Our hand me down freezer is having trouble staying shut so DH hooked up a bungee cord to the door. So today we went hunting for a new freezer. It is just the two of us so we are thinking a smaller freezer, but ours is stuffed full!

Fortunately or unfortunately while walking through Sears I noticed a 70% off sign above a rack of baby girl clothes.
I bought four items:
A cute red corduroy long sleeved dress with little scottie dogs on it for $4.97.
A long sleeved snap crotch red turtleneck with embroidered hearts on the turtleneck for $1.97.
A cute little pink playsuit with pink ballerina shoes appliqued with "baby ballerina" embroided on it for $3.97.
Total with tax $10.35.

Then I went to Borders to buy a book for my great-nephew who is turning 1. I knew what I wanted, a book named "I Am A Bunny".

Of course when I walked in there were a bunch of children's books cheap. I ended up getting two for great-nephew and 4 for Ally Ayn, all for just over $23.00.

Okay the key to not spending money is Don't Go Shopping!

A fourth and most likely final State Farm check for $74.20. This check had a notation of 2005 Chevrolet, which is our most expensive to insure vehicle, thus the largest check so far.



We spent the day in the back yard, went to the dump 3 times. The total cost of getting rid of a lot of tree branches was $45.00. It would have cost $110.00 for a chipper and we didn’t really know what we would do with the chips….The green stuff is kept separate so I can pretend they don’t just add it to a landfill somewhere, but then I guess that would be okay anyway… YD took this photo today in North Carolina. It is not from my garden, though I wish it was.

We went to a local garden store and bought 2 zucchini plants, 2 yellow crookneck and two butternut to plant. We have two raised bed boxes so they will go in one. The other has a huge flowering plant in it that flew in a few years ago and volunteered to cheer up our yard.

Then I realized that I really do like a couple of the roses that I was planning to dig up and give to my mom, so I ended up weeding them, watering them and tomorrow I am going to go ahead and feed them all and plan to transplant them in the fall since they are in a bad place.

All the talk about handing plants down through generations must have hit me. These roses have been here since we moved into the house (20 years this August) and I was thinking it would be nice to give my girls starts of them.

After our third trip to the dump I told my husband I would buy him a piece of pizza from this place in town we never think to go to because it is away from town, very close to the local high school. We got two pieces of loaded vege pizza with yummy artichoke hearts for $3.25. We decided it was well worth it.

One week from today we will be in San Francisco at the Giants Game. I will get to see my youngest daughter who is flying in and driving home with us. I have not seen her since February and I am missing her a lot. She has already told her father several meals she wants him to cook while she is home. She is actually flying into Reno to MD’s and they are going to the Bay Area on Thursday for a game that day too. It’s hard for me not to dash over to Reno (well not exactly dash since it is a 6.5 hour drive) and see her, but sisters need their time together too without mom. OD has decided not to come because the flight was going to be about $500.00 and she has her last final on June 11th, so she will come home after that. Hopefully SIL will be coming too the 13th if he gets leave approved.

DH called from work, (he left here at 5:00 a.m.) and wanted to go out to breakfast. I agreed, but figured I would get a biscuit or something and let him eat a full breakfast. His conscious got the better of him. He stopped at the store and got a bagel, an avocado, an artichoke and some sausage and made us omelets instead. We had plenty of eggs.

It was a good thing his conscious got the better of him because we bought a new 50” Plasma TV! There was a rebate at Costco and we agreed we would put it on the Costco AMEX and pay in full when the bill came. We had just paid the current bill, so I know it will be due July 7th or so. We have continued to put $300.00 every other week into the grocery account and right now there is about $1000.00 in that account. We had almost enough saved a year ago when YD and SIL decided to get married and we sort of insisted on a real wedding. There went the TV money!

Anyway we are putting it to good use and I am again back on the treadmill (quit using it when the TV died in the TV/treadmill room). We are rolling our change and need to try to keep our food to about $250.00 for the month in order to pay for the TV. Yes we probably should have waited until we had the cash in hand, but (isn't there always a but?) the rebate ended soon and we had also been told we are getting a dividend check that could pay for 3 TV's next week so we went for it.

Anyone see Big Spender on A&E today? I watched it while walking on the treadmill this morning. The people on the show give me panic attacks!

By the way, I am adding the $74.20 to the TV fund.

Okay off to enjoy the new TV now, plus the doggies think it’s lap time!

PG&E: $171.16
Gasoline: $409.24
Groceries: $375.94
Eating out: $162.88 (ouch)
Pets: $57.62 (another ouch)
Medical: 87.78 (one prescription, teeth cleaned)
Husband: $234.31 (new work boots and pants)
Me: $49.87 (two sweatsuits on E-Bay)
Tax Return: $540.00 (ouch)
Household: $152.68
Toiletries: $11.78

All our other costs are pretty fixed.

In January and February we spent under $300.00 for groceries and under $100.00 for eating out so I am slightly disappointed. DH pointed out we stocked up on Tri-Tip, but 10 of them at $2.99 a pound.

I am really going to try taking over some of the cooking. It's silly to wait for DH to get home tired to cook for me. Last night I made deep dish pizza which turned out deeper than I expected since I used a 9 by 13 pan instead of a cookie sheet! It was good though.

DH and I also discussed trying the rest of the year to not buy anything we didn't really need and stop running to Safeway for one or two items. That was on Monday. By 7:30 that evening he wanted ice cream and ran to Safeway, picking up a 6-pack of "Skinny Cows" for $4.89 with 50 cents off with club card. Part of our problem is not planning for those nights when we really want something sweet and no we don't necessarily eat it if it is in the house...

Anyway I decided to run into town yesterday before the carpet cleaner arrived at our home and checked the price of Skinny Cows at Winco....$3.45 for the same 6 pack as at Safeway. I ended up getting two pints of Haagen-Daas (did I spell that right?) ice cream, chocolate for DH and coffee for me for $2.48.

So let's see how long I can manage to shop and cook. I spent $31.87 for the rest of the week, veges, milk, frozen french fries(Ore-Ida, green tag special), hamburger buns for burgers tomorrow, tonight is turkey stir-fry. I also picked up sour cream and ricotta cheese.

The carpet cleaning was way more than I expected, but stains came out so I am happy. This is the first time I have had my carpets cleaned since we had new put in almost 5 years ago in the livingroom, 3 years in the back room, almost 3 years in YD's room and 1 year in our bedroom. The bedrooms were all remnants that cleaned up better than the expensive plush in the livingroom. The bedrooms are that sort of stamped look carpet, not berber... anyway the house is looking pretty clean and we are making sure we take off our shoes before walking in the livingroom.

Onward!

DH stopped at Costco yesterday to buy Aleve for my back and picked up a few more items. I realized this morning he didn't give me the receipt.

I called him as he was driving to work and asked how much he spent? $84.15.
How much was the Aleve? $14.25.

Okay the rest was groceries right? No.... he also bought Advil PM and Excedrin.

Well how much were they? He dug the receipt out, put his cell phone on speaker and proceeded to tell me...$11.99 for the Excedrin and $16.99 for the Advil PM.

How much was tax? $3.13.

Sorry I said... can't help myself...

Unfortunately he thought the Excedrin was Advil Migraine (I guess his ability to read is leaving him in his old age of 48!) The box color was the same he explained....we will be returning the Excedrin. He even admitted he was excited when he thought that Costco was carrying Advil Migraine (since only certain drug stores carry it and it really is the best thing for common headaches).

Now it's time to enter in YNAB!

Monday I awoke from an earthquake and yesterday with snow on the ground for the first time in about 17 years... so this morning seems like just another normal morning.

DH went to Costco on Saturday and found the spiral hams for 97 cents a pound. He bought one for each of his employees.

We have had two meals out of ours (along with some chopped in my salad yesterday, froze two packages with our Food Sealer and today I am soaking and cooking beans with the bone. Not bad for $10.00.

Back pain does that to you. We were able to stay under budget for our trip to NC and I felt it was a privilege to be there. Unfortunately the last day my back was so bad we switched to an expensive room with a bed that was actually comfortable with a jacuzzi in the room. The hotel (Marriott) allowed us an early check-in and I used that jacuzzi 3 times in 24 hours for about an hour each time before leaving for the airport. It was well worth the money!

I met with our accountant this week and the news was bad... first estimate $8700.00 additional payments besides the quarterly deposits I made. Hopefully the home office deduction will make some difference!

DH found spiral hams at Costco for 97 cents a pound. We cooked that on Sunday and are now being creative with leftovers.

We also received in the mail two $10.00 off coupons at our local Safeway. We don't shop that much there but DH and I wandered around (well I did until my back got to me and then I went and sat in the car) trying to come up with $50.00 worth of good buys to get our $10.00 off. At the checkout DH was at $45 and the checker still took the coupon. One good thing we got was Fresh Gourmet salad croutons for $10/10. We had just bought a package at Winco and they were $1.59. So knowing they were good, we bought 5 more packages (I eat salad every day and I love croutons.)

I have only earned enough this month to cover our health insurance (we purchase our own being self-employed), but YNAB program is helping me to stay on track. That may be all I am able to work for a few months.

The sun has been shining and our Indian summer is going on and on...

I am still eating from our freezer and pantry. Right now we have two months worth of grocery budget in that checking account (separate account, DH keeps checkbook). So we will have plenty of money to restock once we have used up our food stash.

I received a refund check from my Gottschalk's account of about $37.00. Somehow I overpaid on our new mattress.

I have $800.00 set aside for our trip to North Carolina December 1st when we go to help YD set up her apartment.

The new year will bring a new budget with no dependents (except my fox terrier Landon)!

My enabling friends think that $600+ for food for three (groceries and eating out) "is not that bad". I think it is very bad....

So my goal for September is $500 for the month (combined groceries and eating out).

Also I was a bit shocked at the almost $70.00 in pet costs for one little dog. I usually buy his toys at the Dollar Store, but do feed him expensive Innova dog food. I also bathe him myself except about once every six weeks take him to the groomer for a good bath, toenail trimming etc. Lola my grandpuppy is coming for a visit so I did buy her a new toy today at the Dollar store. But for September, my goal is $50.00 for Landon.

I am copying Flash here, but these are my daughters and their pets. All three puppies were rescued from shelters. My doggy is in the middle with my YD who is recovering from a bad case of mono (not in this picture of course, this picture was taken in early June).

I feel very confident I wrote down everything spent this month.

Totals:
Groceries: $451.41
Eating out: 166.80
Household: $402.64
Auto exp: $1,875.73
Personal Care: $88.52
Pet: $64.97
Gifts: 472.88
Family Fun $141.44

The family fun was high due to high school reunion costs. The Household was high due to a new vacuum and new crockpot and the auto was high due to new tired, alignment and radiator on the old truck and air condtioning work on Volvo.

I did an enventory of my pantry and have so much food I could probably feed us dinners for 3 months from our pantry/freezer... well maybe not three months, but 2! So I will be doing a personal pantry challenge.

I was a bit surprised at our eating out. We had two dinners out and the rest was crap lunches and coffee. Definetely need to work on this. Our anniversary and Dh's birthday is next week, so this will be a challenge.

Need to consider goals for September.