Last night I went with three of my co-workers to a Mexican cafe in a neighboring suburb and then to a book signing at Border's. We all had a wonderful time. The food was fantastic (I blew my diet, but I'm back in the saddle today) and the reading/talk by the author was very inspiring. We had good seats and got great pictures. She signed a book which I will give to my DIL (after I read it -- she won't mind!)

Cost of the dinner, with tip: $40.11. Cost of the book: $16.41.

We had shocking news at work yesterday. Our VP (my boss' boss' boss) was let go. This will be a huge change for our department as we go under interim leadership and then new leadership. I feel very bad for her. The only reason for her dismissal is that she and the President do not get along very well -- it's not like she wasn't doing her job, or anything. She is a 55-year-old single woman with no one to fall back on, so I hope she is able to find something else quickly.

In better news, my BFF is coming to visit this weekend! We are going to see yet another author (believe me, this is just a coincidence, it's not something I do every day). We also might go to IKEA, as she's never been, and is curious to see it. Or we might to downtown to dine at my son's restaurant. Or we might just hang out. It will be good to see her.

Back when I was still trying to get out of debt, I accepted a lot of new credit cards so I could continually transfer my balances to very low rates. I'm out of debt now, but I have all these credit cards I don't use. Some have cancelled on me (which is fine) but sometimes I'll get a new card with the sticker to activate.

Should I just not activate? I've heard it's bad for your credit rating to cancel cards -- but also bad if you have too many. And I have too many.

It dawned on me I have all these experts at my fingertips! What should I do?

Just got back from a walk that was shorter than intended. It was so sunny I thought it would be nice and that I would warm up as got going. Wrong. It's very cold, and the wind is biting.

I went to Walgreen's yesterday to use my rewards. I had $11 and I added another $1.18 and got a bag of clementines and candy and toys for the grandkids' Easter buckets.

Today I made my Target trip. I had a $5 gift card, but I spent $39.78 above that. I needed AA batteries (I couldn't find any in the house, though I have a sinking feeling there's a whole lot of them SOMEWHERE!) Both my mouse and a clock were dead without the batteries. I bought an 18-pack for $7.21, as it was the best deal, but since I don't go through a lot of batteries I don't know if that was too smart. Oh well, I can use them in my camera if nothing else. I also bought a watering can to take to work (2.99) and a pencil sharpener for my eyeliner pencil for $1.37 (it was down to the jagged edge) and I splurged on a food scale. I've been dieting and so often I am guessing at the weight of a food item -- now I'll know. The scales ranged from $4.99 to $49.99. I got the mid-range -- $29.99. I want something that will do the job and hold up for a while. The little ones couldn't handle much weight and looked flimsy -- my guess is they would be unreliable, too. The fancy one -- well, I'm sure it's very nice, but I'm happy with what I got. It has a digital scale and a glass tray and is very sleek in appearance. I'll keep it sitting out on my countertop, it's that cute.

I also filled up my gas tank -- $34.51. It was the cheapest gas around, $3.59.

No grocery shopping this week. I am stocked up well enough, so I will resume 15 items next Saturday.

I babysat on Saturday and in the process got a free lunch. I was very tempted to stop at Steak N Shake on the way home, but made myself drive past it. It would have thrown my calorie count way off, anyway!

Yesterday I was so tired I couldn't stay up for the Office proposal episode. I'll watch it on Hulu. Don't tell me anything!

And I could hardly get up this morning. I was dreaming that Sandra Bullock was styling my hair. She also gave me a bouquet with long-stemmed flowers. I broke one of the stems and she said, "Well, now you've done it, you'll have to settle for a short bouquet." Then we all had to hurry into a tunnel that led to Mexico because we were evading some disaster. I have the weirdest dreams.

I've had several no-spend days -- nothing going out except the water bill, which comes out automatically. Netflix is going to give me a bit of a discount because their streaming service wasn't working on Wednesday. And I got notice from Offermatic that a $5 credit is going to my Discover card for my McDonald's purchase.

Tomorrow I hit Walgreens and Target. At Walgreens I will try to stay right at $11 (RR) and at Target, $5 (gift card). I also need gas, but other than that, I will try not to spend much of anything.

On Wednesday I was planning to see "Gone With the Wind" at the local theater for $5. I thought it would be a treat to see it on the big screen again. Turned out I was too tired to do that. I'm really fatigued. I think it's because I'm still recovering from the bad flu/cold I had. I'll be glad when I feel normal again.

I was supposed to dog sit the rest of this week, but the owners canceled their trip. I'm relieved. All told, I'd really rather be home, even if their house is much nicer! I will lose some income, but still, I'm not sorry. I'm such a homebody.

It got cold again yesterday and I turned on the heated mattress pad again. I'm so happy I got that. I'm also happy I got the flat iron -- now I never worry about what my hair will look like in the morning because I can always straighten it out. Sometimes material things DO make you happy!

It's Spring Break, and even though I have to work, it's kind of relaxing to work with the students gone. And it is certainly nice to find a parking place with no trouble. I do wish the weather were more springlike. Though I suppose RAIN is springlike, isn't it?

I've been closely tracking my diet on myfitnesspal.com, along with my kids and niece and nephew. I have recently started to enter my whole day's plan at the beginning at the day. Then I feel obligated to follow it. I save the results at the end of the day, making any adjustments where I didn't follow through as planned. I have found it's so much easier to track BEFORE I eat -- sometimes doing it after the fact is difficult because you didn't pay attention to the amount, or the type of measurement (i.e. cups vs. ounces). It also helps me to think about what I need to use up, rather than make impulsive decisions. And I can make better decisions about balancing my diet. It's kind of like paying yourself first!

Yesterday I went to Walgreen's and picked up a few items that were recommended on the Grocery Store Guide. While I didn't MAKE money, as the post suggested, I did spend only $3.42 for a package of TENA pads and two boxes of Thera-flu. That presupposes that I will remember to use the $10 and $1 "coupons" for my next trip to Walgreens. And I will. I've decided that next week's grocery trip will be at Walgreens and Target, where I will use a $5 gift card. I am quite stocked up, and $16 should easily take care of me.

The one big money-maker -- the pain reliever -- I couldn't do because I couldnt' get the coupon needed from Diabetes & You (free handout at Walgreens). The store already had the Spring issue and the Winter issue was gone. However, I did take the Spring issue as it had several coupons that looked interesting.

Then I went to Goodwill. I spent $47 there. I bought myself a pair of black pants (Lee Riders, like new) and three tops -- one brand new, the other two might as well have been. They are all long-sleeved T's and will serve well for spring. I also bought a pillow sham, which I really needed. (Now I won't have to make a pillow sham out of the king-size sheet I bought a few weeks ago!) Now to figure out what to do with the sheet....

The rest was spent on potential gifts. I was very happy to find two "Cars" buckets that will serve as Easter baskets -- my grandson is a maniac about the "Cars" movie.

I forgot to mention that I found a QUARTER the other day! Bright and shiny, too, not run-over like most of the coins I find.

And I also forgot to mention that when I worked at the scholarship dinner on Saturday night, one of the richest men in the area (jokingly) asked me to be his guest at the table. I couldn't -- seating arrangements are already decided way in advance -- but it kind of tickled me. Oh, by the way, he's married, so no chance he will solve all my financial problems!

It's been a busy weekend so far. I babysat overnight on Friday (and got NO sleep because the 4-year-old slept with me -- very sweet, but he's a tosser and turner). Then on Saturday I had to get ready for the big dinner I worked last night, and do my grocery shopping since there were key items on their last day on sale.

When I got home Saturday morning, I took a nap right after breakfast. When I woke up, I showered and went to get my hair cut and styled at Hair Cuttery. Hair Cuttery is now my compromise between the pricey salon and Great Clips. I have had the same stylist twice now, and I like her work. I paid $25 ($5 was for a tip). It would have been $15 had I not had it styled, but since I had the fancy dinner to go to I thought I should spring for it. It turned out a little poufy so maybe that wasn't the best choice, though when it settled down it looked nice, and the cut is great.

Then I got my 15 items:

Bag of salad greens - on sale
Half gallon milk
3 birthday cards ($2 off coupon)
Cat chow (on sale and $1 off coupon)
6 oz. container of raspberries (on sale)
Crest Professional Whitestrips ($10 off coupon)
Zyrtec (on sale and $4 off coupon)
1 lb. of asparagus (on sale)
3-pack of Kleenex (on sale and $1 off coupon)
Crystal Light On-the-Go (on sale)
Chicken breasts (on sale)
Cat litter (on sale and $1 off coupon)
18-ct. eggs (on sale)

Total: $101.29
Store savings: $9.70
Coupon savings: $19.00

The big splurge was the whitestrips. The $10 coupon made me consider it -- the box says it is equal in effect to a $500 treatment at the dentist's office. Well, I take that with a grain of salt, but I really do need to whiten. I'm a coffee drinker and also, I have white hair, and if my teeth aren't as white as my hair, it looks funny. And since I was getting all gussied up for the dinner, I thought I'd try it. I was quite pleased with the results in just one day, so I think I will be really pleased with the final result.

My other splurge was the Zyrtec. With spring coming I will soon be battling my allergies again, so with the store sale and the coupon, I went for it.

I didn't need cat chow yet, but my favorite brand was on sale and I had a coupon, so it made my list. Likewise for the cat litter.

The birthday cards were only $.99 each and I got $2 off, so that made them only $.66.

So while it was a bigger than usual total, it was a good trip.

I came home, unpacked, got all dressed up in my mother-of-the-groom outfit, and went to "work." I worked at the registration table for three hours; then, since I wasn't needed as a seat-filler at the dinner, I filled up a plate from the hors d'oeuvre table (that was being dismantled as I worked my way through it!) So I still got a very nice free dinner and got to go home early.

Today I'm going to rest, but I'm also going to make a trip to Walgreen's and get some of the deals that Jeffrey shared. Maybe hit Goodwill, too, as it's my guilty pleasure!

Today I got on the stick and donated my points/rewards from both Discover and Capitol One to Japanese tsunami relief. I was able to give $120 without any impact to my budget.

I was just reading today about how the elderly especially were impacted. So sad. Unthinkable, really.

The President's office here at the College had leftovers from a lunch meeting which they put in the break room. I wrapped up a pastrami & Swiss on pumpernickel to take home for dinner (having already had my lunch.) Whoopee! Love free food.

The weather was so nice and warm today that I got out and walked for 50 minutes at lunchtime. That will help work off the pastrami!

I got another Offermatic offer to use on The Natural Store. I needed vitamins, so I ordered a 90-day supply, and I also got some Brita filters. Still hadn't gotten up to $50 so I also ordered two Brita water bottles which I will probably use as gifts. The total, including the $20 paid to Offermatic, was $32.95.

I also contributed $2 to a student fundraiser -- they were selling baked goods, which I can't eat right now because I'm dieting, so I just gave them a little cash.

And my monthly order from Amazon for Align hit the credit card, so that's $18.

Easy to spend without stepping foot in a store!

Oops! I published before I added any text! I'm changing that now.

Payday these days means making two online payments -- rent and Discover, and making a transfer into savings. Today I will transfer $350. Hope I can improve on that next month.

Went back to work yesterday and had my shoulder to the wheel all day. I had two profiles to write -- I finished one, but the other will have to be finished up today. Very hard to do these quickly as there is lots of reading to do -- files, online contact reports, stuff on the internet -- before I can start writing. No one at work understands this; I don't know how they think I get the information. Very frustrating.

No spending yesterday, and I expect I can keep it up all week. I have lots of lunches stockpiled in the freezer and the gas tank is reasonably full, so I think I'm good!

Did my grocery shopping. Sure was nice to get out on a sunny day after being cooped up!

1 roll Sparkle paper towels (on sale)
Croutons (on sale)
Keebler oatmeal raisin cookies (on sale)
2 Edy's slow-churned frozen yogurt blends (BOGO)
2 4-packs Activia yogurt (on sale, $1.50 off coupon)
Bag of Snickers treats (on sale)
Bottle of wine (on sale)
2 bags frozen vegetables (on sale)
2 bags cat chow (on sale, $1.00 off coupon)
Iced tea mix (house brand)
Wheat crackers (house brand)

Total price: $53.52
Savings: $10.64
Coupon Savings: $2.50

I didn't need any basics this week, so the list is mostly supplemental items. I neglected to get fresh fruit -- I couldn't decide between cantaloupe and strawberries, and then I forgot to go back. I should be fine, though, I still have clementines and grapes to be eaten.

I made sure that my coupons got scanned AND I got into my apartment without dropping the wine, so I consider it a successful trip!

Yesterday afternoon I took a nap on the couch and woke up feeling something was missing. It was. My massive headache was gone!

What a difference that makes. I still have an achiness in my head (if that's possible) but that awful pressure is gone. I've turned a corner.

I'm still coughing deeply and I will be for quite a while, I think, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to go to work tomorrow. I'm planning on grocery shopping today, but nothing more than that.

Being sick is money-saving. I haven't spent anything, nor used any gas. The main thing I've been doing is making good use of my Netflix subscription. I watched all 8 episodes of Bleak House (great!), a movie called Red Road (Scottish dialogue, couldn't understand half of it), and several other things I can't even remember now. And I finished one book (Ten Year Nap -- so-so) and am into another (Someone Else's Daughter -- promising). I've managed to do some laundry, and I even got my new heated mattress pad on the bed, which has been a great comfort.

I did a bit of cooking and I'm slowly getting back to normal. Man, I hate being sick!

Day three of my illness and I don't feel any better. Actually, it's day four, because I worked the first day I was coming down with it.

If this is a cold, it's not like any cold I've ever had. My head feels like it's going to pop -- all the time. I'm dizzy and woozy and I have violent sneezing and coughing fits. I'm really tired of it, and it's SATURDAY! I don't want to waste a weekend being sick! If I'm not any better by Monday I'm going to have to drag myself to the doctor to prove I'm sick. I'm also thinking about the work that's not getting done. I know I promised a profile on Tuesday, but I hadn't started it when this hit. Even if I get back on Monday that's one day to do it.

But in the light of all the awful things happening -- the earthquake and tsunami, the bus accident, I know that my complaints are petty.

I'm home with a bad head cold for the second day now. I hate being sick; I feel so powerless.

Yesterday I was supposed to drive into the city for a seminar, so by being sick, at least I saved the gas money -- and I probably would have had to buy a lunch, too.

I also had to turn down a get-together at my son's house up in Skokie. You know I'm sick when I don't go see my kids.

I'm hoping that today I will at least feel good enough to do some cooking. I've got some vegetables that have to be used up; I sure don't want them to go to waste.

Got my statement from the antique booth -- I owed $91 this month -- ouch! Can't wait to do something about that siutation, but it won't be until the end of June.

Looks like I will be able to move $350 into savings on payday. This is on top of $125 that is saved automatically. I'm pleased any time I can inch it up over $300.

I usually don't spend a lot on entertainment, but today it all hit at once. My Netflix subscription hit my credit card ($9.99) as well as my year-long subscription to Ancestry.com ($154.40). Yes, I decided not to cancel after the free trial. Several reasons -- there are so many lines in my family to follow, and I am not nearly done yet -- and I want to do this for my grandchildren. Maybe even write up a history and give it as a Christmas gift to my kids' families. Secondly, it is something I can use at work when I'm trying to figure out family legacies and relationships in our alumni base. Of course, the College won't help me pay for it -- I guess you could say that in a way it is my gift to the College.

Anyway, I'm not done yet. I also bought tickets to the upcoming lecture/book talk by Alexander McCall Smith. He is one of my favorites and will be speaking right here where I work. Tickets are $10 and I bought two, one for me and one for my BFF. (She will undoubtedly pay me back).

So, lots of entertainment, coming up!

This is probably my last one. I used a coupon to get free fruit & maple oatmeal at McDonalds. My Dunkin Donuts card is used up, and Starbucks has only .99 left on it -- don't think I can get anything at Starbucks for .99!

I found the money on Sharebuilder that was in my King Pharmaceuticals stock (which was sold to Pfizer). It was sitting in my money market account. Silly me. So I reinvested it, this time buying Bank of America stock. It is only $14.31 a share, a recommended buy, and it is my bank. I know there are some folks here who are not big fans of B of A, but my experience with them has been good.

I checked yesterday to see if I got my rebates on Discover from Offermatic, and they still weren't there. I wonder what their schedule is.

Update: I just got an email saying my Target rebate is ready, so I'll stop worrying.

Plenty of room left on my Starbucks gift card, so I got an Artisan bacon, egg & gouda sandwich this morning. Only 350 calories and delicious!

I went up to Evanston today and took my son out to lunch at Gulliver's, a local pizza place. I had a Groupon, so I only spent $8 out of pocket. That included the tip. This was his birthday lunch, though his birthday was in November. His birthday is close to Thanksgiving so it often gets wrapped up in the holiday. But I wanted to make sure he had his birthday meal like everyone else.

Afterwards we played some games. His wife and sons are visiting her mother, and he's batching it, so I think he appreciated the visit. As I was leaving, he was making plans to go running with his cousin.

Now I'm watching Les Miz on PBS. I so love the music of that show. I passed on buying a ticket to a live production (they were so expensive) but I'm glad I'm getting this little showing!

It's been a good day.

all over the floor!

When I came home from grocery shopping yesterday, I was struggling with my bags as I unlocked the main door. I dropped one, and of course it was the one with the wine -- a BIG bottle of wine that was supposed to last for two weeks.

For some reason I dragged the bag inside instead of leaving it there and it seeped all over the hall rug -- I still wasn't in my apartment yet. Finally I had sense enough to just leave my other groceries and get that bag outside again, but I had a lot of cleaning up to do. Thank goodness it is one of those dark nubbly synthetic rugs that is very forgiving. I neutralized it with vinegar and used up almost a whole roll of paper towels -- couldn't find an old towel that I didn't mind staining. It was so upsetting, the mess and the loss of the wine that I was looking forward to. As soon as I was done I made myself nachos for comfort, which meant I had to give up dinner!

Anyway, my fifteen items were:

Big bottle of wine in broken bottle all over the floor (on sale)
Whole wheat bread (on sale)
Chips Ahoy (on sale)
Red grapes (on sale)
Bananas
2 Rondele cheese spreads (BOGO)
Organic sweet potato soup (on sale)
Organic butternut squash soup (on sale)
2 cans Red Gold diced tomatoes (on sale)
Cat food ($1 off coupon)
Coffee creamer (house brand)
Bay's English muffins (on sale)
Bag of soup vegetables (potatoes, celery, carrots, onion)

The day began with a free breakfast -- had to work for it however. It was a college-community event and I worked at the registration table. After my duties were done I helped myself to the buffet and got scrambled eggs, ham, home fries, bread pudding and coffee. Yum!

Then I got gas -- $38.78 (3.65 a gallon). Then went to Goodwill and spent $59.32. Best buys there were a heated mattress pad for $14.99 (brand new) and a new pair of dress slacks ($6.99) and a pair of capris in excellent condition ($3.99). I also found a lot of things for my gift stash -- a snow globe for my friend, a folk angel for another friend, 2 T-shirts for my son, a silver candleholder and picture album for another friend, a new super-absorbent hair towel for my DIL. And I found a puzzle and some blocks to keep here at Grandma's house. I was also delighted to find a potato masher, which is something I've been meaning to get.

I am thrilled about the heated mattress pad. I've been interested in buying either that or an electric blanket for some time, but the prices have been scaring me off. I am so sensitive to cold; this will be a real treat. And it was a cold day yesterday!

In between my shopping I've been watching episodes of "The Tudors" streamed from Netflix. Very R-rated but well-done. The costumes are amazing!

And it was delicious. I got a veggie Artisan sandwich from Starbuck's with my gift card. I had never been to the "full-size" Starbuck's in this area (there is one within a grocery store that I have used). I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is quite close by and that there is also a Jimmy John's right there that I didn't know about!

While I was waiting for my sandwich, I looked over the offerings in the display cabinet. I saw that they have quite a few healthy options for lunch -- combo packs of cheese and fruit, and hummus with veggies. This is something to bear in mind when I am traveling, and it is so hard to find something to eat on the road that is not bad for you.

I have to say I did enjoy the ambiance of the place, and I can see how it would be quite seductive as a morning habit. An expensive one, so I will resist!

I have enough on my card for one more sandwich, so I will be there again.

I used the Offermatic deal today and bought two bottles of fish oil and two bottles of CoQ10 for $31.52. Normally even one bottle of CoQ10 would be close to that cost, so it was a good deal.

When I got on Offermatic I realized that I had to use the McDonald's deal or it would expire. I decided I would get a shamrock shake, because I love them, and seven double cheeseburgers. That made $10 exactly. I ate one cheeseburger and froze the rest for lunches. I will get $5 back, so those will be pretty cheap lunches.

After my dinner I had to do 40 minutes of aerobic dancing to work off the calories. Oh well, it was worth it. I looked forward to that burger and shake all afternoon.

Last night I snagged two pieces of banana bread that were left in the break room to have for this morning's breakfast. (I didn't feel guilty about taking the last bit, since I was the last to leave.)

After eating them this morning, I was still hungry, so I ate two pieces of beef jerky that I bought yesterday from a student fundraiser. ($2) So it was not quite free.

I've been thinking about the March no-spend challenge, but at the same time I'm thinking about things to buy, so I probably won't join in. Yesterday I got an Offercite offer to get $50 worth of vitamins for $20. I will probably do that, since I do take a lot of supplements. I'm also looking at a file cabinet from Target.com. It's $49, the right color and size. But the shipping is $29. The site says free shipping on orders over $50, so maybe if I buy a little something else I'll get the free shipping. I'll check it out.

I also need to order pictures from my son's wedding, and that will run in the 100's just for a modest sampling.

This morning's breakfast was not quite free. It was $1.75. I had a coupon and a gift card for Dunkin Donuts. I knew there wasn't much left on the gift card, but I thought between the two of them it would buy a breakfast sandwich. Not. Oh well. I still have my Starbucks card to finish out the week. The sandwich was good -- it was a ham & egg croissant -- 510 calories! My free breakfasts are playing havoc with my diet but I am getting by with extra exercise and very light suppers.

I compiled my February spending, and I managed to stay below $2000 for the first time in long time. I would like to do that every month.

Here is the breakdown:

$1110 - rent

$150 - utilities (low -- my electric bill was paid on 1/30 and on 3/1 so there was no February payment).

$107 - business (booth rental & money owed to sister)

$118 - groceries

$89 - gifts/charity

$86 - insurance

$69 - furnishings/equipment (nothing big, lots of little stuff)

$39 - miscellaneous

$39 - eating out

$21 - entertainment

$21 - clothing

$21 - medical/health

$18 - gas (wonder if I forgot to record a fillup?)

$18 - pet supplies

$12 - personal

$5 - fees/services

$2 - household supplies


Lunch challenge: I did not eat out once for lunch. My only eating out was a birthday dinner with my son.

Perplexing question: where did my investment in King Pharmaceuticals go? I looked at my Sharebuilder account this morning and it shows nothing for King. I checked the news and saw that the acquisition by Pfizer was complete. I thought I would have some Pfizer stock now -- maybe not? It was five whole shares, so I'm not upset, just curious.

I did get a notice about the tender offer, but by the time I opened the mail, it was too late to do anything. Hopefully, I will hear something about it.

This morning I stopped at the Starbucks kiosk within Dominick's and used my gift card for a blueberry scone. Yummy.

Tomorrow I will go a little further to the full-size Starbuck's and try their new breakfast sandwich.