Just Keep Swimming.

Three days in a row. Wooo! Doing alright.

So I logged into Mint this morning to look at my budget. So far, so good for the most part. My income is on track, and the only place I'm starting to near my limit is groceries - which was largely due to the extra $50 I spent yesterday on some bigger ticket items. But I think I can stretch things pretty far for the rest of them month. At least I'm hoping. If I'm a bit over, at least it's because I'm cooking, right? Also, I see a nice challenge in trying to use the stuff that's been in our cupboards and freezer. It helps me get creative.

Dropped off my car payment yesterday, so that should hit. Today shouldn't see too much in the way of spending. I do need to get gas before tomorrow, as I'm on E and heading over to the other side of town early in the morning to hit another BNI meeting. This morning's meeting was really productive (in my own chapter). Met an interior designer saying she's desperately in need of a photographer right now. So good things are happening!

Dinner tonight will be leftovers. I made a double batch of meatloaf last night, so I don't have to cook tonight. This is good considering it's going to be a late night of editing. Trying to meet a deadline a couple of days ahead of schedule.

So that's my update! Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

Wednesdays are my shopping days, because that's a good friend has that day off of work - and we go shopping together every week. It's kind of our weird, nerdy thing. haha. But mostly, we both are lightweight obsessed with Aldi. And Target. So it works out.

This week I spent $43.03 at Aldi and $54.20 at Target - mostly because we were out of cat food ($17.49 for the big bag), BADLY needed to replace our furnace filter ($12.39), and needed more vitamins ($8.19). The remaining items at Target were lean cuisines, a box of Kraft mac & cheese, and a random item for $5 that will be a gift to friends. All in all, a very productive trip. On the menu for this coming week:

- Meatloaf + Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Homemade Perogies
- Turkey Tenderloin + Butternut Squash Risotto
- Split Pea Soup
- Lasagne Rolls
- Emergency Pizza

We call frozen pizzas in our house "emergency pizza" because it's really a backup. We keep them around when we don't feel like cooking or are craving junk, to keep us from running out to a restaurant. A $2.50 pizza in the freezer tends to be a better bet than spending $20 out. And we have those garbage food cravings more than I care to admit...

Tonight I'll be making the meatloaf for us and our friends' dinner night. We trade off every week, so it's a nice treat for one couple to not have to cook, and it's an excuse to get together and play board games. I'm thinking we'll have a friend or two over on Sunday when I make the perogies as well. I've never made them myself, but this past week I did an authentic Hungarian chicken paprikas that was soooooo good, and now I'm feeling adventurous

Really, I'm just excited that I'm in the mood to cook again. Last night I was stoked that the husband was at a work dinner so I didn't have to cook... but then I was really craving Chinese. So I made myself fried rice and baked a batch of peanut butter cookies on top of that. So much for not cooking. haha.

But honestly, we save so much money when we do cook - and this past week we used up everything we purchased. I'm trying to rid us of the bad habit of buying food and letting it go bad. Another habit that I'm not proud to admit, and is more true than I'd like it to be. Now that I've got a bit more time to prepare my menu and actually cook, I'm seeing it as a nice challenge.

***

Speaking of having more time, this weekend will be the first in 3 months where I don't have a single shoot (or am getting married). It feels GLORIOUS to have the whole weekend to use however I want. While I'm sure I'll spend at least a few hours editing, we've also planned some fun fall activities. Mostly carving pumpkins and hiking. Cheap, and a lot of fun. Can't wait!!

Hope you are all having a great Wednesday!

So things are going well this week - we actually cooked all of the meals we intended to over the last week, finishing up last night with delicious omelettes and bacon. Tomorrow I go grocery shopping, so I'll be making my list tonight.

I hopped on Mint and checked my budget for the month. So far so good. Last week I *did* buy a shirt while I was at Target getting the rest of my groceries after Aldi... but that's not going to happen again this month. Frivolous spending ban.

I moved some money from my business to personal account, and then sent a $1,000 payment to DH for last year's taxes. I'm way behind on paying him back. A couple of people seemed surprised when they found out I was still planning to pay him back even after we're married now. But yes. I hold up my end of the bargain. That's money he can keep in his personal account and do with it what he likes. He'll end up indirectly spending it on me when I'm super broke this winter, anyway haha. But really, let's hope not.

Tonight, DH is at a work dinner, and I'll be eating random stuff from the cupboards - or a lean cuisine, which sounds delightful. It's always kind of nice when he's away for dinner. It makes me feel like I'm a weird, single girl living on my own again (aka, I don't have to cook).

***

I'm in the process of planning a trip down to Nashville later this month - I need to start doing some serious networking. I've got one event I'm hitting, and then 2 BNI meetings. I'm already in a chapter here in Ohio, but I think it'll be a great way to start meeting people once I'm down there. My goal is to schedule one shoot while I'm in the area as well - I've reached out to a musical group who was looking for a photographer on Craigslist, so hopefully that will work out. I'll also be scheduling meetings with wedding vendors, so I'm going to make as much out of the few days I have.

I haven't figured out where I'm staying yet, but it's looking like it will probably be AirBnB, to keep costs down. Thankfully, all of the expenses will at least be write-offs, and I'll get quite a bit of mileage. I just need to get the prep done. I need to print new business cards, samples, and probably some kind of flyer or promotional piece. I'll be trying to keep my expenses down for all of that as much as I can, but they're important - so I'm going to bite the bullet.

All in all, though, I'm excited to get down there and start making connections. Moving my business to a whole new city where I know absolutely nobody is a bit intimidating, but I love a challenge. And hopefully I'll schedule a couple of shoots down there in the winter. I need to start getting Nashville imagery on my site, and hopefully some musical artists - that's such a big market for me to break into. I'm thinking I might just go to an open mic night or something and try and connect with people there as well. Who knows! I might even bring my guitar and join in also

At any rate, I hope you are all having a lovely Tuesday!

Here we are again... another one of those times that I disappear from this site for months and come back in desperate need of getting my s#!t together...

So a lot has happened since May. I turned 29 (woo!). Wedding season began, and with it my busiest time of year. Also, I got married just last month (double woo!). And now finally things are calming down. Well, now I'm playing catchup following all of that craziness... but soon! Soon things will be very calm. And now they are calm enough now for me to look around and freak out a bit. Because things are a bit rough, at least financially.

In the midst of the wedding craziness, I was spending much more than I should - on the wedding itself, and then on restaurant meals (because we hardly cooked from August through September), and also on two different trips I took over the summer. One, granted, was for work - so I have some write-offs there at least... but still. Not cheap.

But mostly I'm freaking out a little because things ARE going to be calm here soon, and while that's great for my sanity... it's not as great for my bank account. And I have bills (and taxes!) to pay.

I've started looking things over, getting a feel for where I'm actually at right now, what I need to make up, and brainstorming ways to get more bookings through the winter so I'm not set up for failure. I've also put myself on a very serious spending ban.

And that's just to get me up to speed. Soon, we'll get our marriage license back, open a joint account, and start figuring out what our finances are going to look like as a married couple. Which we talked about prior to actually getting married - we just have to actually put it all into practice and hammer out the details.

And on top of that, we're moving out of state in just 7 short months. And there's a lot of prep that needs to go into that so... things will remain quite interesting!

Given all of these details, I really need to make my budget a priority. And getting on SA regularly to record my updates is a great way of doing that. I just have to hold myself accountable. So here I am. Ready to get this party started!

My last post was about how crazy it was that it was May already... heh. As you can see, I haven't been writing much this month. Things have been busy (which is good), and now I'm getting more organized.

I got a few checks from clients, so I've sat down and started allocating money. I transferred another $1,000 to A to continue paying him what I owe for taxes. I also made payments on both of my credit cards and student loans. The one company put me in forebearance when my military payments started processing, which is awesome. That's $90 every month I can put toward my higher interest loans.

I also saw that a little over $4k was paid by the government to one of my loan providers. Hopefully there'll be even more coming, but it's exciting to actually see these things being processed! And that's $4k I don't have to worry about paying.

***

I need to make my Q1 estimated tax payment - which will be about $1,600. I'm meeting with an accountant today, so I'm going to hold off until after I talk to her. I'm also heading to the BMV today to get my license and tags renewed - because my birthday is on Friday!

That being said, the weekend is going to be a busy one. Friday we're going out to celebrate. Thankfully, we don't have much in the way of plans on Saturday (rest!), but Sunday I've got a shoot, a client meeting, and I'm helping my future sister in law move... so it'll be tiring. It's good to stay busy, though!

***

I am quite excited to meet with this accountant. I know I'm doing things a bit haphazardly right now. I want to make sure everything is legit and organized well so if - god forbid - I get audited that I'm in a good place to take care of that. I also know that once I get married and combine incomes with A that things need to be separate and well organized.

All that said, it's time to start working! Hope you all had a great month, and have an even better one come June

I seriously can't believe how quickly this year is going by. But I'm happy to be done with April - a busy and rather crazy month gone by. But then again, my busy season for work is starting...

Can't a girl get a break?

These last couple of weeks have been particularly crazy. Several shoots, two weddings, and I assisted a friend with school portraits for two days. Things are still in overdrive, but this weekend I'll have a bit of time to decompress. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to it!

***

In good news, I'm starting to hear from my lenders about my military school loan repayment. Nothing has posted quite yet, but this is the first time the process has come this far, so it's rather exciting. Also, my one lender put my loans in forebearance as a courtesy - which is great, because I can use that money to put toward my higher interest loans.

***

Wedding planning has pretty much been at a standstill for the last 2 months, but we really need to get that on track. We're 4 months and 12 days away (according to my countdown app) and still need to take care of some big things, including:

- Collecting addresses
- Sending out save the dates
- Designing and printing invites
- Finding officiant
- Finding DJ
- Locking down a block of hotel rooms

There are several other things to be done as well, these are just our more immediate concerns. We've been really relaxed through this process, but I know I'm going to get more stressed the closer the time gets, and I should be getting as much done before I'm knee deep in everyone else's weddings.

***

My last bit of news is about A's work situation. He's been rather miserable at his current job, and had let his boss know that he's looking and planned to be elsewhere by June. He's been speaking with his previous boss about heading back to his old job. They wanted a 2 year commitment from him, and discussed the possibility of him working remotely the second year, as we're planning to move.

Yesterday he told me that not only had they formally offered the position to him, but he'll be paid the same (we were expecting a drop in his salary). His current employer is also working on getting someone in right away, so he might be making the change even earlier than expected - which would make him incredibly happy. It's been heartbreaking seeing him so stressed out for so long. He works hard, is a bright guy, and deserves to not loathe going in to the office.

So his situation is about to get better, and that also means that we're in a good place for moving. We don't have to worry about him finding a job once we get there. Things are going to be much more secure. I know that taking his old job wasn't his preferred choice, but he's going to be happy and that gives him a couple of years to figure out what he wants to do next. He knows he's on his way out of the financial industry, but he has no clue where he'd like to be. We've talked about all sorts of different options, but he couldn't pin down even a possibility. I think having the time and the security to check other things out will be great for him. And this new/old position will allow him to do just that.

Now I just have to focus on transitioning my business to that area - something I'll start doing once we're 100% certain that Nashville will be our city.

Exciting stuff!!

The next year is going to be full of so many changes. I can't wait to see what it will all bring

Everyone have a great day!

When I first started my photography business, it came about as a "maybe I could do this for money" experiment. Now it's something a bit more, but I've noticed that the important elements of my business - brand, client management, administration and accounting, and marketing - have all kind of evolved ad hoc.

Now, I'm trying to do the work of formalizing everything and planning to go from where I am to where I really want to be. Income for the most part is steady, but I'd like to focus more on transitioning to a boutique model - taking on less clients, but focusing on giving them an amazing experience.

So for the last week I've been really trying to nail down who my ideal client is, what sorts of products I'd really like to be focusing on, and how I should be shaping those important elements of the business.

Needless to say, it's been a busy week! Throw in a wedding this past weekend, and one coming up... I'm going to be out of steam before long!

Nonetheless, it's got me really excited about where things can go, and I feel a lot more secure about transitioning the brand (and my physical location!) with a plan in place. I have a hard time narrowing my focus - I tend to want to do everything, and be everything to everyone. But I'm comfortable with where I'm headed, and right now I'm feeling a lot of momentum. I just have to figure out the details of how the transition will take place, what timing makes sense, and how I can lessen the blow of a rebranding effort. Thankfully, I'm not several years in - so I think it'll be pretty easy. Restructuring my website and building out a customer database that's optimal will be the real work of it. Oh, and hiring an accountant. That needs to happen soon.

So that's that.

***

As for spending, things have been pretty good. I paid all of the May bills I could. No real spending on things I don't need.

I transferred $1,000 to A to start my repayment of my tax money, so that's some progress.

Also collected some client payments this week, and got another booking for 2016! So I'll have a deposit coming in on top of that.

I have to say I'm ready to be leaving April. This was a pretty crazy month for me financially, with taxes due and my ill preparedness. But things are looking up! I'm feeling ready for the fresh start of the spring - and ready for it to start actually feeling like spring. Bring on the warm weather!

Now that things have settled down on the tax front, and business has started picking up... it's time to play catchup! Time to start tackling those goals:

[ ] Pay A back for taxes ($4,800)
[ ] Save for EF ($2,000)
[ ] Pay down CCs (approx. $5,000)
[ ] Pay down Sallie Mae Loan (It's at $10,300ish right now. A constant battle...)

I also need to set up my estimated tax payments. So I don't end up with this problem next year.

That being said, I got a $1,400 payment in the mail yesterday (woo!) and have another about the same before the end of the week (woo again!). Right now I have about $2,645 to work with, and that second payment will bring me up to almost $4,000.

So now comes the matter of allocating money.

I'll pay my bills first, of course. Then I'll set aside the $1,656 I'll need for my Q1 estimated tax payment, and anything left goes to A. Next month I should be able to pay off the remainder of the tax money I owe - as I'll be *hopefully* finishing up a project that has a $7,000 value. My plan is also to put money into my savings next month. I don't have enough booked out for June and July to cover my expenses yet.

***

In other news, I got an email from the readiness NCO at my former unit - my army contract ended back in November, and we're still trying to get my student loan payments in order. She sent me forms to fill out and I was confused, as I had just filled them out last year and hadn't seen a payment posted yet.

She said the new forms are for my final payment. So I'm going in there next week to finish up the final steps and get some timeframe for when the payments will be made. My contract included $18k in student loan repayment, which will eliminate about 30% of my debt. Not bad. Unfortunately, it will likely only cover my non-private loans (which are the ones without astronomical interest rates). But I'm certainly not going to complain. That's $18k I wouldn't have had otherwise! I just hope we finally get it in motion. I was in the military for 6 years, and that paperwork is such craziness that it hasn't been until now that we're starting to get it right. ugh.

***

I think that's it for me now. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

This has been a rather crazy month - my business has been picking up, which is phenomenal, but comes with an adjustment period. We had 2 big birthdays the first week, and celebrated my fiance's just this past weekend. And, of course, taxes were due.

We had A's surprise hotel 30th Birthday party Saturday. It went absolutely well, and I would count it a huge success. I spent $279 on the room, but friends covered our meals and drinks at dinner (very nice of them) and a couple of other friends provided drinks and snacks for the room. We decked out the hotel room in silly decorations, and probably over 100 photos of A as a kid. It was pretty funny. After our little celebration, we hit the casino - where A quickly made $800 at the roulette table! We decided to stop there, and bought everyone a round of drinks, then headed back to the room. It seemed that everyone enjoyed themselves - and A loved the surprise. Which was all that mattered, of course Such fun, but I'm so glad that we're done with celebrations for the month. I'm not sure my body could handle more crazy party nights.

***

Taxes have been deducted from my account, so I'm feeling more comfortable and solid about my bank account again. Whereas I know roughly what is *in* the account after deducting the big sums, I like it just being gone so I don't have to do any mental math. Which I'm generally awful at. haha.

***

Update on A's job situation: After a few more days of thinking it over and discussing it with a couple close friends, he decided to take his old job back. He feels it would give him time to explore what he really wants to do while having a steady paycheck. This is, of course, what I wanted him to do - and I looked him in the eye a few different times and made sure that's really what he wants and he isn't just doing it because it's what I want him to do. I'd hate for him to live in regret or feel resentful because he felt pressured to make a decision. Even if I believe it was the right one.

He swears up and down it's how he feels, so I'm very proud of him and grateful that he's willing to sacrifice exploring something new now to put in the time and research necessary to find a real path and plan.

He let his old boss know last week, and now they're sending it up the chain to make sure the people above him are on board. So it's still not set in stone, but he'll be meeting with them in the next couple of weeks to discuss and sort out details if it's a go.

Assuming everything will work out, we're going to for sure move in a year, as we planned before this crisis of identity came to pass. So I think we're both feeling more secure in that certainty. Hopefully everything will gel quickly - as I need to start doing my own leg work transitioning my business to another city, without any real network or connection to that market.

***

Speaking of networks, I went with a friend this last week to a networking group called BNI. Apparently it's a worldwide referral-based networking franchise. The group in our city is just getting off the ground and is in the formation stages, but it seems like it could be a good place to start getting more B2B clients. The membership fees are a bit pricey - it's a little over $100 to apply (I'm sure I would get in) and it's about $400/year after that. Steep, but if it actually brought me business I'm obviously happy putting the money there. If I got one referral it would likely pay for itself. So I'm 97% certain I'll be joining.

I just feel that traditional advertising in the photography business is a bit of a waste - with the market being so saturated, I rely a lot on word of mouth and my network. And the nice thing about this group is that I have exclusivity in my category - so I would be the only photographer on board. I paid $300 for a table at a bridal show, so shelling out $500 for a group that meets weekly seems like a worthwhile investment.

***

So that's that. Things are calming down just in time for my business to really start ramping up! That being said, I should get to work - I really have to focus on staying on top of everything!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Monday!

So I filed my federal and state tax returns on Monday, and got my local forms handed in yesterday - just under the wire! I'm not one of those people that tends to complain about the "government taking my money." I completely understand the value of giving back for the greater good, and though our system is defective at best, it's important.

That being said... ouch. Better planning for 2015 is in order. And I really need to get an accountant for next year.

***

Today has already been a bit stressful. My fiance can't stand his job, and he's been back and forth on what he wants to do about it. He really has 3 general options - he can stay working his current job (which is really not an option, he's miserable). He could take back his previous job at the same place - an offer that was made to him by his old boss. The only catch here is that he would be expected to stay on for at least 2 years (understandable). We're planning to move a year from now, and he was told that he could work his second year remotely. To me, this is a no-brainer decision. He wasn't terribly excited by his last job, but it paid well, he had reasonable hours, and he wasn't stressed all the time. Beyond that, having reliable income lined up while we're getting adjusted in the new city brings an incredible amount of security to that situation. But he's not excited by what he's doing and doesn't really care for the industry he's in. Part of me just wants to tell him to get over it... because honestly, he's got it so good there. Most people I know aren't working their dream jobs. They're working a job that allows them to live the lifestyle they want. And his job would more than do that. But then again, I want to be supportive and of course want him to work a job that he loves and is excited over.

But that brings us to option 3 - leaving the bank he works for, and the financial industry, altogether. I'm all for that, but he's got no plan. He hasn't even begun looking at other jobs, and wants to tell his boss he's leaving in 2 months. Because for whatever reason he needs there to be a definitive end date to "light a fire" under him to start looking. What?!

I get that he wants out of his job, but he's got to think a little longer term than that. I feel like he should at least have an idea of what he might apply to... sigh.

He says he wants to find a job in academia. But without having a PhD or being a student, it's difficult to find research positions (what he would want). Last night he said he definitely wanted to go back to school to get his PhD (likely disrupting our moving plans, which is fine). This morning he says he definitely wants to move instead... it's just very clear that he's not terribly committed one way or another. And all the while he's depressed and feels doom and gloom that he has to stay at his company. Which is not true. He just refuses for whatever reason to start doing any research into what he wants to do.

Thankfully he's got enough put away to cover living expenses for even the rest of the year if need be - I'm not so much worried about that as I am him finding himself in another job that he's not passionate about because he haphazardly just found something that isn't what he's doing now. I don't think he's going to find peace being reactionary. And I also think he's got wildly unrealistic ideas about the kinds of jobs available out there (particularly because he hasn't actually looked for any).

So the next year is pretty uncertain at this point. haha. That being said, I know we'll figure it out. He just has to figure out what it is that he wants to do. Then we can start laying out how to get there and what makes sense in the short term.

It's just so painful to see him stressed and overwhelmed. So I hope we figure it out sooner than later. In the end, his happiness is what is important. Everything else is just details.

And by that I mean, I'm cleaning and working out. haha. The fiance's parents and sister are coming up to have dinner for his birthday, which was earlier in the week. It'll be a nice day

Spending this week was a little more than expected with his B-day. I got him an e-cigarette as a gift, as he's quitting smoking. We also had a really nice steak dinner that was almost $100. I have a separate budget for his birthday stuff this month, so I'm still not exceeding anything on my usual budgets.

Next weekend we'll be doing our "big" celebration, and I'll be spending quite a bit. Thankfully, I've taken on a couple more projects this week, and I'm getting paid for a big one soon. I'd feel guilty for the spending, but honestly he's helped me so much financially in the past few years. His 30th deserves to be big.

Speaking of his helping me, we transferred $4,800 to my account yesterday so I can finish filing my taxes. The payback period will begin as soon as I have this month all figured out.

The only other expense I had this week were the save the dates for the wedding - I designed them myself and the printing was pretty cheap. We spent under $50. Now it's time to collect those addresses!

Coming up this week, I need to make my car payment, take care of the cable bill, and grab some more groceries (though that should be no more than $30).

It's going to be a fairly busy week - I've got a prospective client meeting tomorrow morning. Thursday I'm going to this BNI networking meeting - to check it out, and evaluate whether or not the dues are worth the referrals I would get. I don't mind paying a few hundred dollars if it actually pays off. And I feel like the corporate side of my business is something that is expanding quickly, and really well suited to my background in marketing. Saturday I've got a baby session in the morning and then I'm photographing an event in the evening - then going directly to dinner with friends, and then to the hotel room to party for the fiance's party.

It'll go quickly, but I've still got so much planning to do!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday

It's been a low-spend week so far - and a productive one! So things are looking good right now. I'll be heading to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things, but it shouldn't be more than $15 worth of items.

I do need to drop off my car payment, but beyond that my bills are current.

I spent some time the other day going through my monthly budget and making things a bit more realistic based on my actual spending. I mapped it out for the rest of the year, so I had an accurate number for each month, particularly for expenses that happen a limited number of times per year. It also gave me a better understanding of some of my recurring monthly expenses that have gotten away from my estimates (particularly business expenses). I decided to cancel a couple of them because I'm probably not using them enough to warrant the expense.

Also need to send back a pair of shoes I purchased on Zappos. They don't fit, and in all honesty I don't really *need* them, so back they go. More money in my account.

***

It's my fiance's 30th Birthday tomorrow, and it's really going to be a couple of weeks' worth of celebrating. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off work to hang out with him. I'm going to make breakfast, and we'll probably go out to dinner.

Next weekend I'm throwing him a surprise party, and getting a hotel room downtown for the night. So from a financial standpoint, that should be it - but of course I want to get him a gift as well. I'm going to keep it as simple as possible. Mostly because I just don't have the cash to do anything crazy. But the guy is letting me borrow over $5k for my taxes. And he only turns 30 once! I'm going to get him an e-cig starter set, as he's quitting smoking after his birthday (hooray!). If I can come up with anything else cool in the next 24 hours, I'll do that as well, but I feel like that will be enough.

So that's it - Things are moving along, and business is picking up. Just have to keep swimming

I have this bad habit - one I'm sure I share with many people in this country and around the world, but a bad one nonetheless. If you ignore something, it isn't real. You don't have to deal with it. If something is ailing my body, I don't go to the doctor. A diagnosis acknowledges its existence. Kind of like once you name that stray dog you took in, you know that dog is yours forever.

This time, it was taxes. It's April, and the deadline is quickly approaching. I hadn't actually started filing until this past week. I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn't have to acknowledge just how bad until I actually saw a number. So I lived my merry, blissful life spending what I wanted ignorant of the actual damage.

Now that I've seen the number, it's a pretty big blow, and the comfort of that ignorance is pretty much shattered. More so because I underestimated what I would owe by about $2,000. And my savings have dwindled in the last few months while business has been painfully, painfully slow. This is my first year living solely on my business income (without a rather large contracted, part-time job to cover me in the winter months). I didn't realize just how much I was going to need to save prior to the winter to really get me through. Or what my tax burden really is.

Make no mistake, this was all my responsibility and poor planning. But in some ways, this was a good learning experience for me.

All I can say is that I'm thankful I have a fiance that is able and willing to lend me the money until business picks up. Because if I didn't, I'm not sure what I would do. I really am so very lucky. I feel terrible regardless asking him to front me $4,500 - but I'm confident I'll be able to pay him back in the next few months, so it will all be fine.

I just need to start paying estimated taxes during the course of the year and saving for next winter. Really, I should have been paying estimated taxes all of 2014 - but in honesty, never really learned how to go about doing that (I'm sure it's not difficult). I do for my local taxes, but not federal.

I think the biggest learning experience is understanding just how much of my income I'm going to be able to realistically use. I need to do a better job of budgeting my income in an after-taxes capacity.

Again, these are all things that I should have been doing this year. But nothing I can do about it now but move forward a smarter, more responsible person. And next year not be silly and ignore the problem until it solidifies into a tangible emergency. I've really let things go in the financial department, and it's time to start picking up the pieces.

Sheesh. Being a grown up is hard.

***

In other (better) news, we took our trip to Nashville last week to scope out neighborhoods and get a feel for whether we'd like to move there. I'm happy to say we loved it, and it showed the positive side of things feeling more "real" by actually naming and experiencing them.

We're both definitely ready for a change, and it seems like it's got a lot to offer at a rather affordable cost of living (at least compared to some of the other cities we were considering). It's got a great night life, a few neighborhoods that we really enjoyed, full of creative people doing what they love. And, of course, the (much) warmer weather is a huge plus. So as of right now, I'm 98% certain we'll be moving there next May when our lease expires.

So yay for that!

***

And an update re: work - things are starting to pick up, and it feels good to be busy again (and, of course, having a stream of money coming in).

So that's my life right now. Time to get to work!

I know, the title sounds a bit silly. And it caught my eye for sure. It's a book written by a Japanese woman named Marie Kondo - who has developed the "KonMari" method for decluttering and organizing your belongings. And I've become lightweight obsessed with it. haha.

Here's the link (no, I'm not getting paid for writing this. unfortunately):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering/dp/1607747308

Minimalism is something I've been striving for these last couple of months. I've been on a crusade to pare down the number of belongings I have. Partially because I know we just have too much *stuff* and partially because we're moving in about a year, and I absolutely loathe moving. The less stuff, the better time I feel I'll have.

I've been attempting to adhere to the 333 Project Capsule Wardrobe (http://theproject333.com/), and now even *she* is caught up in the tidying madness.

So what's the hubbub? She has you start with going through all of your belongings (starting with the things that tend to be easier to part with, like clothes) and you hold each object in your hands while you evaluate whether or not it "sparks joy" within you.

That's pretty much it.

Sounds cheesy, and trust me, the process feels pretty cheesy too. But the logic is sound. It's minimalism, but instead of framing it as owning less, it's framed as only owning the possessions that bring you happiness and actually encouraging you to live the kind of life you want to lead.

It just makes so much sense, and I'm really enjoying the process of understanding who I am through it all. The clothes were an interesting experiment, because even despite trying this whole capsule wardrobe thing out for months, I was still able to fill 3 bags of clothes. Clothes that didn't fit me well (I've put on quite a bit of weight in the last year), clothes that felt way too young (I'm at that weird transition period where I'll be 30 next year and struggling to find a style that feels grown up without being too mature), clothes that I've only worn once and feel guilty letting go of, clothes that I've been keeping in case I lost all that weight... that will never fit.

I'm a gal who loves the feeling of purging (things), and I'm definitely feeling more at ease with my wardrobe.

The only problem is that I'm finding that not a ton of my clothes really "spark joy." And that makes me want to shop to fit the kind of person and lifestyle I want to become. Granted, I feel like I always want to start shopping when the seasons change - because less of my clothes fit, or feel outdated. But because I started my whole "tidying" process by understanding the kind of life I'd like to be living, I want to align reality with that vision.

So there will be a little bit of shopping, but I'm still going through my process of considering my priorities as I make these purchases - is it something that I will truly make use of, is it worth the expense, would I rather have a great vacation or this object? Do I own something that can be used for this purpose already?

Adventure, luxury, and relaxation are my "theme" words for my home, but for me luxury has more to do with how it feels than how much it costs. Like, pretty bar soaps to me feel luxurious, flowy fabrics, fresh flowers, and small pastries with my coffee in the morning. None of those things are exceptionally expensive. Honestly, uncluttered space in general feels like luxury - it makes me think of pristine hotel rooms with minimal, harmonious design.

I'm not running out to buy all new furniture, but I am trying to organize and edit my belongings to reflect those themes. Because we don't own a house (wont for a few years) and are moving out of state soon, I'm at peace with my furniture - I'll work on getting away from the hodge-podge, unmatching sets when we'll be staying put.

While I want to feel like I'm living a life of adventure, luxury, and relaxation, I'm also a practical gal who wants to appreciate the things she has and be content with having "enough." It's about striking a balance.

I've started a really specific list of things I'd like to buy. I don't have to purchase them all at once, so they'll still have to be purchased within the limits of my budget. And of course, I'll still be trying to score a deal Just because I'm trying to find more quality items doesn't mean I can't scour the sale sections at the pricey stores.

So that's a really long breakdown. I hope it wasn't terribly boring! I do recommend the book to anyone trying to get a hold on their belongings. It's definitely Marie Kondo is definitely Japanese. The way she phrases things are adorable and contemplative. If you can look past the avid use of the word "tidying" (not a term I would use often) and her whimsical understanding of things having feelings (she often talks to and thanks her things for the work they do for her), it's really a great read. And will at least get you thinking!

So I had another booking! Right in under the wire So I can add that $500 deposit to my monthly earnings, getting me just under $2k for the month. Still a far cry from what I was expecting, but I'll certainly take it.

If the woman I met with last night ends up booking, then I've met my 2015 readjusted goal. So that's encouraging. Now I just need to really focus on 2016 and booking portrait sessions. My goal is only 7 for the year, so I feel like that will be entirely doable. Nonetheless, time to start now!

Emailed a client that's had an outstanding invoice since December. ha. They've got me in the queue now - so funds will start rolling in. Just in time to pay all my bills. phew. I can't wait for the payments for my big project to start rolling in. I've still got to repay my savings account for money I pulled out, and really start in on my CCs. They're both pretty much at their limits.

I also need to start the process of filing my taxes. I've been avoiding it mostly because I need that repaid savings money to pay them, and I'm afraid of what the total is going to look like. I haven't been paying them along the course of the year - which I of course should be doing. Instead, I've been adding money to my savings every month, so I have to pay the entirety of my taxes for the year.

That being said, my expenses were pretty substantial, and I get deductions for paying the interest on my student loans. So I'm hoping that they're not as high as I expect them to be. But we'll see. This is really the only time of year I working solely as a business owner/contractor. But I'll get through it, just like I do every year. And make my system a bit more manageable for 2015.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

What. A. Week.

Things started out rough, but they've increasingly gotten better the closer to the weekend we've gotten. Go figure

I hopped on Mint and took a look at my monthly budget and spending to see the damage, as February will be coming to a close in a measly 2 days. Seriously, how fast is time moving this year. Amirite?

Income *---

Income this month was pretty much alarming. I budgeted for $3,250. I actually only made $1,422. Part of the difference is about $1k in outstanding invoices that my clients haven't paid. But still my budget was supposed to be a conservative number - in reality I expected to book another wedding or two (particularly because my bookings were so poor in January).

In good news, though, I did have a contract signed this week, ending my painful dry spell. And I've met and/or talked with a handful of prospective clients this week - and feel confident that at least two of them will be booking with me for 2015.

Still no 2016 dates on my calendar. I'm not sure if people are just procrastinating more this year, but ah well. We're planning on moving out of state in May 2016 - so it's probably not terrible that my calendar isn't full of weddings in Ohio.

Spending *---

I've got to say I'm a bit proud of myself. Most months my budget is awash with red come the end of the month. This month? I only went over in two categories: Business Expenses and Credit Card Payments. Clearly I'm not upset to be paying more on my CC.

I have a really hard time staying within my budget for my business. Most of the time, they are necessary purchases - printer ink cartridges, parking downtown so I can work my big project, prints for clients, etc.

I was $150 over my budget. The only "extra" I purchased this month was an online class for $50 that was worth every penny. The $50 in printer cartridges was unexpected as well. I also spent $190 in client prints - which are included in their packages, so they're non-optional. I guess I kind of forget how much it all adds up.

Nonetheless, I'm very proud of myself for not going over in any other category. I did have some purchases that I'm sure were non-essential - clothing purchases (all work clothes), some nail polish that was definitely more "my day has been crap so I'm going to treat myself" than a necessity. I did buy lunch a couple of days, and I'm going to keep that to a minimum going forward. We didn't really go out much this month, though. So our entertainment spending was record-breaking low.

I didn't use even half my budget for restaurants, and I used zero of it for bars/alcohol. I also managed to only spend $16 on gas this entire month. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'll take it!

Rest of the Year Outlook *---

Looking at my bookings for the year, I've got $30k total income so far. My goal for the year was to hit $42k - so I've got $12k to book still.

I looked over my model to readjust my goals:

- 2 more weddings in 2015
- 7 portrait sessions
- 5 event/commercial
- 10 weddings for 2016

If I can make those targets, I'll meet my goal. I think that's entirely doable, and I hope I'm right. Well, I hope I go above and beyond my goal really - because my expenses are going to be way above my predictions (particularly in the case of my business), and I want to make sure I'm not struggling. Running a business is just frickin' expensive. But honestly, it's everything to me.

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a great February, and will have a successful March! Bring on the nice(r) weather!

It was a busy week. And I'm still adjusting to having to go into the office a couple of days a week. It's obviously no big deal... I just need to get into my groove. I was also out of town on Wednesday, and that kind of threw off the balance in my life.

I did stop at this consignment shop called the Clothes Mentor on Wednesday to look for things I can wear to the office and/or client meetings. I found two dresses that I really loved and payed $35 all together for both.

I made food to bring in for lunch on Thursday. Friday I went to lunch with a friend, but I only ended up spending about $5. There's this El Salvadorian restaurant in the area that I absolutely love. The food is delicious, and it's dirt cheap. So it worked out well

One of my clients finally paid their invoice, so that relieved a bit of pressure. Things are going well on my big project for the most part - my clients are of course dragging on their end of things, so it's going to get behind schedule really quick. The rest of it will involve trying to do everything myself. haha.

I also had 3 client calls/meetings this week for weddings - and I'm 99% certain that at least one of them is going to book. I'll be doing a bit of networking this coming week, so hopefully things will continue to progress there.

***

We hit Sam's Club yesterday and picked up a bunch of stuff. Paper products, chicken broth, some snacks, toothpaste. The fiance footed the bill for that trip, which was nice. I generally pay for our groceries every week (he pays for a disproportionate amount of the rent + utilities, so it works out). But when he picks up some of the items it's always nice on my budget.

I did hit Target and Aldi today, and spent about $40 total. That'll last us for probably the next 2 weeks. We'll see.

Beyond groceries and lunch the other day, the only thing I've spent money on was a breakout class from the photography community I'm a part of. I still need to go through and take in all of the material. I'm excited to get started on it, though.

I also broke down and subscribed to Hulu. I can't watch Mindy any other way because we don't pay for any kind of cable package - I can't even watch it on the Fox channel. The fiance pays for Netflix, so I can't really complain about dropping $8/month for Hulu. I use it enough for it to be worth the cost. I'm also catching up on my Parks & Rec. Good stuff.

***

On the wedding front, I've got the quote for my photographer. She's a friend of mine, and giving us a free engagement shoot (which is so nice of her). Even though I'm a photographer, I'm still only hiring someone for the "big" parts of the day. So I'm only paying for 3 hours of coverage. She's charging me $600 for everything.

It's a steal. I budgeted $1,500 for the photos, and so we're going to have a LOT of wiggle room. We also decided on a caterer and are expecting to only have to spend about $1,500 - $500 less than I budgeted. Needless to say, things are going very well in terms of planning. My bridesmaids all ordered their dresses this week - Modcloth had a 25% off sale on dresses, so they were only $40. Very exciting

***

So we're planning on moving in spring 2016 - and had narrowed our choices down to 4 cities. I did some research this weekend, and put together a matrix with some basic cost of living, income, and amenity information to see how they all compared. We've since thrown out Charleston (too expensive) and Asheville (not quite the feel we're looking for). So it's between Nashville and Kansas City now. That gives us a bit more structure, and knocks off two of the trips we were going to take this year. Which is going to save us time and money, of course.

It was fun to start looking into neighborhoods and stuff to do in each of the cities, too. It's got me excited to get out and experience a new place. It's starting to feel much more real.

***

That's about it. I spent a bit of time going through my emails and doing some admin stuff for my business this afternoon. The rest of the day I'm going to try and force myself to do some work. But I'll more likely go through some of this photography class.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

It's been a busy week thus far - and very productive. The fiance is out of town for work, so I had the house to myself Monday night. That being said, dinner was very low-key.

I love cooking, and I love cooking for the both of us. But some days I just miss living alone... eating a bowl of cereal in my underwear instead of having to consider anyone else's dinner preferences Simpler times. haha.

But really, we cook very consistently, and I love the food we eat. It's a lot easier to avoid restaurants when you really enjoy the food you make at home.

Yesterday I went into the office. It's my first week on the big website project, and it's nice to get out of the house. Of course, we haven't gone grocery shopping... so I hit the restaurant at the ground floor of our building. $7 for a hummus platter. I need to start bringing lunch. So today I'm going to swing by the store and pick up some random items and lunch stuff.

We still have 2 meals from last week we didn't get around to making (our leftovers held us over quite a bit). So we don't have too much in the way of meal items to get. Nonetheless, I'll go through and do my meal planning before heading to Aldi.

I also spent $6 on parking yesterday. I need to start taking the train in. Or just getting to the parking garage early. It's only $4/day with the early bird rate. And a trip 2 ways on the train is $4.40. I'm already starting to miss working from home every day :/ Thankfully, it's only 2 days a week for a couple of months. A small investment for how much I'm making on the project. But there's really no reason for me to blow a bunch of money on lunch. Even though I loooove the restaurants downtown. Just need to maintain focus

***

I drove down to my hometown last night to hang out with friends, and today I'm working from my mom's house. She's on vacation, and my sister needed a ride to campus. So here I am. I'll hang out with my sister for a little bit when she gets out of class and then head back home - we have our weekly dinner night with friends and the fiance gets back from his little business trip, so it'll be nice to see him.

***

Had to move some money around again yesterday - I can't wait to get a payment from this project. And some of my outstanding invoices paid. I owe my savings account $1,500 now. And I haven't really been spending on anything outside of bills and business expenses (had to order photo books for a couple of clients). I'm really happy I had the money in the account to begin with, and thank goodness I did, but I haven't even started to look at my taxes yet, and that money was earmarked for paying them. So it'll be important to have that on hand come April. Ah, the joy of owning a business that's slow in the colder months...

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day - and stayed warm! There was an incredibly crazy snow storm here in Ohio yesterday. Thankfully, we didn't have to leave the house - but I really feel for anyone that had to brave the roads.

Our low-key celebration was enjoyable as ever. It mostly consisted of watching movies and eating a TON of food. The fiance brought me breakfast in bed (

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!