Day 376 and a goal update

Goal #1: Continue our journey towards financial peace.

As of yesterday, our baby EF is up to $275 with drop-in money from this last week and money from Tom's paycheck yesterday. I paid off a doctor's bill from October this week (and one from August the week before) so we should be all caught up on that. The Dr's office mis-coded my annual physical from November and they're trying to bill me for it now. I have asked them to re-file it with the correct code so I don't have to pay for it. So we'll see how that goes. Our insurance pays 100% for the annual physical so I should not have to pay anything. I made out a list of meal ideas for the next couple of weeks and shopped for them last night when we got groceries. I am still working on the budget for February.

Goal #2: Get more organized in my home and business.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have my desk looking really nice and it still looks that way. I have marked and filed all of my receipts and removed the bills from the folder as I paid them and filed them. I also recorded the ones that I can deduct in my child care record book. Still working on getting the evening routine down.

Goal #3: Have a more positive attitude.

Still working on this one! I'm having a hard time remembering to write in the Joy Journal, but I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep trying.

Hope everyone's having a nice (and warm) weekend!

Day 375 and Why is it?

Tom & I went grocery shopping and Wal-Mart shopping tonight. I want to know why with gas prices (and even diesel prices) at half what they were a few months ago, WHY are groceries still going up???????? It seems every time I go, things are a few more cents expensive. For example, green beans at Aldi's were 29 cents a can when I first started shopping there a couple of years ago when they opened in Enid. Now they are up to 49 cents a can. That's just one example of many and well, I find it a bit frustrating. Anyway...moving on.

It was cold and miserable shopping tonight! Holy cow! Right before my last child left, it started raining ice and we almost didn't go. But then it quit, so we decided to just go and get it over with. We got just a few miles out of town and it was dry as a bone. However, the wind was bitter and cold. I'm glad the shopping's done and out of the way. Our cupboards were quite bare! LOL!

Day 374 and new cable (or digital TV or whatever)

So today we switched from Dish network to Pioneer's DTV since they finally got DVR. It's going to be a challenge getting used to everything, but I guess I'll figure it out. Eventually. HA! Anyway, we get more channels than we had with DISH, it costs a bit more but we get a discount on our internet so it actually works out cheaper in the long run.

Interesting tidbit. I had called Dish to try and get them to give me a deal to move one of the Dish TV's upstairs. They couldn't even tell me how much it was going to cost. Their answer was: between $49 and $99. Oh, and they'd give me $20 off. Yeah right. $29 I might be able to handle, $79 I didn't want to pay. So, bye-bye Dish!

Day 373 and freecycle

Do you freecycle? Freecycle is a great way to get rid of unwanted clutter and a way to keep an eye out for things you might want or need yourself. Everything is free, you're not allowed to sell anything. Since I have been de-cluttering, I've been listing stuff on there pretty frequently. If you've never checked it out, you can go to www.freecycle.org for more information. I'm sure you've heard the saying that "one man's trash is another man's treasure". something that you don't want or need anymore might be just what someone else is looking for. I was trying to think if I had gotten anything off freecycle and I can't recall right offhand if I have. I know there's been things that I've expressed an interest in, but you can't waste any time, stuff gets snapped up pretty quick. But I have given tons of stuff away and it's a great feeling.

Day 372 and the top of my desk

Yesterday, I saw the top of my desk for the first time in months! It looks so nice and neat and organized and I'm going to work really hard to keep it that way. I mentioned before that I was going to set up a control journal (an idea from Flylady). I had started one previously, but never finished it. Well, it's coming together. I've got a pocket with a file for receipts to mark, record, and file away and another file for bills that need to be paid. Since they are right there in the binder, I am hoping that this will help me stay on top of them and not let them pile up too high. Before I had them in a folder box on top of the desk and I would just keep cramming stuff in there (especially receipts). I did a good job of keeping up with them last year, but I still have room for improvement. I've also been going through some of my files and throwing out stuff that I don't need.

Well, I've got some reading to do so I guess I better close this up for tonight.

Day 371 and classes starting back up

My new classes officially start back up tomorrow (because of today being MLK day). However, the assignments were still due on Sunday, February 1st so I decided to just pretend that they started today and get started with my reading. So I'm officially back in school. My first two classes are called: Women & Consumer Culture and the other is called Print Culture-Digital Culture. They both look pretty interesting.

Today I got quite a bit more accomplished in my office. I also got my receipts all caught up and recorded (being so stressed out over that one science class, I had got kind of behind on receipts). I've got another box full of stuff to list on freecycle and will probably have more before it's done.

Day 370 and sharing too much

Tasha got angry with me today because someone told her that I had written on the blog that she didn't get her driver's permit the first time. So that has made me realize that even though I started this blog, my family may not like me sharing the stuff I do about them. I share it because I care and this is my way of journaling about stuff going on in my life. But now I realize that I need to be careful about what I share. I started the blog, not my kids or even Tom.

Have a great week everyone.