An Early End to Budget Week #4

This morning, I hadn't spent a penny of my $30 for the week, and had a little left over from last week. Then I went to Starbucks, and watched $4 float away. Ok, it's only $4, right?

After work I went grocery shopping. $31 and some change later, I am officially over budget.

The final result? $30/week is hard and NOT fun. If you have any random stuff come up, you'll go over. If I had been including gas, car stuff, prescriptions, etc., then I would never make it.

However, this was a good experience and I look forward to working toward my next goal: $5000 saved by the end of 2012. Hopefully that goal will go better than this one!

Peppermint mocha-ed out,

~K

End of Budget Week #2

So week #2 of my $30/week budget is now over. Whew! So how did I do this time around? I went over. Again.

Saturday really got to me again. The Starbucks I could handle, as it only got me up to $33.40 (a dollar less than week #1 total. However, getting ready to go out dancing threw me for a loop. Oh, Kandee Johnson, why did you have to make such a fabulous pin-up makeup tutorial?



Where did the $10 go that brought me up to $43.40? L'Oreal Infallible Lip Color in Beyonce. Well, perhaps I should see it as an investment. I love having red lips, and this stuff does NOT come off. I seriously had to scrub my lips raw with my toothbrush before it would give way.

Back to the budget. I was over by $13.40, and that rolled over into this week. After grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, I am up to $13.58. WHAT?? Yes, that's right. I only spent $0.18 on groceries today. Fabulous couponing? Tons of freebies? Nope. My sister had given me a $20 gift card for part of my birthday present. I didn't realize how much was on it, so it was a pretty pleasant surprise when I only had to dig out a quarter to hand over before receiving my change. So thanks go to my sister for helping me get through this week. I now have yummy food in my fridge, including a block of Italian truffle cheese. Heck yeah, Trader Joe's!

Living it up,

~K

Things that make the day brighter

Some days I know as soon as my alarm goes off that it will be a bad or even blah day. Some days seem average, but hold sweet surprises and fun times just around the corner.

It's amazing how even just little things can pull me out of a funk. Today I was bored. So after lunch, I decided to go to Bellevue Square to run some errands and get out of the apartment. I had just gotten out of Victoria's Secret with my free panty (love those coupons!) and was oblivious to my surroundings as I was trying to text with a dying phone. Out of my peripheral vision I noticed that some guy was walking directly into my path, so I scooted to the side, eyes still glued to my phone. He then bumped into me, saying "EXCUSE ME!" This, of course, is incredibly rude, so I looked up, stunned. Ta day! It was my friend Kirk, who had managed to peel his eyes away from his phone to see me coming his way. So he escorted me on an errand in the mall, then we got white chocolate blueberry mochas at Tully's. I have to say, encounters like this are such a nice twist in what would have been an otherwise mundane day.

Something else that brightened my day today? That free panty, definitely. lol

Other things that have brightened days past:

• Baristas at Cafe Ladro and Starbucks who have figured out my "usual"
• Random texts and cards from my best friend telling me how much she appreciates our friendship
• Buying my plane ticket, Shuttle Express ride, and placing the Sheraton reservation so that I can be the maid-of-honor in my best friend's wedding in Hawaii
• Christina confirming that she will be in Washington for Christmas
• Making Halloween plans with Stacy

It's amazing how many things, big or small, can change your entire attitude for the day.