office Max gift cards for opening up a California 529 plan. Happy to see them. Also happy to hear StressLess received her $25 gas card from PNC. I opened my account right after she did, so I'm hoping to get that this week.

I could probably copy and paste yesterday's entry in here...nothing much new today. I had some spending today: $1.40/tolls (how repetitive is this?!), $14.xx for much needed groceries, and $30 to my niece for babysitting (meeting took longer than I thought). Gas, too. At least prices are coming down...I also bought a Christmas gift for hubby at Target.com, but I already had my discounted gift cards in hand, so no money out of pocket.

Christmas planning is going really well...I'm planning on writing out my Christmas cards this weekend during down time at work, I can pick up the kids' pictures anytime, so I'll be ready to mail them out Dec. 1st. As for gifts, I've either bought the gifts or have $$ set aside for almost everyone. The only exception is DS. His birthday was last week, so that used up a lot of my good ideas. I need to come up with a few more. (DD's bday is in December, but she always has a list a mile long, so thinking of things for her is never an issue!). Most of what I have left I can do online, with just a few stores to visit...hoping to get it done within the next week or two.

My sister will be working in the city tomorrow, so we may meet for lunch. Always a good time, though a tad pricey. Aside from my usual tolls and parking, that should be my only spending. That's it for now...

I think things are going ok. It doesn't seem like I'm spending a ton, but the money is coming out of my checking account. I think the Keep the Change program is one big culprit. I've been using my debit card whenever possible in order to take full advantage of the 100% match. Usually I'd charge the stuff and pay off the credit card the following month. So the good news is that I'm saving my change, getting the match, and paying everything now so hopefully it won't be as big a hit next month. The bad news is that I'm kind of getting socked twice this month, because I have the things in October that I charged and are showing up now, and I have the stuff I'm using my debit card for, which I'm also paying now. Ouch...

Work has been crazy, and will continue to be so for the next two weeks or so. I need to work this Saturday, which is rare, and will end up putting an extra $150 or so in my next check (always welcome). Today was a typical spend day...$1.40 tolls/$20 parking as usual, $3.75 lunch () and $7.00 ice cream (took the kids to Dairy Queen). Also bought a book of stamps ($7.20). Like most days...not terrible, but not great either.

Tomorrow should be a little more of the same. I need to go to work (just tolls, no parking). Tomorrow night, I need to go to a meeting for volunteers at Church, so my niece is coming to babysit. That will probably cost me $20 or so...

...and it was great! Too quick, but great. It's so nice to have some time with just hubby, and know that the kids are fine at grandma's. We ate great meals, drank great wine, the weather was beautiful. Can't ask for more. (well, maybe another day...).

Today was a pretty cheap day ($.75 spent for breakfast at work, +$1.40 in tolls). That's been it so far. My goal when I'm done here tonight is to do another burst of online Christmas shopping. I have discount gift cards in hand for Amazon, Circuit City, Best Buy, and Target, along with a list of stuff to get for people. So I'm going to go on those sites and cross-check prices to come up with the best combinations. That should allow me to knock a few more off my list. I'm really happy to say that I don't have a lot left. Slow and steady...

Two good pieces of money news today: I received the $100 from DirectTv for my Tivo. I paid $100 at Circuit City about 8 weeks ago, and got the full amount back in a rebate today. The great thing is that I already paid for it, so this seems like found money (which will help offset the cost of my trip). Cool. Also, I'm on my 3rd month of my DirectTv $15 discount that I asked for. Starting next month it drops to $10 for another 3 months. Not bad just for asking.

I need to work in the city tomorrow, which is a bummer. I'm usually home on Tuesdays, which allows me to get a lot of stuff done, but work will be really crazy through the end of the month, so into the city I go. At some point, I need to get to the store to pick up milk and bread, hopefully not much more. I haven't tallied gas and groceries recently, but I'm sure I'm running pretty well under budget. Later in the week I'll reconcile.

It's also time for me to get a few auto insurance quotes. Of course, I love Liberty Mutual and think it absolutely rocks, and every year I go through this effort and find that they're the lowest by far, but I still feel like I need to go through the motion just in case. Hopefully later in the week I'll get to that...

Flight leaves at 11:45 tomorrow! Today has been fairly hectic getting ready for the trip. I worked, picked DS and DD up from school, made dinner, did 3 loads of laundry, watered plants, fed the fish, blah blah blah. I spent about $4 for lunch at work, and about $7 for birthday cards (I really hate cards). That's it. Now, I'm just taking a few minutes out before I resume packing. I was hoping to get to bed early tonight, but that doesn' t look like it's happening.

I'll report back about my trip on Monday. Have a great weekend...

I'm tired...I can barely remember what I did today, and it's only 8:00! I went to Toys R Us to replace a gift for DS that didn't work, so no money out-of-pocket there (amazing!). Then, I went to CVS to pick up a prescription (and thank you cards, and discounted Halloween candy, as if we needed more!). The total was about $23, $10 of which will be reimbursed through our FSA. Then I went to vote. It was about 11:00 and there was no line. I wonder if it's just low turnout, or if it was just a good time to go? Who knows, either way I was in and out right away. DD had CCD after school, then I treated the kids to McDonalds for dinner. $11.02 for the three of us. I used my debit card in order to get the Keep the Change match, but I still felt weird doing it. I can't believe that fast food drive throughs accept credit and debit cards. Anyway, this keep the change thing has been working ok. I'm probably up to about $11-12 so far. It's great for the first 3 months, because BOA matches 100% of the change. After that, they only match 5%, but at least I'm still saving my change. I also kind of like the fact that BOA deposits their match once a year. I think it would be great if, all of a sudden next year, I get a deposit for $50 or so. I think that's better than an extra $4 each month.

I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight. I have two more loads of laundry to do before my trip out to CA Thursday morning, so I'll get one started tonight. Not sure what's on tap for tomorrow. I could go to the grocery store to pick up a few things on sale, but I may bag it, because I don't absolutely need anything and would love to go a week without shopping. Other than my tolls for work, it could be a no-spend day...

My company provides some really good benefits. They match 100% 401(k) contributions up to 6%, and they pay for the first $100 of our public transportation commuting expenses (a pretty big deal when you need to commute to NYC...it gets expensive). Anyway, they just sent around a memo today that, beginning Jan. 1, we can begin deducting our parking expenses PRETAX! up to $205/month. This is huge for me. Because of my schedule, I drive about 45-60 minutes, then take the PATH (subway) into the city. My PATH expenses run $3/day, so I'm always under the $100 limit. But parking costs me $20/day! So I will pretty easily hit $200/month. To have this come out pretax will save me $60-70/month. Great deal...Made my day.

I had a good rest of the day. After work, I picked up the kids, hung out at the park after school for a few minutes, then took the kids to JCPenney for their Christmas pix. Turned out SOOO much better than I expected. Every year we take them somewhere, and it's usually either really crowded, or if we go to a small place, really expensive. They ran the best shop ever! They only had 1 appointment scheduled per time slot, the girl taking the pictures was amazing, and we were in and out of there in 20 minutes. For some reason they didn't charge me the sitting fee (perhaps because I ordered so many pictures?), and I had discounted gift cards for the entire amount. It went so well that I took the kids to dinner afterward.

When we got home, we did homework and watched a new Spongebob DVD that DS got for his birthday. I love Spongebob...I know it's a kid's show, but I absolutely love it! I'm home tomorrow...don't know exactly what I have going on. DS's swimming lessons are over. DD needs a haircut, but I'm not sure we'll get there after school because she has CCD. Maybe a no spend day? Let's hope so...

By the way, DD's teacher has a pretty good program going on. The kids track their reading each day. If the read 10-15 minutes per day, 4 days per week, for an entire month, Pizza Hut will give them a coupon for a free personal pan pizza (it's called their Book-It program, and it runs each month, October-March). Seems like a great deal to me...so if any of you are near a pizza hut, check it out...

Today's spending:
Tolls - $1.40
Parking - $20
Breakfast - $1.25
Groceries - $9.19
Dinner out - $26.03

and had a great time. DS's party Friday afternoon went well. It was a "make your own chocolate" place (exactly what we needed a few days after Halloween!) and the kids seemed to have a good time. But the kids were pretty wiped by the time we were done, so instead of going out for dinner, we ended up ordering pizza. On Saturday I shopped for DS's birthday presents, then DD had her soccer game. Last night we grilled shrimp and steak for our anniversary dinner and hung out with the kids. We had a great time...DD made us two pipe-cleaner people attached to a pipe cleaner heart. It was absolutely precious, and is now hanging on a wall in our house. A great reminder that the best gifts really do cost nothing!

Today, hubby is off to church (the rest of us are a bit under the weather from all of the running around). Then, we're going to MIL's for dinner. Hubby is leaving for his business trip tomorrow, and I'm off to California on Thursday, so I'm hoping for a quiet few days in the interim.

I'm excited about the annual toy drive at school. We have a bunch of old toys that are in great shape and that the kids have outgrown. I tried to get them into the idea of giving them away, but they pulled the old "but we still play with that!" routine, so I got them to agree to a few things. When they go to bed this week, I'm going to do the rest! We're scheduled to have their Christmas pictures taken tomorrow (don't know yet what they're going to wear!). DD still needs her haircut. Hopefully that's it.


Spending this weekend: Groceries ~$60 total

WooHoo...Love Fridays!

So far today, spent $9.65 at Dunkin Donuts for a dozen donuts for DS's class snack for his birthday, and a sandwhich and coffee for me , and $1.40 in tolls on the good ole' Garden State Parkway. I bought $75 in discounted Toys R Us gift cards in preparation for Christmas/birthdays (and to take advantage of a promotion they have going on, where if you spend $75, they'll give you a $10 gift card for your next visit). So I'll get my list together and get over there.

I'm picking MIL up at 2:30 so she can come to DS's birthday party today. We need to stop and get the cake and 2 bottles of soda. I also need to pick up a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and margarine, because I never stopped at the store this week. Then, after the party, we'll go out to dinner.

On the Christmas front, I'm doing pretty well. I have either bought, or have the gift cards/cash set aside to buy presents for most on my list. We still need to figure out what to get MIL, as well as friends of ours who are always tough to buy for. I haven't started shopping for DS yet (I'm still focused on his birthday), but DD is almost done and I only have 1 or 2 more things for hubby that aren't included in what I've set aside. Not bad, and for some reason, I'm not at all stressed. I set up an appointment at JCPenney's for Monday to have the kids' Christmas pictures taken, and I already have discounted JCP gift cards to pay for that. I'm in a good place...

Things are going well so far. After Tuesday's brutal $$ day, thanks to the car maintenance, Wednesday was a lot better. In fact, I spent my usual $1.40 for tolls, and $12 (from my allowance) for drinks after the PTO meeting. I tried to sign DD and DS up for swimming lessons, but all of the classes that fit my schedule were filled. Could it be fate? It will save me a few hundred dollars...

Today's expenses should be minimal and budgeted. I spent my $1.40 for tolls and $20 for parking (I hate when I work in the city!). My old boss is taking me to lunch. (That makes 2 days in a row that I will not spend money to eat at work - a miracle!). I should run to the grocery store to pick up a few items, but that will definitely be under $20.

When I get home from work tonight, I need to put together the goody bags for DS's party. Tomorrow, I'm bringing snack into his class, and I need to pick up the cake and drinks for the party. Then, MIL is taking us out to dinner. That's it for now...

...and goodbye October. Reading everyone's journals, it seems like I'm not alone in messing up a bit in October. But today starts a new month...

Unfortunately, we needed to do maintenance on one of our cars. It has 34,000 miles, so we brought it in for an oil change (cheap) and 30,000 mile service (expensive). The total was about $650, but I know from past experience that if I put off the maintenance, I wind up with bigger problems later...Ouch. We'll be able to cover it, but it will mean something else that loses out.

We have a few big things in November. Our anniversary is Saturday (11 years!). I'm piggybacking on hubby's business trip, so we're going to wine country (CA) for 4 days and 3 nights. I'm using frequent flyer miles, his airfare is paid, we have gift certificates for most of the cost of the hotel, so basically our out-of-pocket will consist of 1/2 the rental car (we're going with friends), a bit of the hotel, meals, and wine. Fortunately, I've enough saved in my fun money account to pick up most of this, plus I'll use whatever $$ we get from our parents. Whatever that doesn't cover, we'll consider it our gift to ourselves.

Then, DS's birthday (5) is Sunday. His party is Friday, and I have about half the $$ set aside for that already. I'll be using a combination of Toys R Us coupons and discounted gift cards (already in hand - no out-of-pocket) for his gifts.

We have three other birthday presents I need to get throughout the month, but I already have discounted gift certificates to use when I buy the gifts. We just committed to go to hubby's cousin's for Thanksgiving, so that should save me $$ and effort, and we have friends coming over Thanksgiving weekend, but I'm going to plan the menu early and try to do something frugal (but yummy) - possibly some kind of pasta, homemade bread, something like that. I refuse to spend a lot on this dinner!

So that's November. Hubby will be travelling both immediately before and immediately after our trip to CA, so he'll be gone for a week and a half. That should help keep groceries and gas down (where did I hear that before? Oh, I know - October!)

November 1 spending:
Dollar store (stuff for goody bags) - $23
Car maintenance - $650
Gas - $25 (approx - hubby filled up. I'll provide updated totals later)
DS Haircut - $15

On tap for tomorrow: work, DD haircut?, light grocery shopping?, PTO meeting (I know I'm forgetting something...)

Not quite sure how things went downhill this month...it started off so well! I ended up having to fill one car over the weekend (long trip to my dad's) and I'll need to fill the other one on my way home from work today (still Oct. 31!). So that means my gas budget will be wayyyyy over. *sigh*. On the plus side, when I went shopping for Dad, I was able to pick up a few things I needed, so this week I should only need to get milk and bread.

Last night, we went to dinner with a friend of hubby's who was in town on business. On the one hand, we only see this guy once a year or so, so I can't feel too bad about going out with him. On the other hand, between dinner and the babysitter, I'm not sure it was worth it. To make me feel better, we're calling it our "anniversary" dinner (anniversary is Saturday, so we won't go out then). Just a beat way to finish up the month...

This week I'm swamped! We'll go trick-or-treating tonight, tomorrow I'm watching my friend's kids and DD has CCD, Wednesday is an after-school activity, Thursday I work late, Friday is DS's birthday party, Saturday is our anniversary and Sunday is DS's birthday. Whew! Somewhere in there, I also need to drop one of the cars for an oil change, get the kids haircuts (never got around to it this weekend), get the stuff for goody bags, buy his birthday present for us, ... Double whew. One day at a time...it's all you can do.

Wow, I don't ususally go three days without posting...I guess that just shows how little I've got going on right now. I'm pretty much just waiting for the end of the month to wind down.

I went grocery shopping last night and spent ~$107, brought down to $91 with coupons, and $50 of that was for my dad, so I'll get reimbursed this weekend when I see him. $41 for me is not bad, though I do need to stop at the fruit/veggie store this afternoon. Still I've only spent $292.64 so far this month (budget $350), so even with another $20 or so, I'll make it !

On the flip side, I went over on my gas budget. I was hoping to keep it under $300, and I'm already at $353.50, with 3 more days to go until the end of the month. My guess is that one of the cars will need to be filled up at some point during the weekend, bringing the total closer to $400 . I don't know that there's much I can do about this, but I'll look at it and make whatever small changes I can.

We've got a lot going on this weekend. I desperately need to take the kids for haircuts today after school (and make appointments for their Christmas pictures). Tomorrow, DD has soccer, then they're going to Grandma's again for a sleepover. Hubby and I are going to our friend's house for dinner (and we only need to bring a bottle of wine, which we already have) so it should be a spend-free day. Sunday morning, I've got to go to my dad's house to finish his shopping, then we're going to a Halloween Party during the day. Tonight I'm making the mushroom-chorizo soup for hubby, then tomorrow I'm making a butternut squash soup for the party.

I also have to get a grip on benefits for next year. We get them through hubby, and the medical, dental, and eye care combined are *only* going up $6/month next year. I say only because I guess I expected it to be a lot more. I can't complain, though, because his benefits are great. Also, I have to tally up my dependent care and health care expenses for his FSAs. I think I can reduce the health care to about $50/month (from $75). The dependent care should drop from $5000 to $4500. The nice thing is that his company picks up 5% of our childcare costs, so they give us the full $4500, but only take out $4275 from his check.

One last item, and it was a surprise and a bummer: My town raised my property taxes by $750/year because of the room we finished over our garage. They assessed it at about $15,000. We owe $450 extra on November 1st, then $150 extra on Feb 1 and May 1. Big bummer. I was counting on using that money for some birthday/Christmas gifts. That brings our total property tax bill to just under $8500, and that's before the reassessment that they did for the whole town. (Haven't been notified about the hit we'll take on that). Blech

Today was a good money day...

First, we got the security deposit back. It was $750! Our contract stated that they would keep $25 as a "processing" fee, so I was only expecting $725, but we ended up getting the entire amount back. Wahoo. Then, I referred StressLess to Pioneer Telephone (Thanks!) and will get a $10 bonus after she signs up. Finally, I sold a children's Halloween book at half.com for a total of $2.78. The book was only $.99, with media mail shipping reimbursement of $1.94. But I was able to ship it priority mail for only $1.52, so I did that, and the customer should receive the book before Halloween. I'm hoping that this results in goodwill with her, so the next time she's online looking for children's books, she'll choose me over the other dozens and dozens listed. That's my problem with half.com...there are soooo many copies of the same book out there, all for the same or similar prices. How does a buyer choose? Do people find that they have a lot of repeat customers?

Spending today: $55 for gas. Ugh! It was only $2.59/gallon (the cheapest in months) but I was on fumes. Also, I took DS to lunch today for $15, but that comes out of my allowance. Tomorrow, the kids need haircuts desperately.

As expected, I did have a really quiet weekend. The kids went to Grandma's for a sleepover, and I made a great meal Saturday night. Then Sunday we pretty much hung around the house all day and watched football. (Plus another great meal, with leftovers!).

The only money I spent today was parking ($20), and food at work ($2.90). We were supposed to have soccer practice tonight from 5:30-7 but considering that 1) It gets dark at 6:15, 2) It's about 40 degrees out, 3) a Noreaster is supposed to hit any minute, 4) there are only two weeks left...you get the idea...we're blowing it off. It's primarily due to the weather and the fact that I don't need my kids getting sick.

I decided to make soup tonight for dinner. Hubby has a dinner meeting, so I figured this would be a good time to try out a new recipe. It's a mushroom-chorizo soup. If it's good I can have it tonight, if it's not good I have leftovers from yesterday. lol. If it's a keeper recipe, I'll figure out what the cost is per serving. I like that Retire@50's been doing this with some of her recipes, and I think it might help to get a better grip on my grocery bill. I think I mentioned a few entries back that I want to have a soup/salad night at least once each week (maybe twice). It can be so much cheaper than meat and I think it's such comfort food. I could eat soup every night in the fall/winter.

No other big money news today. I called the realtor regarding our security deposit from the house we rented in the beginning of the month ($725). She said it was mailed out on Friday, so I should have it tomorrow or Wednesday. This will go straight to our Christmas budget. That's it for now...

Edited to add: The soup is definitely a keeper! If you like mushrooms and chorizo sausage, that is. I'll tally up how much it is per serving and try it out on hubby later this week!

After weeks of putting it off, I finally hit BJs, to the tune of $134 ($20 to reimbursed by FSA)! I know I was talking about $50 last week, but as always it came in pretty high. I don't feel bad, though, for two reasons: First, I stocked up on things I needed, which should last me for a while, and 2) If I had to spend this much, better to do it this month while I'm pretty well within my budget of $350 for the month. (I need to tally the most recent figures).

Today, I did go to PNC bank. I opened up a completely free checking account with $25, walked out with a $10 Best Buy card, and a $25 BP card is on the way in 4-6 weeks. I'm not sure how long the account needs to stay open, but I'll probably keep it for at least 6 months...that seems to be the going time. I needed to go to that bank for my dad anyway, so it wasn't even out of my way. I thought $35 for 15 minutes work was not bad. (Plus, I'm hoping they do the same thing Chase did - offer a bonus in a few months to tack on a savings account!). I didn't make it to the other bank, or call Affinity. I'll shoot to take care of that this week.

Today is rainy and really cold. The kids played soccer in 45 degree weather with a steady mist. We were FREEZING! I hope they don't get sick! Looking forward to a quiet rest of the weekend...

So where am I? I think I'm in pretty good shape.

Thursday I did meet Sis for lunch ($30), along with parking for work ($20). Today, I unexpectedly had to go into the city for work, which means another $20 parking, and $1 spent already for a bagel. I'll shoot for a light lunch. After work, I'll hit BJs...I can't put it off any longer. Meanwhile, hubby is leaving work early to pick up the kids from school and take them to a birthday party (actually, only DD is invited, and hubby will need to entertain DS).

I received my $100 Sharebuilder bonus ($50 each for the 2 kids). That was a great deal. I have a number of accounts I need to open this weekend, including one at Oritani (an offer for $50-$60), and the offer at PNC (thanks StressLess) for $35 in gift cards. Additionally, I have an offer for another account at AffinityBank that I need to open online.

DD has soccer tomorrow (weather permitting - it's supposed to rain pretty hard), then the kids are going to Grandma's for a sleepover. Hubby and I talked about going out to dinner but decided to pass, make a great dinner at home, and relax. Much needed. I have nothing going on for Sunday either, so I'm looking forward to the weekend...

I have such a head cold, it's incredible! I'm going to try to be in bed at 10:00 tonight and get a good night sleep.

Today was a low-spend day. I spent $1.63 for breakfast, and picked up invites for DS's birthday party ($7.65). Not too bad. I also used my debit card so I could get the match from BOA's Save Your Change promotion. I've been using it anytime something comes to an odd amount. In addition to the match, I won't be seeing it on a credit card bill next month, which will be nice. So far I'm up to about $1.50 in matched change. Not much yet, but it will add up quickly. Plus, that's just the match. They've also transferred $1.50 from my checking account, so I'm actually up $3, without really feeling it.

Tomorrow will be a bit expensive. I'm meeting sister for lunch in the city (always a fun time, but usually expensive). Fortunately we don't do it too often. That should be it. I'm also psyched that I haven't gone to the grocery store all week, and probably won't, though I still need to do that BJs run, probably Friday. That's about it. I need to go to bed before my head explodes!

On Saturday, I had to go to the cell phone place to pick up a phone charger. Hubby and I have the same phone, so we have two, but he needed to take one on his trip and we couldn't find the other ANYWHERE! I need to have use of my phone, between commuting to work, picking up the kids, etc., so I bought one for $30!! I was so mad that my disorganization was costing me this much money that I turned the house upside down until I found the old one. I brought the new one back today, unopened, and got my money back. Phew!

Other spending today: gas ($50!), picture day at school ($36 - ugh) and $20 for babysitting tonight (my niece is coming over so I can go to back-to-school night). Wow, a more expensive day than I thought it would be. Hopefully I can make up for it over the next few days.

So far so good in October...To date, I've spent $170.43 on gas (budget $300) and $117.64 on groceries (budget $350). I'm a little concerned about the gas total, because I'll need to fill up a few times between now and the end of the month, so the $300 may be tight. I should be ok with groceries. It's kind of deceiving, because we were on vacation the first week of the month, and didn't spend much partly because we ate out more than usual, and hubby is away this week, which means I eat whatever's in the house. But if I come in under $350, I'll take it no matter what the reasons!

Low spend day today. I spent about $2 for breakfast at work (no lunch), and I need to go to CVS to pick up a prescription that will be reimbursed. At some point, I also need to pickup invitations for DS's birthday party. Other than that, no spending...

I know I'm losing my mind, but this makes it official! I wrote an entry on Friday and lost it. Oh well, the long and short of it was that I got caught coming home from work on a flooded highway, was late picking the kids up from school and was in a total panic. But I'm over myself now.

Financially, I had a good few days. Friday was no spend...I managed to avoid having breakfast and lunch at work, which is pretty good for me. Saturday, I picked up some dry cleaning and $3.90 at the grocery store (+.10 match from BOA for using my debit card!). Hubby paid for pizza when my brother and his family came over, so I'll need to reimburse him. Today has not only been no-spend, I haven't set foot outside the house. Hubby left early this morning for his trip, so it's just me and the kids for now. My sister is coming to stay the night so she can take the kids to school (I go to work early on Mondays).

I'm rereading 2 of my frugal books...Living on a Shoestring and PennyPinching. I've read them both several times, but not for a while. I need to go through them again and pull out any useful tips I haven't done already. That's about it for today...

The weather has been horrible. It has been raining, damp, and cold since Saturday, with no end for another couple of days. Blah. We had to turn on the heat in the house, because the highs have not been getting much out of the 50s, but we have been keeping the thermostat at 65. One thing I need to do is program the thermostats, to keep it at 65 when we're home, and drop it to 60 when we're away. Every little bit helps...

I have had relatively low-spend days. Wednesday included tolls ($1.40), lunch ($3.90), and $25 to the town's rec program for a class for DD. Today should be tolls ($1.40), parking ($20), and lunch.

We've got a pretty quiet week to look forward to. Nothing Friday, then soccer and a birthday party Saturday (gift already paid for), then on Sunday, hubby leaves for a business trip for the week. I do need to go to BJs at some point to pick up a few things, but I'm hoping to keep the trip under $50. We'll see how it goes...

I feel like I got a lot accomplished today. DS had a swimming lesson this morning, we booked his birthday party, I dropped clothes at the dry cleaner and I went to Chase to deposit $25 to my savings account to get above the minimum required to avoid the $4 fee (which I got hit with last month ). The heating guy came over to do the annual check and everything's fine.

I also went to Bank of America and signed up for their "Keep the Change" program. I mentioned this in one of the forum threads. If you sign up for the program and use your debit card, they round up to the next dollar amount and deduct that from your checking account, and sweep the difference to your savings account. For the first 3 months, they'll match what they sweep 100%. After that, they match 5%, up to $250/year. I'm not a big debit card user, but I figured I might as well sign up (it's free), and whatever I can get from it is gravy. So when I went to the produce store and spent $7.67, I used the debit card. Total made so far: $.33.

So it's b een a good, relatively low spend day. Tomorrow's my first day back at work since I left for vacation on September 30. I really don't want to go. My vacation was a success in that it seems like forever since I've been at the office, yet that makes it all the tougher to go back. Oh well...

For some reason, my ShopRite has been running triple coupons up to $.99 a few times over the last month. My philosophy on coupons is that if there is even the slightest potential that I might use an item, I clip the coupn and keep it in my coupon envelope. Then once a week I go through the envelope and throw out any that have expired. I usually throw out most, but when triple coupons rolls around, they're gold. I ended up with an $89.84 grocery bill that was reduced to just under $59.64, got a ton of stuff for free or near free (toothbrushes, deoderant) and got a bunch of other stuff I normally buy for so much less than normal (yogurt, waffles). I was so excited when I got home...it really made my day. I also picked up the dry cleaning ($35) and went to Church, and enjoyed the rest of the day at home.

I'm on a pretty good roll today, too. I'm off for Columbus day, along with DS. I called a company and got a $32 credit for some stuff I ordered that was never delivered (rotten customer service). I'm actually happy because we didn't need the stuff anyway; I was sucked in by DS and DD. I also caught up on all my paperwork, filing, bill paying, etc. In addition to the credit, I received a $4.91 deposit from half.com, and a $5 credit from Citibank for going all-electronic. (I just signed up for this from Bank of America, too, and should be receiving $5 by the middle of December). I'm going to keep better track of my mail over the next month or two and try to go electronic as much as possible. Less clutter for me, and if I can get $5 to make my life simpler, why not?

I haven't turned on the heat yet, despite the house going down as low as 64. (I'm a baby and usually like it 72!). But I put all the flannel sheets and blankets on the bed, and everyone's flannel pjs are washed and ready to go, along with bathrobes and slippers. (HINT HINT for the kids and hubby!). It hasn't been so bad at all. I want to see how long I can hold out, because the highs for the next few days are only supposed to be around 60, and it will be raining and damp, which always makes it feel colder. When I finally do give in, I think I'll set the thermostat at 65 and see how it goes.

So October is looking a lot better for me than the last few months. Two weeks in, grocery ($118) and gas (79.18) totals are under budget and the month is flying by. Looking forward to a great rest of the day...

Man, did I have a great vacation. It was exactly what the doctor (would have) ordered! We went to the Jersey Shore and had the most incredible weather I have ever seen the first week of October! Highs were 75-80, lows in the low 60s, no rain until Thursday, and the ocean was 71 degrees! We managed to get to the beach, and the kids got in the water, every single day! We were also close to a park that we went to every day but one. And because it was "off-season", there was nobody there!!! We looked up and down the beach, and aside from a few surfers, and some regulars, we were it! I thought we might have a few overnight guests during the course of the week, but that didn't pan out, which was fine, because it meant more downtime for the four of us. My sister and her boyfriend were staying at another house close by, so we did manage to get together with them twice for dinner. All in all an amazing, relaxing, fun family vacation.

And the best part, I came back today in an absolute downpour. It's supposed to rain all weekend and be cold next week, so I definitely picked the right week to go!

As expected, I did pretty well financially down there. We ate out more than I anticipated. I don't have the exact totals yet, but I think dining out/takeout was about $200. Groceries for the week totalled about $50. And we bought gas (and of course, NJ tolls!). Not too bad for a week away.

We finished off the vacation mode tonight by going to a burger place for dinner, and picking up the kids' Halloween costumes. I saw the lead story when you first get on this site about the amount people spend on Halloween and I believe it; the store was packed!

Tomorrow, hubby is taking the kids to his mom's for the day, so I have a day completely to myself! I need to get some groceries for the week, as well as to pick up dry cleaning, but that should be it. I'm off on Monday for Columbus Day, and Tuesday is my normal at home day, so I plan on tackling some things on my to-do list.

Another thing that has put me in a good mood: I realized that I have a couple of sources of "income" I forgot about: 1) NJ is direct-depositing a $300 property tax rebate in my account (small potatoes compared to the $7700+ I pay in prop. tax each year, but I'll take it!), 2) We put down a $750 security deposit on the house we rented last week. (We did this in June so I completely forgot about it). They take a $25 fee out for their troubles, but I should get the rest back in a few weeks. 3) Finally, we got a TIVO recorder at Circuit City last month (using my discounted gift cards) for $100. Direct TV was giving away a $100 rebate if you bought it. I finally got the forms from them right before I went on vacation, so I'll be filling them out this weekend, and hopefully getting the rebate in 4-6 weeks. So that adds up to about $1100 that I forgot about/already paid, etc., and will be treated like found money! It will go a long way toward our 4th quarter expenses, including both kids' birthdays, Christmas, car insurance, etc.

Hoping this good feeling lasts...

If someone asked me what I thought of our financial life on a scale of 1-10, I'd say it's a 7-8. I feel like we strike a good balance between living for today and saving for tomorrow, but we could be doing better. My problem is that the 7-8 is an average...when I'm blowing the grocery budget I feel like I'm more of a 5 or 6, and some days, like today, I feel like a 10.

After the markets close on the last day of each month, I review our net worth, not including home equity. I get the current balances for all of our assets, including mutual funds, college savings, 401(k)s, etc., and subtract all of our debt, including mortgage, car loans, and heloc. Not only is it a positive number, it grew substantially last month, thanks to a combination of our 401(k) contributions, decent investment returns, and debt reduction from our monthly payments and the extra $$ we threw at our heloc.

I guess my point is that the other 29 days of the month, I lose perspective. The day-to-day stuff is right in my face all the time, so it's easy to think and (sometimes) get discouraged about it. My 401(k) contributions come straight out of my paycheck, I don't follow my investments on an everyday basis, etc. so even though great things are happening there, it's not on my radar screen. I need to remember this during the 3rd week of October when I've had the heat on for two weeks in a row and I'm already over my grocery budget, and remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, I'm doing ok and just need to keep at it.

Boy, that put me in a good frame of mind. On to October! Hubby came home from his trip today and met us at the park. He also treated us to Chinese for dinner, as I was busy packing for our trip. This seemed like a really long week. I'm totally beat and need to get a good night sleep.

After I finished the last couple of bills today, I was able to transfer about $325 more to the HELOC, making the total for the month $995. Not quite as much as I had hoped, though I won't beat myself up over it. I'm looking forward to a quiet week...

I didn't make it to the end of the month! I probably could have squeaked by, but I hate driving around with less than 1/4 tank. So $42 later, I ended up at about $340 for the month. Sadly, this is still pretty good for me. We'll see how next month goes.

I'm limping to the end of the month, but looking forward to a good October. It should get off to a good start. We're leaving Saturday for the Jersey Shore and are going for one week (Oct 1-8). We're renting a house, and it should be a pretty quiet week - beach, park, bike riding, fishing. No (expensive) boardwalks, mini golf, etc. We're also bringing a lot of food from home, so that should keep the food bill down. And once we're there, we're there, so other than filling our tank for the trip, we shouldn't use a lot of gas. And if we're not home, that means one week without heat, ac, water, much electricity, etc. I'll keep a careful tally and update when I get back.

Other than that, not much new. Hubby gets home from his trip tomorrow, then it's laundry and packing for our trip...

I rarely post twice in a day, but I hate to leave on the sour note of my earlier post. I'm still bummed about the electric bill, but I also made good progress tonight. I literally filed months of paperwork. My desk area was sooo cluttered and overwhelmed, that it makes things seem worse than they are. Now I'm all organized and feel so much better. While I was going through everything, I also found a few papers that I was supposed to fill out (oops), and some other things I had been looking for.

While surfing tonight, I signed up for California's 529 plan for my kids. They are running a promotion where they are giving away a $50 Office Max gift card, if you open an account with $100. You can qualify for 2 bonuses, so I opened up one account for each of the kids. I don't really see a downside, other than the massive amount of paperwork I get for all these deals (hence the filing kick).

So that's it. I'm off to bed and feeling much better about things...