A Rant About how Exciting it is to Move...

Today we had a Fabulous, Lazy day at home.
It was also a No-Spend Day. :]

A little piece of home <3

As our move gets closer I find myself excited, and impatient. I am so delighted by the changes that are coming our way. Both Financially and in our everyday living.
I will have a stable job, and the air we breath everyday will be fresher.
I will be closer to my mom and brothers and my cost of living will be going down.
I will be able to see the stars at night, and I will be able to swim in the lakes that I grew up in.
I can share with my love the joy of living simply in an area where the nearest large city is still only 109,565 people. Out side our front door currently is a population of just under 10,000 , not to mention the nearest city (which is only a 10 minute drive) that has a population of 821,784.
He can learn the upside to silence, to not having light polutions, to being able to stand out your front door and not see a 6 lane road.
Everywhere I turn I am seeing endless possibilities for happeness, and stability in our lives.

I know, I'm ranting now.
Auston and I just have some amazing plans and I can't wait to see them lived out.
Some time in the next few posts I will let you in on all of the things I hope to accomplish by the time I am 25. I must admit, its an awesome list.


How about you, do you love where you live, Or do you wish you could leave? What is holding you back?

Catching up- Last weeks spending&saving

I have been such an awful blogger these past few days.
The truth is simple, I have been exhausted. Between work, and packing, and Austons brother being in town, and Auston's car breaking down.
Really, I'm still feeling less than enthusiastic, but I figured I'd get on here and show you how well my No-Spending went last week.
I am proud to say that I did even better than I had expected. I was aiming for 4 no-spend days and I wound up with 5! I can't remember the last time that happened.
I also added $220 towards my move in March!
I was stoked by how much I was able to put away this weekend.

On the downside...
Last night, on our way to family dinner we noticed Loveyys car was acting up, it wasn't shifting right. So we turned around. Today they took it up to AutoZone, and they told us it had to do with the internal censors.
NOW, all this car talk is greek to me, but it is going to cost around $200 to fix it. OhMyLord. Thankfully, Auston's mom said she would get it fixed for us. I don't know what I would do if we had to pay for that too. I might just break down and cry from all this stress and lack of sleep tonight.
That sound nice.


So here it is, last weeks spending:

BANK FEE
2012-01-10	Cashier's Check Fee	$2.00
TOTAL FOR BANK FEE		$2.00
CAR SAVINGS
2012-01-12	Car Savings	$5.00
TOTAL FOR CAR SAVINGS		$5.00
EATING OUT
2012-01-10	Steak N Shake	$15.28
TOTAL FOR EATING OUT		$15.28
FIXED BILL
2012-01-10	Car insurance renewal	$110.00
2012-01-10	Partial Rent Payment	$300.00
2012-01-12	Electric Bill	$70.00
TOTAL FOR FIXED BILL		$480.00
GROCERIES
2012-01-12	Small Grocery Trip	$8.77
TOTAL FOR GROCERIES		$8.77
TOTAL		$511.05

I hate bank fees! I was charged because my cashiers check was under $500.00 - crap on them! I haev never paid anything at my bank before, because all of my checks are ususally much higher than $500, this was an unpleasant suprise to say the least.

Eating out - I know I wasn't supposed to. Honestly though, I'm not upset. I still managed to put away a good chunk of money and Loveyy and I really had a nice time.

Fixed bills hit me hard this week, but they have to be paid. On the bright side, I have no more bills for the rest of the month! : )

I already explained my grocery trip here. It was just a couple of odds and ends, at a really great price!

All in all, I am really proud of our spending this week.

Also, I am trying to put together a craft swap. I think it would be so much fun!
Go here for details
As of now no one has responded. : [

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And now I shall leave you with this -

 Ellie loves the box!
Annie- Not so much. : )

January goal update & some no-spend news.

Yesterday we had a lovely No-Spend day! :)
 Today we did not.

We didn't do much yesterday, other than laze about before I had to go to work.
Today we did basically the same thing -except we threw in a small grocery trip, and paid most of the electric bill ( Luckily we can do both of these things at the same location!)

Today's Spending :
$8.77 on a small grocery trip - we needed to pick up bread, steak, sausage, and worsteshire sauce.
I am so pleased with the amount of food we have in our fridge and cabinets, honestly I don't forsee another large shopping trip this month.
$70.00 on the Electric bill - THIS MADE ME CRAZY!!!! Living on a servers salary, life is paycheck to paycheck. My electric bill was like $79 and some odd cents, but I only had enough to pay $70! Leaving me with a silly balace of $9.00 and some odd cents. Poop. Tomorrow, or sometime this week I will pay the rest.

So I noticed I haven't made an update on my monthly goals yet. So, here they are.

January 2012!-No Spend Month.
Outside our fixed bills and a few other things listed here, we will not be spending any extra cash.
So far so good, other than our one slip up this week, which I already explained in yesterday's post, we have not spent ANYTHING, outside our fixed bills, and a few other allotted for things.


-Read atleast one book
One of my goals for 2012 is to read one book a month, here's to hoping I get off on the right foot.
Finished my book in one night!
So Proud.

-Set aside $400.00 for our move
This is a big amount, but I we only have two more months and so I really NEED to set atleast
$400 aside.
1-08-12 : $20.00
I know, a dismal amount. But this week I should be adding quite a hefty sum.-Contribute daily to our sealed pot
We started this in December, and my Pot is already getting heavy! So far so good, I hope we can keep it up!
We have been right on track with this, our pot is so heavyy!! I can not wait till December to open up our mystery fourtune!! -Start maintenence on Austons car
Auston's car is going to need a few things done before it will be able to make the 1,500 mile drive up to NH.
We have not started this!
I should sit down here in a day or so and make a list of what needs to be done.- Drink 64 ounces - roughly 6 glasses - of water a day.
I don't drink enough water. My day is full of milk, and tea, and soda. The thing is - I LOVE WATER. I just don't drink enough of it.
This goal is a lot harder than I thought it would be!!
I drink more water than before, that is true without a doubt.
I do not always make it to 6 glasses. : (
Shame on me.

How are your goals going? Whether they be monthly, weekly, or yearly.

Not exactly a No-Spend day...

Okay, okay don't kill me!
Today we spent a total of 425.00.

$300 - Partial rent payment
$110.00 - Car insurance renewal
$15.00 - Eating out. - Ouch, but hold on! Let me explain!

When we woke up today our water was shut off. A pipe had busted somewhere in our apartment complex. What an awful start to our morning. Our dishes were a mess, and we couldn't cook. We decided to move some boxes we had packed on previous days over to Austons moms house instead. We stopped by the bank, paid the rent, and decided we were starving!
Now we had 2 choices - Go to a fast food place, where we would have spent about $15.00 anyways, and we would have wound up completely unsatisfied, and feeling like crap. OR we could go to our local Steak N Shake, pay about $15.00 for a  sit down meal and be completely satisfied, AND get half priced milkshakes.

I didn't really like either option.

But, I decided that Auston has been really great about our whole No-Spend month, and we did need to eat, so we went to Steak N Shake. I made Auston promise that this was going to be our one splurge of the month though, after this we really have no room for error. So we went, we ate, and including the Tip, we only spent $15.00 , Not Bad. I hardly feel guilty.

I got my electric bill today - $40.91 - Seriously?! In the middle of winter? I am so thrilled by the weather. I still owe my company $38.95 from earlier this year, I have been slowly paying off the whopper that was my suprise $204.00 bill from this summer. So in total I owe $79.86 - That should be paid off by the end of the month!

Our water was turned back on in the evening, just in time for me to make dinner. We had Loaded Chicken Quesedillas! They were sooo gooood! I love cooking, and I love having a man who cleans up after I cook!

In a little bit I might even make us some Chocolate Moose. You can find the recipe here. It is so amazing, and so easy, ANYONE can make it in minutes. I will be posting what I did for our quesadilla's there shortly also.

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Photo 365

Our dinner! Yes, I did take the one that was a little blackened. I'm just sweet that way : )

Today was a successful No-Spend day! :]
I put $20 in savings towards my trip, which is depressingly small, but next week I should be adding a ton more! This week there would have been more if I hadn't taken the weekend off to spend with my father && if I hadn't done so much grocery shopping. Also, just to be cautious, I'm leaving a big chunk out of savings to renew my insurance with. I'm not sure exactly how much this is going to cost, and I would rather have to much money than to little.

That's about it on the financial front.

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It was also my nephews 2nd birthday! So here's my 365 photo:

A montage of photo's from today's party!! I love this little man <3

Rounding out week one.

So week one of my No Spend month is over!! Today we finished strong-ish, only spending 18.44 on dog food. here's my spending for the week!

ANIMALS
2012-01-07	Dog/ Cat food	$18.44
TOTAL FOR ANIMALS		$18.44
CAR SAVINGS
2012-01-05	Car Savings	$5.00
TOTAL FOR CAR SAVINGS		$5.00
GROCERIES
2012-01-03	Grocery Trip	$50.67
2012-01-05	Local Grocery Store	$20.91
2012-01-06	Local Grocery Store	$6.00
TOTAL FOR GROCERIES		$77.58
TOTAL		$101.02

Not bad, right? The majority of it was on groceries, and NONE of it was spent unnecessarily! I am really proud of our start. What a way to start 2012!

We should have enough groceries now to last us through most of next week. With the exception of the sausage I still need to pick up.

The gas dad bought us has really helped too, He put in three times the amount I usually do! My little car is so happy to be full of gas.

I shouldn't have needed animal food! But alas, somehow they managed to get into the closet and finished off what food they had left! OH ANIMALS, I still love you.

How did your week of no spending go?

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And for today's picture!! I will show you a mini-collage of some of the beautiful cakes my grandmother has made! She is making a blues clues one for my nephew tomorrow! I will post it the next time I blog... Here we go!

M's birthday cake! Complete with Barbie.

Little M's Cake!! I didn't get a chance to eat this one, but I'm sure it was as good as it looks!

This is the most recent! My Aunts wedding cake!



I wish I had a pictures of my cake from last year, that one was awesome :)

Dad's here!

Today we spent roughly $6.00 - I had to buy snacks (apples, and such) for the girls after school. I hadn't anticipated on picking them up, so I didn't pick anything up on my grocery trip.

Dad's in town! he took us to dinner tonight at my work (where we get a generous discount!), it was a blast.
I always enjoy his visits, when it comes right down to it I'm a major daddy's girl at heart. I can't wait until he comes down to help me drive to New Hampshire.

Here are some pictures from our day!

We spent the better part of an hour or two attempting crosswords! I know, what an interesting bunch!! This is my Cousin, my Grandmother, My Sister and my Father.

In the midst of all the crosswords, there was a nurf gun battle, and little M with her foam sword! She say's off with Auston's head!!!

After we went to dinner dad decided we should get some ice cream! M & little M decided they were to tired to walk, so above is what it looks like when a 6 (almost 7) year old, and a 5 year old sit in a grocery cart!



That's all she wrote, folks.

Today we went out and bought the meat (that I was supposed to buy yesterday). Our total came to $20.91. This is only our second purchase of the month, and so far I am pretty proud of myself. I am also proud that the only two purchases we're alotted for, being that they were groceries. Read more about how my month of no spending is going.

My dad came for a visit from SoCal today, so my loveyy and I went to pick him up from the airport. I was pretty excited to see him. As an added bonus he filled my gas tank. Now I will have plenty of gas to get back and fourth between my house and my grandmothers, where he will be staying this weekend. Its a little bit of a drive, and I was nervouse to begin with about making the trip numerous times in one weekend. Especially since I don't work again until Monday.

On another happy financial note:
This one is in regards to our big move! As most of you know, Auston and I are moving out of state in March. However, our lease for our apartment is up January 31st, so for our last month we will be staying with my family. This just left me with one big dilemma, where were we going to keep the animals? It was looking like I was going to have to board our dog, which would have cost close to $600.00, and I had no clue where I was going to get that money from. Luckily, during a new years barbeque Auston found out about a woman who could potentially help. For Free! We are taking him out to her property this weekend for a trial run, I really hope all goes well. This would be a huge relief for us. Moving is going to be stressful enough as it is.
I am still trying to figure out what to do with the cats though... : /



I have been really bad about posting my pictures!!
Here's for the last 3 days! :

These two girls are more important to me than anything!!

I grew up swimming here. This is one of the many reasons I want to go home. These rivers are some of the most beautiful places I  have ever seen.

Ah! A baby Posum! I met this little guy in my Zoology class, junior year of high school!



No Spending in January!

We are Moving to New Hampshire March 4th!!

I know, I know, New Hampshire? what on earth is there? Most people can't even locate it on a map. Well, the truth is I love New Hampshire, I was raised there, and its high time this little chickady gets her butt home. I'm done living in the crap town, making no money, and seeing no mountains, for other people, I'm ready to start living for me. 

Sadly this epic move I have planned is going to cost a hefty amount of money. around $1,600. Currently we have about $600, which isn't bad at all. Most of it came from friends and family for Christmas - so Thank you! to all thouse who have helped. In order to fatten up our savings towards this trip we have decided that :

JANUARY will be a NO-SPEND month.( This months no-spend was brought on by Carla.)

Here are my rules...

Fixed bills -

• January's Rent - $650
• Car Insurance - I have to start a new policy this month, so I'm not sure exactly how much this will cost.
• Electric Bill - Somewhere aroung $90.00 I HOPE!

Nessecities-

• Groceries
• Gas
• Austons prescriptions
• Maitenence on Austons car (for the trip)

I will also be adding money daily to our sealed pot, and I will still be putting away $5.00/week towards my new car.

Other than the things I have listed above Auston and I will not spend any money. We really have to start getting serious about this move, or else we will be stuck when March rolls around.

I want to save up $400 to go towards our trip - this means watching EVERY PENNY we have.
But an added $400 should bring us to around $1,000. I will also be getting my tax return sometime in the next couple months, which will be added in, and I still have all of Feb left to save as well.

Instead of going out, I will be focusing on picking up extra shifts, organizing, throwing things out, cleaning, and getting ready for our move (we will be leaving the apartment at the end of January)

Wish me luck!