Change can be a good thing

Very little spent this weekend...

2012-01-23T08:28:00.000-08:00

We had another mellow, small spending weekend. BF works on Saturdays, so Friday nights we don't do much but go to the clubhouse at our condo for cocktail hour. Saturday I was down all day with a horrendous headache and didn't go anywhere. Not exactly the nicest way to NOT spend money, but a no spend day it was and I'll take it. Sunday we went to try out a new church and we did stop at Starbucks for a treat, we usually buy a latte once a week, so it's a splurge for us and probably one we could do without, but we really enjoy it and since we don't get too crazy with spending, we feel it's OK. We rarely even go out to eat, so this is our big splurge each week. After church we went to do a little grocery shopping and while we were hungry and probably bought more than we normally would have, we didn't go overboard with junk food and kept it to stuff to make lunches and dinners, so we're set for most of the week now. After that we went home, had lunch and watched a couple of movies that we had borrowed from my parents and had a nice relaxing day. :)

What did you do this weekend? Did spend a little or a lot? Any unnecessary spending?

Current debt: $242,805.55

Day 4 of no spending...

2012-01-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

We've been getting hit really hard with snow this week which is not something we are prepared for around here. Thankfully I've been able to get to work everyday, loving my new Volvo, it's been great! Most businesses are closed today, so at work it's been very quiet, not too many phone calls and I'm getting a lot done, yay! The BF and I have been making a conscious effort to not spend money needlessly and we've been doing a really good job of eating from our existing stock of food and getting a little creative when don't have everything we want for a full meal. I love that we are having so many days without spending and really enjoying it. The other night we even turned off the TV (saving money on electricity) and had a great time playing Yahtzee! I've been 3 full weeks now without any Excedrin and I'm feeling great. I think I'm past the withdrawal headaches that I was having and am feeling pretty good. Now I need to get my butt back in to exercising and working out, I know I will feel so much better once I do. I've also been making myself drink water in between every diet Coke and this is helping me feel better along with saving money. I'm not ready to give up my diet Coke habit altogether, but these small steps are at least in the right direction.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Current debt: $242,805.55 (feels like I'm stuck at this number, but I know it will move again soon!)

Frugal weekend...

2012-01-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

So, we had a great, fun filled weekend, but didn't spend much money at all! Yay! Friday night I went to the clubhouse at my condo where they have a weekly cocktail party. Everyone brings what they want to drink and a snack to share. Very fun, low cost and it was nice to know that after drinking, I just had to walk upstairs to my home. Saturday, I did a little grocery shopping early and scored some great bargains in the markdowns. I spent the rest of the day at home while BF worked, then my brother and sister in law brought their kids down to spend the night. We stayed home and made caramel corn and watched a movie, then woke up to snow on Sunday morning. After making a big breakfast and filling our bellies, we went for a walk in the snow, it was beautiful and we burned off some of that breakfast having a snowball fight. Very fun!

After taking the kids home, BF and I came home and watched some football and a movie we got for Christmas. Lounged around the rest of the evening and enjoyed relaxing and the quiet of the kids being gone. HA! I love those kids, don't get me wrong, but my goodness they can be loud. :)

We watched Extreme Cheapskates last night which was quite entertaining, not to mention troubling. Some of these people are WAY over the top in their efforts to save money, but there were also some really great thoughts shared as well. While I'm not willing to ask people in restaurants if I can have their leftovers or resort to recycling toilet paper, I like the idea of a weekly fiscal fast every few months to use up what we have on hand and save some money. I'll watch the show again, if for no other reason than to glean a few good money saving ideas and to be disturbed by the doings of some people out there.

Current debt: $242,805.55

Just going through the motions....

2012-01-12T15:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a long week! BF and I are arguing, about what you ask? Money! He has quite a bit of debt from his divorce, I have some from mine as well, but not as much, my main debt is my car and my mortgage and I'm passed that living paycheck to paycheck, but he's not. He seems to be OK with that and the occasional bouncing of a check, I'm not OK with that and I'm having a hard time dealing with his nonchalance with money. I've worked really hard to get where I am and to have the credit score that I do and I'm not sure I want to move forward with a life with him if he's not willing to put in the hard work to get things paid off and be debt free. It also does not seem to bother him that he's still listed on the mortgage of the house that his wife was awarded in their divorce. She's in no rush to refinance and he doesn't see an issue with that. He's currently working on getting his bills paid on time, but doesn't want to listen to my advise. I have a credit score over 800 and have never paid a bill late, recently had no problem getting a $26,000 loan for my car, I was approved in less than 10 minutes, yet he seems to think he's got it all figured out. I'm hoping that we can sit down this weekend and go through all of his bills and plot out a plan, not only to get him paying them on time, but paying them off. He says that's what he wants, but I think it might just be lip service. Wish me luck!

Current debt total: $242,805.55 (hoping for some survey money in this weekend to bring this down a bit more.)

Fairly frugal weekend...

2012-01-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

I had a relatively non-spending weekend which was great! I've been fighting headaches my whole life and I just went on a new medicine that I wasn't sure how I would react to it, so I didn't plan much and I'm glad. I slept a lot!!! Not sure if this medicine will work or not, it takes some time for your body to adjust to it, so we'll see, but the nice thing about sleeping so much this past weekend is that while I'm sleeping, I can't spend money. :) The BF and I stayed home on Friday night as he has to work on Saturdays. Saturday I went to a baby shower, then came home and since he was on call, we didn't want to plan anything. Sunday we went out for breakfast and then out to my parents to visit for a bit, came home from there and watched football and a movie. Now, I'm back to work today and I'm really sleepy still. I think I may have to cut back on the meds a little bit and slowly build up, I can't function on work days like this. Not too much going on this week, should be a fairly inexpensive one.

Hope everyone had a great, fun, frugal weekend and is doing really well on their resolutions...

Current debt: $243,079.16 (darn interest brought this back up, grrr!)

Payday, oh how I love thee...

2012-01-06T10:28:00.001-08:00

1st payday of the new year and all the payments to my various debts will start clicking away and reducing that huge number! This check also included a bonus of 2 extra days of pay which is really nice to help put a dent in the debt. I know some people think that you should use a bonus for something fun, but my feeling is that I must have already done the something fun, hence the debt! :) Car payment, credit card payment will both hit today and then I have a few smaller payments that will go next week. Yay!

I hope everyone has had a great first week of 2012 and is looking toward a happy, healthy and prosperous year ahead!

Have a great weekend and may it be a frugal one as well!

Current debt: $242,869.16

Getting it paid down....

2012-01-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

So, I just received notification of what my first paycheck will look like this year and I'm excited to say that I'll be able to make several payments on my outstanding debt and work toward building up the savings account a bit too. I'll be making a $450 payment on my car, although the payment dues is only $398. $472 is going to the credit card, paying insurance of $132.52 and association dues for my condo, these are $223. This still will leave me with plenty of cash to get through the next 2 weeks until payday again. I'm waiting for a credit on my credit card for something I sent back, I received it too late for Christmas and didn't open it, just put return to sender and shipped it back. Frustrating, but luckily I found it at a better price locally and had it in time.

How are you all doing on the spending this new year? Are you keeping all of your expenses in check?

Current debt: $243,256.26 (going to look much better by the end of the week!)

1st working day of the year...

2012-01-03T14:54:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a fun, relaxing and relatively inexpensive holiday weekend. We did go out to dinner on Friday night, but that was with a gift certificate, so the total cost was ZERO!! Yay! Saturday was a nice lazy day until it was time to go to the NYE party at my brother's house. I made caramel corn and peanut butter cup bars, both of which I had ALL of the ingredients for already and didn't spend anything to make. Had a great time with family and friends at the party and came home on Sunday morning (we always spend the night, no reason to drive!) Sunday was an even more relaxing day than Saturday was and again we didn't do anything! I love days like that. We stayed home all day and watched football and movies, again a total spend free day! I like the start of this year so far! :) Monday we decided to go out and get some fresh air and go for a walk. We had to go to the gas station, ouch!, that was $67.00, but thankfully for me that will last about 3 weeks or a little more if I'm good about running errands in a thoughtful manner. Then we went to Starbucks and I added $25 to my prepaid card, but that will last me several weeks as this is now only a once a week treat for me. When we returned home I made dinner with ingredients we had on hand and it was delicious! Brought leftovers for lunch today and so far today, I've spent no money. We're going grocery shopping tonight, but it's BF's turn to buy the groceries, so it's going to be another no spend day for me!! AWESOME!

And I have about $40 coming in from surveys completed in late December, which will go straight to debt reduction. YAY!!

Current debt: $243,256.26 (looking forward to some payments hitting later this week!)

The last working day of 2011...

2011-12-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are, the last working day of 2011 and I'm feeling pretty good about my debt repayment plan and the progress I am planning for this new year. I've used my credit card a couple of times in the last few days, only because I'm close to being able to cash in my rewards for a statement credit and when I've used the card, I've immediately transferred money to pay off what I just charged and rounding up to the next $10.00 mark. For example, last night I was at the grocery store and I charged $39.32, so when I got home, I transferred $40.00 to make the payment on the card. I also used it for a $40 co-pay at the Dr. and then when I arrived at work, I made a $50 payment. If I don't have it in my checking account to make the payment, I can't use the credit card to make the purchase. After I'm able to cash in this reward, I'd like to convert to an all cash system for my day to day purchases. Does anyone else do this?

Happy New Year to you all. . .

Current debt: $243,256.26

Working on the goals for 2012...

2011-12-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

Well, as I said yesterday, a major goal for this next year for me is to get my debt under control and finally taken care of. My BF is also doing the same thing, so I think it will be great for he and I to have these similar goals that we can help cheer each other on with. He also needs to get his name off of the title to the house that he and his ex-wife had. She was awarded the house in the divorce and is also responsible for the debt associated with it, but we're having a heck of a time trying to get his name off of the deed. Does anyone know how to go about this? He wants to make sure he's not going to be responsible for any of the debt associated with it should she default on the mortgage. She's not in a position to refinance right now, so that's not an option, but it looks like he should be able to file something to get his name off of the property. I believe it's called a quit claim deed? Does anyone know? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

My other goals for the year are to bring my lunch to work more often so that I'm not eating out, which I rarely do, but I'd also like to make sure I'm eating a better lunch rather than just snacking my way through the day, not really paying much attention to the lack of nutrition in what I'm eating. And to cut back on the diet Coke and work on drinking more water.

What are your goals for 2012?

Current debt: $243,283.30 (ugh! going in the wrong direction!)

Oye! I totally overdid it at Christmas...

2011-12-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

and now I'm having to face my debt head on! Ugh! OK, I can do this! I can get back on track and work at getting this back under control. Looks like it's going to be a mellow spending start to the year, but that's OK, I will be so happy when I've made progress by spring and can see the end of the tunnel that is currently my debt. The BF and I are both working on paying off debt and are both really supportive of each other and getting this under control. We want to do what we can to get our debts taken care of so that we can start our life "together" on the right financial footing. He currently has more debt than me, with the exception of my mortgage, but he's working a lot of OT right now and has vowed to put that all toward debt reduction. 2012 is going to be a great year for us, I can see it!

Current debt: $243,224.66 (yikes!!)

Plugging away...

2011-11-15T15:00:00.001-08:00

Why does it always seem like I am working on paying off debt?? Seems like I've been doing this for the past 10 years. Ugh! I'm fortunate enough that I've been employed consistently and never been unable to make a payment on time, but it seems like I just keep making decisions that continue to put me in debt. Ugh! I wish I had not purchased my condo back in 2007, but at the time, how was I to know that the housing market would crash so drastically?! Oh well, like I said, at least I have a job and am always able to make my payments on time, even pay a little more than what is due, it could be worse, and I know it is for many.

I'm starting to look at my Christmas shopping and what I want to get for the few people I shop for. I'm trying really hard to figure out something that is more meaningful and less expensive. My brother and I usually go in on something for our parents together and since they are able to buy themselves anything they want, I think I'll see if he wants to figure out something like a monthly family dinner where he and I do all the work.

My boyfriend and I have decided that we aren't going to buy each other gifts, we're just going to do something special together. We both have debt we are trying to pay off and I think it will be more fun to try to be frugal and figure out something together that will be more meaningful. We also really enjoy just spending the time together, so I think we'll play games, watch movies, cook together, stuff like that.

That just leaves my niece and nephew to figure out. They are 9 and 13 and shouldn't be that hard. ;) They tend to give MORE than enough ideas!!

Does anyone have any really great, inexpensive gift ideas for all ages? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Do you have any special traditions that you look forward to every holiday season?

I'm still here....

2011-11-10T15:24:00.001-08:00

Hey there....I'm still here, honestly! I've been so busy that I'm not sure which end is up most days, but things are going alright. I've been working so much these past few months and putting a lot of overtime, which is great, but I've also been spending a lot of money, which is not great! A few weeks ago, I had to make a big decision; either put a large amount of money in to repairing my car or finally bite the bullet and get a new(er) one. I ended up trading mine in and got a 2008 Volvo XC90 that I just love! What I don't love is the fact that I now have a car payment....boo! I guess this is where the overtime will help out.

I've also started dating someone, something I swore I wouldn't do after my divorce, but this guy took me completely by surprise and so far so good. We're taking it slow and we'll see how things work out.

I've started on my holiday shopping and am making good headway with that and getting some really great deals along the way. I don't have much that I have to buy, so that makes it easy. Mostly I do a lot of baking and making candy and giving that as gifts. The trick is going to be finding the time to do that this year. I've been buying up lots of the supplies as they've been on sale and really trying to cut back on my other shopping; no new clothes for the past 2 months now and rarely eating out. I dropped my cable and got the Roku box, which I love. I don't watch much TV anyway so for me this has been great.

Other than that, I've just been doing the normal day to day stuff and getting by. I'm still trying to build my savings back up and get on paying the new car off along with the rest of my credit card debt. I guess it could be worse, right? I'm focusing on being positive and living a good life. What else can one do???

If I'm not around again before Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a wonderful one and remember the things we all have to be thankful for. Blessings to you all....

My, my how time flies...

2011-08-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it's August already and we've finally started having some nice weather here in the Pacific Northwest!! Not much to report from here, just plugging along and working hard to get the debt paid down. I've finally put the credit card away completely and am living on cash only...I'm finding this is working well for me, I don't spend with cash near as easily as I do with plastic and I don't cringe each month when the bill comes now. Of course I'd still like to see it going down quicker, but at least it's not going up anymore. I just got a promotion at work and will be working a lot more and a lot harder, but I'm excited and ready for the challenge. I'll also be getting in quite a bit of overtime, so that will really help take care of the debt. And I know it won't be long before I'm going to need a new(er) car, so I'm trying to get the current debt paid off before I take on new debt. I've been keeping a low profile socially lately and taking advantage of the pool at my condo and checking out a ton of books at the library. I cut my cable off and bought a Roku player, I don't watch much TV anyway, so this is a great option for me and the added savings will go toward debt reduction as well. Other than that, not too much going on these days, just enjoying the lazy, hazy days of summer, hope you all are too!

A new hobby???

2011-06-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

So, over the holiday weekend I watched all of the episodes of Extreme Couponing and I am hooked. I decided to try a little bit of it myself, but I'm not going to be a hoarder like a lot of these people are. I tend to use coupons anyway, but I don't always pay attention to what is on sale and matching the two up. Well, I went to Target the other day with coupons in hand and made a real effort to buy what I was looking for and needing and matching the coupons to sales. And you know what??? I did great!!! I ended up getting deodorant for $.22 and $.32!! Razors for $.19 and $.34!! Shaving cream FREE!!!!! I also got 10 canisters of baby formula for $.63 each that I donated to the food bank. I also got a bunch more things and next time I will take a picture of my treasures and the receipt to show you all. I'm not sure I can always do this well, but I'm going to try. Any excessive overages I can accumulate will go to the food bank. Does anyone else do extreme couponing? Any secrets? Hints? Share your successes with me please!! :)

I sold the ring....

2011-05-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

YAY!! I finally sold the diamond ring that was my wedding/engagement ring. I'm getting $4375 for it now, and when the jeweler sells it, I will get another $2000 which is more than I expected to get, so I'm happy! I sold it to a reputable jeweler that my family has dealt with for many years and am very comfortable with the offer they made me. I am going to pick up the check this afternoon from them and will be able to make a big dent in the debt later this week! Keep watching that ticker drop!

Change in the ticker...

2011-05-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

I've decided that debt is debt and regardless of what it is for, it's the total of what I owe. I've redone the ticker at the top of the page to be all inclusive of my debt. This will include credit card debt, the loan from my parents and my mortgage debt. I think that if I see the BIG picture it will motivate me more to do what I can to continue working toward reducing this amount any way possible. That over $200,000 amount is awfully daunting...let's hope I can quickly get it under this number and continue to watch it decline. Realistically I know that I don't owe anymore now than I did this morning, but just seeing the grand total has given me a new outlook on it. The $11,000 in credit card debt was not pretty, but didn't bother me near as much as seeing the big number of all debt added together.

What tricks do you do to help keep yourself motivated?? Do they work??

May is looking up...

2011-05-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to gain some momentum on the debt pay down and it's exciting. I made my loan payment to my parents last week and won't have to make another one until this same time next year, so that is nice. I can fully focus on paying down the credit card debt that is solely from the divorce. I've been really watching what I am spending on everything else and cutting back on everything possible so that I will have the money to pay down the credit card. I've also been taking some classes for work that they are paying for, but I'm gaining skills to make myself more valuable to the company, so hopefully that will result in a raise and/or promotion. Next month I will have been at my job 10 years, longer than any employee other than owners. I'll keep you all posted on how the debt is decreasing...keep watching the tickers at the top of the page.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. Enjoy your special day!

Still chuggin' along....

2011-04-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

Things are going smoothly and I'm not adding to my debt, but it still seems like it's only slowly going down. I wish for quicker progress, but I feel good that at least I'm not adding to it. I'm doing a pretty good job of watching my spending too, so that I have more to put toward the debt. Every bit helps...and I've been doing every survey opportunity that comes my way and that's paying off too. I'm really hoping to have this debt paid off by New Year's Eve so that I can start 2012 without this monkey on my back. I'm scrimping and saving every penny that I can to get this dead weight gone. I'll keep you all posted on how it's going, things are slow as I said, but steady. Hope you are all enjoying a nice spring, I sure wish the weather would improve here, I'm tired of all the rain. :(

2 steps forward, 1 step back is still progress....

2011-04-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

but it sure slows it down. I have now received (2) checks from the ex each for $1,000, but I took my car in for minor routine service yesterday and came out with a new timing belt, all components to go with that and a new water pump!! $800! Crap! I know that it's still cheaper to maintain a car than it is to buy a new one, but when you are expecting a bill less than $100 and then find out it's $800, that kind of puts a kink in your day. I really shouldn't complain, I've had the car for 11 years and so far all I've had to do is replace the battery, front breaks and tires once. I'm sure it's been low on maintenance because I really don't drive much and I do take good care of it, so I just need to get over this little hiccup in my debt pay down plan, but darn it anyway!! My sister in law's birthday is today and we will be celebrating on Sunday. I have her present already for that and I know she's gonna love it. Even better, I didn't spend much on it. I picked out one of the items she wanted from Willow House and am making her some peanut brittle that she loves. Other than that, things have been relatively quiet around her. The first quarter of the year is over and while my debt total hasn't gone down as much as I had hoped, things are looking up that I will be making more progress soon. I finished the first quarter no further in debt than I started it even with some hefty expenses thrown in there, so I'm happy with that. I also brought in $2105.00 from survey income this first quarter!!! That definitely helped out with the car repair, Husky ticket renewal cost and the cost of my upper endoscopy. Let's hope I don't have any more large expenses this year and that the survey income continues to come in like this, along with more money from the ex. Happy April, no foolin'!

Y'all are NOT going to believe this...

2011-03-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

So, things have been going along really smoothly and I'm liking my new strategy for paying off the debt. It's been a little difficult restraining myself from making extra payments when I see the money sitting in my checking account, but I know I need it right now for day to day expenses and for the big loan payment coming up next month to my parents. Anyway, about a week and a half ago the ex sent me an email saying that he wants to pay me back at least the amount I had to pay him as a settlement for the divorce, $3,000. Now that he's working again, and actually working quite a bit, he feels that he needs to pay that back to me in order to feel better about himself. I told him that he didn't need to, but any assistance would be appreciated. So, last Tuesday, I'm home sick with a horrible migraine, and what should appear in my mailbox but a check for $1,000 with a nice letter and a promise to send another one soon. I deposited it in to my account, but haven't yet done anything to spend the money, I figure it's best if I wait to make sure it clears the bank. :)

Other than that, not too much going on here, it was a nice quiet weekend where I stayed home most of it reading and relaxing. I did go to my volunteer shift at the food bank, but otherwise I was pretty much home enjoying the peace and quiet. Didn't spend a dime this weekend and that was really nice too. Hope you all had a great weekend as well...

HAPPY SPRING!!!

A strategy change...

2011-03-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

So, I’ve been giving thought to the way that I have been paying my credit card and the way I’ve been spending. On 12/31/10 my credit card balance was at $12,750.00 and now today it is at $12,709.07, even though I’ve made payment totaling $2,219.68 so far this year. It’s frustrating to see that I’ve made that much in payments and the balance is less than $50 off of where it was at the start of the year. I started giving it more thought as to why this would be and it dawned on me that my spending hadn’t changed all that much and I needed to get that under control as well. So, this month I have made a smaller than usual payment toward the credit card and left more money in my checking account to meet the day to day expenses. I will use cash for these, which should make it “hurt” just a little bit more and make me more aware of where the money is going, resulting in my spending less. I’m working on putting myself in more of a frugal mindset and trying to work on spending less and saving more to put toward the debt. The next 2 months are going to be a little bit difficult as I have to make an annual loan payment to my parents at the end of April in the amount of $2,000, but I know I will have it and then I can focus more on getting on with paying down the credit card. Now the credit card has been put away and I am only spending money that I have available in my checking account or cash in my wallet, if it’s not there, I don’t have it to spend…

1 week in and not doing too well...

2011-03-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

This is suppose to be my frugal year and March was going to be SUPER frugal. So far, it's a bust!! I'm working on getting that under control. I went out of town for the weekend, so of course I spent much more money than normal, but now that I'm back, I should be able to reign it in. I was starting to make my grocery list to stop on the way home today and then started thinking about what's in the cupboards at home and decided that I will see what I can do with what I have first before going shopping. If I'm really good, I should be able to make it all week without having to set foot in the store. I just need to be good about planning ahead and not changing my mind about what I want to eat. Food is my biggest budget buster category, but I'm working on getting this more under control. Here it is the 7th and I've not had a single "no spend" day yet this month. Very frustrating!!

I have a big loan payment ($2,000) coming up to my parents at the end of April and I have to make sure I have the money for it, so I've scaled back my credit card payments so that the money will be there when I need to pay them. I've also decided that I'm not using the credit card for ANYTHING else. So, I had to make a smaller than normal payment, still over the minimum, in order to get my spending under control and to have the cash necessary to meet my basic needs. I've always been the type to make really big payments and then pull out the card to pay for groceries and gas as needed. I'm trying to break this habit, so it will take some getting use to, but I think it's going to be good.

Other than that, not too much going on in these parts, I hope it's starting to look like spring in your neighborhood, I'm ready for it here!

Serious spending freeze in March...

2011-02-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

OK, so I took inventory on what is in my cupboards and in my closet for March and I should be able to make it through the month on a VERY tight budget, I'm thinking that I will be able to go through a lot of the food that is in my cupboards and eat through what's there before having to buy more. I'm sure you must all think I'm crazy, but I'm really trying hard to get this darn debt paid off by the end of the year and I really want to make some significant progress in the next couple of months, so I'm really buckling down and tightening the belt. I have 2 $100 gift certificates for local restaurants that will net me plenty of food to help me get through the feeling of being deprived.

I have about a dozen books coming from the library and they will keep me entertained for the month of March along with several movies that I have on my DVR that I've been recording. As much as I'd love to go to a concert coming up, I'm going to pass this time around and use the savings to put toward this debt. As I said at the beginning of the year, this is my year of frugality and while I haven't been spending much, I also don't feel like I've been doing much to sacrifice in spending and if I make more of an effort, I think those efforts will be rewarded in seeing more progress being made to reduce the debt.

I'm going to live like a pauper for awhile and I'm OK with that. I just want this darn debt off my back so I can move forward with my life...that's all, same story as usual, but I'm looking forward to seeing some more progress. Wish you all a frugal day...

I threw a party this weekend...

2011-02-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine just became a Willow House representative and I've always loved their products, in case you aren't familiar, they use to be Southern Living at Home. Anyway, I had a party at my condo this weekend in the clubhouse. I made some appetizers and desserts, opened some wine and threw a little party. It was so fun to get together with my girlfriends and we sold a lot of stuff, this is good for my friend as she will have made quite a bit of money on Saturday night and good for me because I will get a lot of free product. There are a few things that I want for my condo, since I lost a lot in the divorce, it will be nice to replenish some things, but there are also a lot of great items that I can get to give as gifts to my family and friends. All at for free or at a deeply discounted price, I'm looking forward to seeing what my total credit will be when this is all done. My sister in law saw many things that she wanted, but couldn't get everything, so now I know what to order so I can give her that for her birthday! Yay!

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow, Friday night I was home baking some desserts for Saturday night and Sunday I watched my niece and nephew for a bit and then went home to read a good book. All in all, not too much money spent this weekend! Hope you all had a fun, frugal weekend as well!