Fridge/Freezer Challenge Update

On Sundays I always spend part of my morning prepping my work lunches for the week.  I pack a lunch every day, and I usually eat the same thing most days, so it's much easier for me to just whip up a bunch of lunches on Sunday and then put what I need in a bag every morning as I head out the door.  Lately, I've been obsessed with a salad of chopped romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, Quorn Chik Patties diced up (I'm vegetarian), and ranch dressing.  I had one heart of romaine left, which made me two lovely salads for this week.  I had originally thought I might buy some more romaine, but looking at the other things I had in the fridge/freezer, I decided to not do that and be a bit more creative instead.

Two yummy salads

Also worth mentioning--those little colored containers that I use for salad dressing are AMAZING.  I got them at TJ Maxx for something like $3 for four, and they are so handy. I also saw them at Old Navy recently, which was pretty random.  They hold just the right amount, and the lids click into place.  I love it when a somewhat impulsive purchase turns out to be so useful.

In addition to those salads, I had half a bag of brussels sprouts to use up, and some frozen broccoli.  The broccoli is currently roasting in the oven at 425 with some olive oil, S&P, minced garlic and red pepper flakes.  I plan to pair that with some farro, and either bring it for lunch or have it on hand for dinner.  I think I have about two servings currently cooking.

For the brussels sprouts, one of my favorite things to do is shred them so I can have them as a salad.  You shred them in a food processor, and then cook them slightly in about 1/2 cup of water--just to get the bitterness out and soften them a bit.  Then, once they've cooled, I'm going to toss them with some Trader Joes Steamed Lentils, which I already have, some blue cheese crumbles, reduced sugar craisins and balsamic vineagrette.  That's something I can either pack for lunch or have at home for dinner.

I have five work lunches, five weeknight dinners and three days of eating when I'm not at work.  I have plenty of other random foods I can cook up at home, and the fridge is looking delightfully empty!

March Spending Freeze and Freezer Challenge

February was a stupidly expensive month:

1. Our car insurance for two vehicles was due-- $983
2. I had a stack of medical bills to pay-- $570
3. I had some car maintenance that needed doing-- $349
4. I owe the state of Massachusetts $817 in taxes

All totaled, this month gave me a $2719 kick in the face, which is actually more than my monthly take-home pay!

Also the weather has been alternating between being arctic and springlike in a way that's just unsettling. And since it's dark all the time, we are now a three humidifier household, and I've been trapped on the treadmill every morning, the electric bill has been higher than usual.  All this has come together to make me a super cranky individual, but instead of wallowing, I'm making a plan.

For the month of March I will engage in no unnecessary spending, and I will also endeavor to grocery shop as little as possible and instead eat from my pantry and freezer as much as I can.  My husband is going to be working in the UK office starting mid-March, and I'll join him at the beginning of April, so this is a perfect time to clear out the cupboards and make some space for our cat sitter.  I expect I'll be eating some pretty strange meals by the end of the month, but I'm sure it'll be fine and I probably won't get scurvy.

Cutting back on food-buying and unnecessary spending won't make too, too much of a difference, but it will help somewhat, and will hopefully make me feel like I have some modicum of control.  Thankfully, all of those expenses went onto our Capital One Venture card, so that earned us a fat stack of miles we can redeem when we're on vacation.  That card also has a 0% interest rate right now, so at least the money I charged won't cost us anything extra.

I also plan to list a few items on ebay/ facebook marketplace, to see if I can earn a little bit of extra money while decluttering.  I recently re-inherited my hockey card collection circa 1992-1994.  I sincerely doubt they are worth anything, but I have a few collectible items that I can potentially sell.  I also have a $60 LL Bean gift card that I'm never going to use, so I've got problem selling that at a discount.  So, dear reader, if you yearn for hockey cards from the early 90's or shop at LL Bean, hit me up!

Pre-Vacation Spending Fast

In April, I'm going on my first real vacation in a few years.  I've been on shorter trips recently, of course, but this is the first vacation in a while that's long enough for me to need to make sure all the food in the fridge gets eaten before I leave.  Since I'm a little apprehensive at the idea that I'll be spending money every single day for more than two weeks, I'm going to go on a spending fast before I leave so I won't feel any guilt for splashing out.  I'm pretty good and living low-key while in regular life and then splashing out while on vacation, but I always like to start a vacation with a bit of a deficit, which makes vacation mode out that much sweeter.  There are a few things I'm going to do to set myself up for the most enjoyable travel experience I can get.

1. I usually try to lose a little weight before I go on a long vacation since I know I will inevitably gain weight while traveling.  Traveling is great in that I will be moving much more than I do at my desk job, but I will also be much more gluttonous.  Losing weight and eating mindfully before setting out on a trip helps me both identify what is real hunger as opposed to just convenience or boredom eating, and it helps ensure that my clothes continue to fit while I'm away.  I also find it much easier to diet before going on a trip, because I know that there is an end point to the diet. I will, of course, be bringing looser or more forgiving clothes on this trip, but I can't wear them every day.  Also, there's really nothing worse in my mind than returning from a trip and immediately feeling guilty for having nothing that fits to wear to work, or having to buy new clothes.
2. I am going to avoid the grocery store except for the absolute essentials.  I did a January pantry/ freezer cleanout, which got rid of a lot of items that had been lingering in my cupboards for far too long, but I could have actually kept up that cleanout for another month or more easily.  This time around, I have even more incentive to stick to it, so that I can leave the fridge nice and clean for my house/ cat sitter while we're gone.  I'll also, obviously, save money on groceries, which is nice since paying for hotels already has me smarting a bit.  I already have a few restaurant dates on my calendar for before I leave, so buying fewer groceries will help finance eating out, which is kind of the opposite of usual rules of frugality.
3. I've been doing slightly more online shopping lately. A lot of what I've ordered has been returned, but I've also been looking for "the perfect X", which has necessitated ordering and sending many things back, and just spending more time being tempted by items in online stores.  Since I don't want my house-sitter to have to deal with a large volume of packages, I need to not order anything else until I get back, or just not at all.  Even though I'm being very deliberate with my purchases, this will help me avoid temptation since I won't even be looking.  Even the most deliberate shopper gets tricked sometimes!
4. I'm doing a very slow and methodical closet clean out.  Travel always forces me to consider the functionality of my clothes, since I need to pack things that are comfortable, move well, clean easily and don't take up too much room/ have too many complicated pieces.  If I'm being honest, that's how I would like my wardrobe to function on a daily basis too, so by analyzing items I currently have, thinking about situations I would wear it and determining how many potential uses I could get out of it, helps me decide if a particular item of clothing is really as useful as I would like it to be.  I've been slowing siphoning things out of my wardrobe since we moved over a year ago, and since I realized I had a bunch of clothes I hadn't really unpacked or missed.  It'll be fun to come home to a closet that is more reflective of what I actually wear, and that will have room for my travel clothes once I've unpacked.

So maybe this all makes me sound like a bit of a crazy person since a lot of it is only tangentially related to travel, but I find that planning a trip unlocks the organizer part of my brain and gets me excited in a 'take on the world' way.  I might as well harness that energy to improve the rest of my life!

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.

Eat All The Food: Week One

Top half of pantry

So far, so good.  I am eating down the stores of food I have in my apartment and trying to save a bit of cash on groceries.  We're early enough in this experiment that I haven't had to eat anything super weird, but I'm sure that's coming soon.  Note: I'm only including the food I eat at home since my work lunch consists usually of a combination of soup, sandwich and yogurt.

Monday:
Pan-fried polenta topped with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  Accompanied by a side salad topped with Trader Joes Pear Champagne Vinagrette, and the last of the Almond Accents.

Tuesday:
The last of the polenta, pan-fried, diced and served with Trader Joes Country Potatoes with Haricot Verts and Wild Mushrooms, and a big ole arugula salad.

Bottom of pantry

Wednesday:
Wednesdays I work 2-10pm, so I had lunch at home. I ate the last of some Trader Joes Falafel along with the rest of Tuesday's Country Potatoes.  I also planned to oven roast a couple bags of brussels sprouts I found at the bottom of the freezer, but when I opened the bags, they were weirdly slimy, so I threw them out.  Instead, I oven roasted a bag of broccoli florets I also found down there.  I swear, the chest freezer is a black hole.

Thursday:
I realized that instead of eating a sandwich for lunch, I could make myself a wrap!  People do that all the time, and I had a bag of tortillas languishing in the freezer from god knows when, so I wrapped up my sandwich in one of them.  Brilliant!  For dinner, I had a quesedilla, using up two more of the tortillas, the re-fried beans that have been hanging out in the cupboard forever, the last of a jar of salsa, some shredded cheese from an already opened bag and half a can of black olives.  It was delicious, and I was pretty proud of myself.

Friday:
Another wrap for lunch, and I am out of tortillas!  Butternut squash soup along with roasted broccoli and couscous for dinner.

Sat/Sun:
Out of town.


Purchases: butternut squash, salad, 1 cucumber.

Holiday Challenges

I don't get super busy over the holidays, which I'm incredibly happy about, but I do still wind up doing a lot of eating.  Thankfully, this year, I only really have one job, which means only one work party, which I'm not actually going to attend.  Don't get me wrong, I like work parties, but they always end up costing far more than I'd like to spend to eat food that I'm never really totally jazzed about.  For those of you out there who have fully catered work parties--I salute you.

Despite not having that party looming, I know there will be others, and treats and large meals, so I am embracing two existing fitness challenges, and creating a financial challenge for myself to carry me successfully through this holiday season.

1. The Runner's World Holiday Running Streak.
This means that from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Day, I'm pledging to run at least one mile every day. Normally, I never run every single day, but one mile is nothing and is only a ~9 minute commitment per day.  Hopefully, I won't stop after just one, but I am committed to doing at least one mile per day. No excuses.

2. The Yoga Challenge.
My yoga studio's holiday challenge starts today, and I have committed that I will try to do yoga at least three times per week until... sometime.  I'm not 100% sure when this challenge ends, but I've been trying to do yoga three times a week anyway, so this is just an added incentive.  Double bonus, my friend who has been away at Bikram yoga teacher training for the last two months comes back this week and I get to take a class with her on Tuesday!  Oh, also, if I'm successful at the challenge, I get a prize.  I do like prizes...

3. Financial Challenge
This is a self-imposed challenge, but I encourage everyone out there to come up with your own challenge and commit to it before Thanksgiving.  I'm lucky in that I don't have a lot of people I have to buy gifts for.  That's lucky because I don't have much money, and also because I'm a pretty lousy gift-giver under pressure.  BF's gift(s) are already purchased/ decided upon, so for the rest of the holiday season, I'm just going to focus on distracting myself with the above fitness goals, eat at home as much as possible, and try to do as much end of the year saving as I possibly can.  I have no idea what to expect from my taxes this year, so should I have to pay in, I intend to have enough of a cushion built up that it's not that big of a deal.

The rules for this challenge:

1. Eat out a maximum two meals a week.  This is restaurant meals, not house parties or potlucks, etc.
2. Stay on budget in all categories.  I've been consistently over budget in the groceries and alcohol categories for the past two months.
3. Limit alcohol consumption.  It's far too easy to get sucked into the festivities and drink too much, which makes me eat too much.  I am limiting myself to two drinks per day, with at least two days off completely from drinking each week.
4. Walk/bike to work as much as possible.  This is harder to do some days because I have yoga immediately after work, but on days when I can get to work without a car, I should.
5. Save!  I still need to sock away as much as I can in my Roth IRA before the end of the year.
6. Extra work.  I have a chance to pick up some freelance work, I just need to discipline myself and actually get started.  Oh why is it so hard to not be lazy after work and on your day off!  At least the days are short and I never want to leave the house, that should make it easier to stay on task.

Anyone else want to take on some challenges?  Or is life already too challenging this time of year?

Self Improving Self

Andrea at So Over This posed the question a while back Is Financial Health Always Linked to Physical Health?  Even since I read this line, "I read a ton of blogs regularly, most of which are financial, and I’ve noticed a trend. When a blogger gets his/her finances under control, it seems like the blog almost always shifts toward fitness or exercise" I've been all worried that I was going to go that route too, even though she wasn't being judgey about it at all.  See, the problem with personal finance blogs, and the reason some of them are so damn boring, is after you pay off a massive debt or figure out how to better take care of yourself moneywise, there's not much else to say.

I could post every day and show you pictures of my groceries or talk about how I haven't paid full price for mayo in years (years!  I'm pretty impressed with myself), but really, who wants to hear it?  Instead, now that I have my finances (mostly) under control, I'm looking to clean up other areas in my life that will actually save me money, but might improve me overall as well.  How's that for staying on topic, eh?


1. Chew My Food More Thoroughly 
I'm a fast eater, always have been, which honestly makes no sense because I've rarely had to compete with anyone for food.  The problem, I think, is that I'm a textural eater, which means that my enjoyment of food ends very early on in the chewing process.  However, chewing my food more thoroughly will not only make me eat slower-- aiding digestion, but will ultimately make me eat less (supposedly).  That will save me money in Alka-Seltzer and foodstuffs all while making me healthier and more svelte.


2. Waste Less
This goes hand-in-hand with the not taking plastic bags things, but I'm always trying to pay more attention to what a buy, how much I buy, and how much of what I've bought I actually keep.  I honestly feel like I'm dropping off huge bag at the thrift store three times a year, which is just ridiculous.  I'm like a lot of people, I like new things, but this year I have gotten better at shopping my closet, and now that I'm not job-hopping as much, it's much easier to actually just have one wardrobe.

Of course, wasting less also goes for food.  I feel ill thinking of all the food I wasted during the summer of the farm share, so I am going to be very good from now on.  Pinky swear.

3. Drive Less
This one has been on the docket for a while, but now that it's not 90 DEGREES AND 100% HUMIDITY, I can actually pedal the two miles to work and not die.  Plus, now that I have the Big Brother device riding shotgun, I have even more incentive to bike/walk as much as possible.  Man, I hope this saves me some money.

4. Spend Less
All of the above should help me spend less both on food and clothes--hopefully on gas and car insurance too.  Also, thanks to President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act, I now get free birth control!  That saves me $360/year that I can instead give back to the government in the form of student loan repayment.

5. Save More
With all of those savings, I should be able to actually save more in my savings/ retirement accounts!  My savings has been pretty stagnant since starting the new job, and I really want to turn that around.  Especially since this year the library had a significant budget cut, which means that I get no 401k matching for the whole year.  Not to rant (too much), but as I've mentioned before, my library is a brand-new system that has a shoestring budget.  The $200,000 budget cut would have meant that all nine libraries have to close a total of three weeks over the course of the fiscal year, with employees losing three week's pay.  Instead of doing that, the union agreed that employees would give up their 401k matching for the year and the library will only close one week.  As much as I don't love the idea of losing three week's pay, I really dislike the idea of not having a retirement account.  I mean, I love my job, but I'd like to be able to leave some day instead of dropping dead at the reference desk.

So yeah, I need to step it up this year.

6. Declutter
Naturally, I'm still in the process of decluttering, which  will likely last the rest of my life, but hopefully if I'm not bringing in as much stuff, there will be less clutter overall!  Logic!  This is another part of the reason I love, love, love Freecycle.  It actually helps me declutter without having to think about it.  For instance, I'm really bad about getting rid of boxes and other packing materials.  I've moved enough that I know I will need that stuff again some day, and I will not go to the UPS store to buy boxes, not when they've been entering my house for years for free.  So, yeah, our basement storage space is full of boxes.  But the other day on Freecycle, someone said that they needed shoe boxes, which I also have many of. I got to get rid of shoe boxes, know that the boxes are needed by someone, and help a stranger!  So many warm fuzzies!  I also gave away an older laptop that I didn't need anymore, but that worked ok.  Now I imagine the young man who took it will become a Rhodes Scholar, and I helped him get there.


By the end of this year, I will perfect!

Frugal Challenge: IRA Challenge

First, a wrap up of my last frugal challenge: The Gas Challenge.  I'm pleased to report that for the Month of March, I bought gas March 5th, and managed to stretch that tank to March 26th!  I actually bought gas again on the 22nd when I was down to 1/4 tank (I don't like running out of gas), but I didn't use up that 1/4 tank until the 26th.  Sadly, I didn't make it all the way to April 1 like I had hoped, but that was an awfully lofty goal in the first place.  I'm still pretty proud of myself.

Obviously, I'm going to continue to try to walk/bike as much as I can to avoid overspending on gas.  It's a lifestyle change!

Next up: The IRA Challenge.  I can make contributions to my 2011 Roth IRA until April 17th, which I've been doing all along.  With a Roth IRA, you can contribute up to $5000 per year, and no more.  I'd like to get to $5000, obviously, but I'm $1700 away from doing that.  I have two paychecks before that, so I can take what would have gone into regular savings and direct it to the IRA, but that's still nowhere near the $1700.

The way I see it, I have a few options:

1. Put off paying off my credit cards and put that money into the IRA.  I only owe something like $100 on one, and I usually pay ahead of time to avoid fees, but I do like having that 0 or negative balance...
2. Redirect all money that was going into my regular savings account into the IRA.
3. Find some way to make extra money--I'm already working extra hours and don't know what else I could really do, but it's always an option.
4. Move money from my existing savings accounts into the IRA.
5. Some combination of the above.
6. Something I' haven't thought of yet.

I have a pretty healthy balance in my regular savings account so I wouldn't be dead broke if I siphoned off a bit, but I really hate to do that and I'm still rebuilding from that stupid car repair.  Also, with making less money, I don't know how long it would take me to replenish my emergency savings.  It seems kind of stupid to have a robust retirement account that I can't touch if my emergency savings are decimated.

Any suggestions?  Anything I haven't thought of yet?  It's not the end of the world if I don't hit that $5000 mark, but it would feel pretty good too, especially since I just started this IRA and I'm about six years behind...

Guest Post: No Buy Boot Camp

Our guest post today is from my friend Jenna.  Jenna and I met at orientation for library school and have been fast friends ever since. While Jenna is frugal in many ways (she always manages to leave a store without buying anything, which I can't seem to do), she also has certain areas of overspending--like so many of us, and I know she'd appreciate any advice anyone has.

My name is Jenna, and I am an extravagant spender.

No, I don’t go out and buy fancy outfits or makeup. I don’t wear any jewelry or take luxurious vacations, but I like to eat out. I take food really seriously, and I don’t mind spending a lot of money for something I like. However, a perfect storm of circumstances has put me in a unique position – I moved to a new place, got a new job, and moved in with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend is a grad student and is living on a fixed income. His favorite food is bar food, and since I don’t know many people in the area yet, he is almost always my dining companion. In trying to be fair to him, I ended up eating significantly more greasy food at loud places, and spending a lot of money. I’m sick of it. When I lived alone, in a bigger city full of better food, I could justify going out all of the time. But living in my new smaller city, with less food I really love, and more mouths in my house to feed, something has got to give.

So this week, the week of my $300 electric bill, I decided I would learn to eat in. My boyfriend and I are holding a self-imposed two week long no-buy-boot-camp. What I am already realizing is that if you are unaccustomed to grocery shopping for the week, and planning out your meals, it really does seem like an impossible task. I am a “shop for the exciting meal I thought to make tonight and spend 12 dollars on fancy cheese” type of grocery shopper. Going to the store and trying to think of 4 different meals that could include kale feels stifling and boring to me.

Plus there is the added complication of my boyfriend and my eating styles. I like to eat vegetarian a lot, I grew up kosher – I eat a lot of dairy, a lot of pasta, and really can’t bring myself to eat things like ham sandwiches. My boyfriend grew up in a world where you choose the type of meat you are making that night and work from there.  So we’re learning from each other.

Our first meal-planning eat-at-home purchase was frozen tilapia filet. So far we have thought to make: fish tacos and lemon white wine tilapia with potatoes and veggies. Beyond that, I don’t think I could bear to eat another day of fish. We made a big fruit salad that I can eat for breakfast and as a lunchtime dessert. I am also considering making a chocolate fondue and dipping the fruit in it, just to use it up, and because fondue is really fun. I have some tempeh and kale, which is my favorite type of stir fry – and I think we could make a big pizza with a number of different toppings and eat that for a few days for lunch and dinner. The world of casseroles is still a little too foreign to me. My feeling is that perhaps I can plan and make meals I know I will like that I hope my boyfriend will eat, and he can plan and make meals he will like, and I will try to have a more open mind to his more red-blooded American meat-centric take on things.

Immediately after making our pact I started to waiver. Two weeks is a really long time. What if I want to go get coffee with coworkers? How will I be social? I decided I will take it a day at a time, and tell people about our challenge so that there are no hurt feelings. So far, the second day wasn’t so hard. I made myself a frozen bagel and coffee for breakfast (and realized my coffee at home is way better than the swill at my job) , a passable turkey sandwich for lunch (cold cuts provided by my boyfriend’s mom, who never comes to our house empty handed – double frugality!), a fruit salad snack (also thanks to his mom), and a seaweed tamari rice cake (provided by your blogger in residence herself, who left them at my house when she visited). So not only do I have here a nearly free day of eating, I’d say I am eating very healthy too .

Though I am just a few days in, things seem to be running pretty smoothly. I am showing up to work a bit later, but I don't take my typical 10am coffee break. And my enthusiasm for the challenge has lead me to invite folks over to enjoy our home-cooked dinners, so my social life isn't hurting too badly. But I guess we will see if I am still so cheerful about the challenge by next week!

Frugal Challenge: Gas Challenge

Gas prices, as everyone knows, are going way up these days.  Since it was 66 degrees in Lil' Rhody today, and daylight savings time either begins or ends this Sunday (we spring forward, I just don't know if that's standard or DST), which means that my bike/walk home from work will be better lit, I have decided to issue myself a little challenge.

I filled up my gas tank on Monday for $38, and that was even with $.20 off per gallon because of grocery points.  Now my plan is to see exactly how long I can make that tank of gas last.

If I'm just going from home to work and back, I will walk or ride my bike--no driving allowed!

Thursdays, I'm filling at my old job while my boss is out on maternity leave, so I will have to drive, because it's 20 minutes away.

I'm going to be extra vigilant about clustering errands to avoid extra trips to the grocery store and other places, plus, I should really just avoid most stores these days since I've still car that stupid car bill to pay off.

I do have some meetings and a doctor's appointment coming up, so that's a factor.

I've asked bf to replace the gas that he used to go to his mom's house the other day.

It's a 13-gallon tank, and when I was commuting six-seven days a week, I usually had to fill up every week or ten days. Anyone want to take any bets as to how long I can get by on a single tank?  My goal is to make it to April, but that might be very wishful thinking.

Kind of Amazing

I don't know why, but every time I really focus on paying down my credit cards, I'm always amazed how simply spending less and making larger payments seems to decimate those huge numbers.  Of course, when I say huge number, I mean something like $1,000 as opposed to $10,000, but I've been in that boat too (and it took waaaaay longer to pay that off, but I was still buying lots of stuff, so I think we've found our pattern).

For example, this month, the month of No Clothes Buying, I started out with an uncomfortably high balance on my Amex and on my Old Navy Card.  I'm pleased to say that I just authorized a payment to Old Navy that will pay that card off in full, and leave me a little $10 cushion for when I need a little clothing pick-me-up.  It's like a built-in coupon.  I know it's kind of stupid to keep a credit balance in an account that doesn't earn interest, but it's such a paltry amount that it doesn't really matter anyway.

Also, and this may just be me, but my brain sees that extra $10 as a kind of gift card, which means that it's something I don't want to squander, which means I tend to think twice as hard about what to spend it on.  It's bizarre, but it works.  I suggest you try it.

For my Amex, I started out the month with a $1,000+ balance due to all of those electronics I had to buy in a short amount of time.  After closing my smartypig account and redirecting those funds to Amex, plus using a bit more money from savings plus paychecks, I'm pleased to report that that balance is shrinking rapidly as well, despite the fact that I'm still using that card to buy gas and other necessities.

So yes, the month of October is working out quite well, but I am saddened that I won't be able to add more to my IRA and send an extra payment to my student loan folks--next month!

I have one confession to make RE: Not Buying Clothes.  I did buy a pair of pants from Target---BUT--- let me explain myself.

1. These are pants that I already own in another color, and I've had those for about six months.  Therefore, I know that they're going to last, and that I like the way they fit over time--that's worth jumping on when the opportunity presents itself.
2. I got them hella on sale.  They were the Target Daily Deal, already marked down to $15 and I had a $5 coupon, plus I got free shipping.  That means I got $10 pants that I know I'm going to like and wear often.  
3. I returned a skirt to ModCloth that I had paid $55 for, so technically I un-spent money on clothes this month despite buying the pants.  I know that's not in keeping with the spirit of not buying, but I couldn't pass up such a swell deal on clothes that I know fit well, hold up, and match a lot of my wardrobe.

I feel slight shame, but I'm still pretty please with how I've resisted (most) temptation.  I also went to Target the other day and discovered that they have a cardigan in the most perfect shade of red that I've been looking for for years!  Plus purple!  But I walked away!  Look at how strong I am!

Nine days left....

Day Ten!

I did a search for ugly clothes--don't want to be tempted!

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it is officially Day 10 of the month of October, which means it's also Day 10 of me not buying any clothes!  I'm doing it, people!  Just 21 more days to go.

I have to say, what really did it for me was that trip to the mall the day before this challenge started.  Not only did I have a run in with an ugly human being at New York & Company, but I went to Old Navy--with a $10 gift certificate-- and just didn't see anything I wanted at all.  All of the knits looked cheap and 80's (not in a good way), and it seems that cropped sweaters are coming back? Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew--not a fan.

In keeping with my stated guidelines for this challenge, I have stopped checking modcloth daily (and just leaving it open and hitting refresh), I unsubscribed from all emails that want to sell me clothes, and I unliked Old Navy on facebook.

I honestly feel really good--kind of how I imagine a colon cleanse would feel.  I keep going into my closet and discovering new clothes as well.  Just a minute ago, I was culling out some of the free race t-shirts I've gotten over the years but never/ rarely worn, and I found two long sleeved white layering t's that are so old they're discoloring and rotting at the seams.  Why do I have those?  Why keep them?!?!?!  Probably the poor don't even want them, but I'll throw them in the donation bag anyway.  Woot woot!

And now for something completely different.  Today is Columbus Day, which is  ridiculous holiday that I didn't even realize people still celebrated until I moved to Rhode Island.  Apparently, instead of Columbus Day, South Dakotans celebrate Native American day--good job SD.  But because of this horribly offensive and ill-informed day, I get a wee bit o holiday pay, and a day off, so I can't complain about that.

What a dick

A Frugal Challenge

Despite my best efforts, the amount owed on my American Express card is far, far too high.  Part of that is down to all the race fees I've paid recently, my semi-frugal minibreak, higher gas prices, six months of car insurance, oil change, haircut--but whatever the reason, it needs to get back to $0.00 ASAP!  Especially since I have another semi-frugal vacation/conference coming up.  For the conference, I've been planning out how to get as many free meals as possible, so there's some significant savings, but there's also the money lost from missing work (curse of the part-timer), and the added expense of adventuring.  I've got money socked away in my travel fund to pay for all the shenanigans I plan to get up to in NOLA, but there's nothing better than to go on vacation with a clean financial slate--much more relaxing.

To reign in the spending, I'm issuing to myself a frugal challenge until I leave for New Orleans on June 23: No non-essential spending.  I may buy food and gas and pay my bills, but I don't need anything else.  I'm also going to try to find some extra money--there always some way to make a little extra.

As always something else will come up over the course of the month that I'll need to pay for, so I'll evaluate that on a case-by-case basis, but the goal is to get this credit card back down to zero before I start my vacation. Total amount owed: $800.  Since my utilities bills are pretty low this time of  year, I should just be able to do it, but only if I stay on track.

Wish me luck!