So this week has been going *incredibly* well. No food or coffee purchased out, and I cooked up a big batch of soup last night-- so I have leftovers for a few days. Still have lunch in the fridge from yesterday, so I'm set for today.

I was looking at my PNC points yesterday, and realized that I had enough for a $50 Amazon gift card, so I ordered that. It's apparently on backorder, so it'll probably be a while, but it's nice to know it's on its way. It could make for a good gift, or possibly pay for a few items on my wish list.

I also have a $5 Amazon gift card from my Swagbucks account. I just started hopping on every day to start building up the points. I usually only do the things that take a minute or so (NOSO, daily poll, search a few random terms). Today I installed the Chrome plugin so it's my default search. Maybe that'll rack them up a bit.

I'm also a subscriber to Birchbox. It's $10/month, which is a good enough splurge for me. If I review everything in a month, too, I get 10 points per review (100 points gives me $10 to spend in the store, which can usually get me something useful).

I figure that racking up the rewards points isn't a terrible idea with the holidays coming up. It's terrible to start thinking about Christmas already, but I figure if I start planning now I might be able to prepare adequately. I also have 2 weddings that I need to plan gifts for (and a wedding shower this weekend...).

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I stumbled upon a website yesterday that I thought was really great:

http://andthenwesaved.com/

Some of you may already be familiar, but it's all about saving and debt reduction. She's personable, and has a great blog. She also promotes the "Spending Fast" and the "Spending Diet." I was reading through, and it's all about writing out needs/wants lists and finding ways to make do with what you've got. I'm not sure I can go quite as intensely as she does, but I'm sure going to try!

It did get me thinking about a few purchases I'd really like to make in the next few months:

- New eyeshadow (the one I use every day is almost gone)
- Settlers of Catan (a board game that I absolutely love.. but has a pretty steep price tag)
- Membership to a local forum "Club" (it's great for networking and they have fantastic speakers)
- A new pair of boots for winter

These are definitely not "needs." They're wants, some of which are more justified than others. I have *plenty* of eyeshadow, just not in the shade that I use every day. Maybe it's time to switch things up? I own the iPad version of that game, and my friend has it... so it's more about having the convenience to play it with other people. But I have tons of board games as well.

The City Club membership would be nice, but can definitely wait (might put that one on the xmas list). And boots are certainly the most practical... maybe that will be a matter of selling off some clothes and getting them consignment. I should do a good raid of my closet regardless...

So many of these things are things I can do without... so I'm not going to account for them in the budget. I'll either make do, or find some other way to grab them.

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Enough rambling from me. I'm going to eat the lunch I brought from home and finish up work so I can enjoy some of the gorgeous weather we're having here in Ohio! Hope you all have a great day.