Nhgirl1970's Personal Finance Blog

I feel like I have spent the whole summer spending money on travel. In reality, it has all been planned. I do have one change, but it saved me money. I was going to see my family and friends in Michigan over Columbus Day weekend in October. I was checking plane fares weekly and suddenly they were increasing. I was seriously thinking of cancelling. Paying around $350 to fly from NH to Detroit is not my idea of being frugal. Since it's only a four day weekend driving was out of the question as was flying out of Boston (by time I pay for a shuttle there and back).

On Tuesday I found out my cousin is getting remarried Labor Day weekend and I also found out our schools here have a four day weekend (which means I can close the tutoring center four full days). I decided to look at flights that weekend and expected them to be outrageous. I found a flight and rental car for $298 total. This sure as heck beats $350 for just a flight! The one wrinkle is I will have to take a cab to the airport (6 miles) because my husband is flying home from Seattle that day, so he isn't available. My flight is at 5:30 am so I don't want to ask any friends either.

I will also have to get a wedding gift. One of my other cousins just separated from her husband so she is hurting a bit financially. I am hoping her and I can go together on a small gift. The best part of the whole deal is I have plenty of places to stay for free and all but one meal is already covered between invites to dinners, a barbecue, and the wedding.

In other news, I totaled up my July earnings for mystery shopping and the total came to $1132.58.

I am guessing this program is pretty new. I just stumbled upon it today. It is for Prime members and it is 5.99 for shipping everything you can fit in your box. As you add items, Amazon tells you how much room you have left. Delivery is 1-4 days.

There is not a huge selection so far, but it is a decent selection nonetheless. I found the prices to be fairly comparable to the big box stores. Maybe a few cents more, but I see advantages. I can save gas, shopping time, and best of all I can use my Amazon credit to increase my savings. There are also coupons available on certain items.

I just filled a box. I will let you know how the delivery goes. I only had $8 credit on my Amazon account due to recent birthdays. I ended up spending $51.84 including shipping for 14 items (shampoo, toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish soap,sponges, lotion, paper towel, and a few food items). I told a friend and she asked how it was different from subscribe and save. The big difference is you are not having to order in bulk (which is great since we are only a family of three).

Curious what some of you will think after checking it out.

I took my spare change to the credit union yesterday and deposited a total of $26.53 to my checking account. My DH has a medical bill that was higher than expected, and the deposit covers just about half of the increased cost.

Had a great time in Florida visiting my family. The grandkids are so cute. My grandson is almost two and loves to say: "Look!" (high pitched) followed by "Wow!". It is amazing how everything is new and wondrous to young children. The baby is 5 months and rolling over and trying her hardest to crawl.

We ended up going to Key West this past Monday. It was so hot and humid, but overall a nice time. We split the rental, gas, and parking($70). Other spending during the trip included taking my son and his wife to Chili's ($37 including tip) as a thank you for picking me up at the airport and letting me stay with them, a happy meal I split with my grandson at the mall (I estimate $4, I forgot to keep that receipt), and a couple of drinks ($3.50)from the drugstore. I almost forgot my meal in Key West. We ate at Denny's which allowed us to sit and have a meal without paying the prices at the popular restaurants. I had fruit and yogurt. My total was $7 with my portion of the tip.

My overall total was $122 which was over the $100 I had hoped for, but not bad considering all I did.

Since I returned I have been trying to catch up at work and prepare for our trip to northern Maine next weekend (that one will definitely stay within budget).

Summer plans have taken shape and I am going to have to be careful about keeping it frugal. My trip to see my kids/grandkids in Florida is Thursday. So far, it is costing less than $100. I paid $168 for my plane ticket and am earning most of that back because I picked up two mystery shops while I am down there. I will stay at my son's condo, so no hotel or car costs (Although I will give them some gas money for driving me around).

As I said previously, I put off a trip to Michigan. I will go in October. However, we are now going to northern Maine July 3-5, but again I picked up mystery shops on the way home. Those pay for the hotel. We will pack a cooler and the Hampton Inn provides a nice breakfast. I don't think we will need to eat out while we are there. Basically all we need to cover is gas and at the least, I will earn 2% back on that.

Later in July I am going to Foxwoods (casino) in Connecticut overnight with a friend. I am not a gambler, but I am going to keep her company. I would have had to drive to CT anyhow to drop my son off for his summer visit with his dad. Now I get to keep my friend company and we will split expenses. Since I needed to go that way for my son, I will pay the gas. She wants to stay overnight, so she will cover the hotel.

In August my husband is going out to Washington to see his son and his family (son paid for trip). A friend and I will drop hubby off at the airport in Boston and spend the day there. I love a good excuse to spend a fun day in Boston. The libraries offer some nice museum passes for the day (the aquarium too)at huge discounts. I hate finding my way around so I was happy to have my friend go with me! I told her we can take my car and I will of course pay the gas if she does the driving.

My plan is to keep all summer trip expenses under $400 total. The gas for CT is the only thing I am not counting because it is part of my custody agreement and in the regular budget.

On another positive note, I have almost doubled the number of students I expected for the summer at tutoring. This is a huge relief! Well, off to start the day. I am working my way (literally) up to Portland, ME today. Happy Father's Day to the dads and everyone else who has taken on that role!

Less than two weeks until the Florida trip. I can't wait. I don't love the state itself (Lived there for four years and hated it), but can't wait to see the family.

I decided to put off the trip to Michigan in July. After careful thinking, I am going over Columbus Day weekend in October. I won't have to drive and my grandma's birthday is the day before I leave. Other perks to waiting include a free rental car (I am getting close to enough points on my credit union Visa) and I also just applied and got approved for the Barclay card (spend $1000 in 90 days and earn enough points for $200 travel). I am going to put all purchases over the next few months on the two cards (of course paying them off as I go)which will make the trip to Michigan very cheap. I will stay at my grandma's house, so I will only pay the difference on the what isn't covered for the plane ticket and a couple of meals.

As for 4th of July weekend, I didn't want to mope around with nothing to do and we do have some money saved for summer fun. So, we are driving to northern Maine and staying there the 3rd-5th.

Not all of my time has been taken over by the travel bug. I spent a good portion of the day yesterday reorganizing the tutoring office and getting it ready for summer (new materials etc.). Today I have several mystery shops before heading in for an abbreviated afternoon of tutoring. It's hubby's bday, but his brother has "surprise" plans for him so we did his cake yesterday and probably will do his dinner tomorrow since I have no clue what the plans are for tonight.

Have a great weekend. It is going to be a scorcher here in New England, but I am looking forward to the sun!

I have overspent lately and not kept very good track of money. This isn't a huge amount and I have been able to cover it. I need to stop and rethink my accounts. The mystery shopping really throws me off sometimes. I plan for the initial out-of-pocket expenses, but sometimes I am required to pay cash and other times to use the debit card. For some reason, this seems to make everything harder.

Long story short, I believe I have a system in place that will alleviate the issues, so I should be okay going forward. The other thing I need to watch is stopping at the grocery store by my office for lunch. That adds up quick!

In other news, the tutoring is going well and I currently have enough money banked for all the summer expenses including payroll. Any other money that comes in will mean I get a paycheck (there are still some parents who need to pay summer tuition and are on track to do so this month).

The mystery shopping is ramping up too, which is great. I suspect my summer income will be quite a bit higher than I anticipated.

I may have mentioned this before (sorry if I am repeating myself),I am going to Florida to see my adult kids and grandkids the 19th-24th of this month. I paid cash for the plane ticket months ago and I have picked up a couple easy mystery shops while I am there that cover that will cover giving gas money to give to my son and a meal out.

I am procrastinating about a second trip over the long holiday weekend (I am closed the 3-7 of July at tutoring) to see family and friends in Michigan. I will see what the final tally is for summer tutoring payments mid-month and make a final decision. I would drive and have a place to stay, so it mainly will cost gas and a few meals (I am quite sure half of my meals would be covered at family and friends' houses).I really want to go, but it is a very long drive for a few days. Then again my grandmother will be 87 this year. She is in excellent health for her age, but I hate skipping a chance to see her because you never know.

Last but not least, I am on track with savings and debt repayments. I need to update those figures and do a post with some actual numbers soon.

I have been really hustling when it comes to mystery shopping. I have added on site business inspections and theater checks to my mystery shopping repertoire. Assuming I don't add any more shops to April, my grand total is $997.50 ($200.50 is reimbursements which include several gallons of gas and about $30 in groceries!). I know the summer will be slow at tutoring so I want to earn every penny I can.

Tutoring has been steady, well at least money wise. Many are not adhering to the attendance policy now that the weather is getting nicer. It's frustrating, but as my DH says, "You are getting paid, so don't sweat it!"

This week is spring break at school so I am tutoring about half the normal hours which will be nice. We hope to do a day trip mid-week up north. My son is going to Florida to visit my adult kids and his grandparents (My parents live in Michigan, but are down visiting as well). I won't make this trip, but am going down in June myself.

That's all that is new around here. I hope you all have a great weekend!

It's been awhile since I posted an update. Last month was good to us. My husband went to a model airplane auction. He was into them for years, but is no longer involved in the hobby. He went to the auction and sold almost $500 worth of items! He gave me $400 which I put toward a bill for blood work for him, a chiropractor appointment for me, an extra $50 student loan payment, and the rest went to short term savings.

Since I have talked about the mystery shopping recently, I figured I would also post my monthly income for that. I made $383 in cash in March. I made another $87.70 in reimbursements for food and other required purchases. Of course, that money comes from many different companies so it trickles in anywhere from 2 weeks from the date of the original shop up to 60 days later. I don't have my spreadsheet in front of me, but I know I have been paid at least 2/3 of that money already.

This month is going even better. I have $425 worth of shops scheduled and about another $100 in reimbursements.

Tutoring is still going well, but I am a bit worried about it slowing down a lot this summer. I may need to expand my travels for mystery shopping to make up the difference.

I mentioned mystery shopping in a post recently and a few of you asked for more info in the comments. I put a couple of ideas out there, but thought it would make a good post. First of all, yes it is a very legitimate way to make money. You simply need to be careful and know where to look for the legitimate jobs. You should never pay to be a shopper. However, that being said, you will in many cases need to make a purchase (food, small item for proof of visit etc) for which you will be reimbursed.

There are tons of different types of shops. I have shopped restaurants (fast, casual, fine dining), banks, retail, gas stations, movie theaters, bowling, and more. If you can pay attention to details and have decent writing skills, there is extra income to be made. In my area (New England), I could make a full-time income from it even if I traveled as little as 50 miles. For most, it is part-time and what you can make will vary based on how saturated your area is with shoppers. I have made as little as $100 a month (months when I only take my "easy", favorite shops) and as much as $600 (as many as 40 shops).

There are approximately 200 companies who hire mystery shoppers. A separate email for shopping is strongly suggested! You will need to give your basic info and it would also be beneficial to have a writing sample ready (a recent retail or dining experience). Other than that, there is no formal interview process. If you want to make a few hundred bucks per month, I would suggest signing up with 40-50 companies. I am signed up with about 50 and regularly for about half of those (with 5 of those giving me a third of my work). You will get asked for your social security number for tax purposes (They will send a 1099 if you make $600 plus from the individual mystery shopping company). I simply make sure the site is secure before doing so (https vs http).

Where do you start? The following sites are legitimate and are the best resources for reading all you wanted to ever know about mystery shopping (there are audits and merchandising thrown in this category as well, but I have done neither so I have no opinion) and the list of legitimate companies.

Volition.com
Jobslinger.com
Mysteryshop.org (This is where you can get certified as well. It isn't required, but I found after I got silver certified I got a little more work. It currently runs $20 and is good for life.)
Mysteryshopforum.com (MUCH to learn here!)

Finally, a little about getting paid. You will have to wait anywhere from a week to 90 days to get paid (It varies widely throughout the industry, but when you sign up for each company they will give you their time frame for payment). Payment type varies as well ranging from checks, to direct deposit, to PayPal (most popular).

If you have any other questions, just ask!

I had been pretty down in the dumps about the tutoring business. It doesn't help when "well-meaning" family members point out most businesses fail in the first year. Then again, if someone tells me I can't succeed, it lights a fire in me to prove them wrong!

Business has doubled in the last few weeks and the phone is still ringing off the hook. I have been working quite hard at marketing and it is paying off! It has definitely helped my mood.

I also have been doing a lot of mystery shopping. I have never stopped, but generally do about $100-150 a month in shops. This month I am at $368 (and I still have days to fill if I find the work). Not only am I/we trying to buy a home in the near future, but I desperately want to go visit my adult kids and my grandkids in Florida who I have yet to meet (19 months and 3 months). I finally felt I could justify the trip (Family is most important, but I did have to make enough to cover the bills first) and bought a ticket on Friday. I will be heading down for five days in June right when school lets out here, which should be a slow week for tutoring. I am super excited!

In the meantime, I am going to keep doing as much mystery shopping as I can to pay for the extras on the trip (not much as I am staying at my son's and will be using their car). Any extra will go to the home fund.

What a week! We had already made $3639 this week from our tax refund and selling a third vehicle. Now I finally sold the handbag I had received for Christmas (the fancy Michael Kors one I blogged about). Add another 242 to the total! Actually, I will say about $220 after Ebay fees and shipping (The original listing didn't budge. Second time around hubby put free shipping and it worked like a charm). The money from the handbag will go toward my student loans.

So our grand total is $3859! I am pretty sure that is the last of the windfalls for awhile, but I am quite satisfied.

Not only are we getting the 2k tax refund (per the IRS it will be deposited on Wednesday), but we sold our third vehicle that was just sitting around. That is another $1600. This means we will be seriously beefing up the emergency fund. It's exciting to be able to pay off the credit card, get all the car repairs done, and put 1k in savings all within a week. I will definitely be sleeping much more soundly.

By the way, there is $1150 allocated to the cars now (timing belt plus the other belts it is customary to replace at the same time and brakes). There were a couple of things the mechanic said we may not need and the total could be anywhere from 850-1150. If it doesn't hit the max, anything we don't spend will go toward our student loans.

We are celebrating by going out to dinner using a Groupon we got for Christmas. The first $30 of our dinner is covered!

This is the second day this month I have had to close the tutoring center due to snow. I finally got my W2 from my past employer yesterday and did my taxes first thing this morning. I am proud to say I was done with them by 8am. This was probably the most complicated return I have ever had with opening the new business and having the freelancing business as well.

I am usually quite good and within $200 either way (refund or owing) every year. By time all was said and done this year (triple checking EVERY detail), we are getting a refund of $2040! Of course, I have it all allocated already.

We will keep $240 and go out to a decent dinner and purchase a few worn out clothing items.

The remaining $1800 will be paid out as follows:

-$800 for new brakes on my car, a timing belt on hubby's car, and two tires. None of these items are absolute immediate needs, but are at the point they shouldn't really be put off for long either.

-$400 to pay off the credit card I used in December for a new laptop to avoid the emergency fund (credit card also doubles the warranty). I don't like having a credit card balance at all! I would have normally have saved up for the laptop, but last year was so out of whack with the new business. Looking forward to a more stable year in 2014.

-$600 to the emergency fund.

On top of taxes, I also caught up on laundry, wrote three freelance articles, and did some virtual assistance work. So much for relaxing on a snow day! I must say though it is quite satisfying to get it all done....for today. Tomorrow I took on four mystery shops (I am trying to build our savings up as fast as possible)and of course I will be tutoring as well. By time Saturday hits, I may sleep half the day.

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm!

I am still waiting on my disorganized old boss to send w2's. I reminded him the deadline to mail them was Jan. 31st and he swore he would have them out by Thursday. As of Saturday, they hadn't arrived (and we live in the same town). The IRS says to give it until the 15th as they allow for the longest possible mailing time.

Now he is just ignoring phone calls and emails. My husband is trying to do an income based repayment plan with his student loans and the deadline is the 15th so I really need to get the taxes done asap. Although they will take pay stubs, they say they would prefer our 2013 return. I am going to have him call them to let them know what is up if I don't have my W2's by Wednesday.

On a good note, I have lost 12 lbs. since the beginning of the year. I gave up coffee other than for a special treat (I have to use French Vanilla creamer and the calories add up) and processed foods. My energy level is amazing since doing so!

I just got my child support almost doubled. I always knew it was a bit low, but I never did anything to have it raised for several reasons. I wanted to stay on decent terms with my ex, he pays my son's medical insurance, and the travel to see him (now it's only between CT and NH, but when I lived in FL he flew him round trip as a minor).

Long story short, I just found out he was making twice as much as I was led to believe. I gave it a lot of thought and in the end I thought my son was entitled to more than 4% of his father's income. He is 14 and costs are going up. Also, even though the ex covers medical, I pay all the co-pays, provide dental, and all those associated costs as well.

I was not looking forward to court so I presented him an offer. Along with the offer I sent all the NH child support links. What I was asking was considerably less than what the court would likely enforce. He took the offer!

This means I will have $277 more per month coming in. As I said before, tutoring isn't where I want it to be yet (but much closer), so I will save the difference for now.

I knew it was going to be a tough month. We are on a no spend month other than absolute necessities. DH is working as a long-term sub which meant two weeks of no income over the holidays. Of course with snowstorms and the holidays, the tutoring business was less than stellar as well. So far, we haven't had to hit up the emergency fund (and I have managed to save for the 52 week challenge).

I am trying to pick up some extra writing assignments because both of the cars are in my name and I have to register them and get them inspected (I hate having a January birthday). I expect one will need new tires (registration and inspection are saved for all year, the tires will be a bit of a stretch). Luckily, I picked up three new students (tutoring) this week. I will let you know how it all pans out at the end of the month.

I cashed out $25 Paypal on Swagbucks today. I met the daily goal all month (and my second goal all but three days). I also cashed out this morning for a month of Netflix from Instagc (taking advantage of the last day of the holiday discount which is 8% in my case. I snagged four months altogether in December). Tango sent me $2 from Media Insiders and I was paid $3 from Pinecone.

We will go to our favorite Chinese restaurant with my friend early this evening. I will definitely not make it to midnight (been up since 4:30 am). I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year!

I ran the numbers and although my income is somewhat variable due to being self-employed, it was easier to work out than I thought it would be. I figured low and if I make more than what is budgeted, I will give myself a quarterly bonus that will be split between debt repayment and my IRA.

Household (includes entertainment and insurances etc.): $2583 per month

Savings: $325 per month
$26.50 per week to EF (equivalent to 52 week challenge)
$15 per week to short term/sinking fund
$145 per month to IRA (Low I know, but it is what it is)

Debt repayment: $520 per month
Car: $400 per month (payment is $361.15, but I round up)
Student Loans: $120 per month (IBR)

Total: $3428 (after taxes)

Thank you all once again for your input on the handbag. As "luck" would have it, my laptop died (It's three years old, had heavy use, and keys missing. Not worth looking into having it fixed). Therefore, the proceeds from selling the handbag will pay for the new laptop I picked up yesterday at Walmart for $328. I put it on my Capital One card mainly because it doubles the warranty. As soon as the handbag sells I will pay it off. If for some reason the handbag doesn't sell, I will take the money from savings to pay for it.

Christmas was nice and quiet here, but we did make a nice turkey dinner.

I am working on my 2014 goals and will post them soon. I hope everyone has a great new year!

I do some freelance work for a company based in Vietnam. My boss is very kind and generous. He told me he was shipping me a handbag in an email for Christmas. I didn't think much of it until I had a call from a handbag company out of Colorado verifying this was legitimate since it was purchased out of Vietnam. I said yes, my boss said he purchased a gift and it was bought from a US company who would ship it. The gentleman from the handbag company forwarded me the shipping confirmation and I about had a heart attack!

This is a $350 Michael Kors (sp?) handbag! I am a frugal girl who has never spent more than $20 on a purse and find it wasteful (For me, I don't judge others). I am grateful my boss is so generous and kind, but I hardly ever carry a purse at all and cannot fathom carrying this extravagant one. I don't know what to say or do. I didn't even spend $350 on Christmas altogether!If I say something I feel rude and ungrateful and if I don't I feel like he wasted his money. What would you do? How can I handle this gracefully?

I have been so busy lately. I am proctoring a mock SAT this morning so a perfect time to catch up online (and write out my Christmas cards)!

Not much has changed on the financial front. I am able to pay all the bills and save my $26.50 a week, but no major progress.

Today will be a very long day. I should be done here around 1pm and from there I have five mystery shops which will net $95.00. I only have one small purchase ($3) to make for one of them and it will be a Christmas gift. Of course I will get reimbursed for it next month. The mall will be packed I am sure, but it is worth it to get paid to go.

I met both of my daily goals all month last month for Swagbucks. It was a challenge and although I will still shoot for the first goal all this month, I am not going to worry about the second. It was too much effort.

That is all that is new around here. I feel behind. I have a ton of wrapping to do tomorrow to get the out of state gifts shipped this week. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Today only open a custodial account and receive a $100 bonus after your first trade. Looks like adults can use it too.

From my email:
Today only, open a Capital One® ShareBuilder® Custodial account with promo code GIFTSTOCK13
By Dec. 31, 2013, make just one trade or automatic investment
Bingo! You've earned a $100 bonus to help get that kid off to a good start.
For adults the code is CYBMON13
I just opened one for my son and my grandson.

My other Cyber Monday purchase was a new Kindle Fire (I have one and LOVE it but the screen went black after dropping it). The low end one (8gb) is $139 with ads. I got the 16gb without ads on sale for $134. I used Amazon credits from Swagbucks and paid $92.85 total for the Kindle Fire and a case. I put it on my Capital One card which doubles the manufacturer warranty. The first one that dropped would have been around $50 to fix. I figure I got an updated model and a case for only $42 more.

If you are in New England and have a Service Credit Union (mainly in Walmart), they have a spectacular deal on Friday! I almost fell over-11% (Yes, ELEVEN) on a 3 month savings certificate! It is for anywhere between $250 and $1000. Since my emergency fund is low, I don't want to tie up my regular account. However, I think I will withdraw some of the business savings and put it in a certificate. Best of all you don't have to be a new customer or have other accounts with them.

Even if you don't have this credit union in your area, I find credit unions in general have offered some pretty sweet Black Friday deals. Of course, online banks often do too!

I did some Christmas shopping today. We are keeping the budget VERY low this year. It was agreed to only get the grand kids a small gift for under $10. They range from 15 months to 7 years old and none live near us Anyhow, I found recordable story books (good ones too!) for $5 each (if you are in New England they are at Ocean State Job Lot). I got those for the three youngest. Walmart had several games on sale for $5 and I got two of those for the oldest two. All five grand kids are done for only $25 (and if I play my cards right I can pick up post office mystery shops to cover the shipping).

I have done very little with my "regular" blog in the last several months. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to be offered three sponsored posts yesterday. One for $25 and two for $40 each. I also picked up three very easy mystery shops in early December for $15 each. A total of $150 extra income and pretty easy work overall.

On the tutoring front, business is picking up as well. I signed on a new student yesterday and a couple other promising prospects.

I am definitely very thankful for the past few days. They have been good to me!

I am happy to report without a heck of a lot of effort I earned $35 today. I did two mystery shops ($12 and $15) at the mall (very easy ones with no purchase and the reports each only took five minutes), a Pinecone survey ($3), and a Nielson survey ($5). I also got a nice walk in at the mall and didn't spend a dime other than the gas to get there (only five miles).

I actually earned a few bucks more because I reached both of my Swagbucks goals (total of 140) and earned over $2 on Instagc today as well. Not bad for a day off!

I hit the goal all month again in Swagbucks. I cashed out 5 $5 Amazon gift cards (bought household goods), 2 $5 Walmart gift cards, and 2 $5 Target gift cards (stocking stuffers). I hope to earn $50 in November.

The tutoring business is moving along nicely. It took in $600 more than last month. I, of course am still not taking a full paycheck. I took home even less than originally planned because I did some newspaper advertising (it's report card time). Luckily for me freelancing picked up the last week or so.

I am regularly adding to savings ($26.50 which equals the 52 week challenge) and hope to take my student loans off deferment soon.

I see others have successfully went from a check through Pinecone to PayPal. I guess I am in the minority. They gave me a debit card which they load my payments on. I asked to be switched to PayPal and was told it isn't an option if you have the card (I never wanted the card, but Pinecone decides how to pay you). Anyone else in this predicament?

I hope everyone did well in October and hits their November goals as well!

Every four months I take an extra $150 (total) and do wardrobe updating for the three of us and an oil change. I did all that this morning and I have $30 left. I plan to use it for a new pair of sneakers for my husband. I did pretty well. The oil change, tire rotation (which was free because I bought my tires at that auto place), and air filter came out to $38.00. I got 2 dress shirts, jeans, and a sweater for my husband (Goodwill but brand new!). My son got a brand new pair of American Eagle jeans (reg. $49 but were $15 at Goodwill, new with tags!). I also got a pair of jeans and a pair of pajama bottoms. All items were needs so I don't feel too bad for spending the money. Now we are all set until spring around here.

The weekend should be a no spend other than the $30 set aside for the sneakers. Pretty low key, our only plans are dinner at my brother-in-law's house on Sunday.

It's interesting that so many of us track our spending in so many different ways (envelopes, cash, spreadsheets, etc.). I keep my budget on a spreadsheet. Gas, groceries, household goods, gifts, and entertainment have a designated debit card. I simply transfer the same amount each week to that card (I also earn 1% back on this card that makes a payment to my student loan each time I accumulate $15 or more).

I have a regular budget of $115 per week for the items listed above. This is $500 per month which probably seems low for a family of three. However, I am very frugal, a homebody for the most part, and I also supplement with the gift cards I earn from Swagbucks (several of the household goods and gifts throughout the year). I never have to worry about going over budget since the weekly transfer is the only money on the card.

Ugh! TWICE this week I had a post about the update on the progress of my new (well now about two months old) tutoring business. Nice long, detailed updates that went POOF!

Therefore, this is a very abbreviated version. All is well and I should be able to take 2/3 of my "goal" paycheck home come November 1st.

I hope you all have a great weekend!