I repent at leisure for my impatience in mailing the bills off. This is a personal problem: I see the bills with payment in their sealed envelopes waiting by the front door and fret about late-fee charges, also can't estimate to the day when payments will be received, so off they go.

I've mentioned in earlier posts about the "tsunami" of bills at the end of this month--dashed difficult to time these before Friday's payday. The mortgage cheque, insurance cheque, phone cheque have all been received; the EFT for the electricity bill went through, I made one payment to the HELOC for a rounded balance.

Now my husband has a day off and we're down to our last $200 unless we want to risk a third withdrawal from our Money Market Account, or "live off the credit card" for unscheduled expenses and you just know the US gummint's gonna suspect us of funnelling money out to support Al Qaeda if we have too many withdrawals (thank Maud I am not responsible for Congress, and that it's highly unlikely we'll make four additional withdrawals from the account before January 31 when we get money on Friday).

This week I did not at any time order coffee or espresso out. I know the week doesn't officially end until fifteen hours from now, but I thought that was remarkable. My husband had only work coffee on Friday.

I will brave jaunts for flour, eggs and canned soups, so I can commence to warming the main floor and our stomachs. I will also brave semi-annual payment of car insurance. This might be the last one we have for our vehicle. I better go bless the heap with holy water so we are protected from driving hell this week.What's great on a snow day? Red pepper soup and brioche!

Downloaded ePamphlet from usa.gov on healthy frugal recipes.

I live on the coast of the largest body of water on the planet, 110 minutes drive from the second vastest country on the planet. Gas prices, home values, taxes for me are more expensive than for someone in Gary, Indiana or Tulsa, Oklahoma. So my food budget is bigger too. If you gasp at $600/month eating-in groceries for a family of three, you are either a farmer or vegetarian or you can get a 4-bedroom mansion in your neighborhood for $175000. For $175000 one gets a two-bedroom condo in a 40-year-old multi-strata building in my neighborhood, and I live in one of the uh, more affordable areas in my city.

I have been fixated with $750 budgeted for food away and at home and now recognize this fixation is futile and wrong. If someone lived in Boston or Manhattan or San Francisco thought "I should be able to spend no more than $1000/month on a 2200 sq. ft. living area not situated anywhere near a toxic waste site. What am I doing wrong?" I would gently mention that costs of living vary by area.

Since adopting the YNAB software budgeting system, I must accept that there is no “normal” month for categories, and food is one of the most volatile. It probably has a beta rating of 2.4 in my household. December is when we splurge on stocking stuffers and little feasts and that is not normal. December 31 is not normal for us either: we spent $60, the three of us, eating out.

I’ve also just recently started to keep a price book, have not abandoned meat on our diet, and although I’ve cut down on my coffees out, or swapped two cappuccinos for three drips, in January it feels really good to have something hot down the throat while making those no-gas-day errands.
My son takes lunch to school.
I make soup but maybe not enough.
My husband eats at home most of the time he works.
We do whole and organic foods and shop at farmers’ markets, though.
I like seafood and know its health benefits but even being by the fricking ocean doesn’t stop mussels from being $4/lb and clams at $5/lb or halibut at $22/lb. What do we have? Salmon at $5/lb., sole at $7/lb, tilapia or snapper at $4.50/lb. And it’s not just me buying coffees, or chess meeting snacks, or hot chocolates.

I am now reading the flyers to stock up on good deals offered by any of the three major supermarkets and two discount chains I frequent. Probably it is too early to call this food-cost experiment a bust.
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January 1:
personal holdings
Precious Metals: $10800
HELOC: $14771
Liquid: $17500
Stock: $1800

Stockwatch - some I have, some have great expectations.
TGT: 51.25
MCD: 100.33
DIS: 37.51
FCX: 36.81
WAG: 33.09
PG: 66.71
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What I'm reading now: Burr, by Gore Vidal. The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean.

My personal approach is to have mini-challenges. I won't restrict these to one per month, although they happen to number twelve. Some will be easier than others.

2012 $20 Challenge Savings Goal: $200. This way I look like I accomplish something.

Bathroom Challenge: Use up cleaning products from Bathroom and Kitchen, replenish either with homemade remedies or with products for which I have coupons or 10%+ savings discounts.
Amazon/Craigslist/eBay Challenge: Let's sell some stuff!
Chinook Book Challenge: Use coupons from 2012 Chinook Book.
Coffee Challenge: Reduce # of coffees out per week to two.
Coupon Challenge: Using coupons from circulars or Target.com, but not Chinook Book.
FreeCycle Challenge: Get needed items through the kindness of strangers.
Freezing Challenge: Keep forgetting I can freeze homemade bread, dough, pies, muffins and beans after they've been cooked.
Gas Challenge: Does not apply to scooter. Fill up every ten days. Options: walk, bike, take transit, or scoot.
LifeHacker/Tightwad Gazette Challenge: Learn something? Share something!
Movie Challenge: Watch films on Archive.org, on my personal PC, or from library whenever possible. Exceptions for films like 'Hugo' or rare specialty films at theaters where we have memberships.
Pantry Challenge: Popular in the last four days of a payperiod. Exceptions only for milk, eggs, butter and bread.
Poverty Challenge: Weeklong Pantry Challenge.
Reading Challenge: First, pay off library fines. Then pay for replacement cards. Then get books from the library. Also read ebooks from library or what I've downloaded.
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Wondered why I've managed only to replenish $2450 of my $7500 roof. Spot price for ounce of gold was $100 less than what it is now, and I had 1.5 oz fewer than what I have now. Also silver was $5 more per ounce than what it is now. I did not dedicate myself to debt repayment. When silver touches $40/oz I will liquidate some.
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I signed up for a local consumer research study firm but I fail all its survey qualification questions. Maybe because I don't have a lot of techie gadgets, or watch television. What are some good questions to answer "yes" to so I can get somewhere between $50 to $100 for participating in these groups.

Somewhere between being baby-la-la and "oh I never thought of money that way". Comfortable with YNAB's philosophical approach and Rules.

Keep forgetting I have stock. My stock balances are very low though: I haven't added to them this year in favour of an investment yielding 22% instead. I bought one share of P&G. I have enough stock to liquidate if I needed to pay tax for the new vehicle.

Paid mortgage through the mail this month.

HELOC: $14950
Target: paid $36.57 (statement balance paid in full before 12/22 due date)
Visa: $220 remaining (statement balance paid in full before 12/27 due date)

Year-end interest on HELOC: $454. My goal was to have paid $10K of debt for 2011, and if I exclude borrowing, I've accomplished that. But my balances currently owed are not $10K less than December 2010: they are $6900 lower.

That $10 Target gift card went to a local women's shelter.

I gave $10 each to two schools in the new school directors' districts.

I am feeling broke because of the selloff. I recognize that I must act against my feelings in investing. Hubby gets paid tomorrow, so I'll see if gold slips below this year's average price, and ask about Maple Leafs: expecting big swings. And it's a triple-paycheque month: that's always good.

If you missed

At the self-check-out counters, collect store-issued coupons left behind by customers. My son does this regularly: it's like collecting change under library photocopiers or in the old days, checking the coin return of payphones at airports.

He collects other people's receipts, which isn't so useful, unless they buy things that would go into our price book.

Make sure the customers have actually left the store: one man was confused when my son took his receipt. Patience is key!

Need an amortization/savings chart.

Hubby wants a special laptop.
My laptop case is coming apart.

I know when my HELOC roof expenses are paid back I'll relax the payback schedule.

Maybe a motorcycle helmet for the little guy.

New-to-us car.

This has nothing at all to do with frugality, and everything to do with yielding to temptation.

Went to Bellis Fair Mall to get a Canucks cap for my brother -- hubby's passport was at home and he had to get to work at 4pm, so no trip to British Columbia. They had a half-off 2nd lid sale, so my kid got one too.

Because I don't like running to Bellis Fair for less than the cost of one tank of gas, we went west to look at used bookstores. Bought tea for my aunt who used to live in Bellingham, _Burr_ by Gore Vidal, the Collected Poems of Stevie Smith, some Doc Savage novels and a Warriors novel for the tot. Ate at Fiamma Burger, almost went to the Cheerful Soup Kitchen because Charlie Chaplin was adorning several of its windows. Fiamma Burger was worthy of Seattle's Fremont neighbourhood, with choices of lamb, chicken sausage, chicken, beef, elk and salmon.

I list five advantages Bellingham has over Seattle:
1. free parking on Saturdays.
2. KMRE FM.
3. fewer hills -- easier to bike.
4. more Canadian literature in used bookstores.
5. less snotty, more sustainable vibe to it.

As we pulled into Bellis Fair's parking lot, my husband realized he had not renewed his license, which expired yesterday. So I had to drive home. I did not beat my record of 69 minutes: my time was 74 minutes, to which I attribute the presence of several Washington State Patrol and unmarked squad cars, and a poky minivan going 60 ahead of us in the HOV lane. Google Directions estimated 94 minutes.

Note to VPM: thanks! received package of goodies!

$71.29 to mail presents to the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates. Cheaper than flying the family out anywhere.

$5.54 for C batteries for lantern.

$15 for beets, bread, milk, and red pepper.

$4.20 out of $7.48 change jar to note International Espresso Day. I ordered my Espresso in Canadian, but paid in American.

re-reading Tightwad Gazette.

1. Target: shipping tape, butter @ $2.49/lb before 5% discount, 3lb bag o' Honeycrisp apples, bread, cat treats. Savings: $2.52

2. Replacement music book for boy.

3. Top Ten Toys: Japanese character wooden blocks for Japanese nephew toddler. Pricey but appropriate. Savings $5.00

4. Greenwood market: wine, chicken broth, distilled water, eggs, rosemary, bulk tea, SCHWEDDY BALLS - schadenfreude, whipping cream, creme fraiche. Savings: $10.80

5. Wayward Coffeehouse: $11.29 for Maple Leaf cookie, one hot chocolate, two cappuccinos.

6. Zenith Supplies: $11.70 for two bath oil vials, part of my schadenfreude reward.

italics means on sale
bold means bwahaha!

Boy got free slice of Whole Foods pizza: savings $3.27

I predict a lot of baking this week, what with bread flour soon to expire and two bags of apples.

I'm using coconut oil instead of shortening, now that I've learned what hydrogenated fats can do to the body, and although I haven't mastered measurement of coconut oil (e.g. I used 1/2 cup instead of four tablespoons), I have had some great results with pie and roll crust. Apples will also go into Bob's Red Mill 10-grain cereal, and juicing.

Today we started using our Chinook Book coupons, and I'll be pasting a log-sheet on the inside cover of what we saved, where and when.

Gearing up for Costco night! It'll be pricy, as I anticipate buying two months' worth of meat.

Promised a community radio DJ friend of mine I'd give to a station that played my favourite band, and she ahem'd at fund drive time, so probably $35-$50 donation there this week.

My son, whom I can not and must not label as autistic or special needs or brain damaged, lost his coat at school. It is not in the lost'n'found, nor in his classroom. I am angry, but it was two years old and I paid $17 (tax included) at Macy's.

I have had two credit card offers since opening a Target account. My husband has not received any, and he is not on an Opt-Out list, whereas I am, so I know somebody's been selling my info.

I fret that my credit score took a big dive. The PTSA Fundraiser tells me she's working on getting our school on the Target RedCard program.

Bought two ounces of Canadian silver.

There is such a thing as being too penurious with money. My husband went out at the last minute to a concert I told him about, fine good. We had drinks at a campaign party beforehand, fine good. He bought CDs at the concert, one was signed by the band. This bothered me. My kid losing his coat bothered me too. My coats are second-hand and decades old. I haven't gone to a concert, but then again I bought boots. And I wait eleven weeks between haircuts.

Maybe it's because our statement shows billing of 55 days instead of 61 days last year, but I am astounded to find our water/sewer/yard waste/food waste/recycling bi-monthly bill down to $177.09. Two months ago it was $210 (summer rates, didn't feed my roses at all).

I have my DeadPool 2012 ten-person list. Funny how I'm so fussy about my list preparation and research, and then with seven weeks away until the end of the year I look at my 14 living people and think "now why did I think all these nonagenarians and one centenarian would die in 2011?" Watch as three people on my 2012 list die before December 30, and I replace them with my 2011 holdovers, and nobody dies at all in 2012. Except Harold Camping.

For My English Castle, I went for a walk today. I have been a couch potato for the past week doing last-minute election stuff, but now I am set free to go collect those urban blight yard signs from medians.

It is election day: I predict that

- with the first wave of ballots, two school board challengers will enjoy leads of comfortable (5+%) margins; one will have a sliver lead, and one will look to be behind but will catch up into recount territory;

- my men will forgo dinner so as to load up on drinks and Mexican food at the victory party; -- already wrong: my husband is bailing so he can catch a Japanese women's rock band tonight. My child might want to watch an animation festival tonight.

- no one but trolls will respond to the press release I cowrote; (did you know that some Internet blog commentators hate facts? you can get down votes for sharing things like "Today is Tuesday;" "Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian director who has made travelogues;" "the person profiled in this HOV-lane abuse article has had 27 court charges, three of them for stiffing Chevron, and two State Departments;" "Bank of America's holding company moved $53 trillion worth of toxic derivatives into its FDIC-insured banking unit." -- all flawlessly true.) -- wrong, unless we count two education bloggers as trolls.

- I will go to the hardware store to get batteries for a flashlight, a replacement bulb for our refrigerator, and some firewood; - partly true: bulb didn't need replacement, we have a flashlight already, but I bought scraper, chemical defroster and firewood.

- I will go to the auto supply store to get a chemical defroster; - see above.

- I will go to the grocery store for big size kitty litter and distilled water. -no kitty litter needed. Distilled water still on list.

I don't know if it's because it spent $22 million on the state liquor privatization initiative, or to cover James Sinegal's golden handshake, but the cost of coffee went up by 15% since my visit six weeks earlier. $6.29/lb for five pound bag of coffee. That IS the cheap coffee. And obviously I bought in bulk.

Bah it bugs me to spend $87 on a small box of items at Costco. Granted the two priciest categories: meat and wine were in there, but it was organic ground beef in bulk and red wine for slow cooker roasts. And I see that lamb there is $9/lb instead of $13.67 at Safeway or $24 at the public market.

My husband and I figured the new coffee costs: 30.68 tbsps in a pound, two tbsps per cup, so 15 cups per pound. 75 cups for $31.45 = 42 cents per cup of coffee.

We resumed our decluttering today: the earthenware casserole pot my mom gave me went, as did the steel jug for frothing milk for cappuccinos, lattes.

Hubby announced this morning he was buying a DS (used) from someone. I hadn't budgeted for this, and I do get twitchy about $$ by the second week of a payperiod. I was going to spend $150 on food for the week but managed $48 for weekly lattes and bakery teats, and for meat at a discount meat shop.

We shopped at Goodwill for our first time ever: found a good condition assignment/year organizer for my child and two binders for a dollar each. My kid racked up some fines from the library. Our family novel title should be: A Fine Balance.

My cousin in her e-mail to me mentioned her slow cooker: I rustled up some photocopied Show Cooker for Dummies recipes and plan to organize them in one binder.

Hubby warned me during "Open Enrollment Season" we'd have to open a health savings account as the deductible would be very high ($5000). I don't know how to go about doing that.

Splurges: veal chops for dinner, two glass bottle Fentiman's carbonated/sugar drinks of Mandarin Jigger and Victorian Lemonade. Nearly went in for a shandy -- that or a claret would go with an Evelyn Waugh novel.

I picked up an Edward Gorey novel today ('tis the season!) but that calls for absinthe... also picked up a Nathanael West two-novel book: his nephew lives in an urban Seattle neighborhood!

Splurged on halibut tacos at Lowell's down in the Market, with a friend from the old country. I was leaning toward chowder yesterday, then fish'n'chips because I hadn't had any since July, then when I saw the halibut tacos offered I seized my chance. They were delicious. Maybe not $18 delicious, but Lowell's has waterfront views, plus the TV (silent) had a five-minute Buster Keaton montage, which started us talking about National Film Board classic short film "The Railrodder."

The rain here cries for tea: I'm having chai

Bought $76 worth of silver today. My Certificate of Deposit matures -- surprised to learn the CD interest rate is higher than the money market account. I'll be taking some money out of the market account to add to the CD, and into my son's savings account to grab some interest.

Bought gold ETF shares yesterday.

I did not do a lot of decluttering over the last few days -- campaign data mining. It makes me happy to see comments favouring the challengers in response to the "we're anti-union or anti-Seattle or really high on this good weed the Bellevue millionaires scored for us" editorials in the daily paper.

I wanted to do some shopping downtown but I always lose track of time in the library: it's a treasure hunt for me, and then I have to control myself or else I take out eight books, lose one, mislay three and overdue fines accrue, etc. It's a sickness.

DS might not like it, but I'm going to get him clothes for Christmas so I can knock off some of the replacement items. I don't have to be the "fun" parent 100% of the time, just the caring and supportive one.

Two months -- must spend carefully!
I have ten days to use this year's Chinook Book coupons.

The VISA account spirals upward. I sliced 25% off the balance today.

Precious metals at a 10% discount from last month.

My natural gas bill usage was 22% lower than it was at this time last year, with the same temperature.

Hubby's videocard on his laptop is dead, so he bought himself a new motherboard. I am okay with this -- it beats buying a new laptop, and most of the money he used came from his PayPal account.

$143 in chequing account now, because spouse filled up the gas tank. Not saying it wasn't due, eleven out of twelve gallons were replenished, but we could have made do with $15 worth of gas instead of $41 worth.

So today, as the roast was not completely thawed, we had Pantry Night Challenge. A southwest-us style cold bean/corn/red pepper/lime salad; lukewarm soba noodles with some homemade dressing; apple-walnut kale. And enough of everything for either leftovers or making more.

out of: lime juice, tamari sauce.
makes me sad to run out of things when the account balance is low.

I wish the lads were more into zucchini frittatas, because I could have made that! Later in the week I make 'em eat kasha and potatoes.

DS did some literal budget cuts: I reused a print-on-one-side sheet of paper for a monthly budget, and the boy chopped it up with scissors to get pics of "Trailer Park Boys" and Hugh Dennis from "Mock the Week."

$211 in chequing until Friday, $11 in my pocket. No eggs in refrigerator.

Considering doubling boy's current savings account, and transferring half the interest into our account. He's getting 6.17%.

Wrote my first press release. Have more communications things to distribute, plus a list of local online media to mail and fax said press release. Wonder if I can ask the candidate to cover fax expenses or if I can fax via my computer. (Can't fax from printer.)

At least though I have my cash reserves. Which means I can stop my liquid savings, reduce debt and accumulate winter comforts and replacement items.

--Paulette the laundry tamer and iconoclastic procrastinator
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one of these days I'm going to make a page on the formatting keystrokes we can't use on these Blogs. Like quotation marks in the Entry Title field, and arrows using less-than key and hyphens.