I added $4.28 to the coin jar, which is what was left in my purse at the end of the day. I also found a $10 bill in my sock drawer, so I added that to the coin jar as well. I have $31 in bills so I will make a deposit in to the EF tomorrow. I just need to count up my coins and see if I have enough to roll anything. I'll probably have at least one roll of pennies and I think I was getting pretty close on nickels last time I counted them, so maybe those as well.

This is the first time I've added to the EF in quite some time. I should be able to send at least $100 out of tomorrow's paycheck as well.

I need to sit down and figure out how much of the leftover money I saved for the four weeks no paycheck time period should still be allocated for medical and how much should go to either debt repayment or the EF. Today's the first day I've even felt like looking at my spreadsheets so I should probably take advantage of that as who knows how I will be feeling tomorrow, especially after physical therapy.

I will make up the February Budget spreadsheet as well, and finish recording the Januray one.

I keep telling myself life goes on and I have to go with it. And that I can't let the finances slide just because I'm stuck in this feeling of unreality. So I balanced the checkbook. I have $34 left until Friday, which is payday. I made it without spending even half of the money that I saved for the four weeks no paycheck period.

I emptied my coin purse into the coin jar. It had $1.54. I haven't done too much shopping lately, first because of being snowed in for a week and then just being generally lethargic and not wanting to go out anymore than necessary.

The gas tank on the van is still almost full and we've got what we need in groceries to get through the week. And part of next week because I bought a lot of oranges and apples and carrots and celery. I did not like going down to empty on my produce during the snow. I may have canned pineapple and pears, but believe me, there is only so much of that you can take.

There are no bills coming due until the first of the month and those are on autopay, so I don't have to worry about anything until the 3rd. That gives me a bit more time of walking around in this fog without worrying I'm going to miss paying something.

DH will be home in another week and that will help me settle and start feeling normal again.

DH left a pile of coins on the dresser when he left. I just counted them and added them to the coin jar.

$2.40.

I can't believe how cold it got last night. It was 26 degrees F, but the wind was blowing hard, so the wind chill factor made it much colder. It's been so warm through December and the first part of January that I've been fine without the space heater in my bedroom for a while, but last night I had to turn it on around 2 a.m., because it was freezing. I definitely won't be beating the cold this week.

The wind comes down the side of the house my room is on and it actually whistles sometimes. Last night it was just roaring. It sounded like a train coming at the house or something.

It is supposed to snow this weekend. It hasn't snowed all winter (we had a few random flakes in late fall, but nothing real). We had one hailstorm in November. Otherwise nothing.

I hope it doesn't affect DH flying back to work on Monday. Four weeks without a paycheck is enough, thank you.

I have some more bills to do today and I need to catch the blog up on the ones I've done earlier this week.

I added $6 to the coin jar. Unexpected medical came up so I transferred $500 from the medical holding tank. I'll specify that out in another post though.

I haven't been posting as much as usual as almost everyone here at Casa LuckyRobin is bedridden and SA ate my posting attempt yesterday. DS started it with the worst cold I've seen in a long time. The poor thing has the horrible red patch you get under your nose when all you are doing is blowing constantly. His cheeks are bright red from being flushed. He's got a nasty cough and a raspy voice, but according to the doctor it is "just" a cold.

Then Mom caught it. Then I caught it, though not as badly as DS or maybe it's because I'm willing to take cough syrup and he's not. DD claims she has it, too, but no fever, no cough, no dead zombie eyes and no snot, so I don't think so. And she wanted to go to school, while the rest of us resent having to crawl out of bed long enough to even use the bathroom.

Then this morning DH decides to hurl all his food. Twice. Not the same thing as what DS and I have, thank goodness. He has a few days to get better before he has to be on a plane headed back up to work. He tends to bounce back fast so I hope he does.

I am so exhausted, despite sleeping about 14 hours of the last 24. It's enervating. I have physical therapy tomorrow, so hopefully I will feel strong enough to go. It's not until 11:15 so at least I'll be able to sleep in.

I have done some financial stuff in the last few days, but I'll combine it with the stuff I have to do either later today or tomorrow.

Oh, and added 38 cents to the coin jar.

I added 38 cents to the coin jar, but I am too tired to list the bills that were paid Tuesday so I'll do it tomorrow with the bills that will get paid tomorrow. (Or technically later today.

The mortgage posted to my account. The new mortgage balance is now at $18,544.28.

I added $6.70 to the coin jar.

We filled up the gas tank on the van for $53.84.

We paid $4.74 for a prescription.

I need to pick up psuedophederine, a NyQuil/DayQuil pack, and potassium today, so that will likely be a little pricey.

I have sent a total of $4600 to credit card debt.

DH had to pay $900 for a round trip ticket to work and back. He waited too long and the return part was twice as high as it should have been. *sighs*

I am trying to determine what to make for dinner tonight. Maybe pizza. I still have one of those Rustic Crusts, leftover spaghetti sauce, and some mozzarella cheese. There are a few meatballs left from last night's meatballs so I could crumble them on top of the pizza. I also have yellow onions so could dice some, saute them for a couple minutes, and throw them on as well. Oh, I think there's a ham end as well I could dice up. That sounds good. Not too much work and we can have a laid-back Friday night.

The new mattress is great to sleep on. I've now had two really good sleeps on it.

The PA took x-rays of my hip on Thursday. There is nothing wrong with the bones, so he thinks it is either muscular or nerves. He changed my physical therapy orders to lower stress therapy. If I am still in pain in 2 to 4 weeks he wants to send me to a neurologist, and possibly get an MRI of the area. I really don't want to pay for an MRI right now as we have started our deductible all over again. Oh, I know I have the $2500 set aside already, but I hate to blow through it this soon in the year.

We did run $2500 through the HSA though, just in case.

Doing a bunch of the little financial housekeeping stuff today that I've been ignoring the past few days due to pain. Interest was added to my ING account so I've added that to the Emergency Fund.

$3571.61 Starting EF
+___5.57 Interest Added
------------------
$3577.18 Ending EF

$422.82 to go to hit my next big goal of $4000 for the EF. I'm not sure if I'll make it this month to the $3750 mark. Usually I can manage about $250 in savings each month, but with DH having 4 weeks off unpaid and the next paycheck not coming until January 27th, I'm not sure we'll manage the full amount. I'll be able to make up for it by the end of March, probably, though.

So you all, by now, know that I save all my dollar bills and all my coins that I receive in change from purchases. I've been keeping track and in 2011 I saved $429.73 just from that. Not bad for using the nickel and dime method, is it? Also, I collected an additional $31.52 in found money. I lucked out a couple of times. Once I found a $20 bill and another time I found a wad of 5 $1 dollar bills, but the rest was all coins. Mostly pennies and dimes, but a few quarters here and there.

I'm a few days behind on reading, but I noticed a few people were going to start a similar challenge of saving all your ones. I heartily encourage you to do so, and will be rooting for you, too!

First the financial stuff. I added $2.33 to the coin jar today. I paid the water/sewer bill for the old house ($144 for two months, set fee, really wish they'd go on metered) and the propane bill for the old house ($116.25). We finally turned the furnace on about a month ago out there. It is on 55 to keep the pipes from freezing.

I paid $90 for a deep tissue massage today and the monthly family chiropractic plan of $215. It wasn't due until January 3, but he is raising it $10 as of the first, so if we paid early we could get one more month in at the old amount. I'm not upset at him raising it. It's been $215 for the last five years.

I think there is going to be quite a bit of medical expense next month. Fortunately I have the full amount of the deductible ($2500) saved up already. I wasn't wanting to spend it that soon, of course, but I have it set aside, and that is what matters. It won't break us and it won't wipe out our emergency fund.

I am still having a lot of pain right now, hence my quietness the last few days on here. There has been some improvement. The low back isn't as bad and the right side has let up, but the left hip is killing me, along with the piriformis in particular, the psoas muscle, the IT band, the quads, the hamstring and the calf muscles. I am learning far more about the anatomy of the hip and thigh than I ever really wanted to know.

Of course the knee is it's usual self but the rest is actually far, far worse right now. The physical therapist thinks we just went too far too fast and that the hip issues may have been causing all of my knee problems for the last year. I am torn between wanting it to "just" be muscle strain or something serious that can be fixed with more than time and rest.

I will be seeing a PA at my orthopedic doctor's office on January 4th to rule out anything more than muscle problems in the hip. Not my own doctor, or even my doctor's PA, which annoys me, but I would have had to wait until January 30th to see mine, even with such severe pain. My opinion on that is pretty...colorful.

Fortunately my general practitioner will prescribe the needed medications. He knows how much I hate narcotics and will avoid them until I absolutely can't. I've done pretty well with ibuprofen and ice during the day, but unfortunately I need the stronger stuff at night or I won't sleep (fortunately only the 375/5 mg, not the 750/7.5 mg which leaves me looped out of my head), and an 800 mg muscle relaxant. Either way, I'm not driving anywhere.

I'd really like this to be over now. I am so tired of being in pain. I miss my active lifestyle.

/whine

I haven't actually spent any money since Friday to have any change to put in the coin jar since I've been pretty much flat on my back in bed or on a recliner until today, but DH has so I raided his wallet (with permission, of course!) and took all his ones and all but two quarters of his change (for parking meters). I ended up with $11.18 to put in the coin jar.

I also transferred $100 to the emergency fund at ING, bringing it to $2863.08 and the total EF to $3571.61, so I have hit my end of the year/December goal of getting the EF to $3500. Yay. Next short term goal is to hit $4000.

I've already earned $4.50 in interest this month according to ING's daily running thingy, so I'm pretty sure I'll get at least five bucks to add to the EF from that by the end of the month.

Some people make fun of nickeling and diming your way to savings, but it certainly works for me.

I took the money from the coin jar and deposited it into the safety net portion of the EF that is kept at a local CU. It was $35.50.

$3426.11 Total Emergency Fund
+__35.50 Deposit to SN
--------------------
$3461.61 Total EF

The safety net is now at $708.53. I will stop building it at $1000, so I still need to come up with $291.47 to get that where I want it to be, but this is an open ended goal and I am happy with the slow build up using coin jar money or the occasional rebate check.

Really, I just want enough in the safety net to be able to survive a few days at a hotel if the house burned down or a tree fell on it, or something. Or if I had all four tires slashed or something. After a few days any transfer from the main account would arrive, so $1000 feels like a good number to have locally.

I need to still come up with $38.39 to meet my December/end of the year goal of getting the EF to $3500. I still have $67.35 in my unallocated funds portion of the Holding Tank so I may use that if I need to.

Okay, so, as I've mentioned before I've been saving for this patch where DH will be off work for 4 weeks. So far I have saved $4,483. After running the numbers and setting up the January budget, It looks like we might be able to get by almost completely on the next two paychecks for the majority of the bills between now and the first January paycheck which will be on the 26th. We need a total of $5,200 to meet bills, plus the amount of debt repayment needed.

The next two paychecks should provide between $4800 and $5,100 depending on what they take out for medical. And I know that first January paycheck will have the full medical deduction taken out of it, so need to plan accordingly for that throwing things off.

So my plan for the $4,483 tentatively is to use $2500 for the HSA, which is the amount of our deductible. That will leave us with $1983. If all goes well, during those four weeks and nothing unexpected crops up, I will then put $1000 of the remainder into the Emergency Fund and then when I am sure of where things shake out, I'll add whatever is left to debt repayment. We've had to skimp a bit on debt repayment while saving up the $4,483 so I'd like some of it to go back towards it.

I added $4.10 to the coin jar today.

I put $5 in a Salvation Army kettle.

I spent $10.90 at the grocery store.

I got gas today. It was $3.249 per gallon and I put in 16.213 gallons @ $52.68.

I am out of cash until Friday, but I have $67 in the checking account.

The bonus check did not come today. I thought it had, but it was only DH's paystub from Friday arriving in the mail (as we have direct deposit). Way to get my hopes up and watch them fall. DH will probably be home (Wednesday) before it shows up, but I live in hope.

I am mostly over my cold, just still have the cough lingering. My knee feels better but my hip hurts like blazes. These new physical therapy exercises are hard on it, but do seem to be strengthening my knee.

I transferred $100.00 to ING today to the Emergency Fund.

$3326.11 Starting EF
+_100.00 Deposit
-------------
$3426.11 Total EF

I need to come up with $73.89 to hit my December/end of the year EF goal of $3500.

I also added $12.87 to the coin jar, which was what was left of my cash from the first half of December. There is probably enough in the coin jar to make a deposit to the Safety Net portion of the EF, but I won't be going by there until Monday, so no point in counting it up right now.

Today is payday so I will do my usual payday post either tonight or tomorrow. All the bills have been paid or mailed and entered into the budget spreadsheet, but my hip is bugging me a lot after physical therapy so I don't feel like typing it up at the moment.

Bonuses were mailed today. Now it's just a waiting game.

Do you ever feel like you're just marking time, waiting for something to happen? Right now I've been feeling that a lot lately. Like I've been marking time, waiting for payday to come this week, so I can get on with things. Even though we are not living quite paycheck to paycheck anymore, with money in the bank, I still have to wait on some things for payday. Like debt repayment. And tomorrow I get to make some.

This week has dragged by, not helped by the fact that DS was sick all week. He went to school today for the first time on the condition that he call me if he starts feeling yucky and needs to come home. I excused him from PE today so he can just sit it out and be a zombie all day if he needs to be.

Of course, I also feel like I am marking time, waiting for the yearly bonus to arrive. Checks are to be mailed on the 16th. In the past when they've mailed a check it's arrived on the day that it was supposed to be mailed on, so a part of me can't help hoping it will show up on Saturday, though the more practical part of me knows it may be a few days longer. I just want to know the amount so I can plan how much debt gets paid off from it.

I'm also marking time until DH comes home, which is Wednesday. And of course marking time until Christmas. I'd kind of like to get this mentality out of my head and just enjoy the next few weeks.

I added $5.43 to the coin jar this morning. I have $44.49 left in checking and $15 in cash until tomorrow. That gives me enough to go ahead and buy the pure maple syrup for DS that we ran out of. I hadn't balanced the check book yet this week and didn't realize there was still that much in there.

Syrup is about $18 or $19 a jug for the kind he uses. He'll be happy to have pancakes again tomorrow morning. I was going to make some homemade syrup but then I got sick and didn't. He's been eating toast with his egg the last three mornings, but he much prefers pancakes and being as I've been buying bread instead of baking it lately, pancakes are much cheaper to make as well, even with the cost of syrup since he doesn't use that much, and the cost of his special bread is $5 a loaf.

*yawns* Okay, I'm going back to bed. Maybe a nap will help fight off this lovely cold DS was so kind to share with me.

I have been taken off my most expensive medicine. The pills cost $150 a month until the deductible is met and $60 a month after, so I had been planning I'd have to have $150 to set aside each month for that come January. But at my appointment yesterday the doctor says I no longer need it. It was planned into the overall HSA money in next year's budget, so it will stay there anyway, but now it can be used for other medical reasons.

This means I am down to two prescriptions that I take daily and one that I take only occasionally as needed. Considering a year ago I was on five, I am very happy.

Also, I added $2.60 to the coin jar.

I deposited $35.50 from my coin jar into the Safety Net (the readily accessible part of my EF) savings account at CU#2 yesterday.

$637.52 Beginning SN
+_35.50 Amount Added
------------
$673.03 Ending SN

This brings the total emergency fund to $3326.11. $173.89 to go to hit my December/end of the year goal of $3500.

I also added $5.13 to the coin jar today.

Stopped to buy milk this morning. I had my coupon from the Organic Valley website (they let you print two a month) so didn't have to pay full price. $5.32. I put the change, $4.68 into the coin jar. I will definitely be making a deposit today. My envelope is so fat with ones I can barely get it closed. I'm starting to think my goal of $3500 in the EF by year's end is going to be too easy to hit. Well, if I do, I guess I'll rethink it.

Mortgage details finally posted to the account and the amount left on the mortgage is $18,833.82. So of the last payment $87.64 is interest and $288.22 is principal. I still remember when those numbers were pretty much reversed and it is much nicer to be on this end of things than they other. It is really tempting to throw an extra $100 to principal every month, but it's the lowest interest rate we have (except the car) and it feels silly to put extra money there. Yet at the same time, it's close enough to being paid off to taste it. *sighs*

I had enough in the coin jar to roll dimes and pennies and combined with my ones I'm over the $30 mark so I have enough to make a deposit tomorrow. It's a self-imposed limit, otherwise I have the mentality to run over and deposit far more often, which isn't worth the gas. I need to go that direction tomorrow anyway, so I'm not even making a special trip. I am confident I will have the EF to $3500 by year's end.

I added $5.67 to the coin jar today. I also spent $14.33 for DH and I to have lunch at Boomers Drive-In. They claim to have the best burgers on the planet. I don't doubt them.

I'll be starting a new no eating out challenge for the next two weeks, as I've been lax on my diet for the last three. I'm still holding at 45 pounds lost but I have a bit still to go and restaurant food is not your friend on a diet.

The new smaller jeans I bought, I am thinking maybe I should have gone down one more size as I had to hitch them up today.

If anyone wants to join me on the challenge let me know and we can root each other on.

I added $4.78 to the coin jar today. Things are moving along nicely for my December/end of the year goal.

Also, we finished the movie on time so $1 instead of $2. Silly thing to be happy about, but, yeah, I'm a goof, so I am. Cute family movie, too. The Zookeeper, if anyone is interested, and rather a minimal amount of bathroom humor for an Adam Sandler production (he's not in it, though, it stars the guy from that mall cop movie).

We got an hour of free music today. DS's friend (the girl he went to the dance with) had a recital at the library so we went to that. I finally got to meet her and her mother. They seem like good people. Never thought I'd meet anyone who had a higher energy level than DS, though, but A does. That should prove interesting.

I had a medical bill come in today so I paid that, $215.00. Ugh. I sent $500 to AMEX and paid the mortgage, $375.86. The mortgage is now officially under $19K now. I won't know the actual number until the payment is reported in the next day or two, but it should be around $18,900 or so, give or take a few dollars.

Interest hit the ING account today, so I added that $3.89 to my Emergency Fund. That brings the total EF to $2809.73. After looking at how much extra I had, I decided to go ahead and put some of it into the Emergency Fund, too. It was $480.88 extra, so that brings the total EF to $3290.61.

My goal for the month of December was originally to hit $3000, so I've blown past that. So I am making a new goal of getting the EF to $3500 by the end of the year. $100 of that will be the monthly deposit so I need to scrape up $109.39 extra to hit that goal. I think I should be fine to do that.

I had originally thought I'd put the money into the January/HSA money fund, but I can hit my goal for that without it, so the EF made the most sense.

I added $9.56 to the coin jar today.

I did a bit of clothing shopping. It's been a very long time since I've bought much in the way of clothing, but since losing the 45 pounds almost everything is too big. I have also been very cold lately to the point that jacking up the heat doesn't help and neither does three blankets on the bed.

So I got a couple of turtlenecks to wear under my nightgown. I also got three chenille sweaters, two zip front and one pullover, and I got two new pairs of jeans in the smaller size. That gives me four pairs of jeans (I had two in my closet from a long time ago). I think this should keep me until spring.

If the turtlenecks don't keep me warm I may end up getting an electric blanket. I don't particularly like using those because I always take water to bed with me and I have a tendency to spill and I'm always worried I am going to shock myself or something. It's getting so that the only time I feel warm is in the car with the heat jacked up or in the shower.

DH bought a new pillow and we got some medicines and a new pair of tweezers and (very bad) four bottles of soda. They were cheap, at least.

I transferred the money from ING to my checking account today for first of the month bills. Of the money I had set aside I still have $648.08 left. I will probably put $200 in the emergency fund and then if I don't need the rest between now and the 16th, I will put what is left into the January/HSA money.

We got paperwork in the mail in case we want to put DH's bonus into his 401K. We don't, it's earmarked for debt repayment, but if they sent him that, it means he is definitely getting one. And also I wouldn't think they'd send out 401K paperwork unless it was a substantial amount to put in there. Two to three more weeks to go to find out just how much it is going to be. I hate living in suspense. But it is at least good news that there will be one.

I just spent the last hour fixing my spreadsheet for my Emergency Fund and Holding Tank money. The last set of updates either didn't save, or didn't get transferred correctly from the laptop that's now in the shop and the one I am currently using.

Thankfully I was able to figure it out by using the numbers I found on my blog. But from now on I'm going to be even more detailed than I currently am, because I didn't quite write out everything and I had to do a little guessing on what I'd set aside some of the money for. It equalled out to the correct amount in the end, though, so I think I am fine.

I have gotten the hang of Open Office and I'm not sure I'll ever buy regular Office again for a computer. Especially since they limit how many times you can install it. I'd still be using a previous version of Office that I own if they'd let me install it more times. It's not like I'm installing it everywhere, I've just had cruddy luck on a lot of my computers in the past. I paid enough for it that I should be able to install it on my laptop when the previous ones break down. But the stinginess of that limit means I will be far less likely in the future to purchase these types of programs from Microsoft. They basically shot themselves in the leg with that one.

Now if I can find a good program for photo editing that is either free or doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I'd be happy. I used to have a good one that I was given for Christmas, but it only runs on Windows ME or previous versions. There's all kinds of incompatibility with anything current.

I balanced the checkbook today, which wasn't hard since I've been doing the math all week instead of leaving it to the last minute.

I am hoping that I won't have to use all of the money that I set aside in the holding tank for first of December bills. I've got over $1000 from the last paycheck and I think I can get away with using only half the money I put in the holding tank and if so, I'll have maybe another $700 to set aside for January/HSA money, which would be really nice. I might put $100 of that $700 into the EF. We will see how it goes.

Well, DH went back to the pharmacy to pick up the other prescription the pharmacist didn't see on the shelf last night and it was free, too. This one is normally $40, so we have definitely hit some sort of cap. Of course, I can't find our medical benefits file. DH had it when we opened the HSA and didn't put it back and doesn't know where he put it. Of course I can find the one from 2010, but that changed so radically this year that I'm not sure it's comparable. Still it did have an out of pocket limit so I'm assuming this one does, too.

DH is trying to find something on the insurance website, but good luck with that. Basically every time he signs into the insurance website, the website waggles its fingers in its ears, sticks out its tongue, and blows us a raspberry. Quite possibly it flips us off and flips us the bird simultaneously as well. Okay, okay, its just very user unfriendly and likes to crash like a toddler learning to ice skate (frequently and without any grace). If it weren't such a good insurance I would be far more cranky about that than I am.

If I could end up having that knee surgery this year, though, that would mean nothing out of pocket and that would be incredibly amazing. I am going to ask them to please find me any time or date before year's end. I will go in on Christmas if I have to, to not have to pay anything for it.

I went to Trader Joe's today and spent $95.44 on groceries and my cart was packed. I haven't done that at any other store in a while. Usually it's half a cart for twice as much money. That left me with $4.56 to put into the coin jar. My end of the year EF goal is definitely in sight.

Okay, this might be my last post for a while. I am taking my computer in to be fixed and I don't know how long it is going to take. Or how willing DH or DS will be to give up their laptop or netbook respectively to let me go online a bit. It's almost worth getting another netbook at this point, as one or the other machine is always a problem and it would be nice to have a cheap spare for backup.

Before I take it in though, I did all the payday financial stuff. I sent $2900 to ING. Of that money $1770.09 is to be set aside for first of December bills. $129.91 goes to the Emergency Fund. $1000 goes to January/HSA money fund.

January/HSA fund money is now at $4483. The goal I've set for that is $6000 so another $1517 to hit that goal. I should be able to do that by the end of the year with no problem.

I added the $129.91 to the EF and also took the coin jar money (added $3 more yesterday) which is $34 and deposited it into CU#2, the Safety Net.

$2134.31 EF at ING
$+671.53 Safety Net at CU#2
---------------
$2805.04 Total EF

I swept past my goal of hitting $2750 by the end of the month and am well on my way toward my goal of $3000 by year's end.

Next week's paycheck will be more than enough to get through the two following weeks with no pay and hopefully half of it will go into the January/HSA money, but I'm not relying on it. It is the small check so usually only between $800 and $1200 depending on if they are taking out medical that week or not. They shouldn't be, but sometimes they take out weird things.

DH said that bonuses will be mailed out after the 15 of December, so we could have it within a week of that. We still have no idea how much it will be, though. And I still kind of half believe it's a fairytale. Oh, well. If it comes it will be a nice surprise.

All right, I'm off to get the computer fixed and stop by the court house to get my temporary disabled parking pass renewed. I can't believe it has been six months already. The doctor has okayed it for another six months. Then maybe by the time it's up, my knee will have completely healed and I won't need it anymore.

I am pretty much basically on autopilot until Friday as far as finances are concerned. And even then, it'll just be setting some money aside for the first of the month bills and dumping the rest into savings. We have moved past living paycheck to paycheck. It is really weird. I know that we aren't that far away from it, maybe a month or so ahead, but having as much money in the bank as we do right now, I don't have that same unsettled feeling in my stomach that I've been living with since the first round of big surgeries started eight or nine years ago and brought with it the debt we have been struggling to get out of ever since.

DH has heard that bonuses will be paid out right around Christmas time, but not the set date. We still don't know how much, but all evidence points to a fairly substantial one, between 5 and 10% of his yearly income. It would be so nice. I know I shouldn't even be thinking about it yet, but I find it is on my mind a lot. I tend to worry about things I have no control over. And anticipate. A lot. I need to stop that, because there is no guarantee of anything in this life, especially end of year bonuses.

At least I know for sure that our tax return next year will be huge, because we maxed out our HSA and we will get all of that back. At least that money I can depend on and maybe dream about a little.

Didn't make it to the CU to deposit the coin jar scrapings. I totally forgot, which is easy enough to do. Maybe tomorrow after I pick up DH from the airport. It's been a month since he's been home. I will be so glad to see him.

...and it's not over yet. I had an appointment this morning with a deep tissue masseuse because my quad muscles are all locked up again and my hip is totally screwed up from all the limping. It helped quite a bit and I am walking a lot better. That was $90.

I also went to the doctor and had an ultrasound treatment done on my leg. Because I'm having an allergic reaction to the tape he's been using to wrap my knee, he suggested I get a regular Ace Bandage (the cloth type and not the rubbery self-adhesive type). I had to look a couple of places. Finally found it at Walgreen's. It was store brand. They didn't even have Ace brand.

And they didn't have it in the First Aid section which is where every other store in the entire universe, including the other Walgreen's in our town, puts it. They, for some unknown reason, put it in the feminine hygiene section. I told the cashier, when she asked if I found everything all right, that I did but it took some looking that it was a stupid place to have it. I can't find what I did with the receipt, but it was $6.31, I believe.

I added $3.50 to the coin jar today. One of those was a found penny. I also had enough quarters for a roll. I've hit $31 in the coin jar so I will try to deposit that in the CU tomorrow. Looks like I'm well on my way to hitting my November goal of $2750 in the EF by month's end.

I nearly wiped out an idiot on a bicycle today. When a van is slowing down to turn right onto a street and has their blinker on, you DO NOT come flying up behind them on your bicycle and try to pass them on the right. That is the height of stupidity and guess what? You will not win. You will also be at fault. More importantly, you will be squashed all across the pavement. Also, your idiocy does not give you the right to then flip off the driver who was obeying the traffic laws and call them a b*tch. You are very lucky you are not dead, Mr. Idiot, because I had no way of seeing you, so get over yourself and go get a book on bicycle safety because you are not smart enough to be operating anything with wheels without a little remedial training. /rant

I just finished doing the last of this month's bills and balancing the checkbook. Nothing else is due until the 1st of December. I have $85.29 in checking and $45 in cash. That should make it through until Friday just fine. I've already bought a gallon of milk for DH who comes home on Wednesday (he drinks 2%, everyone else drinks non-fat) and that should do him until Friday.

So bills paid today:

$300.00 to Mom for utilities
__49.65 Garbage
_757.82 Car payment (plus extra to principle)
__10.56 Medical DD
__10.56 Medical DS
_500.00 BoA CC
---------------
$1628.59

I also transferred $2800.58 to ING

$100.58 to Emergency Fund
$100.00 for Propane to Holding Tank
$100.00 for Property Tax to Holding Tank
+_17.00 for HoA dues to Holding Tank
____________
$317.58

So $2483 goes to the Holding Tank for January/possible HSA.

This brings the portion of the EF at ING to $2003.82 and the total EF to $2641.93. I need to come up with $108.07 to hit my November EF goal of $2750. I think that will be easy to accomplish.

This brings the total in the Holding Tank to $3923.70.

Items in Holding Tank:

$3483.00 Total January/HSA money
___51.00 HoA Dues
__100.00 Property Tax
__289.70 for Propane
------------
$3923.70 Total Holding Tank

Propane money is for the old house. I haven't had to fill the tank since the end of spring as the furnace has not been on and used any propane since then. We are starting to get frosty at night though, so when DH comes home I will have him go out to the old house and turn the furnace on to 55 so that the pipes don't freeze over the winter. I am hoping to get by with the full tank and possibly one more fill up around January or February.

We should be able to save a good portion of the next paycheck for January/HSA money. I think at least half, with the other one going to cover the first week of December bills. Then the next paycheck will be the little one and that one should get us through until the next paycheck in mid-December. We will go a couple weeks without a paycheck because of DH's screwy work schedule, but I don't foresee it being a problem as long as we don't go nuts over Christmas or eat out too much. And if he gets the bonus, then that'll just be gravy.