Wednesdays are usually grocery shopping days for me - a friend of mine has it off every week, and we like to run errands together. I thought our dinners this week would be entirely pork-centric, with all the meat in our freezer. But then the fiance and I decided to cook a nice dinner for Valentine's day. We absolutely hate dealing with crowded restaurants on holidays. We also have some fish that's been in our freezer for a while, and he's wanting to make fish tacos.

He'll also be out of town the beginning of next week, so I'll be keeping things simple.

So our meal plan for this week:

Tonight: Leftover meatballs + pork pie that a friend brought over
Thursday: Pork Roast with Carrots
Friday: Tilapia Tacos with Coleslaw
Saturday: Bacon wrapped scallops with a veggie of some sort
Sunday: Pork Quesedillas
Monday: Sausage with rice, veggies
Tuesday: Leftovers

***

Like I said, we're doing a fancy dinner, and I'm pretty sure that's just going to be my "present." I told him I didn't want to do gifts - I bought him a card, and I'm sure I'll do some kind of dessert as well. But I feel spending a lot on v-day is just so much after celebrating Christmas a couple of months ago.

In other fun news, I read this article on where Valentine's Day originated. And it makes me feel like celebrating is even more silly.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/02/bloody-sexy-drunk-origin-valentines-day/

Fascinating stuff! That being said, I'm certainly not a V-day hater. I'm all about opportunities to share and appreciate love. It's just crazy the amount of spending that goes on. It seems so frivolous. I think I'll feel more excited about it when I have kids and can do fun crafts and make cards

***

Spending update:

- Bought gas on Monday: $16
- Bought chocolates for mom's b-day: $20

Took a look at Mint this morning, and I'm still within my budget in all categories. Not too shabby! Now I just need to do some booking...

I have a meeting with a potential wedding client tonight, and spent all day yesterday putting together my welcome packet. So hopefully that will wow them into booking me Let's hope!

Everyone have a fantastic day, and enjoy a productive week!

This past weekend was a success - friends came over Friday night to play Mario Party (we recently inherited a Nintendo 64). Saturday I hung around the house, baked some cookies, talked to friends about taking photos at their wedding, and then we went to another friend's for board games. Made pork chops in the crock pot.

Yesterday I had my brunch for bridesmaids and moms. It went really well, and it was awesome to have everyone together. No spending. We ate leftovers for dinner.

Today is my mom's birthday, so we're going down to have dinner with her tonight. Meals for the rest of the week are going to revolve around all of the pork sitting in our freezer at the moment. We wont have to buy meat for a really long time. I've got two meals already planned, but come Wednesday I'll probably do some meal planning.

Looked over my budget and spending this morning. I'm under in every single category still - but my checking account is looking pretty dire. I made my credit card payments, which put me at around $100 in my account. I owe my savings account $1,000 on top of it. So today I'll be doing some hardcore invoicing. And I'm going to transfer some money from my vacation fund to hold me over until I get some checks coming in. Regardless, I need to do some serious booking here soon. Or find some way to generate income during this slow time. Hopefully the website gig I'm picking up with my previous employer will include at least a partial up front payment.

The rest of the week should be relatively low-key. I have a meeting with potential wedding clients on Wednesday. I'll be prepping for that tomorrow. We're probably going to stay in for V-day. I tend to hate dealing with crowds, and with the holiday actually being on a Saturday, I'd rather stay in and cook.

I am going to start exercising this week. Things are looking pretty scary in terms of my health as well as finances. The fiance and I have been drinking quite a few nights a week. Only a few beers, but we spend a lot on the delicious craft beer we like, and I could do without the calories. Besides, we really like waking up feeling refreshed... and the older we get, the fewer drinks it takes to make us groggy in the morning. Need to remind ourselves we're no longer young pups. haha. He actually turns 30 in April, and I'll be 29 come May. How did that happen?! haha. Getting married in September. We really are growing up. No mistaking it.

Can you believe that when I started this blog, I was only 19 and talking about saving money so I could move out of my parents house? haha. Where did all the time go?

I don't know about you guys, but I have some serious willpower issues when it comes to the grocery store, and even more so when it concerns that amazing wonderland with the big red bullseye. I can go into Target to buy $5 worth of things I actually need, then come out with $150 worth of stuff I didn't even know I needed! haha.

That being said, I've been really good about not going at all recently - and sticking to a list (for the most part) when I do.

Yesterday's grocery trip was pretty successful, all things considered. Went to the local market and stuck to the list:

- Milk (the non-homogenized delicious stuff where I trade in the big glass jugs to get money off). $2.80 after the jug trade-ins (it's ridiculously expensive, no lie).
- Sundried tomatoes for a recipe I'm making. $1.80
- Yams. 5 for $1.75
- Fresh sliced bacon. $5.50

Last stop was the glorious Target. And you guys, I did pretty good. I only got a few extras: a can of butternut squash soup for lunch, a pack of gum, and a bag of pizza flavored goldifsh crackers. Left only spending $67.66 - and $35 of that was the straightener. And $20 of that was a pack of underwear for the fiance. Since when are mens underwear so expensive?? I say that, but of course I spend like $5 for a pair of mine. haha.

Last stop was Aldi. I am what you would call an Aldi evangelist. I freaking love that place and everything it stands for. When I went to Germany over the summer, my German friends thought I was pathologically unstable because I was so excited to visit an authentic German Aldi. Best part? Things are even better priced there! Can you imagine?! I found brie for a DOLLAR there. And they have this fancy bread machine that the little girls were so excited to play with

I digress.

But really, if you live near one of these places, you have to give it a try. I die a little inside every time I go to Giant Eagle for groceries because I pay twice as much for half as much food.

Yesterday's total was $60.85. $24 of that was champagne for my brunch this weekend.

Grocery Total: $84.89
Generic Shopping Total: $55.47

Still a little higher than I would have liked, but hosting an event comes with a cost as well. I spent about $40 on just the items for brunch. Thankfully, I think we'll have plenty of leftovers

As I'm sure many of you are experiencing, we're getting a lot of snow here in Ohio. I'm always so thankful to work from home most days during weather like this. It seems everyone and their mom forgets how to drive during the winter, and it makes me nervous being on the roads. Because let's face it, I'm a pretty terrible driver as well

Monday we went to our friends' house for our weekly dinner and board games night. It was delicious, as usual, and we're looking forward to next week - we're taking a page from their Michael Symon cookbook and making some delicious meatballs. My mom and her boyfriend had a pig slaughtered (his family owns a farm), and they gave us a bunch of pork - with more on the way. I tried to give them money, but they refused. It was terribly nice of them. We're going to save a ton on groceries, and I'm having a great time looking for delicious pork recipes.

Cooked some thai coconut soup in the crock pot for dinner last night, and it turned out pretty good. I'm on this crusade to use up all of the food in our cupboards and freezer. So most of my meal planning has revolved around that. We did end up getting Chinese takeout one night last week - but mine fed me for like 3 meals, so I count it a win. We have 3 meals we were supposed to cook last week that never got made, so shopping this week is going to be incredibly light.

Heading to the market today to pick up produce, milk, and maybe some bacon. I'm hosting a brunch for my bridesmaids/mom/future mother in law this weekend, and I'm going to make some sort of frittata or breakfast casserole. I also need to get some mimosa supplies and coffee creamer. But honestly, that's about it for groceries.

Deposited a check into my savings account today, so I only owe $1,000 for the money I transferred to pay for my camera lens. I need to do some invoicing. My checking account is pretty dangerously low at the moment, and I want to pay back my savings ASAP.

Yesterday I spent most of my time doing things around the house. I worked Saturday and Sunday, so I used it as my pseudo-weekend day: shoveled the front porch, stairs, and walkway so the mail man doesn't break his neck at our house. Also dug out my car, though I didn't end up going anywhere. Did the dishes, made dinner, did the laundry, fixed my vacuum cleaner, vacuumed the first floor. Did a bit of reading.

Last night I stayed in and watched my all time favorite show - the Mindy Project, for anyone that's wondering SO happy I can watch it in real time, as I cancelled my Hulu plus account. Now I'm regretting it just a bit because I just found out the new season of Parks + Rec is on it... but ah well. I'm still marathoning through Friends on Netflix.

***

Also reconciled my 52-week challenge. I kind of forgot to do it the last couple of weeks. I went with smaller amounts, because things are looking tight at the moment.

New total: $60

I can't believe it's already February! Goodness, time is flying by this year. I took a look at my spending for the year, and where I did my spending - and where I exceeded my budget.





As usual, the bulk of my spending was on business expenses. This month more so than usual, too. I had to file/pay my sales tax from the entirety of 2014 - and purchase the vendor's license I didn't realize I needed. I also bought a new lens for $1,300 this week. A big ouch, yes. It's one that I planned on purchasing this year regardless, as I've been renting it for weddings. And I decided to get it earlier than expected because it was on sale at my local camera store, I get to deduct the rental expenses on the lens (within 30 days), and there was a $100 rebate at the store that wasn't online. So it's the cheapest I would have gotten it. Nonetheless, it's still an ouch. And I had to draw from my savings account. So I owe $1200 to that account for tax expenses. If I can't make it up before tax time, I'll just pull from the vacation account.

Everything else was pretty usual. I actually ended up spending under my budget for groceries, restaurants, and gas.

I made about as much as I expected to this month - but only because I had about $400 from selling books and camera equipment. The income from my business was about as much short, which was quite the bummer. I really expected to a couple of weddings this month, but with the bridal show being such an epic bust that didn't work out so well.

Thankfully, though, I have a bigger project coming up for the next couple of months - conceptualizing and building out a website for a previous employer. So that'll definitely help cushion things a bit for the winter, when I'm generally pretty slow. Nonetheless, I need to be really picky with what I spend on this month.

***

In good news, the dress I ordered online to hopefully be my wedding dress arrived - and it looks great! I'm proud to say that I found a dress for a whopping $35!!!! The dress I found and Nordstrom Rack (shorter, but still really adorable and dressy) was $26, and will be my rehearsal dinner dress.

For anyone who is interested in seeing what it looks like...

http://us.asos.com/ASOS-Maxi-Dress-With-Crochet-Lace-Yoke/13...

Next weekend I'm having my bridesmaids, mom, and future mother in law over for brunch to discuss wedding plans and sift through some of the ideas I have. Really excited to get everyone together - particularly because our moms haven't met yet. Big stuff coming up.

It's been really fun trying to come up with awesome ways to cut down on the cost of the wedding. I'm a very competitive person, and "beating the system" is oddly satisfying to me I look at these wedding forums where I see girls paying upwards of $3k for flowers, and I'm like NOPE. I'm going with silk flowers - cheaper, and I can keep them forever and use them again. I'm really big on purchasing things for the wedding we can use again. lol. I may be a strangely practical bride, but I can't remember the details of a single bouquet in any wedding I've been to (or shot). Some things just aren't that important.

It also helps that we're getting married in a barn, so we can really milk that "rustic" thing for all it's worth

It's been almost a week since my last update. Usually that's slight cause for alarm - when I'm not paying attention and checking in, I'm usually bad about spending. But I've been relatively intentional about each purchase. Rather than just throwing money about willy-nilly, I think about where that purchase fits into my priorities. So I did pretty well!

Some purchases this week:

- $11 on beer for a board game night. For me, that's much better than heading to a bar and spending $20+.
- $26 at Staples. This was a business expense.
- $11 parking. I was running late, and probably could have found a metered spot downtown, but just had to swallow it.
- $3 for a piece of plywood. Also a business expense. I made a laser-engraved sign for my clients to use during a shoot.
- $45 for a dress. This very well may be my wedding dress! I'm waiting for it to be delivered, but if it works out I'd say that's a good purchase
- $53 on groceries at Aldi. The fiance came shopping with me, so he bought everything at Giant Eagle.
- $99 for Amazon Prime hit my account this week as well. Unplanned, but honestly I use it so much that it pays for itself without a doubt.

This coming week should be pretty okay as well. I'm meeting a friend at Panera on Wednesday, but I may just eat lunch before I go and grab a coffee. We're doing dinner and games with friends tonight, board games tomorrow. I have a shoot on Wednesday evening. No plans the rest of the week.

***

I did forget to add to my 52 week challenge last week, so I'm going to go ahead and do both last and this week today.

$20 Previous total
+ $21 Last Week
+ $9 This Week

$50 New Total

That puts the total for my travel savings account at $796.73. Not too shabby!

***

I've gotten a few inquiries about shooting recently, so hopefully I'll be pulling in a bit more income soon. It would certainly be nice... I was really planning to book at least 1-2 weddings this month, and I've got nothing. It's been a bit discouraging to say the least, but I think things will look up soon (at least I hope)!

So yesterday was a NSD - first for a while, I believe. Today, not so much. I finally transferred money over to the BF's account for rent (he pays it, and I thankfully have some flexibility if need be to pay it late). After receiving a few checks from clients, I decided to sit down today and round out my January payments.

- Transferred $500 to my savings account for taxes
- Paid the internet bill
- Transferred $200 to my Ally account for travel
- Transferred money from Paypal (book sales) to my checking account
- Transferred money from Amazon Seller Account (camera lenses) to my checking account

I'll be heading to the grocery store today, and I'm making a list to keep things on track. I've been really good this last week about not spending when I don't have to, and saying no to purchases that aren't priorities. I keep trying to put things in perspective: Would I rather buy ______ or take a trip somewhere awesome? Usually the traveling wins out.

***

Speaking of travel, BF and I sat down today to plan out when we're going where. We are planning to move May 2016 to another city here in the states, and are going to take trips throughout this year to visit our potential cities and see which one we might like to live in. On the list: Nashville, Charleston, Kansas City, and Raleigh-Durham. On top of that, we both are planning on going out of town for our bachelor/bachelorette parties, and are taking a honeymoon likely to South America. So travel spending is going to be pretty intense this year. Hopefully our honeymoon will be funded through wedding gifts (we're asking people to donate to our honeymoon fund instead of buying us anything. We don't need any more stuff).

***

In terms of wedding planning, we're going to visit what we think will be our venue tomorrow morning. Assuming everything looks great, we'll be signing the paperwork after seeing it. I'm really excited to have that task crossed off my list. Everything is really going to fall into place after that, I know. It'll be our biggest expense for the wedding for sure, but it gives me a frame for budgeting the rest of the wedding. We're shooting to fund the entire wedding for under $10k. I think we'll hit that mark because we're having a smaller wedding (around 75 people).

We're also allowed to bring in our own alcohol - which is huge. A friend of mine gave us the idea of having a "stock the bar" party instead of a traditional bridal shower. Every guest is asked to bring a bottle of liquor to the party, which stocks the bar and ensures everyone brings something they like. For 75 people, I'm sure that will more than cover what we need to purchase. We're hoping to only have to spend a max of $500 on booze. All of the other venues we looked at had alcohol packages closer to $2k. So that's a huge savings.

Oh weddings...

But seriously, I'm so excited! The cost is a bit of an ouch for any wedding, but thankfully I'm a serious DIY-er. Everything outside of the venue/food should be relatively inexpensive to pull off. I just have to find a photographer now. haha. 3 of my clients have now offered - including the ones who got married last night. They're hilarious

***

Okay, that's enough for now. Apologies for the novel! Hope you all have a fantastic Sunday!

So my post yesterday got cut really short somehow. You guys will have to live without my vivd descriptions of financial news

Yesterday didn't turn out to be super spendy after all. I spent about $12 on lunch, and then another $4 on coffee and a cookie at Panera.

Had dinner at mom's - I thankfully convinced her to cook at home. I know she feels like she has to do something "special" for me when I come over, but she always talks about how little money she has... so when we go out to eat I usually end up paying. And really we don't have to do anything special. I just wanted to spend time with her. So after she talked about splitting checks and rebate cards and such, I started rustling around the cupboards. Neither of us had to spend money then (she was clearly relieved) and I got to eat delicious casserole rather than TGI Fridays. Which is fine and all, but not something I would generally spend money on. Silly mom.

***

Dropped off a couple of payments I had been putting off making until I got a couple of payments from clients. So I'm starting to get up to date on things. This time of year is a bit rough, and I really need to book some weddings here soon.

No word yet from the girls from the bridal show. I emailed them a couple of days ago, and haven't received a single response :/ Still hopeful, but it's certainly a bit discouraging.

Had a meeting last night with a prospective client. Hoping I'll get a response from them. It seemed to go pretty well.

I'm feeling a little anxious about my business right now - it's generally pretty slow for us photographers this time of year, but last January I had two other jobs to keep my mind off my lack of bookings. I'm trying my best to just focus on planning and education - trying new ways to market, etc. I start a photo class next week, and I'm sure that will inspire me.

***

Today I'll be working at home, then going downtown to meet old coworkers for drinks. I'm very excited to see them, and check out the new Hofbrau House that just opened. I'll be thinking back fondly on August, when I was sitting at the original in Munich

***

I started the 52 week challenge yesterday as well - starting with the $20 deposit. I'll be adding my challenge money to my Ally Bank account, which is my travel savings account. I love the game-like feel of the challenge, and I'm always up for anything that motivates me to do more savings!

Added this week: $20
52 Week Challenge Total: $20

***

That's about it, I think. Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Most days, I work from home, eat food that I bought at the grocery store, and cook dinner for us. It keeps my food budget pretty low (unless I go crazy at the grocery store, which is often).

But today will be a little different. I'm going downtown to meet a client (she's giving me a check. woo!), and then meeting a friend for lunch at my favorite Japanese noodle spot

I recently went through my books to see if there were any I could sell off. We have SO many, and I have a ton from grad school that at one point I rationalized I would read again. ha! It's very clear they are just going to accumulate dust. And because I know we'll be moving again next year, I'm going to start trying to cut back on stuff. I hate moving. So the less stuff, the better. Great for saving money, too!

I found this website called Bookscouter.com - it compares what you would get selling your books to different websites. Pretty nifty! I made $127.70 selling a handful of books and my old iPhone (I had 2 extras). Not a ton of cash, but that's less stuff in my house and more money in my pocket.

I also sold a couple of my camera lenses on Amazon. The return on those was of course not as high as I would have wanted it to be, but I got rid of them quickly, which is good I suppose. For the two of them, I made $232.59 after Amazon fees and shipping costs.

That's $360.29 I can put towards the new lens I want to buy. Now I just have to sell my old camera. That still wont get me enough to pay for it completely, but any offset to the cost is obviously welcome!

***

The bridal show this weekend was a bit of a bust, I must say. I worked it two times before this one. The show last January was packed, and I got a good amount of leads from. I think I booked about 5 weddings from that show. In September, it was a bit quieter - but I still booked two from that show. So it paid for itself.

This time I only walked away with 11 email addresses of people who said they might be interested. The show even closed down 2 hours early yesterday because it was so dead :/

I'm still hoping I at least book 2 weddings. One girl seemed VERY enthusiastic about booking. So I'm hoping I can count on her at least. haha. I also met another photographer who said she wants to branch into weddings, and I've been needing to put together a few people to hire as second shooters for the upcoming season. So that's good.

I just need to start more aggressively marketing now. I was kind of counting on a number of bookings, and to make my goal it's going to be a bit tough now. That's the nature of running your own business, though! Can't be slacking

On that note, it's time to get to work! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

It's been a pretty low-key week. I've been at home every day attempting the best I can to get some work done. The cold weather really drains my motivation, and being self employed that's certainly not helpful...

Nonetheless.

***

$57.63 spent at Trader Joe's the other day. Some of that was goodies (do I really NEED cookie butter?!), but honestly that was wheeling it in for me. I just love that place. Sigh.

In news of self control, however, I did decline going to Aldi and Target with a friend for fear of spending. Little victories, I guess?

$65.96 spent on prints to take with me to the bridal show. I needed some of my newer weddings/shoots to add. I generally use a more expensive printer, but for the volume I needed, I went with the mid-price.

***

Tonight the fiance and I are heading out to a friend's house an hour away. I'm going to ask her to be my maid of honor, so I'm pretty pumped about that

Her and her hubby are cooking dinner, so we don't have to worry about that. Which is nice, because we've been eating the tortellinni soup I cooked for three nights now. It made a lot, and was really good, but I'm getting burnt out on it. haha.

***

Got a letter in the mail about withdrawing my TSP (military retirement contributions) now that my Army contract is up. I'm not sure if it works like a standard retirement fund. I can't imagine it has a ton in it from my one weekend a month, but if there's no penalty in withdrawing now, I'll likely just do so now - because I wont be able to contribute any more going forward.

***

I'm working a bridal show this weekend, so I'll have a bit of extra spending (snacks, parking). But I'm hoping to book at least 5 weddings. So wish me luck!

***

Last thing - I read this article the other day, and it really resonated with me. I figured this would be a good forum to share it. I'll definitely be reading it every time I go to IKEA, for a little bit of needed perspective

Give me Gratitude or Give me Debt

http://momastery.com/blog/2014/08/11/give-liberty-give-debt/

Everyone have a fantastic weekend!

I can't say I have any breaking news in the last few days. Monday night we went to our friends' for dinner and played "The Game of Thrones." A GoT BOARD GAME. It took a long time to set up and learn it, but I'm really pumped to give it another go and get into it a bit deeper. Really fun.

I've been lucky enough to not have to leave the house for the last couple of days, and with the nasty weather that's been such a blessing. Yesterday I made some soup for dinner, and we stayed in. New Girl and Mindy are back, and I thoroughly enjoyed both shows last night with a nice glass of wine

It was a good weekend, with minimal spending. Yay!

Friday night I went out and met up with an old friend. Ended up only spending about $15 for drinks. The fiancé and I cooked at home so I didn't spend out at the restaurant/bar we were meeting at.

Yesterday I went downtown with a friend. I'm helping him out with a project, and so he bought me lunch (at one of my favorite spots, no less!) and then we headed to the main branch of the library. Ours has a Makerspace, which includes a laser cutter/engraver, a 3D printer, and a vinyl cutting machine (among other things). The best part is that you can use them for FREE. All you have to pay for is materials. Which are dirt cheap ($3 for a large sheet of plywood or a large strip of vinyl). I'm so thankful I'm familiar with graphic design programs - it really opens up a lot of possibility in using those resources. And it was a really nice afternoon.

The weather was really nasty, though, so once I got home I was in for the night. Took care of some stuff around the house - dishes, laundry. Then we ordered delivery Chinese takeout and watched a movie on Netflix.

Today the temperature was freakishly warm for January (46 degrees), so I decided to take a morning stroll at the park with my camera to take care of my 365 Project post for the day. Went grocery shopping in the afternoon, managing only to spend $53, which is pretty good for me. I (for the most part) stuck to my list. Aldi really is *the best*.

Tonight I have the house to myself, which is really nice. The fiancé took two weeks off for the holiday. He really needed it, and he's really not looking forward to going back. But I'm looking forward to having the house empty again. It's been difficult to really be productive at home with him hanging out. I've enjoyed the little break, but I can't let my work fall behind too much. So this week is going to be a heavy editing week.

I'm taking advantage of the quiet around here to do some yoga, a bit of reading, and eating leftovers for dinner. It'll be relaxing, lovely, and entirely free. So I'm going to get to it

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

I'm consistently blown away by how fast time is moving these days... ah well.

I sat down this morning to pay my bills and go over spending for last month to see just how bad it was. haha. I went ahead and purchased my new camera last week, so that put me $1,800 deeper than I expected to be for the month, but it was going to be purchased sooner or later, and with two weddings in the next week that are super low-light, I felt sooner was better. So my business spending was way above and beyond what I had budgeted. Thankfully, I've got that Amazon rewards card - so I now have $58 of credit. There was also a $300 rebate. I'm mailing in the stuff for that today. I also have an excess of one camera now that my backup has been replaced by my former main camera. So I'm hoping to get $500 out of that. Let's hope!

Other places I went over budget in November:

- Groceries
- Restaurants

I think some of the items accounted for in my "grocery" budget weren't all actual food. Target pops up a few times, which is most certainly a mix of food and crap I don't need. Oh, Target... Actually, $50 of that was the Christmas tree we picked up at Target. Mystery solved... haha.

I only budget $30 for restaurants a month. I really need to rethink that. Because I never ever actually stay within that. But honestly, we've been really good about cooking this month. So I'm surprised to see it over $150. Part of that was the lunch I had with my brother ($30), one stop at the burger place that BF and I always hit when we travel down to my hometown ($21). The rest of it is just little things here and there - a coffee, a tea, an icecream, a stop at Arby's after the wedding I shot (they didn't really feed me). Just goes to show that it all adds up.

***

As for this month... I crunched the numbers and made sure I'm going to be good for making my goals. It's going to be a rough one. It's a fairly slow month considering. But I'm hoping to book one or two weddings by the end of it, which would help considerably.

I also have to make sure I don't go crazy with the xmas spending. I've already got a few people crossed off my list. Trying to keep it as simple as humanly possible. Really, it's just BF and my mom that will be larger gifts. And as usual, I'm struggling to figure out things to get both of them. I'll be designing a retro-style soccer poster for BF. That's going to be his big gift, I think. And then some smaller fun things. Mom I've got no clue. Nonetheless, I'm *hoping* to keep my total spending under $300 for remaining gifts. We'll see how that goes. That $58 in Amazon rewards credit + the $25 Amazon gift card I purchased with PNC points should help.

***

Goal Update:

- Transferred $525 to my savings account for taxes, bringing the total up to $3,141.03.
- Transferred $219 to my Ally account for travel savings, bringing the total up to $546.

I'll by paying additional on my Sallie Mae loan once I get a couple more payments from clients. Don't want that account to get too low!

That's about it for my update. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I know, most of the country is freaking out about snow right now. I'm actually a little happy to see it, to be honest. It's looking rather pretty outside

***

Yesterday was a true no-spend, but today I'll be hitting the grocery store to grab some stuff for meals in the next week or so. On the menu:

- Pizza (we'll get the ingredients and put it together ourselves)
- Grilled Cheese and Soup
- Homemade Cornbread Waffles with Pulled Pork, topped with an Egg

Noticed a lot of carbs, but as it starts getting colder I tend to crave comfort food. The waffles were a fun idea I had, and will probably be what I make for our weekly dinner night with friends. BF's mom gave us a waffle iron a while back and we've never used it. Figured it would be fun to try. And I like doing non-traditional spins on different meals.

***

So engagement rings are in my title. BF and I are at that point where we're more or less planning on getting married next fall. He's been dragging his feet a bit on the proposal, and when I asked him last month why he hadn't popped the question yet (yeah, I'm that kind of crazy), he basically told me he just hasn't gotten around to buying the ring. I very gently reminded him that if he was hoping to have the ceremony next fall that we should probably start planning soon.

The other day (without prompting, I swear), he looked at me and said, "I really do need to buy your engagement ring." He then told me to just pick one and send him a link.

I'm sure many people would say me picking the ring kind of takes the fun out of it, but I'm really laid back about these things. Being married to him is what is going to be special.

So I'm in the process of shopping for an engagement ring. haha. Looking for something nice and inexpensive. That whole "3 months salary" garbage isn't going to fly with this girl. I told him if he spent that much I would say no. Which is a lie, but I would probably have him exchange it for something more modest in that case I'll go for an engagement ring with a bit more jazz, and then opt for a small, simple wedding band. In any case, I'm hoping the total is less than $500.

Now all I have to do is get my finger sized and make a decision. Can't blame it on him anymore. haha.

So the other day I wrote that it was going to be a no-spend day. That didn't end up being the case. I ended up actually going to the mall with a friend of mine and picking up a few things. I spent about $40 - $20 of which was covered by the surprise birthday money I found sorting through a pile of papers. The $40 was allocated to my misc. shopping budget for the month, so I'm still not overspending quite yet.

Picked up a pair of warm sweatpants. As the temperatures have dropped all week, I realized I only really have thin leggings, and that's not going to cut it. I work from home all day most days, and I don't want the heating bill to be through the roof. I also picked up a sweater for $5 (not bad at H&M!) and a fleece lined sweatshirt. Again, for warmth and comfort in the coming months

Yesterday I went to the market and purchased a few food items. And then some beer to take to a friend's, as he cooked.

Today will be a genuine no-spend. Work, work, work at home. Then BF and I are making dinner tonight. It's been a while since we've had dinner at a restaurant. We've been really good about cooking and/or coordinating cooking with friends. Which has been awesome.

Even though the other day wasn't a *true* no-spend, I'm not too worried about putting more money toward debt. haha. Today I'll add another $5 to that. Progress!

Yesterday started with a couple of early wins. I began the day by sorting through a huge pile of papers that were in need of filing or action. In the mix I found a birthday card from BF's mom (my birthday was back in May) that had $20 in it. It pays to get organized!

I also found a check from a client that was signed by me, but did not have the usual "For PNC Mobile Deposit Only" written on the back. So I'm thinking I never actually deposited it. I looked online at my activity, and it seems that I didn't. So I need to let my client know I'm going to deposit it now and then get it in my account. That's $250 I didn't realize wasn't actually in the bank. Oops!

Also called the cable company on the way down to lunch. Turns out we had a 6-month long special that ended. After canceling the actual cable and just keeping the internet, my bill is back down to where it was. We don't really ever watch the cable portion - our TV has an antenna that allows us to catch Jeopardy, and my weekly New Girl/Mindy Project fix.

***

Yesterday bought gas and lunch for Brother and myself. Lunch was about as good as can be expected. I'm happy I went, but needing a really productive day today to make up for being out of commission for about 5 hours yesterday (it's over an hour drive to get down there).

***

Today I've got a system going. At the top of the hour I'm writing for 15 minutes, then for the next 45 minutes I'm editing photos. Hoping to get caught up on my NaNoWriMo novel and put a decent dent in my editing queue. So there will be much coffee!

I find that giving myself structured, short term spurts to do things actually motivates me to get them done rather than sitting in front of the computer for hours. My goal for the day is to write 4,000 words and finish up a wedding set (roughly 50 photos left to do). Wish me luck!

***

Tonight BF and I are going over to a friend's for dinner and board games. So it should be a no-spend day.

I think I'm going to start doing a sort of $20 challenge again - putting in tiny bits of money into one of my goals. Every No-Spend will be $5, and every time I don't give into the urge to get a coffee out at a coffee house, I'll just direct that money (usually another $5) to a goal as well. That way I can tangibly see that decision playing out. Along with savings in my budget I wasn't expecting.

So today I'm going to take the $45 I saved on health insurance (and by saved, I mean my insurance cut out after the 5th, so they only charged me for a portion of the month), then the $5 I saved not getting coffee the other day, and $5 for today's no-spend to my CC. That brings my balance down to $1,452.91.

Small wins.

As predicted, yesterday was a no-spend. Woop woop! It was also one of the more productive days I've had in a while. Did the dishes, got our laundry done, emails answered, a blog post written, and got 2 client galleries up and sent out. You would be surprised at how much of a photographer's time is just administrative work and downloading/sorting/resizing/uploading files.

I'm still pretty far behind, but at least I was able to catch up a little.

Had dinner at our friends' house, so that was really nice. I love it when I don't even have to cook! Tonight I'll be making a pork loin I bought at the market with some mashed potatoes, and those same friends will be over at our place for dinner instead.

Yesterday I also took a look at my cable bill - and for some reason, they decided to double the speed of our internet and tack on another $20. So I'll be on the phone with them today getting that changed, and getting rid of our cable package (we really just got it to watch the World Cup coverage over the summer).

***

Today, I'm driving about an hour south to go see my brother for the first time in probably 4 or 5 years. I wish I could say I'm looking forward to it. But the relationship I have with my family (and frankly, all of the relationships between all members) is quirky at best, and something I struggle with. Brother has paranoid schizophrenia, and has been in and out of jail for several years now. According to mom, he's been on his meds (which is fantastic) - but even so, I can't say we share a lot in common. Spending time with him usually results in some combination of awkwardness and guilt for not reaching out to him enough. Honestly, though, it's one of those situations where there are no winners. And I have so much going on in my life that I don't have the time or energy to devote to an illness that requires a lot of time and patience.

Even typing that, I feel like I'm a cold and distant person. But I've watched family members hold back others that really had a lot of potential. They say that in adulthood you have the opportunity to (and should) surround yourself with people that inspire and motivate you to be a better person. I'm in a very different place than much of my family. I don't think I'm better than them in any way. They are all unique, caring people - but I can't handle the drama, the immaturity, or the various drug and/or psychological problems. So I choose to spend time with them in small bits, and sparingly.

That being said, I'm happy that my brother took the initiative to reach out, and that he wants to pursue a relationship. I'll be there for him in the small capacity I can be. And I do sincerely hope that our lunch date is enjoyable and helps him feel grounded and supported. I'm looking forward to seeing him, but walking into it curious of how it will go, and how much our conversation will be rooted in reality. It's a weird, messy bunch of emotions. But I'm sure we'll both come out of it better people.

***

So beyond the lengthy explanation, I'll be spending today on lunch with Brother and probably gas. I think I might swing by the library this morning and grab an audiobook for the drive. Gotta love the library!

At any rate, sorry for the rambling. And have an awesome day!

The weekend started out pretty well. My mom and her BF came to visit, and I made dinner. Which was nice. Yesterday morning was pretty low-key. I cooked breakfast for myself and the boy. Then we got ready and drove an hour and a half. I had a shoot with friends out in the area where BF's family lives. So I did my shoot, then we hung out and had dinner with his family.

Lots of family this weekend. ha.

Made $135 yesterday on that shoot, which was short- and will be quite simple in the editing stages.

Looked at Mint this morning, and everything seems to be moving along well. I'm only over budget on one item - alcohol & bars. In my defense, I only budgeted $20 for that category. Going out 3 times put me at about $45.

Thankfully, decided not to go out last night after getting home. I actually ended up laying in my bed reading Game of Thrones, then crashed pretty quickly. Though friends of ours did end up coming over eventually, it was all boys. So I let BF hang out with his friends while I caught up on some sleep.

Today is going to be a busy day. I have some cleaning to do, about 10k words of a novel to write, and I wouldn't mind getting some work done as well. It's going to be an all-day work fest for the BF as well, so we'll just hang out around home. I have food to cook tonight, so it should be a no-spend day. Which is good.

So I should probably get to that productive day! I hope you are all doing well and moving along with your goals!

Moved some money around this morning, after deposits have cleared.

- Put $500 into the savings account for taxes.
- Moved $219 to my Ally account for vacation.

Went grocery shopping yesterday and spent about what I would regularly. Bought enough food to cook 4 meals, including what I'll be making for my mom and her boyfriend tomorrow when they come over.

Opted out of getting lunch and dinner out yesterday. So I'm feeling pretty good about that. We've been cooking a lot - have a standing night with friends of ours, so we alternate who cooks. Tonight we'll be getting together with that same couple at their place (football game).

The rest of the month I really need to keep from spending much. I have a big check coming at the end of the month, but not until the 29th... so I need to make sure I have enough in my account to pay student loan bills and such at the beginning of December. Unless I do some more booking. Which hopefully is the case! But in terms of income I can 100% count on (payments I'm hunting down), I'm in a tight place until next month.

Today will be pretty low-key. Delivering some photo books to a client (which will be really nice. I love seeing my clients!). Aside from that, it's just home work work working. Trying to get things accomplished, and then tonight heading over to our friends' for the game (well, I'm really just going for the food. ha).

Hope you all have a stellar day!

How in the world is it November already? I know I said that in my last post, but really...

Spent the morning catching up on work, paying bills, and getting organized for the month. I use Mint (which is a brilliant piece of software) to look everything over and make sure all of my business expenses are put into my handy dandy spreadsheet.

It was a good month for income. I actually made a thousand more than I anticipated. And I stayed almost within my budget. A few things popped up - registered for the bridal show I've done twice now. It's not until January, but I wanted to get the email out of my inbox so... I figured why not register now when I can deduct it from 2014 taxes. haha.

I did a little more non-planned spending than I would like. Trips to IKEA and the like add up. As does the gas!

I actually did a lot of traveling this past month - a trip to Pittsburgh to hit IKEA, a trip down to DC and Virginia beach (work AND play), as well as a trip down to Columbus (mostly work). It's nice that I have clients all around, and an excuse to travel (and write off some of my expenses).

I had an engagement shoot in the DC area, and it was a great time. Gorgeous location to do a shoot, and we had such beautiful weather. The BF and I went down a day early to do some sightseeing and hang out with friends of mine. All of the museums are free, so we did quite a bit for very little money. Then the shoot was the next day at the monuments. BF went and explored while I worked.

After DC, we drove to VA Beach to stay with friends. Again, pretty cheap entertainment!

***

This month will be a bit more low-key. Partially because I'm not expecting quite as much income. Things are winding down for me as wedding season is coming to a close. I have 2 more weddings, and then just a handful of portrait shoots (xmas cards and the like) until January. So unless I do some hardcore booking this month or next (unlikely), I'm going to be a bit tight on cash. I have some money in the savings account, but in reality it's for taxes. So I'd rather not dip into it. Still, nice to know I have a little buffer.

***

My goals are coming along slowly, but surely. I may not be able to pay off the CC totals by the end of the month, but I'll put a dent in them. Just waiting for money to move around, and a few more checks to come in. Did put an extra payment on the student loan today, so I've got that, I guess. I'll have more updates here in a week or so.

My real November goal: Stay within my budget. Entirely. I did tweak the figures so they are a bit more realistic. But I need to start putting my foot down on the spending.

***

I did get my phone situation worked out - decided to stay with Verizon. Got my new iPhone 5s. I LOVE the camera on it compared to the 4. Almost feels like I'm using my Canon. haha. Okay, maybe not... but it's fantastic. And my new bill dropped from $85 to $60/month. So I'm pretty pumped about that.

***

So here is the end of my long-winded update. I hope everyone else had a successful October, and I hope you all have an even more successful November!

So I did write another entry sometime last week, and the vastness of the interwebz ate it. No clue how, but rest assured that it was thoughtful, exciting, and had many important tidbits that would help you weary readers navigate through the struggles of life.

Not really. It was just about me canceling a bunch of stuff I've been paying for. But hey - simplicity! Savings!

Today's update has less thematic elements. I had my first weekend without a wedding in a month, which felt like a real break despite having two sessions Sunday (one of which was an hour and a half away. ha). All of my grand plans to get out and enjoy myself instead resulted in my staying in all of those nights. Mostly binge-watching Netflix. I'm on this nostalgic Buffy the Vampire Slayer kick.

I did do some grocery shopping on Saturday for just a few odds and ends to round out meals and such. I cooked Friday and Saturday nights. Had dinner at mom's on Sunday after my shoot (her house was conveniently on the way home, so I had an excuse to hang out).

Talked to her about my desire to switch from our family plan to that nifty Sprint iPhone plan. She checked it out, and I am due for an upgrade - so there would be no cancellation fee. Woo to the hoo. It still kills me that I pay $85/month on a family plan. It seems outrageously high for how little I actually talk on the phone.

So the weekend was a bit of shopping, work, and lounging. It's honestly exactly what I needed. And I spent minimal amounts of money. So that's a plus as well!

***

This week is going to be a little different. I'm heading down to DC with the BF - to do a shoot with some clients, and generally enjoy the city. He's never been, and as much as my man loves America and history, it seems almost criminal that he hasn't visited the capitol.

So we'll be heading down, sightseeing for a day, spending one night in a hotel, and then after my shoot, driving down to VA Beach to spend time with friends. It should be a good time, and I'm very much looking forward to bouncing around with the BF for a few days.

Slightly spendier, but travel is one of those things that I think are worth the cost. And is always a priority for me. Thankfully, the monuments and museums are all free. We're staying just outside of the city, and taking public transit in. I'm sure we'll get dinner the one night, but beyond that it shouldn't be too bad.

***

Anyone else out there blown away that it's almost November? Seriously. When did time start moving so fast?

Okay, that's it for me. Long-winded silly update. Hope you all have a fantastic week!

So it's been a little over a week since my last update. Things have been real busy with work, freelance work, and the start of a new facet of my freelance work-- photography.

I've been practicing photography as a hobby for quite some time now, and I had my first engagement photo session a few weeks ago. After all was said and done, I looked at Craigslist to see who was advertising there... and realized my photos were just as good (and in some cases a bit more professional) than the ones posted. So what did I do? I created a website, and started posting ads on Craigslist as well.

(want to check it out?

http://www.taradeephotodesign.com)

For only being up for just over a week, I've booked two sessions with people I don't know- a wedding ceremony tomorrow and an engagement session next weekend. Not bad! I also have a couple of baby/family shoots in the works with people that I am friends with.

I also got some freelance work going with a nonprofit I used to work for, so I'm making up for the $250 or so I lost with drill being cancelled due to the government shutdown, which is really nice.

I did have some expenses that went along with it-- setting up and hosting the site, domain name, etc. I'm going to register for an LLC next month when I get paid, so I can be "official." I did also buy a new flash for my camera so I can get the indoor shots at the wedding more easily/effectively. I used my $50 Amazon gift card for that, so while it is still a business expense, it didn't affect my bank balance but for a couple of dollars.

So far, so good then

While all that is happening, the job hunt is still going forward. I have an interview next Thursday with a company that is essentially a temp agency for creative professionals. I'm hoping that will go over well. They do contract-to-hire, so I'll basically work for a company on a "test basis" for a few months, then be hired on full time (ideally). So we'll see how it all works out.

Beyond that, nothing is really new on the financial front. I've been doing well making food/coffee at home so I don't waste too much money on food. I cooked dinner 4 times in the last week, and still have some leftovers. Time to hit the grocery store again!

Tomorrow I'm going to a murder mystery night at my BF's house. That'll be $20 (his room mate organized it, and all things accounted for, that's what he estimated it at per person, including dinner), and I do have to find something to wear. Hoping to find something awesome at a thrift store today *crossing fingers* - it's set in 1939, so this will be my Halloween costume as well.

Sunday I'm carving pumpkins with the BF. One of our favorite traditions

Tonight will be low key. I've got that wedding to shoot in the morning (my first!) and I'm hitting the rehearsal tonight to talk with the couple and take some test shots in the church. Then BF and I will grab some dinner and either stay in and watch a movie or go out to see Captain Phillips with Tom Hanks. Easy going...

Anyway, this was a bit longer than expected. I hope you're all doing well!

So it's been a little over a week since I've updated. This past week has been hideously busy, and I'm starting to get worn down with all of the stuff I'm doing for work. Despite the fact that I don't have a job lined up quite yet, I'm really looking forward to the election being over.

That being said, it was a pricey week. The more I have to do, the less time I have to cook. I hit the grocery store yesterday, but prior to that it had been well over a week... so I ate a lot of meals at restaurants and fast food places.

I also went shopping with a friend of mine on Sunday, and bought probably more clothes than I should have. It was all stuff that was practical- things I can wear to work, sweaters (I'm dangerously low on warm tops I can wear to work), a Victoria's Secret bra on sale for $15 to replace the one my washer destroyed. Nonetheless, that's about $80 I wouldn't have otherwise spent. Sigh.

I bought my plane ticket to Seattle- and it was only $312. That's almost $100 less than I anticipated, so I'm very happy about that.

Talked to BF last week, and we've decided to postpone our Europe trip until the spring. Hitting Copenhagen, Germany, and Zurich in late December is going to be freezing, and we'd rather go when we'll enjoy the weather a bit more. That being said, my new target savings goal is the $3,000 I'm trying to save for my taxes in April. I'm hoping to hit that long before April, but we'll see!

I had a job interview that went fine last week, but is not a job that I'd ever want to take. I don't understand why a company would advertise a "marketing specialist" position that is nothing but direct sales... sigh.

I did get a response from a nonprofit I'd really like to work for, but the salary level is quite a bit lower than I would prefer. At the same time, if I don't get any other offers, that might have to be what I take. It's enough for me to live on, but I feel like I could do better. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled to get a response. I've been applying to many, many places. It's frustrating to not hear back.

I picked up a bit of freelance work for a previous employer. That'll be some nice extra income! It's looking like I'm probably not going to have drill this month, though, because of the government shutdown... so that's about $250 I've budgeted for that will likely not come to me this month. I guess it'll balance out?

I did my first engagement photoshoot this past weekend, too- which was really fun. I wish the weather would have been a bit nicer. It was really overcast, but didn't rain... so I guess it could have been worse! I'm hoping that I can start booking paid gigs at some point, so this was good practice.

As mentioned, I did go grocery shopping yesterday- and made a big dinner for the BF and myself. Being so busy, we haven't really had any alone time recently, so it was nice to have a relaxing night in. I have plenty of leftovers to show for it as well

I think that's about it. Sorry for the all-over-the-place hodge podge of updates! Hope everyone is doing well and working effectively toward their goals!

So I got paid yesterday and deposited my check. This morning, then, I moved some money around.

I paid $1,750 to Sallie Mae. Happy to report that my target loan account is at $10,297! If I could drop it under $10k this month, I would be really excited about that.

I've been thinking about my goals, and cutting that loan down is supposed to be my main focus... but I'm getting anxious about still not having a job as of mid-next month. So I put another $1,000 in my EF, just in case. Hopefully once I find something I'll be able to just apply that to the loan.

I have some big purchases coming up-- about $400 on a plane ticket to Seattle to visit a friend. I'm thinking I wont have to spend more than $200 once I'm out there. I'm hoping it'll be even less than that.

BF is buying me a ticket to Europe for my graduation gift, but I have to handle all of my expenses once we get there. We're still not exactly sure what our route is going to be once we get there, but he really wants to visit London... and I know it's supposed to be incredibly expensive. I wanted to visit Paris, but I know it's the same story. Germany is the one place we know we're visiting-- and we'll have a free place to stay there, thankfully. We're still working out the kinks otherwise, but I've budgeted $1,000 for the trip. I would hope it's not going to be more than that for two weeks split between us (hotel-wise).

I know that spending money on traveling might seem counterintuitive to saving... but it's a really big priority in my life, I miss my friend terribly, and I've never been to Europe. Besides, it's kind of hard to pass up a free plane ticket. I just feel blessed that I'm in a position to be able to make these trips and cover my bills. I can honestly say that this is the first time I've ever been able to do that.

Because I'm a contracted worker, I have to budget in taxes prior to April. I'm shooting to save at least $3,000 for that, as I know I'll get a deduction for my student loan interest payments-- which cap at $2,500, but I've paid in far more than that this year, so I'll get at least that much. So $2k for federal, and I'm guessing roughly $1,000 between state and local.

I'm also really hoping that by the time my birthday rolls around in May that I'll be able to buy a new car. What I get will largely depend on what kind of money I'm making at my next job... we'll see.

All that being said, in order to cut that loan in half by the end of the year, I need to pay off $4,297 on it. That will be do-able if I find a good paying job (or any job) as of next month- so let's hope I do find something. I'll be scraping by until then.

I hope all of you are chugging along on your goals and finding some progress! Have a great weekend!

The time really does fly by...

So let's take a look at spending for the month:



I'm overall really happy with how I did. Though I definitely went over budget in a few areas- mainly with restaurant eating, as usual- I'm still quite proud of the accomplishments of the month. I spent half what I did last month on food, and I think I only purchased coffee one time.

I had a few just really stupid expenses that I shouldn't even have bothered with- $20 in TV that came on Netflix 4 hours after I bought it on Amazon, and $20 in iCloud storage because I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to technology. That's $40 that could have been put to MUCH better use. Sigh...



Not included in this breakdown was the $1,562 payment to clear my CC, the $748 put toward my EF, or the $100 in car repairs I made.

It also doesn't include the $25 in Gas I spent today, which wont clear for a couple more days.

I didn't make any freelance income this month, which did put me a bit behind... but I still ended up with money leftover (though it's getting rotated into paying next month's bills at the moment).

Now on to budgeting for October!

I'm going to pad my EF a bit more, because I still haven't found a job to replace mine when the contract ends. I'm already a month ahead on my Student loans, but you can never be too careful. I don't have a CC payment anymore, so there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to add another $1,000 or so.

Last week was incredibly busy with several events for work and being out Thursday afternoon and Friday for BF's sister's wedding. I'm playing catch-up this week, but feeling much better today about progress than I was yesterday. I had events all weekend for work as well, so I didn't get much of a break-- and because I had drill the weekend prior, I haven't really had a day off to just relax. I'm definitely starting to feel a little burnt out as a result. I'm trying to stay energetic and positive, though.

Despite all of that, I'm still managing to stay under budget overall. I should really get to the grocery store here soon, but I'm also trying to use up some of the random odds and ends I have in my kitchen. I just know if I let it go on too long that I'll start eating out because there's nothing convenient to grab. I feel like half the battle of budgeting/saving is knowing your own behaviors and pre-empting them. haha.

Because I'm about $150 under budget with only a week or so left in the month, I transferred $50 to my savings account. I have a few savings goals that I need to keep in mind, and with my car deteriorating fast I know it's not a terrible idea to start saving up for a new one. I'm hoping it holds out for another 6 months before completely falling apart. haha. But we'll see. I only have $1k in my EF, so I'm thinking that padding it might be good regardless-- at least until I secure a job for November. I really do want to focus on my loans, though. It's kind of sad when I have to decide between saving or paying off my loans. I guess it's good that this is where I struggle, rather than spending money on stuff I don't need.

Anyway, lots to do today, so this is a quick update! Below you'll see my current spending for the month (in green) compared to the same period last month (in yellow). Feeling pretty good about it

Nothing terribly interesting to report today. Went to the mall yesterday and managed to not spend a cent! Had to help the BF pick out a suit for his sister's wedding this weekend. I'll be wearing one of the many dresses in my closet that don't get nearly enough wear. Usually I use a wedding as an excuse to buy something new. Not this time!

Ate breakfast at home. Brought my coffee and lunch to work. Leftovers from last night. Mmm. I'll be cooking dinner tonight to bring leftovers in tomorrow.

Used rewards points and a coupon to grab a makeup item for $3.25 (including shipping). Pretty pumped about that. I did break down and buy the second season of New Girl from Amazon Prime this morning. It was $22. But considering I don't pay at all for cable or TV, I can justify the cost. Season 3 starts tonight and I'm not quite caught up. If only Netflix would have just put up both 1&2...

That being said, I'm still on track to be way under budget. Though I did budget $200 for medical expenses, and I haven't quite gotten around to scheduling an appointment... we'll see what that works out to be.

That's about it for today's update. Hope you all are having a good week so far!

So here we are. Another week, and we're a little over the halfway mark in September. I can't believe just how fast time is flying...

At any rate, here is my update:

This past weekend was drill weekend. I ended up staying in at my place Friday night, so no spending there. I wasn't feeling well and just ended up taking a long bath and watching Netflix.

Saturday I got gas on my drive down (it's an hour to get to where I drill, which is about 5 min away from my mom's house. That's where I stay so I don't have to drive back). Spent about $25 on gas.

I always end up going out to lunch on drill weekends- because they usually give us rather unappetizing boxed lunches and it's our time to take a break from the day. Saturday we hit chipotle. I spent about $6. Yesterday, we went to Piada- that was roughly $7.

Saturday night I stayed in, had leftovers from mom's fridge, and worked on an online graphic design class that a friend of mine is paying me to take for her. I kind of feel bad- I generally wouldn't do something like this. Education is important. But she's never going to be a graphic designer, and it's a win-win for us. I would have paid to take this class, and I'm getting a bit of cash out of it. And she doesn't have to spend time struggling through it. This is how I rationalize it, and that's that. heh.

Last night was pretty chill. Ice cream Sunday with the boy, and then watched some TV and went to sleep. This week is going to be a really busy one- so I wanted to get some rest.

---

Today I ate breakfast at home, brought in coffee. I tried my Aldi Donut Shop coffee for the first time today. Not terrible. I put so much flavored creamer in it that it really doesn't matter what coffee I use regardless. Brought a can of soup for lunch.

Tonight I'm going to the mall with BF so he can buy a suit for his sister's wedding this weekend. Hoping I don't feel the urge to purchase anything. It's hard to trust myself in malls... but I have faith that I will maintain my self control.

Cooking dinner tonight so I can take leftovers for lunch. I didn't go grocery shopping this weekend, but I should be okay for the next few days. I may hit Aldi for a few things, but I'm going to try and hold out until the weekend if possible. I have plenty of food at home right now.

---

Mid month breakdown:



The green bars are for this month, the yellow are for the same period from last month. As you can see, food and dining spending is way better this month than last. I was also able to pay a lot more on the student debt this month, which is awesome.

I used my CC for all purchases this weekend (to get the rewards points), but I paid it off this morning, so I'm back to a zero balance.

Right now I have $60 in amazon gift cards from rewards points-- thanks to PNC points and Swagbucks. I'm going to start piling them up as much as I can to buy xmas gifts and little things that pop up. I'm at about 100 swagbucks right now. I'm earning them pretty fast these days...

Anyway, time to get back to work. Hope you all had a great weekend, and have an equally great week!

Not much to report on today. Ate breakfast at home, brought coffee along. Boss took us out for lunch. I did go out to dinner with a friend I haven't seen in a while, spent about $15 on food and one beer.

Paid my internet bill. Still under budget for the month. Still feeling good about things. Did get an email saying that my $50 Amazon gift card is on its way (it was on backorder from my PNC points). I'm also up to 371 Swagbucks, so I'll have another $5 Amazon gift card on its way soon. The one from last week cleared just yesterday.

Tonight BF and I are going to our friends' to play a board game called Settlers (if you've never played, I highly recommend it!) and socialize. I like these nights in. They're inexpensive, and we have a really good time.

So that's it! Tomorrow should be a no-spend day. Not sure what my plans are for the evening, but I'll be heading down to mom's to stay because I have drill this weekend. Yippie. lol. It'll be nice to see her, regardless.

Hope you all are having a good Thursday!