Just Keep Swimming.

So last night regular customers had a birthday celebration going down. Free booze galore. I have to say, me and my boss, along with a coworker ended up going back to my apartment and indulging more with BF. I'm feeling pretty rough this morning. Had to stop at the COGO's last night to pick up munchies and mixers. So I spent $5. That is being made up today because I'm not studying with my french buddies again this week. One of them had to work.

As far as today goes, I'm not sure what's going on. BF is still asleep, but he needed to go to get some prints done for our neighbor, the comic, who is taking us to one of his shows tonight. How fun! I'm not sure if I'm gonna have to pay for anything... we'll see.

My boss was being incredibly friendly last night(this was before all the drinking...), and incredibly sympathetic. I'm not sure if it was that desparate tone of voice when I told him I was really torn about working black friday... I made CRAP money last night, like next to nothing for a saturday night. Everyone else made at least $100. I made $50- which is less than I budget for a normal weeknight. At any rate, I asked him, "hey, am I working on black friday or not? I just need to know." and he said, "work if you CAN." Basically, he put the ball in my court. And I straight up told him that I want to work because I REALLY need the money, but it's so important to me to spend time in Ohio, especially considering my grandfather is going to pass away here soon and I already made plans with my best friend for black friday itself. I told him not to let me decide. haha. After all this fighting, and I dont want to be responsible for the decision. grr. He wasn't gonna go for that, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. I'm working next friday, light-up night here, that'll be busy. And I already promised him I'd work new years. Those are both really busy nights, but I really dont mind working them. Lightup night was fun last year, but I'm saving money not going. New years is usually spend at OSU, but it's a party holiday, and I'm not going to get all bent out of shape about it. I can drink in pittsburgh. At any rate. I think I may still take black friday off, I'm not sure. We'll see how things go...

So after reading the posts on my last blog, I've decided to keep some money in my national city account, and transfer the rest to an Emigrant Direct account. 5.05% sounds so nice! After thinking about how much to deposit, I've decided to not put too much in now. Tuition payment is coming up, and I need that money to be VERY readily available. After tuition is taken out, I'm going to leave the minimum in my savings, $300. Then I'm going to put $200 in the ED account. Combined, they will be my emergency funds. $500 covers my bills and leaves some room for groceries: a month's worth of expenses. I was going to leave that $500 in my National City, but I figured that if I could make higher interest on 40% of the total, why not?

Sometimes I wish I could just forget about those silly student loans. Many kids do while they're in college. I know I could be living life quite comfortably that way, but when I think about all the money I'd rack up in the meantime, and the weight it puts on me just having that 4, soon to be 5-figure dollar amount sitting there for me to pay back, I know I cant. It would be too irresponsible anyway, and that's not my style

In the meantime... I applied for an ED account, my initial deposit $25. That goes towards my $20 challenge.
ED initial deposit: $25
November total: $256.75
Running total: $467.26

This means that I reached my goal of putting $250 towards the challenge! Woo! I'm reaching all of my goals way ahead of time this month. It feels great! I really feel in control of things. Last month I only put $210.51, so things are looking up! And for all of you who dont know, my $20 consists of all money put into savings or towards loans. It includes my piggy bank, which I deposit into my savings every month. Not sure if that's how the challenge is supposed to work, but I have totals for little bits of money I save here and there as well.

As for other news, it's going to be a no-spend day today (I'm up to 7 this month, I think there's a miracle happening). I believe I'll be making those pumpkin cookies and relaxing until I have to go to work. The thermostat is set on 66 and I'm in comfy clothes. I said yesterday while hugging BF: "this is how I'm going to save money this winter." and he says, "how? by hugging me?" and I said yeah, and he replied, "I'm gonna start charging you for stealing my heat." hahahaha. He is too funny. Silly boy :P

So after my last post and a couple responses about the incredibly low interest rate on my savings account, I started looking into online savings accounts. This is where I finally figured out what an ING account was, hehe. I did a little research, talked to BF about it, read a couple threads in the forums, and did a little more research. I've decided to open up an emigrantdirect account. 5.05% sounds a bit better than 0.55%. My problem is this: I just opened up my National City savings account a couple months ago. I dont know why I didn't do all this research then, but for some reason I though it was just best to go with the bank where my checking was. At any rate, I'm not sure if the bank charges a fee for closing the account, but even beyond that I dont think it looks very good to creditors to see closed checking accounts on my record. I may want to buy a car someday or something to that effect. So should I leave the minimum $300 in the account and just transfer the difference into the emigrant account, or close my national city account and transfer the whole? Obviously I'd make the most in interest if I closed the account and transferred the total, but I'm not sure of all the consequences following the closing of a savings account. Thanks guys! Hopefully I'll make my way to the bank tomorrow to get this all sorted out!

Alright, so nothing too eventful happened today. I didn't end up making cookies afterall, but I DID make pancakes after BF woke up (or rather, I woke him up. hehe). Yum! The remainder of the day was spent playing silly videogames with BF. No spending outside of the $25 I put toward my loan. I dont count that towards my spend/no spend days. And either way, I've already exceeded my goal for the month! I just figured that my mom paid for my prescription, which saved me $25. I think she'd want me to use that money towards school. So to the loan it went... it feels really good to pay off this loan. I feel myself continually getting lighter. hehe. A part of me wishes that it was going into the ol savings account, but when I think of the 14.25% interest charged on my loan every day, it outweighs that tiny .5% on my savings. I'm gonna wait until my loan matches the amount in my savings, and then start adding to it, though I add a bit here and there to my savings either way. The next couple of weeks should bump me up either way. Especially if I cant get my boss to let me take black friday off. I really want to stay in Ohio for 2 days, but a part of me knows that he's right, it is a busy day. I'd make a lot of money, I'm just not sure if that money is worth the time lost with both my friends and my grandfather, who is to pass away here shortly. grr. Work can be so frustrating sometimes!

$20 challenge:
Thanks mom!: +$25
November total: $231.75
Running total (since last month): $442.26

Almost to my $250 goal for the month. Woo!

Breakfast: oatmeal, apple, soymilk
Lunch: pancakes
Snack: peanuts, popcorn (the 94% fat free stuff)
Dinner: tomato soup w/ cheese, crackers, and black beans, soymilk

I'm in dire need of chocolate. HELP!

So today is my day to relax. BF is still asleep and will prob be for a while still. I believe it will be a no-spend day. As for plans, I dont really have any. I was thinking about baking cookies. I haven't done any baking recently, and I have extra canned pumpkin from the soup I made a couple weeks ago, so perhaps I'll make pumpkin cookies. I may take a walk as well. BF isn't finished doing the laundry. I may have to prod a bit more. I so want to just finish it up and get over with it, but it's his week to do it! grr. I'll prob break down anyway :P I'm sure we'll cook again as well. We made quesedillas again last night, though I went vegetarian this time and put black beans on it instead of meat. Gotta get some of that good fiber into my diet! Anyhoo... no more to say, really. I'm sure I'll post again by the end of the day :P

Breakfast: Oatmeal, apple, soymilk (yum! I loooove soymilk...)

Alrighty. I had quite an eventful financial day... found another penny in the stairwell at the university. woo! And even better, when I went to the bank, I noticed (again) the cute national city piggy banks that they had sitting on the counter and asked the girl what they were all about and what one had to do to get one (I've been eyeing them for a couple weeks. So adorable!). Turns out they're a promo item, and even though I didn't just open an account or sign up for a CC, she gave me one! Yay! So now I have a REAL piggy to feed all of my change to... a la Lux! hehe.

I did break down and go grocery shopping. I'm almost to my limit of $ spent for the month in groceries, but I figure it should last me to the 28th. I hope... I also kicked my butt into gear, and I'm going to start eating healthy again. I kinda fell off the bandwagon a bit, but the gals here are inspiring me. So let's hope it goes over well. I'll add a little something to my blogs about it, but no adding to the challenge (I add mine a bit differently than everyone here... it wouldn't work). Speaking of which, I put $47.75 into my savings today, which bumps my $20 challenge up to $417.26. Woo!

At any rate, I'm looking at a no-spend day tomorrow. I'm thinking a relaxing day of playing silly videogames with BF. Sure it'll be a late night tonight, too, considering I get to sleep in tomorrow! yay... I love days off...

Sooo... today was a no-spend day, so let's have a "yippee!" I had class a la 8am... but we're watching a great movie in psych-"Ordinary People," I'd reccomend it. That class got me thinking... I'm currently majoring in psych. I plan to go to med school, but after reading this article that my prof gave us and talking with a couple different psychologists, I kind of feel I'm moving in the wrong direction. I LOVE psychology. I like biology too, but when I think about the kind of therapy I want to be giving when I'm practicing, it's TALK therapy, not DRUG therapy that I want to do. Like I said, I've talked with a couple different psychologists, and it seems that they have psychiatrists that they refer thier patients to if they absolutely need medication, and they seem to be doing fine without perscription writing themselves. Not to mention, if I pursued my phd in psych instead of going to med school, I think I'd learn how to be a better therapist rather than learning about my last resort... so I may drop the whole med school bit and just focus on psych, and grad school instead. Any thoughts?

But moving on from there, I was TIRED today. Grr. Incredibly rude customers kept me at work an hour and a half after closing time last night and I got very little sleep. BF made us late for class this morning, no good, and I had a rough afternoon. Work was more than just a little stressful. My boss actually let me leave early tonight, though, and I was thankful for that. Yes, I abandoned the possibility of making more $, but I met my estimated and budgeted total for the day, so I dont feel guilty taking a little personal time.

As for other news, my friend actually has things to do tomorrow and was planning on calling off our lunch, so tomorrow will be another no-spend day unless I decide to go to the grocery store. Yes, I said I was going to wait until the 16th, but honestly, if I dont go then it'll end up costing me more in the long run. I have no mid-morning snacks left! When I dont bring things to school, I buy them on campus out of necessity. So a very carefully planned shopping trip is in store. But still, that's $7 saved by not eating in the cafeteria tomorrow! I've got a little money to work with.

I think I'll cut it short here, well, not really short, but shorter... hehe. Oh! I almost forgot! I found a penny on the floor in the girl's locker room at work today. Woo! AND I got a free sample in the mail! Gotta love those little frugal triumphs!

Go Democrats!!!

Hey guys, I just wanted to show you guys this... BF's cousin makes this stuff! It's so cool. BF designed the website, and in return, Evan is making us a cool coffee table/wine rack! Definitely check it out. Everything is so neat!

EvanEnyart.com

8am class, that is. I'm so looking forward to the end of the semester. Not because I dont like class, but because it frustrates me so falling asleep in every class! I feel like I'm cheating myself out of my education, and yet I just CANT keep my eyes open! So I've decided that next semester, though I wont be able to work as much as a result, that there will be NO 8am classes. It's not worth it.

I woke up late this morning. Flew out the door without drinking any coffee or eating any breakfast. I had to leave in the middle of class to buy some coffee, then come back (and I wont even get into the retarded vending machines...) My prof was incredibly understanding, he merely commented on how awful it is that students absolutely HAVE to work, and how it stinks that I work nights and come to class so early. Agreed.

Because I overslept, I was forced to purchase my breakfast on campus. Between coffee during class, a bagel and creamcheese, and a bottle of orange juice (sorely needed because I have low blood sugar), I ended up spending $5 on campus. grr. I wasn't planning on buying any food today, oh well.

Bio was the same story... fell asleep numerous times. Struggled to keep my eyes open. Thankfully, this prof is understanding as well. The poor woman. I'm incredibly fond of her, and she's always so flustered and overwhelmed. After class, we talked about internships and whatnot.

Now, on the way home I was talking to BF via cell. He mentioned that he was coming to my restaurant to eat tonight. Big bucks! It's all you can eat night, so I guess it's kind of worth it, but still, it's almost $30 per person. Made me want to go and get food (I always feel left out and want to buy food out when he does things like that, like I feel I deserve it...), but I restrained myself because I had delicious leftovers from last night's cooking... or so I thought! Turns out BF ate them... I was a little peeved. Granted, I offered the food to him last night, but since he turned them down to continue sleeping I guess I thought he wasn't going to bother. He's an anti-leftovers kinda guy. So I ended up very annoyed when I got home. He ate my couscous AND he gets delicious sushi tonight! And what did I get?? Nothing :'(

But despite all that frustration and general unhappiness, I'm not giving up on my budget morale yet. My most recent payment posted on my loan today. My principle is down to $5415.79, almost $100 less than the original, and I put another $50 payment on it today. I'll make another bank run on friday, and add some more to the savings.
So my totals for the $20 challenge:
For this month: $159 in november
Total: $369.51

I'm gonna try and make tomorrow and thursday no-spend days. Try. I do usually have lunch with my friend in the cafeteria, but perhaps I'll convince her to come up to my apartment for lunch? We'll see. As far as the grocery challenge is going, I may have to give in here soon. I never did buy my eggs, though. Those were my only allowance. I'm gonna try and hold out as long as I can though. Talk to you guys later!

So my new work shoes came in today from shoesforcrews.com. We'll see how they fare. My last pair cost me circa $20 from walmart (Dr. Scholls) and lasted me--painfully during the last few--7 months. These cost me $48 with shipping... the work shoe challenge!

As for other financial news... mom called today (always a pleasant suprise). We discussed the holidays and such. I'll only be in Ohio for 2 days for thanksgiving unfortunately, because my boss is a slavedriver. The upside is that I wont eat out once while I'm there. That's usually my financial falling when I'm back home for visits. And aside from that, mom is mailing my perscription to me this month, which means she'll be paying for it too! (yay, saves me $25!)

As far as xmas goes, I told mom not to get me anything too big. Of course, I tell her that every year. Sometimes she listens, sometimes not. I told her the 2 main things on my wish list were gift cards: Giant Eagle and Barnes & Noble. I LOVE to grocery shop. And it's something that will most certainly not go to waste. The B&N gift cards go toward textbooks. So really, I'm just asking for practical gifts... ooo... or world market. Me and BF LOVE world market. Such cool things for the apartment! Hehe. That's actually what I'm getting BF though...

On the non-financial front, my brother is possibly going to be released from the home he's in right now by thanksgiving! He's a paranoid schitzophrenic, and they have him in this awful half-institution with very little freedom... he should be at home. He needs the support. So a big hurray for his probation officer! (This is a biiiiiiig looooooong story for another time, but it's wonderful that they're letting him out early. There's no help for him in that prison)

At any rate, cooked chicken tenders and tomato lentil couscous for dinner. Mmm. Too bad BF is asleep... he might like some too! Ah well, more for me. Serves him right for being a sleepy-poo

Well, my day started out rather groggy (me and BF were up just a little too late last night), but on the way to class I found $0.40 on the ground! woo! That went in my coin jar for the $20 challenge. Class went well. Now the ugly...

Library Fines

grr. I love using the library, because borrowing is free... when you return the movies back on time. grumble. At any rate, that was an $11 fee. The good news is that I saw the whole sheet of people who paid fees today, and someone owed them $66! I'm glad I didn't wait THAT long...

Made my monday bank run. I deposited $50 into my checking and the remaining $74 into my savings. I was also happy to see that my savings has accumulated another $.69 in interest. woo! Every little bit helps, of course.

At any rate, I've taken a look over my records, and I honestly have to give myself a pat on the back. I think it's amazing how this community has helped me take control of my finances! I'm just a kid, and I haven't done enough over the past couple years. I'm glad I found you guys before I ventured out on my own. Thanks! This is my favorite spot to blog, and will remain so for years to come, I'm sure!

No, not coffee. I actually looked through my numerous papers with loan info. For some reason I ignore the fact that I dont only have 1 loan. I actually have 3. One from my old university. It is unsubsidized at interest of 5.3%. I also have another government granted loan at my university that is--thankfully-- subsidized at 6.8%, that doesn't start accruing until graduation. Then finally, my biggie with the 14.25%... ugh. This is the one I talk about. I've gotten my principle down, thank goodness. But it's still getting there.

My total debt in student loans: $8582.53

Now, I'm still in school, so really I dont have to pay any of this now. But growing up in a household where my parents always were (and still are) in a great amount of debt, I'm gonna try and save myself some money if I can. I pay the interest, and then some on my biggie every month. The other 2 have such low interest that I'm going to focus on the biggie before touching those. It just kills me that I have that much in debt! I know other people here are probably thinking "that aint nothin!"... but the fact of the matter is that it was a little surprising.

At any rate, I've got some serious saving to do. My mom even seemed surprised when I told her I've started putting payments toward my loan... of course, with the interest I'm paying she could see why!

At any rate... I've got a couple goals, or challenges, that I'm going to attempt:

1. Aside from a dozen eggs, I'm not going to buy groceries until the 16th. This looks pretty easy, but I know myself a bit better.
2. Use up what's in my pantry/fridge/freezer! I buy groceries way too often.
3. No eating out at all this week. I'm going to try and convince my friend as well to eat at my house as opposed to the cafeteria at school.
4. No spending money on clothes for the rest of the month. I bought my new work shoes. I think that's enough for the month.

So we'll see how it goes! Later guys!

So yesterday was a no-spend day, which was great. I made lunch and dinner, and me and BF played my newly bought videogame. Needless to say, I've gotten my money's worth. I've managed to play over 10 hours since I bought it 3 days ago! Eek! Actually, it's incredibly fun and a little more intelectually stimulating than watching a movie, etc. It was definitley a good purchase. And it is keeping me busy as it is too cold for me to want to leave the house.

Which leads us into today. Usually on sundays I get together with 2 friends and study french. My one friend bailed out on thursday, and today I decided that I would rather stay in my cozy appartment rather than venture to the bus to get to the coffee shop... and I'm saving $ as well! He wasn't too put off, considering he celebrated his b-day last night and was feeling a little rough this morning. So I'll be having another no-spend day. 2 in a row??? Impossible, you say??? I thought so too, but apparently not! Yay!

At any rate, I redeemed some points from my national city card and got a $10 B&N giftcard... that'll be a portion of my gift to the best friend. He usually gets me a $20 or $30 for xmas, but I'll get him something else small as well.

Aside from all that, I'm just tugging along. I have plenty of leftovers and food to keep me filled up. I even saved money yesterday by being too lazy/cold to walk across the street to the convenience store to get sour cream. ha! It's my fave on chili, but honestly I did fine without it... hehe. I'm gonna work on some of those leftovers, though I like to cook on the weekends. Hmmm. I guess we'll see. At any rate, the first week of november is about over, and I'm still on track. Lets see if it keeps up! (I hope so!) Talk to you all later!

So I have this incredible weakness. It's called luxury. A friend of mine told me once that I'm a girl with a champagne lifestlye, kool-ade budget. hehe. Boy, was she right. I managed yesterday to head to the Giant Eagle Market District- which is the mothership of all Giant Eagles. I'm talking the produce/bread/meat section of the store is the size of a normal store, and the selection is wonderful. they have an entire cheese section and a candy store. Talk about my dream... Besides the fact that me and BF always forget that we should skip a meal before going (free samples run free in this place), we always forget that we always spend waaaaay too much here. But to continue my story...

Before we left the house, me and BF picked something out of my wonderful Jamie Oliver cookbok to make for dinner. Quesedillas. So we had to stop at the store. The Market District pulled me in, and I ended up leaving not only with the fixins for this tex mex dish, but 8oz of brie, fancy crackers (BF's incredibly wealthy grandparents have turned me on to this delicious snack... I am way too spoiled), 2 bars of lindt dark chocolate w/orange and one with pear. mmmmm.... The rest of the food I got was real grocery food, but I must say, this was a tasty snack that was well worth the extra $.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's really important to me to have that little bit of snooty luxury to offset the eating-ramen-because-I-have-no-money moments. I wasn't even planning on grocery shopping yesterday, but I'm glad I did because those quesedillas were really good! And BF liked them too! I'm loving this cooking at home bit, I'm finally cooking things that he will eat and request in the future! Speaking of which, we got another package of the zatarain's jambalaya mix as well because he liked it when I made it last week. woo! We picked another zatarain's mix. We'll see how it goes.

I knocked a couple off my list yesterday as far as xmas goes, but I didn't set foot in a store. Many of you know the pleasures of mypoints. Well, I participate as well, but national city has a very similar program going right now, and they're giving bonus points for specific stores. Target happens to be one of them. So I took care of my lil brother and either a professor or friend of mine. It's a sort of bath gel/lotion set thingy, and really it would work for either. So we'll see... 20 bonus points per dollar is good for me!

total spending yesterday included: $20 for my copy of WoW (thanks all who commented on MMO's... it made me smile), $16 on lunch, because it ended up being much pricier than I had thought, and didn't want to make BF pick up the total bill, even though he told me he'd buy me lunch. $31 on groceries, but BF is going to reimburse me for some of the food I bought. I dont mind putting the initial down on my card, I earn points that way! I calculated it out, and he owes me $12, so It'll be $20 total.

Overall, not too shabby. Today will be a no-spend day. I've got chili to make before my ground beef goes bad, and WoW to keep me busy before work. I'd have to say it was a good investment!

Well, it's my day off. I talked to BF yesterday about what he wanted to do, and we decided on going to best buy. He plays this silly game called world of warcraft... it's incredibly popular among kids my age (and younger). It's one of those games that millions of people can play together online. He spends a bit of time playing this game.

Now, I've watched him play, and it's pretty cool... kind of a pseudo fantasy game (knights, wizards, etc) and I think I'll like it. Not to mention, if we play together it could be a nice activity with relatively low cost after it's purchased (you have to purchase an account that is so much money a month to participate in the online thingy). Me and BF dont go out a whole lot during the winter, and it'll be even less this year because we dont have a car, so I've decided to buy this game and see what all the hubbub is about.

It's $20 and comes with a free trial month of the online play-time. So not too bad at all.

Last night, I bought a pizza for me and BF because he paid for my bottle of wine. But the poop-head bought a meat lovers! I thought he was getting a hawaiian pizza, so I was horribly dissapointed. He did offer to buy me lunch today because of his "changing of his mind last minute." Let's hope he holds up on that offer!

Perhaps I could shop around for some xmas gifts as well today... ooo fun! I love xmas shopping!

Aside from all that, I've got no news! Just trying to enjoy my day off... I was in great need. Later guys!

Alrighty. So today has been pretty sweet. Class. Then class again. I got a 98 on my last bio test, and that's awesome. I had lunch with my friend and that is always nice. I stopped at the bank and made a deposit, then stopped at the post office to mail off my abstentee ballot. Elections are only 5 days away! I hope it gets there in time... at any rate, I dropped online and made a payment of $100 towards my student loan (ya know, that one with the 14.25% interest!!) I've managed to lower my principle to $5407.23 from $5500 in the course of a couple months. This may not seem like much, but when you think about how much interest I pay in a month, it's a bit, for sure. I'm working on it. At any rate, that's $35 toward my $20 challenge. I budget $65 a month, any extra goes toward the challenge. Honestly, I could probably factor in more than that considering how much I'm saving on even more interest that I would be accruing if all that money was in the account. Now that my principle is down, my interest due will be less. Woo hoo! Yay for saving myself some money.

The other good new is that it's only the 2nd, and I have $211 in my checking even after the $100 I just paid to Sallie Mae. Woo hoo! That's not too shabby. I need to get some more $ into my savings account for next semester, but this is most definitley working out to my advantage, paying some of this loan off now.

I also got my bank statement in the mail. I've earned 11 cents in my savings account since I opened it a couple months ago. Whoopee? hehe. I guess I should get a little more in there... bump it up a bit. At any rate... I've got a couple days off work, which is nice. Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Usually it's my day to run errands or go out to lunch or such. Not sure what BF wants to do, but I'm going to try and keep it low-budget. Perhaps make it a no-spend day? I'd really like to, it's just really hard when I hardly get out at all and my day off should be spent doing fun things! erg. Hmmm. I guess I'll have to talk it over with BF.

At any rate, I've got a fresh start with november, and it's looking up! Also, I've got those new work shoes coming in the mail this week, which is great! Very excited... hehe. Well then, I better get going. I've gotta eat some pseudo dinner before I'm off to my last class. Talk to you all later!

$20 challenge total: $245.51

So I worked a double today, and unfortunately did not get away with a no-spend day. Beyond my lack of willpower, the chefs made this not so great rice with half-cooked egg soup that I'm not too horribly fond of. I made 2 separate trips to the coffee shop in the mall. The first trip was spent trying to convince myself to get the banana instead of the glazed doughnut, but rationality obviously didn't prevail. The second trip involved a cheese wrap that was really good but too much food. So I definitely spent some food. $1 for the doughnut and $3.25 for the wrap. At any rate, tomorrow is my long day, which involves lunch with my classmate in the cafeteria. woo!

At any rate, happy first of the month, kiddos! Wish me luck on my french exam tomorrow!

Alright. So I've got class here in about an hour. I'm trying to make today a no-spend day. That'll put me at the 3 I was shooting for this month. Perhaps I'll go above and beyond! We'll see...

I double today. Grr. That means a 12 hour workday, boo. Even further in the lack of enthusiasm here is the fact that we have a 40 person party of highschool kids coming in. I guess it's a japanese class of sorts. At any rate, should be alright. I'm pretty sure it's a one plate meal, so it shouldn't be too hard to get all that out to em. Crazy day, I'm sure...

Aside from that, I just have french to study. We've got an exam tomorrow, and I hate to say it, but i'm not prepared at all. I've been incredibly unimpressed with this clas thus far, and unless my prof makes drastic changes in her teaching methods, I dont see any more progress to come :/ At any rate, the kids in my class have been meeting together outside of class on the weekends to study, so maybe she'll cut us a little slack for that. Either way, better get going. All of you have a wonderful day!

I recieved a request for one more post. This time for my pumpkin soup recipe.

To tell you all the truth, I have no idea how much of anything really I put in, but I'll try my best to remember...

Ingredients:
Celery
Sweet onion
butter or margarine
2 13oz cans of pumpkin puree
2 jars sweet potato baby food
1 jar carrot baby food
1 can chicken broth
2 cups applesauce
Spices: ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon
Half and half

Well, first I cut celery and sweet onion into very tiny pieces. I'm not sure how necessary these two ingredients are, but they seemed logical in a soup, so I stuck em in there At any rate, I sauteed them in butter until cooked, but still a bit crunchy (well, the celery is still crunchy anyway).

I poured about a fourth a can of chicken broth in and let them simmer a bit more, then added one 13oz can of pure pumpkin puree. I mixed everything until it was well mixed.

Now, I got 3 jars of babyfood at the dollar store for a dollar total- 2 jars of sweet potatoes and one of carrots mushy babyfood style. I have no kids, I just figured it would be a lot cheaper to add these instead of fresh. hehe. And it has the same consistency of the soup, so why not?? I'm sure there are many ways of going about this, it's just what I found cheapest. At any rate, I added these next.

After everything was mixed and smooth again, I added my second can of pumpkin. I then added about 2 cups of applesauce... the recipes I found online mostly had apples in the mix, and once again, applesauce is kind of the same consistency and we happen to have a lot of it.

At some point, I added the rest of that can of chicken broth.

The only other things I added to the soup were spices and half and half to make it a bit creamy. The spices I added to taste, but included: nutmeg, a bit of cinnamon, a bit of ginger, and a few packets of equal to sweeten it up. That was it, really. The soup ended up being a bit thicker than originally planned, but when I got home from work, I mixed a little milk into it to liquify it a bit and it tasted just as yummy!

As you can see, this was a trial and error type of thing, and I cannot say it's perfect, but it's totally easy and does the trick. Not to mention, it makes a bunch! I filled 2 medium sized tupperware containers and freezed them after the 2 meals I made of the first bowl. Great comfort food! ( I can vouch for that one...) Yay for pumpkin!

I've already posted today, but I felt it was necessary to post, because I did in fact run to the grocery store (silly me) to get the ingredients needed to make soup. I originally wanted to make butternut squash soup, but because my grocery store is stupid and has crap for selection, it ended up being pumpkin soup- only because I could find it canned. But in the end, it's very yummy. I browsed for a long time online trying to find a recipe I liked, but I ended up "winging it," as I like to call it. I'm like a mad scientist when I do this. Maniacal laughter and the addition of every random ingredient I can find in my kitchen. It turned out really good, and it was super easy. I could probably add a little more liquid to it, it's pretty thick, but other than that, it's all good! Not to mention, it made so much that I put 2 tupperware containers of it in the freezer for later. BF doesn't eat soup, so it's all mine...

At any rate, I feel a lot better than I did earlier. Probably because I was craving a gourd-like veggie, and because I got to cook (that always puts me in a good mood. hehe) I think it just proves that soup makes things much better, for the most part. ha.

Talk to y'all later! I promise I wont post again today

I'm not quite sure why, but I'm so tired today! Grr... I've been a bit worn for the past few days, perhaps my health is failing me? I hope not. I think I've just been rather homesick and making myself unhappy. No good. At any rate...

I bought my bus pass today, so that was $54. I also managed to spend $3 on campus, despite bringing my snack to school. I was really hungry for some reason... I didn't even really enjoy what I bought either, so I see it as a waste. I managed to keep myself from stopping at the grocery store, though I really wanted to. Not sure what exactly I wanted to get, but for some reason I'm craving pumpkin and butternut squash anything. But instead I trekked home and looked at recipes for something I may want to make. Everything is so involved when it comes to this soup! grr. I ended up popping in one of my "budget gourmet" dinners in the microwave... I might make that bean soup for dinner. I haven't decided yet. No pumpkin or squash, but I just went grocery shopping and I'm really trying to use the food that I already bought... jeez.

I guess I'm just looking for comfort food. It's really frustrating that I've been so lethargic. I usually get some small case of unhappiness when it starts getting cold outside. Looks like it's coming early this year. poo.

So I was determined to make today a no-spend day. And i believe I have succeeded. And then some! I went to psych class this morning, then hit the library. I had to read an article on reserve there and post on a discussion board. I was going to photocopy it, but instead I decided to just read it there and post. I'm sure my prof wants us to have a copy of it for class on thursday, but I didn't have the spare change and honestly, that article isn't worth 10 cents to me more for my challenge money...

Speaking of change, I also stopped by the bank (after returning that very much overdue movie at the library... no good), and made both a deposit into the checking and savings accounts. I managed to accumulate $20.51 in my coin jar for October, and it went into savings as planned. Yay!

Talked to mom for a while on the phone. I miss her. I miss everyone back home, but I miss my mom a lot. She's having a rough time and that's no good. I'm really looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving. At any rate, we discussed money for a while. haha. I think it may finally be getting through to her that I'm a responsible adult! (which is a relief. I've been trying to convince her for a long while now)

As for the rest of the day, I started the laundry (finally), loaded the dishwasher, and set out chicken to thaw for dinner. I'm feeling like a regular Martha Stuart right now... BF will be so happy when he gets home! Maybe I'll even put my laundry away... he would be floored. That's my one big flaw. I HATE putting laundry away. He gets on my case all the time, and it drives me crazy. I've never been able to just be my messy self. boo. Ah well. I could be nice just this once... hehe. Well, to homework now...

So it's only the first day of the month (according to my budget calendar) and I've already started spending money on food... erg.

My name is Tara Dawn, and I have a problem...

Heh. No kidding. It's sunday, which means me and 2 members of my french class get together to study. We meet at a coffee shop and do french...things. At any rate, my one friend was hungover, the other sick, and I am unfortunately suffering from a long night. Needless to say, we didn't get too much homework done. Erg. On top of it, the coffee shop had this delicious butternut squash soup that I couldn't resist! A bit over priced, but I'd say that the $5 I spent on that big bowl of soup with it's accompanying big chunk of delicious bread was well worth it. Of course, I bought a drink and a little cake thingy beforehand, so it ended up adding to about $9. Grr.

Ordinarily I would put this down as a school expense (it IS for school, afterall, haha), but given that we didn't do any real studying, it's going out of the eating out fund...

On the flip side, I ate half the jambalaya I made last night for dinner today for lunch, BF finished it off for dinner, and I used the remaining pancake batter from yesterday's breakfast for dinner. Yum! I guess you could call the soup my snack?? I think I eat too much haha. :/ At any rate, we have 0 leftovers now, and a clean plate to start with for the week in food.

I'm determined that tomorrow be a no-spend day. I had one yesterday, which puts me ever so close to my goal. There's nothing pressing I have to buy, though I may have to make a copy at the library. Blast it! Grr... perhaps I can get out of it. We'll see...

November Budget and Goals:

Rent, phone, elec, cable: $450
Transportation: $60
Insurance: $26.75
Perscription: $25
Loan interest: $65
Groceries: $80
Food on campus: $40
Salsa Classes: $20
School expenses: $20
Dining Out: $50
Clothes: $75
Entertainment: $20
Xmas gifts: $50
Misc: $20

Total Budgeted: $1001.75

Estimated income (by the 28th):
17 nights @ $60 => $1020
4 lunches @ $10 => 40
2 paychecks @ $30 => 60
Total:$1120

Goals:
1. To be under budget.
2. To be over income.
3. To have 3 no-spend days.
4. To put $250 toward the $20 challenge.
5. To only eat out 4 times this month.
6. To knock 3 people off my xmas list.

Sooooooo. I gave myself a little more slack as far as the budget goes. I realized that it's damn near impossible to only spend $40 in groceries in a month. I spent $100 last month (and me and BF keep our food separate), so I'm shooting to only spend $80 this month. Clothes is up a bit, only because I'll be buying new work shoes here in about a week. And I understand that just because I cut myself a little slack doesn't mean that I can slack off, I'm just expecting myself to be under budget this month.

Hopefully it'll work out. I took inventory in my kitchen again this month, and even wrote out a list of possible dinners I could make posted on the fridge- so when I'm wandering around saying "we dont have any food!" I have a list to look at, and say, "oh wait, yeah we do, I'll make ___." And I cooked twice yesterday, so I give myself credit. ha. Well, I think I'm gonna cut this short here, well, not really short, but ya know...

Alright, considering that October is a few days away from ending, I figured I'd jump the gun and add everything up. I need to use the figures to structure November's budget anyhow... so here goes:
Rent: 431.68 = 18.32 under
Groceries: 101.06 = 61.06 over
Transport: 59.06 = 5.06 over
Food on Campus = 43.62 = 21.38 under
Entertainment, misc: 339.68 = 289.68 over
Salsa Classes: 0 = 30 under
School Expenses: 58.45 = 48.45 over
Total: $334.55 over

Estimated Income: 980.00 (by today)
Actual earned: 1110.14
(which means I'm 130.14 over, yay!)

Total added to $20 challenge:
$190, but that doesn't include my change jar... which has over $15 in it.

Total times I ate out this month: 7 (I went out of town though... )

My Progress a la Goals:
1. Come up under budget. NO. Not quite, but my budget really didn't give me ANY slack... I need to revise for next month.
2. Come up over income. YES. I actually got this one. yay!
3. Put at least $364.25 into my savings account. NO. Midway through the month I realized I should be paying off some of my loan, as it has 14% interest... I did manage to get my principle down, though, so I feel I did one better.
4. Have at least 4 no-spend days. NO. I only got one...
5. Knock off 2 people from my xmas list. YES. I did manage to finish buying gifts for both my lil sis and BF's Gram, so that one was done.

Okay, so 2 out of 5... I guess it's better than none?? I'll try harder in November, and not forget as much in the way of my budget... going out of town really takes a chunk out of the dining out and such, so we'll see if my trip back home this month can be any better. I'll be eating turkey at the family's anyhow! Well kids, thanks for helping me along!

So me and BF left the house around 11:30 to go to lunch at our favorite mediterranean restuarant. I ended up running into the wife of the owner of the restaurant I work for. I said hi, she and her two friends ended up sitting at the table next to us. It was nice, and we talked cordially and all that. I was really confused when the server came back with my credit card sans pen, etc. It turns out she snuck from the table to "use the restroom" right after I gave the boy my card and paid for our meal! It was so suprising, and of course I insisted that she shouldn't have done so, but of course I was pretty psyched. So my lunch was free (as was BF's).

We caught the matinee of "The Departed." It was really good, and ended up not costing too much. I did, however, buy some new guitar strings and a capo, since my ex band member walked off with mine. Boo.

Me and BF hit the grocery store on the way home... we DESPARATELY needed food. I just couldn't bear the thought of eating ramen AGAIN. I needed solid food. So I stocked up on frozen veggies, apples, cottage cheese, chili, and a few other random things. When we got home we were so excited to have options! haha. I felt like a kid in a candy store.... pretty sad. ha.

Tomorrow is laundry/homework day, then work. I guess my coworker is dressing up for halloween at work. I may do the same, though I dont have a costume. Ah well. The first year I've ever not dressed up... But I really cant afford the extra expense and it kind of crept up on me. Either way, better get going!

Alright. It's been a few days as I have been mondo busy this week. Wednesday about kicked my butt... what with class and working a double. I collapsed when I got home. haha. Made pretty good money that day, though.

French class is proving to be a pain at this point. We have an exam, and my professor is quite a joke. I'm very critical of my professors (as I should be!) and this is an awful case... she has little to no structure during class, expects us to speak french perfectly if it is a concept we have already covered, and furthermore, when we ask her for extra material to practice with (us few in my class have a study group on sundays) she doesn't give us any because she feels we should move on rather than practice the things that we've already covered (my foot!). Needless to say, with this exam coming up, I'm cracking down, along with my classmates. There are only 5 of us in the class... we should be getting a far better education than we are currently recieving. But I'll stop the ranting.

With all this said, I'm going to attempt to work a little less next semester. Perhaps pare it down to 3 nights. My mom thinks I should find a bartending job, which would be great because I'd only really have to work on the weekends and I'd make good money, but then again I wouldn't have weekends to go back home to visit. Erg. That would be great, though, otherwise. I'd study, and perhaps pick up a tutoring job through the university during the week, then work 2 nights on the weekends and be set. I dont go out anyway. haha. We'll see. I could always be a "dancer," haha. I'd only have to work ONE night a week. Just kidding...

This weekend should be both fun and productive. Today, me and BF are going to our favorite restaurant for lunch, then going to see a movie. Neither of us have really gotten out in the last few weeks, and I think we deserve it. After that, my friend may be coming over to study french. I have no idea when we'll be grocery shopping, but it is needed dearly! We really, for all intents and purposes, have NO food in our apartment. We have ramen. That's about it. No milk, no bread, no juice, nothin. So either today or tomorrow we'll be off to the grocery store...

I work tomorrow night, but I'm off again sunday. I've got my study group at the coffee shop, which should be a good time, though stressfull as this exam is going to be. The point is, I CANNOT get anything lower than an A. Ordinarily, B's didn't bother me, but now that I'm planning on applying to med school, every thing counts.

Which reminds me, the club is coming along great. My professor talked to the dept and it seems that everyone is not only good with the idea, but more or less super-excited as well. I know they're trying to establish a grad program for psych in my university, so I'm sure it will attract some more people, or give the dept an edge. At any rate, I'M excited and glad that things are moving so smoothly. There's much more planning to come, but so far so good!

It's been cold. boo. I'm hoping it doesn't rain, though the forecast calls for it. We'll be doing a bit of walking to the movie theatre, and I dont want to be soaked! Ugh. Alrighty, talk to y'all later!

... Unfortunately, it was loaded with spending. poo. 8am class, then studying with a friend of mine. Bought food. Then Bio, then met with my psych professor to talk for an hour or two... he's awesome, I must admit. The best professor I've ever had, and the only one I can visit and talk to intelligently for lengthy periods of time! Not to mention, I'm starting the psych/philosophy club at my university, and he offered to be the faculty adviser. Sweet! I wanted to join an extracurricular activity, but there was nothing that interested me. Instead I decided to devise my own student organization! I figured it would look good to be a leader on my med school apps anyway... hehe.

At any rate. Post Bob's office, I bought lunch. Saved half my wrap for later. Hit the library, got 2 more DVD's to rent. Printed out the power point lectures for bio, ran off copies of journal articles. I also had to stop by the mass comm department to make up a quiz I missed last week. After that, I just studied until I went into work... which was SLOW. I made a grand total of $17... not so good. But anyhoo... I've got so much to do! I figured I have about 2 years until I take my MCAT and apply for med schools. I bought a couple books the other day that have been incredibly helpful in informing me of the steps I need to take to prep for the MCAT and applying. Also, I looked through the complete list of American Med Schools, and decided I may just have to return to Ohio. haha. I always thought I hated it, but I miss my family and friends. I'm pretty set on going to Ohio State's med school. I've got family in Colombus. All my friends at OSU will probably have graduated by the time I get there, but it'll still be nice to be close. At any rate, I better get going. I've got class in the morning!

So it's getting to be that time of year... the time when it starts getting so chilly that I refuse to get out of bed in the morning, well, almost. BF paralyzed me, I've decided (you know, when they roll over, and cuddle with you it makes you so comfy!). I couldn't move, I just couldn't get out of bed despite 8am class calling my name. So FINALLY, when he rolled back over (he didn't seem to hear me when I told him in that super groggy voice that I had to go) at 7:40, I jumped out of bed, threw some clothes on and bolted out the door. I got to class at 8:05. This is a miracle. Just to clarify, it usually takes me AT LEAST 35 minutes to get to class from my apartment because I walk. Well, I power walked today. Seriously.

As for spending, I didn't eat breakfast before class, so I grabbed a breakfast sandwich on campus (I'm such a sucker) and some juice. It's the end of the month, and I'm trying my best not to buy any groceries until I give BF the check for the rent. So basically, besides ramen, we have nothing in the apartment to eat. So maybe we have a little more than ramen, but it's slim pickin's. I about jump on anything that isn't in noodle form at this point.

I also stopped by the University Barnes and noble to look at "Point Park Mom" shirts for xmas... my mom mentioned something about not having any novelty items to show off my university a while back... that's that. I've decided to make the purchase next month, along with the work shoes I'm buying from shoesforcrews.com (thanks for the advice, my fellow blogger!) I did, however, purchase a couple books on the MCAT. I feel it's never too early to start studying and looking into med schools. They were rather pricey, however.

I also stopped at the dollar store on my way home to pick up razors... I'm out and in desparate need

As for the rest of the day, homework, crocheting, relaxing, then work. Talk to yall later!