Today I went out to lunch with my boss. It's not something I have any choice about -- she schedules monthly lunches on my Outlook calendar -- as she does with everyone else she supervises. Yet she doesn't pay. Is that unethical? We're not allowed to say no, only that we need to reschedule.

I didn't have a bad time, but I really couldn't afford lunch out. Ah well.

Our VP sent an email message out today telling us that there will be a 2% merit raise this year -- meaning some will get 1% and some will get 3%. I don't think that's enough to cover the rise in gas prices. Certainly not enough to get excited about, but I will take what I can get!

Okay, I messed up. I spent too much last month vacationing with my kids -- and bought a digital camera to boot. I paid it all off this month, but now I have almost nothing to live on until I get paid again at the end of the month. So dumb.

So this is my challenge right now -- get by till the end of the month without whipping that old credit card out again. To be honest I don't know if I can do it, but I'm going to try. I'm tired of that credit card merry-go-round and I want to get off!

Tomorrow I have to go out of town for an all-day training session. The transportation is paid for by my company, and I expect a free lunch also. So it should be a pretty frugal day. I'll keep you posted. One day at a time!