I'm off today, but BF isn't... so that means I will be here with the kitty & pup by myself. He just left for work, and it already feels weird like last night. But it's kind of nice, because I feel like I can really focus on getting stuff done.

In theory, it should be easier to get more done when BF's here, what with having two extra hands and all... but it just isn't sometimes. He helps alot, but we tend to get distracted by watching TV together, or talking, etc. I get more done when I'm bored, lol.

With some of my family expected Saturday evening, there is alot I want to get done, and I need to do it today because I'll have to work Friday & Saturday.

The To-Do List:
=Pick Up Living Room
(the pup has ALL of his toys out in here)
=Vacuum Living Room, Hallway, Bedrooms, and Dining Room
=Shampoo Living Room, Bedroom 1, and Hallway
=Sweep Kitchen & Bathrooms
=Wash Dishes
=Do Laundry & Get All Clothes Folded/Hung In Closets
=Change Kitty Pan
=Wash Walls (if I can figure out how to do it without taking the paint off!)
=Clean Bathroom #2
=Organize Pet Closet
=Find a doctor for BF to go to next week about his cyst.
=Clean Out Refridgerator
=Take Out Trash

In between all that:
=Take The Pup Out For Potty Breaks & A Walk
=Give Pup His Pain Pill & Afternoon Meal
=Figure Out & Prepare Dinner
=Make A List For Walmart Tonight
=Call My Mom To Confirm Their Plans

I'm sure there's more, but I'm just going to try and work my way through this list and get as much done as possible.

The kitty's birthday is tomorrow (or at least when we celebrate it, since we adopted him from the Humane Society)... so we're thinking of mixing a can of tuna in with his cat food or something.

By the way, does anyone know how to wash walls without taking the paint off? We've always had paint that you could wipe down (the pup gets drool everywhere), but the paint here is not glossy at all. Every time we try to wipe it, it looks like the drywall is wet, and it stays dark for a while. Any fix for that?

Also, what kind of doctor do you go to for a cyst? It's just a small lump on the back of his shoulder, and before he just went to his family doctor. That doctor said it was just some kind of "extra skin" that would probably go away on it's own, or he could get it cut off. But it hasn't gone away, so we want to make sure it's still okay, and he wants to get it cut off either way. Would you go to a skin doctor for that? We're clueless.

I've blogged about BF's job interview yesterday. A recap & update (and rant):

BF put in an application online for the grocery store on Tuesday. Thursday, a guy from the store calls and leaves him a voicemail, saying that they were originally looking for 2 part-timers, but with BF's experience, they might be able to give him full-time with benefits. Then, before BF had even noticed the voicemail, the guy calls back again on the same day. This time BF answers, and the guy tells him the same thing... he could probably get full-time with is experience. They arrange for a face-to-face the next day (Friday).

BF goes to the interview, where he is told by the same guy that the starting pay for part-time is $7.50/hr, but that's for young kids with no experience. BF tells him he'd really like full-time, and would probably have to have at least $9/hr for our budget. The guy tells him he understands completely, he thinks BF will be great, and BF can probably move up the ladder just like he is (I'm guessing the guy is a department manager or something). He tells BF that he will talk to the boss (the manager?) and see what he can do for BF.

So he calls BF this morning and tells him that they just CAN'T start anyone out at more than $8.50, but that he could work a month and be moved up to $9.50/hr. BF tells him he's not sure if that will work, and the guy tells him that he can start work next week, and get 25 hours.

So BF calls and tells me, and I am pretty much ticked at this point. Why would that guy call and leave a voicemail saying they could probably get him full-time, then call back, then have an interview and act like he completely understands what BF will have to have, and then call to offer PART-TIME and $8.50/hr? And the fact that he was promising a whole $1/hr raise after a month of "good work" made me uncomfortable. Would that ever really happen, and if so... why not just start him out at the $9 he wanted? It just pissed me off because, if you know you can't hire someone full-time or pay them what they need, why waste their time?

Fast forward a few hours, BF calls to tell the guy he just can't do that, but thanks anyway. Then, magically, the department-head guy says, "Well, what if we can get you $9/hr and 40 hours/week, just no benefits? Would that be enough for you to come?" BF tells him no guarantee, but that would be the minimum. So the guy tells him (exact words), "Well, I'm gonna go to bat for you man, and if I fall on my face... so be it."

Am I just being super-paranoid, or does this sound SO car-salesman-ish? This guys is the one that contacted BF, that called his references, that read his reference letter, that interviewed him, and that has called him back since. And yet he has to "go to bat" for BF to the boss? If he doesn't have the authority to hire people, why is he leaving messages and interviewing them? And why did he tell BF that $8.50 was the absolute most they could hire at, and now he's saying it's possible to get more? Does he not see that he's cross-stepping himself?

Ugh. So here we are. The guy is supposed to call and let BF know whether he can get him $9/hr and 40 hrs/week on Monday. I'm even more confused on whether I want BF to take it or not. $9/hr is what we were shooting for, but I'm just not sure it will be what this guy is promising. Are they allowed to work people 40 hrs/week consistently without making them full-time? I know in our old state, if they did that for 3 weeks in a row, then you were automatically considered full-time, and eligible for benefits. So I'm afraid they'll give him 40 hrs SOME weeks, and less others, to keep under the threshold.

*Sigh*. BF says to look on the bright side, that he even had a job call and offer. I know that's the way to think, but it's just exasperating when I feel like we've had to wheel-and-deal for a GROCERY STORE job. I didn't negotiate that hard for the position I have now.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts & comments on this situation... we need BF to have an income very soon, but we also don't want to get screwed over.

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Good news for today... our two trial deposits for our ING savings posted today, so we were able to verify them. Now the ING account should be officially open for depositing & saving. I'm hopeful for what we can do with it.

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As far as our budget, I am debating on whether or not to start our "fiscal" month of July tomorrow (June 29th). The perfectionist in me wants to say "July is July", but the logical side of me says otherwise. Tomorrow is my day off, and we need groceries. So if I wait until July 1st to start tracking expenses, it won't include our groceries from a few days before. I may end up waiting until at least Monday before I start tracking July spending. Still undecided.

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I finished The Lovely Bones last week (one of my library reads). It was really good... moving at times. Made me appreciate just being alive a little more, and being able to experience life thus far.

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Well, I'm off to balance a checkbook, clean the apartment, and smack BF around a little for his texting to his cousin. (Hello! $0.20 per text!!!) And maybe some reading out of my other library book, InkSpell. Maybe.

Well, BF had his job interview with the grocery store today. According to him, it went really well, and the guy who was interviewing him wasn't much older than us (24 I think). He was from down south too, so they had that in common, and he seemed impressed with BF's work experience and references. They usually don't give new people full-time, but I think this guy is trying to work it out for BF. When he read the reference that BF's old manager had given him to bring up here, he said "Wow, this is serious... you should be interviewing for my job!" Lol.

The semi-bad news is that he said part-time people start at $7.50/hr. There is no way that we can afford that. Of course, he said that's for 16-year-olds with no experience, but he couldn't nail down what BF would get either. Of course it would be higher if he got full-time, plus he would get some paid vacation and benefits. BF told him that he couldn't work for less than $9/hr, and he would really prefer full-time. The guy seemed to respect that we have a budget and need to know where the money's coming from.

So... he is talking to the head manager tomorrow and is supposed to let BF know. If he hasn't called by 5:00, BF is supposed to call him.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I really expected the full-time pay to be higher than even $9. BF was making $9 back home working part-time, and that is a much lower cost of living. Here, I figured he could make $10/hr part-time or maybe $12/hr full-time. Ugh.

On the other hand though, he seems to think he would really like it, and was even talking about how he could transfer to another one of the stores when we moved (it's a national chain)... and maybe move up the ladder like the guy he interviewed with. So I don't want to rain on his parade.

The Pros:
+We can start getting the income sooner.
+BF's health insurance costs might decrease.
+BF gets paid holidays & vacation days.
+BF could possibly advance w/ the same company, as they are national.

The Cons:
-The pay isn't what I expected for a full-time job.
-He would have to work evenings alot, which means our schedules would be opposite.
-It's the same work experience that he has already, no new skills.

I am wavering between just telling him to take the job if he can get $9/hr, and telling him to hold out for something else. I even emailed him a bunch of customer service jobs off of CareerBuilder, but I don't know. AHHH!!!

The good (and weird) news is that we apparently don't have an electricity bill this month. For some reason, when I check the account balance online, it says we have a $2.00 credit and nothing due. We have been waiting for the paper statement to make sure, but haven't gotten anything. So I called tonight, and the automated system told me the same thing... $2.00 credit and nothing due. The due date is the 30th of this month, so I know it would be showing by now. The only thing I can figure is that when we called to get the balance last time, it didn't include the payment we had mailed... so we had paid for two months at once? Maybe? I don't know.

Anyway, as long as we're not getting double-billed next month, that is fine with me. And just to make sure that "extra" money was put to good use, I went ahead and applied $50 extra to my credit card bill.

Pmt to SF Credit Card: $149.65 (min) + $50.00 (extra) = $199.65

I also paid the personal loan by transferring money from my old checking account (what I had left) to the loan account. I haven't done that before, but hopefully it will work and save me $0.42 in stamp cost.

Pmt to Personal Loan: $113.61

Paid our cell phone bills, it was high this month because we added BF to my plan. We had to pay an activation charge to add his line, but I've switched it to FamilyTalk, so it should be considerably cheaper next month.

Pmt to Cingular: $182.01

I started to mail a payment to State Farm for my brother's life insurance ($14.01), but decided not to. We don't have much extra money, and my brother doesn't have any debts at this point that makes life insurance a necessity for my mother to have on him, so I'm not going to pay it anymore. I got it when I worked in insurance, and he always said he would pay for it, but I never asked. I'm going to contact my agent and have her change the address on the policy to my mom's, and let my brother know that he can continue to pay it if he wants.

So the only bill left for June is the cable bill, which we haven't gotten a bill for, but I know was due on the 24th. I tried to call tonight and pay it, but they closed at 5PM, so BF will be doing that tomorrow.

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And last but not least... I am getting everything ready for our "fresh start" in July. I want to start the second half of the year ready to go with our budget and tracking our spending.

In the next few days, I will be preparing our specific budget for July, and hopefully evening out the financial stuff we've got hanging in the air. I have two checks from my family (reimbursement for the Personal Loan) that I need to deposit, and I want to get our Orange Savings up and running by July.

So yes, we are determined. Every penny will be tracked, and every dollar budgeted.

So I did manage to go through some clothes today. I have two LARGE trash bags full, and the hanging space in my closet it filled to capacity. Now I just have to finish going through the rest of my piles of clothes and figure out where I'm going to hang the rest I'm keeping. It is weird to have your clothes hanging in other bedrooms? Lol.

I'm currently watching the "Fear Itself" series on NBC, and I have no idea why. Those kinds of shows always scare the patootie out of me, but I always get so sucked into them. At least BF is here now.

The trip to the park today was fun. We ended up taking sandwiches and chips, and of course some water for the pup. We tied his long leash to the picnic table while we ate, then let him "explore" the park area. It was actually alot bigger than I thought, I guess you can only see so much of it from the road. There were all kinds of little bridges over the stream that ran through it, and trees and such. Apparently there is even a public pool up there, which we had no idea about! But in summary, a good time was had by all. The pup was so worn out from his adventuring, I didn't think we were gonna be able to get him up the stairs.

Other good news, BF had a job call today! It's a grocery store, and they said they were originally looking for two part-time people, but since he had experience, maybe they could offer him full-time. He is going tomorrow for an interview of sorts, so I guess that's when he'll find out if it's actually "full-time" with benefits, and the pay and all that.

In our budget, he needs to make $900/month, or about $225/week (based on 4 weeks per month). So I figure, with taxes, he'll need to work 40 hours/week and make $9/hour. Of course, he'll want retirement and health insurance taken out if he is eligible. But we are already paying for individual health coverage for him, which is probably more expensive anyway, so it will hopefully be a wash. So everyone please keep your fingers crossed that he gets good news tomorrow! $9/hour and full-time with benefits would be incredible at this point!

Just saw on Oprah, and thought some of you might be interested. She had Suze Orman on her show promoting her new book Women & Money... and they have arranged for a free download on Oprah's website. The book is almost 300 pages, and downloading it is simple (I just did).

Just go to www.oprah.com and follow the links for Suze Orman. Hurry though, it's only available until tomorrow (6/27) at 5 PM (Pacific Time).

It retails at $24.95, anyone want to add that to your challenge? Lol.

I have been trying to simplify our finances, since combining together and moving to another state has us all spread out. Right now we have two checking accounts, and one savings. BF has already closed his checking and savings.

I see alot of you can do transfers from your checking to your savings online anytime you want, and I'm thinking that would be REALLY nice. I know it would be more incentive to stay, especially because the only way to deposit money into the savings we have now is to mail it. Then we have to find an ATM that supports that bank to get it out.

If we're going to follow through with my plan of budgeting everything monthly & then putting whatever extra into our savings until the bill comes, then I'll need a savings that is easy to deposit & withdraw from. I guess I should check into that.

Which banks are you guys using for that? We have BBT for our checking account here.

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BF & I took our $1 movie back to Walmart tonight. We didn't rent another one, mostly because all the good movies are coming out in a few days.

We picked up some odds and ends groceries, but not much. Then I made a stop at Office Max to get an organizer for work. I started out carrying my paperwork back and forth in a manilla folder, but in four months, I have gathered 3 more folders and they are tearing apart. We looked around forever, but I finally found exactly what I wanted... a brown leather outside, zips up, 3-ring binder for papers, pockets, and places for business cards. It ended up being $14, so I was happy with that.

Then, since we were in the same shopping center, we went to the dollar store. BF wanted to get some more of these shaved ice things they have (he's attempting a diet). They are $1 for four of them in a pack, so we picked up some snack food. We don't snack alot (I'm always working), so it's so much cheaper for us to just get some random things at the dollar store... cheaper than Walmart even.

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My AC articles still aren't published. I'm getting a little worried, even though there's really no reason why they wouldn't be approved. Ugh.

I am feeling a little motivated, so I think I may help BF in his job search. None of the retail places he has applied to have called, but maybe that is a blessing in disguise... maybe he will get a better-paying job with a more predictable schedule. That would be nice! I also need to finish sending my thank-you cards for my graduation gifts. People have probably given up on me by now! :S

Well, I'm pretty excited right now. Usually at this point (when my day off is ending), I get a little depressed because returning to work is on the horizon. But since I worked yesterday and took off today, that means I only work tomorrow... and then I'm off again on Sunday! So it's a little better to know that I only have to go back for one day.

Determined to get a little done on our day off today, BF & I ran a few errands. First of all, we ran to the vet's office to get the pup's pain medication. They gave us a 60 day supply for around $65. We STILL need to mail those x-rays, so I think I might have BF do that tomorrow while I'm at work. He'll need to go to the post office since we need a special envelope. But at least the ball will be rolling on the surgery consultation.

While we were out, we also stopped by Walmart to pick up a can of wet dog food. Our pup is so picky - he always has been. We have put him back on a better version of dog food, especially for giant breeds, to make sure that his joints are getting the right levels of everything. The problem is, it's like he senses that it's healthy, and refuses to eat it alone. So we by the same brand of wet dog food and mix it, and up until a few days ago, that has worked really well. Now the little fart has decided that he's tired of even the mix, so we'll have to adjust it. The closest place to get the good brand of food is 20 minutes away, and we didn't even know if they carried another flavor we could use, so we decided to pick up a small can of cheap food at Walmart, just in case he refused to eat at all. We also ended up getting a bottle of hand sanitizer and McDonalds. (gasp!!!)

I still haven't gotten around to updating our spending trackers and budget today. But since I don't have to be at work until later tomorrow morning, I can afford to stay up a little bit tonight. Maybe I will get around to it... if so, I will update our Budget page on here too.

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And perhaps the funnest part of my day - I talked BF into going to the library with me while we were out! It's in the city next to ours, which is quite a bit bigger than we're used to... so when we ended up downtown it was such a weird experience. Walking in, there was an actual hotdog stand out front! I have never seen that except on movies or TV... craziness. I am proud of myself for thinking to check out the books I've wanted to buy.

I ended up getting "Inkspell", the sequel to "Inkheart" that I read a few months ago. I've been looking for it in Walmart every time I go, but no luck. I'm glad that I was able to borrow it today, even if I had to go to the Children's section to get it! Books are one of my favorite things to buy, and therefore one of my biggest financial weaknesses. Even though I usually get the cheap versions at Walmart, it's still going to save me alot of money to get them at the library. Plus, a little less clutter around the house when I get done reading them!

Because I was a little embarrassed to be checking out with a "kid's" book, I also got "The Lovely Bones" to balance it out. I've wanted to read that for a while too, and I am very impressed with what I've already finished.

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And last but not least... BF told me I should write a book today. Lol. I think it's just because I actually like to read (which he finds fascinating), but he has mentioned this several times, even saying today, "What? I would read it!" Well, I would hope so!

Anyways, instead of launching into a novel, I did a little research on some freelance writing online. I ended up at www.AssociatedPress.com, where you can get paid based on the popularity of your articles. I figure there's nothing to lose, so I've submitted my first article for approval. The topic is spectacular... "How To: Free Your Pets From Ringworm".

What can I say, you have to stick to what you know, right? Perhaps someone will find it helpful. Anyway, I guess if it gets approved and is published on the site, I will post it on here for anyone that is remotely interested. Yes, expect some shameless plugs.

If anybody is interested in doing the same thing, I have my own referral link:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=237343

I have no idea if that link even means anything, or if it just takes you straight to my published stuff, but I thought I'd offer it just in case. There is also an option to subscribe people (via email) to be alerted every time I post a new article, if anybody is interested in that. Come on, you know you want the answers for ringworm!

Okay, I'm done promoting. Back to reality.

1. I know alot of people regret growing apart from their high school friends, but I regret the friends that I chose to stay close to. I had a wide range of pretty good friends when I was in school, and then when we graduated and went on to college, I chose to stay close to a few of them. Looking back, these two friends have caused me more stress & anxiety than none at all. If I had chosen some of the "less fun" friends that I had, I would have more in common with them today, and maybe some TRUE friendships.

2. I regret wanting to be an "adult" so much. Why was it so important for me to pay for everything myself when I was 16, and be seen as a responsible pseudo-adult? I wish I had found a balance between working hard, being responsible, and still being at peace with being a kid.

3. I regret that I didn't take alot of time to mourn the deaths of my close family members. When my uncle and grandfather died in (separate) accidents, I was so focused on healing that I forgot to deal with the grief at the time.

4. I regret being such a brat to my mom. I thought I knew everything, and I thought she did everything on purpose. I knew she was working 2 jobs, but I could never have known the personal strife she was experiencing while trying to make our lives remain semi-normal.

5. I regret not being "girly" when I could have been. Growing up with all boys, I was obsessed with proving myself just as strong/tough/unemotional as anyone else. I wasn't a "butch", but I shyed away from pink clothes and frills because I was afraid they would make me seem weak. Now that I'm 22 and a bit beyond the age of frilly socks & hair bows, I feel like I missed out on alot of fun.

6. I regret that I didn't take time to appreciate being so close to my family. It wasn't until we were 2 states away from everyone that I really started to cherish our brief visits back home, and realizing that I eventually want to go back.

7. I regret being so hard on BF in the early stages of our relationship. I could use the excuse that we were young, but even then I knew what I was doing. While we have worked through most of it now, it was hard for me to convince him that I wasn't really that controlling/condescending.

8. I regret choosing a major/career based on money. I was so determined to land a career with excellent salary potential, that I never stopped to think about how much I would enjoy teaching, or counseling, or social work, etc.

9. I regret being the "perfect" daughter/grandkid/sister/friend. By "perfect", I don't mean that I have any illusions that I actually am. But throughout my life, I have tried so hard to show little emotion (back to the tomboy thing), accomplish whatever I wanted, and ask nobody for help along the way. Now, when I actually need a shoulder to cry on or an answer that I don't know... everyone assumes that I need no help and that everything is "easy" for me.

10. I regret racking up credit card debt. Alot of it was unavoidable, since I had to pay my own way through college, but there was also a bunch that could have been avoided through organization, effort, and discipline. If I didn't have that credit card debt, I would have made it out of college and started my career with no debt (I had a full scholarship for my Bachelor's degree). I would be in a much better position to pay for doggie surgery and plan a wedding right now.

If you've ever paid close attention to my blog, you might notice that I made a few changes today:

=Updated Debt & Savings Tracker Pages
I finally got around to updating the running totals with our COMBINED debts & savings. (Although the savings didn't really change, lol.) BF hasn't called to get the exact pay-off on his car, so the debt for the car loan is estimated based on the # of payments we have left.

=Updated 2008 Goals In Sidebar
With BF moving in and having to find a new job, my job taking us to God-Knows-Where within the next year, and our pup needing expensive surgery, I felt like it was time to update "my" goals to "our" goals, realistically. I don't want the goal for debt reduction to be so drastic that one little set-back will make it impossible and disheartening. So I set our goal for debt at $14,000 by the end of 2008. The reason? I think it will challenge us to pay off debt and not become complacent, especially through the holidays. Also, with the pup needing surgery around that time (or January), I want to have as much of our other debt paid down before we have to arrange the financing for that. The surgery/rehab is expected to cost $5,000-$6,000, so if we can get our debt down to $14,000 before this, our total debt will not go over $20,000. I would really like to keep it under the $20K mark if we can.

=Changed Monthly Budget Page
I actually just deleted what I had on there for right now, because we've been working off another version that I made in Excel. I plan to revisit the budget itself tomorrow, and then post the latest edition to the "Our Monthly Budget" page.

=Deleted "Wedding Fund" Ticker
One of the goals that I took out for 2008 was to get our Wedding Fund to $1,500. I will explain reasoning later, but since it was no longer a goal, I didn't see the need for the ticker.

=Re-Purposed "Extra Income" Page
I basically just deleted the amounts I had added to my "$20 Challenge", so the slate is wiped clean as of 6/19/08. Now I will keep track of any extra income we collect, but it will not be going to any specific account. I figured we can use it as we see fit, but I do want to keep track of how much money we're bringing in that we wouldn't have before.

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I think that may be it! If you're wondering what sparked such updates, I really have no definite answer.

I did attend my first manager's meeting today, and I suppose all the talk about budgets and sales goals and margin dollars might have triggered my financial button again.

And so I have come away from this re-working with a new strategy. Like alot of people, I have struggled immensely with the idea of saving all I can versus paying down debt. For a while I have tried to do both, but I know that with credit card interest, this does not make logical sense.

A big reason for this (I think) is that I wanted to have some money saved for our wedding. I thought I would be more frugal and less likely to go overboard if I was using my hard-earned savings, rather than taking out a personal loan or using the credit card to supplement. But now, I have realized that there are too many variables to try and do all of this. For every $10 that I put in savings rather than paying on my credit card debt, that is more interest I am paying out the back door. So for the big picture, we will be better off financially to try and reduce our debt as much as possible before trying to save for anything.

Now, the big expense on the horizon is our pup's surgery in December or January. We still haven't mailed off the x-rays for the surgeon to look at (doing that tomorrow), but if everything goes as expected, we will be keeping him on joint supplements and pain medication until he is done growing in Dec/Jan and can have the surgery. At this point we'll need $5,000-$6,000. I feel a little more confident now that I have been approved for a personal loan through two different banks. If we end up being able to finance through CareFirst at 0% interest, that will be even better. But preparing for the worst case scenario, our debt will be reduced as much as possible (hopefully to $14,000) and then we'll go apply for the loan in December.

And the expense that will someday be on the horizon (hopefully not too long, lol)... a wedding. I have accepted that there is no way I can save a substantial amount of money in our current situation, and still be able to pay expenses and reduce debt. And so realistically, we are paying down debt as much as possible. And when it comes time to plan/pay for a wedding, we will probably have to take on some kind of debt to pay for it. At that point, I will just have to be very disciplined and responsible in what I spend. It's a hard decision to make, but hey, we've all got to grow up sometime!

So that this blog isn't all depressing, I will say that there could be some rays of sunlight. For one, if everything goes as planned with my job training, we will be moving around February of next year. I have been told that this will include a raise of about 10% in my salary, which will help. Also, I am hoping to get placed somewhere closer to our home state, and that would mean a much lower cost of living. Even making what I do now, if we lived in our home state, we would be MUCH better off with disposable income. And whenever BF finds a job, we might see that he is able to make a little more than we budgeted. But, none of this is guaranteed of course, and so I want to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Because I had to attend that meeting today, which is typically my day off, I am off tomorrow instead. And so tomorrow will be catch-up day for expense tracking & balancing the checkbooks, as well as updating my budget on this blog when it's completed.

Stay tuned!

Well, I'll start by confessing. BF and I went to Walmart yesterday, and NOT for groceries! While much of it we could have done without, there were alot of things that we (me especially) have needed to pick up for a while and have been putting off. The loot:

PS3 controller for BF (his only purchase)
Eyeliner
Tampons (yay)
Foundation
Makeup Sponges
Sunscreen
Lotion
Lipstick
Crest White Strips
Mascara

The total damage was about $102. Not bad for things that aren't (totally) frivolous.

In good news though... my boss informed me this weekend that my employee discount applies to GAS at company gas stations as well! We're not an "oil company", so there aren't alot of gas stations around, but there just happens to be one on my way home from work. It's about 1/2 mile off the interstate, so definitely worth going to if I can save some money. Our discount is 5% above cost, but since gas isn't marked up too much at the stations, I think she said I could save 5-10 cents per gallon. That would add up after a while!

And perhaps the most exciting part of my day... I stopped by Starbucks on the way home (I still have a gift card from Christmas), and ordered a grande caramel machiatto. Apparently they messed something up for the people ahead of me in the drive-thru, and then they were mixed up about which drink I had ordered. So to make it up, they gave me the drink free! Didn't even have to use my gift card... and it was the best tasting Starbucks EVER! lol.

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BF mentioned today that he wishes he was "successful". I think the jobless-ness is getting to him. I keep telling him that there's no way he should feel bad about anything... he moved up here for me, then I had his car for 3 weeks, and he's putting applications in everywhere he can think of. He said sometimes he thinks about going back to college.

Honestly, I hope he decides to. He's so talented creatively... and has such an outgoing, likeable personality. All he needs is a little education or a diploma to go behind that, and he'd do so well. Heck, I am almost anti-social at times, and I landed a good job, so I know he could.

I think he just worries that he would be "putting his life on hold" again. But it would be different now... because he's already got the money for an engagement ring, we're already living together, and I have a good steady income. Plus, he's already halfway to an Associate's degree (or a fourth done with a Bachelor's) with a good grade history. I keep telling him that I want him to do whatever will make him feel good about himself, and happy in the future. And if he wants to do it, now is the time. We're young and energetic, and we don't have any kids (except the pets of course). So we'll see.

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His sister, bro-in-law & niece are coming to visit in mid-July I think. I have a week-long conference for work at the end of July, so they're coming either before or after that. It seems like we either have absolutely nothing going on, or EVERYTHING going on at once.

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I've got to get the pup's x-rays in the mail to the surgeon so he can check them out. But how do you mail x-rays so that they don't get bent or anything?

So yea... life is okay right now. I should say that it's great actually, because I have so many blessings that I should be counting!

First of all, news about the pup: He is going to need surgery. While we were expecting this, it's somehow more stressful to know that we are definitely going to be scraping up some funds for it. The good news is that the orthopedic vet we went to was great. He doesn't do the hip replacement surgery (what our pup needs), so I felt like he was being very honest and upfront about what was best for us and our pet when he recommended it. It's good to know that he had nothing to gain from it from a marketing standpoint.

Anyway, we are calling to make a consultation appointment with a surgeon that does perform hip replacements regularly, and we were told to expect a total bill (surgery, hospital board, after-care, etc) of about 5-6 thousand. Definitely not pocket change, but we'll find a way to do it. The vet from Thursday also told us that most surgeons won't do this kind of surgery until the pup is at least 8-12 months old, because of future growth, so we may have a few months to scrape up the funds before we can even have it done.

So that is a little bit stressful, but then I look over at my precious pup lying on his blanket (which used to be my bed comforter, by the way) and chewing on BF's old stinky tennis shoe, and I remember that it's all worth it.

Another bit of stress is the fact that BF's parents will be here in 3 days! We cleaned quite a bit yesterday, and BF went over the kitchen today, but there is still alot that I want to get done before they get here. I don't know why I'm so nervous, I guess just because his mom is like a Martha Stewart or something, with everything always clean and perfect. That is definitely not our home, haha! I just keep thinking that they're going to walk in and think it smells like dog, or that we don't have much furniture, etc. Ahhhh!!!

AND... gas prices. Ick. There's no need to go into the details, but I just wish I had known that these increases were going to happen BEFORE I decided to save $400 a month by living 40 minutes away from my job. At this point, I think we would be paying the same amount in the rent/gas combination if we lived 5 minutes away! Ugh. Luckily, we are only here for at most another 9 months, hopefully less. And whenever we find out where the next stop is, I am determined to find a place VERY close! If we can just survive the gas costs until then.

Other than that, everything is going okay. Work is getting harder, with more projects that I need to get done and more work to do while actually at the store.

I did end up making a mini budget for us in Excel, and we've been doing pretty well with tracking our spending and bill paying for June.

BF is submitting resumes online for jobs, so here's hoping he finds something soon!

Let's see, what has happened since my last entry? My life is hectic right now.

We took the pup to the vet last week, which turned out to be a horrible experience. Long story short... we had to wait a week and a half for an appointment, then had to leave our dog all day while they did x-rays, then spent a total of 10 minutes actually talking to the vet about the x-rays. All he could tell us was that his hip was dislocated, which we could've deduced ourselves. Then he referred us to another vet, who is supposedly an orthopedic surgeon, who will tell us more about our options.

I can't even explain how frustrating it is to pay $186 for a vet visit that was not only very un-friendly, but also pretty much useless. So now we've got an appointment for the orthopedic vet on Thursday, and we're praying that we at least get some answers this time.

From what I understand, they can try to pop the hip back in place, and if it doesn't stay, they can try inserting a pin to make it stay. If it still doesn't stay (because larger breeds often have hip problems), then there is a surgery they can perform to replace the whole hip joint.

Of course, the surgery is expensive and involves alot of recovery time, but it's about 95% successful and ideally returns the dog to completely normal.

So, even though we really wanted to focus on paying off as much of our debt as we could before we start planning a wedding, we have decided that if our pup needs the surgery, he will get it.

The estimated cost depends on the vet, but the max is $5,000. According to the good-for-nothing vet from last week, prices have come down alot on this type of surgery in the past few years, so it's better than it could've been.

I know alot of people will think we're crazy for spending that kind of money, especially because we don't exactly have cash stuffed in the couch cushions... but I just can't bear the thought of NOT having it for him. Not only was he a gift from BF to myself, but he has been so good to me. So many nights he slept on my chest when I lived by myself, and when I had to move away from EVERYONE that I knew to another state, he is the only thing that made me feel safe at night. What kind of a person would I be if I decided he wasn't worth the cost of surgery?

We have researched a few different vets for the surgery (because if the orthopedic vet is anything like the vet that referred us to him, we won't be trusting our puppy's health to him)... and there are two in the area that have board-certified surgeons for orthopedics. I found out through one clinic's website that they offer a special type of financing just for vet-related expenses, and there are options for up to 36 months with no interest.

Anyway, BF has taken the money he saved out of his old savings account, and he now has it on-hand to buy my engagement ring (it's sad that I know so much, lol). I don't know when he plans to buy it, or when he's going to propose, but I hope it's soon.

In other news, we finally got my truck fixed, YAY!!! It was the starter after all, and believe it or not, once we called the tow truck and got it to the mechanic's place (about 3 minutes away), they had it done within a day. The cost for repair was $269, and the tow was $75. It's such a relief to have one major expense out of the way.

And even better, that means I can let BF have his car back! He got on CareerBuilder today and made a list of everywhere he wanted to go get applications from tomorrow. I think he's anxious to get out of the house.

His parents have decided that they're coming to visit us next week for a few days, so I'm kind of nervous about that. I just think it's going to be weird... like, are we supposed to cook for them, or should we go out, or what? And where are they going to sleep? I don't want them to have to get a hotel, especially when we have plenty of room here, but then again all we have besides our bed are the couches and a small air mattress. Oh well, I guess it will all work out. I will just have to spend Thursday (after the vet appointment) cleaning all day to get ready!

So there you have it, some parts of my life are getting in order, but most of it is a whirling mess right now.

Well, the sore throat got worse as yesterday wore on. I kept popping Motrin pills, but never felt the fever break at all. To top it all off, right before I decided it would be best to just try and sleep, BF started vomiting at regular intervals.

Apparently he had thrown up once yesterday afternoon, but he thought it was just some hotdogs he had eaten from a nearby gas station. But he ended up sleeping on an air mattress in an extra bedroom, and I ended up on the couch for most of the night. We are trying desperately not to pass whatever we have to each other. So now it's afternoon time and I have only seen him like 4 times today (mostly for his trips to the bathroom). I know he feels terrible, and I just hope that the sleep he's getting will help.

As for me, I was up for about half the night because my throat wouldn't let me sleep, so I'd fix myself a hot cup of tea. When I woke up this morning, I knew I couldn't go to work, so I called in. I always hate to call in, but today has just been the type of day when I couldn't even make myself care. I found some Vicks cough syrup which seemed to help for a bit, but I still can't get the scratchy feeling in my throat to go away long enough for me to sleep. I hate when it feels so dry and scratchy to breathe.

So here we are... I feel like the whole day has been wasted, but hopefully the rest and inactivity will do us all some good. I offered to work on Thursday (my day off) to make up for today, but I'm secretly hoping that they don't want me to, since the pup has a vet appt that morning that I don't want to reschedule. I also need to see about getting my truck towed on Thursday.

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And now on to something a little different. I have been thinking alot today, I guess because I haven't been able to do much else, and BF has been in solitary confinement most of the time.

Attending the wedding this weekend was stressful for me, and I didn't expect it to be at all. There I was, standing with BF and his parents, getting ready to deliver our wedding gifts and socialize with his family, when I spotted the bride-to-be taking some pre-wedding pictures under a huge oak tree. And that's when it hit me... that nasty, horrible tingle of jealousy.

At first I didn't really realize what was going on, because we were constantly talking to different relatives and friends, and I didn't have time to really analyze how I felt. But as the afternoon wore on, it got worse.

Now that I've had a little time to analyze things, I guess I've figured it out.

First of all, they have known each other for a little over a year now, and they're already getting married. I know alot of people would just look at that as silly... but I refuse to say that they're not ready, so it just seems unfair to me. BF & I have been dating about 3 1/2 years, and there I was in the crowd watching this all take place.

Then there's the fact that she's younger than me (and BF too), only 20 I believe. It wouldn't be a big deal if they were both older and established, but the fact that she is 20 makes it worse.

So I guess I had an inkling of jealousy somewhere inside me before I even got to the wedding on Saturday. But then seeing her, smiling and happy, and really beautiful, it just got worse. How sad is that?

She's skinny (even though she's almost 4 months pregnant), beautiful, and has such an outgoing personality. And the wedding site was beautiful, it was at her grandparent's house in our hometown, and the weather couldn't have been better for them. Everybody had a great time, and even though we had been there for about 5 hours by the time the reception was really coming to an end, nobody seemed to get bored or want to leave.

Then at the after-party, there was a moment when one of BF's uncles was joking with her about family traditions, and she said "Man, I love this family already!" I just felt so crappy after that. Of course, she has every right to say it, she is an official part of that family now, and everybody loves her I'm sure. But I just couldn't help thinking, "You don't even KNOW this family!"

Ugh... I don't even know what to say at this point. I hate that I feel this way. I think BF sensed that something was wrong at the after-party, but I didn't want to tell him that I was in a bad mood because I was jealous.

I guess it all boils down to the fact that I've always been a logical person. My whole life, I've based decisions and expectations on the theory that in the end, things are pretty fair, and you get out what you put in.

And now, I just feel like it's sort of unfair. She's younger than me, she has no set career path that she's worked for, they've only been dating a year, and she barely knows the family. And yet now, she's an official part of it, and I'm not.

For anyone still reading this... don't get me wrong. I know it sounds pathetic, stupid, and juvenile. I don't like feeling jealous, but I think it's important that I recognize the feelings for what they are, so that I can deal with the causes.

So my conclusions... I have realized somewhere along the lines today that part of my insecurity and jealousy stems from a feeling that I can't change anything. I felt helpless because she was skinny and I'm not, because she was glammed-up and outgoing, and I'm not necessarily. And I felt like I had been cheated, that in a way, it should've been my wedding they were attending.

But now I've realized that if I want to be skinny, I can be. I've been slowly losing a pound or two here and there, and I haven't even been dieting. But I know I would feel better about myself if I was thinner, and I would feel healthier too.

I've also realized that when BF & I do have our wedding, the people that we really care about will understand our story. They will understand what we have been through in our relationship, the sacrifices we have made, and how much we mean to each other. The people that really matter will know how much our wedding means, and it won't matter if it's the second, third, or hundredth one they've been to in a year.

So I think I've come away from this weekend with a healthier point of view, and a renewed sense of self.

Now I know that everything will be fine, that it's not a competition to see who has the fanciest wedding or who great-uncle Mike likes best. I have also realized that if I am jealous of girls because they get glammed up to go shopping or because they are "girly", then I should quit complaining and do something about it. I don't have to stay the same way I was in middle school, a tomboy who only gets dressed up for special occassions. I may never be high-maintenance (and I don't want to be), but if painting my nails or obsessing about my hair makes me feel better about myself, then I can do that.

Okay, I know I'm rambling. I'm sick, give me a break.

If you got lost reading all that, I basically just decided to go on a diet and get to looking the way I want to look, and live the way I want to live.

Get the feeling this is going to be a happy entry? lol. Actually, things aren't so bad.

We made the 8 hour trip home this weekend, in the middle of Memorial Weekend traffic, to attend BF's cousin's wedding. We left Friday at 6:30 (when I got home from work), and arrived at 3:15 AM Saturday morning. Then we had to wake up at 9:30 to visit our banks in that state before they closed, and then headed to the wedding at 3:30. Left there at 8:30, went to my parent's house to change clothes, then back to BF's parents to sleep. Sunday we went back to my parent's house before leaving at 1:30. Arrived home about 9:30 last night, and had to get up at 6 AM for work today.

Needless to say, I was a little tired for work today, and feeling a little sick to boot. At first it was just a sore throat & aching ears, but as the day progressed, I acquired a constantly running nose, sneezing, coughing, and what felt like a fever. Bleh.

So now I'm home, and we've decided to have Chinese food tonight. We've been doing pretty well about cooking at home (although not tracking expenses like I want to), so I thought we'd treat ourselves while we recover. I just hope I don't pass whatever I have to BF.

So what else... an upcoming expense will be the starter for my truck & the tow bill to get it there. We called to get estimates, seems like the repair will run about $300, plus about $90 for the tow. We've started to talk about a new (to me) car, but who knows. I really don't want the payment, but with gas prices increasing like they are, and my truck's reliability seeming to fail, I think it's something we can't totally ignore.

Another expense... the pup's vet visit. We have it scheduled for Thursday so we can both go, and we're hoping to hear some not-so-bad news. His hip has started acting up, and now he won't put any weight on that back leg. BF said he read that it might be a condition that alot of his breed get, which requires surgery to fix. So we're hoping for the best... even though we're not sure what that is.

Our finances are slowly starting to get simpler. BF was able to close his old savings & checking account this weekend, but we didn't have time to close mine. Hopefully by the time he goes home next month for his other cousin's wedding, we can finally put that account to rest as well.

I also acted on a balance transfer offer that I received from one of my credit cards, and so now the Discover balance has been added to the State Farm card. There is 6.5% interest on the amount until July of 2009, and because I've been paying 17% on that card, it should help some.

A bit of good news is that my company is waiving our health & dental insurance premiums for two pay periods (4 weeks). Apparently the premiums decreased for this year, so they are not making us pay at all for two paychecks. That will be about $80 total.

Most of our bills are paid for this month, but I am nervous that we're forgetting something. I am attempting to create an Excel document for us to use, if I can ever find time and create something workable. My idea is to make something with our savings/debts balances in one section, and then monthly income/expense tracker in another. We'll see.

Well, I'm starting to feel a little worse, so I suppose I'd better get off here and rest a bit. Hope everyone else is well!

Not much new to add today. I had to work, and then came home to have tacos for dinner with BF.

I've decided to start tracking each purchase again, but I'll probably wait until the the last week of May or beginning of June to do so. We worked on our joint budget a few days ago, and made alot of progress, but there are still alot of variables at this point. We have exact amounts on all our debt except for BF's car loan, so he has to call and get the payoff on that. I just like to know where we stand on everything.

The way it looks now, BF needs to find a job making at least $8/hour (shouldn't be too hard around this area), and then he'll need to work at least 38 hrs/week. Hopefully he'll get one making at least $9.50, which would mean less hours that he'd HAVE to work, but more money for the Wedding Fund if he did.

We plan to work on my truck on Thursday (my day off). Some of the guys at my work have given me some advice on determining if it's the starter, so we're going to try a few different things on Thursday morning, and then if it doesn't work, try to get it towed somewhere Thursday afternoon. Hopefully we'll get it figured out somehow.

As for this blog, I have updated much of it with our "joint" information, but it's a bit depressing. The total debt & expenses obviously increased with BF's addition to the household. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not that our debt really INCREASED that much, just that we've combined it into one place now. I'm glad that I started this blog when I did, because I think it will make it much easier for us to keep track of our joint expenses and budget now.

Anyway, time to crunch some more numbers and then hit the sack.

...since I posted last.

Things have certainly changed! BF is here, he actually ended up coming up a day early to surprise me (although he ended up telling me the night before), hehe. We have made the trip back to our home state for my college graduation, and my family had a bonfire party to celebrate, so that was awesome.

My truck has decided to quit starting completely, so thank goodness I've had BF's car to drive to work the last week. It's not starting at all now, so we're not sure if it's still the clutch switch or if it's the starter, battery, etc. Either way, we have to get it fixed soon. We bought some fuel injector cleaner tonight, and we're going to try that before we call to get it towed to the shop. *crosses fingers*

As for the budget... I'm ashamed to say that we haven't even had one written down for this month. Things have been so hectic with trying to close our old bank accounts, rearranging direct deposits and bills, odd expenses, and traveling, that it's been almost impossible.

Along the way, I've figured out that apparently my bi-weekly pay fluctuates according to how many hours I work. Not a big deal, except that I am on "salary". Why do they call it salary if I get paid less for 39 hours compared to 40 hours/week? And for overtime, I only get paid HALF my normal hourly rate. It's odd, but at least now I know to make sure I get in my full 40 hours if I want the exact paycheck.

BF is anxious to begin looking for a job here. Our original plan was for him to get one the week after we came back from my graduation, but that couldn't exactly happen with me having to drive his car to work. Even more reason for us to get my truck fixed soon.

There is a positive side to him being at home though (besides the fact that I get to see him more)... there is a lot less stress about the pup. He doesn't have to stay in his crate all day, and he sleeps pretty well at night. We've come a long way with the house training, the only issue now is that since we share the responsibility, sometimes we both let it slip our minds that he needs to go out. Usually we remember when we see him start circling, but every now and then we end up cleaning up a mess. But definitely alot better.

Since pretty much my whole budget will have to be redone with our new situation, I have alot of updating to do. I'll try to get to the My Budget page, as well as the debt/savings amounts on my sidebar. I'll have to include all of BF's expenses, and calculate about how much he'll need to be bringing in every month to cover the excess. My debts will probably go up a bit from last time, since I put many of my purchases on my Discover Card until I could transfer money from my old checking to my new. I haven't sent that bill in yet, so the balance is still there. I want the updated amount on my sidebar anyway.

Well... guess I'd better get to updating. I've missed reading everyone's blogs and updating my own. Kind of felt out of control when I wasn't posting my daily expenses or recording every small milestone in savings. It's good to be back.

---> Forgot to add... WE FINALLY GOT A COUCH!!! YAY! Actually, we got a matching set of brown leather sofa & loveseat. I feel like we got a pretty good deal too, both for $1000 delivered. We stumbled on a place that was going out of business (they were right beside a Value City Furniture, go figure), and they cut the price down for us nicely. They even threw in four really nice throw pillows that match the leather on the couches. AND now I can mark that as one goal finished on my sidebar. We're thrilled.

Purchases for yesterday (4/19):

Gas: $40.46
Snacks: $3.08 + $1.58

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It was pouring the rain when I got up this morning, but it has stopped now, so I might run to Walmart to pick up a few things today. On the list so far:

-Carpet Shampooer Solution
-Fabric Freshener
-Disposable Camera

I feel like there is more that I need, but since I forgot to write it down, I have no idea. Either way, I'm going to wait before I go, because if I don't need anything besides those three, I'm not going to waste a trip. I can go without those until Thursday (my next day off). By then I might have more to add to my list.

Because of my snacking yesterday, I'm pretty sure my food budget is gone for the month. It should be okay, because I've got stuff to make here at home & take to work, but I'll have to put in a little more effort as there is no wiggle room. I'm really trying to resist going over on the budget. It's hard when I know that I have a "safety net" in my checking account. I've just got to remember that I have a budget for a reason, and next month I won't splurge early on McDonalds!!!

So right now I've got some cheesy rice cooking, and I guess I'll try to finish the Kool-Aid that I made before making a pitcher of sweet tea. I wish I had just made tea to begin with, the Kool-Aid just isn't doing it for me.

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Puppy Update: We are SLOWLY, but surely, getting to our goal of total housetraining. Because I'm uncomfortable crating him all night right now, I am just getting up when I hear him get up in the mornings (if it's too early for me to get up) and putting him in his crate for 30 mins to an hour until I am ready to take him out. At least that ensures that he's not going to go on the carpet. It should be easier when BF gets here too, and I only have to take him out HALF the time.

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BF should be here in 9 days. Finally in the single digits! :P I can't wait, and I'm trying to come up with some neat things to do to celebrate.

I already have some cookie dough that doesn't expire before then, and that is one of our favorite things to do... make cookies together.

I also have a poster that I've decorated that says "Welcome Home"... kind of humorous because this will really be the first time it's been his "home".

We also have a $25 gift card to Red Lobster that I got as a gift for my birthday a few months ago, so we could use that to go out and eat, but will probably save it until the weekend.

So for the day he gets here, I have cookies & a poster, haha. I am going to try and have the apartment as clean as possible so he doesn't feel like he's coming home to a junkyard, and it will mean more time we can spend together not worrying about cleaning/laundry.

I also want to have a financial binder of some sort ready when he gets here, so we can start budgeting together. The May budget will likely be a special one, as we are going to be having some weird expenses (2 trips to our home state for my graduation & his cousin's wedding, buying a couch), and he will be finding a job in that time. The income part will be largely estimated, but we have an emergency amount to dip into if needed. Hopefully by June we will have a pretty standard budget in place.

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Well, lots to do today and not so much time to do it in, so I guess I should get started if I want to accomplish any of my goals for BF's getting here.

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Note: I forgot to add that I've tweaked my monthly budget again (always a work in progress, right?). This time I just changed the amounts going towards my credit cards and the amount I'm putting towards our Wedding Fund. After researching some average photographers and reception sites, etc., I've discovered that many of them ask for a deposit up front, and so we will need to have cash ready for that.

Because it's not possible for us to pay off our debts and save the necessary amounts at the same time, I talked to BF, and we decided the best thing to do would be to pay the minimum amounts (or a little more) on the debts, and put the rest towards our Wedding Fund. Any extra income from surveys, ebay, change, etc. will also go towards the Wedding Fund, as well as if we underspend for our budget one month.

So, at the end of each month, we'll mail in the total of our surpluses to our Wedding Fund savings account.

We could take out a personal loan for the wedding, but I like the idea of slowly paying down some of our debt, while saving as much as we can for our wedding. I also know that it will help us to be more frugal if we are saving, instead of knowing we are getting a loan for the wedding. We'll see.

Wow. I feel accomplished. I always have big plans for doing things on my day off, but sometimes I get lazy or distracted and don't get everything done.

Today, however, I did manage to:

-Wash/Dry my living room rug
-Vacuum & Shampoo the living room
-Vacuum & Shampoo my bedroom
-Take out some trash
-Water the plant
-Clean kitty litter box

It was so nice out today (even a little hot!) that I also took the pup out to play Squirrel Frisbee (with his new 'flying squirrel' toy). It ended up being more like me playing frisbee by myself with him on a leash, but it was still fun. I would throw it, we'd both run to where it was, and then he would just run past it. Then I'd pick it up and repeat. :P

I still have a few other chores that I'd like to get done tonight:

-Wash/Dry my work clothes
-Clean up kitchen
-Get lunch/snacks ready for work tomorrow
-Take a shower so I don't have to in the morning
-Take some more random trash out (boxes, pop cartons)

My plan for my home is to try and keep it as clean as possible until BF gets here. I don't want our first few days of living together to be focused on vacuuming. With all the shampooing I did today, I think I can maintain it without TOO much effort. Baby steps.

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Puppy Update: WOW! He is doing so great today. (I don't know why I say that, I always end up jinxing myself) But there was even a point earlier, when I am almost positive that he actually went to the outside door and stood, wanting to go out. It may be just a coincidence, but when I took him out, he went immediately. Either way, he's doing so much better!
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More house matters... I've decided to make a list of everything that I would like to purchase for my (soon to be OUR) home. This list will take some budgeting for, especially because we have practically nothing right now.

For starters, I have a dining room table that I bought (with 4 chairs included) at Walmart for $105. Within two weeks, I set a bowl of hot soup on top, and the thin layer of wood material warped, so now there's a huge bubble in the middle of the table. Then it got even more wet in the move here, so there are small cracks and more bubbles on the top. Then there's the fact that I have no living room seating at all.

I had a $100 futon from Walmart, but it was so broken down that I decided not to bring it with me. I'll make a complete list and add it as a page on my sidebar. I think that will help me to slowly be able to budget and check items off as we can afford them.

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As I type this, I just saw on the news where people in Haiti are so hungry that they are making "dirt cookies" to eat. The dough consists of butter, water, and dirt. Just goes to show you that no matter how bad you think you have it, you could always have it worse.

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I've got to fax my move-in sheet from my old apartment to them tomorrow from work. Then I'll call and make sure it got there, hopefully be able to talk to the apt manager, and verify that I'm not going to be charged for the carpet. HOPEFULLY... it would be nice to have one more step behind me.

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Checked my checking acct today and noticed that a large transaction cleared, so I checked one of my credit cards:

Balance of only $3.15

Yay! I am going to go ahead and mail the rest of this small balance in tomorrow, and it should officially be done. Also had a NSD today

Today will be a much needed day off. Even though most of it will be spent doing laundry, taking out the trash, cleaning, and catching up on randomness, it's still better than having to worry about my truck starting for work or rude customers ruining my day.

I'm also expecting a package sometime soon. My mom told me on Tuesday that my graduation cap/gown and invitations had arrived at their house, and that she would forward it on to me here. I had to have it shipped there when I paid for it, because the bookstore didn't offer delivery confirmation with their shipping options. And I really don't feel like paying $187 dollars again because it got lost.

Hopefully it will come today, because if not, I will have to go one day before work to the post office and pick it up, and Lord knows my mornings are hectic enough without another stop. I also need to hurry up and get the invitations in the mail to the people who I am actually inviting to attend. And of course, the sooner I send out the "announcement" invitations, the sooner people can send me graduation money.

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Puppy Update: He is doing good so far today, although it's still really early. We made it out this morning for #1, and then after he ate, for #2. It's harder for him to concentrate when he can hear traffic on the nearby interstate, or people walking down the road, or birds chirping, etc. I feel kind of ridiculous sometimes, because I will be so excited that he's about to go, and then all of the sudden a weird bird will chirp and he's completely alert and totally distracted from his task.

The only problem we're still having is the time right before bedtime. I take him out just as much (or more) then, but we have yet to have a no-accident night. I can't figure it out, because I only give him water when I first get home from work, with his food. Maybe when BF gets here and I don't feel quite so alone, we will work on moving the crate to the bedroom and letting the pup sleep in there.

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Speaking of BF... he finally broke the news of his moving to his boss at one of his jobs. He works two part-time jobs, one of which he just started about two months ago, before we knew I'd be moving. I feel horrible about it really, because he seems to really like the job itself and could probably get a good full-time job there within a year if we stayed. Anyway, it has been stressing us both out (especially him) to think about what they will say when he leaves.

He told the boss man yesterday, and apparently it went great. He said the guy acted a little shocked at first and just said "Oh, really?" like it was no big deal. Then BF explained that I am up here by myself, with alot of stress and worry, and the guys says "Oh yea, I completely understand, man."

Then BF tells him that he hopes nobody is mad at him, and that he really liked the job and wouldn't quit for anything less than this reason. And his boss told him "Oh, I'd take you back in a heartbeat."

Yay!!! Even though we're not sure where my next move will be, or if we'll ever end up close enough to that area for him to work the same place again, it's nice to know that he does have the job if he wants it. And I know it makes BF feel better to know that nobody thinks badly of him.

Honestly, we have decided that if my next move (to be an assistant manager) isn't within 3-4 hours of our hometown, then I will quit and find something else. I really don't want to have to do that, because we've both sacrificed alot for this so far, and it's a WONDERFUL opportunity for our future (plus a stable job), but I also can't justify letting them drag us wherever they want for the rest of our lives. We want to be close to our family and friends, and they have enough stores within 3-4 hours of our hometown, that it's not ridiculous to ask for.

It's important for us to be near our families when we start having children of our own, etc., especially for BF. He has told me before that he doesn't want to live so far away that he can't decide to go watch a ball game with my brother, or visit our parents' houses on the weekend. So right now our timeline is, within 3-4 hours away for my assistant manager position (about 9 months), and then when I take the first manager job, within 2 hours. I'll do that and try to transfer to a store closer to home, but if I can't do it in 2 years, then I'll have to find something else. We'll just take it as it comes I guess.

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Today should be a NSD, unless I pay some bills. I could go grocery shopping, because I really have nothing to take to work for lunch, but I think I'll use today to get together a list of what I REALLY need to get, and see how much of my food budget is left for the month. Then I will just look at it as a challenge, to see what I can be creative & come up with for lunch and dinner for the next few days, out of what I already have. It should be interesting.

And finally... there is a website that I just remembered, and I thought I'd share it with my fellow SA'ers. It's called BookCrossing (www.bookcrossing.com), and I think it's about the greatest idea since sliced bread. Although I've only had limited participation to this point, I'm hoping to get more involved.

The basic idea is that, members of the site (it's free to join) use either old books that they have read already, or an extra copy that they have, and "drop" them places to be "hunted" by other BookCrossing people. It's like a scavenger-hunt version of a library. But, every book that you hunt, you go and make a journal entry about it after you read it. Most of the books already have a little BookCrossing label on the inside, which identifies the book to the site. But if you want to drop a book of your own, you can go there and print out a label for it.

You can go to the site, search the area where you live, and most likely there are already books "dropped" somewhere near you. When you go hunt them down, you can read & journal about them, and then you go drop them off somewhere yourself, for someone else to find. Most of the time, people will announce when they've dropped a book so that it's easy to find, but some people just randomly drop them, making it even more random when someone finds it.

Anyway, it's a fun site, and pretty much free to do. An exciting version of the library, and every book you get has a story of it's own.

*On a side note, I've also decided to track my credit score on here, although it will only be about every three months or so.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

Today has been a semi-productive day. The dog got me up early, reminding me that I HAD to go get his dog food this morning. I also had to take my rent check to the office, as I realized yesterday that I hadn't paid it. I wasn't sure what the grace period was (or wasn't), so I wasn't going to feel at ease until it was taken care of.

At this point, I started wondering if the rent was indeed $875 like I've been saying all along, or if it was $895. I knew it was $875, but for some reason I was doubting myself and decided to check. When I was skimming over the lease, I noticed a part that says the landlord has the right to require all rent payments in money orders or certified checks.

WHAT??? So I'm freaking out because there is no way I can get a money order OR a certified check in this state. I have all of my money in my old checking account in my old state. So I wait patiently until 9:00 when the BBT banks open. I was planning to explain the situation, and hope that they would let me cash a check from my other checking account, if I deposited some of it into the checking account I have with them.

BF called on his break from work, and I was so stressed that he said he hoped my day got better, and that he'd pray for me. Ten minutes later, at exactly 9:00, I decided to try calling the leasing office to verify that I couldn't just write a check. And what do you know, she said that was fine! Apparently they use the same lease for the hundreds of properties owned by the management company, so that particular clause didn't apply to me. Better yet, she said I had until the 5th to even drop it off. I called BF back to let him know that his prayers worked.

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I also picked up some paper mess that the pup had made while I was in the shower yesterday, and was startled by a knock on my door. Not knowing who it was (and we don't have peep holes yet), I didn't want to answer. The pup was barking like a guard dog, and I just sat completely still, and didn't hear anything else.

I told BF about it later, and he said it might've been someone who just had the wrong apartment, which made me feel a little better, since there was no note or anything on my door from maintenance or package delivery, etc. So I go do my errands and come back, and I'm right in the middle of a survey when my doorbell rings. It's a rather loud doorbell, and hardly anyone uses them, so it scared the crap out of me. The pup is barking again, and I'm sitting in my computer chair frozen. I wait about 15 seconds, and don't hear anyone walking or talking outside the door. Just when I go to get up and see if there was a note, the doorbell rings again. I freeze again. Still no talking, no offering of who they are, no walking away, etc. Then about 10 seconds later, there is a knock. This time, it wasn't just a regular old knock, it was the EXACT rhythm that BF used to use when he would come to my old apartment, so I would know it's him.

So of course, what do I think? BF has crossed two states to surprise me, and he's going to move in even earlier than I expected!!! Yay!!!

Not. I grabbed the pup's collar and opened the door a crack, only to be faced with a middle-aged man and woman, dressed professionally, and then be battered with questions of how I'm doing and do I attend church, and did I before I moved.

Now, I am a Christian, and I do wish that I could get into a comfortable church here, but is knocking at strangers doors at 7:30 at night really the best way to go about recruiting people? I was really surprised to find out that they were from a Baptist church (which is what I attended back home), because I've really never encountered that. Anyways, after 10 minutes of them doing all the talking and me trying to keep the pup from escaping between my legs, I was handed a card with their cell phone numbers, and a pamphlet about their church.

All in all, I'm a little relieved to know who it was knocking at my door earlier, but I'm also a little freaked out that they came back twice, and were pretty persistent the second time. They also kept asking me alot of personal info, like my first & last name, if I was married or moved for work, etc. Kind of freaky.

It also sucked that in my pathetic state I thought it was BF at the door.

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On to the financial stuff...

The shipping for all my ebay items totalled $13.80, plus about $2.75 that I had to spend on packing supplies. The total payments I received after the fee from PayPal was $23.65, so my net profit was $7.10.

It's not alot of money, but it's more than I had a few days ago! Also, it's a little less clutter of unwanted items around the apartment.

I've decided to take any extra income (overtime, surveys, ebay, etc.) and put it into our State Farm savings account (AKA Our Wedding Fund). I'll wait until the end of the month to mail in the deposit, in case there is anything else I might get to add.

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Pay day is officially Saturday, but I got my pay stub yesterday, so I know the amount I'm getting plus what's being deducted:

Net After Taxes: $1,075.66
Health/Dental/Vision: -$56.76
401K: $0.00
Net Deposit: $1,018.90

This check also incluses 1.12 hours of overtime, which amounts to about $6 more net pay. I'm going to add that to my $20 challenge, and put it in the Wedding Fund at the end of the month if it's still extra.

The good news: The net pay after taxes is a little higher than what I had budgeted for (based on two pay periods per month), so that may be a surplus at the end of April.

The bad news: The amount deducted for my insurance benefits is about $2.76 more than I budgeted from each paycheck, for a total of $5.52 more per month. I will check my next stub, but I will probably change the amount budgeted for that next month.

The other news: I had forgotten that my 401K contributions will not start until after my third month with the company. So at the end of the month, if I don't need the money to cover some other problem budget areas (like the insurance deductions), then I will stick it in the Wedding Fund.

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I requested payment from a survey site today, so hopefully I will get a $9 check in the mail this month. More for the Wedding Fund maybe!

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Gossip News: For those of you who read my post about the "situation" with BF's sister getting married again, around the same time as we would be starting to plan our wedding, I have some extra news:

Not only is one of BF's girl cousins getting married in June (they've been planning for like a year), he just found out today that one of his guy cousins is moving his wedding up to the end of May. They were originally planned for December of this year, but due to some unforeseen circumstances (one guess what it is), they will be doing it in May.

So... if my intuition is correct and me & BF will be getting engaged in the next three months (I could be wrong, I haven't exactly asked him, but I have a pretty good feeling about it), that will mean that at the same time we're announcing our engagement and starting to plan our wedding:

1) His cousin will be having his wedding in May.
2) His sister will be having her "shot gun" wedding in June.
3) His other cousin will be having her wedding in June.
4) My uncle's baby is due for July.
5) His cousin's baby is due in November.

And we're both VERY close to our families (uncles, cousins, etc), so each of these events will be a big deal for our families. It's starting to look like I am going to have to give up on waiting for "our moment" to be the sole event... if I want to get married any time in the next 10 years!!!

Still having trouble with getting an answer out of my old apartment complex. They were supposed to call me today and LEAVE ME A MESSAGE if I didn't answer, with how much I owe them for breaking the lease. I got off at 4:00 and there was no missed call or voicemail. So I tried the call the office, and the phone went straight to their voicemail system. From what I remember living there a month ago, they were open until 5:30 on weekdays???

Needless to say, I am pretty ticked off about this. I am two states away, I need to get this taken care of so 1) I can know exactly how much money it cost & how to budget accordingly and 2) So that I can stop worrying about bills for two apartments. As if I'm not busy enough!

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On another note, I did have time to stop by the bank today and deposit money to cover the $46 fee on my checking account. Although the woman was really nice, I wasn't able to get it taken off. Oh well, it won't happen again.

I also stopped for $20 in gas. Was able to pay cash for all of it out of the money that BF left this weekend. I really needed to stop and get dog food/stamps/envelopes/boxes, but I had some dog food left in another bag, and he is eating it, so that can wait until tomorrow.

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If the bank fees and apartment complex people didn't have me stressed enough, BF called with another interesting little bit of information today. Here's the scoop:

He has two older sisters, one is 24 and one is 26. The 26 year old (I'll call her "S2") has been an emotional and financial rollercoaster the whole time I've known her. She's a nice enough person, and we get along well, and she's SUPER sweet, but she just doesn't have any sense sometimes.

She was married to a guy that their whole family didn't like (not that it matters, but it foreshadowed the future). About a year and a half after I started dating BF, she moved back in with their parents and said she was separated from him. I think many of their problems stemmed from the fact that neither really functioned as an adult, and he was HORRIBLE with money. I'm talking, her car got repossessed, but he had an extra truck and a boat?

Anyway, she ended up going back to the guy, only to move BACK in with BF's parents 3 months later. This time, she says they are getting divorced, but they have to wait until they finish filing bankruptcy. Nobody even knew they were filing bankruptcy, but BF's parents decided to help her get back on her feet, if it meant she would be better off in the long run.

She lived with them for over a year, in which time she had several part time jobs. BF's parents paid for her to take nursing classes, then she quit. They paid $500 for the divorce proceedings so they could get underway. She never paid rent, never bought groceries, etc. She saved $5000 for a downpayment on a car, which BF's dad had to co-sign for of course.

At this point she's been working a full time job at a factory for about 3 months. Her divorce is finally final, but she's been slightly obsessive over other guys during the whole time anyway. She breaks up with one she's been dating for about 4 months, then starts talking about a guy she met at her work, who is "just a friend".

About a month later, BF informs me that the guy is married with two small children. While she still insists they are only friends, she also justifies the time they spend together with "he's planning on divorcing his wife".

A month after that, she is suddenly obsessed with moving out to her own place. Everyone was concerned that she was only doing it to move in with this guys, but she swears she's not.

This all happened as I was getting notified of my job offer. Sure enough, two weeks after she moved out, she told BF that the guy had separated from his wife and was staying with her most of the time. He was even bringing his kids to visit (they're 5 and 3).

So they have been living together for about two months now. BF calls me today and tells me that S2 says, if this guy can get the divorce from his wife final in a month or two, they are going to get married THIS JUNE!!!

This upset me a little, for a few different reasons. Number one, I had defended S2 to BF and his family, saying that she might really just want to be out on her own. Number two, I have never even met this guy, he's still married, and she's only known him about 5 months total. And number three... and this is going to sound completely selfish I know... they are planning this whole shenanigan at the exact same time that I expect BF & I will get engaged.

Even typing that, I feel horrible. But to justify myself a little, I am not the type of person to be the center of attention all the time. I am content to stay in the background and be modest about my achievements or talents.

BUT... after four years of dating BF, we are finally getting engaged. While we are not perfect, we are hard workers, never take a penny from our parents for college or other expenses, and are already hard at work paying down debt to save for our wedding.

It is very disheartening to realize that I will have to "share the spotlight" with S2, as she goes through with this mess. I had planned to ask their other sister to be a bridesmaid, but how exciting will that be for her, when she is going to be maid of honor at her own sister's wedding 6 months before? And how about BF's dad, who he wants to be his best man, how excited will he be to pay for a honeymoon for the FOURTH time, twice in 6 months? And what about when I talk about our wedding details, when theirs is on the forefront?

I know this sounds bad. BF doesn't understand why it matters to me, and I don't know how to make him see that I've been planning and dreaming about this for my whole life. We've done all the right things, we're responsible, we're in love, and when our moment comes... we have to share it?

Thoughts will be appreciated... don't be too harsh on me

I paid a stupid tax today. I had checked my credit score last week, and instead of paying the $5.95 for a one time score, I decided to enroll in the "7 day free trial" for free, and then cancel it before I had to pay. Why pay $5.95 when you can pay nothing, right?

Well, I can't really say what happened between the time that I made that decision and today when I checked my bank account, but perhaps it was all the excitement of BF coming to visit. Some how, some way, I started thinking the "trial period" was a MONTH instead of a WEEK. Needless to say, when I was logging into my new checking account today (the one that I haven't deposited money into because I'm having a heck of a time trying to get checks for it), I was VERY surprised to see that I had a NEGATIVE balance!!!

FreeCreditReport had charged 14.95 to my banking account, and then because I didn't have any deposited in there to cover it, I was charged a $35 overdraft fee. Hence the negative balance of $44.96.

At first I was ticked off because I thought I had been charged prematurely for the credit reporting, but then when I checked the site, I realized that it was only a WEEK free trial. So, it is my fault and my fault only.

So for this time, I will chalk it up to a VERY expensive credit score/report. If there is a positive to come from it, maybe it is that now I will be forced to make a stop at a local BBT branch and deposit some of the cash that BF gave me today. Maybe I will also get the checks situation straightened out.

And I did cancel the credit reporting membership effective today, so that is taken care of at least.

I have just started reading the Fly Lady website, and I am excited about starting that. Even though it really has nothing specifically to do with what happened to me today, it does focus on organization, and a "chaos" free life. Sounds good to me. I've got to get organized and stop costing myself money!

Well, I had an excellent visit with my BF the past few days. He was able to make it up on Wednesday night about 8:30, which worked out well because that's just about the time I was getting home from work that day. This might be a weird choice of words, but it was really "refreshing" to be with him again! We have never gone longer than a day or two without seeing each other, even when we lived in different towns, and it had been a whole month this time. So yea, I love him

The bad news is that I was so excited Wednesday that I forgot to stick to my "no eating out" rule (or at least that's my excuse), and I spent $3 on breakfast at McDonald's. BF paid for dinner Wednesday night, so I don't have to count that in my spending. Then Thursday, he paid for breakfast when we went to Wally World, but I did end up buying a new collar & harness for the puppy. The good news is that I still had money on my Walmart giftcard to pay for it.

Thursday night I cooked his favorite meal (salmon patties), which turned out pretty decent. I had to work on Friday, so I just grabbed a bagel & cream cheese before we left the house, and BF brought me lunch at work. Friday night, he cooked chicken & potatos, which was AWESOME (so much better than my salmon patties), and the best part was that we already had the groceries to make it.

He left early this morning as I left for work, and I have to admit that so far, it hasn't been as bad as I was thinking it would be. In my mind, I had worked it up so much that I thought it would be even worse this time than when he had to leave the first time. Although today is only the first day, I think it's going to be a little better this time. Plus, I know when he comes back in a month, he's coming back to stay! No more boring nights or days off alone!

Because I was in such a hurry this morning to leave before he did (it was a psychological thing, lol), I didn't have time to eat breakfast. When my coworkers were taking orders for someone going to get breakfast, I caved again. Another $3 to McDonalds.

So in total, from Wednesday to today, here is the spending:

Wednesday: $3 Breakfast (cash)
Thursday: $7 dog collar (gift card)
$8 dog harness (gift card)
Friday: $0
Today: $3 Breakfast (cash)

I do have to say though, BF insisted that I take $150 cash this morning before he left, "just in case" I needed anything that I couldn't write a check for. He's so good to me I told him I didn't need it, and my plan is to still have most of it when he gets back, when we can either put it in the Wedding Fund or pay off that much more debt. We'll see though, I may have some expenses that I don't see coming right now.