Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

I finished the baby Mobil for my
friend!

It seems this week flew by like the last and a lot of my progress at keeping the house clean and put together has been irradiated by being busy all week long. Thankfully though, I got on the ball with some cooking last Sunday and that made all the difference this week.

You see, last weekend I went hunting around online for some recipe ideas and I printed out a recipe for some homemade chili, determined to try it out.  I made a batch of it this week in the crock-pot and I must say not only was it EASY but it was DELISH! All week long we just had leftover chili, salad, and cornbread and not having to cook a different meal each night saved my sanity this week. It seems like I now have two dishes I can make that please my hubby and provide lots of leftovers for the week (Roast Chicken and now Chili). Its a good thing he's okay with leftovers and eating the same thing a few days in a row.

My husband and I are also devising our black Friday plans. We really want to hit Best Buy bright and early to take advantage of the $100 discount they have on their Xbox bundle for the 250 gig hard drive (for his friend). We also are in the market for a TV to replace the really old one in my bedroom (so we can have something new that's compatible with the computer so we can stream TV from the internet in our bedroom-- and use the last of our wedding gift money on it). Stores keep opening earlier and earlier each year so who really knows whats going to happen. If we can't get the deals there we will just buy our TV from COSTCO and we can get the Xbox bundle from gamestop.

We've also been spending money out the nose as we begin holiday shopping, paying some of our annual bills, and knocking out my sister's birthday (which is a few weeks before Christmas).

I also picked up a Turkey for $1.00 Yup. Fresh and Easy was giving out 500 bonus points (or $5 off) a frozen Jennie O Turkey... So I picked up a smaller one that was marked for $6.00 and with the bonus points (which we will redeem in December) so I got a turkey for $1.00. I plan on roasting it after the holidays and using the leftovers for lunches and freezing some of it for another time.

I also got some holiday pay from working on Veterans Day and some other things, so instead of tossing $192.12 in extra pay towards the Roth IRA, we are putting it in a savings account to help make up for the paycheck SCB won't get in January since he's taking 2 weeks off unpaid so we can go out to Utah to see his family. We had $20 leftover from last month that we stuck in there, and thankfully, we will be coming into an extra $175 this week since we're Puppy Sitting again. So that's $387.45 out of the $647 he normally makes :) I'll be working on New years Eve and Day (which are holidays at my work) so the that extra money should give us enough to make up for him not getting 2 paychecks that month. Any leftover money from the end of this month is going toward that little fund since we have good chunks budgeted in for the Roth IRA.

I also helped plan and attend a memorial service for my Ex-boyfriend's new brother in law. He passed away 2 weeks after his wife did. (See Unexpected Memorial Service).

Weekly Spending:
November 12:

• Costco: $36.96 (Milk, Deli meat, Granola Bars, Chips)
• Gas: $32.40
• Fresh & Easy: $40.58

November 13:

• Home Depot: $4.44
• Game Stop: $86.18

November 14:

• Home Depot: $10.74
• Fresh & Easy: $7.94
• Marshall's: $37.70 (Christmas Presents)
• ULTA: $70.04 (Sister's Birthday Presents)
• Walmart: $21.83 (Toiletries for SCB)
• Walmart: $4.00 (Perscription)

November 15:
November 16:
November 17:

• Car Insurance: $389.55
• Car Insurance: $199.53

November 18:

Money Goals:
Dental Loan: 100% saved up, but only $200 has been paid back to the loan thus far. We should get the letter in the mail from the insurance company in a day or so since its been 30 days since we issued the complaint to the insurance directly, but i've been told we WILL be getting money back. Once I get the details i'll post it all up here in a massive update, but from what i'm gathering, our refund is significant.

Roth IRA: We haven't had time to cash SCB's last paycheck but i know how much is earmarked for the Roth so this update includes my paycheck from Friday and his from last week.  The Roth IRA now has $1,378.90!!!!! Woot!!!! Once we figure out the dental issue, I can't wait for this to grow bigger!