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Home > Archive: November, 2014

Archive for November, 2014

I'm thankful for...

November 26th, 2014 at 05:17 pm

lots of things: my job (as crazy as it is), my family, SO, my health, getting into a new place, my dog...and free breakfast (I went to buy a donut from the cafe this morning and he just gave it to me since he's trying to get rid of stuff for the holiday weekend.)

Sometimes, it really is the little things that matter the most!

Less than 2 weeks!

November 25th, 2014 at 09:42 pm

It's coming up fast. With everything going on, I was out sick yesterday because I'd just completely stressed myself out and ended up ill. Last night and today, I finished off the pasta. I have 6 Ramens that I left out to eat between now and moving day. Tonight's dinner is mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. Got my Black Friday shopping plan down. Eek! Too. much. to. think. about.

FSA Rebate & Spendy Plans

November 20th, 2014 at 04:37 pm

Today, I have both a hh and the midnight showing of the new Hunger Games movie. I don't go to the movies often these days, but in the past week, I will have seen two. (HG has been planned for months; Interstellar was a spontaneous date courtesy of SO.) I got a reimbursement from my FSA, so I will be using that $20 as my spending limit for these two events. I will also be getting cash for the other two tickets I bought for friends as well as for the wardrobe which is getting picked up tonight. That gets added to the Black Friday fund. I did my best to streamline that shopping as much as possible and will lay out my plans in a future post.

Selling Progress!

November 19th, 2014 at 05:50 pm

I've had a couple of responses on some of my items. I did decide to donate my collection of hair accessories (minus the cheer bows) to someone using freecycle. It's really sad as I love accessories, but don't use them nearly enough to justify keeping them anymore. Not too mention,, I've sort of outgrown the headbands/ribbons/clips/barrettes phase. Those are getting picked up tonight. Someone is coming tomorrow to look at the wardrobe. I priced it at $40 as I care more about getting rid of it, then profiting. I've had some questions about the bike and the bed, so hopefully those will sell as well.

Selling Stuff

November 18th, 2014 at 03:50 pm

We're about 2 and a half weeks out, and each day feels a little more real. I started listing various items for sale through various venues. My bed and wardrobe are on Craigslist, a motorcycle jacket and helmet on Facebook, various hair accessories on freecyle, and a couple of other items on Ebay. I know it seems strange to spread out through so many sites, but the allocation made sense to me. I think the wardrobe may be sold. Fingers crossed she actually picks it up. Everything is going super cheap, so I'm not expecting a big influx of money. Whatever I get will be used to offset the purchase of some Black Friday items that are not necessarily needs (such as a space heater).

Champagne Spills, Free Meals, and Verizon Savings!

November 17th, 2014 at 04:49 pm

What a weekend! SO had a work function and birthday party on Saturday. While he was covering all the costs, it still effects me since we're now an us for certain finances. What I thought was going to be a pretty spend-y Saturday ended up being pretty good. We took chips and dip (12 bucks) to the work function and the birthday party was at a restaurant for dinner. Since SO and I had eaten a lot through the afternoon at the work event, we decided to just split a small pizza and each had one drink. Towards the end of our meal, the waiter was clearing the other side of the table when he accidentally hit the menu knocking it into my glass of champagne which was completely full as I had just topped it off. Fortunately, the majority of it missed me. Unfortunately, the majority hit SO. He ended up speaking to our waitress about getting the champagne removed as I didn't particularly want a second one, but it was still mostly full. To our surprise, the manager then came by and not only offered to take the champagne off, but also to comp SO's meal (our shared pizza). Total cost for dinner? 10 bucks including tip. Poor SO, but that worked out well...

We also signed up for Verizon. What was originally a 134/month estimate is now about 90/month. We decided to go with the basic package, only 1 TV, and no DVR. SO also got us a military discount. We also decided to buy the router outright, so the first 3 months will be an extra 33.33. Plus, a $400 gift card!

Great Dinner Last Night! And more moving...

November 14th, 2014 at 04:48 pm

Last night, I brought a box of mac and cheese, the last piece of frozen chicken breast, and the opened bag of Rally's fries over to SO's and we made dinner. It would have been really tempting to eat dinner out, especially since we went to the movies, but I pointed out this was cheaper (and turned out delicious with some leftovers). I did get the kids combo at the movies because for whatever reason, my hands can't be idle during a movie. SO got the tickets with a combination of his student discount and military discount, so $15 for the tickets and $6 for my snacks.

The rest of the month should be pretty low-spend (other than Hunger Games next week and Black Friday shopping, both of which are budgeted). Our joint account is just over the dividend minimum with more to be added on our next paychecks. I'm guessing once utilities and move-in costs take out, we'll be back just under the dividend minimum, but we'll continue to build it up until we have that as a base amount and any monthly contributions go on top of that. Thanksgiving week will be pretty busy as that's when we'll look at my aunt's stuff (she's moving and has some stuff she's willing to give/sell to us) and do our Black Friday shopping. It'll be 3 weeks tomorrow and we could not be any more excited to start this next chapter together!!

Planning to Fail?

November 13th, 2014 at 03:34 pm

SO and I had an interesting discussion the other day. I brought up the idea of taking full financial responsibility for our future puppy in order to maintain total claim over him should something happen between SO and I. His reaction took me by surprise. He asked me to reconsider that because he feels like if we make all these preparations to fail, it's almost like making it more acceptable to happen which in turn may make it more likely to happen. (He was also a little caught off-guard that I thought he was the kind of person who would take my dog away which I don't, but you never know.) I can definitely see his point...it just caught me off guard since I thought he'd appreciate having fall-back plans in place. It affirmed even more my feelings that this is right and I need to stop worrying so much, but after seeing so many failed relationships, I can't help but plan to protect myself in the event things don't work out. Am I crazy? Should I keep some plans in place, but relax on the puppy?

Utilities Set and Selling Stuff

November 12th, 2014 at 07:22 pm

We've got our utilities (minus internet/cable set up). So far, things are falling into place nicely. I still have some stuff I want to start selling. What's the best way to go about that? Things like a motorcycle jacket and helmet, wardrobe and bed, and potentially a whole handful of DVDs.

I lost count of the days already :/

November 10th, 2014 at 07:54 pm

I'm still doing pretty good though. The weekend doesn't count because I went home, so all meals were courtesy of Chef Mom. Today was one of those mornings, so I used spare change in my car to treat myself to McDonald's. Tonight will either be Ramen or mac and cheese. I'm leaning towards the mac and cheese so it can be eaten again tomorrow for lunch. Tomorrow's dinner is courtesy of my volunteer cheer program.

I did have some spending over the weekend - 70 out of my 190 gas/grocery fund for gas and pet food while I was home. I've also spent some other cash for diy cheer gifts, but since that is reimbursed, I don't really count it. (Just in case you're wondering, it's a pizza party, so I'm making cheer themed aprons and goody bags.)

Moving Update

November 7th, 2014 at 05:25 pm

Today's lunch is actually going to be out. Since SO and I are moving together, I don't need as much upfront costs as I had thought, plus my coworker just got married, so we're having a girls lunch (my budget is 10, but I'm hoping for 8). And tonight, I go home to see my pup, so no dinner either (maybe some fries to tide me over since I'm not leaving until later).

More importantly, I wanted to give some moving updates. Snafu gave me some great advice, but I wanted to discuss the steps we've taken so far. I have a dedicated moving notebook in which we've already noted the big furniture we're taking with measurements and where I keep an ongoing list of people I'll have to notify of my new address as well as additional moving tasks. I've looked into utilities, but we're not signing up for anything until we can do it together (he's out of town this weekend). Before he left, we did manage to settle renter's insurance (150 for the year paid upfront) and our joint bank account (we went with Flagship Checking at Navy Federal for the dividends). Once he gets back, things will really start rolling. We have to design our apartment, finish the puzzle we're hanging at move-in, and purge/pack, plus utilities and lease signing. All while my work is crazy and his finals are approaching...not to mention, a little thing called the holidays!

Day 3

November 6th, 2014 at 09:18 pm

First off, I appreciate the people who encouraged me to post whatever I want, whenever! Work has been super stressful, so I've been constantly snacking and not really eating. Yesterday's dinner ended up being chips with melted shredded cheese (my attempt at using leftovers for nachos...). Just now (at 4 pm my time), I had my remaining noodles from Sunday. I probably again won't have dinner unless I'm suddenly starving later. If I do, it'll be mac and cheese, so I have some for tomorrow.

Day 2!

November 5th, 2014 at 03:26 pm

I promise I won't bore everyone every day, but I think if I post it here, I'll be more likely to stick with it, so I want to at least get the ball rolling. Yesterday, my boss treated me to lunch, so the leftover noodles that I had planned to eat are dinner tonight (probably with a couple of eggs to use up those before they go bad). Breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal from my desk stash at work and lunch is the remaining can of baked potato soup with a couple of pieces of Hawaiian sweetbread given to me by the babysitting mom.

Eating down the pantry - day 1

November 4th, 2014 at 03:55 pm

With the impending move, I've decided to try and get rid of most of my random food items left on my shelf in the basement. This consists mostly of soups, ramen, and a couple boxes mac and cheese. I also have one pack of chicken in the freezer. First up, loaded potato with bacon and cheese and crackers. It's a little difficult since I go to SO's sometimes (as I will be tonight), so I have to plan ahead and bring it with me.

Lease Signed

November 3rd, 2014 at 06:41 pm

Well, that was quick! We saw a few more places on Sunday and made a couple of quick, happy decisions. First off, SO will officially be moving in and will be on the lease. Secondly, we chose a place Smile It was the first place we saw on Sunday and as soon as I walked into the last place, I looked over at SO and said, 'The first one it is!' We then went back to the first one to put in the application and put the holding deposit down. We'd encountered a couple of situations during the day where apartments we were interested in had been taken, so we didn't want to risk losing it. Another plus is that the move-in costs are going to be much lower than I had anticipated due to some discounts, so while I will still be strict in November, I may be able to shift some of that budget to Black Friday shopping for stuff we'll need. Exciting times ahead for us and I'm so relieved to have it work out so well, so fast!