LRJohnson Saves

In other blogs I see people writing down very specific goals. I’ve always heard that writing down goals makes it more likely to achieve them, and I love how concrete they can be, i.e. instead of Save Money or Lose Weight, it’s "walk to work 5 times," or "Pay off $300 this month in debt." So I’m going to have some belated April Goals, and see if that acts to help me. I’ll have some “one time” goals, but I want to use this idea to help me develop new habits, as per 4/7 post.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still doing the Credible Threat, punitive and unrewarding as some perceive it. I am using the ideal of modest achievable goals to motivate me and help me avoid the Credible Threat Punishment.

I have been sick a LOT lately; either stomach crud or migraines or whatever. I always get sick easily, for no good reason: I used to think it was being a smoker and drinker, but I haven’t done either in many years, so there’s really no excuse. So my two main set of goals will be money and health related.

*April Health*
Walk to work once a week. (I have drive the nights with water aerobics, and we still have some rain-will ramp this up.)

Eat breakfast daily (6 days a week will count to goal).

In bed every night at 10 with no TV after 10. (Friday and Sturday bed at 11.)

This is a small list, but I want these to become habits. I have a bunch I can stockpile for later. I don’t want to be too ambitious.

*April Money*
Make appointment to get pre-qualified on a home loan

Make the Challenge.

*Future Goals:*
Reduce amount of bread/white rice/potatoes eaten: not sure how to quantify this one yet.
Reduce amount of cheese and peanut butter eaten. (Good protein but I eat way too much.)
Reduce bad TV watching. (Possibly make a limit of hours per week, or add no “new” shows unless I give up an “old” show?)
Take vitamins and meds daily.
Figure out what investment steps I should take with my money: increase deferred comp, increase my IRA, or what? Not sure how to make these one a discrete concrete goal yet.
Find a place in house to hang a laundry line.

Some of the thriftiest and healthiest things I do, I do out of habit. Some of my unhealthy and costly activities are also out of habit. I become more and more aware that habits can make or break me.

I realized with my low, low grocery bill that it was the accumulation of many, many habits. I had spent $100 a month last year (not including toiletries and cleaning products) but I went out to eat a lot, so on my (Modified) Minimum Wage Challenge I had budgeted $145 to compensate for fewer meals out, but only spent $85.27, $16 of that on Club Soda. That included two “Big” grocery runs. None of the things I do happened overnight. I did not start buying oatmeal at the same time that I stopped buying pre-made cartons of juice. Powdered milk came into my life at a different time than the concept of having a max price I’d pay for an item. (For me that’s an In My Head Price Book.) I didn’t start putting leftovers in salsa tub Tupperware at the same time I decided to buy generic or store brand for everything. TVP and bulghur and beans entered my life at different times. But all of these thrifty skills and habits accumulated, over the years, to become a low grocery bill. I incorporate a new habit every now and then, and add it to the routine.

When I get up and go about my day, a lot of it will be a habit. It’s not that I’m unconscious, or unaware, but patterns make up the fabric of life. I do a “pre-make” of the coffee at night, and switch it to brew in the morning. I watch the same morning news, dress in the same place, and eat the same limited variety of breakfasts. I drive the same way to work and I park about the same place. I eat the same types of lunch out of my cottage cheese Tupperware. I come home around the same time. I usually bathe in the evening, in a hot bath. These small habits are comforting.

Some patterns will only last a while; for a while I was getting dressed in the living room every morning. Now it’s in the bedroom. It may change again.

My task is to remember that new things can become habits. If I started a routine physical activity, and just kept at it, it would become a habit. Not going out to eat has actually started to be a habit on this challenge: the next time I do go out it will be a treat, to savor. If I always have a glass of water when I think I’m hungry, it will become a habit. Hanging laundry on the line was very awkward and time consuming and frankly mind consuming at first, now it’s old hat. The first time I made muffins I was actually very anxious, and now I can whip out a batch. A batch a week is a habit now. I recycle a zillion things, but if I started that way it would have blown my fuses-I got in the habit of recycling some items, then added more and more over time. It’s no work now to recycle a battery or bottle cap: there are specific jars on my fridge for these two items-plop!

The first few days or weeks it can be tough. But I have to remember, have to, that once it’s a HABIT, it just happens without extraordinary effort. I’ve gotten there with some frugality and house cleaning habits. I need to get there with some health habits. I have some bad TV habits. I need patience and persistence. I might look back someday and laugh at what seemed a looming task now. I mean, scared of muffins?

Spending: $20 co-pay for a doctor visits, and $17.32 for 3 months worth of two medications: $37.32 already for the month. Plus, another $20 co-pay will come in a week, for a follow up visit. I don’t think getting rid of a “bad” mole is a luxury, but for many people, medical care is a luxury. I’m hoping no visits in May, but I do have another prescription that will need to be filled then. On the plus side, the $80 “missed appointment” bill I thought I might get doesn’t seem to be coming. Knock on wood.

Other spending: a big grocery stock up, my share a whopping $27.37. Good grocery news: My Guy was very pleasantly surprised by how low our grocery bill is, and has taken pride and ownership in it. He made a cheapskate’s Comfort Food Delight last night: can of condensed soup, and a lot of rice. Mix and eat. Not the healthiest, but filling, and not too unhealthy. If we went brown rice we’d be better off.

I’ll count my health insurance as paid and due; I haven’t had paychecks yet, but I know the deduction will be the same; I get warnings of increases ahead of time, in writing. So, $43.70 there.

Rent paid on the 1st, $400. $508.39 spent for the month.

Now, our DVD player broke. Old me? Let’s buy one. But I’m on my challenge, and My Guy is trying to make his unpaid time off last as long as possible, so he doesn’t want to dip in reserves. He’s very computer inclined, so, our plan of action: move his computer DVD player into the living room, even though it’s a computer one in a tower, for now. Price the parts to build a new one. The bonus will be: if he “builds” the DVD player, it will act like a TiVO, with record capabilities. If that doesn’t work, just keep using his in the living room. He’d have to use the network to my computer to access things on DVD. But it will be cheaper. Meanwhile, I will keep on the look out for crazy cheap DVD players.

I’ve been hanging laundry on our wooden rack. Not the best-takes a long time to dry. The weather is getting better; hanging on the line will be an option soon.

People I know question how long I will continue on the challenge. It’s sad to me that they thought one month would be “enough.” Even though I had been pretty frugal, it’s been great to see the areas I had gotten too loose in. I’m at least 40 pounds overweight-why did I go out to eat so much? It’s not as if I was ordering steamed vegetables and broiled fish. I shrugged at certain expenses, such as my crazy electric bill, because I had enough money coming in to pay the bills, but I never worked at really lowering these bills. I’m learning from this challenge, and I am not feeling deprived.

In April I want to try and get pre-qualified for a home loan. I have been idly thinking of it. My income is pretty good for my area, but, and it’s a big but, I live in California. House prices are just craziness. So I will find out if I can do the house thing or not. I don’t mind finding out I can’t. (I already know it would only be a smaller house if I could: a one or one and a half bedroom, no garage, etc.) At that point, I will need to make some investment decisions. I have a lot more than 6 months expenses in savings: not the best place at 1.25 percent. I have 457 Deferred Comp that I could increase contributions to-I hadn’t yet because I couldn’t borrow against it for a down payment. I have an IRA I haven’t paid attention to. And I know nothing about investing. So once I find out about the house, the next challenge is to take the money frugality gains me and make it more active.

I am motivated to lose my extra weight as I have not been before.

I had tried thinking reward before: I had told myself that if I got to 150 pounds (I'm 5"3-1/2" tall) I'd go on a spending spree of up to $500 for all new cloths. Now, that would be an insanse spree for me-I don't spend that much a year or even two years. But no movement forward.

Shame hasn't worked either. I am not necessarily embarassed by the weight- it doesn't matter if I tell you I'm 196 or not, it doesn't change my weight, and if you saw me you'd already know I'm plump. Even though I'm anonymous online, I don't see the need to pretend I'm a tall slim redheadhead. But I do feel a sense of shame that I have not been able to control my weight. I've kicked alcohol and other drugs, I've kicked cigarettes, why can't I just be more physically active and not overeat? But, the little internal shame talks don't work either.

(With quitting drinking and smoking, there is the reward of being successful on day one. You may be a shaking, sweaty, uptight mess that week, but -snap-you are a non-drinker, a non-smoker. With weight issues, I can be physically active and eat right all day, and look and weigh the same. It is frustrating for me. I try to just enjoy the process, but it's a challenge.)

The idea of being in a bikini bathing suit on a beach in Croatia is a mighty deterent. If I make my 20 pound loss, which I expect to do, I can wear my standard one piece and be fine. I carry weight in my belly, so the bikini idea is especially funky. I'd like to be the kind of woman who becomes rubenesque, and becomes curvier everywhere with some extra pounds, but my body does a portly older man thing; weird small butt with a big gut.

Once I've hit a five pound loss, I'll assume that I've gained some new good habits, and I'll look for other ways to utilize the credible threat. A friend who just quit smoking took the idea; she rewards herself regularly, so she didn't know how to use that, but the idea of taking AWAY a reward-no buying of books for 6 months if she smokes-was a motivator she could grab onto.

Has anyone else used the Credible Threat concept? I know for some it can seem too punitive, but for me, since I picked a reasonable goal (essentially a pound a week), it's working so far.

I love surveys, for no real good reason. I do Greenfield, and GoZing, and NFO, and some others. I used to do okay with the money, too: it seemed as if I'd get $2 or $5 pretty frequently, and $10 or $15 every few months. Once I got $75 for chatting about Feta cheese for an hour (online). But the money has dried up. I just checked, in 2004 I got $112 for various surveys, and in 2005 I got $22. So now, really, I do them for fun and to put my two cents in.

Well, I just completed one where the reward is a $1, that will be deposited into my PayPal account in May. And it made me think, $1 is real money. $1 gets me a half pound of cheese, or 3 months worth of bran, or a few crockpots of beans, or even a month of postage for me. Who am I to scoff at the dollar? I bought a fabulous pair of thick dark blue flannel jammie bottoms with a $1.25 last week. I bought 3 items at a thrift store for 84 cents.

I'm getting to know the value of a dollar more intimately.

In March, I spent $1007.45. $1073 was my base budget (CA minimum wage $6.75 x 40 x 4.33 less SDI/FICA) plus the $6.73 recycling, for a total of $1079.73 available. I needed to underspend; it does NOT mean I’m ahead the $72.78. This is “banked” for non-monthly expenses, such as my car insurance in July. I did put $39.00 in savings, but I would like to not have to touch that at all.

I’ve managed to figure out how to include the amounts in a readable format, by making a spreadsheet excerpt a picture.



It's ironic that I started this in a month with an extra biweekly paycheck and my two tax returns. A lot more money came in than usual, and a lot less went out.

I did play poker last night. We have a group that attempts to play every other Friday, but we’ve been a little inconsistent. I’d say I play maybe once a month. I had saved my previous winnings, and had already decided to only play with “won” money. I hadn’t really kept track last year, but this year had decided 1) to see how much I improved (or not) and 2) to ensure I kept better track. It had been hard because I rarely use cash. I’d take out money, win, break even, sometimes lose, then I’d spend the cash, and lose track. So I decided this year to keep it separate. Last time I won $42. I put that in a jar and kept it separate. That’s what I have to play with, and it’s outside the challenge and regular budget too. This time I lost $16. So if I play poker again, I have a maximum of $26 to play with. If I lose that, I will have to seriously evaluate whether this hobby is worthwhile.

The gifts were perfect. Kim loved the book and magnets. She teared up at the Bono/Kim photoshopped picture; I don't think because she's weird about Bono, but because she was touched at the effort that went into the gift. A resounding success! It'll be a tough trend to continue, the low amount of spending and high return, but the process rocked.

We were in a fast food mood. How did we handle it? First we decided that grilled cheese sandwiches provide that greasy love. Then, I decided not to have my usual two, but to have one, with a big bowl of vegetables. A healthier, cheaper, meal, with little effort. I want to succeed with my Credible Threat challenge and Minimum Wage challenge, but most of all I want to not feel stressed or deprived about it. Today was a good day.

Well, I am pleasantly astonished at how being frugal made me prepare a very nice gift for a friend, that is very thoughtful and tailored to her likes and lifestyle.

She loves traveling (Lithuania next week, Croatia with me in September), adores cats, loves magnets, reads a lot, loves U2, is a Shari Lewis/Lamb Chop fan, and her fridge is covered with everything and more.

She is getting: homemade magnets. (A set of five different cat designs, a black and white Photoshopped picture of her and Bono drinking and toasting the photgrapher, a very nice shot of her and her husband, a little cutout of her husband looking goofy, and Lamb Chop.) A card that has four cat magnets on it(store bought-local art place, made by a local). A piece of chocolate shaped like a cat. And, a book of essays by women travelers, using trade in I had from earlier this month at a used book store.

Cash expenditure for this totally amazing gift pack: $6.16. My Guy and I stretched our craft skills, and came up with what I think is a top notch gift set. I could of spent $30 on a less satisfying gift. (I could have foregone the card with magnets and chocolate, but I didn't and don't regret it. As I've said before, I love gift giving.)

And, since the book "cost" almost seven bucks, my partner chips in half the cost (the books traded in were mine), and I have spent zero. This is a win, win, win. Reports on her response tomorrow will be reported later.

I hadn’t really realized that blogging would mean people reading my writing. Yup, a bit dim over here in Northern California. Then, I got the Savings’ Advice newsletter that mentioned, among many other blogs, “LRJohnson reports that….” And I received a personal e-mail mentioning my blog. And I looked at the Stats on the page. I realize that 20 visitors today is probably statistically the same as zero visitors in blog land, but it is mildly unnerving to think that 20 people stopped by. Were you amused? Bored? Intrigued? Did you click away lickety split? How compelling can it be to read about a woman challenging herself to live on minimum wage when she earns a fair amount more? There are folks out the doing it because they have to, not because “it’d be fun to save more money.” Am I just thumb twiddling? Or is putting goals down in concrete a more valuable way to spend time than bad Monday night primetime TV?

That’s enough for questions I mostly can’t answer.

On the personal part: how tricky to be completely honest while realizing that people who know me are reading. Certainly it was my choice to send them a link, but aware I must be. I’ve seen on other blogs that people are totally anonymous. Is the fantasy that I’m open and unembarrassed and kind going to be put to the test? Will I slip and say the wrong thing? If a friend sees I’m trying to be frugal with a gift, is that in poor taste? What if the gift is cheap but thoughtful? What if it’s more money and un-freaking-thoughtful? Is that worse? Huh? Huh?

Okay, those were more questions I can not answer.

I spent not a dime today. I thought the challenge would be easier, however I am enjoying being challenged, and frugal. Big props to me today.

Today I went on a spending spree, and spent $22.94. Last night I was reminded that two big birthdays are coming up. I decided when I’m out and about I should be scoping for birthday and holiday presents for everyone I know, all the time, to be alert and ready for a great deal on the perfect present, even if it is a couple months early. This time I’m cut a little short on time.

I did order a book online for one of them. My friends are going to London in a week, and made reservations at St. John’s, and Matt wants the book by the chef, Fergus Henderson: The Whole Beast: Nose to tail Eating. I called the bookstore I have some credit at, and another local used place, and no go, so we ordered from Half.com. That’s $7.10 for my share.

I had an idea for Kim’s present: she has magnets, photos, and postcards all over her fridge. We have some of those larger thin magnets, like the promotional calendars, that I’ve been saving for a while. I was just going to glue regular photos (I’ve been traveling with Kim and Matt and have some pictures) to the magnets, but My Guy had a better idea: he’s doing some Photoshop work on some pictures, so we will also have Kim inserted into a picture of her favorite band U2.

I had wanted to go to garage sales this morning. Due to rain I went to more thrift stores than garages sales. At one thrift store, I got 10 nice plastic hangers, a pair of kitchen tongs, and a nice basket for 84 cents. I felt good about that purchase. At a garage sale, as a fluke I found what my guy has been coveting: a stove top waffle maker. I had priced them and they are at least $38 new plus shipping, or a lot more at local stores. The garage sale was crazy overpriced, but I offered $10 instead of $15. Too much for an idle purchase, but not bad for something he’s been really wanting. Then I picked up a $5 prescription.

So that was my wild spree. Nothing came up for future presents, unfortunately. But it was a good reminder, to always be on the lookout. For example, my friend Linda loves lighthouses; I can look all Yard Sale season long.

A great thing about thrift store shopping, even if I don’t buy, is to be reminded of how cheap items can be. When I shop our locally owned neighborhood stores at Christmas, I always stop at St. Vincent de Paul’s first, to get grounded.

We’ll be taking Kim out to dinner, but we have already purchased gift certificates. (One of those deals where I paid $15 for $30 worth of certificates; it’s a great local restaurant.)

Friday night, I did spend more on groceries and toiletries, so that’s another $29.53.

I’ve spent $1000.98. I will make the Challenge for this month; however I did overspend in some categories, leaving me less to carry over for bigger, later expenditures, such as Insurance in July.

I am working on modifying my budget, so I will post new numbers for April at the end of March. I am working towards no more spending for this month, except perhaps for Matt and Kim.

No money spent on anything today. Nice. I can only spend $186 more max this month, and not even that, because some money has to be saved for periodic expenses, like Car Insurance in July. But I think it will be no problem, and that is fantastic. I am pleased with myself for taking on the challenge; even if I slip here and there, it's a fun goal, that makes me live up to something. Yeehaw!

Only a bit more spending to report. Since I’ve gotten both of my paychecks with health insurance deductions, I can count $43.70. And, I spent a lot on entertainment on Sunday: $12.50. We went to a friend’s house, and they made corned beef from scratch: I mean, they corned the beef. So they put in the labor, and it was frugal for them, but our role was to bring Guinness and bread. I also bought a small block of Irish cheese, and a little tart as a dessert. I don’t necessarily regret it, but I think next time we’ll plan more in advance-I can’t make Guinness from scratch, but maybe I could have found it cheaper, and I could have made a dessert from scratch.

Overall, I've been liking thinking in a Frugal Mode. This month is a 3-paycheck month for me. Others are catching up with bills, or blowing it. I'm doing my Minimum Wage Challenge, and sweating $12.50 in the entertainment category. Which I LIKE. It doesn't make me feel like I'm missing out, or cheap-it makes me think about getting value from what I spend.

I am torn on whether bringing food to a friend's house is in the grocery category or the entertainment category. I started thinking entertainment, then realized it was food items. I am going with entertainment, because it was "party" food. It may be that I reduce my grocery budget and increase my entertainment budget.

I had seen a show, maybe Primetime live, where the theme was Game Theory, and they had a piece on Credible Threat. The idea is that fear of something real-a credible threat-is an excellent motivator. They took pictures of people in tiny bathing suits, and said, “If you don’t lose 15 pounds in two months, will put this picture on TV.” And it worked. Four out of the five did it, and the fifth came very close. So I mentioned it to a friend, and her thought is that we should agree to lose 20 pounds by Croatia, or wear a bikini for a day on the beach in Croatia and have pictures taken. So that gives me more than five months to lose 20 pounds. I weighed in a 196-not good, for me-I had been 170-ish last year. I’m 5’3-1/2”. So, 176 is very reasonable (I’d be happy with 150), and 4 pounds a month is doable.

Stared the day earlier, it’s been a while on a weekend. Up and moving by 9. We did three loads of laundry; I put some clothes in the dryer, like work clothes and woven shirts, and everything else hung outside. It’s been a while, the weather has been forbidding. Even when the weather was okay, we were hanging doing mostly jeans and towels, the big dryer hogs, to be lazy but still get some savings. It was also mild exercise, not an inconsiderable aspect.

I did the recycling, tons and tons of it. I only got $6.73, but that’s fine, I knew most was not money recycling. I recycle almost everything. Plastic, tin cans, yogurt tubs, paper, cardboard, glass. I exchanged an item at Walgreen’s that I got in January for a new item, which I’m keeping outside the challenge. I sat in front of the jumbo pack of earplugs forever considering whether I should commit to the $9.99 for the year’s worth of them. I decided I was over thinking and I should just be able to exchange as no money in and no money out.

I spent .86 cents at the Postal Service, and will get half back from my boyfriend. I got 4 2 cent stamps to add to my old first class, and then two new ones. We rarely send regular mail; almost all bills are paid online.

I cleaned out the bread thrift store for $9.55, split between us. Around 8 loaves of regular bread plus 2 packs of bagels plus 2 packs of 3-in-a-pack brown and serve roll loaves, and donuts for my guy. The bread used to be 2 for a dollar for the old stuff, now the cheapest is 79 cents, which bummed me out, but, at least a $3.59 loaf costs 79 cents and not $3.59. I was glad I made room in the freezer. The brown and serve loaves was a fun deal; each loaf has 8 attached rolls, and there are three loaves, for 79 cents. So for 3.3 cents each I have these amazing, hot, tasty, French bread-like rolls. Yum. It has been a fine lunch with some cheese.

I then deposited some checks at an ATM (including $15 from Nielsen for reporting on my TV habits, but I earned and received it pre-challenge), and browsed the Co-op where the ATM is at. I almost got a treat, but I kept looking at items, and thinking, that plum nectar is nice, but, not 15 times nicer than orange juice, so why pay fifteen times more?

So I've got a little more idea where travelling partners are thinking, for the trip to Croatia. Perhaps Zagreb, the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Dubrovnik (the Pearl of the Adriatic), Hvar, Split, and a trip across to Serbia. Just ideas so far, nothing finalized. We fly in and out of London, so we may stay a couple days on the way back.

I am getting excited with six months to go. I love that sense of anticipation. It's a decent length trip, too, almost two and a half weeks.

Today, I spent $4 on entertainment for going out after work with colleagues. We do this rarely; I didn't want to miss it. I got one soda for $2 plus tax, which I would never do normally. But this Mexican restaurant had no Limonada or Jamaica, so I got a bottled Jarrito. And I left a large tip, almost 90%, because our waitress hustled to do separate checks for a table of 20 people, and I ate plenty of the complimentary chips and salsa, and there is no way I'd leave a 15% forty cent tip in that situation.

And, $10 to report in the charity category, local public radio station needs an emergency backup generator (and with the storms lately, they really do).

A good week, many tempations avoided without any sense of deprivation.

I gotta say, work people find it so hilarious that I'm even trying this; it's comical how comical they find it. The thing is, not so long ago I lived on a lot less than now, and paid of debt doing it. $6.25 an hour at 30 hours a week, while paying off debt. So this isn't a huge leap for me; I don’t have to cut out any lattes, manicures, brand name convenience foods, steak, days at the mall.

Someone asked how much I'd be saving by doing this, and when I told them how much additional savings they were surprised at how low it was to them. They are thinking I'm cutting spending at least in half. My expenses last year averaged $1591 a month. That included a trip to Mexico and a trip to Belgium/Poland, and lots of dining out, basically spending on whatever I wanted. I stuck the rest in savings. Frankly I thought I was living pretty pretty high on the hog. This minimum wage challenge means I reduce my spending by 32%, which is not so bad, really.

One co-worker, an Amy D. fan, thinks the challenge will be a piece of cake! I’m pondering going for the Federal Poverty Level rate of $798, which will go up in April. Don’t think I can, but still pondering it.

Today I took a couple books to the bookstore for trade, and they accepted some; I got $8.50 in store credit. I’ll use it for gifts later. Delaying taking recycling in, that will happen this weekend.

My gas and electric bill was much better, though not at my goal. We went from $360 to $300, but when I look at a detailed analysis on the PG&E website, my billing cycle was three days longer. Anyone interested in details who has PG&E would check it out; it tells you how much increase or decrease you have in electric and gas, for rate changes, usage changes, or billing cycle changes. So according to them my bill was $20 higher than it would have been due to the longer cycle. If I consider that I went from $360 to $280 for the same number of days, that’s a 22% decrease. We’re chipping away. I am pretty happy with %22 in one month.

Well, I need to learn more formatting. I paid bills and decided to just post a summary; even though I see spacing in my editable entry, when I see the actual post it is all lumped together. Grrrrr. Normally I like a challenge but headache is coming on and I need a bath. I can spend 240.44 more this month without trouble. Wish me luck in formatting AND in my goal!

Item Budget Spent Balance
Savings $39.00 $39.00
Rent $400.00 $400.00 $0.00
Household $21.00 $1.00 $20.00
Netflix $10.00 $9.65 $0.35
Electricity $100.00 $152.30 -$52.30
Charity $20.00 $20.00
Gasoline $15.00 $26.21 -$11.21
Phone $9.00 $8.53 $0.47
Workout $17.00 $100.00 -$83.00
Grocery $145.00 $30.85 $114.15
Ent./Rest. $20.00 $7.75 $12.25
Repairs & Tires $20.00 $20.00
Car Insurance $51.00 $51.00
Reg, AAA $13.00 $13.00
Clothing $25.00 $25.00
Internet $30.00 $31.02 -$1.02
Cable $5.00 $5.25 -$0.25
Health Ins $44.00 $44.00
Health-copay $62.00 $60.00 $2.00
Toil, Haircare $27.00 $27.00
Total 1,073.00 $832.56 $240.44

If anyone has suggestions on how to past a spreadheet into the blog so that my budget and expenses are easy to see, I will accept and perhaps even implement those suggestions.

Well, a few budget hits to report. Last week my boyfriend and I underwent some drama re: meals out. One night I was home sick all day, and he came home with burritos from a local, healthy little place. I totally appreciated it, but I felt guilty, too: me being on a budget doesn’t mean I want to be a mooch. He correctly pointed out that I’ve been treating him an awful lot lately, so I’ll accept the free burrito. But then, a few days later, he went out for fast food. (I was home in bed, feeling unwell, again.) I thought I had expressed I wanted three items off whatever dollar or value menu was where he went, and that I wanted no beverage. I ended up with a Meal, which isn’t exactly expensive but was less food, more non-water beverage, and more money than I wanted to spend. He wanted to just let me pay $3, but that isn’t right. So, I’m paying the $5.50 my meal cost including tax. And we are both clearer that I don’t want to cheat, and that I want cheap food if from the outside, and I’d rather avoid using my funds for fast food. Whew.

If anyone points out that fast food is not the best to eat on a budget especially if one feels unwell, I’d have to agree. I have a lot of issues with fast food. Fast Food Nation was an excellent book. For socio- economic, health, environmental, etc., reasons, I’d rather not eat it. (I will defend to the death your right to eat it, so hush.) However, even though it is not so great, my taste buds adore it, and sometimes I do use it as a numbing drug, since I no longer smoke or drink. I’m not necessarily excusing it as much as admitting that I have a love/hate relationship with the greasiness.

I filled up the tank for $26.21. My monthly budget is $15, but I use less than a tank a month, so I’ll just not have to use the $15 next month.

I did pay $100 for my Water aerobics class at the Adult School. This class will go five months, so it’s a pretty good deal. I have a question into Jesse on the YNAB system: you are supposed to save/budget for bigger expenses that don’t happen monthly but you can anticipate. What I can’t see, yet, is how it works if you spend a lot at the beginning for the next few months. I should be able to spread the $100 over five months, but according to the system I have $83 less to spend in April. We’ll see what Jesse says.

(YNAB is You Need a Budget, JMJJ215's site/program. I bought it for 19.95 as part of the $20 challenge, to track my Challenge progress.)

I took a further hit: my work offered low cost blood tests, one a regular work up, one for thyroid, for $25 each. My doctor recommended I take them (I’ve been having some issues). So that’s $50, but it's not monthly. And, I paid a $10 prescription co-pay for one of my meds for a three month supply.

I am excited, still, and undeprived, still. Hey, it's day thirteen.

I love simple rustic food, like suasages and potatoes and beans. Oohh I'm excited.


I’m not sure exactly where I’ll be in Croatia or Serbia, yet. The brief bits I read about it were in a book my friend had. I do know I want to do beach, maybe Zagreb. If anyone has been, I’ll take recommendations. The idea of beach weather plus rainy afternoons sounds mighty fine. The pictures of Plitvice Lakes National Park are compelling. Once I get some books and do some online research I'll know more. I love both City and Country adventures in other countries.

I am heartened by and appreciative of people’s well wishes, and giddy with the thought of months of anticipation. I like knowing about a vacation way ahead; it’s more time to be able to say, silently, when faced with a difficult person or situation, “Oh that’s alright you nuggety nugget, I can put up with you today, because soon I’m going to be eating Burek (meat pie) while on a beach. So hah.”

I’m going to Croatia in September.

I have already stated that if given the opportunity to travel, I won’t pass it up. A friend, who is super savvy about online deals, found us a $412 round trip flight to Europe. I’ll be going for two weeks.

Spending on travel has never been something I’ve regretted. I get so much out of traveling; I know it’s a worthwhile expenditure. I also travel pretty cheap-I’m not into hostels, but I am into renting apartments. The more people travel together, the cheaper it can be. Also, research counts, and the Net makes searching open to everyone. Last year I stayed in a very nice Belgian B&B for $17 U.S. a night, as 4 of use shared one “suite”-one adult bed, and in a separate room two “kid” beds. The bathtub was superb-super long and deep-I am an aficionado. The B&B was in an old beautiful Belgian home, very quaint. The breakfasts were excellent.

I will still plan on living on minimum wage in all other aspects other than the Croatia trip. I will keep a separate log of every travel expense, down to the travel books I’ll buy (used), to see how much a two week Europe trip can cost if down on a budget.

Croatia is supposed to have amazing beaches. We may also visit Serbia. It will be incredible!

My boyfriend went on a grocery run. We had a long list of staples to refill, so I though it might be high, but it was $64 total. $32 each. We have always done a lot of bulk and staple, but it was just a nice surprise that a "big" grocery run could be that small. Flour, sunflower seeds, dry powdered milk, bulghur, eggs, potatoes, things like this. Our grocery bill has always been pretty decent; it's the dining out that can get us. I even got some club soda.

I made jam today, two batches, with some plum puree I've had in the freezer. (The low sugar Sure Jel takes 6-1/2 cups cooked plums, and our peanut butter tubs actually are exactly 6-1/2 cups. It's kinda neat.) Even before the challenge, I was working on emptying the freeezer and cupboards. The goal was threefold: use up stuff that has been sitting a while (asian sauces gotten as gifts, etc.), be more creative with homecooking, and create space for "convenience" meals-casseroles, etc. put in tubs for later.

The jam took me about an hour-I remember when I first started it was an all day project. I need to remember that certain things I'm intimidated by will be the same way, such as baking bread, or painting rooms, or refnishing furniture.

No more actual spending to report. I did make plans to take a newly transferred co-worker out to lunch-before I wouldn’t have even thought for a second, but now, I realized, “Shoot! Even with Linda paying half, this will still cost me $4-5 dollars out of my entertainment budget!” It doesn’t happen until the 29th, so I won’t count it until it’s spent.

I will have to fill up my gas tank soon. A tank is about $25 –it will last more than a month, but will still be a hit.

Every penny on my mind, can you tell?

I’ve gotten tighter with my electric. I still think old wiring accounts for the fact that our usage is twice what our appliances account for (see old posts for rants and facts) but I’ve become much more vigilant about turning off lights. Even if I only save a couple bucks, those bucks are real!

We have some recycling to do-I think I will allow the proceeds to be a part of my budget. If anyone objects or thinks it’s violating the spirit of the rules, I won’t. A lot of my recycling I bring home from work (no formal recycling plan) so it isn’t even from soda I’d buy. Plus, I already planned on allowing club soda and seltzer under my new rules, so I’d still have those bottles and cans.

I have some books to take in to try for trade-they aren’t worth much at all on half.com, but they are in good shape. I want to turn them in for trade, to use as good gifts later on. Normally I might just get rid of the books, or, use the trade money for myself.

Last year I spent an average of $1546.42 a month. I just put my net check into Quicken, and don’t count union dues, PERS Pension, 457 deferred compensation plan, or health insurance. If I count my insurance that would be an additional $43.70 a month for a total of $1590.12. So, for every month I successfully do this, I will have “saved” $553.12 ($1590.12 less $1037). If I do it for three months, that’s $1659.36-not enough for me. I’d like to have the whole “turn $20 into $5000” thing happen, so that means doing it for the rest of the year. That’d be $5531.20 saved. So, I can do this for the year, and still blow $500, and meet the challenge.

A few postless days were due to illness, not a spending spree.

Someone posted on the $5:15 challenge forum that they already meet the challenge, so we know it can be done. Its giving up all the extras that those of us with more income will have trouble with. Or, paying for convenience, because we can.

I haven't spent anything (though I may owe my boyfriend for some yams). So I'm still doing good, with 402.25 spent. However, I know I won't have any AAA or Car reg fees, so I have to save that for next month. I will definitely spend on my health insurance.

My boyfriend asked, "how long do you have to do this?" I hadn't even thought of a date. I figure at least three months (and accounting for savings for items I won't have on those 3 months, like biannual auto insurance), but I'd like to do it thtough the year. Even if I slip, or go travelling, at least I will have nipped an awful lot. So I am planning three months absolute minimum.

Okay, this challenge is doing good and bad things to my head.

On the bad side-Friday, I called my doctor's office at eleven to confirm my noon appointment. Well, my appointment was at 10:15 (my last appointment had been at noon). So, I may be facing the "missed appointment" fee, and I don't know how I'm gonna handle it. I think it might be $80 - I was almost charged earlier this year for cancelling a same day but I had a migraine, so they waived it. I don't think they'll wave it again in such a short period. If I was really minimum wage, I'd try to claim hardship, but I can't, so I either need to take the hit or pay it outside the challenge. I will most likely just pay a portion each month and suffer-as this challenge wasn't meant to be super easy.

On the plus side, my frugal mindset is back. At work I declined 2 offers to go out to lunch. One person, who I've treated a lot in the past (yeah, my combined vice-dining and giving gifts) offered to take me out (her house finally sold) but I declined, saying I appreciated the offer but I was into my packed lunch, and explaining like it felt I would be cheating on the challenge.

We had our payday "pool" - buy 3 tickets for a dollar, half the collected funds go to the lucky winner of a the drawn ticket, the other half goes to the Employee Recreation Fund. As I work for the County, this money is used for items that taxpayer dollars can't go towards, such as microwaves and a refrigerator in the kitchen. I decided to pitch in a $1 of my entertainment money, after mulling it over. Now everyone at at work knows and thinks I'm a big goober, but are humourously supportive. Of course I didn't win the pool.

Last night, Friday night, we did get pizza, but it only cost me $1.25, as we used a $20 gift certificate we already had. It was 2 pizzas, with soda and breadsticks, and we picked it up.

I could feel guilty, but I figure, it makes the most sense to use these gift certificates I have when I'm trying to save money, so I'm not really breaking the rules. Normally, I would either make a store brand Boboli pizza or get take and bake-$22.50 is a huge amount of money for pizza even when I'm carefree. But, as I said, I was using a gift certificate.

Today, I am using up freezer and fridge food, and I made two pasta casseroles, and one is going into the freezer as a "fast food/take out" for when I don't want to cook.

I am hanging some laundry in the house, even though it is very cold. I will see if it dries at all; we aren't running heat in any room, so it may not work. I have a sweater on but my hands are so chilled I am having trouble typing. I did do the double spin, and I ran it on the short cycle with the lid up, so it stopped part-way and soaked until I put the lid down. I figure I got a long cycle wash for a short cycle price.

Spent so far: $402.25 ($2.25 entertainment, $400 rent)
$670.75 left for the month, depending on my doctors bill......

It's day two, and I lied yesterday-I didn't spend nothing, I forgot about rent. So yes, $400 out of my $1073 gone, but all budgeted for.

Today, I actually spent nothing. A couple of people at work think this idea is goofy but are rooting for me.

It's funny-if I think "I wanna get burritos from Amigas" my next thought is "Not on the challenge." So I have conceivably (because I almost ordered again on half.com) saved $20 to $30 already. Unprovable, but neat-o.

Looking at my Quicken records, it is becoming clear what I spend my extra money on. I still live below my means, but I had idly wondered where the money went, as I was still so low with groceries, cleaning supplies, etc., and my savings was growing but at a slower pace than I would like.

I already knew that travel and gifts and dining were a big piece. I spent an embarrassing amount last year. Even going to Europe cheap for 2 weeks is a good chunk of change. I still consider that money well spent-by the way, Budapest has incredible Turkish spas, and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam actually made me cry. I enjoy dining out and traveling and giving gifts, and do not regret them, but the dollars were big time. I had a Europe trip and a Mexico trip, and didn’t go into debt, but wow. It’s sad to think of losing the travel at a low wage, though I can see that dining and gifts given are a bit decadent.

But, there are money eaters I hadn’t realized. I spent $300 in jewelry last year. Now, no single piece cost over $50, and most $15 to $25-I happen to prefer silver and semi-precious stones. I always buy a piece of jewelry when I travel-earrings from Oaxaca, a ring from Brugge, a couple amber necklaces from Krakow. I don't regret this either, but wow, that's $25 a month, nothing like I could do if on minimum wage.

Yesterday, I ordered 12 books on half.com for 33 bucks. That's a decent price, and I am a book junkie. But I spent $224 last year-19 a month, and that's even despite all the books I get at the "buck a bag" sale, which ends up being a penny to a nickel a book, depending how many books I can fit in the bag. No more Half.com on the challenge-“buck a bag” only.

And, I’m even realizing that sometimes savings might require spending. As you could see from some of my posts, my electric bill is awry. We are considering buying a new dryer if the PG&E rebate is good and we can get a good price. But what if my half is $100, or even $200? I can’t fit that in the challenge, I couldn’t do that without serious scraping at real minimum wage. I don’t know if I’ll do it or not, but I certainly have been pondering every expenditure. Poverty can lead to more poverty: toilet paper by the roll or 4 pack can be much, much more than by the 24 pack.

Tomorrow I begin! I am excited. I will be more aware of where I get good value from spending (frankly, I know I will still travel), but in other areas I will be able to reduce spending at the same time that I have a greater appreciation for the value I get when I do spend in a luxury area.

I've been working at getting into that very frugal, instead of mostly frugal, headset.

Today I went to the Canned Foods Outlet (a friend calls it the Used Food Store) and I almost felt guilty, like it was cheating to buy groceries 2/27 before starting the challenge 3/1. Then I realized, it would be sillier to avoid doing a regular shopping run. I bought what I would normally buy, without regard to stockpiling during my lean months.

It's funny, I just posted about buying $80 shoes (that I don't regret-Dansko's-love them) but other items I am so price sensitive. I was upset the Canned Foods store had no conditioner under $1.99, even though the $1.99 was a big bottle. I searched long and hard for 99 cent antiperspirant. I "splurged" on a fifty cent asian pear, because I've been trying to be less stingy about fresh fruits and vegetables.

However, it's not too contradictory-I get really good value from my Dansko's, and I am totally brand insensitive to conditioner (which I don't even use every wash) that I might as well save on conditioner to have money for shoes.

Spending money on my priorities-huh, not contradictory at all.