I am torn. I have some money that I have been using to pay my bills and such since I am currently unemployed ... and all I want to do is go out and buy things.

Luckily, it's not just "junk" I want to buy, but paint and the like.

However, I am not letting myself do it ... just yet. I have a part time interview on 2/9 (FINGERS CROSSED!) so I might celebrate and buy a gallon of paint.

Goals for the week:
1. No spend week
2. Eating all leftovers.
3. Finish goals for 2009 (and longer)
4. Rake front yard
5. Rake back yard (BLAH! This hasn't been done in YEARS!)
6. Clean out and clean car
7. Make meal plan for Feb.
8. Make list of home improvemnet projects.

So, new month, new goals. I'm up late with no kid at home ... I'm starting the month off a little early (I have to pay my car insurance, and that's all for September.) I just realized how pretty lame I am right now ... no kid, work at 9am ... and I'm up working on my budget and goals. LOL ... I could be out, I don't know, acting like a 24 year old. Sigh, next time, maybe.


So, here are my October goals:
1. Stick to envelope plan
2. Complete budget folder
3. Get debt repayment plan complete
4. Stick to frugal shopping ways.
5. Pay an extra $50 to carpayment
6. Find an extra $100 for debt repayment
7. Save $500
8. Go through Juliette's clothes
9. Sell Juliette's old clothes
10. Complete Christmas list
11. Inventory 3t clothes
12. Inventory 4t clothes
13. Find cheap/free entertainment for Juliette
14. Look into 1/2 day daycare
15. Start vacation plan
16. Finish resume
17. Keep applying for jobs
18. Organize Juliette's toys.
19. Oil change

I don't think these are "too hard" ... and it's something I should be able to accomplish pretty quickly. Just gotta get to work.

That's right - it's that time of year, to start thinking about NEXT year.

But first, have we really learned anything this year? I mean, seriously, what hve I gained?

Well, for starters, I'm a bit of a shopping addict. I'm the kind of person to buy something I probably shouldn't, agonize about it for a couple of days and then return to the store. I've also learned that if I spend too much time away from recreational shopping, I find myself at the grocery store. Every. Single. Day. NOT good! When you're spending $50 a day at the grocery store ... you probably have a serious problem. SO, this is something I have worked really hard on this year, and it's starting to get better. Well, a little bit.

So ... onto my goals.

1. Put aside $30 for Christmas, every month. This probably isn't a lot of money to most people, but this will cover our Christmas expenses. Gifts for everyone, a few new ornaments, and I'll need a wreath next year.

2. Stick to my budget Obviously, since I have a bit of a shopping problem, I really need to stick to my budget. This is something I am going to get serious about this year. There is no reason why I am not able to make it, other than complete laziness.

3. No impulse buys This is explainedin my opening paragraph. It's completely nutty to buy something at the store only to be racked with buyer's guiltfor the next three days. It's not worth it!

4. Grocery shopping with list and coupons I've gotte pretty good at doing once amonth shopping. Sometimes I have to make an additional run for things I've forgotten. I am trying to be better to combine these runs when I need bread/milk. This is something I am going to stick to next year. Also, I am going to try very hard to do all of my shopping on Wednesday only. I really think this can be done.

5. Potty train Juliette. She's 90% there. She's doing so well. I'm not however. I forget to remind her. I shouldn't have to remind her every 20 minutes, she's past that stage ... but I forget and she has accidents This year will be the year we get out of pullups. Those things are ridculous!

6. Pay half of my debt away Sometimes I think this is a lofty goal, but it isseriousy something I want to accomplish. It's something I truely think I can do if I stick to my guns and work with my plan that I have written up. I will NOT be in debt forever!

7. Save $1,000 into my EF My EF was pretty much depleted this year. My goal is to make up for that this year and save, save save! I want to have over $1,000 in this bad boy before years end!

8. Loose 40 pounds This is something I WILL accomplish. The best part of this goal will be buying new clothes afterwards!

9. Start college in August I don't care if it's one class. I will be enrolling in the local community college this August. I just need to start saving so I can afford to do this

10. Track where my money goes I hate being at the ed of the month and wondering where I spent all of my money at. This year, I am going to work harder at actually writing down where and when I spend my money.

Here's to a new great year!

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.

I meant to post about new goals. Since I am going to be living on my own, and therefore paying more out for rent and bills than I previously thought ... I have to change my goals for the year.

Goals:
1. Save $1000 cash.
2. Pay off half of credit card debt by 2008.
3. Pay off half of student loan debt by Spring 2008.
4. Be ready to go back to school by Fall 2008.

When I go back to school in the Fall, I want to go a bit more than half time. This will mean that I will no longer be able to work at Cracker Barrel, as I will have to meet for classes on the weekends, more than likely.

I am going to order a course catalog from the local community college just to get an idea of what online courses they offer. I think this is going to be the only way I can accomplish this goal right now, to work at my main job and then do college online. I should also call a counselor and see if I have to retake any of the classes I had orginally done.

Speaking of quitting Cracker Barrel, did you know they are one of a few places that offer servers health benfits and a 401k plan. The health benefits are a bit expensive, if I remember correctly ... however I did opt to get into the 401k plan last year, when I hit my one year mark over there. Back last April, I was working there full time ... so I didn't even think much about it. Now that I work two days a week, it's kind of amusing to see what goes into the 401k. About $20 a week. I have about $620 in there right now. HA! Nothing to retire on, but I'm proud to say I've saved SOMETHING over the past year.

I hate waiting on W2's. I got one from my current employer, and am now waiting on Cracker Barrel and Michael's to come in. It's always a waiting game.

I'll update my goals on the side bar in a bit. The girls are quitely playing a game *Jordyn playing and my daughter watching* after both of them eating huge bowls of grits. I'd never eaten them before, so I was a bit surprised at the texture.

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.

So far so good this year. I can't complain, yet.

Money has been decent. I've been spending to much, but this is something I plan on tackling this coming week. I am jumping into the $20 challenge. And it's going to go to ME!

One of the things for the challenge is I am going to set myself $20 a week to spend on "junk". This means if I want to pick up breakfast on the way to work, or spend .60 for a soda. Whatever is left over at the end of the week from this $20 will go into my challenge money. This will curb me from the soda or a breakfast sammich.

I'm also going to take half of whatever change is saved during the month and put this into my challenge money. One thing I've been doing is after serving over the weekend, I take whatever dollars are left over and put into my change jar. For instance this past weekend I made $209 serving. I seperated the $200 to spend on bills, and the nine went into the savings account.

For regualr savings, which I am working on having become my emergency fund, I have been putting aside $90 and some change into my savings account. I'm hoping to be able to put about $25-50 into this account each serving weekend, plus my weekly paychecks from Cracker Barrel. These checks are usually between $11-26 a week, so it's not exactly a huge amount of money but it will all add up eventually.

Also, since I am really tired of being this size, for each 1lb I loose I am going to put aside $1. This money will go into my challenge money, and my goal is for the end of the year to be able to blow a good portion on pretty new SMALL clothes for me.

Also, since I have filed for child support against my daughters WONDERFUL *eye roll here* father here .... whatever money he sends is going to go into a savings account for her. I am hoping to be able to start a 529 plan for her, depending on what he's ordered to pay. I don't know what I am going to be able to sign up for, I don't know how these plans work in other states but here I will be able to set aside anything from 2 years at a community all the way up to 4 years plus living expenses. I guess it depends on what he sends over. I would like to be able to set it up this year, but I have to sign up for it by the 31st of this month and I know everything won't be set up by then. I think I am going to put the 529 plan on my NEXT YEAR list. Yes, I've started a list of goals for next year *see side bar*. I think it's kinda funny to be saving up for college for my daughter and hoping to go back at the same time for myself, but I should qualify for a couple of grants so it's all good.

I think this is long enough for now.

Most of my goals for this year are really aimed to helping me with 2008. I really want to go back to school. I can't wait to go back actually, and I want to be ready by spring semester of 08. I plan on going back just about half time, if I can afford it. Enough to be able to not have to repay my student loans while in school.

Goals:
1. Get my own place. Michael and I are discussing moving into an apartment or renting a house as early as next month. I'm not sure if this will work, but this is a potential goal.
2. Save $5000 in cash. It's a lofty goal, but I have been pretty determined to start setting aside money. I plan on making exact tasks on how to save this money in my next post.
3. Reopen a checking account. Having to pay for everything in cash has made me VERY aware of my money.
4. Open two ING accounts. One for my emergency fund, one for Julie's college savings. If her darling father ever sends some child support, this money will go into this account. I have officially filed for child support by the way.
5. Majorly reduce the student loan debt I have from when I attempted and failed to go to school before. These loans are currently in default, but are being consolidated to take them out of default. I have less than $3000 in student loans, so I really want to hit them hard.
6. Pay off my credit card debt. I need to get the exact totals, but I have less than $1000.

Good luck to 2007. I can't wait for 2008.

It's been almost two weeks since writing. Everday I think about posting, but something comes up ... I've just been so busy. I hate being busy and tired all the time.

So, since the concert, I've started seeing the nice guy I met there. I have had two free meals, yay for a new boy! LOL. He's a wonderful guy, has two little ones of his own ... things are looking pretty good.

Budget wise ... I've been doing horrible. I just spent $266 to repair my car b/c the starter went out. Luckily it happened last Thursday, payday. If it hadn't been payday, I wouldn't have been able to pay it. That's a scary thought.

I bought the dress for the wedding, got it for $58 on clearance. It's amazing. Looks great on me. I also bought a new pair of killer shoes, literally they kill my feet but they look hot ... so I guess it's worth it.

Last week I went out and bought myself a new outfit ... one of the first outfits I've bought myself in more than six months. That felt great. And my boy ... he was truely impressed ... and that's all that matters.

I have to give my friend an IOU for her wedding present. She's totally ok with it, and actually was the one to mention it ... she sits two seats down and laughed when my car died when I was on my lunch break from work.

I've been trying to be better about writing down my expenses, so I am going to commit to be better than that.

Also, Thanksgiving week, my paretns decided to go out of town. I can't go with them, so I won't get to spend Thanksgiving with Julie. I'm a little pissed about this ....... ok a lot. But, I am going to spend the time doing things I keep putting off b/c I'm too tired, do some Christmas shopping, and spend time with the new boy.

Things will be better.

This weekend flew by. I love it when that happens.

It was a good money making weekend. I brought home around $115 on both Saturday and Sunday. SWEET. It means that we're getting back into season "Come on down snowbirds!" I complain like most Floridians the amount of snowbirds that do infact come down ... but it's amazing how much our income depends on it.

$130 - day care
$15 - gas
$5 - McDonald's for dinner Saturday
$25 - Dad
$10 - phone bill
$27 - groceries at walmart

I have a couple of bucks left over, and I had to buy lunch at CB on Sunday. I don't count that as a spending day though ... since I HAVE to eat at work or risk not making it home without hitting up McDonald's or something.

This afternoon, I was going to put my check into savings, but I think I am going to cash it and head over to the consingment shop to pick up one or two pairs of pants for Julie ... possibly more. Tomorrow it will be in the 50's when we wake up in the morning ... the high will barely reach the 70's! Yeah fall is here!! This weekend it was digustingly hot ... I hate trying to plan for "winters" down here.

Goals for this week:
1. Plan Julie's outfits for the week .. including socks. No more hunting in the morning.
2. Box up some of her toys and take to the storage shed.
3. Make some more lunches for work ... the mac n cheese I had today ROCKED.
4. Make breakfast at home.
5. Keep track of money spent better.

That's enough for now ...

I've noticed that I've been stressing a lot lately about money. It's not a good thing.

My goal this week:
Do not stress about money! There is nothing else I can do about the current state I am in, but work to get out of it. Fretting and pndering are NOT going to help.

Let's see if I can keep to that.

I've gone three days without a/c .. and guess what ... my car hasn't leaked. HMMM .... I think I might have solved the problem. Now if I could get the car to not SMELL. That would be wonderful.

This weekend I made a good deal of money. I bought Julie some new clothes, and I will be heading to the grocery store tonight. Going to pick up some turkey sausage, egg whites, brown rice and veggies. MMMmmm ... how healthy. Thank goodness my daughter eats pretty much anything i give her.

I made a new category ... "no air condition in the car"

See .. my car is a piece of crap. That's the nice way to put it. It GUSHES water a couple of times a day. My car smells like mold ... it's really really disgusting.

So, I did a little bit of research online ... and found out that the car is gushing water b/c of something with the air condition ... I'm no mechanic ... but supposedly I have to put a piece of rubber tubing and it will drain on the OUTSIDE of the car (what a freakin concept!)

Well, since I'm not a mechanic ... and I don't really have any idea as to WHAT is the air condition under the hood ... my idea is to stop using the air conditioner in the car.

That might not seem like a big deal to anyone ... but I live in Florida. It's still 90 degrees plus humidity down here. It will save me on gas to turn off the a/c and HOPEFULLY will stop the leak.

I'm going to give it a try ... at least until the end of the month. By then, if the leak hasn't stopped ... I know it's something else. If it has ... well then I have to think of something else ... don't I.

Hopefully we'll get the $1000 bonus we're working towards this month. If we get the bonus (I don't think we're going to get it right now ...) I am going to trade in my car. Still waiting to hear if that guy at work actually wants to buy the car ... this is all my plan if he doesn't want to buy it.

My daughter is ready for bed .. she's sitting in my lap actually cuddling ... something is wrong with this picture.

So, I ended up spending a $1 on breakfast and $3 on lunch today. I just didn't want to wake up this morning. I don't know what's wrong with me .. I go to bed at a decent time, but I still don't want to wake up in the morning. My goal for this week is to be able to actually MAKE breakfast and lunch to bring to work.

My goals for this weekend:
1. Make breakfast and lunch for work for the following week.
2. Get oil changed in car.
3. Vacuum out car, figure out how to clean the leaking mess from the air conditioner.
4. Take two boxes of Julie's clothes to storage shed.
5. Keep track of change.

On Monday, my goal is to get to work early so I can take a long lunch and go to the credit union and open my checking account.

I'd like to make an estimated budget on what to spend on clothes for the next year. It's going to be "higher" than the norm I think ... I need a lot of new clothes since I barely have any ... and with Julie in her odd growth patterns.

Here's to a happy weekend. Monday I get to go to the consignment shop and pick up some more clothes for Juliette.

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!

I'm grubbing on veggie pizza right now b/c I was too lazy to cook my lunch this morning. But, for $2.67, it's so worth it. I spent $3.06 on breakfast, and had a major need for caffeine, so two sodas at .60 each. Other than paying for Julie's daycare today, that's my spending for the day.

I only put $10 in my tank this weekend, and I'm right under half. I don't know if I should go to walmart tonight and buy a giftcard for $20 or $10. The good news, with the new drive I'm actually using less gas to and from work ... I don't know how much less, but I'm going to be happy with the fact that it's less.

This weekend, I HAVE to get an oil change. I get paid Thursday, so I'll probably go Friday night afterwork or on Sat.

My goals for Oct.

Get my bank account out of the red. I haven't mentioned this, but there was a slight problem on my banks end where they overdrafted my account and made quite a number of things go thru b/c of their mistake. They claim they didn't make a mistake ... so I'm way negative in the account right now. It irrates me, but as soon as I get it out of the red, I'm closing this account.

10 no spend days. This will be easy if I start making my lunch and breakfast. Especially since I don't have any money to spend.

Make breakfast and lunch at least 4 times a week during the workweek. I was going to make breakfast and lunch for this week, but last night the kitchen sink broke. Luckily, it's not my problem.

Stick to my budget. I'm going to post it sometime this week, with a few adjustments for this month. This weekend, I stuck to my grocery budget, so I'm happy about that.

I think that's all right now.