Ok, I am going to put myself out on a line. Starting today (Saturday) no spending this week (other than regualr bills, gas ... and possibly Juliette's BIG Santa present, but more on that later)

I don't know if I can do this. I am a spender. I LOVE to spend money, and it's money I can't afford to spend.

About Juliette's present. All she wants is a Nintendo DS for Christmas. I was looking at buying one used, however my mom might give me hers to give to Juliette. If my mom does decide to give Juliette the DS, all I have to buy is a new case for it. It runs about $25 on ebay. SO, instead of paying $130 for a brand new DS, I could potentially be getting one for $25 (plus shipping). YAY! I just need to have my mom make up her mind, because if she decides to not do this ... I need to find the child her present, and yesterday at that.

So far, I have prepped a weeks worth of breakfast stuff for me, and made two weeks worth of meals. I think I can do this!

I've been working on cutting back the budget, trying to make sure that I am going to be able to really start throwing money at debt next year. I think it's been working.

I've done really well on the shopping part. I don't want to go out to stores and lug Juliette with me, so even though I never planned it this way, having her home instead of in daycare is saving me a lot of money.

With Juliette home, even grocery shopping is easier. I skip as many aisles as possible trying to cut time, and the lure of characters on certain products. The savings on both ends of this (money and my tummy!) of just trying to shop the perimeters has been great.

My parents new house is about 20 minutes away. As much as I would like to go out there and visit, we've been going out nice a week. This gives Juliette and I a lot of fun momma and me time. It gives my parents a much needed chance to get settled and try to unpack. They still have a ton of stuff here that I am *patiently* waiting for them to move. Since I'm not stopping off at Target, which is across town, just to browse, I am saving a lot of money there as well. While I take Juliette out a few times a week for playgroup dates, I try to keep within a certain distance of our home. This helps. Not to mention, it only cost $20 to fill my tank, as opposed to the $40 it was costing last month. Right now, I am keeping the same amount of gas budget I had a couple of months ago, because I know the price of gas is going to go back up soon. The difference *more than half since I am driving less* is going into a savings account, and that feels amazing.

We've been cooking at home, almost exclusively. Juliette won't eat everything I cook, but she tries. There is always leftovers, so I can have that as lunch. I've been trying new recipes, and that is always fun. I've been trying to get more creative .. and Juliette isn't loosing any weight, so chances are she might actually start eating vegetables, if I keep this up.

Our biggest change is canceling cable. GASP. I never thought I would be able to do that. I don't know why, and I can honestly say I don't miss it. We're watching a lot of PBS if we're looking for something new. Of course, that's the channel that comes in the worst on our little rabbit ears. It works though, and you can't ask for much else. Juliette only asked once this week to watch "her shows" (Sprout and Noggin) and I told her we didn't get that anymore. So she asked if I would put them "on demand". Sad, when an almost four year old nows how to use the tv probably better than my grandmother. LOL.

I'll probably be giving up internet, at least for a couple of months to really save some money. I don't think I could give it up forever, I would miss it too much, honestly. Since I am not currently doing anything completely productive on here (like finding a way to make money), I'd like to take the $50 or so a month and throw that at debt. I think it's money well spent. I can use the internet at my parents house if I need to, I could go to the library, but that doesn't always work out well with my little hellion.

I'm hoping to get the majority of my debt out of the way by next year. It would be simply amazing to start of 2010 in a better financial state.

I joined a playgroup a couple of weeks after I switched to working mostly nights at my job, and pulling Juliette out of daycare. I just wanted to make sure that she got some decent kid interaction, and well, I could use a couple of "mom" friends. Seriously.

I checked the calendar last night, and well, I just can't afford these people. LOL. During the summer, there were LOTS of plans for dates at parks and the like. It's Florida, it's not cold here. This month, there is ONE date at the park, as we missed it because Juliette was sick. How lame is that? However, they have plans to go to the zoo twice and the aquarium as well. We did the aquarium earlier in the summer, and I spent close to $70 for the day. Sorry, I just can't afford to go to those sorts of things. I was looking for a group of ladies who wanted to take their kids to the park a couple of days a week to let them blow of steam ... I just can't justify going to the zoo/aquarium every week. And I'm not going to lie, I don't understand how they can keep going to the zoo/aquarium/Bush Gardens every couple of weeks, it would begin to drive me BATTY!

Sigh ... we'll stay on for a bit longer, hopefully I'm not the only mom who feels this way. They did introduce me to Barnes and Nobles on Monday mornings, so something good has come out of this. Which, by the way, is free. They had this listed ONCE .. Juliette LOVED it. We went, the lady read three books which Juliette loved and we stayed and read like five more together. She keeps asking when we are going to go back to the bookstore, so I think I am going to make it a regular activity, at least until Christmas gets closer, and then, as much as I love the kid, you can't get me close to that mall during the Christmas season. Those people are nuts.

This is the very basic of budgets for this month. I am trying something new, so I am starting small.

Here is my plan.

Since I am a server, I have added up all of my bills for the month, and then divided them by four. That is the amount of money I need to make per week. Each night after work, I am dividing the tips I make into envelopes for the day. I am keeping these in a box until the following Thursday. Thursday is payday. On Thursday morning (or Wednesday night depending) I am going to sort all of the money that is currently in the envelopes. Hopefully, I will have more than enough to pay the bills.

I am going to take the money for the bills and put it directly into my checking account. I don't touch the money that is there, I have been very good about going cash only the past couple of weeks. I am debating on paying something like, my car payment, as soon as the money is in there so I am not tempted to spend it. I don't know if I need to do this, but it is something I am considering.

Then, the money that is left over at the end of the week, half is going to be deposisted into my savings account, the other half is going to be sent to a bill, for debt reduction. I think this is a good idea for me ... and again, this is my trial month, so we shall see.

I am also putting aside $5 bills. I read a very interesting article about a woman who didn't spend $5 bills, and the amount of money she saved. I am going to be striving to use the $5 to pay off debt this month.

My paychecks are usually around $70/week. This month, I am saving these for Christmas. In the coming months, I am going to be putting half towards savings and the other half towards getting out of debt.

I wonder if this makes sense to anyone else. It makes sense to me, which is hopefully enough.

Here's the numbers for this month:
Car Payment: $325 (my actual payment is $273, but I am hoping to be able to pay it off quicker)
Car Insurance: $100
Gas: 160
Groceries: $200
Entertainment: $100 (see October goals of cheap/free entertainment for Juliette)
Debt Paydown: $225. This is min. payments for all of my debts. Obviously, my plan is much much larger.
Christmas/Birthdays: $150 (with the holidays so close, I have to up this, and quickly. I also have Juliette's birthday and my parents anniversary the week after Christmas. My grandmother, sister and my cousin's birthdays are also in Jan.
Dining Out: $50. I doubt we hit this, but it's good to have the money in here, just in case.
Vacation: $200. (We're going to be at Disney for Halloween and again in November for the Christmas party. I want to have tickets for the Christmas party paid for, as well as gas, though I think I Should be able to pull the gas money out of my regular gas budget. I checked it tonight, and I live 1.7 miles away from work, woot!)

So, here it goes. I know things are going to pop up, but I think these numbers are managable.

Month totals: 1510
Weekly Totals: 377.50
Daily Totals: 75.50

So, per shift, I need to make $75.50. I know on average this is possible, so let's see if it works out in black and white.

October Income -
October 1st: $70



October Spending -
October 1st - $0

Last night's dinner was amazing. I've made it before, but this time it came out so much better. I fixed Juliette ravioli for dinner b/c it's her favorite thing and I knew there was no way in heck I was going to get her to eat the chicken. I knew she thought it would look "weird" and well, I wanted to enjoy my dinner.

Sure enough, as I sat down a few hours later with my plate of food, she looked at me and said
"What's that?"
"Chicken, potatoes, and squash."
"Oh, I don't think I like chicken."

Riiiiiight. No, you like chicken, you silly ridiculous picky eater. You eat chicken nuggets like they are going out of style. Then, she pointed at the squash.

"Ewww, what's that?"
"Don't say "Eeewww" about peoples food, it's rude. And it's squash. It's good. It's a vegetable."
"Oh, I don't eat vegetables."

I would worry about her lack of weight gain, if she ddn't eat more than I did!

With the extra chicken, I pulled as much off from the bones as I could, and probaby sometime later this week we'll have chicken noodle soup. The last time I made chicken noodle soup, I add celery too it and got "scolded" for it.

"But, moooom, I don't like green beans!"
"It's not green beans Juliette, it's celery."
"What's celery?"
"It's a vegetable, it's really yummy. Try it."
"Oh, I don't like vegetables. And, yuck, you put carrots in here too?! I don't like carrots."
"Don't say "Yuck" about people's food Juliette, it's rude."

Needless to say, if I waited for her to like something I've cooked ... well, I might have lost more than 25 pounds at this point!

My goal for this week is no more Starbucks. Seriously, I don't know if I can do this. I think one trip a week is more than enough, and well, I used that trip yesterday ... so ... no more Starbucks this week!

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.

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.

This year, I am really going to try to not buy anything I don't truely need. I don't know a better way to term this, but I am really going to try to cut back.

I know it's nearly impossible for us to go straight to "No eating out" so I am leaving it in the budget to have a little fun. I also LOVE to buy DVD's and such, especially since next year with no roomies, I won't have to throw money away by buying cable. YAY! However, it's a pure want to buy a dvd ... and thus shouldn't be done this year. I don't think this is something I can manage.

So, in my new budget for this year, I am going to allow myself some "fun" money. Not to mention, a few trips to Disney. This year, I didn't buy a season pass though ... gasp! My daughter has been asking to go to Disney since October, poor girl. What are we going to do?!?! I am thinking we might go to a few of the special parties, one in the spring, one for Halloween, and then for Christmas. I could never quit Disney cold turkey.

Also, I found out my friend is getting married in Vegas sometime this year. I have never been to Vegas as an adult ... so this is going to be in a "need" category.

Maybe I should label the categories "Need" "Want" and "Sanity". I think that might actually work.

I would REALLY love to get out of debt. This is something that is most definately in the foreseeable future, and I know I have to take a good long look at my expenses to be able to accomplish this. SO, I decided to slightly twist the $20 challenge a lot of you all do to fit my needs.

I know a lot of people are going to start on Jan 1st, but ... I am taking a leaping head start of a week and a half. From now until Jan 3rd, I'm booked. Completely booked. Since this is my last day off for about two weeks, I picked today to sit down wit myhandy dandy budget and work everything out.

My second savings account is where I am going to be keeping all of this money. It is at a local credit union, and it really won't be hard at all to make a weekly pit stop here to donate funds.

I know this money is supposed to "grow" but lets be honest, the amount I am being charged in interest on my debt will make any grown man cry. These debts need to be tackled as quickly as possible. So, my take on the challenge will be that every month, I will withdraw this money from said savings account and pay extra to my creditors. I am going to start throwing money at the so quickly there silly little heads will spend. YAY!

My rules of the challenge are:
$1 will be put into the challenge:
* I have a no spend day
* Whenever I write a check
* I bring my lunch to work
* When I hit 10,000 steps on the pedometer
* When I loose one pound.

Each week, when I go to the local credit union, a check will be written out to hit these totals. I will keep track of this in my little calendar I bring with me everywhere. I figure if I do this weekly, the money will seem less to me, than if I did it once a month.

Also included in the challenge are:
*all change collected over the course of a month
*any "extra" dollars. This might not make sense to some, but what I do with my tips is round them down to the nearest tenth, so any "extra" dollar is shoved into my change jar. This money adds up QUICK.
*any grocery savings. I know this is debated by some people as actual savings, but when I see what I "saved" after coupons and special deals, it's usually a bit of money. I am going to pay myelf back with it.
*any rebates
*all survery money and any mney from paid sites
*anything that I sell on ebay, or in garage sales or at the consinment shop
* and the BIG one ... all of my paychecks from Cracker Barrel are going to be funneled into this account. I pick up my check every Thursday (they don't have direct deposit) So every Thursday I will be making a nice hefty deposit into my credit union.

Can it be done?!!? I think so. I really hope it can be done. I need for it to happen. So, I am going to make it happen.

Sigh. I don't know what is going on with me, but I keep falling off the wagon. AND, I am really getting tired of it. I'm also exhausted from working so much, and don't know when I would be able to get a second job, but it would be great to have the extra income in my hands.

So, for the next two months, I am going to tighten my belt, BIG TIME! If I am still struggling, I am going to start looking for a second job.

I really plan on writing down all I spend. Really. I need to see the big picture.

Yesterday I made $82, but after going out for a going away party after work and splurging for doughnuts this morning, I only have $55 left. UGH! Then tonight, I made $97. So, I am going to deposit that into the bank account. It is hard, b/c so much of my money goes towards daycare, but her daycare is so amazing, I feel like it is worth it.

I also have a $67 portion of my electric bill to pay this week, ugh. I can't believe how expensive our electric bill is. We do everything to keep it low, including having the therm set at 78 degrees most of the time ... but it was still $200 this month. $200!!!! UGH!

I need to pay $150 to my friend for her furniture I am buying from her, I need to pay my storage shed, car payment and rent. AAAHHH!!!

I am giving myself a $25 allowance for the week, for things like fastfood when I am being lazy *which I shouldn't get anywyas* or when I forget to pick something up at the grocery store that I need. Anything left over is going to go into my savings account.

Also, right now, anything and everything I make is going to go into my checking account. Having all this cash is KILLING me! I spend and spend, b/c I have the cash there to do it. Not good! Hence the allowance. Since the atm is on my way to Julie's school, each day after work, depositing the money won't be a hard thing for me to do.

After this month, or should I say when October starts, I am going to deposit $50 a day into the account. Usually I make a lot more than that, but $50 is the number I have worked my budget out to. After that $50, I have an envelope system set up for everything "extra". If I make $80 one day, $30 will go into the envelope. I have all of my bills divded by week, and in order of "importance". When the money is in there, and the envelope is full, it will be sealed and marked off the list. Yes, I made a list of EVERYTHING! I also really inflated most of my bills, like saying $100 for electric. If our electric bill is every $300, I'll have a heart attack. However, I know next year I'll be on my own, so I might as well start budgeting now for a bigger electric bill.

Also, something that I have done is gradually increased my rent over the next couple of months. That way, by the time I am ready to move into my own apartment, I will be paying the rent already. Rent for the townhouse is $365, and rent for the apartment will be $690 ... For October, I have my rent as $400, the "extra" money is going to be put into my internet savings account, so it can grow.

I feel like I am trying to trick myself into saving, and maybe I am. But, maybe this is how I have to do it.

I'm exhausted and have to be at work really early tomorrow ... so I don't even know if this makes sense.

So since staying with my friend, who lives in the next town over ... I've had to double my gas budget. I've been putting $100 on the walmart giftcard every two weeks, as opposed to $50. OUCH! And I use just about all of it.

Thank goodness this arrangment is only temp. My other friend and I have found a house that we really like, and we're going to moving in about mid April. I don't think it's going to cut too much of my gas budget down though, since it's still a bit outside of town, and I have to drive all the way in to drop Julie off at daycare.

Plus, by the time we move, my company will also be moving locations. It's only another exit down the interstate, but I don't know exactly what it's going to do gas wise.

Oh well, there's only so much one can do, right?

This weekend, I haven't been able to find someone to watch Julie. My mom had heart cath surgery and isn't going to be able to watch her since she can't lift her. They don't if there's anything wrong with her, nothing's pulling up at all. The test came back normal. I emailed my brother to let him know what was going on, plus I told him to email her which he's really bad at. He hasn't gotten word if he'll infact be coming home in March or not.

I have a friend who is going to watch Julie on Sunday, so that's nice. I think I am going to have to call in to Cracker Barrel on Saturday and let them know about my mom and tell them I just can't come in. I've called everyone I know, and this weekend's just bad.

I need a day off anyways, so I might head over to Disney. I have some friends spending the weekend there, so I won't have to pay for parking ... and since I'm already spending so much in gas I probably won't even notice a difference.

I've run into a bit of a snag in the "save money department".

Since moving in with a friend, I don't feel "proper" cooking meals in her home. I don't know how to explain it, I just feel rude to start cooking for myself in her house. So, I've been eating out for breakfast and lunch, which is bad on two fronts ... loosing weight and saving money. I need to find a way to balance. I should just ask her if she minds if I cook, I'm sure she wouldn't. I think I am just going to buy some frozen lean cuisines or something, at least it's a start.

I've put the new job hunt on hold, since I', not sure if I want to leave at this time. I hate feeling like that.

My mom is in the hospital right now with chest pains, so it's driving me crazy that I can't be there with her. So far, the test have come back fine ... but they might keep her again tonight.

Have you ever known something wasn't right, but you couldn't bring yourself to see it. Well, if not, subscribe to my blog. You'll see big WARNING lights that I just look at amusingly. Hmm, what are thoughs?!?!

Well, I posted about a silly apartment fight that Michael and I were having. Today I ended it with him. Not completely over the fight, but over the fact that he didn't understand why Julie's daycare wasn't a negotiable thing.

I didn't post much on here when my daughter first started her old daycare. I stayed at home with her for the first 16 months of her life, working nights while my mom was with her. She is a HUGE momma's girl. When she started daycare, it literally broke my heart. Here's a good place to input that I didn't want to have any children until I was 30 and I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I never thought I would have to put her in a daycare, but when a great job was literally given to me ... I knew what I had to do.

Personally, I cried the first three days dropping her off. Starting a job, sobbing hysterically probably makes your new boss wonder about you. Running out the door at lunch to go and check on your napping babe ... and then coming back crying REALLY makes you look like a weirdo. Juliette didn't do well with the transistion either. It took a good two weeks before she was excited about going to school.

A month or so after, they added a new classroom and Julie went into it. She started coming home with weird bumps and bruises, but we didn't think much of it ... then she got her finger caught in the door. I wasn't able to leave work, so my mom went and got her. They told my mom that they thought she was going to need stiches. My dad's a fireman/paramedic, so he went with her. She didn't need stiches but had a nasty bloody nail for a few months after that. Again, we didn't think much about it.

Suddenly, my sweet darling toddler was becoming this horrid monster. Again, we didn't think anything of it b/c she was at that "age" where kids are supposed to be a little bit meaner. One day I dropped her off early and watched as two parents pulled their kids out of the class b/c of unexplained bruises. Suddenly the light shone. Then Julie was becoming incredibly aggressive, and I watched her push the only two other boys left in the class ... and the teacher didn't say anything.

I cried again the whole way to work.

I started looking that day for a better daycare ... and I found the one she goes to now. Sure, it's not perfect. In fact, I don't really like one of the owners ... but my child is HAPPY. She loves talking to you about school, sings songs she's learned there ... and has even made some of those pieces of artworks I'll look back on in 10 years and boo hoo like a baby.

And THAT my friend *while incredibly long* is why I am no longer moving in with some crazy man with WAY to much drama. A coworker asked why I would possibly date a man with children, and now I see why. I don't want to deal with an ex forever. Of course, I'll more than likely fall madly in love with a man with adorable little children of his own ... but ... well, let's hope he's more responsible then someone who fights over a daycare.

I ended it ... and really looked at my budget. Am I really going to be able to do this?!!??!?!!??!

YES!

Is it going to be tough?

OMG, yes.

Rent: $640 a month, a two bed, two bath apartment. Literally less than a mile from my parents *sigh, will I ever get away?*
Washer/dryer: $37 a month
School loans: $50 a month *BA, wanna help me out?!?! wink*
Daycare: $130/week. $520/month *WOW, that's almost as much as I'll pay in rent. Seeing the actual numbers is sickening!*
Car payment: $380/month
Insurance: $200 (I think it's actually 125, though I'm not sure. The extra money is going to go into a car fund, in case things like having my car broken into happens again)
Julie's health insurance: $15/month
Cell: $60 *I think it's about to be less than that*
Electric: $100
Gas: $100
Groceries: $300 *I think that's extreme*
Gas for the car: $100 *again, extreme*

Grand Total: $2112

Not including raises - I bring home $2486 a month. Now .. most of the things I over budgetted, since I have never really lived on my own. It leaves me $300 left over pretty much a month. Of course I'd LOVE to start putting that towards payin back all my debt *I added it up the other day, scary*, and saving. I'm due for a raise in March, but I didn't work that in. Of course this includes working at Cracker Barrel. I feel like I am going to be working two jobs FOREVER! Also, while it includes Cracker Barrel, I know it's not 100% of my tips .. it's only what I claim. I usually make about $100 more a week than I claim *shh, don't tell Mr. Tax man, he's going to hate me* but whatevers left over will be used greatly.

So ... wish me luck. A lot of luck.

Due to horrible planning, and my parents last minute notice that they were going out of town last week, I was short for daycare. Sigh

I hate this feeling.

So, I called up her father. Who is stating that he wants to be around ... still haven't seen him ... and asked to borrower $20. I can put gas in the car, get milk and pay daycare. I actually felt bad asking him to borrow money, which is just disgusting since he hasn't paid a dime for her in 19 months.

Sigh, at least he was more than happy to let me borrow the money.

To stop this from ever happening again, each payday, I am going to put $100 directly into my savings account. No matter what it takes. If I don't have the money for it, I honestly don't need it.

I'd also like to put $50 each serving weekend into savings. I don't know if this is possible, but I would really like it to happen.

Here's to stopping feeling sorry for myself, and getting back on track.

This weekend was the weekend of the wedding.

We had a wonderful time. I drank way to much. Isn't that always the case when you don't let yourself go out and have fun ... you over do it. I didn't want to overdue it.

The wedding included all of my friends who were friends with James and I ... before the baby. A lot of them had written me off after listening to his lies ... so that was really really interesting. They all asked about her, told me they hoped I was doing well ... and then all yelled at me for not having filed for child support.

REALLY!?!?! After two years of these people telling me I was wrong ... now they're on "my side". I literally almost died I was laughing so hard at this point. Apprently I'm supposed to be the one to show him the right way. LOL. Oh, how joyous it really did feel.

I also found out he was evicted from his apartment, and they're now living in the extended stay suites. This made me laugh a lot too.

I spent about $100 on everything for the wedding, not including her gift. I'm taking full advantage of the fact that I get a year to get them a gift. Love her and all ..but I'm broke. Plus, I'm going to help her make the scrapbook ... so ... I have to find the right time to spring that on her.

Other than that .. it's a tight week, with the money for the car and the wedding and everything ... it really hurts to be this broke. LOL. Payday is Thursday, and then in two weeks we get paid again. Then I'll get to go Christmas shopping for the little one.

So 50 degrees might not sound cold to most of you ... but whew! Was that hard to wake up to this morning! This weekend was in the high 80's and then wham ... it's chilly. I had to bust out Julie's coat ... and I noticed I don't have one. Great. I don't know when I'm going to be able to afford that.

I'm heading over to kmart b/c they have their pants on sale. 2 for $7 for Julie. I'll get her two full outfits for a little less than I'd pay for second hand clothes at the consignment shop. The clothes there are great, Children's Place, GAP ... but I'm more worried about quantity at this point over quality. I have to make it to Christmas when her great grandmother will load her up with clothes. LOL. She might not speak to me, but she loves the kid. Whatever, I'm just happy for the clothes.

My daughter went peepee twice in the past two days ... on the floor. She runs to me to tell me she needs to go ... starts tugging at her diaper ... I take it off, put her on the potty ... and she promptly stands back up and pees on the floor. I don't know what to do about that! LOL. She likes to carry her potty around behind her bumm around the house. It's pretty hillarious. In two months, a week and two days, she'll be two. I'm not ready for this!!!

A preliminary Christmas for Julie:
1. Trunk for dress up clothes.
2. Dress up boas, sunglasses and shoes. I think I'm going to hold off on actual clothes until she's older. More beaded necklaces!
3. A good doll, there's a particular one I have in mind that I wanted to get her last year but waited too long ... I think it will be perfect this year as well.
4. A couple of puzzles.
5. A couple of books.

I think for her birthday I am going to get her a trike. I am not to sure b/c my mom wants to get her a ride on car that I don't think Julie is old enough for yet ... but my mother won't listen to reason on this one. I'm also considering a good wooden cradle for her doll.

I honestly can't think of anything else she needs ... I am going to get her sippy cups for her stocking ... and who knows, we might be ready for big girl panties at Christmas as well. I'm going to talk to the teacher tonight about the need for pullups ... Julie's all about taking off her diaper and throwing it in the trash if she has a chance.

Yesterday I had to stop at the gas station, I was on fumes ... I only put $10 in the tank to hold me over until this weekend, when I can put money on my walmart gas card.

After work, I went to Publix. I spent $32.34, but that also included a $15 pack of diapers. Not to shabby.

The only thing else I need for the rest of the week are egg whites and soda. What an interesting combination. I'll probably pick up a pack of sunflower seeds from walmart, they are the only store around here that sells honey roasted sunflower seeds. We used the rest of the milk this morning ...

Last night, I came home and made dinner for Julie and I. I ended up having enough left over that I froze two meals for the following week.

I also need to buy some more gladware to freeze things in for work.

All in all, including the $15 for gas, I shouldn't spend more than $30 at walmart tonight. This week's daycare is back to being $130, plus I'd like to pay my dad $40-50 that I owe him. So, the goal for serving this weekend is $210. I don't know if that's possible ... since usually it's been everyother week that's busy lately.

We're about to go and pay the car payment. It's scary to know that after I make this payment ... I will have nothing left from payday. ACK. Oh well, I put $330 on the prepaid debit card, $305 for insurance and $15 for Julie's premium. It's not like I'm completely broke ...

right?!?!

Thursday are my least favorite day ... ugh .. just stressing and thinking about money. Wondering where it's going to go, how I am going to get it .. all that fun stuff.

But, today's not too bad. $692 ... It would be $130 more if I didn't have to pay for Julie's flippin insurance!

I put aside $325 to go onto the prepaid debit card ... $305 to my car insurance, and $15 to Julie's Florida KidCare premium, that way her health insurance can stop being almost $300 a month. I can handle $15 a month ... $300 hurts.

I put $300 aside to go tomorrow and pay my car payment.

I went out and got lunch today, so I have $60 left. I put some money into my change jar ... With the $60, and I am hoping to buy my groceries for the week, diapers and my gas for the week. The good news in that is that I usually have to wait for the weekend to be able to do this ... after working my second job.

My goal is to stop worrying over payday ... to just have the money there .. when I need it.

I acutally used the a/c in the car for about 20 minutes both yesterday and today ... I needed to use the phone and couldn't hear over the wind.

My lunch by the way ROCKED! I spent $10 ... I got shrimp, fries and chocolate cake. Another girl at work wanted to have some shrimp so she got a chicken philly cheesesteak. So ... I split that with her. I still have a few shrimp, a ton of fries, half the cheesesteak and half a piece of chocolate cake for tomorrow. I'm still STUFFED!

I'm loving chasing down change. It adds up so quickly ... it's everywhere ... for some reason people think it's acceptable to leave it as a tip ... but you know what ... I don't mind ... it all goes into a jar on my dresser.

I like to save it up to about $80, then turn it in. My plan is to put half into my "emergency fund" and then the other half into a special savings account I am going to open for myself. To buy myself things like the ipod I've been eyeing ... or saving up for the laptop I really really want.

I'm starting to think that feeling guilty about buying things for myself is a normal mother thing ... hence the reason I'm saving up change for things I want. It's almost hillarious to me ... to feel guilty when I'm the one who works two jobs ... lol.

I love my mischevious elf so much.

The break down of the change jar ... keep in mind that I've lived off quarters off this jar for the past three weeks or so ... seriously.

Dollars: $3 - found in the laundry.
Quarters: $5
Dimes: $6
Nickels: .80
Pennies: 1.20

I have a whole bumm load of pennies at work that I need to bring home. One of my coworkers was giving them away b/c she "doesn't like pennies". When my dear co worker moved to Atlanta she left me a whole cup full of pennies that she litterally had been keeping since she started working at the company. At Cracker Barrel, another server leaves me her change when people leave it on the table. She "doesn't like change". When I was working full time serving, I could easily cash in $80 a month in change ... I wasn't complaining.

A quick budget for the following week ... this will of course depend on how much money I make at work this weekend ... I'm hoping for a busy weekend ...

$65 for daycare, it's half off your fourth week there ... SWEET!
$40 for gas
$30 for groceries
$50 to open my savings account
$20 for a new purse

Plus, I have to buy Julie some clothes this weekend. I might wait and use part of the $50 from opening the account ... I can withdraw it literally as soon as I put it in the account if I want to. I'd like to pay $50-75 extra on my car this weekend ... and possibly pay my dad some more money back.

This is my third post for the day ... lol ... I think that's more than enough.

My brother is coming in from Cali today for five days. He was supposed to leave for Iraq on Monday, then they moved it to Friday (today), now it's moved back to Oct 16th. But, before going to Iraq, they've granted him a short leave with family. We haven't seen him since December, so I'm pretty exicited to see him. He's 20, my "baby" brother ... and I can't believe he's going to be in Iraq for the next 6 month. He's a corpsman, so he's going to be stationed inside a compound .. this is his first tour. Of course, the family is a nervous wreck with him going over there. My parents haven't told the extended family that he's going to be in town, we just found out for sure ourselves last night. Here's to hoping for good weather and a happy flight for my brother.

We're going out to dinner on Sunday, which will, thankfully, kill my budget. LOL. Oh well, it's for my brother. I'm supposed to be driving him and my sister out to her soccer game. His old soccer coach is coaching his daughter's team, and they're going to be playing against my sister's team. Will supposedly bought my sister a pink soccer ball (and something for the baby as well).

It will be very good to see him. It's going to be hard to put him on a plane knowing we might not see him again ... but I'm confident he'll do well in Iraq. This is what he signed up to do, and I'm thankful his last request to go with the MP's was turned down.

On a budget note ... I went ahead a got a prepaid debit card and paid my car insurance and car payment. It might not have been the "wisest" decision ... but it was the only one I had at the time. If you're thinking about getting a prepaid debit, look into it ... they have an amazing number of fees involved. The good thing, I'm going to be able to cancel it as soon as I open the account at the credit union.

I was going to go today to open it, but I slept in ... and got to work on time. My goal is to wake up early Tuesday to be able to go over there ... I almost forgot that Monday is Columbus Day ... and they're closed.

Goals for this weekend:
1. Take a box of clothes to consignment, depending on Jordyn's game time.
2. Vacuum and clean out car totally.
3. Clean Julie's carseat.
4. Make lunch and breakfast for work next week.
5. Pay storage shed on Saturday.
6. Take two boxes down to storage shed.
7. Complete clothing budget.
8. Get with Will and think of things to send him. Up the money in my gift budget for little bro.

Happy Friday everyone!