Feb 2013 CSD/NS - Loving our Budgets

[3catslady]

I just noticed that I now have blue stars instead of yellow.  Blue is my favorite color except that purple comes first.  I guess I should  say that blue is my second favorite color.

[moneysquirrel]

Update: 6 NS day and 4 CS Days

Just spent the last five hours correcting projects submitted online so I will not be online long.

I spoke briefly with Honey and she is ok.  I expect that we will hear from her when she has a moment.

[grits]

If I count any money spent I've had 2 CS days.  If I count nothing under $3, I've had no CS days.
8 NS 2 CS   So far, so good.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Rocky Mtn Saver: 4 NSD/4 CSD


Well, it was a quiet weekend on the spending front. All work and no play makes Jill a frugal gal!

Perhaps I shouldn't mention to the Northeasterners on this board that all we got from that storm was about 2 inches of snow. And it was beautiful the rest of the weekend. Mwahahahahaha!!!

[shanendoah]

Update: 5NSD/3CSD/2Spend

Friday we went to CostCo. Saturday I stayed home and C went over to a friend's house. Sunday, I had my writing critique group and got gas for the car afterwards. C did make gumbo for dinner last night, and that was yummy.
Not much else going on. Old Man Howie dog chose not to eat last night, and this morning he ate some from my hand, but otherwise wasn't interested. We'll see if it picks back up in a day or two, or off to the vet he'll go.

[3catslady]

Rocky,  I got you beat.  We just got a ground covering. 
update:  8/28 NSD, 3/3 eating out days,  I think.  I forgot to check before I hit reply.

[shanendoah]

Update: 5NSD/3CSD/3Spend

I went to start the car when I was leaving work last night, and the battery was dead. C came and jump started the car for me. We removed the battery and went to CostCo to replace it. We have an uncommon battery and our CostCo did not have the right kind. We were at CostCo though, so we ran in and grabbed a couple of things (making the day a spend).
We then headed over to the Les Schwab about a block from the CostCo. They didn't have the right battery in their store, either, but they did test our current battery for us- it was perfectly fine. In fact, it was showing more power than it actually needs to have.
So, we don't know if this was a one time fluke because I sat in the car with the radio playing while talking to my brother for 10 minutes before trying to start the car (diesels take a LOT of battery power to start), or if we have a short, a starter problem, an alternator problem, etc. For now, we're hoping it was me sitting in the car.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Rocky Mtn Saver: 6 NSD/4 CSD

OMG, I got sick with the crud again! I already was deathly ill from whatever is going around in December, and now it happened again. It must truly be a bad cold/flu season, because I rarely get truly sick.

The good news was more NSD's!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Y'know, Shenandoah, something similar happened to me a while back. I ran out and changed the battery, but looking back, I also wondered if it had just been a fluke. Here's hoping it is!

[shanendoah]

Update: 6NSD/3CSD/3Spend

Unfortunately, the little "airflow" lite is on on the dash. I think I may ask C if he will take it into the shop for me on Friday after class. It should be something they can do without an appointment.
Roommie made stuffed bell peppers last night. We don't have anymore peppers, but we have plenty of the filling left, so we'll eat that for dinner tonight. I need to take out two packs of ground turkey to make on Thursday. Combined with the gumbo C made on Sunday night, I don't know that we'll need to cook at all this weekend.

[sheilaincali]

Found out that the local "fancy" carwash is washing red cars for free tomorrow in honor of Valentines Day.  I told DH to save his money and not waste it on flowers but that if he'd swing by and pick up my car and wash it that I'd love it

[3catslady]

update: 10/28 NSD, 3 eating out days.  I am going to eat out Sunday but that is budgeted for.  My ex-sister-in-law and I still get together every month and this is my month to pay.  My cousin has joined us in our outing so we are having a great time.  We usually spend about 3-5 hours together.  We have gone to Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel and 5 or 6 family owned places around here.  This month I'm going to take them to Ruby Tuesday.  Most of these places I've never been to. My usual places are BK, McD, Pizza Hut, and other places like that.  I am getting an education in restaurants.

[sheilaincali]

3cats- I'm glad that you are still getting together with your exSIL and your cousin.  Sounds like you ladies have a great time on your lunches. 

Happy Valentines Day everyone  

The Boy brought a Valentine in for his "Friend" IDK he likes her and she likes him but she also likes another boy but that boy is oblivious and girls are not on his radar yet.  DS and his friend have had a couple of "movie hang outs" and she is helping him babysit our friends' kids on Saturday.  Three kids under the age of 4 is a handful.

[shanendoah]

Update: 7NSD/3CSD/3Spend

The highlight of my day yesterday was that all three doggies ate normally.
Coming in a close second was that the dashboard light decided to turn itself off and not come back on. Given that we've got the mortgage refinance and the adoption agency fee right now, I am more than happy not to have to pay for an unexpected car repair.
And then, to top the day off, I actually got one of the best night's sleep I've gotten in a long time, waking up only 2 times during the night (when C came to bed at 11:30pm and when Howie needed out at 4am), and falling right back to sleep. I woke up 2 minutes before my alarm went off then got up and rode the exercise bike for 20 minutes.
Today we're having "treats" at work, so the lunch I brought (mixed green salad with goat cheese and a roasted red pepper vinaigrette) is only 80 calories. I'll come home tonight and make chili for dinner.
Tomorrow is pay day and then we have a three day weekend.
Plus we'll most likely sign the paperwork on the refinance tomorrow, getting that out of the way.
And I have a massage scheduled for Saturday.

I'm in a really good mood for a Thursday, and thinking this may be one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in forever. Happy Valentine's Day to me (and to the rest of you).

Sheila: Ahhh, how cute. Well, from this perspective. Maybe it doesn't feel as cute as a mom. One of my best ever Valentine's Day gifts came my senior year in highschool. I shared my locker with my BFF's BF (she was a year older and out of school, he was a year younger) and his little brother. The little brother left me this giant chocolate heart that said "I love you more than chocolate itself" on the packaging. He left a note with it that said "Well, maybe not that much."
It is nice that she is helping him babysit this weekend. I agree, 3 kids under 4 is definitely a handful. I wouldn't want to do it on my own.

3Cats: I hope you have a great time this weekend with exSIL and Cousin. It's always nice to have friends you can just get away from it all with.

[sheilaincali]

Shanen- trust me from the mom perspective it's really cute to watch, right until she breaks my baby's heart.   JK she is really a sweet kid- loves Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy (book not the movie) is in Engineering with him, on his Knowledge Bowl Team, has her own light saber.  I mean what's not to like!  I'm just nervous to see how the whole giving her a valentine thing turned out.  It's his first non-elementary give them to the whole class type valentine offering.

[shanendoah]

Update: 7NSD/4CSD/3Spend

Well, yesterday started out great, and then pretty much went to hell in a hand basket starting around 9am. It was one of the worst days I've had at work in years. Pretty much if I had been working with an outside vender on something, yesterday was the day we found out we weren't getting whatever it was we needed on time.
On a spending note, I totally would have made us go out to dinner last night if it weren't for it being Valentine's Day and not wanting to deal with the crowds. As it was, I spent about $8 on Valentine's treats for work and home (planned, so a controlled spend).
Today, I've worn an outfit that makes me feel good.
We will also sign the paperwork on our mortgage refinance, saving us about $600/month. So I'm working on re-writing our budget.

[redwagon]

sheila - how did the valentine situation turn out?

I bought new moccasins yesterday. I'd worn my old ones into the ground and figured it was time. A spend, but a worthy spend.

Tomorrow we have part one of the annual AMC Best Picture Showcase marathon. We'll see 4 of the 9 nominees tomorrow and the other five next Saturday. $30 a day, paid for with gift cards we got for Christmas. We look forward to it every year, and luckily have parents eager and willing to babysit the babies.

Speaking of babies, Blue's sister is due with her third on Monday, scheduled c-section. Our babies are going to be big cousins at 4months old! My in-laws have gone from 0 to five grandkids in three years. Crazy.

[sheilaincali]

Red- It was so cute.  He gave her the Unicono (Toki Doki- little plastic unicorn, collectible cost like $6.95) and he made her a flower in German Class that when you unfold it you can write a message in it.  He wrote "I like you" in German in the flower.  He said she blushed and said thank you and seemed to really like it.  Cracked me up when he told us this.  Of course in our flower he wrote "There is a hair in your soup".  Such a touching message to get from your son

They are supposed to go play laser tag tonight with their Knowledge Bowl team and she is helping him babysit our friends' kids tomorrow.

[3catslady]

update: 13/28 NSD, 4/3 eating out days.  Yes, I ate out another day this month.  But this was the only one that was over 5 dollars, I think.  I also had lunch with my SIL and Cousin.  We ate at Ruby Tuesday's and we had the salad bar with minis.  I had turkey, sil had buffalo chicken and cousin had burgers.  This is the first time we had dessert and we had the cheesecake with blackberry sauce.  We had one slice and the 3 of us ate it.  btw, she is still sil because he hasn't signed the papers.  Good for me.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Rocky Mtn Saver: 6 NSD/5 CSD

I only managed one CSD over the weekend. It wasn't any big spending, but I had to work in a different office on Saturday and discovered that there's no microwave to heat up my leftovers. Oh, well, not that big of a deal. On the plus side, I filed my taxes last week and my refund was a little bigger than expected. The down side, of course, is that the overage (above what's going into my Roth) will have to go toward the heater repair we just had. At least it's there to be used, I guess!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Feb 17, 2013 18:21:22 GMT -5 3catslady said:

update: 13/28 NSD, 4/3 eating out days.  Yes, I ate out another day this month.  But this was the only one that was over 5 dollars, I think.  I also had lunch with my SIL and Cousin.  We ate at Ruby Tuesday's and we had the salad bar with minis.  I had turkey, sil had buffalo chicken and cousin had burgers.  This is the first time we had dessert and we had the cheesecake with blackberry sauce.  We had one slice and the 3 of us ate it.  btw, she is still sil because he hasn't signed the papers.  Good for me.

Yum, blackberry cheesecake... 

[shanendoah]

Update: 8NSD/6CSD/4Spend

Friday we did our grocery shopping. Saturday, I had a scheduled massage. Sunday was supposed to be a sit around and do nothing day, but my cousin called from Portland and needed some help, so we drove down there, turning it into a spend. Monday, was an NSD, at least, though not that relaxing. I had laundry and dishes that needed doing.

3Cats: Just because he is divorcing her doesn't mean you are. My father's family is still close to my mother (they've been divorced for 25 years). If I were you, I'd keep referring to her as SIL, no ex about it (unless she wants that), and not care about what her ex-husband thinks.

[3catslady]

update: 14 NSD, 5 eating out days. 
I bought groceries, got my hair cut, got gas, bought meds for the year, all in budget.  Other than that, I bought a hot dog and a soda at Sheetz when I got gas.  I then went to Pizza Hut and bought a large pizza for $10 which will give me 3 more meals beside the one I had today.
Shanen:  she will aways be my sil no matter what he does.  When he signs the papers, she will become one of my best friends even though she is my best friend now. 

[shanendoah]

Update: 9NSD/6CSD/4Spend

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Rocky Mtn Saver: 6 NSD/7 CSD


We're expecting snow tonight/tomorrow, so that should keep the spending to a minimum! Other than that, not much to report around here. Working all week, doing taxes on the weekends. Will probably be that way until April 15. Then I'm taking a weekend trip the following week, to celebrate having my weekends back!

[redwagon]

Sheila - too cute!

I have fallen off the face of the earth, it feels like. Definitely been spending, as we had to do a run for diapers and formula. It was all within budget so I'm not sure it counts against me. I don't even know what rules I'm following right now...

I have been bringing my lunch every day, and my breakfast most days, so I'm spending WAY less than I was during my pregnancy. So that's nice. Of course it's all going to baby stuff but c'est la vie.

I've been picking up a lot of freelance editing work, and I just got asked to write a piece for yourtango.com on spec (no guarantee they will publish it, as I am first-time writer for them) about how having twins has affected my marriage, so that's cool. I need to get that done by Friday, and my editing by tomorrow. Very excited that a freelance career might be a real possibility! Cannot wait until I can quit my job.

[moneysquirrel]

Update: 12 NS day and 7 CS Days

Just a quick check-in to say hello to all of you.  I survived the school trip last week and we managed to get all the kids back to their parents.  I have been working on not enough sleep and poor eating habits during that time and am currently playing catch up in both of those areas.  Very little shopping was done by me and meals were included so my ns goals are still on track.   Today I finally managed to get to the grocery and to fill up the gas tank. 

Sapphire-- thanks for your effects to meet with me and the group while we were in your area.  It was great being able to see and visit with you amid the noise and chaos that 30+ middle-school boys can create. 

Hope all are doing well.  I need to put the next load in the washer and take a quick nap.  The gym I belong to is starting Zumba classes tonight and I hope to be awake enough to try out a class.

[shanendoah]

Update: 10NSD/6CSD/4Spend

Red: Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Things are quiet here. The refinance on the house should fund today, but that's pretty much it.

[redwagon]

Sent off my article and waiting to hear if they will publish it! Also ten pages shy of being done with the freelance editing so that'll be done tonight. Feeling accomplished today. And today should be a no-spend!

[sheilaincali]

Red- Sending you good luck ju ju