Birthday Festivities

With the failed attempt at "p-diddy cruising" behind us, we decided to take some of your advice and have a nice evening out, especially since my fiance's birthday was the 29th.

We went to the rainbow outlet store and got him new sandles with the house sitting money we had gotten earlier this month (Cost $40.00). We also went to home depot and South County Boy picked up a hand saw he wanted since mine is "inadequate" (I'm not sure what it cost because he paid cash for it while I was buying a plant from the garden area since I told him to keep the remaining house sitting money as pocket money.) My plant was $7.38 with a container and a drain pan.

If you remember back to when South County Boy first came out to California over Christmas, we went to Chilli's with a few of my friends so he could meet everyone... and he loved the place... so much so, that he wanted to repeat the experience on Christmas eve when i didn't feel like cooking dinner (even though only a day had passed between visits). The staff got a huge kick out of it and him since I think we had the same server on our second visit and i knew the hostess, an old friends younger sister).

So, we decided we would hit up Chilli's for his birthday since we knew he liked the food there and its pretty reasonable price wise. When we got to the resturant and flipped through the menu my fiance noticed they were doing their $2 for $20 special... an Appetizer and 2 entrees for $20.00. He was going to order something that was on the list anyway, and I wanted to try the fried shrimp since I haven't had a lot of seafood lately, so we went for the deal.

So we split a half order of loaded cheese fries, he got his pasta, and i ordered fried shrimp and swapped my "fries" for a salad (for an extra $1.00 charge since I knew i'd get fries with the appetizer already and that's enough fried food to sink a battleship--- uh, the wedding diet starts on May 1st....)... and since I never order soda because I don't like it, and they don't have mountain dew there (his weakness) we both had water.

It was nice to get out of the house and enjoy a meal out... We actually had really great service and to top it all off, they sang and embarrassed him because it was his birthday so we had a fabulous moulton Lava cake dessert for free! It cost us $22.84 before tip, So i left $29.00 (I tipped off the total including the cake, and as an ex server myself, I generally leave 20% unless it was horrible.) So for under $30 ---cheaper than one of those discount p-diddy tickets, we had a nice date out that was more our style and comfort zone.

=)

Tonight we have my sister's engagement party to attend... loud people, bad music, and lots of liquor await... :/ I'm not really looking forward to it because the only people south county boy and I will know are each other and my family...  (Thank God we have each other!)

Spending (April 23rd - 30th)

April 23rd: $134.00

• Church offering/giving : $134.00

April 24th: $73.78

• Fresh and Easy: $68.45
• Henry's Farmers Market: $5.33

April 25th: $69.87 (propane tank refill and flowers for the garden)

• Lowes: $42.36 
• Walmart: $27.51 

April: 26th: $0.00

April: 27th: $51.18 (Flowers for "Mothers Day" + Card +Internet)

• Ralphs: $11.85 
• Henry's Farmers market: $4.34
• Cox Internet: $34.99

April 28th: $0.00

April 29th: $326.38 (also my fiance's Birthday)

• Rainbow Outlet Store: $40.00
• Home Depot: $7.38
• Chili's bar and Grill: $29.00
• Home Owners Association Bill: $250.00

April 30th: $0.00

Monthly Bills/obligations left to pay: $0.00 | Extra Money at the end of the month: $102.52!

I'm taking $50.00 from the extra money this month and putting it towards our costco membership bill which is due in August since I don't have money set aside for that bill yet. With this taken care of, we officially have all the money we need to cover our "Annual" bills that we don't monthly budget for! Woot!

Normally, when I get an annual bill that's not included monthly in the budget, I pull money out of a savings account earmarked for that bill, pay the bill, and then immediately save up that amount for next years bill so I don't have to worry about how i'm going to find $X amount in the budget when the bill "unexpectantly" shows up. I don't count these funds towards my emergency fund or to my short term emergency fund either because they are earmarked for bills.

The remaining $52.52 we have this month will go towards our emergency fund. Next month I should see a good chunk of overtime from the lifeguard class I co-instructed earlier this month. Since we still have a few annual bills that we recently paid back in February and March, I would like to begin to set aside the money for them since funds will only be tighter next year when we begin to add my fiance onto my work policy. We only have 2 left to save up for:

My Fiance's Car Registration: $154.00 We already have mine saved up. (this assumes we won't downsize to a one car family next year... Right now, we only drive around my car anyways and if he doesn't have a job come February, we will cut down to one car, turn his into the california state program for older cars and get $1,000.00 for his clunker. This way we don't have annual SMOG tests, registration fees, added car insurance fees, and maintenance on an older car...)
AAA membership Fee $48.00

So next month I'd like to get one of these eliminated, assuming our honeymoon plans work out in our favor... Yes, I said honeymoon plans... we think we may be able to get away with an inexpensive budget friendly honeymoon after all.  When I participated in the LA Marathon for Child Share, my fiance and I stopped by a booth for Carnival Cruise Lines and signed up for one of those timeshare/travel opportunity lectures to get a free vouchure for a 3 day cruise to Catalina Island and Encinada Mexico.

If this pans out and we get the vouchure, we can redeem it for a date 30 days in the future up to 18 months from when we get it... and conviently 2 days after we get married, that cruise line departs... making it an idea honeymoon since I have never been to Catalina before. We go to the travel thing on Monday.

Another Price Increase victim...

If you look back to my post describing my spending during the first week of April (April Spending 1st-9th) You will remember the huge price increases that hit dairy and egg products at Costco in just one weeks time... (13.4% for Milk; 10.2% for cheese; and 22.9% for eggs)


Now, if you were to scroll down that post further to what I bought on April 3rd, you'd notice this:

"Bone in Pork Chops @ 1.99 lb ($7.62)"

You'll notice I paid $1.99 a pound for pork chops at Fresh and Easy... For those of you who aren't familiar with my new favorite grocery store we shop there for 2 reasons...

1. They give us/we can find $6 off $30 coupons every week to use for groceries...
2. They keep everyday staple prices. They don't do "Rewards Prices" at their stores and things stay the same price week in and week out.  Chicken, steak, pork, etc... and it makes it easier to plan out our grocery budget because we don't have to try and price hunt meat, we can just buy what we are low on and freeze it then. It also makes it easier to price watch for increases. Sure, some things will vary in price week to week in the produce department and go on sale, but their regular products remain the same price... please keep this in mind when you look at the picture of this weeks ad:

That's the price for Pork Chops...

Last week, $1.99 a pound... this week $2.49 a pound (25% Increase in one weeks time.) 

If you read back to my post on March 6th, "My Ode to Fresh and Easy" when my fiancé first moved to California, I got ground beef for $1.99 lb... and shortly after it jumped to $2.49 a pound... but I just figured it was an ending to the "promotion price" because the store was brand new and had just opened... but that wasn't the case... It was inflation hitting ground beef and making it rise 25%.... so to further document any increases:

current price of ground beef

An update on my sisters "offer"

This post has been included in this weeks edition of the Total Money Blog Carnival, hosted by Money Beagle. Please head over and check out the other entries! 

If you haven’t been following the comments from “Another offer I’m not sure what to do with,” an update is definitely in order. (and thank you guys for all the advice!!!). My sister suggested that my fiancé and I pay around $100 (after the 50% off discount from a "groupon" like site) for a nice night out on a cruise ship for a 3 hour tour of Dana Point harbor with a nice buffet dinner, drinks, and music to dance to…  I was almost sold… especially since my sister told me that my mom, her boyfriend, my sister, and her fiancé were all planning on buying tickets and we have been left out of a lot of “family gatherings” since our engagement.  


Our only debate was if we could justify the expense because we are trying to save money for a honeymoon and for our emergency fund. Since my fiancé has been unable to find a job out here since he moved from Utah, saving money for us has become a priority... so much so that for this year until our emergency fund has 6 months of expenses, I won’t be tossing any money towards my Roth IRA (something I’ve maxed out the past 4 years or so).


So I was kind of stuck on what to do… As some of you noted, my fiancé and I missed out on the “wine and dine” phase of our relationship since we dated long distance... and since living in the same town we have been very diligent in our monthly budget and could really deserve a nice night out… Others pointed out that with the wedding, a still unplanned honeymoon, and the desire to fund the emergency fund, we should decline the offer and take that money towards our honeymoon…


To get a better perspective, I asked my sister to send me the link so I could take a look at it myself  and get a better idea of what it was all about… and I’m glad I did. She sent me the link (very hesitantly I might add…) and when I read the words in the description, I knew why she was holding back:


Why go to another club on land, when you can party at sea? We're not talking stuffy dinner cruises with guys that look like the monopoly man. Try a luxury yacht, P. Diddy-style…Welcome to SoCal’s ultimate party on the water…

"Which is far from the description of a nice romantic evening on a luxury yacht I received from my sister… so I went even further and looked at the original site, not just the deal site, to get more information and found the description for the same “package” a little skewed… The dinner was now called an “appetizer buffet” and there were more mentions of “authentic Los Angeles party atmosphere” and "cash bar on yacht."

This seems like more of a bachelorette get away instead of a nice romantic evening with my fiancé and family… Especially when a nice meal out for us costs us Half of what the 2 vouchers would, and my fiancé doesn't drink...


Looks like I just saved $100.00 and learned a valuable lesson... If it sounds to good to be true, take the time to do the work because it probably is. 

Here's some pictures from my birthday garden...

For my birthday my fiance has agreed to be take care of and mend my garden while i'm staying at another house until we are married... here's some photos from my balcony haven.

 

Daisy's and Gerber Daisy's and more Daisy's

I've always wanted one of these... and this one
I can see when i'm walking up the
 path to get home after a long day at work.

My Yellow Box! 2 type of Lily's!

So now after work or a long day, I can sit on my balcony and read and enjoy my pretty view 

=)

Another offer i'm not sure what to do with...???

My sister called me today... Apparently she found this deal on line for a 3 and a half hour cruise around Dana Point Harbor with a nice buffet dinner with drinks and a band with a dance floor... and she mentioned it to my mom...

and now it looks like my mom, her boyfriend, my sister, & her fiance are all going to get the voucher so they can pick a day to go on a Sunday and they want to know if South County Boy and I want to get voucher's too so the "whole family" can go...  It's $40 a person plus taxes and stuff... so its going to be around $100.00 for us to go...

Now if you remember back to April 4th and my conversation with my mom at Stein Mart , I was really upset when I found out how the "whole family" went to dinner without even inviting my fiance and I... and while this time we got the invite... I don't know what to do because it's going to cost us a lot of money to "be included in the family" ...

Technically we have the money because of the extra work I've been doing... But we weren't planning on spending that extra money on one night on the town... (especially since for my birthday my fiance let me start my garden early as his present to me.... so we dropped about $40 between Lowes and Walmart on plants and soil... and part of his gift to me is to water the plants every morning since i'll be staying at the family from church and won't be able to... but i'll get to enjoy the flowers all season long and read out there... one of my favorite things to do-- he also got me a couple books from the $1 bookstore the other day.)

So, while we have the money... I don't know if its worth forking over it all for one night out. I'm sure we would have a really great time, take a load of pictures, and really enjoy ourselves... but that's money we could put towards our current non existent honeymoon... (or maybe even use something like that for our make shift honeymoon if the cruise doesn't work out???)

hmmmmm..... Well, we have till tomorrow night to make up our minds... Care to weigh in?

Total Money Blog Carnival @ Stupid Cents

This weeks edition of the Total Money Blog Carnival is over at Stupid Cents, and Yours Truly is included so head over there and take a look!

This is the first time I've been included in a blog carnival, so go on and take a looksie!!!

Wedding Update...

With 74 days left until I get to say "I Do," I was very glad to get a package in the mail from my future mother in law.

South County Boy's mom did me a wonderful favor... Besides embroidering each girl's name onto the tote bags in the wedding colors... she also made handmade lace bookmarks for all the girls in the bridal party (my friends are pretty big readers, so this was a nice way to personalize the bags with something special they will get to use after the wedding besides taking the bags to the beach.)

When I went out to Utah to move my fiance "home" we left the bags with my fiance's mom and she was going to try and get them embroidered... and then she offered to also make the bookmarks in the same blue as the wedding... I didn't think i'd get to see them until they came out here for the wedding, but here's what the final product looks like:

So far, inside each of the bags I'm going to put the necklace and earrings set I got everyone to wear the day of the wedding. (Any other ideas if we have extra money in the budget?)

A job offer for my fiance we won't be acting upon...

So my fiance got a call today from Arby's... offering him a job....which sounds fantastic... but there's one problem.... It's the Arby's he applied to 4+ months ago when he used to live in Utah.

***shakes head in frustration***

Dear Walmart,

We would be overjoyed today if you were to place a call to my fiance and give us good news. We know you received the background check on my fiance because we also got a copy of it in the mail. The drug test came back to you and it came back clean... and he has done the 3 interviews already... so it would be lovely to get a call from your company to let us know when he can come in for orientation... This way we can properly laugh and be silly about  at the job offer from Utah.

Thanks much!

South County Girl

Fresh and Easy Jack Pot!

I really and truly love the folks at fresh and easy... and the more I shop there, the more I get to know the people who work there. Last week when my fiance went shopping solo, he forgot his coupon at home and mentioned it to one of the produce guys... The guy walked into the back of the store and got him one to use that day so he wouldn't have to go home and come back.... Now that's just plain nice.

And today, while we were checking out, a nice employee noticed I was doing two separate transactions so i could use more than one coupon (there was an awesome coupon out because of Easter, $10 off $50) and she told me that the computer would allow for me to use multiple coupons in the same transaction as long as the total was enough... so I wouldn't need to split my transactions if I didn't want to. Otherwise I could split them to make sure, whatever way I wanted to shop was fine. We chatted while I was ringing things up and she mentioned how much she liked how organized I was with my shopping list and how me and my fiance had a good system set up. (I scan the items by type so its easier for my fiance to bag similar items together...)

So now that I know we can use multiple coupons without splitting transactions might just make me shop at Fresh and Easy even more... so yes, we picked up a few $6 off $30 coupons at the end of our check out lane for next week.

Since we budget $250 a month for groceries at $50 a week, some months only have 4 grocery shopping days for us and some have 5... This month there were only 4 shopping weeks so we knew we would have money leftover... especially since we wouldn't be going to Costco since we still have a gallon of milk in the fridge and my gas tank will get me through the week... Plus this week I also need to buy stuff for Mother's day dinner (a nice salad and an appetizer... So i decided to make bruschetta, because no one in my family can complain about that!) So we had planned on spending more than $50 this week...

Transaction One:

• 4 lbs of Strawberries $3.99
• French Baguette $2.29
• Lite Mayo $3.29
• Jar of Salsa $1.69
• Two 8 oz cans of Tomato Sauce $0.78 ($0.39 a piece)
• Two jars of Ragu Alfredo Sauce $3.18 ($1.59 a piece)
• Can of Kidney Beans $0.79
• 1 lb box of brown sugar $1.39
• Apple Sauce (6 small containers in one package) $1.59
• 1 lb frozen Edamame $1.69
• 3lbs frozen Veggies $3.39
• One 5oz can of tuna $0.69
• Two 1 lb bags of Penne Pasta $1.98 ($0.99 a piece)
• One can of Evaporated Milk $0.99
• Hot Dogs $1.49
• Marsh-mellow fluff $1.19
• Cream Cheese Frosting $1.29
• Two bottles of Ranch Dressing $3.78 ($1.89 a piece)
• Italian Dressing $2.29
• Ketchup $1.79
• 42oz of Oats $2.99
• Onion Soup Mix $0.89
• Wheat thins $2.00
• Triscuits $2.00
• Crushed Red Pepper $1.49
• Croutons $0.79
• Flour Tortillas $0.98

Total $50.70, -$10 off coupon = $40.70

Transaction 2:

• Comet Cleaner $1.09
• Two butter Sticks $1.98 ($0.99 a piece)
• 4 pack of yoplait light vanilla yogurt $2.29
• one pound of tomatoes $1.99
• 3 ct of Romain Lettuce
• 3lbs of onions $1.49
• Chicken Breasts $6.29 ($1.99 lb)
• mushrooms $1.79
• organic spring salad mix, 16 oz $3.99
• Parmesan cheese $3.29
• Chocolate Chips $2.49
• 2 packages of Hummus $3.00
• large eggs $1.99
• tax: $0.08

Total: $33.77, -$6 off coupon = $27.75

Not only did we get groceries for the week, but we have enough salad fixings for the TWO potluck dinners we have planned this week... (Mother's day & Bible Study) and instead of focusing on just shopping for 3 meals a day, we finally made a point to buy snack food... which is really awesome because sandwiches for lunch for 3 weeks in a row is defiantly horrendously boring. Last week I just couldn't do it and made my fiance make a pot of spaghetti just so i could have that for lunch the next day... Its safe to say I've missed having yogurt, humus, edameme, and other girly food around in the house. We were trying to buy things we both would eat so we made sure nothing would get wasted, but now that we have figured out that our grocery budget is set up right, we can now add back in some of the things we really enjoy eating that the other may not particularly want to gobble up. (notice the chocolate chips... the marshmellow fluff... the hot dogs.... that's man food.)

Health Insurance Comparison... why its important to do the work... and the math

This Post has been included in this weeks edition of the Total Money Blog Carnival is over at Stupid Cents. Go Visit and take a look! This is the first time I've been included in a blog carnival, so go on and take a looksie!!!

My fiancé and I sat down a few days ago and went through our options for Health Insurance. We can keep him on his parents plan until December 31st, but then we will need to have him added onto my work plan, (AKA: take a huge pay cut)... or have him find his own policy.

We called up Aetna, my fiancés current health insurance provider, and went through the options. She listed off one plan that just didn't work for us monthly in comparison to Kaiser... but she did give us another option that seemed cheaper initially... The other plan came with a base monthly rate of $115 a month for a high deductible plan ($2500)… but then when we were going over my fiancé’s current medications, she told me that rate would increase 25-50% PER maintenance drug that my fiancé takes (making our premium $143.75- $172.50 a month for taking one maintenance drug… )But he’s on 2 maintenance drugs so well need to do that twice—so the premium would be around $230.00...

Doctor visits are a co-pay of $50.00 a visit and he'd be limited to 3 visits a year (after that its a $75 Urgent Care Fee) … My fiancé would need to go at least 2 times a year just to get his prescriptions re-evaluated. My work plan has a $15 co pay, making it a difference of $70.00 annually, or $7.00 a month putting the monthly costs at $237.  

His daily asthma pills are around $2.00 a pill and are not generic, nor is there a generic available for them and on this plan we’d have to pay for those out of pocket. At $2 a pill on the high end, we’d pay out $720 a year. My work plan has these medications for $25 for a 3 month’s supply, so the added cost would be $620.00 a year or  $51.67 a month.   So we are at $288.67 a month.

Generic medications on the Aetna plan are a monthly $20 charge, while my work plan gives $10 generic for 3 months supply. My fiancé has 2 generic medications for an annual difference of $400, or 33.34 a month. So now we are at $322.01 for the bare bones plan— with a $2,500 deductible (then 30% coinsurance until another $5k is spent) and limited doctor visits. 

With this plan, I’d also have to still get my fiancé on a vision and dental plan through my work. The vision Plan is $36.00 a month, the expanded dental is an additional $14.72 to include him on it.   These two expenditures make my paychecks go from $1,271.54 to $1,252.04, making my monthly income $2,504.08 no matter what option we take (Aetna or Kaiser). When I subtract the medical costs of bare bones Aetna plan, we are at $2,182.07 to live off for the month.

By adding my fiancé onto the insurance plan at work, I get an increase in benefit money. It goes from $825.00 a month to $912.00:

• Kaiser (2 people) $955.90 
• Dental (2 people) $33.25

We come up SHORT $77.15  a month so instead of getting money added to my paycheck each month, well need to have $38.58 deducted from each of my paychecks. I looked into adding a VISION plan, but Kaiser includes a free vision Exam at no co-pay and we can get frames and lenses at Costco for less than $360.00 the vision plan would have cost us... especially considering that I don't wear glasses and to get him a vision plan, i'd have to pay for a plan I wouldn't need.  

In order to calculate how much of a difference NOT having the café cash added into my paycheck changes things, I’m going to run the numbers keeping my current stats (Single status, claim 1 federally, claim 0 on state.) My paychecks would be $1,252.04 with the increased dental on there already from the previous Aetna Example,  but with the rest of these changes, I’ll be only getting $1,115.46 every two weeks. Annual out of pocket expenses for my fiancé would only be $210.00 or $17.50 a month in doctor visits and prescriptions combined. If we take that from what our monthly take home pay would be with my work insurance plan ($2,230.92) we essentially get to live off of $2,213.42 a month… That's $31.35 MORE a month to use for groceries, gas, etc than if we picked the Aetna plan... and we'd be in better shape if there was actually a medical emergency because we have better coverage.

See, what might seem like a sticker shock at first, is actually the better deal for us longevity wise. He'll finish the year on Aetna on his parents plan (because monthly isn't only $82 since its a family plan)... and then in January 2012 he will move to the happy world of Kaiser...

Now when I do get married, I will change my filing status and we will therefore have more money to “live off of” each month because I'll still be cashing out some benefits for the remainder of the year so  my paychecks will actually increase... but we will be putting that money towards Roth IRA catch up contributions so it won't be part of our "living expenses." that way the sticker shock a few months down the line won't be so intense.

My Understanding of Personal Finance

So a few weeks ago I stumbled on Dave Ramsey’s radio show… and I’ve gotten a bit hooked to be honest. It’s now my show of choice to listen to at work or on the way home if I can catch it. (sorry KFI-AM ... you served me well for a good year or too... now your hosts mostly annoy me when I listen... minus Jon and Ken and Bill Carroll).

I have to admit that on one level Dave Ramsey is really just speaking common sense to people who have never heard about saving money before… and that's why for some, it’s a great plan to help get on the path to financial security and to actually have a future. If you dissect his plan and have read a little about personal finance I'm sure you would have a different opinion on one thing or another given enough time... and that's okay because this is after all PERSONAL FINANCE     =)
 
While I'm sure we could blog all day about whether it is better to pay the smallest bill first and get that early “win” and motivation... or if should you tackle the debt that has the highest interest rate… But that's not what this post is about.

Most personal finance blogs out there on the internet focus on getting rid of consumer debt like car loans and credit cards, AKA “Toxic Debt.” The guru's of finance write their plans and strategies based on people having huge amounts of debt, paying it off, and then turning that HUGE amount of money they were tossing at their debt into wealth building... Which is great if you had a lot of debt and used the snowball method... But what about the select few of us, the “No Student Loans - No Credit Card Debt - Just a Mortgage” kind of people. We have some savings... and we have dabbled here and there with investments... but we don't really have a large amount of money to put towards all our goals. We tend to try and do everything all at once because there isn't a plan for us out there on the internet... because we are the minority. So we take plans... mash them together... and try and work on 3 goals at one time... and all it leads to is burn out because IT TAKES FOREVER to feel like your making progress.

So, I've decided to look at Dave Ramsey's plan and see if it would really work for me because I'm suffering financial burn out.

 I already have my mini emergency fund. I don’t have to debate about paying back student loans with deductible interest because I don’t have any… I don't have credit cards with various interest rates to argue about and i don't have any car loans either... I already came to the light earlier this month and stopped making extra mortgage payments. So that puts me somewhere between step three and step four because I do have at least 3 months of expenses saved up...   

Do i keep plugging away until I have the full 6 months and stop funding my retirement... or do i begin to transition into retirement and the EF at the same time like I have been doing?

Because i didn't have any debts to snowball, I don't have a lot of money to work with each month... and if I'm trying to max out my Roth IRA and work on my emergency fund at the same time (like I'm doing now)... I find I'm loosing momentum because I'm not seeing very much progress... Some people may argue about missing out on an employer matching their 401k if they stopped funding retirement… BUT again, I DON’T HAVE THAT to argue. I have a pension at work that I have to contribute to.

Truthfully, right now I understand what Dave keeps talking about finance being an emotional game... not strictly a numbers one. I miss having a “Win” to boost and keep me vigilant about my finances. I keep wondering if I should just hammer out the EF and put retirement on hold.

Right now, my EF stands at: $8,982.67... and i'd like it to be $11,000.00

•  ING Direct Emergency Fund: $6,967.85 
• Salle Mae Savings account: $1,004.64 
• Salle Mae Cd’s: $1,010.18

If I take the money in my Wealth Builder account, that makes my emergency fund $9,145.07. I have $1,000.00 saved up that was going to go towards my Roth IRA but I haven’t deposited that money yet for the year because I was going to open an account at Vanguard and I need 3k to do that. If I add that $1,000.00 to my Emergency fund it would be $10,145.07 … so I’d only need $854.93 to have my Emergency Fund done for good… and monthly in the budget right now we’d have $336.36 to save each month.  So we’d have it fully funded by July (when we get hitched)...  When if we ever needed it, it would be then.

Post honeymoon/time off we'd then make all the HR changes and modify my withholding to reflect being married and then we’d change focus and start putting our extra money towards Retirement. With 4 months left in 2011, we’d be able to put at least $1250 a way… plus I’d get two extra checks  for another $2,200.00 … so the Roth would get at least $3450 by the end of the year… if I made overtime, it could be even more.  (plus we can still contribute to it until March of 2012 for 2011.) A big tax return could put us in a nice place to play catch up with... and i'd only have one thing to focus on... max out Roth IRA & contribute 15% of my income to retirement.
 
So why am I thinking about this all right now??? The other day on Dave’s radio show a caller was asking about stopping retirement contributions for a short time to knock the EF out of the park because doing both seemed like a stand still financially)... and his advice was to get that EF funded… and then focus on retirement because you never know when you might need that EF... and I think thats the best thing for me and the future hubby to do. We talked it over and that's the new game plan for now.

Mission fully funded EF here we come.

Car Insurance Changes Again

I'm feeling a bit under the weather and my wonderful fiance is making me dinner and taking the best care of me ever. I love him...

But what I don't love and car insurance bills...

I got the renewal for my car insurance in the mail today... and I'm happy to say that the amount has gone down (I think Its because I turn 25 next month after the bill is due so the new amount reflects that new milestone.) I'll pay the bill early next month.

My Insurance is now $363.75 every 6 months (60.63 a month)
South County Boys insurance is $231.00 every 6 months (38.50 a month)
Homeowners insurance is $322 every 12 months (26.84 a month)
Earthquake insurance is $261 every 12 months (21.75 a month)

Which works out to $147 a month towards insurance. So, starting next month we get to reduce the amount we stick in savings to cover insurance costs. Woot Woot.

J Money's 5 for Friday

So JMoney at Budgets are Sexy is batting a new idea around... 5 for Friday and I'm game. (Can't link the video up correctly so if you want to see that Friday song, you'll have to go over to Budgets are Sexy and check it out.)

1. What was the last thing you bought?
2. How much did it cost?
3. How much do you have in your Emergency Fund right now?
   
4. How much will you spend this Easter Weekend?
5. How many pairs of underpants do you own?
6. *EXTRA CREDIT: What seat should you take?

My Answers:

1. Lets see, the last thing I bought was one of the Canvas picture for my mom for mother's day. The 8x10 was free and all I paid was for shipping.
2. $14.95 for shipping
3. Emergency Fund: $8,982.67 Goal: $11,000.00
4. Easter spending... Nada. Just normal groceries since we are budgeting for the wedding and have decided to forgo the bunny's and baskets this year.
5. oh man... Tons... and I'm getting 7 more for my birthday
6. Second to back row, far side... Your not getting called on and not marked as the Goof off who's sleeping in the back, but its still easy to slip out and stay unnoticed.
   

To see J Money's Responses, Check out his Post Five for Friday

April 21st and 22nd

April 21st: $0.00 but gained+$21 Gained+$10
I got my gas rebate check from work. South County Boy and I walked to the bank to cash this check, plus a check for $50 as a wedding present from his Uncle who can't make it to the wedding. We are saving this $50 up for a new mattress or we will use it for a honeymoon. One of the two. Anyways, I put the money from my gas rebate in my wallet for now. We will most likely use it this week to help offset our groceries and give us $70 to spend because we need to get flowers for my mom for mothers day (we are apparently celebrating on Wednesday because that's more convenient for my sister...) and we need to bring a nice salad and appetizers to the my sisters place because we will be celebrating there. I told my mom her gift might not have arrived yet because I assumed we'd celebrate in May (she doesn't know its a canvas picture of my sister and I... hope she likes it)...

The offermatic rebate also posted to my debit card, so i'm up another $10 too.

April 22nd: PAYDAY!!! (technically $0.00 since its still in savings) PLUS $46.83
Time to save some money: $250.00 to my Roth IRA Savings Account; $50 to the Christmas savings account (so we have money for 2 Christmas's and hopefully travel costs to Utah and back by automobile); $152 to our Insurance savings account (for both our cars, the earthquake insurance and the homeowners insurance).

I also got $46.83 in OVERTIME this week.

Locked out of the house

So the other day I was talking to South County Boy in the kitchen:

• Me: "Hey, do you want to walk with me down to the bank so I don't have to go alone? I was going to cash the check we got from the wedding and the one from my work gas recipts."
• SCB: "..."
• Me: "Please, its good exercise... get your shoes on." (**smiles because I know I have won and he's walking with me**)
• SCB: "okay."
  

I gather up what we need and hand it to him to put in his wallet. He fills up a water bottle and I hand him the house keys and say,

• Me: "Here's the keys, I'll wait for you outside... don't forget to lock the door"

Less than a minuet later he's outside the door, the house is locked and we are on our way... we walk to the bank, browse through the new Walgreens just to see what they have there, and we also puruse Fresh and Easy to get appetizer ideas for Mother's day. We walk home hand in hand most of the way because we like each other. We approach the complex and South County Boy asks me....

• SCB: "Hey, ummmm where are the keys?"
• ME: "What do you mean, where are the keys? I handed them to you before I went out the door... you locked the house... you jiggled the lock...."
  

Panic sets in for me... guilt sets in for SCB...

• SCB: "I don't remember when I last had them... .... ...."

We race to the front door to see if they were left on the landing... praying he dropped them before we walked off... they aren't there, the door is locked.

We live on the second floor... there are no windows in our place.... the balcony is no where near the front door which just has stairs up to our door and a place for a mat... ... and under our condo lives a very loud barking and upset German Sheppard.... We proceed to get into SCB's car because he keeps a spare key in his wallet... We frantically scan our route as we drive to the bank... The keys aren't there... we park and walk over and through the whole Walgreens Store, Stopping every place he picked up something to look at it..... Nope, Not there... not even at the stretchy slinky shirts he kept playing with near the Easter stuff.... We walk next door and check every isle of fresh and easy.... Nope, still not there...

SCB drives home while I walk home to check our path... He has convinced me he will break into the house while i'm walking home because he doesn't remember locking the house with the key... I need to burn off steam...I'm upset, but don't cry and haven't (a plus for me)... I worry and walk since the only key to my car that will start my car is on that set... along with my work keys, the key to the house i'm staying at, my mom's house key, the mail box key, and my SPARE house key as well... (I used to lock myself out of the house when i'd go marathon training because i'd take the key off my regular key ring to run with and would forget to put it back on and leave later that day without a house key because i'd naturally grab my car keys and walk out the door... so now I leave the spare on the ring so If i grab my keys and lock the door without the keys I have one with my car keys).

I walk around the corner and towards the condo and SCB is returning a step ladder to a neighbor. Apparently the neighbor underneath us left the German Sheppard inside the house randomly today because she's been barking every time we leave the house and she doesn't want to the other neighbors to complain... WHAT AMAZING LUCK!!!!!

My fiance apparently used a baseball bat from his car to knock off one of my hanging planters that was empty to give him more room... balanced on a step stool with only part of it hanging on my neighbors balcony, the other part off in the air..... and then used all 6 foot 6 inches of himself to hoist himself up onto the balcony of our second story condo to get in through the slider that we keep open on warm days because no one could possibly get past that German Sheppard below us to even think of robbing our place...

I walked through the front door... Panic easing only to hear,

• SCB: "Did you find the keys...?????"
• ME: "No... there not in here?????" (PANIC RETURNS...!!!!)
• SCB: "I couldn't find them anywhere....I looked everywhere."
  

I turn to start looking. I check the kitchen table... no luck... I turn around and I see them right on the middle of the counter, sitting on the granite...... (Relief floods me... but I can't let him get away with this. In the less than one minuet it took him to take the keys from my hand and walk out the front door he set them down on the counter before exiting the building... I walked home twice... he made me panic... I almost cried...

I hold the keys up, on my little finger... a mix of your so in trouble and triumph written all over my face... I turn around and he looks at me holding the keys..... Silence fills the condo.... the look he gives me is priceless...

• ME: "Found them..."

Spending April 16-20th

April 16th: $0.00 + $120.00 (Church offering)

April 17th: $27.79 +$7.17+ $1.66 + 53.03

I had to work on my normal day off so for the first time ever, The Fiance bought groceries for the week by himself, unsupervised and everything. I gave him a list of things he had to get, and how much he had to spend, and he did a good job... I just forgot to put a few things on the list that we would have picked up if we needed to spend more money to use our $6 off $30 coupon... & They had a mountain dew special this week... and that's his weakness... so he ended up getting lots of mountain dew instead of other pantry supplies I would have suggested if I were there.... live and learn. Here's what he picked up:

• eight 2 liters of mountain Dew $8.00, $0.80 crv; ritz crackers $2.69; hamburger buns $1.19; white bread $1.19; pork chops $9.40; potatoes $0.98; hot dogs $1.49; Jeanie-o turkey keilbossa $2.99; carrots $0.98; 6lb of oranges $3.49; tax .59 total after 6 off coupon: $27.79 (.18 cents forgiven tax)

We also went to ralphs:

• Sliced deli cheese ($.99); Vinegar ($.99); 10 lbs Flour ($3.79); two yogurts ($1.40); TOTAL $7.17

We needed to save $15 this week for costco, and I had some change in my wallet from some of the cash purchases we made in the last few weeks... so we went to Henry's and got Zucchinni for $0.88 a lb... ($0.78); and a bunch of Spinach for $0.88 as well. Total Spent: $1.66

We also paid for the second cell phone $53.03

April 18th: $53.43 + $14.74

Even though it was my day off, my fiance and I went to Costco and I filled up my gasoline tank since gas was $4.11 at costco instead of $4.19 down the street. ($53.43) and we picked up 2 gallons of fat free milk for $4.75 and a double package of Deli Meat for $9.99. My Fiance joined offermatic the other day and registered his AMX, and got an offer for $5 off a $10 purchase at Costco, so in a few weeks he'll get $5 credited to the card so it was like getting our Milk for free today.

April 19th: $2.29+ $14.95 +$14.95

Needed to pick up some baking powder to make some cookies for bible study, so i used the last of the cash in my wallet. We also ordered a mothers day present (an 8X10 canvas picture) for $14.95 including shipping...... and for my sisters engagement, we made her one from her favorite picture of her fiance and her, so that was another $14.95

April 20th:$0.00

Homemade Floor Cleaner

In addition to making our own granite cleaner from the following simple ingredients:

• Rubbing alcohol
• Warm water
• dis-soap

We are not going to make our own floor cleaner. My fiance looked up a good cleaning recipe online that uses 1 part Vinegar, 2 parts water, and a few drops of dish soap makes a good swiffer substitute.

We saved the bottle that fits into the swiffer, so we will make our own cleaner and just fill the bottle up.... then rinse and repeat and enjoy the savings.

=)

Offermatic... how I love thee

So, Last week I went to Target to purchase some items, and now i'm getting $10.00 of hard cold cash added back into my checking account for making that purchase... all because of Offermatic. I register my cards (they track info like Mint, so its totally safe and secure), and every now and then they send me an "offer" based on my regular shopping habits. I then log into my account, activate the offer, and I have 2 weeks to make a purchase at that store. If I do, I get a refund of my purchase from offermatic.

Last time, I got an offer for 10 off $20 at Target... on ANYTHING. As long as the total is $20 or more, I get the deal.

This time I liked a deal on facebook and got to choose where I wanted my free $10 off $20 coupon... so I did Target because I knew I could pick up some things for the house like trash bags and other cleaning type things.

=)

No ones paying me to write this post. I just heart saving money. If you want to check out offermatic, please click on MY REFERRAL LINK

Today, I've saved $20 thru offermatic.

Spending April 10th - 15th

April 10: $26.43 + $75.28 + $44.91

This morning we got up and went to Fresh and Easy to pick up our groceries for the week:

• Large eggs ($0.99); (2) Apple Sauce 6 packs for ($1.59); Sour Cream ($1.69); frozen peas ($0.99); Jennie-o Turkey Smoked Sausage for Keilbossa night ($2.99); Carrot Cake mix ($1.29); Frosting ($1.29); Salsa ($1.69); Onion Soup Mix ($.89); Cream of Chicken Soup ($0.69); Nutella ($6.49); Stuffing ($1.29); Potatoes ($.98); Tomatoes ($1.99); Blackberries ($1.50); Strawberries ($1.50); Oreo Cookies ($2.99); Total was $32.43--- and we then used our $6 off $30 coupon to get it for $26.43.

We had originally wanted to pick up some steaks, but they weren't on sale and didn't look that great so we passed... We still have plenty of Ground beef since we really scored on that deal last week, and we still have Chicken breasts, and pork chops too. I'll be working a lot of overtime this week so well be making batch foods mid week that make a lot of leftovers. The oreo's were bought because I promised my fiancée i'd buy him some when he got a job and Walmart offered him a job...(he should get a call this week for his orientation)... We are also finally out of ice cream and I like to keep a little something in the house thats sweet so we decided to get some Nutella because i tried it for the first time ever since high school while I was house sitting and I loved it. It was cheaper to buy the bigger container so we did. The carrot cake and cream cheese icing is for our joint birthday cake, we just picked it up this week because we needed to hit $30 in groceries this week to activate our coupon.

My Cell phone bill was also paid today: $75.28... we have the bill set up to lower my plan minuets, so next month that cost should be lessened by around $20.00. I can't wait till we can get on the same plan when our contracts expire.

We also have an offermatic coupon we needed to use ($10 off a purchase of $20 at Target) and since my sister is so wishy washy on what to get them for their engagement party, we decided to hit target and pick up some house things we really needed and have been postponing purchasing.

• two Scrub Sponges ($2.89); Cereal: $4.23; two cans of evaporated milk ($1.64); four Venus razor blades ($10.99); Shampoo ($2.99); 200 kitchen Trash Bags ($11.99); Hygiene stuff ($4.29) & some Canbury Easter Orange Cream Eggs for the Fiance ($2.99); Tax ($2.90) Total: $44.91 (in 2 weeks, $10 will be credited to the card, but until then, its "spent")

April 11: $0.00

Finally, a No Spend Day!

April 12: $51.82 +$19.50 +45.34

I finally ordered more things from Vista Print. If it wasn't for this wedding, i'd have a lot more no spend days. Vista Print was also doing a huge FREE event, & since we didn't have any valid deals to score on free shipping or anything, we decided to get a few freebies, some useful for the wedding so we won't have to spend money on other alternatives, some for fun. Yes, we ultimately paid a bit more in shipping, but meh. =)

• Just Married Photo T-Shirt (Free); 250 business card size notes with out addresses and emails opn them for people to email us wedding photos or mail us a cd of them (Free); 100 postcard bridal shower invites (Free); 10 page photo Flip Book (Free); 70 "wedding invites" aka one side of the wedding program fans ($34.99); Photo Wall Callendar (Free); Photo Return Address lables-- for thank you cards (Free); Photo Notebook (Free); Tote Bag (Free); Mug (Free) Mousepad (Free).... Shipping $16.83 Total: $51.82

We wanted to order both sides of the programs, but we are still waiting for the outline from the bishop (should get it next week.) if the mypoints sale continues, we'll get a matching shirt for the fiance too when we order the other side of the programs! (if not, they are so cute i wanted to get them for the honeymoon.) and possibly more free swag if we can't find a free shipping code that won't de-activate the free T-shirt.

I ordered a bunch (100) wavy large craft sticks to make the program fans. They cost $12, plus $7.50 in shipping, but it was the cheapest place I found to order them... Total $19.50

The electric bill was automatically paid to the tune of $45.34 (my largest to date). With the desktop and all the baking and cooking, its risen, but still in the first tier of usage. We are hoping to drop it down a bit for the next month, but we will just have to see how things go. We have been budgetting for $50 a month since the increase in usage.

April 13: $0.00

Woot, I got another one!

April 14: $0.00

a two-fer? really??? :)

April 15: $0.00

Make it a three-peat!

USDA Food Plans

According to The USDA , the average couple (2 adults) on the “frugal plan” spent $83.10 a week on food in the month of February… The “Low cost plan” came in at $106.10 a week, the Moderate plan was $131.50 a week, and the Liberal Plan was $164.70

Makes me feel good that my fiancé and I spent only $50 a week, and that includes most of our toiletries too! I wonder where these people are shopping and what are they eating???

What’s your weekly (or Monthly) Grocery allotment? We budget $250 a month for food in case there are 5 shopping weeks a month. The excess we use for toiletries or Propane gas for the BBQ.

Gasoline and Driving Changes

While I didn't get gasoline this week, i've been noticing the steady increase in the price over the past few days. Yesterday driving home gas was $4.19 a gallon when on the way to work it was $4.14!!! My fiance and I have already started amending our driving styles a bit to try and help deter the crazy prices, including switching the Costco we shop at. If gas gets really bad, we can walk to the grocery store, the bank, etc and use the cars just to get to work, church, etc. but for now we are combining trips and i'm doing most of our errand shopping on my way home from work.

We also decided that we are going to change our normal routes for shorter ones. Normally on Saturdays i'd drive 6.4 miles to work, 6.4 miles home, Pick up the fiance and then drive 5.0 miles to Costco, 5.0 Miles home from Costco (since its the closest one to our house and we go every other week or so for Milk and staples). We liked our together weekly trip together because it got him out of the condo and it was something we could do together. (22.8 miles round trip). We didn't get gas there because i'd get gas before going to work when its really cold outside and it seemed to last longer (mileage wise); well lately, that hasn't been the case. I used to get 300- 330 miles from gas light to gas light so to speak... and now, not so much... like 280ish.... because of this, I think its time I see how costco gas works for me (even though i'd have to buy it when its warmer out). On average, gas is 10 cents cheaper a gallon at costco, and if I only go there when i'm planning on picking up groceries as well, it won't be a wasted trip... but we can do better...

my Fiance suggested I go to the Costco by my work on Saturdays and then come home via the freeway instead of coming home first to pick him up. (he still promised to empty the car for me too.) So, I map quested it to see if its a better shot, and it is!!! 6.4 miles from Home to Work; 2.4 miles down hill from work to Costco; 8.3 miles home. (17.1 miles round trip); Its a shorter drive, and if I get gas at the same time i'm getting groceries it won't be a wasted trip down there since I don't fill up the tank every week. So that's our new experiment.

Credit Cards Update

So I went for a little walk the other day to BOFA to cash and deposit my CC rebate check and the bonus money we got refunded from the car insurance. (We used part of this money for the Target Run we did the day before.) Well, while I was there I asked for some penny rolls at the counter so I could go ahead and continue emptying the jar and adding to our honeymoon fund.

Before the lady got the penny rolls she started telling me about how they had a mortgage specialist there incase I had any questions about my mortgage... Why is it that everytime i go in there and get a new teller, people are shocked that I have a mortgage????? and the expect me to never understand it
?????

Any who, she also asked if I had a BOFA credit card... (If you saw my last post, I inquired about getting a replacement card for my existing BOFA account, and when i did inquire, the account seemed to disappear online, like it had been cancelled instead...) So she "immediately" made me sit down with their Credit Card guy while he called and made them either re-active the account or just insure i'm getting a replacement card (still not sure what happened there)... and then he also informed me that i'm pre-approved for a credit card with a flat 1% cash back offer... etc etc... I've declined this same credit card at least 4 times in the past because I still don't use my Bofa Card that I do have, and if I opened a new one, it better have better perks than what i'm recieving currently with my other cards... I told the guy i was getting married soon and didn't want to open another account to then deal with having my name changed on it, etc, etc.

So, I asked again for my penny rolls, and then walked back home with them in my pocket. Guess i'm getting a new credit card after all... or I have at least a name and a face to blame if I don't.

Credit Cards

I called American express and also got them to transfer $1,500 worth of credit availability from a card I never use to my Costco AMX, and then closed the smaller card since I never ever use it anymore.

I also called about my old VISA card for Amazon (I never reactivated the card they mailed me a year ago), and I just wanted to make sure the account was cancelled, closed, etc... and they told me it was so I cut up that card as well. This wouldn't impact my credit score since it was already closed without my knowledge.

While also cleaning out my wallet, I found that I didn't have the current BOFA card for that account either (i had the expired card) and they had just sent me an offer for 5% cash back off groceries and gas through the end of June... so i called and they said they would send me a new card in the mail... but the lady noted that my card hadn't been used since 2007 and she was curious why they never cancelled my card due to inactivity... When i logged into my account, the card wasn't there anymore so I have no idea if the lady cancelled it??????

So right now, I have my Costco AMX card with 3% gas, 1% everything else and my HSBC card with 2% cash back on everything.... and 2 debit cards in my wallet.

I do have a few store Credit cards that I haven't cancelled and that I just keep at home because the credit lines are quite large... Home depot, David's bridal, & Kohl's...

Earlier this year I did close my Care Credit card that I had originally used for my invisiline because I didn't get statements in the mail for it or have online access to the account to make sure no one was fiddling with my credit and statements.

I've been "Cleaning House" because when I get married and change my name I didn't want to "forget about" accounts and leave myself open to identity theft. I know it will ding my score for a while, but I think its for the best "peace of mind wise"

Mortgage Update Time

New Balance: $113,854.52

This is the first month we haven't paid any extra on the mortgage... $498.78 went to interest, $151.86 went to principle.

The pay off date is still January 2039... 8 months ahead of schedule. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will pay $111,996.75 in interest instead of the original $116,404.23. Over the life of the loan I have saved $4,407.58 ... all for parting with $1,339.10 a little before I had to!

Total Condo Costs:

• Money paid to acquire the property and get keys: $7,057.08
• Money Spent to Remodel and Repair Property: $17,672.29

Total: $24,729.37

• First Time Home buyers Credit: $8,000.00
• Current equity: $6145.48
• 2009 Prop Tax Deduction: $90.10
• Electrician costs -$95.00
• TILE Refund $1,265.00
• 2010 Federal tax break $1,087.00*
• 2010 State tax break $461.00*

*The positive difference between what I would have gotten back claiming the standard deduction... and the increased amount from itemizing the housing expenses.*

Current amount in the hole: $7,775.79

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $137,923.61 assuming a 6% total commission, enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for... & enough money to cover the $8,000.00 tax CREDIT i'd have to repay. If I wait out the remaining 19 months left on the credit, I'd be able to sell for $122,980.40(assuming 6% total commission), etc.

I look at my monthly payments, property taxes, extra mortage principle payments & my HOA dues as a wash because if i add all those up, its equivalent to the market rate of the apartment complex i'd be living in if I hadn't bought my condo... and that money would be going down the drain anyway.

Pension Costs and Fiance's Retirement

Come July 1^st, I should probably expect to pay more of my salary to my pension. It looks like the goal of our council is to have the employees pay the full contribution level of 8%. Right now we pay 3% of it, so it seems like 1% to 2% increases over the next 4 years. Whether that will be offset by salary adjustments we just don’t know at this point… Raises and COLA have been frozen for 3 years across the board. (In may I’ll have my second review without compensation increase, so one more to go after that and hopefully salary adjustments will come back.)

Because of the increase, I won’t open that 457 account I had been planning to open if my fiance did have a job… instead, we will open on for South County boy once he’s eligible to participate. (6% employer match… we aren’t going to leave free money sitting on the table). But I think it takes 6 months to a year to be eligible so he'll open a Roth IRA instead.

April Spending (1st-9th)

April 1: $0.00 No Spend.

I brown bagged my breakfast and lunch like normal, & South County Boy ate lunch at home while he continued the job hunt. His second interview for Wal-Mart went well so we are waiting for them to call back in the next few days to offer him the job… I had a late lunch, so we decided to do "Breakfast for dinner" to help dent the eggs in the house before they expire in a week or so (he doesn't like just straight eggs, so I made French toast for dinner. And I just kind of munched around on a few things.)

April 2: $12.52 Spent.

While going to Costco after work, I was completely shocked to find how prices have sky rocketed in just a week! Milk is now $4.75 for 2 gallons, an increase of 13.4% from last weeks $4.19 price... a 2 lb cheese block is now $5.39, an increase 10.2% from the old price of $4.89... and eggs, which were $1.75 for 18 last week, are not $2.15 for 18, an increase of 22.9%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this is at Costco of all places... Either way, we picked up some Milk at Costco since in the grocery store milk is now 2.79 a gallon, so for 2 it would have been $5.58... it used to be $2.49 a gallon (12% increase). We also wanted to buy a 25lb bag of flour at Costco since we make our own bread and rolls at home, but they now only sell 50lb bags (which we can't store in the small condo), so we headed to Ralph's and picked up at 10lb bag for $3.79 (Thankfully its still the same price). We walked the store to check out other prices and we COMPLETELY LUCKED OUT... we found 3lb packages of ground beef marked down to $1.99, so we bought 2 and got 6lbs of ground beef for $3.98!!!!

April 3: $27.00 Spent

We had a fresh and Easy Coupon for $6.00 off $30 (no dairy, alcohol, or gift cards) so we headed over to Fresh & Easy with our grocery list to do the majority of our shopping there.

• Can of Kidney Beans (0.79); Cream of Mushroom Soup ($0.69); 2 cans of Tuna ($0.69 each); 2 small cans of tomato sauce ($0.39 each); Garlic herb marinade ($1.99); Mustard ($0.89); Shake & Bake Chicken box ($2.69); Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal box (10 Pouches) ($1.99); 5lbs Sugar ($2.99); 4 two liters of Mountain Dew ($0.77+ $0.10 CRV each); Bone in Pork Chops @ 1.99 lb ($7.62); 3 hearts of Romain Lettuce ($1.99); 3lbs of Organic Apples ($1.98); 6lbs of oranges ($3.49); Sales Tax ($0.25) Total: $33.05, minus $6.00 coupon with $.05 forgiven tax? total: $27.00

Last week we stocked up on Chicken Breasts, frozen veggies and other healthy simple staples, so this week our "NEEDS" were lower, so we stocked up on a few pantry staples that we use and like to keep on hand. We got the Mountain Dew because it was on sale and its South County Boy's favorite, and a real treat when he gets some. When he was bagging the groceries he picked up another $6.00 off $30.00 coupon that we will use next week. (If you shop at F&E, look by the bags when your bagging your groceries, they are normally in a little basket for people to take at the end of the conveyor belt...)

April 4: $44.91 Spent

We had a $10 off Bra coupon for Victoria Secret, and we had one of those gift cards with either $10, $50, $100, or $500 on it... so we headed to the store to see what kind of discounts we had so we could scope out a good birthday present for me. In the end I got a Really good bra for $27.52 so its in the birthday wrap pile. =) With a new bra from this purchase and the score we got from VS the other week with the undergarments... plus 2 books we found at the used bookstore, i'm done shopping with my fiance for my birthday.

We also had to meet my mom up at Stein Mart to look at a dress she wanted to buy to wear to the wedding. Regardless of her earlier aclimations of wanting to be apart of the wedding process now because she felt guilty, and how she wanted to find a dress with some type of Blue in/on it to match with everyone else after all.... She was adamant that she was going to buy a particular dress regardless of what i thought--- the only one she bothered to try on. (Why did I have to go to the store then?/?/?) and its not blue either... it doesn't look bad, and its not ALL black, but it doesn't look great either... but my option didn't matter, again. While we where there, she decided to let slip that My sister, her fiance, my mom, and my mom's boyfriend all went to dinner as a family at this nice new mexican resturant with a band and everything... (We weren't invited, called or asked to come to the "family outting" because my mom suggested that resturant for my fiance's and my birthday dinner in a few weeks, and we asked to go somewhere else because we make mexican food all the time at home and for a special treat, we'd rather go to a different place (especially since mexican isn't his favorite food type and its his birthday celebration too)... but even though in the same conversation I told my mom we would be happy to go there another time with everyone, we didn't get invited at all... instead she tells me all about it, and then drops the bomb that her boyfriend came too, and it was nice for the "family" to all be together....) While my fiance was roaming the store while I was with my mom, he found a new watch to replace his broken one so i picked that up for his birthday. We are also going to get him a pair of Rainbow sandles too since he's been wanting a pair since he last lived in California all those years ago. The watch was $17.39. We are "house & dog" sitting for the family i'm staying with from church this week, and they left us $60.00 with a note that said to use it for odds and ends or to go out and get dinner, see a show, or something. So we are using some of this to go towards our presents to each other for our birthdays since my CC rebate that I cashed in hasn't come in the mail yet.

April 5: $56.20

On my way to work I got Gas for my car... ($56.20 since gas is now $4.09 a gallon) Cringe.

April 6: $7.48 + 21.28

One of my bridesmaids and my "bro" are coming over tonight so we can see people!!! We are going to make homemade pizza (since most of the ingrediants are already on hand and what we need to buy is cheaper than dinner for 2 out). We did pick up Mozzerella (6lbs shredded, the only way they sell it so a bunch is now in the freezer) cheese from Costco ($12.99) and I accidently bought salami ($8.29) instead of Pepperoni and didn't notice till I was on the freeway home. Since I hit the costco by my work i'll be taking it back to the store on Saturday after my shift, but until then it counts as spending... I also bought real Pepperoni ($3.00), Mushrooms ($2.50), Deli sliced cheese ($0.99), and a can of Tomato Paste ($0.99) at ralphs. It was nice to hang out with my friends... and now I have a date set for my bridal shower =)

April 7: $30.08 and a refund check of $15.07!!!

My fiance went to his third interview with Walmart and got a job offer!!! on the way home he stopped by the rainbow sandles store to pick up his birthday present from me since he had already used the gas to get down there and it was on the way home... but his size isn't in so we will pick those up next week... which is actually quite convienient in more than one way. He broke his only pair of sandles yesterday. He added some gas to his car on the way home $30.08. He didn't fill all the way up because gas was $4.12 a gallon and he didn't realize its cheaper out by his work (so he'll just fill up down there.) But yes!!!!! He has a job. Its $9.20 a hour and in a few days he will get called in for orientation and get a schedule. I've already looked online and Walmart has a 401k with a 6% employer match, so the nano second he's eligible we are putting 6% of his salary away. I'm also investigating their health insurance to figure out if its cheaper for him to get insurance through Walmart if and when he's eligible. We also got a refund of $15.07 on my fiance's car insurance because this month he turns 25... so I think we may also get a check for me next month since I turn 25 as well. =)

April 8: $808.18 (& Saved $86.36)

I paid the mortgage principle and interest, MIP & Property Tax today. Its the first time in over a year that I haven't added any extra to the mortgage. Must have my EF first... that's the new montra. (I've been listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio lately). I also put $86.36 into my emergency fund (which would have been the extra tacked onto the mortgage.)

April 9th: $20.65 and received a CC rebate check for $75

I took back the Salami to Costco, and swapped it out for 2 gallons of Non Fat Milk ($4.75) & a 3 lb bag or tortilla chips ($3.39). Since I return the Salami, these items were essentially free in terms of the budget since they equaled the price of the Salami. I also picked up 4 cases of water for the wedding so I can begin to put the personalized stickers on them tomorrow with my friend. The Water bottles with CRV came out to $20.65 so that will be taken from the wedding budget. Tomorrow I will be ordering the supplies to make the wedding programs, and invites for my June bridal shower, and in the process will be getting a lot of free swag from Vista Print... and doing a grocery run, so it will be a spendy week for me. I also got my CC rebate check I requested in the mail for $75!!!! So we have that extra money floating around in the budget too now.