I got the car tag blues.

Went to the tag office today to transfer the wildlife tage to the Honda. I was hoping that the registration was paid for the next year - that is what happened with the Subaru - but alas, it was not. I paid $5 to transfer the tag, and she went ahead & gave me the bill for 2005. It's $479.

I really, really need to get busy listing some stuff. I have a picture or two I need to retake, then I need to get it in gear and get some stuff up. Things have been doing pretty well, people seem to be buying, and I need to capitalize on it!

Blah blah

Ok, so where are we...

We have $442 til payday. I need to pay Parisian (due after payday) and Arrow for their monthly service (can go ahead & pay now, it's only $36). Due on payday: taxes, car payment, other monthly stuff. Wonder when I'm going to get an AMEX bill?

I ordered a set of all-weather floor mats & a cargo liner last night for the CRV. The floor mats are tan and already are getting dirty. I paid for them with a Visa and I need to transfer some money to cover it. Shipping was free, fortunately...

Went to Target today. I got necessities except for splurging on a white sleeveless shirt for $9.99....I was ironing the two I have the other day and noticed that they are very dingy...so I don't think it was a completely frivolous splurge. I returned the fin & mask set I had bought Michael for his birthday, and got $15 back. I turned around and put it in Michael's backpack for pizza money.

Auctions have been doing okay, though I was sure my lot w/the Hartstrings sweater would go higher. My Paypal balance is back up over $100 again.

Tonight after supper we are going to take Michael to Jake's for ice cream, since it was his first day of kindy.


That $20 Lee found the other day, I took it & the Forester to the Kroger gas station and filled up, for about three cents less than everywhere else with my Kroger plus card. He's going to Union Co. tomorrow and Augusta Friday, so we'll get some mileage money back.

I guess that's it...I still haven't called Glen Culhane back and told him to pull the trigger on converting part of our HELOC to a loan. Must. Do. That!!

Not really austerity-related....

but I'm going to try and get myself organized here....Michael's first day of kindy was cancelled because of Frances-related storms (dammit). It kind of threw me off for the whole week.

So, tomorrow I take him & stay for the parents meeting. I have an appointment w/Kerry at 11:00, then carpool is at noon. If it is not raining/excessively muddy (not likely) we'll go to Concert on the Square...if so, maybe we'll go ahead & go to Target & return the mask & fin set I got him & do my other Target-ing.

Thursday....I really wanted to walk. Maybe I'll go to Kroger after I drop Michael off, then come home & walk.

Friday I'll do the Farmer's Market.

Still haven't done my banking to see where we are. That's on the agenda for tonight, along with going thru YAAPS' recipe archives for cheap/crockpot meals.

Auctions are doing well, except for those two damn pairs of girls jeans that will NOT sell. Don't think I'm going to waste my time relisting them.

Misc.

Lee picked up his new bike helmet today, and it was $58. Yikes!!

On the flip side, he found a twenty dollar bill near Howard and Greenwood when he and the boys were crossing Howard on their bikes.

I paid our Scana bill, Michael's preschool tuition, and our Rosewalk dues. That should be it for bills until closer to the 15th. I need to check and see if BP is paid; it is due early in the month.

I went through a box of clothes in the attic hoping to find something to sell, but over half of it went in the Salvation Army bag; the other half is in Will's closet or drawers.

I have some meals planned for this week, so I feel pretty good about that. Tomorrow night (or maybe Monday night) is chicken curry in coconut sauce; later this week I am going to have a black bean and sausage stew. Maybe tomorrow night we will have quesadillas since I have some pinto beans and cheese that need to be eaten.

For the coming week, my plans are:

Thrift on Monday
Tuesday - first day of kindy
Wednesday - return mask/fin set to Target, do Target shopping, maybe to Dr. Kerry's, hopefully concert on the square if it's not raining
Thursday - walk
Friday - Farmer's Market, chiro here if not Wednesday

The farmer's market may have to start laying people off...

because I've gone from spending about $180/week there to spending about $60/week (the last two weeks, anyway).

This week, I spent $165.91 on groceries. That includes Sevananda, which I don't go to every week. It doesn't include Big Lots, where I bought laundry detergent, wipes, and four cans of dog food. I would like to get that down to $150/week, which is still $500/month....more than I would like to spend. I bought some stuff for Michael's birthday, stuff I won't normally buy, but I'm sure other weeks there will be stuff I need in its place.

I had an unexpected expense today...I went to Will's CMO open house and I had to pay a $70 registration fee, plus the monthly fee had gone up to $75.

I put $125 into our savings account today.

Oh. My. Hell.

I just added up what I spent on groceries in July. Again, that doesn't include anywhere I paid cash (which wouldn't be much, really) or any groceries I bought at SuperTarget....I still spent....(ready for this?).....

$971.56.

Ho-leeeee crap. What was I thinking??

Needless to say, it's obvious that grocery spending is the place where I can make the biggest change in our spending.

The next finance-related project will be going month-by-month and estimating expenses. I'll be back later to do that.