Just barely though. :P

I have been so busy this past week and a half with school and work and family... I've been popping in and out, reading a post here and there, or reading a thread.

Last week I did try a new recipe, but it wasn't from any of the cookbooks. It didn't turn out too well. In fact, I hated it. Fiance insisted it didn't taste that bad but I think he was lying to me to spare my feelings. Lol. Tonight I will not be trying a new recipe, but rather a new thing.

Chicken thighs with bone and skin. I have NEVER cooked chicken thighs or breasts with the bones and skins. I always buy them boneless and skinless. But, it is more economical to buy them with the bone and skin still on. We'll see how it turns out. I've seen cooks add herbs and spices underneath the skin so I think I will try that.

School is going well. Info Systems is really boring but really easy. I really like my accounting class. The only class I don't like is probability theory. It is challenging, which I like, but I don't like probability. Which is a bummer because several people have told me to consider becoming an actuary.

Fiance and I are doing well with not spending a lot of money. We went to sushi over the weekend and got all you can eat for $30 for the two of us for dinner. We even got a coupon for the next time we go. But we both agree we won't be eating out again this month.

I will be sticking to Walmart to do my grocery shopping. Last week I went to a different grocery store that my friend said is really good and not expensive and ended up spending a little over $50! I got the same items I usually get at Walmart. So I'll be doing my shopping at Walmart for groceries, with the possible exception of fruit. Sometimes the Walmart here doesn't have the best fruit so I'll go to another grocery store (same shopping center) for that if I need to.

So far my half.com total for this month is $21. Not bad.

I think that is all so far... it seems so little to update on for the past week.

Yay for relatives!

My grandma and aunt have given fiance and I a gift certificate to Walmart. So the two of us will be going to Walmart later tonight to do some shopping.

July was incredibly busy. It really flew by and I just realized I only have a few more weeks until school begins. I can't believe my summer is 2/3 over!

I also paid a few fines this month. I returned my library books a couple days late ($1) and then the excessive use fee on my savings for excessive transfers ($10) and I just had an overdraft fee ($10) because a check was cashed that I was not expecting to cash so early. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

I'm hoping that August will be a little less busy. I haven't had much time to post or even read a lot of blogs here. I'm going through withdrawals! :P

I have been so busy lately I haven't had time to blog.

We are moving officially into our apartment tomorrow! I'm so excited! We have already moved many things into the apartment but still have a lot left! I say this a lot, but I am constantly surprised by how much stuff I have. I've given a lot to Goodwill. I'll probably be dropping off more stuff later.

For the first time ever, I had to pay a fee at my bank. I completely forgot that there is a limit to how many withdraws you can have a month from your savings account. I kind of went over. By a lot. I'm not going to ask the bank to reverse the fee as it was my fault I went over my limit.

Which brings me to the main point of this post... would it be a good idea to keep a higher amount in checking to prevent another excess use fee? I think keeping a $1,000 in checking would be a good idea. At the beginning of each month I would make sure there is $1,000 in the checking. Then that money will be used for rent and bills and groceries throughout the month. My checking does earn interest, just not as much as my savings. Would this be a good idea?

I better get back to the laundry... I still have several loads to do before we move.

(Removed for now)

Well. To make this post financial related, my fiance and I combined finances yesterday. We now have $9,100 split between a savings account and a CD.

We also need to decide when we will be getting married. And then start saving for the wedding. We both want a very casual wedding. After working numerous weddings, I am very sure I do not want a formal (or even semi-formal) reception. Have the ceremony at the cathedral and the reception at a relative's house is what I'm thinking.

So much talk of weddings right now!

Today was such a busy day.

The maids came over early, which worked to my advantage as it gave me a jump start on my errands. After they left, I went to the post office, mailed a package, and then headed over to the student services building. I needed to get an official letter from the registrar that I am enrolled as a full-time student for the fall semester (my insurance will not accept a print out from the online registration). After that I had to go to the car insurance office to drop off some paperwork.

And then I went to the apartment, dropped off a bunch of stuff (purses, some clothes, the bikes) and did some cleaning. I lined all the shelves with shelf liner, washed most of our new appliances, and mopped the floor.

And then I realized I forgot to get a jalapeno pepper for one of the recipes I'm making this week. So I went to the store to buy one.

Yes, one jalapeno pepper.

I'm not quite sure how much I was expecting it to cost, but I was not expecting it to cost $0.02 (how much it did cost). I'm lucky I had a nickel in my wallet. I normally don't carry change (unless I find it on the ground) and I wouldn't have been able to use my debit/credit card for that purchase.

The guy ringing me up thought it was hilarious I was buying one jalapeno pepper. He asked me why I was buying one and seemed surprised to hear me say that was all I needed. He probably doesn't see a lot of people buying jalapenos one at a time.

I don't like buying things in bulk. It is just my fiance, brother, and myself (and soon will be just my fiance and I) and we don't need to buy food in bulk. Most of it will go bad before we eat all of it and our freezer isn't big enough to freeze everything.

Fiance and I have decided to go ahead and completely combine finances. He has a CD that will mature this Sunday so Monday we will add him to my savings. We might rollover the CD (with my name on it this time) or we might add that to our savings. We'll probably roll it over for another 3 months.

Yippee! After depositing my paycheck I now have $2,113 in my IRA!

Along with this good news comes bad news. I think I lost the debit card to my dad's checking. I can't find it anywhere. There is a chance it was thrown out last evening. Hoping to find our trash bag, I went to the dumpster this morning but it had already been picked up by WM.

I'll search for it tomorrow morning before class and if I don't find it I'll call the bank when they open.

One place I haven't looked is my boyfriend's car. I might have dropped it in his car.

At work today I seemed to injure and bruise myself non-stop. It was just one of those days. Constantly bumping into things, running things over my foot... you get the drift.

And then I get home, park my car, get out and walk in front of my car and.. ram my knee into my license plate! Already a bruise is forming.

Sigh.

I got my paycheck today! The one bright side. It was for $404.88. So Monday I will go to the bank and deposit it. $202.44 will go into savings, $121.46 will go into my iRA, and $80.97 will be used for spending money. Which I've kind of already spent. Not all of it, only about $30. Agh.

You know, it is a lot easier to justify spending little amounts of money when you are already spending large amounts of money. Boyfriend and I both had a lot of expenses this month- car registration/insurance, parking permits, medical bills... And we started to let our fun money go slightly over because hey, we just wrote a $200 check to boyfriend's doctor, what's the big deal?

Luckily our "out of control spending" lasted only a couple days and cost us only $30. Well, technically $32 and change when you consider sales tax.

Ok, I need to get to sleep. I am way past my bed time.

Yay!

Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to look at an apartment. There were only three one bedrooms left, and only one on the third floor. So we took it.

I gave them $50 for the application fee, $99 for part of the deposit. We turned in the applications today and we'll find out Monday if we got it! I'm so excited and a little nervous. If need be my dad could sign for us. Hopefully he won't have to.

Arrgh. The wait is horrible. I keep thinking I might have left something out.

When we the apartment we will pay another $150 for rest of the deposit when we move in. Move in date is July 1st.

Yesterday I got a letter I put in the mail back. It was a bill. I put a 42 cent postage on it and it was returned because I needed another 2 cents in postage. Was postage raised? Weird thing is none of the other bills were returned.

Today was payday. My paycheck was for $371.65.

I put $185.83 into savings, $111.49 into my IRA, and I kept $74.33 for spending. $30 of the spending money is going to my Kindle, but the rest I can do whatever I want with.

This brings my new totals to:

Savings: $3,792.89
IRA: $1,991.52

Yay!

When I need to deposit money I usually go into the bank. Today the line was really long so I decided to use the ATM to deposit money.

I confused myself greatly! I didn't realize I need to put the cash in an envelope (I swear the ATM didn't say!) so I tried inserting the bills. But the ATM wouldn't take the bills. And then I forgot to write on the envelope how much cash was in it (after I figured out there were envelopes) and so it spit the envelope out. I went back to my car to fetch a pen and wrote the wrong amount on the envelope. Sigh. Oh well, the correct amount went into my checking anyway. I think I'm going to stick with going inside from now.

Boyfriend and I went mountain biking today. We cut it short as I'm really sore from work the other night.

In the middle of the night my cat decided to knock over a shelving unit (it's on wheels and has fabric drawers). She likes to sleep in the drawers because that's where we keep our PJs. It caused a very loud sound. Not a fun way to be woken up at 1 in the morning.

Boyfriend announced to his family the other day that we will be moving in together later this summer. It went surprisingly well he said. They didn't seem upset but at the same time not really happy either. I'll take that as a win- they've never been really fond of me and the past few months things have just gotten worse between his family and I. I think this is a good sign though.

I got my paycheck today and it was $352.43. I'm really surprised at how high it is. Right after I got my paycheck I went to the bank.

I put $176.23 in savings, $105.72 in IRA, and $70.48 I kept as spending money.

This brings my new totals to:
Savings: $3,607.06
IRA: $1,880.03

Yay! I am less than $900 away from completing my savings goal! I'm very happy about this.

Currently what I am doing with my paycheck is putting 50% in savings, 30% into IRA, and 20% as spending money. Once I complete my savings goal I plan on putting 40% into savings, 40% into IRA, and 20% as spending money. I'll keep doing this until I move out and real bills start coming in.

I'm going to save my spending money for a larger purchase. I'm not sure what yet (Coach bag? Nice piece of jewelry?), but I want to buy a special item for when I complete my goal(s).

1. Call the bank and order more checks
2. Transfer $571 into my brother's savings (that is his SS benefit payment; the check was made out to my dad)

And I was even at the bank today... in fact I just got home from it. I made myself go to do the above but on the way I forgot and all I did was deposit the check I got from mysurvey.com. Argh.

I am going to call them right now. I hope nothing distracts me while I walk the 20 feet to the phone (and knowing me, something very well might).

What do you do next?

I have decided, with regards to the money I will be getting for referring my friend, I will spend no more than $60 and save the rest.

But my question is, when you guys meet your savings goal, what is your next step? Do you take a small break from saving and buy yourself something (nothing outrageous, just a small treat)? Do set a new savings goal and work on that or do you set a different goal (maybe a CD, stock, etc)?

I'm thinking that once I meet my savings goal I will concentrate on my IRA until I meet that goal. And once both are complete, I'm not sure what to do. I could just continue saving, but I would like to "diversify". I was considering getting into the stock market. I would save another $1,500-2,500 and then buy some stocks (not sure which ones, still researching). Does this make sense?

For the most part I want my money to be safe. But I am willing to take a risk with a small amount (under $3,000), which is why I was considering the stock market.

Tomorrow I need to do the following:
1. Make an appointment with my advisor. I need to talk with him about pursuing graduate school for accounting or finance. And make sure I am on the right track for my Math major.

2. Talk to the Accounting advisor. I need to know which classes I might have to take and what (if anything) I need to do to declare a minor in accounting (I might have to apply to the College of Business first). I also need to make sure that if I do minor in accounting, and go on to graduate school for it, that it is enough to become a CPA (my state requires 150 hours to become certified).

I do hope neither one of them tells me to change my major. I love math and do not want to change my major to something else. Of course, if it is the only way to get things done, I might have to. But I am still unsure if I want to go into finance/accounting.

What I need to do today:
1. Fill out the form for adjusting my tax return.
2. Help my boyfriend with his taxes.

I wish I could do the taxes now, but will have to wait until later tonight (currently being at school and all).

The DOW went up more today. I kind of wish it had stayed low. I want to get into the stock market this year, but am uncomfortable doing so until I have more saved. But who knows how the market will be a few months from now?

I was debating on whether or not I should get my paycheck today but I decided to go ahead. My boyfriend came with me and while we were there we also had lunch- he has never been to my work before and we were both hungry.

My paycheck was for about $178.00 so I put $89 into my savings, $53 into IRA, and $35 I kept for spending money.

There is not much else to report on. Things are chugging along just as they have always been.

Today was a pretty good day. I had work at 1 pm and got off a little after 6. It was a golf tournament scoring party, which should have been cake, but there was some issue with the food. There was also a wedding at the same time and only two cooks.

I wanted to go out after work to get a couple more work shirts but my feet were hurting and I decided I'll get work clothes tomorrow when we go shopping. I was hungry and cold and my feet needed a break.

I really need to clean the back of my car. My car usually doesn't get messy (I don't allow anyone to eat in my car and I only keep what I need in my car) but I have been leaving junk mail and paperwork and for some reason, hangers in there. I know I had a reason for taking the hangers out of my closet, but I can't remember why.

Great news is that after almost 5 weeks, our kitchen is *this* close to being done! All that is left is the countertops. We have our sink and dishwasher and cabinets. Then they need to replace the carpet in the dining room, but I frankly don't care too much about the carpet. The dining room is not heavily used and the small chunk of carpet that is missing is not in a vital location. Soon our lives will be completely normal.

I am looking forward to shopping tomorrow. My boyfriend was going to come with us tomorrow but then decided not to. Says he put off getting my b-day gift and needs to get it tomorrow. I remind him that my birthday isn't until next Saturday (and that a gift isn't necessary) but he just shrugs.

Oh, and I earned 13 cents in interest on my savings and 6 cents on my IRA for the month of Feb.

No no no no no no no no no.

NO.

A friend of mine, whom I do love as a friend, recently asked me for $100. This is the same friend who borrowed sums of money ranging from $20 -$100 from other friends and forgot to repay them. So when she asked me for some money, I smiled and said that I couldn't spare $100 right now. Mumbled some excuse about this and that and tightening the belt...

What I felt like saying was, "Are you kidding me? Do I look like an idiot? I wasn't born yesterday in case you didn't know."

Ah.. friends.

My daddy got into town late last instead of this afternoon. He, my boyfriend, and myself ran a couple errands and had lunch. The three of us will be going to a local sandwich joint for dinner and then ice cream. Brother was in school while we had lunch and doesn't feel like joining us tonight. He's being a party pooper but oh well.

Tomorrow is the end of Feb.

I have made a total of 11 cents in interest on my savings and 6 cents on my IRA. I have not sold anything this month on half.com but I was expecting that. I've adjusted the price on all my items a few times so I am just going to sit back and wait. If I find anything else to sell I will list it but I am not optimistic on making money in March on half.com.

How did I miss this?

I just went online to transfer $70 from checking to savings and I realized that the checking I was set up with was interest earning!

There is a $12 fee but that is waived if you have monthly automatic $75 transfer from checking to savings. So I have that set up for the 10th of each month. On the 9th on each month though, I have it set up so there is an automatic transfer from savings to checking for $75. So it evens out.

Once I hit a combined total of $5,000 between all my accounts I no longer need to have the automatic transfer to waive the fee.

I'm excited that I am earning interest on my checking. First time I've ever had a checking that earned interest.

I deposited some money into my savings and IRA today- after I switched banks.

It took longer than I expected to close my accounts and then open new ones. Because I had to open the checking with at least $100, I had to take about $70 from my savings to open the checking. But once my online banking is up and running (should be but I haven't checked it yet), I will transfer that money back to my savings.

One thing I noticed is that every time I make a contribution to my IRA, the bankers have to relearn how to do it. They actually have to ask me what the next step is. It is amusing, but I think a little sad too. Hopefully more people will contribute to IRAs and it will become second nature to the bankers.

I have about $2,600 left until I meet my savings goal for the year. I think I'll be able to make the goal by the end of summer.

Another eyeglass store was having a sale, 2 glasses for $99, but again no luck in finding glasses. I found one pair I liked, it was $110 for frames. I was considering getting especially since I found out I could get another pair for free but I couldn't find any other glasses I liked. Oh well.

For awhile, I thought I had lost a bill.

When I receive a bill, I put in it in a letter organizer on my desk (I don't organizer the bills, I just put them there).

Mondays are my pay the bill days so I went through the bills and noticed that there was one missing. It is due in just over a week.

I looked all over my desk, the night stand, the kitchen, etc.

After I exhausted the most likely areas, I started searching the bathroom drawers, the pantry, even the fridge.

I couldn't find it anywhere so I went back to my starting location and looked in the letter organizer one more time.

And guess where it was?

Smooshed between two bills that aren't due until the end of March.

Boyfriend thought it was hilarious that it was right where I had put.

Ever since I decided to change banks I have been wondering if I made the right decision. After thinking for a few days, I decided that I did make the right decision.

The interest rates at Wellsfargo are slightly lower than at my bank, but the alternative I came up with (keeping my savings at my bank and checking at Wellsfargo) would cost me more money.

The two banks in question are about a 10 minute drive from each other. If I were to keep my savings at my current bank, every payday I would have to drive to two banks to deposit my paycheck (I tried DD and didn't like it). And since my bank does not do telephone/online transfers to other banks, every time I wanted to move money around, I would have to go to two separate banks.

The difference in the interest rates is small. It translates to about 50 or 60 cents a month. I will easily eat up that money by having to drive to two different banks, even if I do that only once a month.

Another bonus that I didn't realize is that Wellsfargo has many more branches than my current bank, and a few of them are within walking distance.

On a different note, my boyfriend is really toying with me. I am saving for a purse and I currently have about half the cost of the purse. My boyfriend just told me that I should go and buy the purse as a treat to myself. And he knows that I don't have all the money.

I am torn because while I really, really want the purse, but I also don't feel right buying it when I don't have all the money. I could take the money out of savings, but I know I shouldn't do that. And my boyfriend even offered to pay for the rest of the purse, but I can't have him do that.

So I will wait to buy the purse until I have all the money. I have waited this long and I can easily wait for however long it will take.

Damn responsibility. But I know I am doing the right thing.

The carpet cleaners that you spray on the stain and dab just isn't cutting it.

Last night my brother accidently dropped an entire bowl of tomato soup on our cream carpet. And the repairmen today tracked in some dirt today after it snowed.

Our normal cleaning chemicals work wonders on our smaller stains but for a job this large I am thinking of buying a small carpet cleaner or renting one for a couple hours.

I'll deal with it after the repairs are done. Which should be soon. We have our walls done (they have to be painted, but at least they are filled in) along with our sink. We still need the dishwasher, some linoleum, the cabinets, and the counter top. I'm thinking a couple more days, but that could be wishful thinking.

My cats were thrilled that the repairmen were coming and going today. Every time they heard the door they would run up to it and peer out, but they would never go outside (they were too scared!).

I'm still waiting for my tax return to be deposited into my checking. I don't remember exactly when I sent off my taxes, but I think it was two weeks ago. So I should get my refund in the next two weeks. I know it is silly, but every day that goes by I worry that I am going to get audited. I even had a dream about it. I know it is really silly, but I guess I am slightly paranoid.

I am going to change banks after I get my refund. My current bank is changing its fees and I don't want to pay them. One of the fees they are changing is for basic checking accounts. Starting in March, all checking accounts will be charged $8.50/month if you do not have at least one direct deposit each month. So I am switching to Wellsfargo.

The downside is that Wellsfargo does not offer as good interest rates as my current bank. But I want to keep my checking and savings at the same bank. I do not have my paycheck set up for DD and I don't want to drive to two banks every payday. My current bank does not do online transfers to other banks and I like to be able to easily transfer money between my checking and savings.

If I do not get my refund by the end of Feb, I'll wait until the end of March to change banks.

My boyfriend and I got into an argument just before he left for work. He has OCD and tends to obsessively worry and take things too literally. I have learned to be patient with him (which is quite a feat for me because normally I am the least patient person), but today I was already a little stressed and got snappy at him. It'll blow over by the time he gets home.

I have most of my IRA money in a MMA right now. I do plan on getting some CDs and putting money in the stock market in a few years when I have a higher balance.

Anyway, last month I earned 23 cents in interest. So far for this month, I have earned 3 cents in interest.

I knew with Feb. being so short I would make less interest, but why so little when Feb. is almost half over?

One the 10th of January I had already made about 7 cents in interest. Big difference between that and 3 cents as of today.

I suppose it doesn't really matter. But it is weird and it is bugging me.

The leak was fixed yesterday. So I will be hanging out today at home waiting for the other repair men to come and fix the drywall and put my appliances back. I like how they assume I will be available all week without actually confirming what day they are coming. Tricky buggers.

I will be going to the bank today. I have a check to deposit and I want to ask them about the fee changes they sent a letter regarding. I want to make sure that none of the accounts I have will be charged any fees.

Half.com paid me today so I will also be transferring $30 from my checking to savings (the payment was for $40.39).

I convinced my boyfriend to open an IRA. He will be opening one next paycheck (in two weeks). I don't know how much he plans on contributing to it each month. I think he will be putting between $20-40/month into it (he makes around $300/month).

I really like the bank I am currently with. They are always very nice and helpful and since we have been with them pretty much since they opened (we joined about 2 months after they opened), we get treated well there.

So I was a little confused about why the transfer I called in on Monday didn't go through. I know the banker I talked to and I know she wouldn't have forgotten to do it.

And then I looked at my accounts online.

I am the guardian on my brother's savings account and it turns out that the banker accidently withdrew the $200 from his savings, not mine, and deposited into my checking. I just transfered the $200 back into my brother's savings.

I suppose they are allowed to make a mistake... :-P

The company that was hired to kill all the mold has finished and now the leak can be repaired. I'll be so happy when this is all behind us. The HOA will be reimbursing us so that is one less thing to worry about.

I am a little worried about work. I called over a week ago about being able to return and have not heard anything. I called two days ago but again, nothing. I will try again today.

ETA: Grrr. I just called my bank to check my savings account balance and I discovered that the bank did not transfer money from my savings to my checking like I asked them to do on Monday. It was a telephone transfer. I really needed that transfer to be done on Monday to cover a check I had sent in the mail. Chances are that check bounced.

Sigh.

The bank shows no record of me asking them to make that transfer so I doubt they will cover a bounced check charge if it does bounce.

I just finished doing my taxes and I will be receiving $312.55 back from the government.

I will put all of this money into my savings, as I will have to take $200 out of my savings to help pay for my car repairs (daddy is so nice to be paying for the rest of it!).

My taxes took maybe 10 minutes to do. I like my taxes being this easy.

The lease on the apartment my grandma and I rented is up on Saturday and I will be getting $200 from the pet deposit I paid back. It should be arriving in about a month. I don't know for sure what I will be doing with this money. I might put half into savings, half into IRA or keep a little to spend and save the rest.

I had my wisdom teeth taken out today. It went much better than I thought- I was completely knocked out and I have been on vicodin all day. I haven't felt a thing.

I've heard a few stories about waitresses receiving large tips ($1,000+) from customers. I have a story similar to that myself:

Sunday I was serving in the restaurant between the two banquets I had to work that day. I had two customers come in together and one of them had a two-for-one coupon. Their bill (after one entree was discounted) came to $8.54. They tipped me $10!!

Obviously quite a bit less than $1,000, but I thought the customers were being more than generous by tipping me that much.

School started on Monday and so far it is going just fine. It's amusing to see the freshmen walking around with their maps and walk up and down the same block 5 times before working up the courage to ask for help. I can't believe one year ago I was one of those freshman.

I have to take this moment to make fun of my boyfriend: he was supposed to sign up for Spanish 112 (first year Spanish II) but instead accidently signed up for Spanish 212 (second year Spanish II). Even though he has been in class the past two days, I was the one to notice that he signed up for the wrong class. Luckily we were able to get him into the right class today, so it worked out alright.

Onto financial news: Starting September 1st, I'm going to switch to the envelope system. I haven't been putting as much into my IRA as I would like, and I think I can do that better with the envelope system.

So my plan is this (I feel better writing it down): I get paid on the 5th and 20th of every month and I currently have $100 of each paycheck going into my checking and the rest into my savings. On the 5th, I will cash $100 from my checking, and withdraw $165 from my savings (to cover gas, groceries, and spending money). On the 20th, I will withdraw another $100 from my checking (and possibly my savings) and put that into my IRA. The amount I put into my IRA will depend on how much I have saved in my regular savings.

I'm going to the bank in a couple days and I will switch my savings (which is currently a flex account) into a a regular savings account. With the flex account you only can withdraw your money once a month, but with a regular savings you have 6 withdrawals a month. I can also access my savings online if it is a regular savings but not if it is a flex account.

Thanks to a very large paycheck, I have just over $1700 in my savings! Thank goodness for banquets!

BUT I will be needing to withdraw about $500 from my savings to pay for my parking permit and car registration. That still leaves me with about $1200, which means I have completed the Sept. 30th goal on June 20th.

I feel much better now that my savings account is in the 4 digits.

Semester grades are in and I'm very pleased about what I got:

App. Stats: A-
Dance History: A
Calc II: A
Nutrition: B+
Comp. Sci: B

I'm very happy that I got a "B" in C.S. Last semester I got a "C" in CS 135 and I'm very pleased that I was able to get a better grade in a harder course.

Work was interesting today. Another "Banquet Girl" and myself were busy serving 120 people for lunch but apparently there many, many arguments between employees today. One cook quit today leaving the already short-staffed kitchen struggling. We have a lot of banquets and weddings coming up so I really hope they replace the cook (and hire a couple more!).

I got my economic stimulus check about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I was expecting it to be $600 but I got $300 instead. I've spent most of it- I bought a couple of pieces of clothing but most of it was spent on prescriptions. What's left will be saved.

The past week and a half has been very relaxing and I hope the summer continues that way.

I'm just about finished with Christmas shopping.

For 10 friends (almost all of whom went out of state for college), I made gift bags full of things representing inside jokes. The supplies cost $23.

For my father I bought 42nd Street on DVD. We both love musicals and saw 42nd Street when it came to town: $17.

My mom wanted a picture of my brother and I, so we got her that and a necklace and earring set: $15.

A baseball cap with my school logo on it for my aunt: $16.

A bowl of potpourii for my Grandma: $12.

A gift card to the game store for my brother (loves video games): $15.

Christmas cards (32) and 2 rolls of wrapping paper: $10.

So far I've spent $108. I have one last person to shop for and I want to buy a Christmas tree. The grocery store a couple blocks away is selling small ones (a couple feet tall, max) for $16. I expect to spend no more than $40 for the tree and the last gift.

I'm pleased with everything I've bought so far. I think I've done well in spending as little as possible while still getting good gifts. Christmas shopping is fun!

On another note, I switched my savings account another type of savings account at my bank and now I'm getting 4% interest rate. Much better!