Spondulicks Forever!

Eh, not very frugal. We had coffee and Valentine special doughnuts out, ate lunch out, had custard out (the three of us), and spouse bought brandy for the steak con pepe. But I budgeted for all this. DH bought a Weird Tales paperback. Me, I had the opportunity of browsing for a Sparks CD which I didn't feel like buying, so I'm kinda giftless. But I had coffee served to me in bed, and I get enough love, affection and obedience throughout the year. My gastrointestinal tract acted up after lunch so I abandoned my plans to go downtown.

We had frugal fun Hearts Day story time! I cut up one sheet of paper into twelve rectangles, and the three of us each wrote four character names, fictional and nonfictional, one on each rectangle. The rectangles were then folded and put in a jar, which would be shaken. Two people would pull out one rectangle each, and the names on those rectangles would be in a Valentine story.

Pairings: Doctor Orpheus (from "Venture Bros.") &

Lydia Pinkham; Groucho Marx & Jim Nabors, and last match was Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada's "Coach's Corner", and now currently CBC Sochi 2014 correspondent, with Tina Belcher (from "Bob's Burgers").

$13 deposited for Week 7, only because it is grocery savings.

Today I will brave doing my taxes, but not using Mozilla Firefox. It'll cost me $39.99 to eFile the return, which is what's kept me from using tax software, but this year I have fathomed:
1. If I save at least that much using tax software from my imagined burden, the software fulfills its use;
2. If I owe that much, a $39.99 extra ding isn't going to be too terribly worse, especially when I already have a software line item in my budget;
3. If I kept to pencil, paper and calculator, I'd never have learned about the TurboTax sweepstakes. I (and you) can still ENTER the sweepstakes through the mail with pencil, stamped envelope and a 3" x 5" index card.

Sochi Challenge: $38 so far. Which should be good for TJ Maxx or Ross or secondhand exercise wear.

TAXES ARE DONE.
For those who read/participated in the poll the answer is D, for Delusional, Dimwitted, Delicate, Dumb and DRAMA DIVA!

They are not yet filed because I want the Mister to come look. Thank goodness he is a docile, supportive, loving male.

We went to a different supermarket today because one location is three blocks away from a superb butcher shop, and I figured if we didn't get a good deal on food at the supermarket we would go to the butcher's.
Most items we bought at the different supermarket were below what our regular supermarket charges. I saw some fellow "school parents" shopping there too, always a good sign. Got NY Strip steak for $5/lb; veal scallops for $7.33; I might start shopping at the other supermarket's location closer to us more frequently and start scheduling moments to view its online ads. Our regular supermarket offers gas rewards, but going three miles away for shopping we saved, even with the $1 we spent on gas there and back, close to 20% what we'd spend at the regular supermarket, and saved 1300% more than we would have earned in gas rewards.

Today my spouse received an offer in the mail to move the car loan to my credit union. My credit union, so 1.5 stars out of 5 that I keep accounts only for the privilege to throw my bling in its safe (I rate the credit union two because it has its own parking lot, is the closest establishment where I can get a safety deposit box, and the staff attitude is pretty good), offered 3.04% for seventy-two months. Yeeeeah right. First, we have under 75% LTV, not 81% LTV as the credit union guesstimated; a "green" and "new" car; and I'm not ever going to happily consider extending a car loan to seven years past its purchase. All three factors should earn us a 1.79% APR according to the credit union's website if we want a car loan paid off in four years. Mailed offers are the scratched-out-of-the-rectum crud.

As for yesterday's forum post, I can only say that I had close to an anxiety attack, and I am still antsy but the idea of spending under $10 to reward myself on something calming like wild orange oil, or an Income Tax Cocktail, ameliorates the horror of either doing pencil & paper, or using TurboTax. I dealt with this attack by using my home made

orange vinegar with baking soda for some bathroom floor grunge cleaning, and at the end of the day dabbing lavender oil drops on my feet and on my pillow.

I should offer a prediction poll.
Paulette will _______________ the IRS
a) owe more than a thousand dollars to
b) owe $750 - $1000 dollars to
c) owe less than b to and feel ashamed for moaning about
d) get money back from and feel ashamed for moaning about

I will tell you I have owed every year for the past six. I seem to remember paying over $800 last year.

Sochi Savings Challenge now $31

TAXES ARE DONE. The ANSWER is D! For DOPE! DELUSIONAL! DIMWITTED! DELICATE!

OR, how to become a TROTSkyite on lemon water

Link of the day: How to halve grocery expenditures

It snowed here. I am staying in with my recipes, internet, teas, and my wacky library loan DVDs. With the exception of rotation of lentil (French, red) variations paired with brown rice, when followed closely this menu plan will use up all significant protein sources except eggs.

This week's featured cookbook is Arsy Vartanian's Paleo Slow Cooker. I returned Hazan's book to the SPL but my spouse so enjoyed eating the dishes her book helped me make that we now have at least a temporary eBook version.

Sunday: Veal Stew with Sage and White Wine (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
http://gourmay.net/recipes/meat-recipes/veal-stew-with-sage-and-white-wine/

Bok Choy and Tofu Noodle Bowl

Short Ribs in Tomato Fennel Sauce (Vartanian, Paleo Slow Cooker)

Sweet and Sour Lentils, Gourmet Succotash w/homemade chicken stock (Nourishing Traditions, Fallon)

Prosciutto and Cream Sauce over Fettuccine (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

Steak!

Chicken Paprikash

Fried Tidbits of Swordfish or Other Fish (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

Quick Coconut Lamb Curry


Baked Fillet of Sole With Tomato, Oregano And Hot Pepper (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

Veal Scalloppine al Limone

I've noticed a binge-purge groceries habit. NSDs throughout the working week, and then one day of $85-$100 outflow. This week I had two no-spend days. I had some good savings: eight dollars off a 24 oz canister of grated Parmesan cheese; four dollars off a pound of natural ground lamb; coupon for five dollars off a grocery purchase.

A few of my friends and family have birthdays, so I bought and mailed cards to them. Some are out of the country. February and November seem to be my busiest months for this.

$38 deposited.

Sochi Challenge
$9 so far on the first day: Gold, Silver AND Bronze. Going to use the Sochi Challenge savings on exercise wear.



These challenges are working my noggin down to a nub.
====================================================
Today as a Valentine's Present of sorts my husband treated himself to a new watch. $76.99. Also we treated ourselves to a brunch with one free mocha before debt group.

I opened up with how I needed to think more long-term and set some investing dollars aside as well as pay down debt. We are all "under the crunch" with our car loans, and the others agreed that maybe we should expand our scope to include novel and little-known savings ploys. We are all using the "Asian market" method for fruits and vegetables, for example.

Enh, my triple-checked predictions for the next two weeks' spending sees us with $26, yes, $26, remaining from one two-week paycheque.

I deposited $38 for Week 6's challenge. More of that in an upcoming post.

I'm considering not eating out FOR DINNER on Valentine's Day. We've been doing fine abstaining from eating in crowded restaurants with steak au poivre, potatoes Anna prepared at home. I may attempt profiteroles. Someone's given my husband a red Cabernet Sauvignon from a local winery, so there's $7-$8 savings for 52-Week Savings Challenge Week 7. Not eating out will save us $75 minus the cost of steak and potatoes ($20), so $55. But my romantic one is taking next Friday off, so we have to think of some cheap, close-to-free ways of enjoying time together. I can think of some bistros or wine bars that offer Chinook Book discounts. I could let him have some funds to get a refurbished watch as a Valentine's Day present.

The car loan, 45 months to go, wasn't so bad before the clarinet rental, and hikes in property tax, utilities, phone tax, insurance (car, not home). Sometimes I think of bold ways to deal with the car loan. The bold options I still play with:

Sell some precious metals.
Throw the car loan into the HELOC.
Refinance for yet another 12-year loan (it's fee free) rolling the HELOC in there. This is the stupidest move because it assumes we still want to live here, but aren't many bold moves stupid?

The milquetoast option I do, because I'm timid and lazy:
shave a wee bit from what's left over to debt. And I'm touched enough in the head to not want to do that because my debt total right now is $122,222.00. See how pretty those twos are? They look like Zs, and I sure could use some Zs.

I do immediately reject solutions that require paying more interest in the long run. That doesn't mean they don't sneak back in.

I feel like I am sitting on my hands and bouncing in my seat waiting for the magic graph coordinates of liquid assets equaling debts plus emergency fund. That won't come until May, with the triple paycheque month and our heating bill cut in half.

Here's a question, for anyone with GEICO car insurance: do you enjoy a "credit score" discount? We have such a discount on our home insurance, but not for car...

Hockey Night in Canada commentator, former Boston Bruins coach, and Canadian legend Don Cherry turns 80 on Wednesday, February 5. He'll be dealing with Russian security and perogies then so I posted his guest blog entry early.

SO ME AND THE BOYS WERE having a few pops, eh? And we're thinkin' "We're gonna get some medal this year, how about that?" and gettin' all excited and everythink like dat. Gotta show some love for our boys and girls out in Sochi, ya know? And then I read this

Sochi Challenge thing and boy oh boy, I gotta tell ya it's a beaut! $5 for gold, $3 for silver, and those loonies for bronze, eh? Gotta like that.



So smarten up and stay away from the cheap beer and lottery kiosks, kids! Put that money in your RRSP, or GIC, or BTO, or Nickelback or Deadmau5, I dunno.

Lemme tell you 'bout Sochi. Now, I got some dame yappin' in my ear about how Canada women are gonna take gold again, I say, hey sister, it's not a sure thing dere, and besides, those Rooskies don't take to our athletes smokin' cigars and havin' a few pops onna ice, like they do in your greenie-scenie hippieland Vancouver!! Ya know we got good Canadian kids out there, sweatin', workin' real hard, flattenin' those namby-pamby finesse Euro players, but we got some unknown quantities refereein'. We keep playin' the Yankee Doody Dandles, and eventually, eventually they get to where they're almost as good as us except when most of our dames are onna rag, throwin' in that extra period (ha! Good one!) and then well, it's a line brawl, show's over, and get'em next time. So, maybe some evenness there, ya know?

And what da heck are the Japanese doin' playin our game?! Do we send our women out there as sumo wrestlers, play their go-checkers and stuff like that?

This one Canadian woman I know, good girl from Ottawa, she went over there, all 1.78 metres of her and scared the Japanese half to death! I have it on good authority that the Canadian and the Japanese women's teams aren't playing hockey against each other. Good thing too. Can't have the game interrupted every three minutes with some medic team resuscitatin' a player when the Canadian women come after 'em on the ice! God forbid this be in Detroit, where some Red Wings fan throws an octopus on the ice and a Japanese defenseperson skates over to collect it for a snack!

But the guys. I gotta tell you we got the greatest guys in the universe. THE GREATEST. It's up only to the unknown quantities refereein', makin' some wacky calls, and the home advantage for Datsyuk, Malkin and Ovi, they're gonna be doin' some grandstandin'. Don't be like that, kids. Smarten up! Use up all that extra rink space! The Rooskies ain't gonna be standin' around dreamin' about beet-flavoured ice cream while Lemieux and Gretzky flash by them, they've learned somethin' since then, eh? And they don't have that BreezeGlove guy in net freakin' out and calling us "uncaged gorillas."

So this Sochi medal savings prediction, I got $97, which is what now, $108 US? No? Other way around? Add 32, divide by 9 multiply by 5 ah fuggedit. Geez. $88 US. or $108 Cdn if you use US dollars for your savings challenge.

Anyway, I probably will regret interrupting this savings blog, I'm feelin' queasy already, but I did it anyway and I'm gonna treat myself to a good Canadian beer. THUMBS UP! LET'S GO!

Sure, it doesn't look healthy, unless you believe animal fats and protein are key to surviving winters (I do, stews are a hug from the inside). I admit the pasta representation is heavy here, but I'm using up what I have. And I have two vegetarian dishes.

Sunday: Macaroni-Beef Casserole

Sweet and Sour Lentils, Gourmet Succotash w/homemade chicken stock (Nourishing Traditions, Fallon)

Pappardelle with Peppers and Sausage - (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
http://www.classicpasta.com/pappardelle_peppers_sausage.htm

Roast Chicken

Veal Stew with Sage and White Wine (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
http://gourmay.net/recipes/meat-recipes/veal-stew-with-sage-and-white-wine/

Chicken Pot Pie? Chicken Noodle Soup? Something with Chicken Leftovers

Prosciutto and Cream Sauce over Fettuccine (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
http://www.katecooksthebooks.com/off-topic-fetuccine-with-prosciutto-and-cream-sauce/

Fried Tidbits of Swordfish or Other Fish (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)


Tomato-free Spaghetti Sauce with Spaghetti
http://thenourishingcook.com/no-tomato-spaghetti-sauce/

Pork Sausages with Black-Eyed Peas and Tomatoes (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

Baked Fillet of Sole With Tomato, Oregano And Hot Pepper (Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/4170/baked-fillet-of-sole-with-tomato-oregano-and-hot-pepper.html

Bok Choy and Tofu Noodle Bowl
http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Bok-Choy-and-Tofu-Noodle-Bowl-MyRecipes-238368?columns=2&position=4%2F8

Baked Salmon with Mayonnaise and Rice Vinegar

Total Deposited: $11

Why? Two free coffees and some extra small powdered donuts. Today DH took $60 to go on rare public market jaunt, visiting famous Italian delicatessen for some upcoming Marcella Hazan recipes, while I had optometrist appointment. He brought back $13. We have $90 in our chequing account, perhaps until Friday.

Earlier this week I estimated a $33 deposit for Week 5. I miscalculated the cash balance in my Roth and am $20 short of making my purchase. Phooey.

Rien plus, mes amis

1. Bought AAPL. Feeling fortunate that my cheques cleared AFTER the 9.5% price drop.

2. Total Spending: $5180.86. Income is about $1000 less than that. I am including the investing dollars as spending, however. Otherwise, I'd be even.

3. Overbudget: Charitable, Cats (food, flea medication, litter, vaccinations), Investing.

4. Underbudget: Entertainment, Fuel, Groceries, Restaurant, Household Goods. Food is currently 17% underbudget, which is severe, as I haven't purchased much meat and am making more of an effort to cook with legumes.

5. $215 surplus so far, I have two days to go and a self-imposed spending limit of $25/day, so really $165 budget surplus, excluding the Roth and Coverdell contributions. How to divide the $165: use $33 for 52-week savings challenge, $132 carries through to next month. Maybe I'll try seeing how living on $19/day for groceries feels.

My asset totals will be down from the beginning of the year: annual winter house value slump; market slough; investing; insurance.

February expectations: Home Maintenance expenditure, no "catch-up" repayment of credit card; night out at a GOOD restaurant (table service, cloth napkins, wine list).

Link - Ten Items You Should Always Stock Up On

We haven't yet gone to Costco this year, haven't yet renewed our membership. We're waiting to build up our grocery budget reserves, and to be out of five staples before we go. Coffee is one of those items, and it's apparently pretty cheap to get through Amazon. Amazon Prime Membership is $79 a year versus $65 a year for Costco, no pushing a cart past people, no ten minute wait at checkout, no hassle trying to find a parking spot a mere 200 yards from the store... Costco isn't that far from our house, a mere fifteen minute drive.

Update:
OF COURSE the day I think of getting Amazon Prime the company thinks of upping the annual cost from $79 to $99 or even $119. I'm compiling a list of things I usually get at Costco, or even at Vitamin places or department stores, their average or latest prices, how often I buy them, and how much they cost on Amazon. If I end up saving $150 despite Amazon Prime, I'll jump. But if I were dozens of miles from a Costco, this'd be a no-brainer.

Minutiae, btw, is a DYNAMITE Scrabble Brand Crossword game word, especially if you have five vowels on your rack.

I just realized that this month is the first month in perhaps five or eight I have had more than a day of a zero balance on my credit card. I usually (97.5% of the time) pay my statement in full, but have some sort of balance. My big expenditures of semiannual car insurance and utilities eclipsed the post-holiday credit card payoff activity.

Also, it just occurred that the Canadian dollar is below ninety American cents, so the toll bridge charges, even with the obnoxious "invoice processing fees" no British Columbians warned me about, will be less than expected. Yay!

This year, when something unusually terrific happens like meeting fun people, or receiving a compliment, or succeeding at something, or enjoying a new activity, I write it down with the date on a slip of paper and put it in a jar. So when maybe I am feeling like I am wasting time on this planet in this body, I go to the jar and read things. Today I entered a slip of getting to speak my second language with both a native speaker and someone struggling to learn the language. Seattle's notorious for freezingly polite and very withdrawn people, it's hard to make friends here if one isn't gregarious, so this was a brilliant moment for shy, withdrawn me, happening upon this couple. We did not speak entirely in the second language, we were all aware someone in our group wasn't multilingual, but sprinkling a phrase here and there was so glorious and exhilarating. I don't mean to give the impression that communicating in my first language all the time here is a drag, it definitely is not and is a superb convenience, but the serendipity of starting a surprising conversation with strangers in an unlikely area in a language one is rusty in... oh, so sweet, so miraculous, so rare.

This week's honoured cookbook, on loan from the library, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Sunday: Leftovers

Monday: Veal al Limone (this time for sure!), Cauliflower w/Garlic, Oil & Chili Pepper (p.172) - all (Essentials, Hazan)

Tuesday: Either Huevos Rancheros or Egg Foo Yung (More With Less, Longacre)

Wednesday: Gourmet Succotash w/homemade chicken stock
(Nourishing Traditions, Fallon)

Thursday: Spinach Soup (Essentials, Hazan)
w/Fried Tidbits of Swordfish

Friday: Rib Eye Steak

Saturday: Peas, Peppers, Prosciutto and Cream (Essentials, Hazan)

Here's my new, personal trick for climbing out of the Overthinking Pit. Start with $26.50, the average of 52 weeks of saving, and subtract splurges, add saves. This week deposit is $25, because:
- free Starbucks 12 oz drip;
- as mentioned in an earlier post, some tricks pulled at the self-checkout;
- splurge of decaf, cappuccino, and breakfast treat for child.
- freebies: tea, mending ($17)
- sale on frozen vegetables ($2.07)


We had Chinese food takeout yesterday, because I ended up exhausted and took to bed very early. Then I dreamt vividly of missing a 1931 thriller at our jewelbox arthouse film theatre, making do with the day's presentation of a 2008 German film, which was pre-empted by my child's choice of a NHL game where the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers were playing, my kid yammering on about the action as we watched. My dreamlife has been interrupted by a tot's monomania. We have now called it quits on my child's NHL/Sochi 2014 prattle, and I sing "Mickey Mouse" by Sparks or "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire" to drown him out when he starts up on it.

This was such a bizarre dream and realistic up until the hockey game that I had to share. My kid thought it was the greatest dream ever. I think Ridley Scott's "Chanel No. 5" commercials are the greatest televised dreams ever.

Finances are complicated. I am posting only facts. Perceptions may differ. My goal is to shift to a growth mindset from a fixed mindset, and the shift is not instantaneous, nor smooth. Think of a spastic, ADD person learning to drive on a stickshift 1980 Mercury Capri: that's me approximating my path to "where everyone else seems to be."

I attempt to eat down the pantry but can't resist seafood sales and deep discount whole bean coffees. My "eat down the pantry challenge/buy on sales" activity is averaging $20/day.

We thought, errrrr, hoped, that jaunting across BC's tolled Port Mann Bridge with out of the country plates in August 2013 would give us a free pass. We thought wrong. $21.20 due in February.

Son's PC has issues. Our options: replace the motherboard at $150; buy a Raspberry Pi and share the PC w/boy (I don't really want Steam installed though).

I've spent some days wondering how I can manage this week's savings challenge. I saved myself fifty cents "miscoding" items into the self-checkout kiosk. Saved a dollar "forgetting" to pay for parking at a meter. Did I deny myself a treat thinking "I can't afford it/don't need it" this week? Yes. Does that count, or is it negated 3x by the "Ugh I got out of bed w/o breakkie or coffee because boy's alarm didn't sound so now I need an espresso when I drop him off"? That kind of overthinking.

I feel like this:


My worst financial weeks, mentally and emotionally, are in late July and late January, when the tsunami of car insurance and bimonthly utilities crashes into my pocketbook. (Ha! See what I did there? Fukusima? Tsunami? Fukuppy?) It doesn't feel like saving when I know hundreds more than a biweekly paycheque are due all in one short week. I SEE that the insurance premium accumulated in the Money Market Account, and the MMA balance grew every month. It STINGS when that money leaves, no matter how rational a purpose.

I'm still positive on my monthly budget for January though, despite overspending on clothes, charity and transportation.
-----------------------------------------------------
It's not evident from my post, but Fukuppy is the brand mascot for Fukushima.

-----------------------------------
I put $800 instead of $1200 or $1500 toward stocks. Turns out I had a wee bit of cash in each account, and today's slide was precipitous. Even my child knew of today's market dip: apparently he looks up his stock holdings on someone else's iPad on the school bus.
More levelheaded today, but making tomorrow's 52-week savings challenge deposit an arbitrary figure

Today: "Three Sisters Stew". I hope this isn't my day to be Failed by Veganism. I accidentally saved $6 today because I went to a vegan sweet shop "open every day" to learn they were on vacation for a week! The first and only other time I went, they were closed for another reason.

Tuesday: Coconut Chicken Curry

Wednesday: Leftovers, or Sweet-and-Sour Lentils

Thursday:

Ground Beef w/Pasta (Campbell's Soup recipe)

Friday: Veal al Limone

Saturday: Fried Swordfish, or something with Swordfish

Sunday: Probably some Lentil-Beef Skillet thing from More-With-Less cookbook.
------------------------------
I am going to buy some stock, I think. I talked it over with the men. [Paulette: "I want to do this, and I want to do it with your money." Spouse: "Sure, I trust you not to go crazy." Kid: "Let's look at the fundamentals and growth potential here. I see it has a dividend; that is good. Yes, I am aware of this company and its products. I approve."] So tomorrow I'll go to the discount brokerage firm with a cheque, calculating 2% padding for commission and price fluctuation, and light a candle for abundance or something. I'm taking half of the price of one share from my child's savings account and the rest from the money market account: one share goes into the child's account, the other into my Roth.

Last post had me mentioning a few items we have for sale. The software is selling very fast, despite it being old. I may have to sell our Elvis Presley 1959 EP on eBay. I tried selling it for $15 a few years ago on Craigslist (sells for $25 on eBay!) and no bites. Seattle doesn't have the King fans the way inland or river cities do, I guess.

Baselle mentioned back in August 2013 winning a Greenwood Gumshoe local merchant certificate pack. She split the booty with me 5/4, and I used my third certificate offered by an Alterations Seamstress on some mending and repairs. I'll be taking a jacket in tomorrow, with some buttons to replace on another jacket. $15 to add to savings.

$15 from certificate
$5.45 from deeply discounted pajamas
$7.55 from Tom's of Maine toothpaste deal
$24 from $50 sale of software
------------
$52!


-----------------------------------
Don't read this if you were caught in North America's polar vortex: my heating bill came to $107 for Dec/Jan. No, I do not live in Wagga Wagga.

First off, I was gobsmacked to save an additional $5 off clearance-priced microfleece pajamas today. More like $5.45, for the tax saved too. I did spend on nonessential items, like dinner between our son's possible new school tour (more on that in a future post, because it's budget-impacting) and my husband's "film" appreciation group, and some donuts with coffee while we jointly worked on a Thursday themed NY Times crossword.

Plus, we are selling items! The clarinet mentioned in the previous post, MS Office Ultimate 2007, and MS Visual Studio. I'll use half of the proceeds from Office either for the Tax Prep Software (oh how I miss the days of the synthpop, Sprite, and potato chips with calculator and sharp pencils and scratch pad!!) or to bless on a community radio donation and feed my child's transit card, or something else.

I may go the envelope route with cash. I don't have the "freeze or cut up your cards" relationship with credit, but this year, with increased utilities and local taxes, I find our car loan "itchy" and if I think about what percentage of our takehome pay goes to car insurance, gas, oil changes, plate tabs, and payment my teeth grind. None of the women in our debt group likes our loans, all of us bought within ten months of each other. My strategy for paying off while maintaining an emergency fund AND reaching savings goals is being developed. A tactic may involve chaos magick.
But back to the envelopes. I may ask paper crafters if they have spare envelopes, and print out a template for each everyday expense budget category. Then what I could do at the end of each week is see what's leftover from each, and collect from them into a deposit envelope for the 52-week saving challenge.

Today on

Money Saving Mom I lucked into a time-limited offer of free licenses for Kindle eBooks. Titles I downloaded include Frugal Living: Powerful How To Advice on Living Frugal..., Dirt Cheap Organic, Paleo for Beginners and The Ketogenic Diet. I don't have a Kindle but downloading Amazon's Kindle-for-PC application was completely free, without adware, and fast.

I also visited my favourite drug store for amazing deals ($3.30 savings per toothpaste tube) on Tom's of Maine toothpaste. Adding $7.60 (two tubes) to the 52-week Saving Challenge.

I slipped a bit: we got the fundraiser Guest Bartender date wrong last night so we consoled ourselves with dessert takeout from the supermarket. Sugar doesn't do me any favours, but with 1200mg alpha lipoic acid daily intake I can handle an eclair or half a Pop-Tart without waking all sweaty in the dark. So I had an eclair. I did wake a few times with weird, weird dreams ("oh look! a human corpse. Someone should clean that up."). I walked it off today.
-----------------------------
I froze some orange peels earlier in the year. Today I took some out for thawing: half are in a jar of vinegar for cooking use; I will scatter orange peels around my food plate because we have a lazy, greedy cat who lurks on a dining chair ALL DAY, and gets belligerent when we eat. The peels will repel her. If I can manage some vodka, I could extract oil from the remaining peels to use in the bath. When I can manage the cash to buy a microplane grater, I have additional uses for them. Orange peels are good to use as kindling or to throw in a fire. Here are more ways of using orange peels around the home.
-----------------------------
Update for Sadness: My son's complained a few times about the $40 clarinet we bought him in August. We brought it to a local instrument shop for possible repair, but were advised that abandoning it and renting would be the better way to go. My child has a concert next week. We are back to renting, but it's $8/month cheaper than where we last rented. We agreed on some pad protectors (my child paid for those) and a cleaning case (the woman wasn't up for haggling with the $22.13 cash I had with me).

Sad but true, the chicken did not thaw overnight. So, I thought to use the udon noodles Imooto-san (little sister) left in my kitchen. Sadly, the noodle package is exclusively Nihongo (Japanese language) so off I went to the Internet, where I found this comforting breakkie/dinner

goodie, so nice on a cold rainy day. I didn't have watercress, so didn't use it.

Saturday: Miso Soup with Udon, Egg and Caramelized Bacon (the cats give paws up to Caramelized Bacon). A good way to use up leftovers.

Sunday: Oven-Baked Chicken
Chicken did not thaw overnight

Monday: Leftover Chicken, "Three Sisters" Stew (beans, parsnip, carrot)

Tuesday: Roast Beef w/Yorkshire Pudding

Wednesday: Roast Beef Leftovers, maybe Roast Beef au Diable

Thursday: Curried Lentils & Cauliflower

Friday: Veal & Something for Boy
Veal al Limone I think for me; Boy is happy making his own ramen these days.

Saturday: Sweet'n'Sour Lentils
from More-with-Less cookbook

Eggs go superfast here.

Deadbeat Follies

Turned in one empty 12 oz bag of Starbucks Coffee for a free 12 oz drip, and hubby used his gift card from work for Starbucks for a break time. We bought flour, vanilla and cane sugar.

Estimating we'll spend close to $600 on groceries, having spent $199 over the past eleven days. I was tempted to spend more $$, but that would entail getting into the car and driving, so I opted to walk to our nearest supermarket for only bread and milk. I find that walking with reusable bags to Target and our supermarket is a great way to restrict food spending to what we can carry.

This week's 52-Week Saving Challenge Deposit will be ten dollars ($4.98+4.25+0.80, rounded down). Paltry sum, but I know what expenditures lie ahead. At least it's a double-digit sum, and at least the rusty cogitation wheels are creaking with a smidgen of industrial creativity grease.

For decluttering recipes, Susan Pinsky, author of Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, suggests trying a recipe within a week of receipt. All of the recipes from the backs of food products, printouts from Epicurious, Yummly, about.com, et cetera, are to go into an accordion folder. I tried putting my photocopied recipes in a binder with tabs but the binder was too small. Pinsky recommends tossing cookbooks too but I am not ready for that. Ninety percent of my cookbooks are from the old country. Who tosses out a perfectly usable copy of The New Basics or The Joy of Cooking or The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook?

Link du Jour - How to Live Like a Royal Person, by Thor Harris. Expletive-rich, so not violating any sort of copyright by reposting the whole thing here. Chances are excellent you've used most of Thor's list anyhow.
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Water/sewer/yard waste/recycling bill now $231, because rates have gone up AGAIN. I can't even be all **HULK SMASH** about the rate hike because we're paying $90 less per bill than the typical house, and we ARE the typical house.

I love these challenges that inspire me to quantify my year. The

52 week Declutter challenge will be a cinch as I have already discarded nineteen items of clutter today, if discarding includes shredding. I have organized my writing centre, my postage/mail centre, and recorded bills coming due and CDs scheduled to mature shortly.

For me the key is to undertake one challenge each day, and to incorporate each challenge in my Red Notebook Journal Template.
All Hail Discardia!

I miscalculated my stock purchase by $50 (that's a paddlin'), leaving $35 in our chequing account this morning. This oversight has since been rectified.

Our new homeowner's insurance policy arrived, and it is $51 less than it was last year, so there are some savings to be had there, or one mocha per month. Sadly as our insurance is paid by escrow we will not see any reduction in monthly mortgage payment until July 2014.

YouTube goodie for you: This Will Be Our Year - The Zombies, Odyssey & Oracle

Yesterday was our first no-spend day of the year. Finetuned YNAB to include an expense made last year I didn't know about until today, when the charge showed up on the credit card. Electricity bill $26 more than I thought it'd be. With $120 in the account to last two days I feel slightly better, as long as the $98 fee for DS's extracurricular activity and the $40 GE stock purchase don't go through at the same time.
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2014 Resolutions

When Savings + $1800 = Principal of Debts HELOC and Car, pay off lowest debt.
Looking at November 2014 presently as payoff date. Assumptions include 3.7% rise in assets monthly, fifty cents more to car payment each month.
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I am using the shareware "Red Notebook" to journal progress which may not be of interest to you, such as the other challenges for 2014 aside from 52-week Saving Challenge that I found on Lifehacker.com. So far I like it, but I need a robust and sensible metadata framework to keep it uncluttered.
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That Money-Saving Mom's Budget book is brilliant. I thought, snobbishly, that Trent Hamm's book 365 Ways to Save would be ingenious, but no, that Money-Saving Mom's Budget (Crystal Paine I think is the author) is very useful. Lots of aha!s last night just from three pages, which is what I've come to demand now.

First: I am pretty happy about Team Canada's men's hockey roster. Surprised three players didn't make it, and that one person did, even though he is on one of my favourite teams.

The financial surprise:

FRED graph showing the average homeowner's equity as a percentage of household real estate. Look where the percentage was fifteen years ago. Look where it is now. The average mortgage interest rate was 6.75% for a 30-year term fifteen years ago, now it is 4.53%. You'd think by now the equity would be back up, even without homes reattaining the equity hills of 2006-2008.

I saw on Twitter a link to an article "I Don't Want to Pay Down My Debt" and that's how I feel. I don't want to keep my numbers, but refinancing is not a good option for any of my debts. I told my friend attending debt group was a pointless endeavour, and even eats into my savings challenge. She did approve of the Saving Challenge I'm undertaking this year.

It just occurred to me that if something weird happens, like a phone call from Culver City inviting me down for a day or two, I'd want some savings available for that. $1378 is more than ample for a one-way flight to LA, discount hotel stay w/breakfast voucher, and cab rides, plus a flight back. Maybe $378 is enough for all that, plus a latte or a lunch at a diner.

Sunday Meal: Pulled Pork Sandwiches - a big hit, but also a big hit of spice to the tongue. I'll pay more attention to the powder measurements. Also made cole slaw with some purchased cabbage, and our supply of celery seeds, maple syrup, tamari and sugar.

Wednesday Meal: Red Chicken Coconut Curry on Rice Noodles.

Thursday Meal: Red Lentil Coconut Curry or Roman Lentil Soup.

Friday Meal: Rib-Eye Steak w/baked potatoes

Saturday: Roast or Baked Chicken.

Sunday: Roast Beef w/Yorkshire Pudding
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Freebie: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser box, so adding $2.49 to the $4.25 for this week's physical savings.

Recorded my shopping experience at safewaysurvey.net, in hopes of winning a $100 gift card.
I saved $50.56 from my total shopping, using paper coupons, Just-for-U savings and card savings.
However, I have now $140 to last us five days, unless the GE stock purchase goes through, in which case $100 to last us five days. I won't be needing to fuel up in six days, so that's good.

I planned close to three weeks' worth of meals. We have a full freezer now. I'll need about twelve onions and canned tomatoes, and maybe if I'm feeling rich some whipping cream along with the eggs, bread and milk we'll eventually need to restock.

From January to mid-April I go through a First Quarter panic. We'll have some tax bite from the sale of some stocks my spouse sold a year ago. Plus car tab renewal in April as well. I'm determined to eat better this year's First Quarter panic. I've a greater assortment of “cheap cooking” blogs, and dozens, if not one hundred, slow cooker and cheap cuisine books available to me from the local libraries, including the busiest library system in the United States.
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Said to me today over a juice break: "You placed SECOND in a Dead Pool?"
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Looked at Lifehacker article: "Write Down Exactly What Your Savings Are Allowed to Be Spent On". Okay: furniture, home improvement, debt repayment, shareware donations, Donors Choose projects, stock purchase, and Safe Deposit Box Rental. That money isn't going to be moribund in a 0% account while there's some prettying to be done, some debt to pay, and money to be made. But it will accumulate in that 0% account until certain minimums are reached.
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Spent an hour scouring the Web, including Google search "site:savingadvice.com [cheap eats] [thrifty meals] [budget cooking]" for blogs with content combining frugality with food. I just discovered "Grocery Budget" category in the forums. And

this article

Blogs and Sites Outside
http://brokeassgourmet.com/
http://www.cookonashoestring.com/
http://www.budgetbytes.com/
http://www.stretcher.com/food/?TT
http://www.cheapcooking.com/ - a popular one among retired/old-timer SA bloggers
http://cheapcookinmama.blogspot.com/
http://www.theeatfoodnotmoneycookbook.blogspot.com/
http://brokeandstarving.com/
http://thriftyfoodtherapist.tumblr.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/geauxsaints9/thrifty-cooking/
http://casualkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/25-best-laughably-cheap-recipes-at.html
http://www.leftoverqueen.com/
http://recipesonthecheap.blogspot.com/
http://www.doctoryourself.com/eatwellcheap.html
http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/quick-cheap-healthy-meals-recipes
http://goodcheapeats.com/
http://pauperspantry.com/
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/cheap-eat (this is a UK site.)
http://www.pinterest.com/geauxsaints9/thrifty-cooking/ (Pinterest aggregate)
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

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DS earned a value-added nonrefillable Gameworks card for his participation in a library reading marathon for middle schoolers. On the last Friday before he returns to school, he and I took the bus downtown.

I had with me my second place Dead Pool "Departing Gift" which I intended to deposit in a closed account. I am not the brightest star in the firmament. Instead of asking the very solicitous and everpresent concierge of a building lobby for a quarter, we asked where the nearest building decorative water fountain was so my son could collect some change for the bus. I did not know his regional transit card balance, only that it was low, and I had, other than my $20 bill, $1.25 on me, about twenty-five cents less than my child needed to board the bus.

We returned our library books at the downtown library branch, got some new books, went to Gameworks where I was employed to solve "Wheel of Fortune" puzzles. Then my kid's sails no longer billowed, so we went to the Driver Licensing office to learn no Motorcycle Manuals were printed anymore, and to the credit union where I learned my account had closed years ago, despite my receipt of a new account number and getting lots of marketing material in e-mail.

I got my pencil sharpened... for free!
We rode on the bus... for free! Our prepaid regional transportation cards could not be processed as the bus card reader was out of commission.
I got a credit union wall calendar... for free!

And yes, we had physical as well as metaphorical raindrops. Pennies from Heaven, and all that. It would've been sweet synchronicity to borrow the "Pennies from Heaven" DVD from the library, but I settled for Richard Matheson's Hell House.

Savings: $17, excepting my kid's game card. Earnings: $20. I still have the bill with me. I'll deposit it at credit union #2 tomorrow.

So far this challenge has been good for me in the following ways:

1. I have identified nine accounts the saved money could go, two of them debt accounts, four investment accounts, one PayPal, one Money Market account, and two other credit union accounts. It's hard for me to choose one, as most of them don't offer a serious savings rate.

The main credit union I have accounts with is one of the top five financial cooperatives in the country, not much chance of it merging with another cooperative. I have a spreadsheet. I've told my family of the challenge and will remind them.

Some investment accounts accept a minimum of $50 as direct stock purchases, so I'll let the funds accumulate in a credit union account until the minimum is reached.

2. Unless I misunderstand, I'm getting a mail "raindrop" from placing second in a contest -- if you're east of me you have snowflakes, me, I have raindrops. And a rainbarrel. Because we have droughts in the summer, but autumn/winter/spring it's rain. That raindrop will be added to the challenge.

3. With the exception of the phone and internet bills, I may try operating on just cash for awhile, if I can find my debit card. I thrill to making cheap tasty dishes. The Hoppin' John I made on New Year's Day my husband LOVED, as in phoned his parents a few time zones away to rave about the dish. Yeah, who knew black-eyed peas, kale and sweet potatoes could be so exciting? Apparently if you put Trappey's sauce or apple cider vinegar on it you can make Hoppin' John zesty-good! And today was Creole rice with bacon and frankfurters.

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Just as an aside to no one in particular, because many of us are adept at or prefer hiding our dysphoria, dysthymia and despair, do listen to some Oscar Peterson 1963-1965 Europe concerts if you have a slight or greater inclination to jazz. They do make one want to stay on the spaceship earth just a little longer. I know waking up to darkness at 7:40 am isn't helping my joie de vivre, and neither is seeing the golden farewell of the sun at 4:30 pm either.

Happy New Year! Bonne Annee!

Hey Hey I installed YNAB, having found my Activation Key in my inbox! I set up YNAB so I could enjoy the flexibility of choosing among my accounts for application of my physical savings.

Resolutions As the Year Goes By

Allowing for fluidity of circumstances and thinking!
First up: reducing e-mail accounts to 20 messages maximum in each inbox!

Second: stay away from most newspaper comments, now that I know there are paid trolls to say the stupidest things. "I don't mind paying $12/month maintenance fee at my bank, because I get free coffee!" "That hard-working father's freedom and liberty were threatened by his two-month-old daughter so he should not be charged with shooting her with his 9mm gun!" Those of us who came to the truth of paid trolls too late know there are worse ones. The trolls exist to pump up the page hits and my blood pressure.

Get more eBooks from library, especially for online tutorials for eventual job work.

Meal plan with emphasis on what's in pantry inventory. Today we're having Hoppin' John with kale and sweet potatoes, and then work on yesterday's duck pasta leftovers.

In December I was embarrassed a few times by pulling out coins and wondering if I had at least $2.50 for coffee. It may be time to cut back. I wonder how pack-a-day smokers can handle their budget: I don't even have coffee out more than once a week unless it is special holiday time like now.

I weigh 167.5 lbs. Not terrible, but definitely could trim down 10-15 lbs.

That 365 Ways to Save is pretty bland. Only the health stuff I haven't already set to autopilot.
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Shopped with family at JCPenney: saved $199.20, because we brought a 15% coupon, spending $178 in total. I bought a red acrylic Joe Fresh sweater and a Betseyville turquoise rose-print large bag. I love the sixty-nine cent Anne Klein red purse but I can't fit the price book, emergency ADHD reading material for lines and buses, notebook, calculator, chequebooks, pens, et cetera.

I am so excited to be at the magic cusp of $100,000 principal paid and $100,000 mortgage left to go on the house that I took advantage of some Christmas money and Amazon.com deals to buy Fracas eau de cologne, Nutrigold fish oil and Doctor's Best alpha lipoic acid. I saved $90 on the total order and spent just over $89 total for those three items prior to tax.

I'd been thinking about how to make this $1378 savings challenge and the first thing that came to me was shaving $$ from the vitamins I purchase. I'm not advertising brands necessarily here; I read a news article about a study that purports that supplements don't do anything. The article of course did not specify if the supplement brand was something you'd find at a supermarket or chain drug store, or if it were a higher-quality brand found online or at health food and nutritional supply stores. I know Vitamin D3 supplementation has helped me and other people; magnesium made my feet stop getting cold and cramping, and let me sleep better; alpha lipoic acid helped my blood sugar. But why spend $14 in a store when I can spend $8?

By the by, baselle herself won her own Dead Pool this year. Go congratulate her!

Tell me, 52WSC vets, the two best tips you learned while doing this last year, the two best tips you saw from other people, and the two best tips you took with you into the challenge.
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I ran across the street, not in an intersection, while the arterial was quiet. My men followed me, coins falling from the pocket of the littlest one. When we collected on the other side, the small one cried at the loss of what he claims to be eighty-five cents. I braved the street during traffic lulls to rescue fifty cents. Twelve is a little old to be crying about lost change, unless you're a born Saving Advice columnist.

To prep for this challenge, I'm trying something newer than Ms. Taylor-Hough, Ms. Vicki Robin and Ms. Dacyczyn: The Money $aving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine, and 365 Ways to Live Cheap!, by Trent Hamm, whom you may know of TheSimpleDollar.com.