It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

My sister always starts thinking about Christmas in June. It never fails. Immediately after she comes home from her summer vacation, my sister calls me and says "Have you started thinking about Christmas yet?" To which my brain is thinking "uh...Should I be thinking about Christmas? My brain is mentally in the sand right now." Then I start panicking. OMG SIX MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!! AHH!!!

For three months now my sister has been asking me about Christmas. I have no idea what to tell her, except that I'm still holding out for the Kindle I wanted last year but didn't get. Something tells me that she's not that interested in what I want for myself and instead she is fishing to see what I'm going to get her kids.

Last night, the husband and I counted the weeks until Christmas (15!). We decided to set our Christmas present budget at $460 this year. We also know we need to budget an additional $200 for our electric bill which shoots up due to the cold weather and our fantastical light display, and then of course we needed to budget $100 for Christmas time food (ie cookies for parties, ham for dinner, etc.). Wowserz! $760 just for one day?

This made me question: Is Christmas really the most wonderful time of the year, or is it just the most expensive time of the year?

(Picture of last year's tree)

Luckily, because my sister makes me think about Christmas so early, I'll be able to set aside enough money to cover all our Christmas expenses. That way I won't scream when the Christmas bill shows up on my doorstep on New Year's. (And we're soooooo not repeating last New Year's when I went to my Dad's and found a $7,000 student loan bill that hadn't got my address change memo. EEK!) No, this year we are starting off right. We are sticking to our budget, and we are staying on track to be debt free by the start of next year (and to have a debt free Christmas).

Anybody else out there created a Christmas budget yet, or am I the only one with a Type A sister?

Meal Planning for the Week

Last week my meal planning was thrown off a little due to a visit from my brother and his family. We cooked out with family one day and then the next day my sister ordered pizza for dinner. This gave us a surplus of food because I never made it through the end of my roasted chicken as I had anticipated. Here is what is on the menu for this week:

Monday (today): We ate hot dogs, french fries, and the giant zucchini I showed you from the farmer's market
Tuesday: Potato soup. Yes, I know it is 90 degrees outside, but I have been craving potato soup
Wed: Left over potato soup and grilled cheese
Thurs: Chicken quesadillas and spicy brown rice (onion, red pepper mmm mmm)
Fri: Spaghetti with tomato sauce
Sat: Chicken Stir fry (zucchini, squash, chicken, red pepper, onion, and rice. Pretty basic.)

I have exactly $66 left in the food envelope to get me through the remainder of the month (or eleven days). Eating on such a small budget will require some creativity, but I think I can do it. Here are some of my ideas for budget friendly meals:

• Omelets (or eggs ranchero depending on my ability to get the omelet to stay together! ha!) (1 day)
• Pasta primavera (2 days)
• Baja Pie (I love it so much. I'm sure I'll be ready to eat it again in five days.) (2 days)
• Chicken Tortilla Soup (2 days)
• Chicken Stir Fry (2 days)

That should get me to the end of the month. Now, I know you're adding up my numbers and thinking "crazy, that does not add up to 11 days." You are so right, but I am going to my brother's house this weekend, so we will be eating out a couple of days. (When we eat out, the money comes from our blow envelope and not our grocery envelope.)

You are more than welcome to eat with me this week! (Maybe not in my kitchen, but you could buy all the ingredients and cook too. Just use any old omelet recipe, make Pioneer Woman's Pasta Primavera, make Betty Crocker's Baja Pie, B C's Chicken Tortilla Soup, and throw together chicken with rice and whatever veggies you have on hand.) But even if you don't make the same meals as I do, I wish you happy eating!

I Need to Vita Abundantior!

Yes, I just made the Latin phrase into a verb.

I am ridiculously uptight. I expect perfection out of my life and from other people. I know it's stupid. I'm trying to work on it. Like this money thing... I took an idea and ran with it. I haven't had much trouble adjusting my shopping habits because I never really bought expensive stuff. I don't own any Coach bags, and the most expensive article of clothing I own is a hand-me-down from Ann Taylor Loft.

Unfortunately, I have had problems adjusting to a stay at home lifestyle. When Mr. Wookie and I were dating, we would go out to eat pretty much every time we saw each other. On a few rare occasions I would cook at home for us "as a treat." Now I'm cooking at home every night and we go out to eat "as a treat." Giving up dining out has been a struggle because we live in a small town. There aren't any free museums to visit. We can go bowling (way out of our budget for now), see a movie (which we do on occasion), and go out to eat.

Having to stay home every weekend is really wearing on me. The hubs and I took some time off this week because we work opposite shifts, and we really haven't had time to connect lately. We both wanted to do something, but we have already blown through our fun money. Needless to say, yesterday was pretty boring.

I could cheat because I have a little cushion in the bank since Mr. Wookie's checks can fluctuate from month to month, but then I would be disappointed with myself, and I don't handle disappointment well.

Honestly, I don't think I could continue to live this frugally if I knew it was going to take longer than a year for me to be debt free. I'm so looking forward to eating out every weekend again. I'm looking forward to going out for drinks on the weekend again. I just can't wait to go on a vacation. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am thankful that the weather has been beautiful the past two months because I've been able to utilize the park, but I want to get dressed up and go out on the town.

Only seven more months like this and then I'm going to VITA ABUNDANTIOR my little heart out.

I did it again!

I broke last week's grocery record. New record: $32.82. Here's what I got:

Bagels
Bread
Debbie Cakes
Bag of Green Giant Broc. and cheese
Bertolli Lemon Shrimp Frozen Skillet dinner
Salad (I have carrots at home already)
Bag of apples
Cuke
Milk
Whippin' cream
OJ
Fettuccine
Shredded Parmesan
Yogurt
Butter
English Muffins
Body wash

I saved $2.65 with coupons. I didn't need to buy any laundry detergent or toilet paper. I also didn't need to buy any meat because I still have some in the freezer. Here is dinner for the week:

Tonight and Monday: Fettuccine Alfredo with a side salad and rolls (meat free meal of the week)
Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Salad and Rolls
Wednesday: Hamburgers, broccoli, and green beans
Thursday: Bertolli Dinner
Friday: Breaded chicken cutlets, cheesy potatoes, green beans

You may be curious about my breakfast and lunch habits. For breakfast, I eat something quick. Either poptarts, cereal, toaster strudels...something like that. I'm trying to eat healthier, so I'm doing English Muffins, peanut butter, and apple + juice for breakfast this week. Mr. Wookie always eats a blueberry bagel. For lunch, I eat a turkey and cheese sandwich, yogurt, piece of fruit, and a bag of chips or a pudding pack. I try to have a glass of milk with at least one of my meals in an effort to get my calcium. The yogurt also helps me meet my calcium goals. (The Dr. told me last week that women should be getting a lot more calcium than they think, so I've been trying to get more calcium into my diet.)

I'll be able to send an extra $30 to my debt at the end of the month because I only spent half of my grocery budget this week. Hip hip hurray! April's grocery budget will be difficult because I will need to buy toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, and laundry detergent. I do have some coupons to assist with these purchases, but they always make my bill go over $60. I'm going to try my darndest to stop it from happening!

Eat in for a whole month

One of my 101 goals is to eat in for a whole month. This goal serves a few purposes. First, it helps me stay on a budget. Since I'm in debt payoff mode, I can save quite a bit of money by skipping the take out and the steak house. In the past, we've spent about $100 a month eating out. Instead of spending that money on food, I can send an extra $100 to SM. Second, I want to hone my cooking skills. What better way to do this than to cook! Third, I want to try new recipes. If I'm forced to eat in all month, I might as well get a cookbook from the library and try some new things.

So I've decided that I'm going to eat in the whole month of February. I chose February because it's a short month (I know, cheating), but I'm one of those people that has to get out every once and awhile. If I don't, I go crazy. So I'm hoping I can start out with a short month and then maybe I'll be able to sustain the project a little longer.

Last night the hubs and I had a Mardi Gras of sorts. We bought Papa John's pizza and watched t.v. No more Papa Johns or anything else until March 1 which is just a short 28 days away.

Menu for this week:
Potato Soup (typically this makes a lot of soup, so I can probably eat on this for two to three days)
Shrimp Quesadillas (a la Pioneer Woman)
Hamburgers
and Either meat sauce and spaghetti or parmesan chicken and spaghetti.

The potato soup is very easy to make. I actually got the recipe from http://eatathomecooks.com/2008/10/scramble-egg-wiches.html this blog. (Just search Baked Potato Soup)

I'll keep you updated on how it goes. I probably won't have a problem with eating in for a whole month. Poor husband will suffer though because he loves his fast food.

$20,000 Debt Pay Down

My big goal of 2010 is to pay $20,000 toward my student loan debt before Oct. 1 of this year.

Shew! Even the sheer number makes me woozy, but then I log in to salliemae.com, and I'm sickened by the amount of interest that I owe just from this month. How is it possible that I owe almost $200 in interest over a 30 day period? This is cruel and unusual. But I got the debt by going to college, and I am thankful for my education.

So today I made my first payment of 2010. Drum roll please:

I sent in a payment of $2547 which decreases my total goal to $17,453.00.

Go me! In 4 months I can say I paid off one of my college loans (I owe $7500 to the Department of Ed. and I'm paying it off first), and then I can really get started knocking down my Sallie Mae debt.

Here's a true story: every time I send in a payment, I imagine the principle is a giant rpg video game giant. My payment is a giant chop or punch or kick (or all three put together), and slowly but surely I am killing the mega beast! Take that, biotch!

That's all for tonight. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors in this post. I'm pretty ill, and when I get the ill I get the dumb. Night night!