That's how much I spent in daycare last year.

OUCH!

Could you imagine if I could deposit that money into a savings account, with what's left of "decent" interest ... and add the $540 a month I am currently paying.

With compounded interest, from now until she's 5 ... that would be a pretty penny.

Thank goodness I LOVE my little girl and her daycare, b/c it hurts a little to think of how much money it is.

Today was a zero dollar day ... WOOT. I have one or two more days of planned spending this month, but I am aiming for zero dollars for most of this coming week.

UGH.

Today was SUPPOSED to be a $0 spend day. I was pretty excited about it.

Then, when I get in the car, my oil light came on. My friend is fixing my brakes, and doing an oil change next week or so, but I have an oil leak and knew I couldn't make it that long. So, I spent $5 on oil.

$5 blew my $0 day.

Then, driving away from the auto store ... my check engine light came on. UGH! Good thing Matt is looking at the car next weekend ... so he can tell me what else needs to be fixed.

I am hoping and praying that we can get things fixed for cheap. Since my friend is doing the work on it ... I won't have to pay the insane amount to get it fixed at the shop. I am also able to buy the parts from a coworkers husband who owns an auto part store. I think I am going to buy used tires this year, probably with my tax refund. I need two new tires for sure, but I think buying 4 used, should get me through for awhile. I don't want to buy a new car anytime soon ... but I don't want to invest in new tires if the car is going to need a lot of money to keep it running.

I figured after the cost of parts at cost ... and then buying Matt and his wife a $25 giftcard for him working on my car, and probably something for their baby due in May, I'm still coming in a LOT cheaper than taking it to an auto shop, especially since I don't have a "trusted" mechanic. I could just see the blood in their eyes when a single mom who barely knows how to check her oil walks into the shop ... thank goodness I have great friends.

I have been participating in a No Buy Jan ... and haven't been doing really well. I am going to post it here to actually keep track of it better. Maybe it will help me be better with a No Buy Feb.

1/1 - $0
1/2 - $37 (birthday!)
1/3 - $66
1/4 - $0!
1/5 - $30 ( completely unplanned)
1/6 - $0
1/7 - $23
1/8 - 183 - WOW! Putting a total on it hurt. But, this is money for clothes (for me, I actually bought something for myself!), groceries for the month, and toilitries. I don't think it's too bad honestly)
1/9 - $32 My fourth stop at Target for things I had forgotten, (I really need to get better at this list taking thing) and McDs for dinner b/c I wasn't feeling well.
1/10 - $0!
1/11 - $0!
1/12 - $30 for drinks at Applebee's (Completely needed) and $10 in my mom's tank for being so awesome and letting me drive her car
1/13 - $10 at Taco Bell for the fam ...
1/14 - $0!
1/15 - $60 at walmart, including $20 for gas. Some of it was also groceries. $5 at McD's for breakfast
1/16 - $40 at Publix for dinner ingredients b/c nothing sounded good or was defrosted.
1/17 - $0!
1/18 - $40 on disneyshopping. I finally caved, but for things Juliette really needed.
1/19 - $40 out for drinks and food after work. I also got $50 worth of free drinks since our server likes me. I told him I can't come back for at least a month ... I've blown a TON of money out this month.
1/20 - $0!
1/21 - $0
1/22 - $20 take out food for sister's birthday
1/23 - $15 gas. $30 groceries.

I think this will really help me keep better track on what and when I spend my money.

Not much went on this weekend, the best thing there was no spending!

Of course, it was DEAD at work. SIGH. I really hope things start to pick up soon. I don't remember it being this slow last year, but ... it's really honestly hard to remember that long ago.

Supposedly we'll pick up soon ... that's what they always say. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I am just trying to hold out, as long as I make the min. ... I guess I am doing a lot better than most. And, at least I have a job, that's always a perk.

I have to buy pullups, chicken breast and gas tomorrow ... such odd things. Then, I am going to cross my fingers and hold my breath that we get more zero spend days. Those are always my favorites.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

First, let me start out by stating that I do most of my grocery shopping alone. My daughter feels left out by this, but I usually do it either after getting off of work, or right after dropping her off at school if I have the day off.

Yesterday I brought her to the last store with me. This is not the normal plan, and I wasn't prepared for it.

We're walking through the aisles ... and Julie spots Dora ice cream. "Mom, I've got to have that!" "Umm, why?!" "B/c it's Dora. Dora ice cream." "Ok, and can you tell me what kind of ice cream it is." Blank stare. Yeah, didn't think so.

On to the cereal aisle ... Princess Cereal. "Mom, look ... princess rella cereal!" "Yeah, it's frosted flakes. You can have a box of this that's the same thing, but cheaper. Cheaper is always good." "But mom, it's Princess RELLA cereal."

I don't know how women bring their children to the grocery store with them. I literally wanted to pull my hair out.

Tonight, as we were watching the news, they showed a commercial for Healthy Choice frozen meals "Mom, I want Santa Clause to bring me that!" Yeah, I think I'm creating a monster.

I planned out my budget, and this is what I need to make a day. This is for living on my OWN, well, with the kid of course, but no roomies.

I can totally do this! Right now, I have a goal of $50 ... which I often hit. The "extra" goes into a savings account. $70 won't leave as much "savings", but there will still be some.

So, even though I am not moving until April or May, I am starting my goal of $70 a day now.

Today was $74, so the "extra" $4 went into my challenge money. I will update that total on Thursday or Friday, when I stop at the credit union to deposit my paycheck.

So, I've been thinking about getting Juliette a really "nice" doll. Possibly for her half birthday ... something that will get a lot of love and attention put towards it.

I want something soft, but that's able to withstand a three year old's love. I want something that she can carry around, change it's clothes and dote upon it.

I don't want anything that can pee, poop, burp or do anything gross that I will probably have to clean up.

I was looking at the Bitty Baby by American Girl. They run about $50, and I've heard some amazing things about them.

But, then I noticed it was really quite in here ... where's Juliette. She's sitting behind me, playing with a doll I bought her for around $15, taking her clothes off and putting them back on. Giving this baby all the love she could ever need. It doesn't eat, or have any sort of bodily functions. For some reason, I am looking for the "perfect" doll, and yep, we already have it.

I think this counts as $50 savings!

And, no, I don't mean on my personal budget.

Working in the food service industry, and talking to people ... it amazes me how they are able to survive. I've been worried for awhile, thinking about a possible job change, b/c when the economy starts to go, food industry is the first hit. Sorry, but if people don't have money to pay their rent, more and likely they aren't going to come out to dinner. And, if they do ... well, they probably aren't going to be as generous as last month when it was crazy holiday spending.

Yesterday was pretty slow ... really slow. We're in the middle of playoff season ... and last nights game was huge. Today, we started off slow, but I ended up making the "usual" for my Sunday shift. Most of my tips were pretty good, but talking to people ... they are really hurting right now.

I'm hoping the economy can make a turn around, and soon. It's starting to hurt my budget.

HAHA! That's what I heard coming from the back seat of the car on the way home tonight. Because of our busy day on her birthday, yesterday I gave her a Princess coloring thing (it's really big, and I got it for 1/2off at walmart clearance) and Happy Feet (bought for $10 at Target on 12/26) I didn't wrap them b/c she refused to unwrap my mom's gift for her (6 pairs of dress up shoes) ... and she was thrilled with these new presents.

So, on the way home today, she politely informed me that she can't get anymore presents b/c her birthday is DONE! Fine with me ... I'll keep the stickers and Mickey book I picked up at the $1 Spot on 12/26 for a rainy day, child. I'm trying to raise her frugal, maybe it's working.

Today was payday! WOOT! The first payday of the new year. And, it was a grandtotal of $103! This is double what I usually get ... they pay us 8 hours on Christmas, even though we are closed.

I also stopped at the bank today and cashed in my change. I only go inside th credit union once a month or so, to cash in my change, and one of the ladies had passed away. I was so shocked. She was there last month and took care of me. She loved that I rubberband my ones. They had a memorial on her counter, and I am still in shock that she's gone.

$119.27 - challenge
103.00 - paycheck
+031.00 - change jar total
--------
$253.27 - Challenge total 1/3/07

I have had one no spend day this month so far, and have written one check, but I am not going to add that to the challenge until I deposit the money next week at the credit union. Just writing it down for my reference.

I can't believe it's been three years ... but it's true. My little girl will be three today!

At work, everyone was asking me when her birthday party was. I looked at them all and laughed ... she's not having one. "What, you're not letting her have a birthday party?!?!!?!" She's three, she's never had a "real" party ... and I probably won't start with one until she's in school.

Apprently, I'm not the "norm" in this thought. Don't get me wrong, we celebrate her birthday. We tried to have a first birthday, but she was sick that week, and I was sick the week after. We just had neighborhood people over for cake and goodies. Then, last year, I had my sister invite all the kids over for cake, and they were upset that they hadn't brought her a gift. I thought that was cute, but told them all it didn't really matter. My mom got her some ride on Dora jeep thing ... yeah, I was so thrilled (my daughter has pratically ran me over with that thing) and I got her a box of dress up clothes (they were supposed to be her Santa gift that got caught in the Colorado blizzard that year). All in all, after buying the cake from Publix for around $30 (which is absurd!) I spent, maybe $60 on her birthday. And you know what, she was thrilled.

This year, is a little different. Yesterday was my grandmother's birthday, and it turns out today is my only day off work for the week, so we are going to go and visit her. So, I bought a cake at Publix ($30, but they are amazing cakes), a few new things (it was hard to choose, she got sooooo much stuff at Christmas) and we're going to go visit Grandma. I'd like to take her out to dinner ... but since we're going with family, it depends on them. And you know what, even *gasp!* without the party, she'll have a fantastic birthday.

There's a small chance the shuttle will go off today as well, when it was postponed last time, NASA said the next possible day to launch was 1/2. My grandmother lives about 20miles away from Kennedy Space Center, so I'm crossing my fingers that the shuttle goes off. I think that will make the best birthday memory.