Yesterday I shopped on overstock.com and found some great deals. I got two gifts for my sweetie (valentine's day and his birthday coming up!) and I bought myself way too much. I bought a paperback I've been dying to read (it was cheaper than anywhere else I've seen, and the library has no intention of ordering it, even after I requested it), two pilates dvds, one stability ball dvd, and one yoga dvd. I am on a new path to get in shape. I received a cushy pilates mat and stability ball for Christmas, and I am determined to use them. The dvds were cheaper than anywhere I've seen them, even half.com and ebay!

I got good deals....but I didn't NEED to shop. *sigh*

last night my sweetie bought me dinner, but I'm buying him lunch today when we meet our friend! last night I also bought a butterfinger blizzard at Dairy Queen, which I DID NOT NEED, financially or weight-wise!

I'm kind of glad I'm not keeping track of my no-spend days, because I would fail miserably this week. Maybe I'll try it next month...but it's my birthday month, so no guarantees.

I took $20 out this morning. I'd like to swing by the dollar store and pick up some valentine decorations, and I have to eat out tonight (oh darn!) because I have to come back to work after hours. I won't have time to go home and come back, it's too far. so, dinner out. tomorrow I am meeting a friend for lunch, so that will be some more $$. I haven't seen her in a while though so it is worth it.

no plans for the weekend yet! maybe a no spending weekend??

today I bought lunch. not frugal, I know. I only purchased a sandwich, though - no chips or drink, if that makes it better.

I brought lunch from home yesterday and made dinner last night. I brought lunch today but just didn't feel like eating it!

I bought a upcoming wedding gift on smartbargains.com today. nice and inexpensive, perfect!

the sun is shining, thank goodness. it's up to 35 degrees, too. it's very quiet at work because most of the bosses have gone home.

turns out I didn't have to go into work yesterday. we had a major snowstorm on Friday (it took me 2.5 hours to drive home from work - normally it takes 1/2 hour), so the meeting was canceled. mind you, I didn't get the call until I was already out the door and on my way to work, but at least I didn't get too far down the road.

yesterday was a major spending day for my sweetie. he didn't want to shovel his car out on the street (it had been blocked in by plows overnight), even though I was prodding him and told him I'd help, and it got towed. it looks like he'll also get a fine. days like yesterday make me glad we haven't merged finances, but I still felt bad for him. I was pretty pist though, because what if it HAD been our money? while we were sitting in the towing office, all I could think was, wow, this a lucrative business, there will always be people who leave their cars lying around.

we went to a friend's birthday at a local bar last night. saved gasoline by carpooling with another couple. dinner was expensive but not as much as it could have been...since I don't eat meat, and 99% of the menu was meat, I ate beforehand and just split an appetizer and dessert (though I had a couple of drinks, too).

today my sweetie went to visit some friends so I am home alone! maybe I'll work on his valentine gift. I'll try hard not to spend $$!

forgot to add that I am making another batch of yogurt in my yogurt maker today. the last batch was good but a little runny. I added some powdered milk this time...we'll see if that helps! I love making my own yogurt!!

yesterday I brought lunch from home and met a friend at the mall after work. I was looking for an outfit for a wedding I'll be going to in late February, but I found nothing. I switched to trying to find work clothes...nothing. I ended up buying my dinner ($16) and a drastically reduced makeup set ($8). I am a makeup fiend...I was proud of myself for walking past the MAC counter with eyes averted and purchasing a much cheaper set with a bunch of colors to try. We are going to meet up sometime at a different mall to look for outfits again.

Tonight I am going to make coffee cake (mixed in my NEW MIXER!! it came on Wednesday!!!! happy dance happy dance) for work tomorrow. We have a big meeting and I thought I might contribute. Unfortunately I don't get paid for working on Saturday though; just comp time. However, we are supposed get hit with five inches of snow today and 3 more tonight, with wind gusts of 40mph tonight, so maaaayyyybbeee if I am extremely lucky, it will be blizzarding and I will get to stay home. I'll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Tomorrow night I am supposed to go a friend's birthday party (barring a blizzard). I picked up her gift in November, and I am really glad I did.

Sunday, sleep! and maybe some baking, because I bet I'll be snowed in.

I paid little attention to my budget OR my diet this weekend. back on track today.

we ate out on Friday night at a crazy fun tiki bar. greasy food, good beer - it was great, and actually fairly cheap for all the stuff we consumed.

Saturday was cleaning day. the house looks a lot better.

Sunday we didn't do much, and then headed out to our bed and breakfast. it was absolutely AMAZING. I wanted to move in. it was a giant old Victorian home, and there was a hot tub for two and fireplace in our room. we could feel the tension leave as soon as we walked in. what a great place. Sunday night we had a romantic dinner at an Italian place down the street. that was a bit too pricy but we had a nice time. that night we drank champagne that we had bought for New Years but hadn't drunk (so I guess that was frugal), and all in all we really enjoyed ourselves.

Monday we stopped by a couple of stores on the way home, the grocery store being one of them. spent too much money there for sure. we ate lunch and dinner at home and got some reading/tv watching in.

In all honesty, the only thing I paid for all weekend (now that I look back on it) was the bed and breakfast. my sweetie paid for everything else. it was pricy, yes, but less than some others, and all I could think on the way home was "worth every penny." we definitely needed that break. I even had a dream last night that I quit my job!

I don't normally post so much in one day, but this day has been ridiculous.

I just found out that our medical premium is going up 7%. That will bring my deduction to $101.49 PER PAY PERIOD.

otherwise known as $202.98 per month.

for one person.

I've got to be able to get self-insured for less than that...I'll be doing a lot of research. Let me know if you have any ideas, please!

I ordered my mixer!!!!

yes, I should slap my mouse hand for being so bad, but I found the lowest price yet on the color I wanted (with no shipping), so I jumped on it. it will take me a month longer to pay off my credit card, but it is at 0% interest until November, so that's ok.

happy (early) birthday to me! as my coworker said, that's one heck of a birthday present...but I know I will be more inclined to bake with this mixer, and that will cut back on my grocery costs even more.

I stayed home from work yesterday. I just could not deal with working with the insanity. I am feeling a bit better today.

I went shopping yesterday afternoon, looking for a outfit to wear to a wedding coming up in February. I didn't find anything for the event, but I did buy 4 pairs of socks, which I desperately needed. they were on sale and are keeping my legs toasty warm today.

The temperature is -14 degrees Fahrenheit and the windchill is -35. I am SO glad that I don't pay for heat. so so so glad.

the month isn't even close to over yet but I know what I'll be spending, roughly. turns out I'll be spending $128 more this month than I did last year at this time. however, in January 2004 I spent:
$86 more on groceries
$42 on non-occasion gifts (not happening this year!)
$186 on eating out!! (so far I've spent $0!)
$50 less in rent
$80 from the ATM (going for $0 this month)

and this year a $145 bill came a month earlier than I expected, so I paid it off. I think I'm doing ok, even with the bed and breakfast splurge....
I'm really proud of myself for being more frugal, even if I can't control ALL of my spending urges quite yet.

The other day I drank 100 fl oz of water. Yesterday, only about 64. So far today I have drank about 16 fl oz but I am determined to fill up my water bottle twice today at work, which will be another 64 fl oz. Water is cheap! and good for you!

I brought an egg salad sandwich and carrots for lunch today. last night we had dinner at home. tonight we are hosting some friends but we are making dinner ourselves, not getting takeout. tastier and cheaper (I hope).

Today I reserved a bed and breakfast for Sunday night. Not the most frugal, I know, but we were debating taking a last minute trip to a warm climate this weekend, and this will be cheaper. The room I reserved is $50 less than the other bed and breakfast we were considering, and we are only staying one night, not two like we wanted. It's not too far but will feel like an escape, especially with a whirlpool and fireplace in the room!

I am planning a "vacation at home" sort of thing for the rest of the weekend, visiting touristy places in our own city for free instead of spending way too much money on a vacation. There are plenty of places we haven't been around here, and we can have dinner at a nice, new-to-us restaurant on Saturday night since we saved $50 on the room. Plus we can make breakfast crepes in our own kitchen, pack snacks for big days, etc, and if we just want to lounge around, we can do that in our own home. I'm excited! I think it will be fun!

Friday night we stayed in, watched tv, and made homemade pizza and cake. My sweetie asked if he should pick something up for dinner on his way home, but I told him no, we'll make dinner. I was proud of myself for not just saying yes!

Saturday we went shopping in the afternoon. I bought some Crabtree & Evelyn lotion on sale that I've been wanting for a while (buy 2, get 1 free), some greeting card-making supplies that were half off (!!), fake flowers that were half off, and a pair of brown boots for $30. I have more than one outfit that I haven't worn yet because I needed brown boots...I was so happy to find them, and for that price! Every other pair that I saw was at least $80, even in the discount stores. Then we went to dinner at Taco Bell (cheap!) and to a movie with free tickets. I bought one popcorn and one pop for us to share.

Today we stayed in, relaxed, and cleaned up the place. My sweetie's parents stopped by and gave us a bunch of foodstuffs and pop! They are the best. I made dinner and froze the leftovers for the future. yeah! I did spend a little money today...I ordered a yogurt maker from amazon.com. I hate spending money on yogurt (why is it so expensive??) and I'd rather know exactly what goes into it. I think eating yogurt really helps my health...I'm really excited about making my own!!

updating to say that my willpower crumbled at lunch. however...I suggested we go to Subway because I had two free coupon cards, so I bought lunch for two for only $1.27.

my coworker and I also stopped by the dollar store so she could pick up some things, and I only bought two gift bags for a birthday coming up. I put back two things I did not need to buy. I kept saying "I do not need frivolous things" and it worked!

my boyfriend's parents gave me an electric heating blanket and a ceramic heater for Christmas. they are both WONDERFUL. I am so excited to have both of them. I have the ceramic heater running now, as it is 60 degrees in my apartment. I don't have to pay for heat but I also have no control over it, so I am at the mercy of my landlord and his settings. unfortunately this may mean a bigger electric bill for me, but I only pay $30 a month on average anyway, so a little heat shouldn't break the bank.

I've been gone for a while, celebrating the holidays with family in the land of dial-up internet and one phone line. so no logging in to read up on discussion posts or journal entries.

however, the last couple of weeks have been quite inexpensive..I paid for gasoline to get there and back and about $40 in books and games on the day we went into town. everything else was free!

I went to the grocery store last night and spent only $26 and paid cash. I went to target and used the gift card I received and spent that. my companion covered the rest (about $20), but he has basically been living with me for a while now so I let him.

I haven't paid off my credit card fully yet but I am manipulating my budget to determine what would be best. it will be paid off by mid February at the very latest.

I really think that if I could get my budget under control, I could do the same with my diet, and vice versa. Right now I can't control either one. I record every bit of food I eat and every penny I spend, but I still go over on both. I don't know how to get there. All I want for Christmas is WILLPOWER.

I ate lunch from home today. Maybe that cancels out the fact that I purchased Christmas stockings for my parents last night and now will have to go out and buy things to put IN the stockings. ok, so maybe it won't. At least the stockings were 50% off, and candy will be on sale too. I always feel bad because the grown kids still have stockings (even the cats have stockings!) but mom and dad don't.

Tomorrow I will finish up my shopping. I was planning on doing it tonight, but with the ice storm and all, I think I'll stay in, do some laundry, and finish up my holiday baking.

I made a second batch of snickers fudge today to give out as holiday gifts. it is decadent and time consuming, but worth it.

I brought lunch to work every day last week. today I splurged a bit and got an egg nog shake at mcdonalds, some gorgeous blue gift bows, and the latest john grisham novel, but little things make me happy. unfortunately they also add up.

I am still going to make my goals...but January is going to suck. there will be no "fun money" next month!

frugal thing I did today: brought lunch from home.

non-frugal thing I did today: spent more on my sweetie's christmas gift than I intended. but it was something he REALLY needs for his health, and even with that expediture, my total for everyone's holiday gifts is under $300.