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!



Silly Aubrey.

Today we had a wonderful No-Spend day!
Well - wonderful in the no spending department , the rest of it sucked. And by the rest of it, of course, I mean work.
That was not wonderful. Not only did I make very little money, but I had to close, and people were skating on their work, and I yelled at a cook, and well.. I'm glad to be home!
Funny story:

So today before work I was extreamly lazy, I hardly moved from my chair. When time for work rolled around I jumped up, threw my uniform on and went to work. Good deal, right?
Well, here's the kicker, I get to work and start chatting with some co-workers, I leaned up against a wall, and all of a sudden realized something just wasn't right. Hmm.. It took me about half a second to realize, that I had forgotten to put a bra on!!! I could not believe it, I have never done anything like that before. Luckily our shirts are thick (made from jersey material) and no one noticed. I quickly called my loveyy who remedied the situation, while my friends and I enjoyed a good laugh.

What a day!!

Has anything like this ever happened to you??

Our Spending Progress...

Day 3 - Which was yesterday.

Auston and I made a much needed grocery trip yesterday. I spent $50.67, and my cabinets are now pleasently full.
Now of course groceries were factored into my spending, SO this doesn't count against my no spending, therefore: Operation No-Spend January, is still going strong!

Today we have to pick up the meat for our groceries (I ran out of time yesterday, and we buy our meat at a different store) Hoefully, it won't cost to much today.

On a brighter note - I managed to pick up 3 extra shifts at work this week!

Weekly money Check up (a few days late!)

Courtesy of My Pretty Pennies

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on : Personal items (a.k.a gifts for myself and Auston!) The money came from Christmas so I didn't feel to awful about spending it. Besides, you have to splurge on yourselves once in a while!!
2. Today I am thankful That we had steady business at the bar, and I made enough $$ to buy groceries!!
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was Started reading the House of Night novels again, I love them!
4. I will consider this week a success if I Stick to my grocery list without going over!! And Continue on succesfully with my No-Spending
5. On New Years Eve I worked! It was terribly slow! But thankfully I was let out 2 hours before the ball drop, so Loveyy and I spent a quiet couple of hours by ourselves watching Dick Clarks Rocking New Year, and I got my new years kiss, on time! <3

Day one and Two of Not Spending!

Welcome to my blog Rafiki and Michelle P! Thank you so much for Following! Feel free to leave a comment, I love reading them!

Todays post is short. I just don't have much interesting to share today!

As you know by now I am participating in Januarys No-Spend month. So far so good (okay, okay, I know its only the second!) I haven't spent a single dime in the past two days though, and that does make me proud.
At some point I will have to grocery shooping though. I wanted to go tonight, but loveyy is sick and I don't like going without him. I still might though, we are after all, down to the bones in the cabinets and the fridge.

I finished this months book last night! Its called Marked (a house of night novel), and yes, it is totally a teenage novel about vampyers. And yes I do love it! Its a series of novels that I love and I can't wait to finish reading!


Here is todays picture!

This picture was taken when I was a junior in high school by my good friend Kylea.  She was my neigbor and I was standing in her front yard, back then she and I did everything together. This has always been one of my favorite pictures, I love the classy feel of it. One day I will probably have it blown up and framed.

So thats that, my very short post.

I do have some rather exciting news to share, but I have decided to hold off until I talk to my family.
And no family - it's not that I'm pregnant, you can hold off on the crying for a little longer.

Photo 365 # 9

My brother got married yesterday, to a wonderful woman!
I have decided to use on of their pictures for my photo today!

There is my brother and his beautiful bride! This picture is unedited, but I am working on editing and putting together an album for them. They didn't do anything big with a professional photographer, so I am working with pictures everyone there took!

Closing out 2011 Finances.

Could 2011 pick a better weekday to end on?
Love Saturdays.

So here is a summary of last weeks spending!

ANIMALS
2011-12-30	cat food	$4.58
TOTAL FOR ANIMALS		$4.58
CAR SAVINGS
2011-12-27	Car Savings	$5.00
TOTAL FOR CAR SAVINGS		$5.00
EATING OUT
2011-12-26	Pizza w/ Coupon	$4.95
2011-12-31	Subway	$5.85
TOTAL FOR EATING OUT		$10.80
GAS
2011-12-25	Gas	$10.00
2011-12-26	Gas	$5.00
2011-12-28	Gas	$10.00
TOTAL FOR GAS		$25.00
HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
2011-12-25	Walgreens	$3.48
2011-12-30	Laundry detergent	$4.47
TOTAL FOR HOUSEHOLD ITEMS		$7.95
MISC
2011-12-25	Convienence Store	$2.78
TOTAL FOR MISC		$2.78
PERSONAL
2011-12-26	Gifts for myself!	$24.68
2011-12-26	Video Games	$14.49
TOTAL FOR PERSONAL		$39.17
TOTAL		$95.28

We only ate out twice again, now that we are putting forth a conscious effort, that part of our spending has been going much smoother. And I am proud! We wouldn't have gotten the pizza either, but it was such a good deal because of our coupon!

No groceries this week - Which isn't a good thing, we REALLY need to go shopping, we are currently down to buttery noodles. Oh Boy.
Hopefully work will bear a little grocery money this week.

The misc. Convienence store purchase was a water and a coffee for Auston and I on Christmas eve, we only stopped because we were on our way to the park with my younger sister and it was a bit chilly out! And we were both running low on fuel.

Personal Spending was a bit high this week, but thats only normal the week after Christmas, while we did save most of the money given to us, we decided to splurge a little bit on a few things for ourselves.
All good things in moderation!

All in all, I think only spending $95.28 this week is a huge success, and a wonderful way to end 2011!