Did not get much done this weekend. I will try and catch up this week. But I have a lot going on this week, including my dog's surgery on Wednesday.

Not much really. School restarts in a few weeks, so I will just take it easy. Weekends are especially harder though due to my recent "separation" due to lack of getting act together in BF's part (what he likes to call "break up" because I refuse to understand) /whatever.

However I have 2 dvds from the library and Olympics to watch.

I will also be doing a lot of organization and menu planning. Also a lot of financial planning and budgeting. Oh, and some exercising.

Find doggie's insurance paperwork to file[ ]
Share Ticker Symbol with the SA folks[ ]
Finish a design project for work[ x ]
Look to see if my scholarship posted for grad school[ x ]
Go over the classes I want to take next semester[ ]
Go for a long walk with dog[ x ]

Here is what I have, I am open to any comments.

Growth and Income(4 stars in morning star): 20%

Income(Bonds): 10%

MidCap Blend: 30% (5 stars in morning star)

Large Cap Value:20% (4 stars in morning star)

Aggresive Growth (Large cap. International) 20% (5 stars in morning star)

to remove some grown in his eyelids because it's pushing into his cornea. It will probably happen sometime next week. He has to go under anesthesia so had some blood work done today. Cost me a total of 264, but it was including his yearly shots. They are supposed to call me with the estimate for the surgery some time later.

Once he's had the surgery, he's going to have to wear a cone for 10-12 days.

Here's hoping the insurance will cover parts of it.

I have 20K+ in my old 401K. We can move it to our own IRA or move it to the new 401K. I thought you were not allowed to have both the traditional IRA and 401K at the same time? I thought if you had 401K, you had to have a ROTH IRA? Egad! Any resources I can read up on????

I am having one of those days. Ugh!
BTW brought breakfast and lunch again. But the weekend was pretty spendy with dentist payment and everything. And I ate out yesterday. Just because I felt like it.
I also had to buy a printer cartridge. 33 dollars!! And then I bought some school supplies. Not necessary items. Want items. Spent about $20 on that. I don't know -- I guess I went out of control.

Weekends are always hard these days. My friends are spread out all through out the world and it's hard to catch up. BF and I are having problems and I don't know if it will get better with time. Everybody seems to be having a nice summer, enjoying going out, camping etc. It's a lonely feeling to see everybody else enjoying themselves and me? When will I have all of that? Friends have their own lives to think about and live. It used to be different when we were younger. Now it's different. Husbands and kids always come first. Even your very good friends have no time for you because they have their own issues to deal with. But sometimes it makes me think if it was them having a bad time, I would care more. I would call over the weekend to see how that person is doing. Because weekends are specially harder. Maybe it's just me. But I don't really enjoy having rushed conversations over the phone whenever it's convenient to them -- while they are driving or waiting for something. It would mean so much more if they actually made time for me. Oh well. I guess live and learn.

I brought in my own breakfast and lunch every day this week! Way to go! I am very proud of myself.

Brought in my breakfast and lunch again. Last night I cooked a batch of pasta sauce and froze them. Now I have pasta sauce ready for about 10 meals! Awesome. I am only just now doing the cooking and freezing thing. Also it only recently occurred to me that you can defrost the frozen food using microwave to have ready meal in minutes. I know so silly, but I never used microwave oven in that way before. Duh! It not only saves food from going to waste, but saves me money too! I used to be the queen of buying a bottle of pasta sauce, using it for 1 or 2 meals and having the most of it go to waste. That was because I would pour a little out and cook it each time I wanted to have pasta. Cooking the whole jar at once not only saves the wastage, but it also saves me gas and time. I know people have done it for ages, but it's a new found concept to me and I am really pleased as a plum.

Today's Breakfast:
Granola, handful of dried fruits, raisins on fat free yogurt

Today's Lunch:
Amy's Mac n Cheese
Green Peas

Today's Snack:
Frozen fruits

Today's Dinner:
You guessed it! Spaghetti with delicious sauce a la moi

Not feeling too well today. You know that feeling when you wake up with your whole body hurting and legs turning to jelly? I fell asleep on the couch reading a book. I finally woke up and went to bed around 4 I think because it was too hot in the sofa and I was sweating. However when I fell asleep on my bed, I had this whole dream/nightmare thing about someone heavy pushing me down. It was not just in my dream, I could actually feel it physically in my half sleep. But it wasn't also real because there was no one pushing me down, but I could feel the heaviness and the feeling of not being able to move or make any sound out of my throat when I wanted to so desperately. Have you ever had that? What is it called? I have had that happen to me a few times before. I think it has something to do with the position your body is in when you fall asleep. Anyway it wasn't pleasant at all and scary in my sleeping state because you actually think someone is trying to push you down and strangle you or whatever.

I brought in both my breakfast and lunch today, but I really don't feel like eating because of how I feel. I am just drinking some hot tea right now.

I have brought in my breakfast/lunch yesterday and today. I plan to do so for the rest of the week. This is a challenge for myself. If anybody wishes to join this challenge for the rest of the week, please feel free to leave a comment and update. I will post result at the end of Friday to show whether or not I (and others if any) succeeded.

I don't drive.

I don't own a house. (Not yet, anyway)

So just exactly where can I cut back?

I feel that the areas that I can cut back don't save me a whole lot of money.

I leave the AC on economy on 78 Degrees setting for my pet when I am not home.

If I am home, and it's not too hot, I don't turn on the AC.

I have been more consistent on bringing my own lunch.

I have been really working on not eating out.

I do not buy books online as I used to apart from the course books I need.

I guess I can be more consistent about turning off lights.

But I feel like I am cutting back here and there but they don't really make a significant difference?

I want to keep on being motivated about saving money. Are there any other ideas to keep me motivated in seeing the big picture?

As it happens, I had to buy a new vacuum cleaner this weekend. It was a lot of money I was not expecting to spend. But you can only live for so long amidst the dust, grime and pet hair. Hopefully I can enjoy my cleaner place more now. I was very very tempted to get one of those dyson vacuum cleaners. But I resisted. It seems like everybody wants to buy dyson these days. Everybody who came to the vacuum cleaner aisle were looking for one. The one I bought for myself was less than half the cost of a dyson, but still quite expensive. But I am sure I will get a lot of use out of it, and that it will last for a long time. Fingers crossed!

I was not expecting to go grocery shop further this month apart from dairy, fruits and bread. But I did end up spending $50 plus at the grocery shop yesterday. However that should last me a long time and I also have all of my lunch/breakfast food planned to bring with me. So, I think that $50 spent at the grocery store will end up saving me $30 plus in lunches during the week and cover my dinners/snacks for the rest of the month.

Museum visit was very nice. I also found out that you don't have to pay the "suggested" fee. This little info will come in handy, and now I plan to visit all the public museums and pay very little for it. After all I am already paying for them with my tax $$. It was nice to go out and see a friend and take in all the art and music the museum had to offer. Beats staying in and wallowing in my personal stuff anytime!! Today I plan to do "summer cleaning" of dwelling. It's too hot to be outside anyway and I need to get my affairs in order. I plan to declutter and donate things that I don't use anymore to charity. Stay cool!

Well yesterday I saved myself from spending. I didn't buy clothes that I almost bought. I didn't do take away when I was hungry and almost too lazy to cook dinner. Instead I went home and cooked chicken that I had in the fridge. It didn't come out that well, which is a different story altogether, but ate it anyway. Then I cleaned, filed my paperworks away and mopped the kitchen floor, and went to bed at 12. I wanted to be in bed before that, but I just had too much to do. Well at least it's better than 2 am. I brought my breakfast of orange, blueberries, yogurt and granola to work. I also brought in tuna with crackers for lunch. Specifically it's Bumble Bee Sensations Spicy Thai Chili seasoned Tuna Medley with Crackers. It comes in a ready to go pack with a little spoon too. It cost me about $1.75 for the pack. It's more of a snack, but if that's not enough, I have some more granola that I brought in in a zip lock bag. I will just have to buy a cup of yogurt for it, at the most, if at all. However, I forgot to bring my student Id. Crap! I am sure that would have given me some discount at the museum. Ugh. Maybe I will print out the classes I am registered for next semester online and they will treat it as my Id. Will see. Man, I even told myself in my half sleep to remember to bring my ID. Oh well. Well one more thing to add to my list:

Pack my bag with essential items the night before

Today:
pick up jeans from alteration [x]
cook chicken (for dinner and to bring to lunch)[x] update: I had it for dinner but brought something else for lunch. I will have the leftover for meals over the weekend
spot clean dwelling [x]
give myself a facial [Nope]
hand wash a few light clothes [x]
go to sleep early! [Kind of]

Tomorrow:
return amazon book that came damaged (this is a course/reference book. I don't buy books anymore, I borrow.. please..)
apply for the interesting position I saw
go to museum with a friend