The last two nights I worked on updating quicken and the debt repayments plan. I went to Discover Card to check my balance and see if there was anything I had forgotten to input into quicken when I pushed on “last 12months of statement” OMG – what an eye opener – it showed me the total spent on the card over the last 12 months. I can’t believe it!!! After I picked myself off the floor… I have realized that things need to change and fast!

My game plan: Keep lists of items running low and needed gifts, so I don’t run out while I am waiting for errand day. Errand day is been tagged for Saturday only- No other purchases other than purchasing discounted gift cards or using my weekly allowance of $60 cash– this needs to cover wkly bowling fee, gas and any “milk/bread” instances. Continue with menu planning and grocery lists. Leave DH at home when shopping- this alone will save a ton $$! Pay only using debit card. I know these seem like no brainers – apparently I’m a little slow…I thought I was doing OK- but that number from Discover showed me that I am waaayyyy off!

I can't wait to get out of here! Its been so hectic around this place, deadlines shortened, extra stuff tossed at me, WHAT a week!!

Yesterday I broke down and bought a candy bar - I desperately needed sugar!!-$0.75. After work I went home and straightened up a bit before the girls got there for our scrap booking night. We are putting together a memory book for a friend who just got married. It turned out great - we only have a few more pages to do...

Tonight I’m going home spend some time with the little one, then need to update quicken – I’ve fallen behind. Plus I want to rework my debt repayment plan. DH is in construction, so he’s off work for about 3 months. Its time to start saving that extra $$ for our “just in case” cushion. Should be a no spend day and an overall low spend weekend!

Have a good one!

Met with my SVP. Still don’t know whom I will directly report to (it doesn’t matter much anyways), but my job will not change much. Looks like I will be getting back into project management, while I continue to do the product management for at least the next 18-24 months until additional help is brought in. Either way I will stay busy and learn lots…

Last night I went to Stride Rite to get my little guy “good” shoes since he is starting to walk. I can’t believe the prices-($48.58 for shoes and polish)! Or that they are still around, I remember going there when I was little. Then I stopped and splurged for a new outfit and accessories to the tune of $75.60. Its cute, good quality and I will get a lot of wear out of the shirt – it will go with anything. Spent more then I was expecting--today I’ll try to get back on track, though I am REALLY craving some coffee!

On how the changes at work with affect me - my SVP rescheduled for tomorrow. I don't think I need to be concerned with losing my job, it just I have no idea if my role is changing, and if I have any room for movement...Guess these questions will have to wait until tomorrow.

Spent $48.05 on gas this morning to fill up the SUV. We don't use it but on the weekends and when we have to take our little one some place so I had sticker shock at the pump this morning. I fill up my car once every 2 weeks and it only costs me $25 or so and thats on the high end...Looks like we may curb our driving on the weekends even more if gas prices keep going up!

Last night ran some errands; Home depot for furnace filters - used discounted gift certs and $11.14, Petco for flea/tick prevention to the sum of $38.15. Paid for the all natural stuff, but if anyone knows homemade solutions for fleas, I would love to hear them...We found two fleas in the house over the last couple of weeks. Dogs and cats seem to be free of them (use frontline monthly) so I am unsure how they have gotten into our home... Its only two- maybe Im making a bigger deal than I should...Then I stopped at Michaels to use by 40% coupon and got 3 kids X-mas gifts for $10.57. tonight I have dinner with the girls, Im expecting to spend maybe $10 or so.

I have been so busy with all the changes at work I haven’t been able to keep up with my journaling. They've been keeping me so busy I have no problem hanging on to my cash! So far this month I have put $1200.00 towards credit debt, $500.00 into my emergency account, and paid an extra $350.00 to my car loan. I’m still on target to pay the bank one CC by mid Sept.

DH & I are looking at having our back yard professionally landscaped, to a tune of $2500.00-Our neighbors' kids keep playing in our yard, our dogs are friendly but they are large and clumsy, I don't want anything to happen-Unfortunaltely we can't put up a fence...Not sure if we want to dig this much into savings...We will consider this once I get a comfort level with all the changes that have taken place at work. I meet with my SVP today.

This weekend we took a nice short trip to our old town, had dinner with friends, went swimming at the hotel, and then visited the local art fest. We took $200.00 for the weekend and came home with some $$$- so not an overly expensive weekend.

This week is going to be busy, Dr. appt tonight, dinner with the girls tomorrow, Thursday is scrap booking night at our house, then sat & Sun we have BBQs to go to…Hopefully a fairly inexpensive week.

Today was suppose to be a No spend day but I couldn't resist. I went to the Joann Fabrics website to look for Wilton cake decorating books. (I took the first class thru Michaels- it was fun- just hard to get there- thought I could just purchase the books and self learn.) While I was on the website a 50% coupon came up - so I decided to purchase the cookie master regular $39.00 and got it for $19.99!!

Tonight I need to return an aquarium stand and the $$ I get back should cover the dog/cat & bird food. So no spending beyond the $20.00.

Saturday was another no spend day - DH didn't have to work so we stayed homed relaxed and did some small projects around the house. Sunday - well we did some errands after going to the locate barnyard petting zoo. The zoo cost ~$10.00 for the three of us (this included food to feed the animals), then off to target for groceries, personals and household items, with a total cost of $227.79 OUCH!!! Paid with cash, no cc debt.

Monday was no spend and Tuesday only .37 cents so far for a stamp. close enough to a no spend day...

I put $500.00 towards my emergency fund this week, and still on target for paying off my Bank one by Mid Sept - cc reduced by $600.00

Its Friday- hooray! It seems as if time is standing still here at work- I think I’m a little too excited for this weekend. We have nothing planned, nowhere to be… It’s a nice change! So we were going to focus on getting some things done around the house. We were planning on working on our backyard garden, but it looks like Mother Nature will not be having any of that! Change of plans! Saturday while DH is working I am planning on running all the errands since I planned our menus for next week and put together our grocery and errand list. Stop at the bank to close my son’s savings account and move the $$ to his new ING account I opened the other night. After all my errands, I’ll be heading home to do some baking and start dinner. Then relax and spend time together as a family. My poor DH has been working so late that he hasn’t seen our son awake in the last 3 nights!

Sunday I am going to get my little guys old clothing together to drop off at Once upon a child- I guess they pay you at the time of drop off for the items they will accept. Not sure what to expect, but hopefully I’ll get some $$$. I also want to store some of those bigger baby items in the attic just in case we are blessed with another little one.

This week has been good – I had 4 no spend days! My goal for next week is to have 5…

I sure it’s the weather, but last night was a lazy one. I didn’t make it to the grocery store or any of the other “to dos” I wanted to get started on. I cleaned the kitchen, filed some paperwork, watered the plants, put some clothes away and relaxed. Neither DH nor I felt like cooking so he picked up (his treat) Chinese food. And I am so proud of him! He usually spends money on tons of food and most of it goes to waste – last night he brought home only what we could eat. No wasted money/ no wasted food!

The laziness from last night still lingers this AM – so its not going to be a very productive day! Going to focus on researching prices for some furniture for the basement, and do some planning for a new planting bed in our backyard. Should be a cheap day!

This past weekend went took a small road trip to our family reunion held in Southern Il. It was hot, but we had great company and good food! It was great to see everyone! DH and I spent our way home on Sunday stopping at antique shops- I found some old coins for very cheap, which I picked up. Even with the additional shopping I remained under budget for the trip! I did some research on the coins on Monday and was very happy with my decision to purchase!

I am trying to build my coin collection once again. I had a great collection that I had started when I was younger, however, a theft by a (so called) friend had taken all except for some coins that didn’t have much value… So I am collecting once again… I thought it would be a great way for my little guy to learn about history!

Also, I’ve been trying to stay busy at home by finishing up some “to dos” -which helps keep me away from stores and the money in the bank …My goals for the week are to finish setting up our old aquarium. I had given it away and its come back and been sitting in our basement with all supplies for over a year now…I guess its time! It won’t cost anything but the water to fill it and fish. I also need to update our little guy’s scrapbook for the last two months, and our home scrapbook with the new garden pictures… This weekend I would like to start on a home inventory.

Finances:
Monday and Tuesday were both no spend days! Woo Hoo!
Wednesday – well that’s a different story- $4.96 on B-fast & coffee, $176 on gift cards (x-mas & bday gifts), and have some minor grocery shopping to do tonight…

Since I have my financial house in order, my life has become so much more! It may sound weird, but before, when I was unsure how much cc debit we had, just pay as much as we could on all CCs- my life (I suppose) was unorganized... I don’t know if I was scared, or maybe depressed or nervous on having debt. Not sure, but somehow that affected my motivation – don’t quite understand it… Now with a plan I am focusing on a debt then tackling the next- and I can see the debit getting smaller and my savings growing! Freedom is almost here.

I have also put all my paperwork in order (had to get organized to understand my debt), which lead to all sorts of organizing…I have grocery lists with coupons attached, so my pantry and fridge is always full (Unheard of before!). I’ve put together routines for my mornings and evenings. It’s amazing how much free time I have and how much energy/motivation I have! I am able to spend at least 2.5 hours after work with my little guy without thinking about anything but our playtime. After he goes to bed I make dinner for DH & I and straighten up the house. I have now implemented an exercise/walking routine- my motivation to get fit again came from retire@50- Thanks! I have time for my hobbies; scrap booking, baking, floral arrangements (Made a couple of wreaths for the front door this past weekend) and I updated my sons website (free at Babiesonline.com). I have decided to volunteer my time again and rejoined the American Cancer Society Task force for Daffodil Days. Some folks at work have even noticed how “together” I am now (I wonder just how bad I got?). I had thought my inability to get things done and no motivation was due to being so tired from being a new mom, but it seems that our financial situation played a big role, as well! Or maybe I just lost it? Who knows! But life is good! ;-)

This is my first full month of tracking

I started the month off the right way-Aug 1st was my first true no spend day! Woo Hoo!

Aug 2nd is a different story. I order my 2-3 month supply of diapers ~$55.00, Gas =$33.88, and I have to stop at the dry cleaners on the way home= $37.00.

This last weekend was busy and expensive, but it felt good not to put anything on the CCs. We are very excited that our debt, spending is decreasing and our savings is increasing. But as always, when you feel you are on the right track, something tries to derail you! I got a call from a collection dept. yesterday stating my EX didn’t pay for his car for the last 2 months and that its going to hit our credit by the end of this week. Unfortunately I am co-owner and will be responsible for the payment. My EX swears that he paid the bills, but I'm believing the finance co. I keep covering the missed payments (So far only 2 - but it seems to be getting worse!) so I don’t get marks on my credit, and he keeps promising to pay me back! I warned him that if he missed another payment that I was picking the car up (Three strikes your out!) So…it looks like I’m getting ANOTHER car and another payment. Grrrrrrrrrr! On the bright side, I'm looking forward to the fun of my first repo job! ;-)