A Good Girl Scout is Always Prepared.

A motto that I must remember to reapply to the important things in my life:  money and health.

My finances are still out of whack and getting uglier. I don't know why and I can't figure out how (yes, I've tried writing down every penny) but I'm not giving up.  I am, however, giving my accounts over to The Fella.  Now wait just a minute before the bells and whistles start going off.  No, I'm not Regina Bell.  I am not putting total trust of my accounts in his hands to do as he wishes all willy nilly.  I am asking him to help me avoid overspending, to save money, and get me back on financial track. I've given it a try, a retry, and a third attempt but I keep ending up in a deeper hole.  This sucks!  So as a way to dig out and stay out, he will take my bankcard and dole out gas and grocery money.

Yeah, I could just leave my bankcard at home, but that's temptation. I could just say "you don't need that" but I will talk myself into it. I've done it more times than I would like to count. I need to be able to help out him and/or my family and not running to them to bail me out. So enter, stage right, my financial knight in shinning green armor - The Fella.

As for my health, I've had an "Aha!" moment this weekend. I stay on an eating plan during the week because I plan my meals (at least this is the 2nd week) and I pack my lunch bag with breakfast, lunch and snacks (been doing that for a while now).  I need to do this on the weekend as well.  Left to my own devices, I've eaten poorly 2 weekends in a row.  2 cheat meals (Jackie Warner's suggestion) turn into 2 full day of cheating which completely negates the good eating and strong workouts during the week. Enter stage left, Tosca Reno's suggestion of packing a lunch bag EVERY DAY with clean eats. That means Monday through Sunday - no cheating. Well,  maybe 1 freebie meal - but in moderation.

When things aren't working, how often do you reassess your plans? Do you ask others for help or keeping trying solo?

Mo' Money...

I'm in my office listening to the Black Eyed Peas latest CD and let's just say, ummmm....yeah....I'm so glad this was a gift and that I didn't spend my money on this.

Yeah, I waste money on a lot of stuff, but music isn't one of them. I actually haven't purchased a CD for myself since giving up my CD Warehouse membership.  Remember those? HAHA.  I have recently considered buying single songs from iTunes or Amazon to boost my workout playlist, but have yet to hit BUY.

Instead, I waste my money on food.  Eating out has taken the place of my thrift shopping addiction. I can say that I can now walk into various thrift shops and rarely find a thing that I truly want (except a pair of lamps I'm eyeing at the Goodwill - waiting for the yellow sticker day).

So how's that spending tracking coming along, you ask.  Um, yeah - it isn't! I can say this - my necessary bills are covered, I have food in my house and I have gas in my car. But I haven't tracked a dime on paper since the start of the month.  I can't seem to get my brain to register that I need to see where my money is going.  My subconscious must be rebelling.

I can tell you that I have purchased items for my house and started planning for my upcoming HS reunion in Seattle.  This is what I can remember buying:

1. an art deco buffet is on layaway ($200 total, $50 down)

2. late 40s Japanese tea set ($8) - it's beautiful on my dining table
3. a new runner for my upstairs hallway ($15) - the old one will be sold at the consignment shop.
4. various clothes/make-up items ($60 - approximately) - I even bought shorts/shirt for the Fella because, well, he's a man - they wear items until it's only hanging on by a thread.

5. The big ticket item: 2 airline tickets to Seattle ($600).  If I continued to wait, the ticket price would only increase.  Why is it so damn expensive to fly from Houston to the West Coast I will never understand.


I can see how this may look like frivolous spending, however, it's a hell of a lot better than the past 6 months. The Fella and I agreed to postpone the bike purchase for another month. I'm also expecting another check for some side work which will cover the price of the bike rack (I've managed to scratch my car over the weekend attempting to put the blasted thing in the truck - grrrr).

Goals for the next two weeks:

1. Attempt to once again track spending. I won't / can't know where to cut back if I can't see where the hell it's going - I know this. It's just time to put it in action.
2. Put aside $50 each pay period for the next 5 pay periods to cover B & B expenses for upcoming trip.

Budget - Smudget

I'm really beginning to dislike that word, the one that can't be mentioned. It's like a diet - a money diet per se. And once I've subjected myself to an overly restrictive diet (money or food), I will inevitably binge. There are so many things I want to buy, e.g., a vintage record cabinet (I've already committed to the $30 purchase), and mid-century cocktail bar (planning on haggling down to $100 vs the $259 asking price) - that's just for starters. 

So yeah, I said March 1 would be the kick-off date for keeping a log of what I spend daily. I also said sometime back in Jan and probably Feb that I would track my food intake (boy, I have the worse memory ever). Well, um, you see....it's Day 3 and I haven't found the perfect spreadsheet. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Actually I did just find a decent daily log that I can customize til my heart's content. Hmmm, now if only I can find the receipts from Monday and yesterday.

If you're looking for a new budget (ah hell, I said the word that's not supposed to be spoken) spreadsheet try HERE or HERE.

So here goes nothing (why is "Send in the Clowns" playing on my iTunes station - and a horrible version at that? Wait. Is there a good version?). Ok Ok - back to the point.

Spending to Date:

Food:              $7.40
Parking:           $24 (it rained on Monday and I have a meeting after work tonight).
Household:      $30 (the record cabinet I've committed to and will pick up after my meeting this evening. Did  I mention that it's vintage and in MINT condition?)

Somewhere, somehow I will break this habit.  Maybe a talking bobble head of Dolph Lundgren saying "I must break you" a la Rocky IV will help.  Hmmm, running to ebay to see if there's one for sale. Kidding! Maybe

Checks and Balances

Thank goodness today is March 1.  I get to start tracking where I spend my money (and if it's anything like this past weekend, it will be on eating out). I guess my brain went on vacation and I had an out-of-body experience thinking I won the lottery and just spent money like I was buying bottled water. Egads!!! Oh well, it's water under the bridge and quite possibly some fancy, smancy Artesian well water under the bridge. I'm not sure which is the worse evil, spending money on clothes or food.  Actually, I do know - food is worse becuase it's not tangible (or returnable).

No, I didn't buy some super sexy, red bottomed sole shoes, or soft-as-butta skin-tight leather pants. I bought - drum roll, please: FOOD.  I ate out to a tune of "I have no freaking clue because I didn't keep receipts". But I can tell you that the food was good. Friday was lunch at a wonderful French bistro (http://www.caferabelais.com/Brasserie/Home.html) the duck confeit was delicious; Saturday was dinner with a friend and her son on at a terrific Chinese bistro (369; no link but here are some reviews: http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/restaurants/reviews/rsv4581.asp); Sunday was breakfast at a local dive - great coffee and yummy pancakes followed by lunch at the same Chinese bistro as the night before. Thank goodness I worked out some over the weekend. I may be broke, but I won't be gaining weight.

Oh and yes, I bought rodeo tickets. What more can I say? It's the largest rodeo in the world! Actually, I gave a coupon book to my guy so he can take his kids to the carnival. They can eat themselves sick and ride all the rides for under $50 - that's a great deal. I still need to pay for my Girl Scout cookies, but my order has yet to be delivered. I also purchased 2 wonderful scarves from Linda at Charming Crochet.

So with all this willy nilly high-on-the-hog eating and rodeo preparation, I am starting the month off a little behind the 8-ball. BUT, I do have a small amount in savings and a small cushion in a secondary checking account (not my main account). I am going to help my guy buy a bicycle. It's going on layaway (gosh, I love layaway) Saturday and 90 days to pay it out. I'm also hunting now for our airline tickets and lodging for our trip to Seattle in July!

I think with this pre-planning, March will be a good month with minimal money stress. Let's keep our fingers crossed and our budget tracking sheets ready.

Where has the year gone?

February is almost over. Can you believe it? It's almost March and I'm still wearing boots, gloves, coats, and the heating bill is sitll high - UGH....come on Spring.

Well, I took stock of my spending these past two weeks (to include my V-day spending) and I think I am ok. I received payment on BOTH side jobs (yeah, suckie client came through with payment in full, FINALLY) and I received a check for my consignments (woo hoo!) so I was able to pay on the money borrowed for school (yeah), put a little in savings and of course, I spent some:

1. Gifts: $85 (includes V-day gift for The Fella and steam mop (gift for my house))
2. Eating out: $55
3. Clothing: $33 (a pair of shoes and a gym bag)
4. Parking: $12 (1 day) - I know that's highway robbery but I needed to get in to work early to take care of some things.  Also, I will get reimbursed for 2 days of parking earlier in the month.

All in all, my spending over two weeks totaled: $185 and I have money in the bank between pay periods - YEAH!

So Action Plan for this coming pay period:

1. Use budget sheet (check - already updated for the rest of the year and already filled in for this paycheck).
2. Cancel parking contract for the train (I am taking the bus from the transit center right near my house so I don't have to drive far and parking is free).
3. Make an appointment for March consignment.
4. Start writing down what I spend money on (it's difficult to remember where all these pennies go).

I think my baby steps are finally starting to pay off.

Toot Toot...ahh Beep Beep

Yep. I'm at it again. Tootin my own horn.  Why?  Why am I so obnoxious about spreading what's so great about me?  Hmmm, because.

1. I have lost 8.5 lbs since the start of 2010 (hot damn!). I may just reach my goal set, oh, about 2 YEARS AGO.  Only 12 more to go. I think I can do it.

2. I spent $27 on a yoga bag (impulse buy) and returned it! I also returned the crotch-cutter workout pants I bought last month (actually exchanged them). But I did purchase a sweatshirt because it's freaking cold here, still (darn groundhog - but at least it's not the Northeast) and my other sweatshirt is not warm enough after my evening workouts. $5 Plus, I bought some black wedges to wear. I realized all my casual shoes are sneakers and my other "non-work" shoes aren't very comfy to tromp around town in. $10

3. I listened to my inner self and those around me and stood my ground with a client who was trying to cheat me on an invoice.  Oh Hell No!  You WILL pay what you owe.  I will pick up full payment Friday!

4. An old client called last week. She has real estate and legal work to be done! Woo hoo. I love working with her because she always pays on time and usually tips over the invoice.

5. The Saints won the Superbowl (but the ads sucked!).  Yeah, I left midway through the 3rd quarter. Oh well, it was a decent game and I wasn't keen on either team. So goodie for the Saints. I did spend $45 on a mini-superbowl party for my fella and I. We had a good time so I don't feel bad about the money spent.

6. I am totally pulling off 90s era secretary today.  Short tweed skirt with black tights/black boots, black button down shirt, maroon tee. I should take a photo but no time and no camera. :(

Total $$ spent in February so far:

Parking: $48
Food out: $45
Clothing/shoes: $15

Yeah Yeah. I know. I need to curb that parking. But it was nasty wet last week, I had to meet with one of my clients and today I have a recruit here that I have escort around. And with the threat of more rain, I planned to drive him to the VA and then to the Children's Hospital.  So after today - no more parking at work.

What Fast?

Well, I'm not sure about an actual financial fast, but I have tried to not shop, unless it's a total necessity.  So what may seem like an absolute necessity to someone, may seem like a frivolous want to another.

What I've purchased this month:

1. Working Denim (as my friend calls them) Slacks - I've been wanting a pair since last pair I owned are super huge and the crotch hangs between my knees - not sexy. $5 resale
2. Socks.  At Christmas, I was given socks along with my new sneakers.  Nike socks (black) and no-names (white).  I love the socks, especially the no-namers. So I bought 6 pairs - $10
3. Workout pants. Needed. Really needed. 2 pair on clearance. $3/$5 respectively. Have to return the $5 pair since they're too small.
4. Car wash. Total waste of money, but I had a bunch of errands to do and not enough time to do them all - $17 (with tip).
5. Stretching and Toning - a book by Melissa Cosby.  I gave my copy to my fella (he really needs to stretch, which should ease his lower back pain). Since we don't live together, I wanted to replace the copy I gave him. $4 (includes shipping & was the same amount that I spent on the original purchase).

I've spent a total of $44 this month (not including the 1 lunch with a co-worker, 3 days of parking, 1 dinner with my guy).

So, I'm not completely on the no-shopping bandwagon and very far behind the 21-day financial fast. HOWEVER, I have curbed my spending (in my opinion) and that's a great feat for me. I did receive my tax refund and have caught up on my 2 major bills. I feel ready to start Feb off on the right foot using Dave Ramsey's envelope method.

Action plan:
1. Pull out old budget sheet, compare with new budget sheet.
2. Limit eating out to 1 monthly meal.
3. Use envelope method to curb spending

It's all about the baby steps...

So last week I was worried about how I was going to cover my 2 largest monthly bills because of my overspending. I had to borrow the money from my folks so that repayment will cut into my tax refund (but at least there's no interest charge). My Uncle also came through and made another payment on the car! My saving grace was that I didn't have any other high bills to pay so I was able to take $100 to cover my lights & gas. I even had $100 for groceries and gas.  But I'm not out of the woods yet - still playing catch up.

I am happy about the weekend. I was able to walk into thrift stores and not buy anything frivolous. I actually took items for consignment, didn't browse. I did spend $2 on books, $2 on belts (I need to keep my britches up), $2 on a lamp for my bedroom - desperately needed.  I know what you're thinking: You borrowed money from your folks so in order to pay bills, but yet you still shopped!!!  It's baby steps for me. I can't do it all cold turkey. So hopefully next weekend if I do go near a store I wont buy anything at all unless totally necessary (the belts were necessary).

Another good thing about this weekend I realized that I need to cut back on some negative folks in my life.  I'm sure this person contributes to my overspending. I noticed when I went alone, I didn't browse every single rack and I didn't blow a lot of money. Plus, I don't have the urge to go out to eat when I'm with this person.  There was a time I was used to hanging solo, but as of late I've felt this need for company. This need is also contributing to my overspending.  So I am working on this one too. Weaning myself off.

Good item #3 about the weekend is that my weight is back down to pre-stress levels. That's a good thing especially since the temps here dropped to the 20s in the evening which made it very difficult to get to the gym (no real excuse not to workout, however, since I have all the gym items at home as well) but I didn't workout past Tuesday - boo!  But I did do housework, so that accounts for expending some energy, right?

So action plan for this week:

1. Start going to places solo or with BF. He's off this weekend so hopefully we will get a chance to spend some time together. This will also help me wean off little Miss Negative.

2. Keep my gym appointments. I have them set in my calendar and the BF knows my schedule, so he's less liekly to tempt me with other options.

3. Continue recording in my food journal, but this time adding why and when I eat. Great tip from Merry.

The baby steps continue.

This is a fine mess you've gotten us in...

I'm not really sure who I'm fooling - obviously no one but myself. I need to come to grips with reality and develop a plan of action to fix the mess I've created.

Mess # 1 - overspending and now I'm behind on major bills.

Mess # 2 - overeating and now my weight is up to 170lbs.

How did I get into mess # 1? I can give all the excuses under the sun: Christmas shopping, needing items for self, etc. etc. But honestly, it is pure and simple - poor budgeting & counting on money I didn't have in had (promised cash). Yeah, I've said it before but now I have no choice - I CAN NOT SHOP unless it's a total necessity and right now, the only necessary object I need is....NOTHING! I use restraint not visit with exBF, exFriends, not to drive too far over the speed limit. So why can't I use that same restraint not to shop? The better question is why am I shopping? Boredom, the desire to acquire crap, not very happy personally. These may be all valid reasons - but now I have to correct/overcome these issues and the only way to do that is DO WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY.

Plan of action for Mess # 1:

1. Do more reading. I'm actually reading Bob Harper's book, Are You Ready? which will work hand-in-hand with Mess # 2
2. Hang out at the museums, art galleries, and other artsy/fartsy events - I love attending gallery openings, even add them to my calendar but find an excuse not to go. I'm too young to act like a fuddy-duddy, so I'm going!
3. Learn. It's time to take the GRE. Not being in school, I have WAAAAAAY too much time on my hands - hence all the damn shopping. So it's time to take some CEU courses, online courses through MIT or even a grant writing course through work.
4. Pull out my budget and beginning in Feb return to using my envelope method. Why the late start you ask - because I have to play catch up on 2 major bills and it's going to take both paychecks this month to get back on track. This is actually # 1, but I don't feel like cutting and pasting to re-order.

Mess # 2 has come about because of Mess # 1. All my overspending has cause stress which equals stress eating. Yeah, so 8 lbs may not be a big deal to some but to me - it is. I went from 203 to 163 (give or take 2 lbs) and now I'm up to 170. I dont have any size 16s any longer and since I can't shop, I REFUSE to buy anything that goes up a size. I can't continue to comment on fitness blogs if my eating habits are out of whack. There's no point in working out if I'm gonna return home to a pint of cookies-n-cream. ARGH!!!!

Plan of Action for Mess # 2

1. Start my food journal (acutally I had this journal entry written on Sunday - it's now Tuesday and I've started my journal).
2. Plan/Pack my breakfast, lunch, snacks - measure/weigh each item and nothing goes in my mouth that's larger than my fist (1 serving only). No that doesn't mean I can cut up 1/2 a chicken so it's palm size and eat the entire thing!
3. Revamp my workout schedule. I've been hooked on Zumba for about 2 months now - haven't really seen any change in body - but the class is fun. Well guess what, Zumba is cut back to 2 days a week. TurboKick is back on the schedule for 3 days (man, my upper body is sore!), and I've pulled out some old weight training schedules I've used in the past - those are back in rotation. I've attempted that blasted Hundred Push-Up challenge twice - not gonna happen. However, I have incorporated push-ups (2 sets each) into my circuit training which is on Sunday.

Yes, I know it's only day 2 of my action plans, but I've already seen a 2 lb decrease and I've earned $20 toward my bills! Baby steps, baby steps.

So if I can get over these two messes (and I know I will), I can concentrate on my next round of goals: Save $300 and apply to graduate school. I just need to learn accountability. I've said it before but I'm trying it again - with the help of online journaling, my BF and my offline friends I should be able to dig myself out of this.

So the process begins (again).