Saving in the Time of COVID-19

Most of us are reeling from the uncertainty of this time we're in, and considering we are staring down the barrel of a major economic depression, we can all use some new ways to save and stretch money.  Below is just a short list of things I'm doing as a result of working from home, and also some things I always do to save money.  As always, this list is based on my observations and experiences, so please chime in with any other suggestions you have in the comments!

1. If you are working from home and not driving your car, update your car insurance so that you are not paying for any extras.  Note: if you are still making payments on a car loan, you often have to keep a certain level of coverage, so double check this first.  In our case, we own our two 2012 Prius's outright, so I reduced our coverage to the absolute bare minimum.  We had just made our six month payment, and reducing coverage got us almost $300 refunded.  Some companies are automatically giving people some money back, but you can also further reduce, and get even more back.  For instance, I saw that Geico is giving people 15% back, which is great, but I got us 30%, which is better.

2. Reduce food waste as much as possible.  Wasting food = wasted money.  Shop strategically and try not to buy more fresh produce at a time than you know you can eat.  It's very easy to feel virtuous while in the produce section, but if you bring home three kinds of salad greens, and then have a cold, rainy week where you don't want to eat salad at all--it's going to go bad.

• Plan meals in advance, and shop according to the plan.
• Make frozen veg your friend--often frozen vegetables are better for you because they are frozen at peak freshness, whereas fresh produce needs to travel to market and loses nutrients.
• Assess your kitchen for weaknesses.  What do you frequently end up wasting?  How can you focus on the problem areas and eliminate or reduce waste?  For instance, we use milk very infrequently, and used to buy it in half gallons, only to have it keep going bad when the container was half empty.  Now, we buy a half gallon of milk and portion it out into pint jars with lids.  Most of those go into the freezer, and we pull them out and thaw as needed.  This has made is waste less, and also stop making extra trips to the store.
• If you don't like a food, don't buy it. When people are trying to avoid the grocery store, it can be very tempting to stock up on things like rice, pasta, canned vegetables, which seems like a logical choice.  But, if you never eat rice and don't really have a way to incorporate it into your eating repertoire, you can use that shelf space for something that makes more sense for you.  If you don't want to eat canned soup or peanut butter, then don't buy it!

3. Put all your spare cash into a high interest savings account.  The Federal Reserve Bank slashed interest rates a while ago, but there are still some banks where you can get a decent return for savings accounts--more for Money Market accounts.  For instance, we are socking cash into a Capital One Money Market account, which nets us 1.3% interest for balances over $10,000 (about $15/month).  Their regular savings account rate is .5% last I checked.  That's not great, but it's still free money.  I like free money.  If you got the government stimulus check and you don't need it right away, put it into savings and leave it alone.

4. Don't blow a bunch of money on kitchen gadgetry.  Everyone in my fb feed starting baking bread as soon as stay at home orders came out, and I admit that I was mildly tempted to try my hand at bread baking again, but I didn't--for a couple of reasons:

• I've tried bread baking before and I find it frustrating, time-consuming and just not worth the effort.  Sure, I could probably get better with more practice, but once I'm back to commuting to work every day, I'm not going to spend my downtime baking bread.  
• I also don't have any bread pans, and I don't want to buy them on the off chance that this is a hobby that will stick. If there's something you want to do in the kitchen and it requires a bunch of equipment you don't own, maybe take a step back and think about what you can do with what you already have.  Or see if you can borrow what you need from a friend.

5. Try not to panic shop or shop out of boredom.  If you have to, unsave all credit card info from sites that you frequent.

6. Focus on reuseables.  If you have an extreme paper towel habit, try switching to rags and reuseable napkins for most of your needs. If you have on-site laundry and are working from home, this is the perfect time to figure out if this is a solution you can work with.

7. Get a bidet attachment for your toilet.  We got one from amazon a few months ago, and it has been a total game-changer.  For the low price of $25, we have cut our toilet paper use in half, which will more than pay for the bidet in less than a year. Plus, I feel cleaner than I ever have, and my husband installed it in less than an hour.

8. Wear your clothes out.  And by that, I don't mean out of the house, but rather wear them until they are falling apart, then transfer them to the rag bag to be used in place of paper towels for cleanup.  There is something supremely satisfying (to me) to getting every single last use out of an item.  Especially when most of us are at home more than ever, there's no reason to spend money on new clothes.  When I feel tempted to buy new clothes, I first make myself go look at what I already have, and usually realize that I have everything I need already.

2019 Savings Goals

Since 2018 was the year of decimating my car loan, I've fallen a bit behind on putting money into my Roth IRA.  According to my mint.com account, I am nearly on track to retire at the age of 70.  Sure, that's great, but also, I'm pretty sure I can do better than that.  I do love my job, and thankfully it's not physically demanding in a way where I won't be able to do it at age 70, but I also would like to have options.  Having money means having options.

Despite the fact that I didn't put any money into my Roth IRA in 2018, I was still saving for retirement.  I have a TIAA Cref plan through my work, and my monthly contribution is pretty aggressive, since until literally this month, I've been behind on saving for retirement.  My employer also has a very, very good match (10%), so that helps significantly.

So, the plan for 2019 is as  follows:

1. Contribute as much as I comfortably can to my Roth IRA for tax year 2018, which I can do until April 15.  I'm not getting much of a tax refund, but what I do get will go into my Roth for 2018.
2. Contribute as much as I comfortably can to my Roth for tax year 2019. I don't think I'll be able to max it out, but I'll certainly do my best. It helps that I can contribute for tax year 2019 until April 2020.
3. I will pay off the credit card that has the balance of my car loan on it in July, but I should still have $10,000 in my emergency fund at that time.  $10,000 is my low threshold for my emergency fund, since I need to have at least that much to get the interest rate of 2%.  I'd like to have at least $12,000 in my emergency fund, so I will still be putting some money in there each month, but the Roth is the priority.
4. Look into micro-finance loans.  This is something I'll write an entire post about, but in a nutshell, micro-finance loans are loans that you give to people in developing countries to help them grow their small businesses.  It's not something that will make me money, but it's a very low cost way to give people a hand up.  I'm still investigating this, so I will report back in the future!
5. Get our household emergency fund over the $10,000 threshold.  My husband and I have a shared emergency fund, and I really want to get that over the $10k mark so we can move it to a Money Market and double our interest rate.  We're close, but that goal is a few months away.

That's it for now!  I have a couple other things percolating in my mind, but I think five goals is a very reasonable batch to write down.  

What are your annual financial goals?

Post Government Shutdown Budgeting

Thankfully, I was not personally affected by the recent government shutdown, but like most people, I was avidly following the news stories about the affected workers struggles to pay basic living expenses after missing more than one paycheck.  If nothing else good comes from this, at least its (possibly) created a bit of a dialogue about personal finance and forced people to examine their saving and spending.  At least, that's what it did for me.

I'm a saver, and always have been.  But when I looked at my accounts and tried to calculate how many months we could last if both of us lost our income, it was surprising.  We live in a very expensive city, and have been primarily focused on reducing debt (which is a good thing!) for the past year or so.  What that means, however, is that our rate of savings has slowed a bit, which is alarming.

By my calculations, it should cost us $3000/month to cover our basic costs.  This includes:

1. Rent ($2300)
2. Electricity (~$120)
3. Gas bill (home $50)
4. Food (~$250)
5. Household (things like toilet paper, etc. $50)
6. Phones ($100)
7. Misc-- ($100) Things like home internet, Netflix/Hulu.  This is an area that we could cut if things get desperate, but there's always hidden costs with doing that as well.  For example, we could cut home internet since we're lucky enough to have a great public library less than a mile away that's open 12 hours a day.  But, reinstalling internet comes with additional fees.  Also, if we were aggressively trying to find new jobs, it would be inconvenient to have to camp out at the library all day, though I recognize that plenty of people do that.

Thankfully, both our cars are paid off, and if we weren't driving to work every day, we'd save about $200/month on gas.  Our car insurance bill is due 2/15 though, so that's a $900 expense that's unavoidable and would really pummel our savings.  Probably my first impulse, if we were in a lost income situation, would be to put that on a credit card to try to buy some time.  I imagine that's what a lot of people had to do.

Because we have a chest freezer, and I have a tendency (compulsion?) to stock up on food when it's on sale, we could probably go more than a month buying very minimal groceries. That number in my calculations is our average food budget. In fact, I'm going to do a pantry challenge in February and March to try to eat down some of my stores of food before we go on an extended vacation in April.

Student loan payments are a bit tricky.  I'm on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan (assuming it still exists when my time finally comes), which means that I pay a prescribed amount of money every month, and I can't deviate from it.  I could put my loans into forebearance, if I was really hard up, but my interest rates are so high that that would really cost me a lot of extra money and time down the road, so it's not a very appealing option.  My student loan payment is $440/month, which is almost double our monthly food budget.  It seems incredibly backward to be mulling over whether I would pay my student loans or buy food, but that's a real problem facing plenty of people.

Over all, we're certainly in a better position than many, but not a comfortable position by any stretch.  I've been trying to build up our emergency fund, and doing this audit is making me realize that that needs to be more of a priority.

Where to save:

I have several Capital One online bank accounts, and I LOVE them.  Their accounts are fee free, and have the best rates I've found.  The traditional savings account has a 1% interest rate, which means that we're earning somewhere around $6/month on our current balance of $8600.  That's not amazing, but it's still quite good.  I'll take free money wherever I can get it.  

Their Money Market savings account, which requires a minimum balance of $10,000 has a rate of 2% interest at the time of this writing.  Compare that to my bricks and mortar bank, which has an interest rate of .02%, and earns me about $.20 per year, this is a no-brainer.

Our plan is to keep about $15,000 in a Money Market account so that we have easy access to liquid cash, should we need it.  At the current 2% interest rate, that will earn us about $25 per month in interest. Above and beyond that, I've got my eye on some of Capital One's CDs, that currently have a rate of 2.85% for the three year.  That's a ways down the road, but I want to have a plan in mind for when that day comes!  Plus, it's pretty fun to shop for low stakes investments, and makes me feel very virtuous.

We're going to be feeling the fallout from the government shutdown for a long time, but I really encourage people to take this is a wake-up call to really examine your finances and make a plan.  It's cold outside, and a good time to hunker down with your bank balance.

Winter is Coming

I know technically winter is already here, but New England seems to be struggling to understand that.  Today is supposed to be 55 degrees and rainy, and then it's supposed to dip back down into the 40s.  I also got an email from National Grid telling me that they're raising their rates 20%, and it's supposed to be a particularly cold season this year.  So, I'm preparing.

Right now, the fiance is finishing his PhD and has no income, so I'm keeping us fed and warm all on my own.  My student loan payments have also increased, for reasons I don't understand, and my car has been acting funny lately.  Long story short, I don't have a lot of money to toss around on frivolous things like heat, so I'm going to do a bit of experimenting to see how I can pay little but still stay reasonable comfortable.

Strategy one: Bubble Wrap
Apparently you can use bubble wrap to insulate your windows.  This is something I remember reading about a while ago, but have never tested.  It's a bit ghetto, but so am I!  According to this article, bubble wrap cuts the energy loss from windows in half, which certainly means it's worth trying.  I also like the fact that it still lets in light.  So far, I only had enough bubble wrap on hand to do three windows, but I put a request on freecycle to see if anyone has more they would give me.  I might just buy some if I can't get it for free, but I certainly wanted to ask first. Maybe it's just a placebo effect, but I do feel like there's less of a draft coming from the window behind the couch.  Of course, it's also warm today, so it could also be that...

Strategy Two: Draft Dodgers
The bubble wrap will stop the window panes from leaking in the cold, but there are also those cracks where the window closes that can let in drafts when it's windy--which it frequently is.  I live on the third floor near the water, so I certainly get some cold breezes, and hopefully, employing draft dodgers will stop some of that.  In case this is confusing, I'm not talking about people who avoided serving in World War II, I'm talking about this kind of draft dodger:

You could also call it a draft stopper, but that's a lot less hilarious.  Basically, this is just a tube of fabric filled with some kind of malleable stuffing like buckwheat, rice, beans, etc.  You want it to mold to the surface it's on, so it fills in the cracks where the drafts come through.  I actually bought one of these at Bed Bath and Beyond years ago for like $20, so my strategy this time is to make my own.  I have some torn pants and a big bag of rice--it's on!

Strategy Three: Window Plastic
Having grown up in Minnesota/North Dakota, I am intimately familiar with window plastic.  This is my third option, because I don't really want to go this route unless the bubble wrap and draft dodger strategies really fail.  Window plastic works really well, but it's also time-consuming to put up, the cat hates it and always tries to tear it down (and usually succeeds), it's pretty ugly, and it's single use.  Once I have a stash of draft dodgers and perfectly sized bubble wrap, I can re-use those every year--not so much with window plastic.

Strategy Four: Think Warm
Have the time, I feel like coldness is just a state of mind.  I always feel warmer when I have this going on the background:

Let Me Embrace My Flaws As Well As My Strengths

In my mind, the whole point of this blog is coming clean--to myself and my internet friends.  Know thyself, etc.  This is something that is key when it comes to managing your money.  You can't hide bills and pretend they don't exist; you can't ignore debt any more than you can ignore income.  You have to know what's going on, even when what's going on sucks (looking at my plans for November...).

I feel that this is important in all parts of life--not just finance.  You should know who you are, what you like, what your priorities are and what you look like.  This is where Stacey and Clinton come into this post (I miss them so much!).  I have watched What Not to Wear since it premiered in the US.  Prior to that, I watched the UK version.  I love both shows and what I love best about them is that the first thing they do with any participant on the show is try to get them to actually see themselves.  They try to show them who they are, what they actually look like rather than how they see themselves.  If you're going to get clothes that fit and that enhance your figure triumphs while hiding your figure flaws, you have to know what both of those are.  In my mind, that's perfectly tied in with personal finance because you need to both look good and feel confident to do your job well and to find merit in yourself.  It's not the whole package, but it's a big part of it.

This is why I get very annoyed with people who try to take that away from me.

No one can dispute the amount of money I owe the federal government--it's on paper, black and white. But plenty of people think they can dispute what I look like.  As women, we're trained from a very early age to focus on our flaws.

And that's a huge problem.  Of course the flip side of the problem is when people overcompensate by being overly complimentary.  It's just as bad when other people don't allow you to be honest.

If I'm being honest about myself physically, I would say that I have a very long torso, long arms, a reasonably flat stomach, slightly crooked shoulders, very thick thighs and no ass at all.  My thighs are like tree trunks and they pack on muscle quickly and easily.  One time, in grad school, I went to the gym, worked out on the stair climber for an hour, showered and tried to put on the same clothes I had arrived in only to find that my jeans were now too small.  Because of this, I tend to wear more skirts and dresses because it's really hard to buy pants that fit both in the waist and the thighs.  I cannot wear skinny jeans or pencil skirts without looking stupid and/or being incredibly uncomfortable.

I know this about my body.  I'm not asking people to tell me I don't have large thighs because I do.  It's a fact, like my debt to income ratio.  I also like plenty of things about myself--physical and otherwise, but I'm not going to get into how great I am right now.

And yet, I posted something a while back on facebook about briefly forgetting that I do not look good in pencil skirts, and I got hammered by a friend of mine for acting like I had low self-esteem.  Friends occasionally suggest I try on skinny jeans and then disregard me when I say that I can't wear them.  "Don't say that!" or "Sure you can!" Would you say that to Beyonce'?

Beyonce' has thick thighs--FACT

It took me a long time to stop hating the way my body is put together.  I've let a lot of people other the years give me opinions that were just wrong or that did me no favors. Ultimately, I realized that while I may not love everything about the way my body looks, I love what it can do.  I've run 15 half marathons; I have tremendous stamina; I have no major health problems; I have no major disfigurements and I am perfectly happy wearing boot cut jeans and adorable dresses & skirts.

Likewise, don't ask me to hide my head in the sand about my financial situation.  It sucks, but it could be and has been worse.  Don't tell me to wear skinny jeans because everyone else is, I'd rather look good in my clothes than try to be trendy.  Don't tell me that I can afford a European vacation if I've looked at my budget and told you that I can't.

Please, let's let others be honest about who they are and be more honest ourselves.

What Am I Doing Wrong?

October was a somewhat expensive month for me.  I had to buy that box spring and pay for delivery--$300+; I got a haircut and started paying for yoga and a gym membership for the first time in a long time--$120; I upped my internet (may downgrade it again though)--$70 (what!?!?!!?), I went out to eat more than usual and treated myself to an overpriced new wallet (that will last for years!), and I bought more gas than before because I work farther from home, etc.  Even with all that though, I got my paycheck, subtracted next month's rent and regular expenses, and didn't have enough left to even cover two of my three credit cards--nevermind putting money into savings.

I know I'm still paying for the clothes buying binge I went on when I got this new job, but I really forgot how much having a constant balance on your credit card just SUCKS.  I was really looking forward to socking away more money each month into savings.  My emergency fund is half what I would like it to be, and even though I'm contributing to my retirement account at work, I still want to max out my Roth IRA as soon as I can.

So, for the month of November, things may get a bit extreme:

1. Sticking with eating from the pantry.  I still have lots of food and November is a huge free food month so I am not likely to starve.
2. No extras.  No more clothes, no more shoes, no doing the Mews 5k or the Thanksgiving Pie run.  As much as I love those races, the registration fees total $60 and I can run outside for free (sorry friends).
3. Cut back on drinking. This is both for my wallet and my waistline (seriously, everything they say about turning 30 is true.  My body is completely betraying me and it's not fair).
4. Cut back on eating out.  I don't feel like I ate out that much in October, but my budget says I did.
5. Cheap student theatre instead of professional.  For the first time ever, I actually paid for tickets at the local professional theatre.  It was a great show, but man!  It was pricey! 
6. Start scheming.  I used to have other sources of paltry income, but they seem to have dried up lately.  Blog income (which was never good) is all but gone; I've sold everything I intended to sell on half.com; I don't secret shop anymore... I need some new schemes (suggestions welcome).  I also need to look into ushering, which I mentioned before and then forgot about.
7. Hibernate.  It's starting to get cold out, and frankly, I love hunkering down with a book, blanket and cat.  Hibernating is cost-effective and lovely.  Also, I should really blog more and work on that damn novel (free!).

It should (hopefully) only take one month to get me back on track.  I do still have one more shift at job #3 coming, so that's some extra money coming in.  Hopefully with the paycheck I get at the end of November, I can completely wipe out my credit card balances, and then start saving again at the end of December.  It sucks that it will take me so long to get back to a balanced budget, but I also knew I shouldn't have bought two new pairs of shoes and so many pretty dresses/sweaters.  I don't regret stocking up on fleece lined tights, however, that was just smart.

Monthly Pay Budget

I remember once hearing a friend tell me that she only got paid once a month and feeling incredibly sorry for her.  That must have been some kind of life foreshadowing because now I am squarely in that boat is it is so hard!  It makes no sense that it's this difficult because I'm still getting paid--more than before, but somehow I started off with a deficit and I'm having a hard time catching up.

I've also had an expensive couple months.  I decided to treat myself to some new work clothes and shoes.  I also had to buy a box spring for my bed and pay for delivery.  Though, in the case of the box spring, I realized after the fact that there is a mattress store a block away from my house.  I could have just bought it there and carried it home.  But, that mattress store looks like a mob front, so I've always been mildly scared of it.

What I can't decide is if I feel broke because my credit card balance is higher than I would like it to be, or because I spent/saved/reallocated my entire paycheck in one day and there's nothing else coming in until tomorrow.  Honestly, maybe what I really miss is playing around with my money--parceling it out into different accounts, etc.  I'm not sure, and it's still early days (I've only gotten two paychecks), but I feel like I'm holding my breath.

Anyone out there get paid monthly and know how do deal with it?  Any suggestions welcome.

Budgeting For Broke

Today's post is a guest post by my good buddy Joel.  He and his wife have spent nearly their entire relationship struggling with un-and-under employment.  They are now both employed full-time and trying to crawl out of the financial hole created by lack of work.  They just started a blog called Bacon & Ice Cream, which I highly recommend.

So Becky and I are now finally crawling out of the pit of unemployment and survival-mode finances. Over the past couple years, I’ve learned one thing – that making a budget does not work if you don’t make enough to cover your basic bills. No amount of money saving tips making your own household cleaners, canning your own food, or getting clothes at consignment stores will help if just the rent and student loans are more than one of you makes in a month.

When I was first unemployed, I called a place that wife had worked with once to get out of credit card debt. It worked well for her and I was hoping for some good advice.

What he said was “yeah, you don’t make enough for us to help you. Stop paying your credit card bills, quit paying the mortgage on the house you don’t live in, put your student loans on hold, and get used to lots of phone calls.”

I thank Jebus that we live in an age of caller ID, or at the very least area code ID, so I could determine which calls were creditors and which were potential employers during the job search. (BTW, this was with the cheapest cell phone available, no fancy smart phones.) By the end of my job search, I was ignoring about 18 calls a day.

But now we are both bringing in some steady and predictable paychecks.

And now that we can actually pay bills on time, and start paying off past debts, we need a system.

One reason I hate typical monthly budgets is they don’t work for paycheck to paycheck and week to week survivors like us. It’s fine and dandy to know that you have so much income and so much in expenses in a month, but not knowing how they actually flow in and out is a problem. We might have enough for the month, but not at the right time when it is needed before a bill is overdue. It’s so easy to forget to leave aside enough for the phone bill or internet or whatnot.

To combat this I printed out some calendars and started filling the Fridays with our income and putting bills on the days they are due then keeping a running tally of how much we will have in our checking on each day if we stick to the budget. The benefit is I know that we have 140 bucks between now and next Friday for anything that is not a bill or outside the $200 we budget for gas and food per week. That’s helpful.

The problem was if there was any change to a bill or something comes up that needs attention (like out of contact cleaner or something) I had to go in and erase and re-add everything on the calendar. Math. Ugh.

I couldn’t be the only one with a need like this. And under that assumption, I figured someone must have created a template. I did not find an answer from Microsoft templates. I did not find one at the credit fixing agency I work with. But I did some searching and found this site: https://calendarbudget.com

There’s a demo video on the site about how it works, and so far it’s working just as advertised. I can even update it from my phone, like last night when I got a blizzard at DQ – I updated the calendar while waiting for my order. Boom. Done.

I can put in one time bills, recurring expenses, and categorize them appropriately so I can say to Becky what we have extra for the week, and look ahead to see where we will be at in a few months on regular checks and all of the sudden we can breathe again.  And we can check it from any computer so I don’t have to say “We’ll see when we get home and look at the calendar.”

Quick anecdote to show the power of this handy tool.

My car’s brakes started dying, and it’s not worth fixing at this point. We are making due with one car between us. When we went to see about getting a used car for $5,000, we were told we couldn’t get a loan for that because of our horrible credit history during unemployment, but they would be happy to set us up with a $20,000 car loan to pay off over several years. This boggles the mind, but I took the problem back to the budget calendar, and it turns out we can sock away $5,000 by April for a car to own free and clear, and we’ll still have some left over for savings.

Anyway, I just wanted to write this as a possible tip for trying to navigate the craziness of bills and income while living on a tight week-by-week budget. It isn’t a panacea – I don’t see it working well if your income is unreliable or variable. But it is a helpful tool in many cases.

Eat/Use it Up

Inspired by Elizabeth over at Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship's quest to Eat All the Food!

I am embarking on a similar quest.  Before I moved into my apartment, back in June, I managed to do a pretty good job eating up as much of the food I already had before moving.  Sure, I wound up with some weird meals and ate English muffins every day for about two weeks, but I also had to move a lot less stuff.

Trouble is, I still have a lot of food and I've been doing pretty well with eating it up, but I could be doing better.  Since I get paid monthly at my new job, I still haven't gotten a full paycheck, and somehow I've managed to spend a lot on groceries this month.

Added to the fact that I have a lot of food hordes is the fact that I have a lot of stuff hordes.  I still just have a lot of items stockpiled from way back when--mostly bathroom stuff. I realized the other day that I have about six hotel soaps, four bottles of lotion and more stuff under the sink than I think I can deal with right now.  I made a trip to Target the other day with the intention of buying body wash, but then realized that I could actually just use up that damn hotel soap instead.  Yes, I realize soap is soap, but I always think of bar soap just for hands--no longer!

Presently, in my kitchen, I have a bunch of snacks in my snack drawer that I like, but don't love.  I brought them to work instead.  Since I sometimes get snacky midday, I'm much more inclined to reach for something I've already paid for rather than going to the cafe down the hall.  So I now have a stash of Bevita Breakfast Biscuits (I bought them with a coupon, and they're good, but I just never want to eat them); 100 calorie packs of microwave popcorn (I always burn them in my microwave at home, or want more popcorn than that); and Larabars (again, totally tasty, but more of an on-the-go snack than a couch snack).  I also have a bunch of split peas and various grains and soup mixes that are perfect for this time of year.  I have a glut of frozen vegetables, and a pile of veggie burgers.  Honestly, I have enough food and variety of food that not only will I be healthy, but I shouldn't get bored.

The plan is to eat up what I already have, and only go to the grocery store for fresh veg.  This should save me some cash, and clean out my cupboard.

In the bathroom, I plan to use up all the hotel soaps before going back to body wash; go through my bags of stuff and see what's actually in there (I keep small items in cosmetics bags and have a tendency to lose things at the bottom), use up all the shampoo and conditioner I have before buying more (I don't really like the stuff I currently have, but it still works fine); and use up all of my travel size items.  I have refillable bottles for body wash, shampoo and conditioner, I don't know why I hang onto all these travel size samples I've acquired.

Last night's dinner was most of a log of polenta (I'll use up the rest tonight) with oven roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella plus a side salad.

Tonight, finish off the polenta with some kind of frozen vegetable and eat up the butternut squash bisque I bought a while back that's getting close to expired.

I can do this!!

Creeping Lifestyle Inflation

I'm settling into my new job and starting to figure out what the hell I actually do in my day-to-day, but I am starting to notice a bit of the old lifestyle inflation creeping in and I need to nip it in the bud!  So far, I'm doing ok with recognizing it, but there are also some circumstances beyond my control that I hadn't considered. I did get a pay raise with this new job, but I am by no means a fancy person now!  I still have student loan debt, after all.

Circumstance One: In which I taste a bit of my own medicine
I have always bee a pack-your-lunch-for-work type of gal.  I like to eat pretty much the same thing every day, I don't like to waste time while I'm on break finding food and I like knowing what's waiting for me (and controlling the calories in it).  I've always brought soup or sandwich and holed up in the break room for my lunch while reading a book.  It's never been a problem--until now.

Previously, while working at the public library, I always had something to read.  Here, at my new academic library, there is no leisure reading, and I kept forgetting to bring a book!  That's not a huge problem, just a minor annoyance.  The bigger problem is that the staff room is just awful.  It's tiny and shared by a ton of people.  There is nowhere to hide, no way to relax, and you're basically tripping over all the other people in there.  So I've started taking my lunch on the balcony of the building next door.  I have no idea what I'm going to do when it gets cold out, but I shouldn't have to worry about that for a little while. So far, at the new job though, I've bought lunch more times than I care to admit, but today, I have my trusty sandwich and yogurt along with my Nook.

So I've always been like "why doesn't EVERYONE just bring their lunch to work!?!  I don't get it!"  Now, I get it.

Circumstance Two: In which starting a new job is stressful/ exhausting
I've been drinking a lot of coffee lately.  Usually I drink a large cup of coffee at home, and then just have tea for the rest of the day.  These days, I'm a bit sleepy and have been availing myself of the on-campus Dunkin Donuts and the new Starbucks (which is so close to my office it's dangerous).  I know that a few extra dollars a week isn't a huge deal, but we all know that that adds up!  Sometimes though, it's just good to have an excuse to go for a walk.  I brought my tea into work and bought an electric teakettle for the staff room (can't believe we didn't have one), so I'm all set.

Circumstance Three: In which I now have an office and never need to move around
I didn't realize how much hopping I did at the public library until I started working here and realized that the most moving around I do is walking to the bathroom.  So I bought a membership to the college gym.  It sucks that I have to pay for it, but it's still about half what the YMCA (the next cheapest option) is, and since I'm here already, I will make myself use it (especially in the winter).  I also may buy an under-desk pedal machine, but I really don't know if it would be worth it.  Any one have one to recommend to me?

I also am going to upgrade my home wi-fi, and go shopping for more business casual clothes--the dress code here is slightly dressier than my last job.  Other than that, I'm keeping it in check!  I made a larger than usual payment on my student loans, and I plan to get back on track with putting money in savings and max out my Roth IRA contributions for the year.  I also almost bought a smart phone, but then stopped myself at the last minute.  Good job, self, now you can have another coffee for being so strong!

New Job, New Budget

Doesn't it feel like I start a new job every year?  Man, I'm getting tired of that, but I promise you (barring something catastrophic) I'm staying put now!    One thing that is definitely going to take some getting used to at the new job is the fact that I only get paid once a month.  I did some looking at the calendar, and I won't get my first full paycheck until October 31.  I'll get a small check at the end of September, but I won't actually know my full take-home pay for another two months. 

Argh.

Also, for some reason, I have become obsessed with the idea of finally getting a smart phone.  I can't be spending money I haven't earned yet, and I really need to avoid lifestyle inflation!  Got to keep my head straight.

One thing that should make it a little easier to not go crazy with the spending is the fact that I now work in an academic library.  That means that from the time classes start September 2 through about the end of October, work is going to be insane.  Couple that with the fact that I have been trying my hardest to cram so much info into my brain every day that I've just been going home exhausted and I just want to get away from the computer.  I've been watching a lot of Top Model these days--it soothes me.

Keep on Smizing!

So, even though the paycheck situation is a bit fraught, I have savings and my emergency fund to keep me fed and housed, plus I got all my vacation paid out from my last job, so I have a tidy nest egg to sustain me.

My plan is to just not overspend and be a sensible as I can be.  I don't have any big things I need, and if I do decide to treat myself to a smart phone for my birthday, I can still wait until I know exactly what my take-home pay is going to be.  I did get a significant pay bump with this new job, but I'm also having more taken out for retirement (10%), taxes will be higher, etc and I'm joining the campus gym (which I have to pay for--booo).  I honestly do not know what to expect, but it's still very exciting.

I'm looking forward to getting my saving back on track because I have been a serious slacker girl in that department.  I'm also looking forward (take this with a grain of salt) to making some significant progress with my higher interest student loans.  I just want to get them to the place when they aren't accruing so much, and then I can dial back on how much I'm sending in each month.  I know it's a bit silly, but having that situation where I went back into forebearance and then just lost all the progress I made really, really pissed me off.

Wish me luck!

The Television Question

Free tv!

It's a strange source of pride for me that I've never actually bought a tv.  I've also found, that when you tell people you don't have a tv and aren't willing to buy one, everyone offers you one to the point of being a bit aggressive.

The first time I needed a tv was the first time I lived alone--sophomore year of college.  My grandmother died that year, and I inherited her very nice television, which I then used for the next five years until I moved to Rhode Island.

When I told people I was moving to Rhode Island with only what fit in my car, and I was selling Grandma's tv, people were appalled.  I got at least two offers of tvs "so small it won't even take up that much room", and finally my new landlady in Rhode Island, whom I hadn't even met at the time, gave me a rather nice tv to use for the duration of my tenancy.  After that, I moved in with BF, who had a tv, and a couple years ago, he upgraded to a nice flatscreen.

Now, I'm in the situation where I'm going to be living by myself for a year, and I'd like a tv, but the nature of my tv watching has changed.  Presently, I can watch tv on my laptop.  That works fine when I'm just half watching something, or for the treadmill, but then I can't really also use my computer.  I could certainly get a nice tube tv off of freecycle for no money at all, but more than half of the tv/movies I watch are streaming from netflix or Virgin Media TV, so I would need a tv that plugs into my laptop, or some kind of streaming device like a Roku.  Plus, there's watching movies with friends, which I wouldn't want to do on my puny laptop.  What's the point of living alone if you can't have slumber parties!?!

So I really don't know what the best solution is.  I don't want to spend a lot of money since this is temporary, but I also don't want to have a lot of hassle associated with a leisure activity.  Anyone have any suggestions for me?  Is there something I missed?

Craigslist Bragging Spot

I don't use Craigslist for a ton of things, generally because it's super annoying, and people are crazy, but I have had good luck with exercise equipment.  About four years ago, I bought a treadmill for about $100 and then proceeded to just wear the damn thing out.  I realized recently that the belt is just slowly crumbling away and likely to completely snap very soon.  So I started shopping.

I emailed about five people on Craigslist who were selling treadmills for as much as I wanted to pay, and none of them wrote back to me.  Then I started looking into buying a new one.  The biggest problem with Craigslist for large items like a treadmill is that I don't have a vehicle large enough to transport it.  I'd have to try to borrow one from someone and/or rent a truck, which takes more planning and time.  If I buy a new one, I figured, I might pay a little more, but I can get free shipping.

I started to get bummed out looking at prices for new, kind of crappy treadmills online.  Turns out that the amount of money I want to pay doesn't really get you much in treadmill-land, and I struggled to come up with a new plan.

Thankfully, I was on Craigslist one day as a new ad for a treadmill was posted, and I emailed the guy right away.  After some back and forth, he even agreed to deliver the machine for an extra $25.  So my new treadmill arrived last week and I forked over some hard-earned cash after hauling it into the basement and doing a quick walk on it to make sure that it worked.

Then I tried to run on it.

Turns out that the reason I probably got such a deal on it is because the belt was slipping.  I could barely walk at a brisk pace on this thing, let alone run, and I started to feel even sadder than before.  I hoped that it was just dusty from sitting in storage, but after cleaning it off, no luck.

So I did what any modern gal would do--I took to the internet to try to find a solution and it came in the form of this video:

After ransacking the basement and our apartment trying to find the appropriately sized allen wrench (seriously, how can we have a house full of IKEA furniture and only two sizes of allen wrench?), I FIXED MY TREADMILL!

I now have a functional, gym-quality treadmill of my very own!  I was so excited, I ran on it far longer than I should and now my legs are sore--but I don't care.

I was so, so bummed when I thought I spent $125 on a crap treadmill, but now I think I got such a good deal because the guy just wanted to unload it!  I'm damn near euphoric, and it took about 20 minutes total to fix (once I found the appropriate tools).  Double bonus, the city will haul away my old, broken down treadmill for free.

It Never Hurts to Ask

I recently overdrew my checking account.  Naturally, I was mortified, and I wasn't planning to tell anyone about it, but since I just published this information on the internets, you can see I've gotten over my embarrassment.  Yes, it's shameful that I forgot about a check that I wrote, and I admit that I did math incorrectly, but I ended up with a series of events beyond my control that resulted in me overdrawing my account, but also making some changes for the positive.

1. I didn't get my gas bill in December.  Usually my gas and electric bills arrive around the same time at the beginning of the month. Last month, the gas bill never came, and I just didn't notice.  Then, a couple weeks ago, I got one, paid it, and then looked at it to see that it had been due December 28th.  Then I got another one two days later.  Double paying my gas bill meant eating up more of the monetary cushion I leave in my checking account.
2. Car tax was due.  Car tax is due quarterly, and has to be paid for by writing a check since I'd have to pay a fee for electronic payment (no thank you).  I'm really bad at remembering I've written checks, which is why I try to avoid doing it!  So that was another odd amount of money coming out of my checking account, even though I had it on my calendar and knew it was coming.
3. I'm bad at math.  I thought I had everything figured out, and that there was just enough money in there to cover it, but I overdrew my account by $4.

So I was assessed a $29 overdraft fee by my bank (I don't have overdraft protection because I never overdraw!).  Thankfully, they didn't bounce the check for my car tax, and I moved money over from my savings account about an hour after I noticed I was overdrawn (yes, I check my bank balance several times a day.  Call me crazy, but it comes in handy).

I was ready to accept the fee as just a tax on my stupidity, but then I remembered that I actually have a nice bank with good customer service.  I also have never overdrawn my account before, and that has to count for something!  So I sent them an email saying just that, I've never overdrawn my account before, is there any way I can get a pass this one time.  Within an hour, I got an email back saying, that's no problem, the money will be refunded by the end of tomorrow.

Because this is money I had already mentally spent, I decided it counts as bonus money and I quickly transferred it to my travel fund.  So, lesson learned: even though it sometimes feels awkward, it really doesn't hurt to ask, and it might save you $29.

Double bonus, because I didn't get my gas bill until way late, that prompted me to look at their website again and see that I can now sign up for e-billing, which was not previously available.  Less paper, less chance of a bill getting lost!

Shopping For A Cheap(er) Phone

Sprint has been my cell phone provider for about ten years, and I kind of hate them.  Unfortunately, my hatred for them was only outweighed by my hatred for talking to cell phone salespeople and shopping around for what will likely be an equally shitty deal.  So, I've done nothing, for a long time.  Occasionally, I log onto Sprint's website and try to find a cheaper plan, but for what I want, it doesn't seem like there really is one.  See, I hate talking on the phone, but I like to text.  It seems that Sprint has figured this out, and there is no way to reduce the number of voice minutes I'm paying for, without reducing the texting or switching to a pay-per-text model (hell no).

So, I've been doing a little exploring to see if I can come up with a completely different plan that might better suit my unique cell phone needs.

Contender #1: Ting
Ting is actually powered by Sprint, but it is a pay-as-you-go model and is significantly cheaper.  It also lets you select your own kind of plan based on how you use your phone.  According to the website, you select your plan for the first month, and then after that, they just bill you for what you actually use.

So, if my above calculations are correct, I should be paying about half what I'm currently paying. Double bonus, since this is still the Sprint network, I may be able to keep my existing phone.  If not, a new phone would cost $98.

Contender #2 Republic Wireless
The way this phone works is that it hops back and forth between wi-fi and cell networks.  If a wi-fi network is available, it connects to that, if not, it uses Sprint's network.  According to their website, I'll end up paying $19/month plus applicable fees (vary by location) after paying the initial start-up fee of $10 and the $249 for the hybrid phone that can toggle back and forth between wi-fi and cellular.

The drawback to this one is obviously the initial cost of the phone, and the fact that I don't really want a smart phone, but for $19/a month, I might reconsider.  They do have a 30-day guarantee where you can return everything and cancel with no questions asked.

Has anyone out there had any experience with either of these companies?  The deals do seem to good to be true, but it may also just be that I've been hurt for too long by stupid cell phone contracts.

Just Wait!

Instead of a compulsive spender, I've spent years trying to morph myself into a compulsive saver.  Saving gives me the same rush as spending--even a better rush sometimes because I rarely feel as good when I spend, there's often some guilt/letdown.  Unfortunately, the compulsive aspect is still the same, and I frequently find myself checking my bank balance daily; lamenting that I can't pay all the bills RIGHT NOW, and wishing my month away to get to the next paycheck faster.

Case in point:  I got paid last week, paid off my credit cards and then split the remaining money and put it into my various savings accounts: Emergency Fund, Travel Fund, and Regular Savings.  I haven't added to my Emergency Fund in quite a long time because I'm at my savings goal, but I figured I can slip a bit in there every now and then--nets me extra interest.

Almost immediately, I started regretting that there was no money left over to put in my Roth IRA, even though that's what this month's 3rd paycheck is for, and I've been mentally  planning on that for six weeks.  Still got the guilt for just not having/saving enough.

Then, a couple days ago, I went through this whole rigmarole with moving money around so I could send in a payment on my student loans.  My next paycheck is the 15th and my student loan payment isn't due until the 21st, but I started panicking because I always pay it early.  I don't have to pay it early, it doesn't really do me any favors if I do, and it's better that I put my money into savings like I did, rather than send it in to the government.

Still, I had a rather extraordinary mini-meltdown where I frantically pulled money from each account into checking, then realized I was acting like a moron and moved it all back.  Thankfully I get free transfers, but ING's automatic transfer robots must think I'm a crazy person.

Clearly upping the yoga has not made me any more zen, so I'm just going to actively try to stop being such a spaz.  There is no need to always pay things before the due date, unless I have the money and I'm not taking it from something else; and I can't expect to be able to save half my paycheck because I simply don't make that much money!  All I can do is focus on spending less, and saving what I can.  That's my new mantra.

Austerity Measures Are Working!

Since instituting my Austerity Measures at the beginning of the month, I've actually been really successful!  It surprises me a little, but I've managed to slip into that zen place where instead of thinking I can buy clothes, my Amex is almost paid off, I think instead, I can pay off my Amex and then save!  I love it when this happens, but it's elusive and unreliable.  It's unfortunate that it takes job uncertainty to make me stop being a money dumbass, but whatever works, I'm not going to knock it.

Let's re-visit the rules I set for myself and see how I'm doing:

1. No more races. Haven't registered for any more, and have no plans to!
2. No more clothes. Success!  I even have a $30 Old Navy voucher that I haven't spent yet, and I'm enjoying shopping my closet.
3. No more overpaying on student loans. Stupid Direct Loans somehow screwed up my request for income-based repayment, and were telling me that I would owe them $900+ a month.  Ummm, no, that's half my income.  So I called them, and a bored-sounding guy said that I'll have to resubmit my income statement and wait (again), so my loans are back in forebearance.  This jacks up my interest rate and makes me angry, but there's really nothing I can do about it.
4. Rein in grocery spending. Doing good with this one too!  We did one big shop for about $230, and I made one more small trip where I spent about $15.  Considering that our grocery bills have topped $350 lately, this is a great improvement.  Plus, I've had all my farmshare veg to keep me filled up.
5. No restaurants unless we have a Gift Certificate or Groupon.  Haven't really gone out to eat at all, but I'm fine with that.
6. No more thinking--I need that!  I've been avoiding stores, amazon.com and other temptations so this is going ok too.
7. Cut Back on Booze.  I'm doing ok here--not cutting it out, but certainly cutting down ;)
8. No more Gym Membership.  I mailed in my 'I want to quit the gym' letter June 7, and I know they received it last week because I got notification, now I'm just waiting for Bally to quit dragging their heels and give me my damn money!  I've been doing CrossFit with that groupon that I bought and I love it!  Just what I need, another expensive hobby.  However, it's a really small, independently-owned place, and I plan to just say, "hey, I want to do this once a week, but I'm poor." Then I'll see what they say. A friend of mine worked out a deal with the yoga place we go to where she gets unlimited free yoga in exchange for doing light cleaning work.  I may even suggest something like that to the CrossFit guys--we'll see.

One thing that I noticed when I was looking over my budget the other day is even with my austerity measures in place--and actually sticking to them-- I've still spent $300 more this month than I've made.  Sure, I get paid tomorrow, but that's kind of scary.  When I do the math, I should be making more than my expenses, but in practice, I may be cutting it closer than I thought, which would explain why putting money in savings has been such a challenge.

So that's a negative, but I have an awesome positive.  I needed to buy gas the other day, and realized that I had not bought gas for the entire month of June!  BF filled the tank halfway a few weeks ago, but my total gas bill for June is $39!

I Forgot I Still Have Three Jobs

What's that? You need coverage? I'm your girl!

Remember when I finally got a full-time job in January?  It's my first full-time job EVER, and the first time in three years that I'll actually have health insurance.  Because I still like my previous job (and I can always use a bit of extra cash), I stayed on as an on-call librarian, and am filling in at University Library while the head of reference is out on maternity leave (basically until the end of the semester).

It only seems fitting that while I was at my first day back at University Library, I should get an email from Public Library, where I am also an on-call librarian, asking me to cover some shifts over the summer.  Of course, I'm happy to help out, but after adding these extra days to my calendar, I started to panic a bit and feel like I was going back to that old schedule of no days off that very nearly made me crazy.  That feeling was amplified by the fact that I basically agreed to go to work immediately after running a 1/2 marathon.  I mean, I think I did.  My boss (former boss?) just sent me an email saying "you go girl!" So I assume that means "come to work."

However, one thing I have to remember is,  filling in at a library is really not like working there.  I don't have projects to work on, I don't really have any responsibility other than being there, and I have the bonus of people being really happy to see me--with time-and-a half on Sundays!  It's totally low-stress.  This is something I need to keep in mind.

I have to say, and please don't think this is me complaining, but working full-time has been a bit of letdown as far as my take-home pay is concerned.  I'm making less with this job than I was working part-time at two (sometimes three) places because now I'm paying for health and dental insurance, 401k deductions and union dues.  It was a bit of a jolt when I realized how puny my take-home pay actually is, especially since I have all this extra time to amuse myself with adventures.  I certainly make enough to live a comfortable life, but it's still shocking how a month of treating myself and then getting slammed by a major car repair bill have kind of decimated my cash flow.  I feel like I live a frugal enough life that I should have a bit of extra money. I rarely eat out, I don't go to movies that often, I don't shop recreationally, I don't do all of those things that financial advisors always tell people to cut out when they're trying to save.  Yet, I still feel broke.

When I wind up in a situation like this, I look at how other people live, and try to figure out how they can afford it, which is not a very healthy thing to do. Does anyone else ever do that, or am I just weird?

For instance, I used to work with this guy who was really into video games.  He was a stereotypical nerd, and we got to talking one day about travel.  He made a remark about how even though he really wanted to travel, he'd never be able to afford it.  Then he did the thing that I hate most and basically said that I was spoiled and my parents had paid for all my travels (not so).

This is not how I travel

 So I looked at him and asked, "how much do you spend per month on video games? How much do you spend on movies and tv on DVD sets?"  He had just paid me cash for my DVD sets of the show 24, seasons 1-3, so I suspected the number would be high.

His answer, "about $200."

My response, "That's $2400/year and plenty for a trip to Europe."

This is much more my scene

 The point of that story is that I'm letting my thought process get out of whack.  I need to stop feeling poor because I'm not poor.  In the grand scheme of things, I'm pretty well off and I don't need more than I have.  And if I don't want to take these extra work shifts, I need to get better at saying no.

No wallowing and no lamenting my lost free time!  If I think I'm broke, I should work when given the chance; if I think I'm tired of working so much, I should just say no.  It really is all up to me for good or for bad.

Tiny Portions of Pretentious Food

We went to a new-to-us restaurant last night since it's restaurant week in Providence.  Since I'm a vegetarian, I always have to check the menu online beforehand, especially during restaurant week.  Of course, I could always order off the regular menu, but that defeats the specialness/fanciness of going out for restaurant week in the first place. I did that for this place, confirmed with bf that the menu represented foodstuffs that he would like to eat, and then we went out for a fancy date night.

Unfortunately, when we got to the restaurant, the menu was different than what we had seen online, and there was not a vegetarian entree.  No matter, there was a delightful sounding gnocchi on the regular menu, so I got that instead, along with a delicious winter vegetable salad and rice pudding with salted caramel for dessert.  All together, we had a lovely meal--three courses each, cocktails, and coffee.  Naturally the whole thing cost nearly $100.

Now that I'm working a normal schedule with normal people hours, I'm yearning to get out of the house and re-experience life in the worst way!  It's like I'm on vacation, hence, fancy date night.  I keep telling myself I need to reign it in, and I do, but maybe I focus on that a little harder starting in February...

Money disclosures from the past week:
I'm keeping the overpriced super warm running tights from Athleta, even though they are really, really silly looking.

Unflattering, but so warm!

We got our first snowfall this past week, and since no one in Providence shovels their sidewalks and I still want to be able to walk to work, I ordered my first pair of snow boots since elementary school.  Of course, they're predicting 46 degrees today, but no matter!  These boots will be an investment!

High fashion + non-slip sole

I bought a rearview mirror for my bike (safety first!) and some yaktrax for my running shoes.  I was on the fence about the yaktrax, but then I realized that I could wear them walking to work as well and not fear for my life!  Also, I've spent the last could days on the treadmill watching action films--like Transporter 3, or as I like to call it Gratuitious Jason Statham Shirtless movie (he uses his shirt as a fighting tool!).

I mean, my god.  I never before understood that phrase about grating cheese on abs.
But even with that to look at,  I still loathe the treadmill.

I need to get back to running outside--pronto.  There are only three Transporter movies, after all.  I guess for the next snowfall I can get that one where he runs around a lot?  Crank?

So yes, January is shaping up to be a rather indulgent month, but I'm also feeling quite zen because of all this yoga I'm doing (not really, but it sounds good, no?), so it'll be just fine,

I Did The Math

I got my first paycheck from new job on Thursday, so today I actually figured out what my take-home pay is going to be (though I didn't factor in 401k deductions, cause I haven't set that up yet).  With dental, medical and union dues deducted, I am making $200 less per month than I was making with the two jobs.  Thank god I didn't go on a celebratory shopping binge (except for those beautiful boots).  But, I'm saving about $120/ week on gas, so I'm still coming out ahead.

Since starting this new job, we've been going more frequently to the nearby market, which is more expensive than my usual grocery store--at least it seems like it is.  I haven't done a receipt comparison, so I may just still be reeling from the increase in the cost of food, but I feel like we've been spending a TON on groceries lately.  The silver lining to this turn of events, is that they have the vegetables that I've been looking for for the past six months!

This is a rather silly story, but a while back, Steamfresh vegetables came out with a Chef's Favorite's line of frozen vegetables.  Since I consume a lot of frozen vegetables, I got very excited about this, and grabbed one of each.  I absolutely fell in love with the Lightly Seasoned Garlic Baby Peas and Mushrooms, but then I could never find it again.  They didn't have it at the Stop & Shop where I originally purchased it, and I looked all over Rhode Island and Massachusetts (the part of Massachusetts that's near Rhode Island), and could not find this stuff anywhere.

Elusive Vegetables

Finally, in desperation, I sent an email to the Bird's Eye company to ask where I could find the magical blend of vegetables, and they gave me a list of stores (within an hour of me sending the email--that's good customer service!).  I visited two on the list, and neither had what I wanted.  So, imagine how happy I was to find them in fancy, nearby grocery store last night!  I seriously am so relieved, you have no idea, but now I'm scared that they won't be as good as I remember.  I bought four bags.  I'll let you know.

Switching gears.

Purchase disclosure: I am keeping that coat from Old Navy.  It makes me look awfully silly since it comes to mid-calf, but I'd rather look silly while warm than stylishly freeze to death.

I also placed an order with Athleta (again).  I don't know what the hell it is about that site!  It's not my style, but I think I'm subconsciously emulating a girl I went to elementary school with who is really sporty and wears sportyish casual clothes and looks totally cute and put together all the time.  Except I don't live the kind of life that requires sportyish casual clothes!  Anyway, I bought a pair of running tights where the model was skiing, and they promise to be quite warm (if overpriced).  I'll try them out, and return them if I don't like them (don't worry, Athleta lets you do that--and I'll wash them).

This model is clearly warm and toasty--and overpriced
tights are still cheaper than a gym membership

Other than that possibly ridiculous purchase, my biggest expenses of the past week have been groceries, household staples from Target and gas.  I'm keeping myself in line!