Interest hit my ING account today. It was $2.56. This is the most I've gotten in interest from ING in months, since April when we had a lot more money in there but then had to pay taxes. I know it's not a lot of money, but last month the interest didn't even hit the $2 mark, so I can be a little bit giddy that it's over two and a half. Keeping the extra $1500 in there for two weeks until it was time to pay this week's bills did make a difference after all. I thought it would be piddly, but it's a bit bigger than piddly. *laughs*

Anyway, I added it to my emergency fund so:

$2048.05 Beginning EF Balance
+___2.56 Interest Added
-------------
$2050.61 Ending EF Balance

I also added $5 in ones to the coin jar. My husband, however, used $1.10 in coins from the coin jar for parking money when he took my daughter to Mind Port, an interactive art museum yesterday. That's not where he's supposed to take it from, but he didn't feel like getting change elsewhere, so it is what it is.

I have eleven ones and a roll of quarters in the coin jar, so I will probably try to get over to CU#2 tomorrow to deposit that $21 into the EF. My goal for the month of September is to get the EF to $2250. One hundred of that is a regular deposit, and the rest comes from coin and dollar bill scrapings and any spare money leftover in the grocery budget. I like the challenge of squeezing out the extra wherever I might.

Edited to add: DH went to the store. While there I called him to pick up some milk for Mom. It was $2.99 so she gave us $3. I added the $3 to the coin jar. I also had .54 in my coin purse I forgot I had, so that got thrown in, too. So that will be at least $24 for the Safety Net if I deposit it tomorrow.

DH spent exactly $42 on groceries, saving $16.08 on sale items.

Today I added $116 to the Emergency Fund. I added it to the ING portion and not the Safety Net portion. I have now met my August goal of $2000 in the EF by the end of the month.

$1884.96 Total EF
+_116.00 Amount Added
__________
$2000.96 Total EF

I added $5 in ones to the coin jar today. That is what I had left from my Fair budget. DH still has some money left from it, too, but I didn't get it before he headed out to the house today to do some yard work.

I put $1600 in the holding tank for the bills that come due in the first two weeks of September (it's a few dollars more than needed, but thought a cushion was a good idea0 and transferred the medical money (or $1750 of it) into regular savings that will go into the HSA as soon as we open it on Monday.

I just need to pay the water bill and take care of the allowances and DH's birthday money and then set aside a bit for groceries and some for physical therapy (I paid the chiropractor already $215) and then I will know how much extra I can send to debt repayment.

The HoA got really snippy and sent out a note that basically said I know you are dealing with ongoing medical problems, and we don't want to make things worse, but get your butt out here and mow your lawn. Yes, HoA, I love you, too. I know they have a point since it has been seven weeks, but they knew we were going to not be able to go out there for a while (and one of the neighbors had volunteered to mow it at least once every two weeks, but apparently didn't) and this is the first weekend since DH got home so we were planning to go out there anyway. Or at least he was.

One of the neighbors complained and I am sure I know which one, too, he is such a busy body and always has been. Of course he also lets his dog run wild and doesn't clean up after her when he takes her for walks, but since he has always been on the board complaining about it never helped anyone. (He does keep his lawn impeccably mowed). The thing is, 90 percent of the people out there do not mow their lawns during the summer. And 50% of the people out there do not pay their dues. We have always paid our dues on time and they waited to send out their note until after we had paid them (so it couldn't have been that urgent).

When I was healthy, of course I would keep it mowed, but they knew I was having surgery and they knew DH wouldn't be able to leave me right after and that he also would be gone an additonal 3 weeks in Alaska, and they said it was okay. Guess it was only okay until someone whined about it. I swear we will never own a home in an HoA again. I still remember when they got after a cancer patient who was undergoing chemo for not keeping her lawn mowed. Sometimes I really dislike the people on the board. They irritate the "heck" out of me.

At least DH will be able to go out every Saturday for a couple weeks and then I should be strong enough to mow the lawn again and it will be September so the grass will start going into its dormant cycle by the end of the month probably unless we have an Indian Summer. I have a little push mower that is very light that I can use once the tall grass has been chopped and it won't hurt to push around at all. Or if it does, it's light enough for the kids to use.

I ran the numbers and figured out how much money I need to set aside for the first two weeks of September when there is no paycheck coming in to meet the bills that come due then. $1574.77, so I'll just round that to $1600. I also need $722 to meet this week's needs and wants (allowances for me and DH, a trip the fair, DH's b'day presents, water/sewer at the old house, and groceries). That'll leave about $1000 to send to debt. I will pay off the MC (again) that we put some money on while we were on vacation and the rest will go to the VISA. I had hoped for $2000 but I always forget things when I try to figure

The next paycheck will be the little one that is usually around $1200 for two days (might be a bit higher with the raise). I think we will likely spend about $500 on school clothes and I need new shoes, too. I've figured out what the kids have outgrown and what they need. I am pretty sure we won't spend all $500, but I'd rather overbudget for it than not.

Out of that $1200 I will send $116 to the EF to hit my goal of $2000 by month's end. I will probably keep out $200 for random expenses (prescriptions, groceries, b'day dinner, one movie, ASB cards, yearbook ($40 now or $60 in June). That should leave an additional $500 leftover to send to the VISA. So a total of $1500 extra this month to debt repayment.

It may not look as good as it actually is since the cost of airline tickets has gone up and we have to absorb that, but we still should have this all paid off by year's end.

Oh, shoot, I always forget something. I left out chiropractor and physical therapy. So...$400 or so for that. Only $1100 extra. Bummer. But still good.

I did the major Costco run and now my pantry and toiletries are fully stocked again. I should be able to go a month without going there again, and then only for toilet paper and lemons (we go through a lot of these to make DS's lemonade). It is nice to see the shelves full. The only thing I did not get was potatoes because they only had the 20 pound bags and they looked like they were starting to sprout. We might be at the point where we can start digging up potatoes, but I still have 1/3 of a 5 pound bag left and several packets of organic potato flakes so it's not the end of the world and I can pick some up (hopefully on sale) at one of the grocery stores soon. I did impulse buy a package of English cucumbers ($3.39), but everything else I bought was on my list.

I also paid bills today. The majority went to BoA. We used our MC on vacation and to pay for the Inn at Virginia Mason which is why I'm listing it again when it was paid off before. This doesn't pay it off, but I will be putting more on it next Friday with that as my intention. I will also be putting more on the VISA.

$1862.10 BoA VISA
$_500.00 BoA MC
$_757.82 BoA car payment ($250 extra to principal)
$__10.56 Medical
$__43.70 Garbage (old house)
$__65.56 Internet
$__44.89 Phone (old house)
---------------
$3284.33

I spent the rest of the grocery budget and close to $100 for toiletries and the megapack of paper towels (18 rolls, I think).

I decided to keep the $40 I still had in my wallet from last pay period and not get anymore cash out for this week and see if I can get by on it.

I did roll a thing of pennies and I had $25 in ones and two fives that I'd squirreled away in the coin jar so I went to CU#2 and added $25.50 to the safety net portion of the EF. That brings the safety net to $389.03 and the total EF to $1884.96. That leaves me $115.04 to scrounge up by month's end to hit my goal of $2000 in the EF.

My first goal for the safety net (which is my easily accessible portion of the EF) is to hit $500 and my second goal is to hit $1000. I figure I probably would not have an emergency bigger than that, and if I did that would give me the time for the transfer from ING back to a local account. I don't have four wheel drive anymore so if I blow a tire I'd only have to replace one, not all four. That was my biggest foreseeable expense before we got this vehicle.

Oh, I bought a Christmas present for DS while I was at Costco today. It seems too early to be buying presents, I usually don't start until October, but this was a good price and something he has wanted for months so I was happy to see it and it can sit in my closet for the next four months. I really should finish knitting his scarf as well.

I did the major Costco run and now my pantry and toiletries are fully stocked again. I should be able to go a month without going there again, and then only for toilet paper and lemons (we go through a lot of these to make DS's lemonade). It is nice to see the shelves full. The only thing I did not get was potatoes because they only had the 20 pound bags and they looked like they were starting to sprout. We might be at the point where we can start digging up potatoes, but I still have 1/3 of a 5 pound bag left and several packets of organic potato flakes so it's not the end of the world and I can pick some up (hopefully on sale) at one of the grocery stores soon. I did impulse buy a package of English cucumbers ($3.39), but everything else I bought was on my list.

I also paid bills today. The majority went to BoA. We used our MC on vacation and to pay for the Inn at Virginia Mason which is why I'm listing it again when it was paid off before. This doesn't pay it off, but I will be putting more on it next Friday with that as my intention. I will also be putting more on the VISA.

$1862.10 BoA VISA
$_500.00 BoA MC
$_757.82 BoA car payment ($250 extra to principal)
$__10.56 Medical
$__43.70 Garbage (old house)
$__65.56 Internet
$__44.89 Phone (old house)
---------------
$3284.33

I spent the rest of the grocery budget and close to $100 for toiletries and the megapack of paper towels (18 rolls, I think).

I decided to keep the $40 I still had in my wallet from last pay period and not get anymore cash out for this week and see if I can get by on it.

I did roll a thing of pennies and I had $25 in ones and two fives that I'd squirreled away in the coin jar so I went to CU#2 and added $25.50 to the safety net portion of the EF. That brings the safety net to $389.03 and the total EF to $1884.96. That leaves me $115.04 to scrounge up by month's end to hit my goal of $2000 in the EF.

My first goal for the safety net (which is my easily accessible portion of the EF) is to hit $500 and my second goal is to hit $1000. I figure I probably would not have an emergency bigger than that, and if I did that would give me the time for the transfer from ING back to a local account. I don't have four wheel drive anymore so if I blow a tire I'd only have to replace one, not all four. That was my biggest foreseeable expense before we got this vehicle.

Oh, I bought a Christmas present for DS while I was at Costco today. It seems too early to be buying presents, I usually don't start until October, but this was a good price and something he has wanted for months so I was happy to see it and it can sit in my closet for the next four months. I really should finish knitting his scarf as well.

Starting on the first paycheck in September DH will have hit the point where they stop taking out social security for the year. That should give us an additional net of $650 a pay cycle. This on top of the raise which gives us an additional $550 a pay cycle means we'll have an extra $1200 every six weeks to pay on either consumer debt or medical debt until January. I am really, really hopeful that means we will be out of credit card debt by the end of the year like our original plan before my medical issues raised their ugly heads again.

I haven't gotten any bills yet from Virginia Mason. I am really wishing that I would start seeing some so I would know how to plan. I get anxious when things are unknown or up in the air. I started going down there in May so I feel like I should have gotten something unless there is going to be some sort of lump sum at the end. But I don't know if this last visit yesterday qualifies as the end or the follow up in a month does. So far I have $2000 set aside for it, but I really want to know what it is going to be.

I actually had them double check that they had my address right in the computer when I was there yesterday. They do. I should have DH check with the online insurance page to see if they've received anything yet. That might give us a ball park.

Today was my daughter's 15th birthday. She wanted pizza so we got a Hot and Ready 3 meat pizza and a few bags of breadsticks and red sauce from Little Caesar's. It was $19.52. The .48 in change was added to the coin jar. My mother made the chocolate cake and frosting off the Hershey's cocoa can. It was very rich. I only had a small piece. It was nicely moist but I can't handle too much chocolate. Everyone else devoured it, but there is still over half a cake left. I've had enough sweets for the week.

I'm still quite exhausted. The trip to Seattle really wore me out yesterday and I've not quite bounced back yet. I hope another good night's sleep will help with that.

The kids walked down to the store to buy some Udon because I got the wrong flavor the other day. We will still use it eventually, I froze it, but we won't put in the flavor packet, we'll use chicken flavored powder from TJ's or maybe just dump tomato sauce on it for poor man's spaghetti. I know people say not to freeze noodles, but I've done it before, just had to make sure the container was completely air tight. It's not exactly the same when thawed but it still is relatively good, IMO.

They also got a bag of chocolate chips for making cookies. I sent them with a twenty and they came back with $12.23. I added $2.33 to the coin jar and put the ten back in my wallet. I've already got $10 in ones in my envelope since Friday, which probably means I've been spending too much. Well, not really because I am within my grocery budget just fine, but it feels like a lot, simply because we went to many different stores.

Anyway, I think I'm going to meet my August goal of pushing the EF up to $2000 by month's end without too much of a struggle.

Somehow or other I messed up on the math on my EF. I'm not sure how, but I ended up with $54.64 more than I thought I had in my Emergency Fund. Maybe I forgot to record a transfer at some point. Still, better I have more than I thought than less than I thought, but I'll try to watch my math better in future.

Anyway, I added $56.50 to the Safety Net portion of the EF. That was the money from the coin jar, plus the money I did not spend in my wallet that I had leftover from the last pay period. That brings the amount at CU#2 to $363.53. I added $100.46 to the EF at ING, bringing the amount there to $1,495.93.

$1495.93 ING EF
+_363.53 Safety Net EF
-------------
$1,859.46 Total EF

I think I will make it my goal to squeeze out enough money somewhere to get the EF to $2000 by the end of the month. I added $2.71 to the coin jar today after grocery shopping, so I'm on my way, bit by bit, step by step.

To my holding tank I added $1000 for medical. I also added $100 there for property tax and $17 for dues.

Bills paid out of this paycheck:

$300.00 utilities to Mom
___9.00 owed son to reimburse for vacation trinket
__36.00 son's 6 week allowance
__65.00 daughter's 6 week allowance
_100.00 cash
_500.00 mortgage on old house
__39.37 security system on old house
_144.00 storage
__41.25 old house insurance
__83.98 car insurance
__37.61 life insurance DH
__32.70 life insurance me
__49.91 propane tank rental old house
_330.57 Laptop (18 months same as cash)
-------------------------
$1769.39

I've got a little over $400 left in checking. Really starting to feel like I'm pulling ahead of the whole paycheck to paycheck thing. It is a good feeling. No credit card payments this time, but almost the whole of next week's paycheck will go to that (and the car payment), so it's all good.

Oh, I paid extra on the mortgage. Like $124 extra to principle. This was because I was so close to being under $20,000 I couldn't stand to not pay the extra to make that first digit a 1.

There's never much to do with finances during the two weeks out of six that DH doesn't get a paycheck. It's always the lull before the storm of payments. Or maybe the one after. But he did have another pile of coins that he left on his dresser to add to the coin jar, so $1.55 went in today. I also rolled coins, one roll of quarters, one of dimes, and one of pennies, so that will be ready to deposit to the Emergency Fund (Safety Net portion) whenever I manage to get to that CU.

The safety net is at $307.03. My goal is to slowly get that portion of the EF up to $500 and then eventually $1000, just with coin jar savings. Of course the bulk of the EF is at ING and gets more regular feedings of larger amounts of money, each month. At least $100 and any more I can scrounge up.

When this new round of medical bills comes through and the last credit card is paid off (hopefully within the next six months), I will be happy to jump our EF savings up to $1000 a month until it gets to where it needs to be. I would ultimately like it at one year's worth of income (not expenses, but income). Once the debt of the credit card is gone, one year's income would be enough to live on for 2 years if something were to happen to DH's job. I don't think it will (or if it did, he'd just move companies again like all slope workers eventually do), but I just want to have it. Having several months of uncertainty last year made me feel like this would be the best course.

I think it would take several years to get it to that point, but like I said it is my ultimate goal, not my immediate one. My immediate goal after everything is paid off is to build the EF to $10,000 and start saving for the new house downpayment. We still have to sell the old house, too. And at the rate we are going fixing it up it won't even be on the market until next summer. Not that I am in that much of a rush. Even with what we might get for it, we will still have to save money for about a year to get the downpayment we want to make.

We probably won't get anything near what the bank ($110,000) or the tax assessor ($115,000) says it is worth. But I would honestly be happy getting what we paid for it back in '98, which was $69,500. That would give us enough money to pay the realtor, pay off the mortgage, and have $40,000 to $45,000 for the downpayment. I honestly just want it to be gone. If someone walked up to me today and offered me $50,000 in cash for it as is with no repair demands, I'd probably take it.

Combined with our mortgage, all the bills related to that house roughly come out to $1000 a month that could be used for other things. Storage, water/sewer, power, phone, security system, insurance, HoA dues, time for maintaining the yard...it could all be used for better things. I know technically I would at least have to pay storage anyway until we move, but I still consider it part of the overall expense of not having our stuff in a house.

Sometimes I wish I had a financial fairy godmother who could come down, wave her magic wand, and everything that needed to be done would be done with no effort on my part. But no one ever gave a beggar a free horse ride, so...bit by bit, step by step, pulling up my own bootstraps and getting us where we need to be is my job. And I'll do it. I will get us there. Eventually.

Back in October when DH was hired at the new company it was mentioned he would likely get a raise in April. April came and went and nothing more was ever said. His paycheck from Friday had that raise on it. It'll be a difference of about $4730 gross a year. That might even be enough to get us back on track after all the new medical spending we'll be doing to get our credit debt paid off by year's end like we originally planned, instead of March or thereabouts. That would be nice.

DH was told back in October when he was hired at this job that he would likely get a raise around April, which would be the six month mark. Then we never heard anything about it again. He's not one to push and since it had never been set in stone he never asked about it, either. Well, on Friday's paycheck that raise finally showed up.

It's an increase to his day rate of $25 a day or about $550 gross every pay cycle, or $4730 gross a year. It's not a ton, but it's far more than I was expecting (which was nothing) and with all the forthcoming medical bills it will help a lot with providing some breathing room. And maybe we can get him started sooner on his next degree via correspondence college. We were planning on that as soon as the credit cards were paid off, but the we thought by next summer because of the medical debt coming up again.

This might even put us back on track for the getting the credit card paid off by the end of the year again instead of by March or so. I'm not really planning firmly. I'm just sort of thinking out loud in print at the moment. I'm too out of it on painkillers from the surgery to really plan anything, but dreaming is good.

I made my coin jar deposit at CU#2 into the safety net portion of the Emergency Fund. The exchange rate was excellent as between my $41 in American and $20 in Canadian, I had a deposit of $60.62. That's almost at par! Anyway that brings the safety net up to $307.03. I also transferred $100 to ING into the Emergency Fund there so my total EF between the two is now $1545.51, so I have hit my goal of $1500 in the EF by the end of August, and a whole month early. My next goal is to hit $2000.

I also paid bills today for the rest of the month. There is nothing else due between now and the 1st.

$__33.08 (4 prescriptions, medical)
$__90.00 (physical therapy, medical)
$___9.38 (walk in clinic, medical)
$_100.00 Cash Out
$__44.89 (phone, old house)
$__37.68 (garbage, new house)
$_125.00 (laptop, 18 months same as cash)
$__65.56 (internet)
$_100.00 Emergency Fund
$1000.00 Holding Tank for Medical
$_757.82 Car payment with an extra $250 to principal)
$_500.00 Holding Tank First week of August bills
------------
$2863.41

The remaining amount of this paycheck will be spent on our road trip for hotels and food and $100 to clothes and toiletries. $1000 of next week's paycheck will be set aside for medical and $200 for groceries.

I'm really starting to feel like we are getting ahead of the game, paying bills early and setting aside money for future expenses. We are still a bit paycheck to paycheck, but I think we're pulling ahead now by a couple of weeks worth of expenses.

Tomorrow is payday and I still had $5 left in my wallet so I put it in my coin jar. I never got around to making a deposit this week, things got a little crazy, so my total deposit tomorrow will be $41, plus whatever the exchange rate is on the two Canadian tens, if they will take them. That will put me right around $1400 in the Emergency Fund. I am going to try to eek out another $100 between now and the end of the month to hit my next goal of $1500.

I decided to go back to January and see how much progress has been made with debt repayment, because sometimes it seems like we are only treading water and sometimes it even seems like we are going backwards a little bit. But the numbers tell the real story.

$38,323.87 owed on personal loan in January.
Paid in full.

$29,133.45 credit card debt in January
$19,976.81 credit card debt owed now
--------------
$_9,156.64 debt paid off since January

$22,326.63 mortgage in January
$20,386.38 mortgage now (guess as it hasn't hit yet)
----------------
$_1,940.10 debt paid off since January

$93,000.00 medical debt (no interest loan from Mom)
$89,000.00 medical debt still owed
----------------
$_4,000.00 debt paid off since January

So grand total is $53,334.61 paid off in the last six months. And even if I take the personal loan out of the equation, because paying that off was a one time windfall, we have still paid off $15,010.74 worth of debt this year, $9000 of it on credit cards, while at the same time paying $3000 to new medical debt with more to come. I need to remind myself of this on occasion when I feel burnt out or like it's not worth it. Putting the numbers in front of my face like that makes me actually see that we have made a major leap forward.

Yes, we still have the van loan which I have not included with the rest of the debt. I look at it in a different way than other debt, as an investment against my disabilities, and it will have lots of money thrown at it in the future when our credit card debt is gone, but it's not something I'm concerning myself with at the moment other than to pay the monthly payments. We plan to keep this car until it falls apart and it can be easily adapted if my knee gets to the point where I'll need to use a wheelchair, which I hope never happens. I still hold out hope for rehabilitation.

If I can continue to pay $2500 a month to credit card debt it should be gone by the end of February. But I still have no idea how much my surgery is going to cost me in the end. Right now I'm guesstimating $5000 based on how much my gall bladder surgery and appendectomy cost, each with one overnight stay. They were around $3000 each for my portion and it's been several years ago. I am guesstimating on the high side because it's been several years and it's at a fancy, name brand hospital. Normally I put $4500 to debt repayment each month, about $3000 of it to credit cards. A part of me is still hoping to do it by year's end, but the more practical, sensible part of me says February/March is a more realistic goal.

I put 28 cents into the coin jar today. I also added the interest from my ING account to the Emergency Fund, which was $1.02.

$1245.47 Starting EF
+___1.02 Interest added
---------------
$1246.49 New balance

Then I sent $100 to ING for the EF

$1246.49 Starting EF
+_100.00 Amount Added
-----------------
$1346.49 New EF Balance

$1500 (my next goal) here I come.

Last night before I went to bed I was nosing through the freezer figuring out what today's lunches were going to be. The kids and I couldn't really come to a consensus of what we wanted so I turned to my stash of homemade TV dinners. I make these up when there are only enough leftovers for one person's meal, as opposed to enough leftover from dinner for everyone to have lunch the next day.

DS happily claimed the little chicken pot pie, DD was thrilled to find a turkey, stuffing, and veggie combo leftover from the turkey we roasted in April, and I discovered a chicken enchilada that was calling my name. It fed our need for variety without having to make up three different things for lunch today.

Breakfast:
Blueberry Muffins (.49)
Scrambled Eggs (free, from chickens)
Beef Bacon ($2)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $3.99

Lunch:
Leftover pot pie (free)
Leftover turkey dinner (free)
Leftover enchilada (free)
Salad (free, garden)
Dressing (.25)
Strawberries ($1)

Total: $1.25

Dinner:
Cheeseburgers
--hamburger ($1.37)
--cheese (.50)
--1/8 cup tomato sauce (.13)
--1/8 cup onion (.25)
--condiments (.12)
--homemade buns (.50)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $4.37

Grand Total for Day: $9.61!

I love it when the cost of leftovers really lowers that daily amount like that. It'll definitely help balance this coming weekend's picnic ham. Today is a no spend day, as well. Tomorrow won't be as I have to get a prescription for DD who is having her wisdom teeth out and I have to pay up front for our portion of the surgery. At least the money is available and it won't have to go on a card. Even last year we might have had to charge it so I am very glad about where we are right now even if it does seem we keep getting battered with medical expenses.

Anyone care to join me on a no eating out challenge? I'm aiming to start tomorrow (Saturday) and go for two weeks without going to a restaurant or getting any takeaway or delivery from one. It's been getting out of hand lately and I'd like to get it back under control.

I've decided to start posting meals and meal costs again because that was such a good tool for me when I was doing it before. DH is away so it's just me and 2 kids and sometimes Mom joining us for dinner.

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs (free from chickens)
pancakes ($1)
Real Maple syrup ($1)
Fresh strawberries ($1)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $4.50

Lunch:
Clam chowder ($1.50)
Chicken Noodle soup ($1.50)
Bananas (.50)
Sweet potatoes (.50)
Fresh cherries ($1.50)
Water

Total: $5.50

Dinner:
Homemade fish sticks
--cod fish ($4.79)
--panko, flour, corn starch, eggs for breading (.50)
Onions and Bell Peppers ($2)
Corn on the cob($2)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $9.79

Grand total $19.79

My goal right now is to keep meals to under $20 a day. Because of DD's pre-diabetes and DS's allergies, I no longer have the luxury of keeping things under $15 a day. And with the rising cost of fresh food due to gas prices I simply will do my best with the sales, buy produce in season, and hope $20 a day will do it. That's about $600 a month. Far cry from the $450 to $500 I was doing, but also still better than the $800 we were spending last year.

I want to sign up with MySurvey and was wondering if anyone here had a referral link, since I might as well help someone else out at the same time. I've been doing two survey companies, but am wanting to get a bit more serious about it. I used to make about $50 a month doing surveys, and it would be nice to have that again going into the EF.

I went to the dentist yesterday and now he's thinking it needs a root canal, so he's referred me to a dentist that does that. Unfortunately insurance will only cover 50%. I also took DD to the oral surgeon yesterday and her wisdom teeth definitely need to come out since they are starting to push on her molars and after all that orthodontic work we don't want it getting wrecked. Plus she's in pain a lot. Insurance will also only cover half of that. She only has two with no sign of any on the top so at least that makes it cheaper. She'll be getting them out on the 22nd.

I haven't decided what I will do about my tooth. It only hurts when I chew, but it is kind of exhausting to only chew on one side of your mouth. I'd like to wait until after my surgery in July but I'm not sure that will be possible. I should probably just go and do it. It doesn't rain but it pours. I'm forecasting our credit card debt payoff as end of February now. It's still less than a year away. We are still making progress, just a bit more slowly and I can live with it.

I added $1.29 to the coin jar yesterday and $4 in ones and 66 cents to it, today.

Another day without much happening. Sometimes I get so bored between paydays. It's like I get a little lift on Friday when I can watch my debt go down, down, down, but then there's nothing intresting with money the rest of the week. And then when Friday comes again, I get excited, because that's one more nail in the coffin of the Evil Empire. If it's like this now, I wonder what it's going to be like when we pay off this last credit card? Of course there will still be the car to finish paying off, and then totally building the EF and short term savings as well.

It's hard for me to keep my enthusiasm high. It's like we created this budget and we're just sticking to it, and everything is planned and set and...I don't know. I don't like being so indifferent between paydays. I suppose it's natural as we've settled into a pattern, but I kind of miss that excitement I started this year with.

I spent $1.95 today so I have $3.05 to add to the coin jar.

Another day without much happening. Sometimes I get so bored between paydays. It's like I get a little lift on Friday when I can watch my debt go down, down, down, but then there's nothing intresting with money the rest of the week. And then when Friday comes again, I get excited, because that's one more nail in the coffin of the Evil Empire. If it's like this now, I wonder what it's going to be like when we pay off this last credit card? Of course there will still be the car to finish paying off, and then totally building the EF and short term savings as well.

It's hard for me to keep my enthusiasm high. It's like we created this budget and we're just sticking to it, and everything is planned and set and...I don't know. I don't like being so indifferent between paydays. I suppose it's natural as we've settled into a pattern, but I kind of miss that excitement I started this year with.

I spent $1.95 today so I have $3.05 to add to the coin jar.

I finally got correspondence from the courthouse today. 4 days before the date of service. Not the greatest way to operate, county of mine. My jury duty has been deferred to 11/28. The heart of cold and flu season. Ah, well. Hopefully by then everything will be resolved with the surgery and if I push vitamins and get plenty of sleep next November I'll actually be well and in the right place in my healing to do it this time. At least DS will be in middle school then and DD can walk over there after the high school lets out and walk him home (or hop on the city bus) if DH is in Alaska then or Mom can't pick them up.

My flu is finally going away. I woke up today feeling about 80% decent. Still a ton of congestion and drainage, but no brain fog at all, no joint or muscle aches, no chills, no headache. Still have a fever of 99.5 and still pretty tired (but more of a general tired than the I need to sleep for a week and that still might not be enough tired), but feeling much more capable of actually living my life.

I went to the dentist today, another finally. I haven't been since 2008. Which was incredibly stupid but it was impossible almost when I was still homeschooling and living in the county to go. I should have at least got in there in September when the kids started school. Better late than never I suppose. Unfortunately I have 2 cavities. I haven't had a cavity in about 15 years. Darn it.

Anyway, they are going to do some major cleaning and fill the cavities in three weeks, both while under ansethetic because a couple of teeth in the back have some serious issues. Nothing that can't be fixed, but it will be painful without anesthetic so the dentist figured he could kill two birds with one stone. I really like him. This is my first time with him though DH and the kids have been going to him and his wife for a couple of years now.

They gave me an estimate of my portion of the dental bill for when I have that done. It'll be just shy of $367. Well. I'm definitely going to have to hold back some of the money I was planning to send to Master Card after all. So be it. At least I will have the money to pay it and not have to charge it. Or maybe part of the VISA payment. Yeah, actually, that's a better idea. DH only made minimal charges on the VISA this month. If I pay what he charged plus the interest, plus $100 extra to principle, I should have about $500 (out of the normal $1000 paymetn) I can spend on medical/dental instead.

Why didn't I think of that before? Then I can go ahead and pay off the Master Card in April just like I planned. Then things should really ease up. We'll have debt left only on the VISA.

I'm making spaghetti tonight with my special homemade sauce. Mom's providing hamburger, though probably just the kids and her will eat that. I tend to get pretty filled up on my spaghetti sauce and noodles without protein. I generally don't like to eat such a carb heavy meal without protein to balance it, but I had a very protein heavy brunch today and I'm not sure I could face a hunk of meat tonight to be honest.

I'll try to get back to meal planning for real this weekend. Since I'm squeezing an extra $100 out of the grocery budget to set aside for medical, I really need to be on the ball with it this month.

I went over to the CU that has the kids' accounts today and deposited $5 in each of their accounts. My daughter's account was in danger of becoming dormant and being closed and sent to the state so I needed to put something in it to make it active. I put an equal amount in my son's account to be fair. He's the saver of the two kids so his account was still active. He's saving up for the new Nintendo 3DS. All of his allowance and most of his recycling money.

That's also where the laptop fund is so I added the shampoo rebate check and the propane rebate check to that account. I also got it set up again so I can do it online. That way when it comes time to make a payment on the laptop I can just go online and transfer the money from savings to checking.

I finally found where DH put the packaging for the Brita stuff and got the two UPC codes so I can send in that $10 rebate tomorrow. That will eventually go to the laptop fund, too.

Payday tomorrow. I need to finish setting up this month's budget spreadsheet. It'll be nice to actually start paying on some stuff again after this two week pause. Geesh, I never thought I'd be excited to pay bills, but this is a big month for us.

It's hard for me to focus on finances right now. All updates from my friend's family have her still listed as missing. I did find her facebook page (didn't think she had one), but no news yet and google's people finder has her listed as missing. But I do know that I can't allow myself to slip up on finances even though there is a giant knot in my stomach.

So...turns out that new prescription isn't covered by my insurance. They didn't deny it, they just don't cover it. Weird. But it's very expensive. $150 for 30 pills. I do have a $25 off coupon, but still. Ouch. And I can sign up to receive more coupons from the company, but still that only brings it down to $125. I am hoping I won't have to be on it very long and can stop taking it after the surgery and also that I can get samples of it from my regular physician since it is so pricey. The pharmacy doesn't even have it. They will have to order it. I'm glad I have samples.

The payment I made to BoA VISA posted this morning and it's back under $20,000 at $19,687.44. So there was a bit of progress made there. I made a payment of $1300 to the BoA Master Card today which will bring it down quite a bit. $84.23 went to interest so subtracting that out should bring the balance to $3260.27.

$24,238.69 previous BoA credit card balances
-22,947.81 new BoA credit card balances
------------
$1290.88 went to Bringing Down the Evil Empire

From now on there will be a lot more progress made each month, though. I thought I would have to wait until May to pay off the MC but I'll be able to get it paid off in April, so only one more month. Yay! Then the whole amount can go to the VISA from May on. That means I should have it paid off in November and not December like I thought. Although I don't know what the surgery is going to cost, but it's probably at least the amount of one VISA payment. So maybe I should stick with December.

I still need to do the rest of the bills for this paycheck, and will probably get that done tomorrow.

Money spent on prescriptions today was $60.25. We got a XL pizza from Round Table for $27.11. DH picked up DS's big b'day present for $65.43. I think that's it.

I use a credit monitoring service for various reasons (not the least of which is that I had my wallet stolen in the early 90's and so I'm a trifle paranoid about keeping an eye on things). Anyway, the new monthly report came out and my credit score has gone up 12 points! From 780 to 792! Finally, things are shaking out from the big payoffs we've done so far this year.

I was a little worried that taking on the 18 months same as cash financing for the laptop would muck things up, but it appears to have actually helped. Or else they've just finally caught up with everything that's been paid off.

My goal is to get it back up over 800 (it's been at 803 in the past so I know it's possible), by the time we are ready to purchase a new (to us) car and a new house. Seeing something positive like this is renewing my determination to get this debt gone by year's end. And to stop looking at and being tempted by pretty Siennas.

Today is payday and I’m really happy with how things shaped up.

$1000 to BoA VISA. This is the second payment this month and this one goes completely to principle since the one I made last week was to cover all of DH’s work travel expenses and the monthly interest charge.

$1000 to Mom’s 0% interest loan, dropping the amount we now owe her to $91,000.00. We have 7 years and 8 months’ worth of payments to go. We have paid off $19,000.00 so far. This was originally all medical debt.

$300 to Mom to help her with utilities.

$34 to the EF and $1 to the holding tank since the electric bill for the old house was $1 less than I’d budgeted for. That brings the holding tank to $204.30 and the EF to $7468.65, with $1000 of that in the safety net at the local CU and the rest in ING.

$20 for the electric bill at the old house

$212.66 for term life insurance for me and DH, house insurance on old house, and car insurance

$39.37 security system on old house

$131 to storage

$200 to AMEX

$375.86 to mortgage on old house

$407.75 on propane

I have a couple hundred left for groceries and miscellaneous items for the week. I doubt I will spend it all. Any extra will go to the laptop fund. I did spend $60.11 on Chinese food from the no MSG place. I got enough to have several meals out of it so I don’t have to cook while I am still so sick. I really wish this cold would leave. I am just too out of it to cook like normal. I hate spending that much money but it’s good food with lots of veg so I don’t feel too bad about it.

Out of next week’s payday I will pay an additional $500 to AMEX, $500 to the holding tank for medical, $124 to renew AAA, $1000 to the EF and $1000 to the holding tank for the two week period of no paycheck. There should be about $600 left and $300 of that will go to the property tax portion of the holding tank, $100 to the laptop fund, $100 for groceries and $100 for miscellaneous. If there is anything beyond that it will go to the laptop fund. The payday after that, which is only two and a half day’s pay will also be for stretching across the two week period of no paycheck.

I took back the 3 cans of chicken and rice soup I bought on Tuesday by accident and got 3 cans of chicken and stars soup in exchange. The price had dropped 10 cents a can on the new sale week, so I got 30 cents back in change. Also at the Chinese place the lady didn’t want to use so many pennies by giving me back the 14 cents she owed me so she gave me 15 cents instead, so that’s a total of 45 cents to the coin jar today. I also grabbed some penny wrappers while I was at the CU paying the mortgage, so I can roll coins today and add that to next week’s laptop fund deposit.

All in all a satisfying payday and I can’t wait until next week when everything posts and I can update my numbers again and see some real progress this time.

Oh, and DH has heard from three different people, one his direct supervisor that he’ll be getting a raise in April at the six month mark. It will add $525 to his gross income for a six week pay cycle if the amount he was told is correct, so I’m thinking we will at least get $400 of it and that can go to debt repayment probably. If I’ve done the numbers right, with that extra amount we should hit the end of the year no problem with having BoA paid off completely. I’m not counting it yet, though, in my budget. It’s one of those things where I’ll believe it when I see it.

The BoA VISA should now have a little over $3000 between what we owe and what the limit is on it, so with that cushion there I am going to now switch to paying only $1500 on the BoA VISA each month (expenses, plus interest, plus about $100 to principle) and take the extra $1000 and add it to the $400 payment we make on the BoA Master Card. That will pay it off by the end of May and then we’ll be able to pay $2900 to the VISA each month until it is paid off. I may try to scrape up an extra $100 each time to make it $3000. We’ll see what’s available.

Once that is done the money will then go to finish paying off the car, unless DH talks me into trading in the Matrix for a Sienna sooner than we planned.
If we stick to the plan, we should be out of debt, except what we owe to Mom, by the middle of 2012, possibly sooner if he gets the raise.

Mom doesn’t want us paying her back any faster than $1000 a month because she is using that to supplement her income from social security (and saving as much of it as she can for the future). She likes having it come in steadily and our system seems to be working for everyone.

Edited to add: I was cleaning out an old purse and found $1.95 in coins. I then rolled coins and I have $7.50 to add to the laptop fund.

$467.94 beginning laptop fund balance
$=07.50 amount added
---------------
$475.44 ending laptop fund balance

Everything that was paid last week has finally been posted to all accounts so I can finally do an update.

$20,895.77 BoA VISA
$+4,342.92 BoA MC
---------------
$25,238.69 Total Debt owed to the Evil Empire


$25,561.64 Previous Total Debt owed to the Evil Empire
-25,238.69 Minus New Debt
------------
$00,322.55 Difference paid off

Yeah it doesn't seem like much when you put it like that, but we are making an additional payment of $1000 and this time all of it will be going to paying off old debt. Because we use the one card for airfare and work travel expenses, which are around $1000 per pay cycle and the interest on the one card is around $400, most of that $1500 payment I made goes to that with just about $100 going towards old debt. This $1000 will all go towards paying down old debt and not the newly incurred stuff. The other 222.55 was paying down the MC which after this month will have no new charges being made on it. It'll be under $4000 after next month's payment. By the end of March the VISA will be firmly under $20,000 I believe.

DH checked for me and the amount still owed on the car is $16,346.70, so next month's payment should bring it down under $16,000.

The mortgage is down to 21,778.32. It has dropped by $274.78. Over 2/3rd of our payments are going to principle now and less than 1/3 to interest. If we were still living there I'd probably be pushing it a lot harder than I am. I figure it'll get paid off in the eventual sale of the house and it's not one I stress on.

Aside from the money we owe to Mom, every acount has gone down since last month. Her money comes out Friday and then we'll se another good drop in total debt owed. I'll right that all up nicer than this once that goes through.

Thanks to Laura I learned about a food program that amazon.com has for shipping you food and if you take out a subscription for it, you get 15% off the purchase price. And if you buy more than $25 worth you can get the free shipping. Of course they then wanted me to apply for their credit card and get $30 off as well, but I'm not at the point in my life where I have any intention of adding another credit card into the mix.

Anyway the choices of subscribing had a six month option and could be cancelled at any time so I went ahead and clicked the six month option. I will be getting 12 boxes of a gluten-free, organic, hamburger helper type (but healthier) lasanga dinner. They stopped carrying this particular brand around here. I figure if we go through it faster than six months we can switch to three months and if we don't go through it as fast as I think we will, I can just drop the subscription.

Anyway, I paid $34 for it, which is $2.83 a box. This stuff cost $4 a box when the stores around here still carried it. So, add in the cost of a pound of hamburger (2.29 usually here on sale) and I've got a filling dinner for 4 for $5.12. Add a veg and it goes up a buck. Not bad for something super fast and easy to make. It's good to have back up items like this when I don't feel like making a real effort to cook.

I also ordered a cookbook as a birthday present for me. B&N didn't have it when I went in there before my birthday. Just as well. The price from amazon was $18.79. When I bought it at Christmas as a gift for my neice it was $30. It would have been worth paying that, though. It's a really excellent book that tells all about the ingredients and covers dozens of proteins and hundreds of fruits and veg, as well as having recipes for the items. It's a real learning tool for a cook and the pictures are amazing. I got free shipping on that as well.

Then I ordered a replacement copy of a novel of mine that DH took on an airplane two years ago and left behind. It's out of print now, but I was able to find it new on half.com for $9 plus $3.99 shipping from someone with 100% positive feedback. I'm considering that my b'day present, too, even though it's technically not.

I'll need to set aside the extra money for the AMEX when it comes due. I put a notation in the budget. I've been working slowly to get the budget set up so that it covers extras like this, and put on two columns as holding tank in and holding tank out, to keep track of any extra money in each category and when it's paid out. The holding tank will be saved in the same savings account as the safety net. For now, anyway. I may switch it over to the laptop fund account once I reach my goal there, just to keep it away from the easily accessible portion of our EF money.

I was running numbers last night and once the credit card debt is gone, we will have $4000 a month just to put to saving up for a downpayment on a house. That's $96,000 after two years, assuming all goes well. Add that to whatever we sell the house for and we'll have a pretty substantial downpayment. As much as I'm going to want to rush to get out of here once the debt is gone, after running the numbers it makes so much more finanacial sense to wait two more years. We're probably looking in a price range of $350,000 max and I'd like to not carry more than a $150,000 mortgage. I know it might be closer to $200,000, but hopefully we'll find something closer to the lower end of our price range and not the higher one.

We also want to buy a mini-van in 2013. Hopefully a 2011 Toyota Sienna because they meet all of our needs and are so nice. They are too expensive brand new, but the price drops substantially on two year old vehicles. We definitely want the new redesign though, so a 2011 car in 2013 will be just right. We'll have $10,000 saved by then for a downpayment and we'll have a decent trade in and we're used to paying almost $500 a month on the car anyway, so if we can get around that on financing the rest (probably 15 to 20,000 depending on mileage), we'll be in a good place for it. By then our FICO should be back over 800, which makes low interest rates our friend.

After that there will be at least $2000 a month going into a college fund. Her school of choice is the local U and it, at the moment, costs about $7000 a year (including books and fees) for a local student living at home. After a year of saving we'll have $24,000 set aside right as our daughter is starting college. I'll keep adding to it. Fortunately our children are four grades apart so she will graduate college in the summer that my son will start in the fall. Hopefully they can both get scholarships, too. DD is on honor role as a freshman and DS is testing well above fifth grade level despite his behavioral issues. So it's a possibility. I want nothing to do with student loans or having my kids start out their lives with the debt they cause.

The $50 from the Verizon refund hit the account today. I had thought they were going to send a check, but apparently because we autopay out of our bank account each month they were simply able to deposit it back to our checking account. We weren't supposed to see that until next week sometime.

The $218.18 refund from overpaying the interest on the BoA Gold Star Loan however, which was supposed to be in our account "no later than Friday," did not arrive. Stupid Evil Empire. It will probably show up on Monday. I won't be withdrawing the $50 until Monday anyway so it's not that big a deal. Hopefully it will be there then.

I got my Costco AMEX rewards check today and took it to Costco to cash since I had to run out that way anyway and buy butter. This is the first time I've done this. I've only had the card for a little over a year. It was for $143.61. I threw the 61 cents into the coin jar along with a dime I found on the floor at Costco. The $143 will go into my laptop fund along with the $50 on Monday. I rolled the coins in my coin jar and have $13 for deposit to the laptop fund as well. I need to remember to get penny wrappers because I have a few dollars in pennies but nothing to roll them in.

$218.94 laptop fund balance
$050.00 Verizon refund
$143.00 AMEX cash back
$+13.00 rolled coin
--------------
$424.94 new laptop fund balance

I am halfway there, just have to put the money in the proper CU on Monday.

I had originally planned to put the BoA refund into the laptop fund as well, but have decided to use it on the MC instead because it was originally allocated for paying debt and it should go back to that. It's not like I'm going to buy the laptop before we pay our taxes in April anyway.

I am waiting for the rest of my World Points to hit my account at the end of February and then I will have enough points to cash out for a $250 refund. We have had this card for years and I had never really looked at our points balance before. I didn't even know it had a cash back system, I thought you could just get "stuff." But you can get cash, and we have 25,000 points so I will do that as soon as we can. That money will go to pay on a credit card also, so an extra $468.18 will go towards paying off the Evil Empire between this month and next.

Now for today's meal planning (I think I am going to stop listing prices at the end of February. I pretty much have a handle on the grocery budget now).

Breakfast:
Homemade sausage patties ($1)
Cucumber slices ($1)
Milk (just the kids)($1)
Total: $4

Lunch:
DD
Organic deli meat sandwich on homemade bun ($1.75)
Apple (.50)
Homemade cookies (.25)
$2.50

DS (was sick, ate with grandma)
Free

Me
Roast beef panini with tomato, lettuce, onions, mayo ($3.99) I bought it premade from the store. I was being lazy. Still it is better than McD's
Homemade coleslaw (.25)
Total Lunch $6.74

Dinner:
1 can green beans ($1)
Leftover Meat (me)(free)
Leftover baked potato soup (kids)(free)
Quesadillas made with leftover chicken (free), tortillas, and cheddar cheese (just for the kids) (.80)
Mozzarella (me)(.50)
Milk (kids)($1)
Total Dinner: $2.30

Total food: $11.54

My stomach was rebelling against milk today so I just drank water and had a string cheese for calcium.

Today was definitely a spendy day. We spent $40 for the Harry Potter exhibit at the science center. We spent $90 at Red Lobster, but will each get a second meal out of it and this was only one out of two meals out for the six week pay cycle. And my daughter got two pairs of jeans and a really nice set of boots. I hadn't planned on the boots but they were on sale marked down to $19.96 from $49.50 and since she has no dress shoes and they were in her size, 13W, it felt like a really good choice to make. She needed new jeans in a smaller size because she's lost some weight and her old ones were literally falling down. In total we spent $81 on her clothes.

Also a tank of gas to drive to Seattle and back so that was $28.09. Will have to fill it up again tomorrow.

For the new pay cycle my goal is to eat out only twice during the six weeks, but have the amount spent be $60 which will be half of this pay cycle's amount.

I rolled up the rest of the coins in my coin jar, at least until I ran out of penny wrappers. I think there are at least 200 pennies left to do. DH went ahead and took the rolled coin to the CU. It was the wrong CU, but oh, well, I'll get it back tomorrow in dollars and take it over to the right CU, along with the $45 I've squirreled away for my new laptop fund. Come to think of it, there is money in the checking account over there, too. I think I'll add that to my fund as well.

$42.47 opening balance
$63.00 rolled coin
$45.00 squirreled money
$63.47 checking money
-------
$218.94 total laptop fund

I'm about 1/4 of the way there. Yay!

The payment I made online last week for the interest that came through after we paid off the big loan didn't go through and now it's not letting me access it. Every time I click on the link it takes me to our VISA instead. Fortunately the statement came in the mail today so I just wrote out the check and DH took it down to the bank when he picked up DD from high school, so that is taken care of. That was $218.18. So that should see the last of the loan. If they try to slap us with anymore interest charges I will be annoyed. The previous amount was supposed to be the payoff amount so that this wouldn't happen in the first place.

Other than that we spent no money today, although we did spend $133 last night on new clothes for the kids. My son has grown two inches since school started and my daughter has lost enough weight that all of her clothes are super baggy on her and she was constantly hiking her jeans back up. Not too bad for ten articles of clothing.

Meal planning for tomorrow:

Oatmeal ($1)
Eggs (free, chickens)
Milk ($2)
Canned peaches ($1)
Total: $4

Lunch:
2 Kids--school
PB&J sandwiches (homemade bread, homemade jelly) ($1)
Carrots (.50)
Baggy potato chips (.50)
Baggy Natural Cheetos (.50)
Yogurt ($2)
Water

2 Adults--home
1/2 a leftover cheeseburger (free)
2 leftover chicken legs (free)
oranges ($1)
leftover potatoes (free)
Yogurt ($2)
Water

Total: $7.50

Dinner:
Spaghetti ($1)
Homemade sauce consisting of one onion (.75), 2 cans tomato sauce ($1.50), 1 6 oz can tomato paste (.50), 1 can diced tomatoes ($1), garlic (.25), and herbs (.50)
Homemade Texas Toast ($1)
Milk ($2)
Dinner: $7.50

$19 for the tomorrow's food, not bad. Probably the best since I started keeping track.

I rolled up the coins in my coin jar and ended up with $53.50. And then my son asked, "What about the other coin jar?" and pointed to one on a different shelf. It was a mayo jar and it was half full. I wasn't about to count up any more coins at that point though, so hopefully I'll get to later tomorrow (well, technically today). That all goes to the laptop fund.

Made it through another day of no eating out. Meal planning is really working for us. So Sunday's meal plan for the four of us will be:

Breakfast:
Chicken sausages with sundried tomatoes and provolone ($4) and homemade biscuits (.50), sausage gravy (.25) and milk ($2), so $6.75 total

Lunch:
Club sandwiches (homemade whole wheat bread (.25), tomato (.90), lettuce (.30), bacon ($2), roast beef ($2), ham ($2), turkey ($2), condiments (.25)
Cucumbers ($2)
Oranges ($2)
$13.70 total

Dinner:
Pork Chops ($4)
Potatoes ($1)
Green beans ($1)
Carrots ($1)
Milk ($2)
$9.00 total

Lunch is a little pricier than normal since the meat is all nitrate free, but it's also something we can make easily with a toaster and microwave. On Sundays we can't use the stove to cook at lunchtime because Mom has a Bible study meeting in the kitchen during that time (started when she couldn't get out to go to church due to her fall and she just continued it afterwards because it was easier) and our wing of the house doesn't have a stove. Usually I put something in my crockpot and make instant potatoes and veg in the micro, but we are out of pot roasts and picnic hams. Still, it's far cheaper than the old option which was grabbing meals at McD's ($25 for four of us) or Olive Garden ($75).

I have enough lunch meat to make it through the next three weeks of school sandwiches in the freezer, so my goal for the next 3 weeks is to not buy any new meat. We have all kinds of chicken, hamburger, beef stew meat, steaks, lamb, and a turkey in the freezers so we are going to work on getting that down. For all I know there are some pot roasts buried in the bottom of the chest freezer. I even have three bags of shredded turkey leftover from Thanksgiving that could go in enchiladas. Maybe DH and I should make an inventory of what we have in the freezers. Maybe in the cupboards, too. I'm forever buying stuff and coming home to put it away only to realize I already had some.

If all I have to buy in the next few weeks is milk and fruit and veg, it should give me substantial grocery savings to bank. Quite frankly, we could probably go six weeks without buying any meat, but I like having a bit shorter goals than that. I can always add on to the end of it.