January 2011 Controlled/No Spend Thread

[Deleted]

GAH!!! I had decided to add the 2% social security cut into my DF's Roth.... I got my paycheck and calculated it and went to deposit it and what does T Rowe Price say, deposits must be $50 or greater. DAMN IT!!!

[shanendoah]

red_wagon: I adored Tron:Legacy. The 3D is not in your face, but mostly used to add depth to the world. It is actually my preferred use of 3D, as I hate having things come out of the screen directly at my face.

[ses]

Redwagon--Kitties in the construction zone was not an issue. The crew could only work on weekends and I was always home, so the kitties usually cowered under my chair or the bed.
Gin--I've been thinking about your comment about not finding professional small size clothing, AZmom's comments about girl's clothing and Moneysquirrel's and Reenee's comments about the decline in quality. I want to know WHO is being served by and supporting the clothing industry and do they even listen to what their customers want or just tell us what designers have decided we will wear. I would gladly pay for quality, classic design and durability, but NOT for a two week fad. Looks like i need to follow Reenee's example and start sewing again.
Dakota-- I love that roll recipe, it is so versatile. I make hamburger bun size rolls (I love them toasted) so I don't see why it wouldn't work as a loaf. You might have to adjust the baking time.
Honey-- I reread (and blubbered and cried again) The Prince. That is such a beautiful story.
3cats-- Glad to hear that your furbaby will be OK. Wish I would get the results back from Calleigh's lab work. hopefully soon.
AZmom-- I am thankful for 1) friends ,--including you all, and family, both furry and not. 2) that I can pay my bills when so many can't and 3) that my house is snuggy and warm on this frigid winter night. My financial victory is learning how much Excel can benefit me. I love it!!
Newbies--I am so glad you are here and caused us to return to our financial roots which some of us (me!) had drifted from. I hope we can help you as much as you will be helping us.

I had this ready to post earlier---but my "assistant" walked across the keyboard and deleted everything or sent it into cyberspace.
Somebody asked about Sharing--isn't this the time she is on vacation with her sisters?

[mizbear]

spruby- do feel better!
redwagon- although I wish no evil on anyone, I prefer vague FB posts to the hateful ones I have seen lately
I am thankful for my online family since most of my real time family has deserted me
I am thankful for my abilities that allow me to keep going
I am thankful for the few good friends I have

[moneysquirrel]

Today was a spend day. Not too bad but I did get a lamp that was not on my list for today. It was on my sometime-in-the- future list. But between the GC and the coupon I only paid a fraction of the usual price. I avoid the grocery and the home improvement store because I realized that I really didn't have to go today. I have plenty of supplies to last a while. I also finish picking up the majority of the Christmas stuff. I have a few things to finish up in the laundry and a few boxes to put in the attic and I will have it all put away. Should take all of 5 minutes to get the boxes in the attic tomorrow morning.

Someone asked about Sharing. I heard from her last week and she is spending time with her sisters. I expexct that she will be back in a few days.

Ses -- Glad to see that Excel is providing you with all sort of fun. I think 3cats is also beginning to use it as well. I added several additional things to track in mine as well. I do tend to get a little carried away with tracking things in excel. I just love the potential

[Deleted]

I got around the annoying T Rowe Price rules but adding $9/month (the $10 from this week's decrease and the summer decrease from my DF's job). I will increase every week/month based on how much we get from my current job.

[redwagon]

SES - when we do this (if we do this) we'll have to lock them in a room. They are dormering out so there will literally be a hole in the side of our house, and our kitties are not shy or anything and would want to explore. We wouldn't be around as it would be an every day all day kind of project for about a month. Hopefully when the time comes we can hire blue's aunt and uncle who live up the street to be our on-site eyes and ears. They can hang out at our house and we'd pay them of course. But that's at least a year away, probably two. We shall see... thanks for your input though!! And don't you love how helpful our "assistants" can be? Dax and Boomer regularly contribute to emails I'm sending.

shanen - thanks for the review! I think movies are slowly getting smarter about how to use 3D, and not just for the gimmick factor.

mizbear - sorry you've been seeing hateful messages. I just feel like if you're going to slightly suggest something bad has happened, come out with it or else people will be worrying. Or put nothing up. I dunno. It took me quite a few days to put up something about my stepmother dying last year because I didn't want to cheapen it. But that's just me. I'm more convinced than ever that something is wrong, as my other stepsister and her fiance were at my mom and stepdad's house this evening, and they live in Chicago. So I'm guessing they flew back for whatever is going on. Times like this I wish I lived closer to home. I'm not super close to my stepsisters, but I know how much they love their grandmother. I hope all turns out to be well.

Kitties have been asleep for most of the day and are just now waking up. Joy. I think they get even more confused with us home because on normal evenings they are much more active. Having us around all day makes them feel less like they have to be alert during their time with us, I guess. Hopefully they let us sleep...

Gin - glad you found a way to make that work. And thanks for the reminder about the 2%! More money to send to debt!

[redwagon]

oh and spruby feel better! I know that would be so disappointing!

[3catslady]

3 NSD, 3 CSD, 2 Spend; I spent yesterday and $69.99 + $3.07 taxes was spent on DS for a mouse for his computer, pull-ups for the twins, snuff. I spent $31.93 on groceries, $39 at the vet's and $5.48 = $.34 cents on litter for the cats. There was a $10 GC from wal.mart making my total for Christmas $60.00. I have everything loaded on my excel sheet and color coded. I am so excited about using excel that I check it out everyday, even though I don't have anything to post on it. I just like looking at the colors and the way I can see just what is where.

[dakota4600]

Managed a no spend today. It was cold and flurried so we stayed home for the most part. DH did run over to the storage locker and get the boxes for the Christmas stuff, so we undecorated and then DH took it all back.

I think I may being gettting what Mini-d had. I just feel generally yucky. I ended up taking an hour nap this afternoon.

Funny thing happened today. My dad dropped by to return some tools and a table they had borrowed. He brought with him the plans for a Cable Car bunk bed. DH loves cable cars and mini-D is interested in them. I figured that dad had ordered them, but they didn't come in time for Christmas. Then he told us to take a look at the postmark. Dad ordered it in 1974, he was going to build it for me. But my grandpa gave me a bed for Christmas that year. (Grandpa owned a furniture store.) I teased DH later that he probably would have proposed on our first date if I had power tools and had had a cable car bed as a kid.

[reeneejune]

Back on the NEO wagon today, which puts me at 6/20 NEO. Tomorrow I'll need to venture back into evil mart to return the printer I bought last night. I was just looking for a new usb cable to upload photos from my camera to my laptop, but the cord it's self was $20. So I poked around a bit and noticed that there was a cheap printer for $32 that included the cable that I (thought) I needed. I got it open this morning and discovered that my camera needs a MINI usb cable, not a standard one. So I went to radio shack on my lunch break and found out that the mini usb went out of "style" very soon after being introduced, and the only one they had was $20. GRRRR. So I bought it because I really need it in order to continue posting to my blog. I want to keep the printer, but I the $20 for the usb cord came out of my gas fund, so I'll have to return the printer to replace that money. Sad. Oh well, I'll just get the printer next payday when I have a little more room in the budget.

[Deleted]

SES, Gin I agree with Gin that it is extremely difficult to find professional clothes when you are smaller. I searched the entire mall yesterday for something reasonably priced for my small frame. I wear a size 2 petite. I was so frustrated by the time I left empty handed. I do NOT want old lady elastic waste pants (which for some reason most stores think petite means you like elastic waste polyester pants). I also do not want pants that are so low rise I can't wear underwear with them. I had several pair of slacks that fell apart the first time I washed them or shrunk in the washer even though I used the settings that it said on the pants. That is so frustrating! So now I have to resew the hems on 3 pairs of pants because they came undone. The ones that shrunk....well there is no fixing those ones.

I guess I could go to Ann Taylor or The Limited to find slacks, but they are extremely expensive. They will tailor the pants though to fit my length if I need it. I just really hate the thought of spending $80 + on a pair of dress pants.

[redruby]

Update: 6 NSD. and I bought my DS a happy meal from MCD because he was so good being drug around for two days straight, so that was 3.50.
Three things I'm thankful for is (1) my family (2) my job (3) how lucky I am to have the things I have because so many people are in worse shape. Financially, I'm thankful that I have become aware of my $$$ surroundings and I made a decision to pay CASH for everything. One day, several years from now, I will be thankful for all the hard work I am putting now to get out of debt.

[pointy]

Update: 6/22 NS and 7/27 No QVC...
I'm thankful for: 1 - my mom and dad - I''m partial, but they're the best!! 2 - my ability to write - even after a day of torture at the FT job, my "part-time career" saves my sanity. 3 - the land of CS/NS - I've gone from paycheck to paycheck to a nice tidy sum of savings

[startsmart]

3cats- you know I love you but the Bank of Mom must be closed!

This:
$69.99 + $3.07 taxes was spent on DS for a mouse for his computer, pull-ups for the twins, snuff

Read more: notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wir&action=display&thread=674&page=11#ixzz1AYyDBt2f

is not your job! Diapers for the kids are a maybe because I know you're a grandma who loves those kids despite their parent's idiotacy. But a computer mouse is maybe $5 at Wal-Mart. And if DS (I'm not using 'dear' son here) wants a fancy one he needs to man up, make his own damn money and buy it himself. And snuff? No No No.

DS is an adult. with responsibilities. It's time he starts acting like it. You have shared a lot about your past and I sense that you feel guilt in regards to DS. No parent is perfect, no situation is perfect. But DS needs to get over it. You did the best you could with what you knew, now you know better.

I firmly believe parents/grandparents who make mistakes and exhibit the process of overcoming those mistakes are better teachers than the ones who hide everything. my grandpa (the one still living) was an alcoholic, now sober for 43 years. THAT is the legacy he will leave, sobriety and helping others to achieve it. It's no use holding on to bitterness over the years he drank.

3cats, you have grown and learned and made us all so proud these last 3 years. If your son can't see the progress you've made and continues to take advantage of your kindness, guilt, obligation, or whatever than he does not deserve you. You must stop enabling him!

[3catslady]

startsmart; I know that you are right but I have improved. I used to not have ANY money left out of my check because he always came up with something he NEEDED but he doesn't always get what he wants now. I am working on the BOM and it will take time to come to a final close. N and O are the hardest letters for me to combine in a word. I have gotten better. After I got him his mouse he wanted me to go back out and get pizza for their supper. I told him I was eating my supper and I wasn't going back in the cold just because he didn't want to cook. They had just went for groceries before DIL went to work. Later I smelled popcorn and I thought that is what they were having for supper but he told me they had soup and sandwiches. The popcorn was what the kids wanted for a snack before bed.
Just as an alcoholic is only sober "one day at a time", the BOM is closed one day at a time. Some of my friends are alcoholics and they have had slips but they are still sober one day at a time which is all I can do at the time. A slip is nothing to worry about. It is the going back to the same old thing and not trying again that is the problem. I am trying again. One of these days I will get a whole year of NO BANK OF MOM.

[sheilaincali]

Update: 5/20 NSD and 9/25 NEO days. Plus 5 lbs lost

We ran our errands today. Only things out of budget was a $1 tennis ball for Zoe and a couple of $2.99 clearance fleece blankets for her. She will shred a pet pillow but the blankets she is good with. So we have one upstairs where she likes to nap. One downstairs for when we are watching tv and one in her "room" (kennel). So approx. $10 out of budget.

DH did find his shoes- $32 for Nike's isn't bad- they were the cheapest ones his size at that store. Plus they will last him about 3 years. He does a year as his gym/treadmill shoes, then they become the "everyday shoes" and then they become the "lawn mowing" shoes. So that averages out to about $10 a year for shoes. Not too bad.

3Cats: you have done well in the past. As a parent I can see how the kids kind of suck you back in. You are right- it's a one day at a time thing. I am sure tomorrow will be a "NO" day

[ses]

3cats--I can so identify with this....

I am so excited about using excel that I check it out everyday, even though I don't have anything to post on it. I just like looking at the colors and the way I can see just what is where.

However, since Smartstart has already addressed the issue of your D?S I will not go there, however much I want to chime in. Did you just want something to enter into excel? This is not the way to go about it.
I have been very busy in the kitchen today. I have a pot of chili simmering and a roast for enchiladas the rest of the month in the crock pot. (AZmom--when you prepare a roast for enchiladas do you season it while cooking or when preparing the enchiladas?). I also chopped a couple of pounds of ham from Christmas and mixed up some ham salad. I am going to be eating well this month!
I have shed the pounds I gained over the Holidays and would like to lose some more this next week before I go see the doctor. I can't believe how stupid it was to schedule an appointment just two weeks after the "feasting" holidays.
I need to go cleanup after Calleigh. At least she has gathered her toys all in one place(the packaging around a bottle brush-forget the brush, a string of Mardi Gras beads from the parade last summer, a scrub sponge and a paint brush, and some shredded TP). In the last week or so she has discovered the fascination of the toilet and swirling water. She rushes to accompany anyone heading in that direction. When you go to lift the TP from the shelf she can't reach, she freezes and then just twitches at the possibility of swiping a piece right out of your hand. I was hoping this was a kitten behavior she would grow out of, but I am beginning to have my doubts.

[constanz22]

ses It must be one of those days! I made chili in the crock pot and even attempted home made bread from scratch! This has been a most of the day project and I'm not sure it's going to be a success, as it doesn't appear to be rising for the second rise! ARGH! A lot of work to have it not turn out!
I would LOVE to do a budget, etc, in Excel, but I am totally illiterate when it comes to Excel. I had shanendoah's spreadsheets and looked and looked at them, but, it might as well have been in chinese. I.just.don't.get.it...

[3catslady]

ses; I have enough of my stuff to put in excel, I don't need to add. I could have not put any of my spending on this board but I would have been just breezing through. I need to have accountability here because I can always justify every penny I spend. It is here that I get the truth and the suggestions to do better.

[ses]

constanz--sometimes in the winter I let my bread raise in the oven--no drafts and a warmer environment. There will be some additional rise during baking.
I am excel illiterate, too, but just get in there and try and you will be amazed at how much you can do. I did get a copy of Excel for Dummies (I love being able to properly underline a book title), but to be honest Moneysquirrel was more help.
Just had a small bowl of chili and it was delicious. Don't know how much flavor was added by seeing the snow outside.

[mizbear]

I know this will sound silly, but I feel profoundly inspired today- for the first time in 10 years (when I got sick, before they told me I couldn't work anymore), I feel like things are falling into place and I am going somewhere. In 6 months- give or take- I will be starting a new career, in the field I wanted, just in a change of area- which will actually be better for my illness, I will be able to move into my own home, that I pick, that I make the rules in. I will be able to start saving for retirement, have an emergency fund- which was wiped out years ago, have my teeth fixed- maybe start wearing contacts again- all because I met some ladies who assured me that I wasn't crazy to think that I wasn't crazy to think I could do something to get myself back on my feet.

[ses]

Go Mizbear!!! I am Mizbear, hear me roar!!

[redwagon]

yay mizbear!! way to get back on your feet! sounds like 2011 is going to be your year!

[redwagon]

Today's my stepmom's birthday. Or would have been. The proflowers reminder to send her flowers was a bit of a shock... I called my dad and he seems to be doing okay. Only a few more "milestones" and he'll be through the first year. One good thing is that store he was invested in (and wanted to borrow money for) opened last Wednesday and had a great day yesterday. I hope it all works out for him...

In other, happier news, got some great deals today shopping and I feel I maxed out coupon usage and am well stocked on several items. Meal planned for the week and bought some meat on sale that will each last 3 meals. Woohoo!

[spruby]

3cats - I just sent you a bunch of links to resources we had identified in PA for healthcare. Hopefully one is helpful.

[shanendoah]

Update: 3 of 10 NSD, 2 of 8 MOAN

ses & 3cats: Glad you are liking excel. I'm afraid I'm a little obsessed with it.
constanz: Ignore everything but the checkbook and budget sheets. In fact, to start, pay attention to only the checkbook sheet. Use it to balance your checkbook. Just get yourself started. That's what I did, because I kept making silly addition/subtraction errors. Once youre comfortable with that, you can start using the color coding. Pick a color you like for groceries, bills, etc.
I am in front of a computer every weekday from 7:30am to 4pm PST, so send me an email if you have questions and I can walk you through it. Or, spruby (I think) and others are also really good with excel.

Friday we got gas and went to CostCo. However, we did good at CostCo and still have money on gift cards.
Saturday was an NSD as we only left the house to take the dogs on a walk. DH made me a basic potato soup.
Today I went grocery shopping, spent less than $25. Dh is going to mae me more roasted red pepper soup so that we have a variety to choose from going in to the week.

[shanendoah]

red_wagon: The first year is definitely hard. It does get a little better, though you don't stop worrying about your parent. My step-father's memorial service was Mother's Day weekend. The first 4 years I made sure she was with either my brother or I that weekend. This last year was the first year she wasn't, but I made sure she had a busy weekend planned, filled with friends who would give her a lot of emotional support.

[redwagon]

shanen - it's even tougher because he is in FL and I'm in NY... but luckily he works with some great people who have taken him in on holidays, and his neighbors have him over for dinner quite a bit. Today he worked and then was going to lose himself in a few football games. I'm going to try to find some cheap tickets to go visit for some spring training baseball.

[constanz22]

Jan 9, 2011 19:35:04 GMT -5 redwagon said:

shanen - it's even tougher because he is in FL and I'm in NY... but luckily he works with some great people who have taken him in on holidays, and his neighbors have him over for dinner quite a bit. Today he worked and then was going to lose himself in a few football games. I'm going to try to find some cheap tickets to go visit for some spring training baseball.

Check Allegiant. They always have great fares. I'm going down in March for spring training too! What teams are you planning on seeing? I have tickets I need to sell for 2 Yankees games. I bought the tickets the day they went on sale to make sure we got them but the dates didn't work out for our flights there and back. PM me if you might be interested. I need to get them on ebay soon.