Just Some Thoughts

I can add to Frustration Factor 2b later, as they say, The Beat Goes On. I went away for the weekend to see some freinds and at least the 5 hour car ride gave me some time to think and think about my situation. But just some other random observations of my weekend

I budgeted $160 for personal shopping this weekend. It is pretty much my clothes budget until mid winter. I was in an area of great outlet stores. I don't have all my recipets here, but pretty much this is what I ended with: 2 pairs of shoes which can be worn year round (and one pair is soooo comfy) $90, 2 skirts (ended up being 70% off), 2 shirts, 1 pr new sunglasses and one new tote bag $80. I think I went over my budget a bit, the shoes were a tad more expensive than I normally pay, but they are both comfortable and can be used year round. Both pairs are replacing two very old pairs of shoes, the sunglasses replacing a pair that are too scratched to really see out of (and i did buy an inexpensive eyeglass case to protect this pair) 1 shirt I may be returning, I got home and went to put it in the closet and thought, hum, I really don't like you all that much. That may drop me back to my budge range.

The good part was I stopped shopping after I scored the two skirts on the big sale. The skirts were on my list of things I needed. I got them, I stopped shopping. The old me would have tried one more store.

Just like going to the grocery store, keeping to a list was very helpful. :)

Frustration Factor 2

I called my attorney's office today and finally got a hold of the paralegal doing my filing. She now tells me that she can't accept my faxed copies of items I sent early last week and I need to give her all the originals. Two weeks ago, she told me faxed copies were fine, she never told me the copies did not scan well. Now I totally understand they moved offices last week and moving is difficult enough, but still, she has my home, work and mobile numbers, what the F&(C()?

UGUGHG

I am very frustrated for a couple reasons

1) I used this particular law firm because I have used them in the past. I used the other partner for both my personal real estate transactions and my office has used the firm. No complaints, very prompt, very efficient. Not the case with this attorney and his paralegal in the firm.

2) They were not cheap compared to other attorneys, but I was relying on my past experience with this firm for prompt professional service and telling me what I needed to do and when, that has not happened at all. I can't help myself unless I'm told things.

3) Time is of the essance and time is slipping away. I had the majority of my paperwork into them by the beginning of June. I was told at the end of June/beginning of July that the process was started, but both the attorney and paralegal would be on vacation for 10 days. No problem. I was told all I needed to get to them was my CMA on my house and a copy of my retirement account statement. It did take longer than anticipated to get the CMA, a freind of mine did it for me as a favor and that took a few weeks, but this is just making me crazy.

I feel like I am being stymied at every turn this week. I am desperaterly trying to move forward, make concrete plans and get my life back on track.

The realization here is the court could tell me I need to sell my house, or sell it out from under me (I hope not, I pay less in my mortgage for my small house than most people pay in rent and I can have my dogs), I could be ordered to dispose of my retirement account. I have no other asessts other than those two items.

These things scare me, scare me a lot. When I had my second consultation with said firm, they pretty much assured me that the court would probably let me keep my house as I've been able to afford it, was not behind on my mortgage and my income showed I could keep making the payments. The way this is being handled does not thrill me, impress me or instill any sort of confidence in this whole procedure.

I can't cry, I'm at work, I can't scream, I'm at work. I will probably go home and eat my way through this. No wonder I have to buy new pants.

I feel like it is three steps back and no steps forward this week.

Progress and Update

I'm a bit turned around this week,not posting as I should, but an update non the less~ due to two small checks coming in the mail, I have been able to update my progress. I've added the money from the extra work to the appropriate account. Nice to see it increase. I need to add in my Student Loan (yes I'm STILL paying off student loans.) to my side bar.

I did price computers on line today. My boss said I could have one of the monitors from the office (15 inch flat panel). That will save me some money. I built a basic computer on line and it went form $399 to $700 by the time I added in the software that I need and that was without the monitor.

I paid my bills for the first part of the month (student loan, phones, electric). I wondered why my electric bill was so high, then I realized because of my (now former) messy desk, I did not pay the July bill. Even with running an AC, my August bill was comparable to last year. I am curious to see what the bill will be for September. I also went around and unplugged all the unneccessary electronics and am curious to see if there is a change in my rate.

September Goals

I guess what I have learned this weekend between my grocery shopping and my weekend that I tend to justify too many purchases and I have to work on these "treats" and budget better. That will be one of my September goals

September Goals

1) Stop justifying purchases as treats. Examine why I feel the need to treat myself with various purchases and work on it!

2) Be better about planning and budgeting. The budget needs to be worked on.

3) Get that pay per post up and running and ad-sense up and running on my blog.

4) Seek a part time job and ear mark that money for an emergency fund and new to me car fund.

As I pointed out earlier, I spend about $25 on things I really did not need or want. That is $25 that can be put to better use (student loan, utilities, car fund) and I have to work on my impulse and then justify spending the money. Can't keep doing it, it is distracting from my monetary goals.

I'm all for a treat to oneself. Even when someone is on a budget, a little treat or indulgence is good for the the soul, but my treat to myself this moth is going to be going outlet shopping next weekend. I have budgeted money for my weekend trip away. I am visiting friends this upcoming weekend and they live in a town with some great outlet stores. I know what stores are there, many of them have good deals and after assessing my wardrobe, I need a couple items (socks, underwear, shoes, a couple items of clothing) that I can't get at the thrift shop or consignment shop. I will take cash out of the bank on Thursday and use only cash (not my debit card) to purchase those items. The old me would have used my credit cards and said budget be dammed. I know in an earlier post I went through a needs and wants list and really needed very little (slippers) but that was before I did a purge of my wardrobe. I'm lucky that I work in an office where I can be casual, but even my casual wardrobe is starting to look shoddy. A few key pieces are what I need and I have my list written down and already in my wallet for the shopping expedition.

I guess my question to folks is. 'What do you do to stop the urge to buy or justify a purchase when working on a budget"?

Given my predicament, I'm trying not to drift back into my old spending habits. And it's hard.

Where Does $100 Go?

On Friday I got out $100 to have as my spending money for the weekend and upcoming week. This is how it broke down

$9.85-drug store

$10.30-take out food (ate left overs for Saturday lunch)

$6.30-alcohol

$2.00-lotto (hope springs eternal!)

$13.50-plant

$3.00-fresh corn

$5.50-laundry

$17.50-odd lots store

$5.30-DIY store odds and ends

$6.50-grocery store

$5.00 Braclet

Total: 84.75

I was too tired on Friday to cook (and this seems to be a recurring theme on Fridays), so I ordered in some food from the local pizza place. There was enough to have the leftovers for lunch on Saturday. I also got a 6 pack of beer that has lasted the weekend (A cold beer with my picnic supper on Sunday was part of the perfect meal). I'm finding that my Friday routine is stopping off for a bottle of wine or some beer and ordering a takeaway meal when I have a fridge full of food.

I had a day out with the girls on Saturday to the local garden center and I bought a plant for my garden. I had weeded my gardens and had a gaping hole in the flower bed by the front gate. I read some where that you should always grow lavender by your garden gate and I saw this great big healthy plant and treated myself to this. Could I have passed on this plant, probably, but the garden looks better and I feel better and the lavender has a heavenly smell.

I'm looking over the receipt from the odd lots store and as I look over it, it's is the one purchase I should have just not made. I decided to try out this particular odd lots store (the one closer to me is very small and sometimes does not have great inventory) to see if this one was better stocked. It really was not. I wasted my time, gas and money. I wandered the isles and bought things for the sake that I did not want to walk out of the store empty handed. There were only two things I really needed to get (a disposable pan for a pot luck picnic I'm going to next weekend 89 cents and a new pair of gardening gloves $5). I had also been looking for a citronella candle (still a bit buggy at night and I sit on my patio), but none to be had, too late in the season. I ended up spending $12 on items I really did not need and did not want. And I'm down $12 of my mad money cash.

Weekend Update

I ended up having a good weekend of not doing a whole heck of a lot. It's has been almost a year since I have had three full days off at home. I got my desk cleaned off, organized some files, picked out a couple books to sell on half.com, got my laundry done, did my food shop for the first part of the month. I will say that the grocery shop was more money than I thought it would be, I spent $57 on groceries and almost spit when I forked over the money. That was just over one third of my monthly food budget on the second day of the month. I looked at the receipt when I got home and almost everything I bought was store brand, which is fine and I got a number of staples that I was out of at the house. I did buy four 'expensive' items, a package of two steaks (but with a $2 off coupon), couple pounds of ground beef, a bunch of pencil thin asparagus, chopped walnuts and fresh grated cheese.

I used the walnuts and grated cheese to make pesto this weekend. My basil plants are perfect for pesto and I made two batches to freeze. I sort of choked when I realized the grated cheese was $7 (and not even a full pound) but fresh cheese is key in pesto. I love making things like pesto and even thought the basic ingredients were a bit pricey, come the middle of the winter, the taste of summer will be worth it. The steaks were a steal. Two nice steaks that I can grill and make two meals out of each one (dinner and then leftovers for a sandwich or on my salads). I also got enough burger to make 7 burgers, that are pre-formed and neatly wrapped in my freezer waiting to be grilled for suppers. I will admit, I love a good burger. The asparagus was a pure impulse buy and treat to me.

I did splurge yesterday and make a grand picnic supper, steaks, local tomatoes with fresh basil and onions, asparagus, local corn, steamed broccoli and some hollandaise sauce. The corn, onions and tomatoes I got at the local farm. I picked up some decent looking broccoli from the reduced produce isle at the store and I had a grand time cooking the meal. If I tried to make this meal, I probably would have had made a mess out of it. I had enough food to feed at least two people and the good part is I get to have the leftovers I want to eat.

The trip to the Laundromat ended up being a money saver. The dog decided that it would be FUN to pee on my bedding, ugh, gross, not just on the corner of the blanket, but he hopped on the bed and peed in the middle of it. Why, I'm not 100% sure, but it meant that I had drag all the bedding (and I did a load of dog laundry as well) to the Laundromat. I have a small portable machine at home; it hooks up to the sink, but can not handle things like blankets or all the dog laundry. The weather was great, so my only consolation was that I could hang everything on the line to dry. I spent $5.50 on three loads of laundry. I ended up saving myself around $40. As I was waiting for the last load to finish I picked up an old home improvement magazine. There was an article on how to give your vacuum cleaner an overhaul. Since my vacuum is not working as well as I'd like, I thought I give it a try. I spent part of my afternoon doing a mini tune up on my vacuum, and lo and behold, the vacuum works a lot better! It would have cost me $45 to have the vacuum repair shop do what took me 15 minutes with a little help. The laundry dried courtesy of the sun and the wind and I now have clean, fresh bedding for my bed.

All in all, a good weekend.!

Just Some Random Thoughts

I have had a pretty good day overall. Did a little work for work this am, but spent the rest of the day visiting with friends, going out to lunch (and got treated to lunch, even better!), window shopping, and generally doing not much of anything in the most delightful way. The highlight of my day was going to a local church gift shop, they feature crafts from around the world and I bought a really nice copper bracelet for $5. That was probably the best $5 I've spent in the past month.

I did manage to clean off my desk, file some papers, and do a perusal of my food cabinets. Tomorrow morning early, I need to go the the laundromat, and the do a brief grocery shop and I'm hoping to spend most of the day in the garden weeding and just hanging out.

I did not hear from my attorney's office last week, so I will call them on Tuesday and find out where things stand on my filing and then take it from there.

I took some money out of my account for the weekend and so far, I've not gone too crazy with it. A shop at the drug store, a plant, the bracelet, orderd some food from the local pizza place (ate the extra for dinner this evening), I'm going to see if I can make this money last until next weekend!

Cheers