Did my grocery shopping today. Before I left, I told myself no unnecessary/unplanned purchases. I almost made it. I saw good mozzarella (the kind you slice for tomato/mozz/basil salads, for example) at Trader Joe's, so I got some of that. Just sounded too yummy to pass up, and I'm planning some baked pasta this weekend while my dad's here. Spent about $90, including some beer for while dad is here and cat litter for the kitties - that was about $15 right there.

I'm trying a new (to me) coffee from TJ's. It was only $5, so we'll see how I like it. I also got plain yogurt so that I can finally try out the yogurt maker - hope it turns out tasty!

Adding up my three categories (groceries, restaurants, starbucks), here are totals for Jan - Apr of this year:

Jan = $486.55 (326 + 131 + 29.55)
Feb = $495.51 (351.33 + 100.28 + 43.90)
Mar = $713.33 (415.81 + 292.02 + 5.50)
Apr = $516.21 (310.72 + 151.05 + 54.44)

I'll mull those over...it's interesting to see them laid out like that.

Our trip out of town was fun, but the money here and there sure adds ups. Longterm parking, car rental, meals out, goodies.... I managed to find a few free things to do as well. The place we were staying at had free admission tickets to the children's museum, so DD and I took advantage of that. We went on a couple of walks/hikes and found a library - all free, and all fun.

Really good news on DH job front - a bonus and a raise!! Woo hoo!!! The bonus goes into savings, and part of the raise (we're thinking half) goes into increasing the 401k contribution.

A friend invited DD and I to join them at the zoo today - both of our families have memberships there - but I have too much else to do today in anticipation of my folks coming into town sometime tomorrow. If I wasn't tutoring this afternoon, I could do it, but those two hours out of the afternoon cut into what we can do, unless we stick close to home and don't really have to do a lot of driving.

Later this morning I'm planning on checking monthly spending for last month and updating my spreadsheet to show how our savings are increasing/decreasing on a monthly basis.

April totals:
Groceries: $310.72
Restaurants: $151.05
Starbucks: $54.44

I have a somewhat long to-do list today. I haven't done grocery shopping yet, but I have gotten a bunch of laundry done. Most of it has line-drying, though I do have one load in the dryer right now. That's the drawback of doing more than one or two loads in a day - I run out of places to hang everything.

I need to go through my cupboards and freezer and see what I have, plan some menus and then go do the food shopping.

I put together over $500 worth of medical receipts for DH to take to work for reimbursement. It will be nice to deposit that check into savings.

Ouch. I got my crown replacement started today, along with a filling. In three weeks I go back for the permanent crown and one other filling. Joy. $170 today, and about that much next time. My dentist replaced the crown free of charge. I think it's because it's one he did and it's only 5-6 years old. So the bill could have been a WHOLE lot worse.

Medical out of pocket this month - $759....Wow. A little of that will get reimbursed by insurance, and then we can submit the rest to the medical reimbursement plan at DH's work (which is still our money, of course, but at least it's pre-tax dollars and therefore go further).

The latest idea for DD's room at the moment may be to gut and redo her closet. We have an older house and the closet is funky. But there's a ton of room in there, so we might just figure out a system where she can store all clothing and shoes in there, and do away with the need for a dresser completely.

We're having a really simple dinner tonight - burritos and who knows what else. Something easy tomorrow night too, and then Thursday we head out of town for a few days. The bulk of our travel costs are on someone else's dime, as DH is doing some training for an organization he has done web development for. This is the third time we've gotten to do this, and it's usually fun.

Didn't spend any money that I hadn't already planned on spending, and in buying something online for DH for his birthday, I found a promo code by searching for one on Google that got me a freebie too that he'll enjoy. Cool

I'm down to five students now, as one of them had his last appointment today before his AP test next week. I asked him to email me this summer when he gets his test results. He's been with me for three years now...time flies.

Got my yogurt maker today - thanks for the info on it kashi! - and am looking forward to trying it out after we're home from the trip.

Dh and I went looking at lofts for DD yesterday. In the end, though, I think neither of us is ready to not be able to easily get into and out ofher bed for reading and snuggling, so we are going to postpone that idea. Her dresser has two drawers that are a pain to open and shut (it's an antique) so we may move that into our guest room and get her one from the unfinished wood place in town.

I moved three rubbermaid bins of clothes and blankets out of her room and managed to empty one of them completely through better storage and creating a giveaway/eBay pile.

DH took off all of the tile that surrounded the tub in the guest bathroom. Before we can put up new wall board and re-tile, we need to have some plumbing work done. We're going to get new tub fixtures as well. Kind of a pain, but it will look nice when all is said and done, and it shouldn't cost too much, given we'll do the bulk of the work ourselves.

My dad said he would try to get one set of kitchen cupboard doors finished for us and bring them when they come to visit in a couple of weeks. I hope he can get to them. It will be nice to get that project moving forward.

Our friends treated us to dinner Friday night, which was a pleasant surprise. We went to a hole in the wall Mexican place last night - $13 for the three of us, including drinks - before heading to Cost Plus to look at window treatment. I love Cost Plus - so much cool stuff.

The credit card cycle ends tomorrow, so Tuesday I'll import the data into Quicken and see how we're doing meeting our budget after about four months of data.

So it's Wednesday. DIdn't make it to the farmer's market, thereby making today a no-spend day, but not in a good way, if that makes sense.

DH is tutoring tonight, and may have some freelance work to do as well as a rush job (in addition to his current freelance work load). I have two students coming today, assuming no one cancels at the last minute. Standardized testing has started in our district, so some classes are in full review mode instead of learning anything new mode.

PT tomorrow - another $75 (but some does get reimbursed). After tomorrow I go to once every four weeks to see how that goes.

Friday night we are going out to dinner with friends we haven't seen in quite some time - at least a year, possibly two.

Still feeling crummy about the things I was feeling crummy about yesterday. Felt crummier as I was washing the kitchen and dining room floors...

Some food totals so far for April...

Groceries: $284.09
Restaurants: $91.47
Starbucks: $37.50
-------------------------
Total: $413.06

And 11 days left to go in April. I did just go grocery shopping yesterday, so I won't have to do a major shop for at least a week. I'll spend $10-$15 tomorrow at the farmer's market, most likely. I feel like I'm obsessed with these three categories and yet doing very little to change them. I'm doing some things, but truth be told I'm not doing nearly as much as I could. I nickel and dime it by saving stamps with online bill pay, only to go blow the equivalent of 7 stamps on one latte. Ten again, I'd be buying the latte anyway, given my habits, so saving some stamps is still a savings. The point is that it doesn't add up to much.

I wish cooking were different here. I wish it was something the family did together, that it didn't feel like a chore that has fallen into my lap by virtue of being the at-home parent. It wasn't so much my responsibility when we were two-incomes, no kids. I've talked about this with DH and he is just as unhappy at times with how we've fallen into these very traditional gender roles. We both crave more balance.

Cooking - maybe it's time to try and get DD more involved. And I mean truly involved an not just pouring the ingredients once they have been measured. Get her to help plan some menus, do some shopping, really get in there and be part of the process. Maybe it would have more meaning to me if we did that, as opposed to the way I view it now - something that has to be done by someone, and that someone is usually me.

Sometimes I want to go out to dinner because I get sick of eating the same old things here.

I just paid 6 months of car and homeowner's insurance to the tune of about $1150. Ugh!

I'm still switching over to online bill pay through my credit union. I like being able to schedule payments. What I would like to do is develop a schedule, or a routine of some sort, where I take care of scheduling bills, reconciling Quicken and generally keeping all of our finances in order. I'll get there - it's just a matter of getting used to new ways of doing the same old stuff.

DH heard that bonuses were going to be happening this year at work. Neither of us has ever somewhere with bonuses before. I won't count on it until we have it, but it's nice to think it might be coming. A raise would be really nice, but I don't think that's happening this year.

One of my students is home with the flu today, so I only saw one student today. One is better than none, however.

Did some grocery shopping today. I spent about $95 and still need to go to the farmer's market on Wednesday for produce. I know I could be saving a significant amount of money by making things from scratch and foregoing a lot of the convenience foods. Even at Trader Joe's,where I feel like prices are fair and the quality is usually pretty good (although I don't like to buy my produce there anymore), the premade pizzas, chow mein, etc really adds up. I keep reminding myself that eating convenience foods at home is cheaper than going out to eat. This is a journey; I'm just not as far down the road as I'd like to be. I also don't want to be solely responsible for the meals my family eats. But that's an entry for another day.

DD and I need to go to the library this afernoon and return some books that are due today. Too bad they aren't due tomorrow - we'll be within blocks of the library tomorrow morning. I don't want to pay late fees, however.

Dh and I have been talking about investing in a new refrigerator. The one we have works fine, but it's 10-11 years old and we figure the newer models have got to be more energy efficient. We could sell the one we have - or list it on freecycle for that matter. We think we might like one with a freezer at the bottom instead of on top.

DH and I are also back to talking about what home improvements we can do around here on our own, for a relatively low amount of money. My dad is going to build all new kitchen cabinet doors, and I had samples of hinges and hardware sent to his house, so hopefully that project will be underway sooner than later. About a year and a half ago we were getting quotes for cabinet refacing, among other things, and then our dog needed surgery. So we talked to my dad about making new doors for us, and he said he would.

We also still need to finish up the guest bathroom - take off the old tile surrounding the tub, putting up new wall board and tiling the walls - so that we can feel like it's finished and move on to thinking about our bathroom.

We loooked under the linoleum in our kitchen to see what kind of subflooring we had, hoping it would be some sort of hardwood like our neighbors found across the street. No such luck, so it looks like we'll be putting in some sort of new floor in there down the road - tile, or something else.

I was reading kashi's journal about her new haircut and highlights, and it got me thinking about my own hair. Last November, I decided to do something about my hair since I was tired of not liking it, so I got highlights done. I loved them and promised myself I would keep up with them every three months or so. Uh huh - do the math....it's now been 5 months since I've been. The honest truth is I'm having a hard time letting myself spend the $90-$100 on my hair. But I really did like how they turned out, and almost every week I think about setting an appointment. And then I don't. Hmmmm.....

On another note, I am going to see if there is any interest among the other hs'ing families I've been getting to know in renting out a plot in our community garden for all of us to share in, as sort of a weekly group outing. I'll do it if others are enthusiastic about it.

Last night's dinner was quite the hodgepodge of leftovers - falafel and stuffed grape leaves, soy chicken patties, spaghetti witih red sauce, tortilla soup, black beans... It was definitely a clean out the refrigerator sort of meal!

I've got laundry hanging outside today. It's warm and breezy - perfect for line-drying things.

I really need to get a few nights of good sleep and go to bed earlier, too. I'm starting to feel wiped out.

Oh - my strawberries are still getting eaten by something!! I put out Sluggo (hate to do it, but we are being overrun by snails), to no avail. I got four just a little while ago, but there were another 4-6 that were ripe but eaten on.

DD got her cavity filled today - $140 (they wouldn't honor the $100 coupon, but they did let me use the $25 coupon).

My visit was $152, and I get to go back for a filling and a crown replacement in two weeks - joy, oh joy. The crown *may* be no charge though, so my fingers are crossed. The filling will run me around $170, I think.

Picked up dry cleaning today - something I rarely do but every now and then I have to (wool sweater, cashmere, etc). That was about $26. Mailed taxes with delievery confirmation - $8.60. A trip to Starbucks with DD as a reward to myself for overcoming my dental phobia - $6.

What a day and it's barely even lunchtime.

On a lighter note, DD and I counted at least 6 pea pods when we were out looking at our plants yesterday. I don't think our strawberries are being munched on anymore.

Restaurants: $47
Groceries: $184.12
Starbucks: $18.30
Car: $171.59 (not including gas)
Medical: $168

Those are some of our spending totals for 4/1 - 4/12. Two more dental visits, another PT appointment....it's adding up fast.

I spoke with the front office person at DD's dentist office, and she says that the coupon we received can't be used for a filling. BUT, the coupon's wording says "Good for any dental treatment, including crowns, ....." *ANY* being a key word, in my opinion. So I'm going to bring it in and see what they say when we're face to face on the subject.

I need to take a look at the finances thus far for the month. It feels like it's been an expensive one already. DD gets her filling tomorrow, and I go to the dentist too. I think I'll get together a new batch of medical receipts for DH to turn in at the end of the month, seeing as we don't have dental insurance and won't be waiting for any other reimbursement there. I have two PT visits to submit to insurance, but I may wait and submit March and April together and save myself half the paperwork, and half the postage. On the subject of PT - after my visit next week, we're going to go to once every four weeks and see how that goes.

I'll take a look at our spending later today or tomorrow and see where we're at.

This morning DD and I are off to the park where we're hopefully meeting up with another hs'ing mom and her two daughters.

I went shopping with my parents at some of the antique stores today. We also hit a few thrift stores, and I got two pair of pants for $10.70. one pair is from Ann Taylor and the other is from Old Navy. Neither one fits just right, but I think they'll both be OK - they fit well enough. My mom and I went to the farmer's market this morning, so we had some nice, fresh produce at lunch and dinner.

I'm tired. I've been staying up too late, too many nights in a row. I need to get to bed earlier this evening. Seems there's always something I want to get to once the house is quiet, though.

I've started and torn out a sweater twice now. I have yarn that I bought with a gift certificate for my birthday, and I'm trying to knit a sweater without a pattern. I haven't even knit one before *with* a pattern, so this should be interesting. My mom gave me some advice this evening, so I'm starting anew for the third time. Maybe this will be the charm? It's wonderful yarn - a natural colored 100% organic cotton.

DH had to spend a bunch of money today - smog check, oil for the car, gas fill up, dog food, flea stuff for the cats...fun, fun, fun. The joys of being a responsible adult.

I need to go to the grocery store this morning to pick up a few things before my parents get into town. I also want to go to the farmer's market tomorrow morning for some salad fixings and other produce.

We've got some ripe strawberries on our own plants - a whopping two so far - but something out there is munching on them. I think it may be snails. Our peas are looking great- tons of blossoms! Our sugar snap peas are doing OK, but they're lagging compared to the regular peas. The raspberries are looking good, too. Can't wait to start picking fresh red raspberries. Our patio lemon tree has been producing well lately, whihc is nice. I like being able to go out and pick a fresh lemon when I need one.

Yesterday's spending...
Coffee and scones - $10
Sodas at the amusement park- $5
Balloons - $14
Dinner - $47

Today's spending...
PT- $75 (but about half of that will eventually be reimbursed)

Tonight we're having leftovers for dinner, and tomorrow night we're going to DH's parents' house for dinner.

I got a coupon in the mail today good for $100 off any dental work from DD's dentist. I didn't have it two days ago when we were there, but I am going to make sure they honor it when we go in next week to get that cavity filled. That was a welcome surprise in the mail!

I stayed and watched DD's ballet class this afternoon. They're rehearsing for their spring performance. I know I'm going to cry happy tears when she's actually up on that stage, dancing.

Spending today:

7 items to the dry cleaners at $3.95 per item
$15.50 for a haircut for DD
$6 on modeling clay for DD
And a visit later this afternoon to the dentist for DD - don't know yet what that will cost.

We were going to go get smoothies for lunch, but I ended up coming home instead, and now I'm glad that we did.

I spent a lot of time out back yesterday pruning and weeding. Dumped five wheelbarrows full of yard waste. A friend is in town for a few days, so we're having an impromptu potluck here at the hose this evening. Should be fun. Everyone is bringing something to grill and a side dish to share, so it won't really cost us anything extra. I told DH I didn't mind having the party here and would, in fact, like that, but I didn't want to do any extra shopping for it. He agreed, and everyone else has been fine with that too.


Edited to add -

Dentist was $93 today, and next week DD has to get a small filling Her dentist has been watching this molar for about a year now, and it's to the point where she needs to go in and get it filled.
Price for that is about $165, I think.

Spent about $41 at the grocery store on beer for tonight, snacks for tomorrow's outing, milk, cereal, yogurt and a couple of other small things.

I suddenly feel quite tired and down...

I've added a couple more bills to my online bill pay through the credit union. I like the convenience of it and just need to remember to record these payments that I schedule.

For the first three months of the year we've stuck to our budget overall. Individual categories may need some tweaking but we're on the plus side which makes me feel good about our efforts.
More later....

DH and I have been working hard - and working more hours - to build back up our savings, and onthe first of each month I add up all of our accounts to see where we're at. Slowly but surely we are creeping back up to where we want to be! We're very close now, but the credit card bill is coming, so I really can't count that money. It's going to feel good to see our accounts back where we want them to be. Tutoring all but ends for a couple of months in the summer, and one of my students won't be coming once he's taken his AP test, so some of the extra income will be falling by the wayside before too long.

I added up some spending for March:
Groceries: $415.81
Restaurants: $292.02
Starbucks: $5.50

That included the ski trip. Higher totals than we budgeted, but we'll get back on track in April. Starbucks was lower due to gift cards from a friend as a thank you present.

Edited to add that I sold another book today and netted about $9. Woo hoo!

I spent some fun money today and took DD to see the movie Ice Princess. We had fun. Tickets and goodies bought elsewhere came to about $15. Sitting with DD, watching her watch the movie, was enormously fun for me.

I got that book mailed today as well, for $1.42, so that's taken care of.

We have friends coming to visit this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing them. Haven't decided if we'll cook Saturday night or get take-out. They're potty-training their daughter and taking her to the potty every half hour, so going out to eat is out of the question for them. I can't wait to see them - it's always a good time!

Today is shaping up to be a no-spend day. I'm watching one of DD's friends this morning, and I have two tutoring students coming over this afternoon. DH is tutoring tonight, so I'll fix something quick for dinner. I still need to get that book mailed out, but I can do that tomorrow morning.

Edited to say that it was indeed a no-spend day. DH is out tutoring right now and will bring home $40-$50. One of my students today cancelled due to illness.

Tomorrow I want to take DD out to do something fun and out of our ordinary routine. Haven't decided what to do yet, however. We have the whole day, basically, as she doesn't have ballet until late in the afternoon.

I haven't spent any money today, though I think DH stopped at Starbucks this morning. I made coffee for myself here at home, brought lunch to the park and am planning on making something simple for dinner. Saw two students for tutoring today, and DH emailed me and said he has our medical reimbursement check for the expenses we submitted for January-March. Another good day financially, when you look at it in those terms.

DH does freelance web development on the side, and it looks like we'll have a chance to fly out to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the next month or two on someone else's dime. We've done this before. We usually end up paying for DD's plane ticket, a little extra for mine and DH's, and a little extra for the car rental. Room and meals are covered. It's a working trip for DH, but we manage to have a good time nonetheless. I'll take DD to the children's museum and then spend some time exploring while DH does his training/consulting. It's not a done deal yet, but it will likely happen.

Sold a book at half.com this evening. I can't remember the last time one of my books sold. It's been a while, to the point that I was halfway considering just yanking all of the listings and donating the books so that I wouldn't be looking at them anymore, sitting in a box. I made about $5 on the transaction - nothing huge, but easy money. I was just at the post office today, so I'll have to go again, but that's not the end of the world.

DH made dinner while I was at yoga - Thai noodles from Trader Joe's, plus some tofu and chopped carrots and broccoli. It tasted pretty good.

Money spent today wasn't bad - shipped three books to a friend to review for DivaTribe (that cost less than $3 via media rate), bought some stamps, and that's it. I deposited a big check today - all of the money I was awaiting from my visits to the headache clinic came in one check - and met my new student today, too. So all in all it was a good day, financially.

Still need to get the car smogged and pay the registration fee, and DD and I both have dentist appointments in April. Fun.

I got the napkins and DD's dress done. Did I mention before how much I hate putting in zippers? No matter how many times I do it, I always mess up some part of it. At least this time my mistake is at the top, and DD's long hair will hide it. On the other hand, I love my serger. Eight napkins took hardly any time at all by using the serger to do rolled hems. Very nice.

Tomorrow should be a nice, relaxing day. UU in the morning, brunch here at home afterwards, and then maybe some more sewing in the afternoon. It's been a good weekend so far. Funny how yesterday afternoon I was feeling pretty rotten about something, and now I'm feeling rather content. A nice change.

I had a little over $20 in Joann'sgift cards, so I went there today. I have a new pattern my mom bought for me for reversible tote bags and handbags (

you can see it here, if you're interested). I bought fabric and interfacing to try each style. I also bought fabric to make a dress for DD for tomorrow that was $2.19 a yard, and fabric at 50% off to whip up some cute napkins for brunch tomorrow with my serger. Got a few goodies for DD's Easter basket, too - all 50% off. So two bags, a dress, eight napkins and basket goodies cost me about $12 out of pocket. Of course, now I have to get sewing this afternoon/evening. The dress fabric is in the wash as I type.

Next, I went over to Vons to get a tall latte from the Starbucks there. I swiped my Vons card and it turned out that today's was my free one. I hadn't been keeping track, so it was a great surprise. I upgraded to a grande, lol.

We had DD's friend from across the street and her mom over for dinner last night. Dad is out of town right now, and it seems like we all had a trying week, so it seemed like it would be fun to just hangout together for the evening. I made spaghetti and dinner rolls (ahem, I heated up frozen dinner rolls) and opened a can of sliced pears. Our friends brought over ice cream with a yogurt sauce to spoon on top. And we finished off a bottle of white wine that we'd had in the refrigerator. The girls played and dyed some eggs, and the adults enjoyed talking and relaxing. It was a nice way to end the work week and start off the weekend. It is nice to be friends with our neighbors and not merely friendly.

My cat's vet exam was only $51 this morning, which is less than I was prepared to pay, so that was a pleasant surprise. A dental cleaning is recommended, and at her age she would need the blood and urine work-ups first. We'll probably go ahead and do it.

We're having DH's parents over for brunch on Sunday. I already have eggs, coffee and OJ, and they're bringing fresh fruit, so we're basically set as far as the menu goes. I have some blueberry muffin mix, so I might make those up, too. Still need to get a few goodies for DD's basket and egg hunt.

One way to have a no-spend day? Spend it in bed with a migraine. I don't know if it's breaking or if the meds are simply taking the edge off, but I feel human again - able to sit up without my head exploding. It's been incredibly windy here today, and that is never good for my head. I need to refill a prescription tomorrow.

Cooked dinner at home last night - an Italian tomato soup mix, plus leftover mac and cheese for DD, cherry tomatoes, and sliced strawberries and bananas for dessert. It was pretty good. I'll add more pasta if I buy that mix again.

I made a rough list of all the possible entrees we can make with food currently in the frig, freezer and pantry, so that DH and I won't have to think so hard about what to make for dinner, and also so we can see what we might need fom the store to round out an otherwise decent meal.

A few bills coming our way in the next month or so - dentist for all three of us, one cat to the vet for one vaccination, and DD is due for one vax, too, I think. I need to take the car in to get smogged this week so that I can pay the registration.

$126 at the grocery store today. I prefer shopping at Trader Joe's but I had 45 minutes to shop while DD was in Spanish, so I went to the closest Vons instead. They don't have the best selection of things I do want, they're more expensive, and they have aisles and aisles of things I *don't* need. I find I skip entire aisles while I'm there. Anyway, that task is done and we have some food to tide us over for a while.

I spent some time this morning just getting organized. I paid bills, signed DD and I up for our classes for spring, added class times and dates to my calendar, filed papers, put checks written into Quicken, scheduled dentist and vet appointments, etc. etc. Feels good to have a lot of nagging things taken care of.

I just added up grocery shopping for the month. Bearing in mind that some of that was vacation food while skiing, the total for March is up to $400.87 for the three of us. I haven't looked at the restaurant total. Don't want to.