Complete June Spending

Well, it's over. I tracked my June spending and it was not pretty. I didn't spend too much money, but the money I did spend was almost all on food. Not good. I'm happy to say that I did meet my goal of having 15 No Spend Days in the month of June. I'll probably track again in August and do much better.

June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream
June 6 -- No Spend
June 7 -- $11.28 -- pizza
June 8 -- No Spend
June 9 -- No Spend
June 10 -- $14.86 -- lunch
June 11 -- $15.00 -- Rite Aid
June 12 -- No Spend
June 13 -- No Spend
June 14 -- No Spend
June 15 -- No Spend
June 16 -- $13.54 -- Breakfast
June 17 -- No Spend
June 18 -- $18.18 -- Fatburger
June 19 -- $6.05 -- Tacos
June 20 -- $16.91 -- Lunch
June 21 -- No Spend
June 22 -- $10.00 -- Sandwich
June 23 -- $8.97 -- Breakfast
June 24 -- $12.05 -- Flowers and Card
$16.59 -- Walgreens
June 25 -- $9 -- Kindle Book
$26.34 -- Vitamins
June 26 -- $8.00 -- Starbucks
$28.00 -- Whole Foods
June 27 -- No Spend
June 28 -- No Spend
June 29 -- No Spend

No TV June

Today is the last day of June and B actually did not watch any TV. Rather, he didn't turn on the TV. Of course, if I had on a show, he would say he's not paying attention, but I'd find him watching or making comments, or even laughing. All in all, he did good. In reality, he did much better than I thought he would. I thought he would crumble after the first couple of days.

B's First Big Cooking Week

As I posted last week, B came up with the idea that he will cook dinner on Monday's and Wednesday's. This past Monday was crazy, so of course he didn't cook. I actually don't blame him as I probably wouldn't have either if my day were that crazy. Yesterday, he didn't cook either. Why? I have no idea. He was home after work, after all. I think it had to do with the fact that he would like for him to think he's organized, but he's not. I love the man, but he has zero skills when it comes to time management. He hadn't shopped, so of course, he wasn't going to cook.

I'm very good with time management. On Tuesday, I drove up to Hollywood to see my sister. After work, I went home and made a batch of taquitos and then drove to Hollywood. I'm not saying I am better than B, but I am better at managing my time. B comes home and unwinds, but continues to unwind all night. Maybe it's just a guy thing.

Since he said he will on track next week, I'll let you guys know.

New Me

During the first half of my thirties, I was unhappy with my body. The second half of my thirties will be different....

Menu Plan -- 06/27 -- 07/03

Today is the first day of our new cooking strategy. B will cook on Mondays and Wednesdays and I will cook on the rest. The thing is, B isn't exactly...reliable with things like this. Today is his first day and he hasn't made a peep of what he'll be fixing. I know he hasn't even been shopping yet! On top of that he has a dentist appointment and a family birthday today so I have an sunken feeling that we'll probably eat out today. I'll offer to cook today and he take over one of my other days, but we'll see. All in all, I don't expect this plan to last too long and before we know it I'll be cooking every day again.

Monday:
Dinner: B's Day

Tuesday:
Dinner: Taquitos (never made them last week)

Wednesday:
Dinner: B's Day

Thursday:
Dinner: Black Beans and Rice with tortillas

Friday:
Dinner: Sliders and potato salad

Saturday:
Dinner: Linguine with butter, pecorino, and arugula.

June Spending -- June 20 - June 26

I had a lousy money weekend. I spent a bunch of money on unplanned things. Oh well. I currently have 12 No Spend days and with there being only four days left in June. I would have to not spend any money for three of them in order for me to meet my goal of 15 No Spend days in June. It's totally doable. I don't think (I hope!) I normally spend this much money on frivolous things. I'll probably track again in July to see if there is a pattern.

Seriously though, almost ALL of my unplanned spending is on food. That is unfortunately not shocking as I know there is where our main budget leak is.

June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream
June 6 -- No Spend
June 7 -- $11.28 -- pizza
June 8 -- No Spend
June 9 -- No Spend
June 10 -- $14.86 -- lunch
June 11 -- $15.00 -- Rite Aid
June 12 -- No Spend
June 13 -- No Spend
June 14 -- No Spend
June 15 -- No Spend
June 16 -- $13.54 -- Breakfast
June 17 -- No Spend
June 18 -- $18.18 -- Fatburger
June 19 -- $6.05 -- Tacos
June 20 -- $16.91 -- Lunch
June 21 -- No Spend
June 22 -- $10.00 -- Sandwich
June 23 -- $8.97 -- Breakfast
June 24 -- $12.05 -- Flowers and Card
$16.59 -- Walgreens
June 25 -- $9 -- Kindle Book
$26.34 -- Vitamins
June 26 -- $8.00 -- Starbucks
$28.00 -- Whole Foods

New Scenario

B and I got into it again about food. I don't get it. On Monday I told him I was making the tater tot casserole (which he LOVES) and asked if that was alright. He wasn't in the mood for it and then I gave him three other options of what I could make. He just told me to make "whatever". So i did. I made the tater tot casserole.

That night, I had it on the stove and he grabbed a fork and was about to take a bite when he saw what it was. He thought I had made the dirty rice. He put the fork away and didn't eat that night. I told him that if he wanted the dirty rice he should have told me. That set off an argument. He said the menu plan was too strict and we should "fend for ourselves". Um, what? I started the menu plan four years ago on his suggestion. It's worked. I don't run a restaurant and can't make everything he feels like at the moment. He said that he would have to get back into cooking. Now, I've never stopped him from cooking. Hell, I welcome it since it would give me a break! He has not cooked in years although I have repeatedly requested certain dishes for just as long.

We talked again last night and he said that he would cook Monday and Wednesdays. He can cook. Does he cook? No. Does he shop? Nope. This will start next week. Suffice to say I'll be ready to cook all days again, because I have absolutely no faith that he will keep his end of the bargain for long, if at all.

Weekend

I keep my budget pretty strict on purpose. I put a lot of money in savings each month and I budget everything else with what's leftover. I feel like while I was paying down debt, my savings suffered a bit so I'm trying to make up for lost time. Every now and then, I don't put away as much in savings. This might be that month. I am still within my budget, but my "disposable" income is steadily decreasing. Of course, all is by choice and I wasn't forced to do anything. Part of me feels I should just finish as is and then start fresh in July.

I didn't cook this weekend, therefore there were no leftovers. We will have to buy lunch out today. I had a really rough day yesterday and came home with cooking being the last thing on my mind. I bought tacos instead.

I had a goal of having 15 no spend days in June. I am four days away from that. I know I'll achieve that.


June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream
June 6 -- No Spend
June 7 -- $11.28 -- pizza
June 8 -- No Spend
June 9 -- No Spend
June 10 -- $14.86 -- lunch
June 11 -- $15.00 -- Rite Aid
June 12 -- No Spend
June 13 -- No Spend
June 14 -- No Spend
June 15 -- No Spend
June 16 -- $13.54 -- Breakfast
June 17 -- No Spend
June 18 -- $18.18 -- Fatburger
June 19 -- $6.05 -- Tacos

Menu Plan 06/20 - 06/25

This week's menu is basically made up of a bunch of stuff I had planned to make in recent weeks and never did.

Monday:
Dinner: Tater Tot Casserole

Tuesday:
Dinner: Island Chicken with mashed potatoes

Wednesday:
Dinner: Taquitos

Thursday:
Dinner: Dirty Rice

Friday:
Dinner: Tacos

Saturday:
Dinner: Orange Chicken with rice

June Spending as of 06/16

The money I thought I was going to be spending is so much less than expected! I thought I'd have to dish out $1300 and although I have the money, I certainly did not want to part with it. Instead, I'll have to pay out $496. A big relief!

I've been good this week in regards to spending. I'm making a conscious effort to stop buying random things here and there.

June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream
June 6 -- No Spend
June 7 -- $11.28 -- pizza
June 8 -- No Spend
June 9 -- No Spend
June 10 -- $14.86 -- lunch
June 11 -- $15.00 -- Rite Aid
June 12 -- No Spend
June 13 -- No Spend
June 14 -- No Spend
June 15 -- No Spend
June 16 -- $13.54 -- Breakfast

Preparing

I feel I'm about to start hemorrhaging money. It is all necessary, but I hate doing it all the same... In the end, it will all be okay.

New Obsession

I was at my local Trader Joe's yesterday for my routine shopping trip. I saw a packet of Penguin Tummy Gummies. I have a sweet tooth and the penguins on the package were cute, so I bought them. Talk about impulse buy! Anyway, you get a lot in one bag for $1.99. I brought the bag to work for those occasional sweet cravings. Um, I finished the bag. Well, not yet, but rest assured the bag will be empty by the time I leave today.

There are three flavors: cherry, lime, and orange (I think). The tummy of the penguin is filled with this sweet "juice". I know it sounds gross and it probably is, but is so fun! I'm tempted to go and get another bag and the only thing that is stopping me is rush hour grocery store traffic. I'll wait until next week and buy another bag. Hopefully, by then I'll be able to refrain from eating the whole bag in one day!

Vegetable Lentil Stew

I threw this together yesterday when I had a bunch of random veggies in the fridge. I added curry powder for the "Indian" touch, even though the curry powder sold in grocery stores here is NOT Indian. Anyway.... This stew came out delicious and very easy to put together. I served it with broiled sourdough bread spread with garlic butter.

Use whatever veggies you have on hand, but I used the following:

1 medium onion -- chopped
3 medium carrots -- peeled and chopped
1 rib of celery -- chopped
Handful of frozen corn and peas
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
teaspoon of freshly grated ginger (I keep mine in the freezer. It keeps forever and it is so much easier to grate when frozen!)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 jalapeno -- minced (seed it if you don't want it too spicy)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp curry powder
2 C water or stock
1/3 C red lentils -- rinsed and sorted
salt and pepper to taste


Heat oil in a saucepan. When hot, add the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook until the onions are soft. Add the ginger, garlic, and jalapeno. Stir for a couple of minutes. Add lentils. Cook for another five minutes. Stirring occasionally. Add the curry powder, salt, and pepper. Stir until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover for approximately 40 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and continue to simmer until frozen vegetables are warmed through and the lentils are tender.

Weekend Spending

Like most people, I spend money during the weekend. I was good this time!

On Friday, I spent $14.86 on lunch. I spent $15.00 on Saturday and that's it!

June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream
June 6 -- No Spend
June 7 -- $11.28 -- pizza
June 8 -- No Spend
June 9 -- No Spend
June 10 -- $14.86 -- lunch
June 11 -- $15.00 -- Rite Aid
June 12 -- No Spend

And on top of all of this, I was below my grocery budget for the week. I also did my version of "extreme" couponing. I don't coupon unless I have one staring at me and it happens to fall out of my wallet as I'm paying for my purchases. On Ralphs, there was a sale on deodorant. If you buy 5, then you pay $5 ($1 each). I bought five last week and I received a $3 off coupon for my next purchase. The store was doing the same sale this week, so I did another 5 for $5, but gave them the coupon, so I got them for $2. Not bad. I won't have to buy deodorant for like two years now!

Budget 06/10 - 07/07

Last week I said I would post my monthly budget. I usually overestimate some items and I just use it as a cushion in my account. I also currently have about $300 as a buffer in my checking account. The following numbers reflect after money has already been put into savings. Whatever is leftover is my "disposable" spending. All credit card bills are paid in full at the end of each month. The numbers in that category vary month to month, but balances are never forwarded to the following month.

Auto Gas -- $150.00
Cable/Internet -- $120.00
Groceries -- $200
Gas -- $21.00
Parking Permit -- $25.00 (paid only twice a year)
Chase CC -- $100.00
Discover CC -- $70.00
Capital One CC -- $37.00

The second paycheck of each month goes straight to rent with approximately 17% going to savings. I contribute approximately 35% of my first paycheck of the month toward savings.

I know my budget is not great and there are many places where I can cut down, but this is comfortable for me. This allows me to still go out and live!

Menu Plan 06/13 - 06/18

I haven't eaten out this week yet. Tonight is our date night so that is dinner out (planned). Yesterday, I made English muffin pizzas for dinner (reminded me of myself as a kid!) and there were no leftovers, so we will eat lunch out today. Bummer!

I'm also running out of Indian foods to make. Yes, there are millions of dishes out there, but I only know a select few that I am comfortable with. I'll have to start playing around with more.

Monday:
Dinner: Curried cabbage and rice (never made it last week)

Tuesday:
Dinner: Fried Rice with chicken potstickers

Wednesday:
Dinner: Cornbread casserole

Thursday:
Dinner: Chicken and Rice

Friday:
Dinner: Pizza

Saturday:
Dinner: Corn and chili soup with homemade rolls

$11 Pizza -- Hollywood Style

Yesterday, B and I went to the Kodak Theater for a little shopping for a few things B wanted. As always, we parked in the underground garage, got our ticket and headed into the shopping place. After he bought his purchases, the store said that they no longer validate parking tickets. B and I then proceeded to go to a "tourist pizza" place that sells pizza by the slice to get our ticket validated. I bought us two slices of pizza for a whopping $11.28! Yes, only two SLICES! The kick in the teeth was that that store no longer validated either! We only got the pizza so they would validate. Anyway, we ended up paying another $3 for parking.

Lesson learned....don't go out during the week; you'll always spend money.

June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream
June 6 -- No Spend
June 7 -- $11.28 -- pizza

Spending!

The good news is that I was within my grocery budget this week! The bad news is that I had two spend days.

On Saturday, my sister continued with her birthday celebration. A small group of friends went to a restaurant. This expense was planned and I was prepared. We went to the restaurant and since there was a 40 minute wait, the group decided to go the bar for a drink. We all ordered a lemon drop shot and continued to talk. I noticed that the bartender had given the bill to my sister. I quickly gave him my credit card since the birthday girl should not pay for anyone else's drink, including her own. Now, I don't drink out very often anymore so the price was a bit of a shock! Four lemon drop shots cost $32! I paid it and I had the money for it, but still what started out as a no spend day, became one. Of course, none of the other girls paid me back....or even thanked me...but I digress.

Yesterday, B and I went out for a late night ice cream run, so money was spent there. This week, will be good!

June 1 -- No Spend
June 2 -- No Spend
June 3 -- No Spend
June 4 -- $32.00 -- drinks
June 5 -- $4.83 -- ice cream

Menu Plan 06/05 - 06/11

I modified my menu plan from pure vegetarian to a mix of veg and non-veg.

Sunday:
Dinner: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes

Monday:
Dinner: Masala veggie burgers with lentil dumplings

Tuesday:
Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce

Wednesday:
Dinner: Curried cabbage with rice

Thursday:
Dinner: Gyros

Friday:
Dinner: Date Night!

Saturday:
Dinner: Vegetable lentil stew

June Spending

Yesterday, I bought my sister her birthday gift. I spent $89 on a gift card and a Kindle cover and another $3.88 cents on a party bag. I'm not tracking that as it was a planned purchase. So other than that, I have not spent any money yet. Today, my department is taking two other coworkers out for their birthdays. Yes, I'll spend money then, but that too was planned. Also, our department is so small (5 people -- all girls) that there was no way I could have gotten out of it. Saturday is the last of the birthday celebrations (again, planned), so hopefully no money will be spent after that!

June 1 -- No Spend Day
June 2 -- No Spend Day

EDIT: Our supervisor decided to treat us to lunch since we did discuss work so that made it a business lunch! Totally unplanned and saved me like $20!

So Over

Well, B still isn't watching TV. He is, on the other hand, eating meat like he always had. Yesterday, he had roast chicken and has a turkey sandwich for lunch today.

Batata Vada (Spiced Potato Patties)

My mom is known for this dish. Whenever she throws a dinner party, people request this. I've tweaked her recipe. She uses fresh ginger and I'm not a huge fan of ginger, in general. This does call for chickpea flour (graham flour), but you can use all purpose flour if you want, just thoroughly season it with salt and pepper.

I've made this for many potlucks at work and they are always a hit. I never have any leftovers and just like with my mom, people request them for the next office party.

4 potatoes -- peeled and boiled til tender
2 chilies -- chopped fine
1 Tbsp garlic -- minced
2 C of Graham flour (all purpose can work too)
Water
Salt
Oil for frying

Mash the cooked potatoes with the garlic, salt, and chilies. Mix together until well combined.

Heat a skillet with about an inch of vegetable oil. Let it get HOT.

In a large bowl, mix the flour with enough water so it resembles a slightly thinner pancake batter. Season the batter with salt and pepper. Once the oil is HOT, add a teaspoon of the hot oil to the batter and stir. This will prevent the patties from soaking up too much oil.

Shape a few tablespoons of potato into a small ball and slightly flatten it with your hands. Smooth out any cracks. Dip both sides of it in the batter and drop (gently) into the hot oil. Once the first side is golden brown, gently flip it and fry until brown as well. Drain on paper towels.

I usually serve it with a mixture of sour cream (or yogurt) and cayenne pepper, salt, and garlic powder. All is according to taste.

You can also make the patties a little smaller in diameter and placed between hot buttered rolls.

Shocked!

Someone, who will remain nameless, finally washed the sink full of dishes he/she had since January 2011. SHOCKED!!! :)

That Didn't Take Long At All

Last night after I made a vegan dinner, I headed over to B's. There was a bought salad on the counter with something I couldn't make out through the plastic container. It was salmon!!! I gently reminded him that I thought he gave up meat in June. He said, "Did I say that? I thought I said I'll give up red meat". Um, we hardly ever eat red meat. In any case, he didn't eat the salmon last night, but he will eat it tonight.

On the TV front, he did not watch it during the evening. I don't think he went to the gym either....so right now he is just sticking with the tv boycott.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Tracking My June Spending

I've always wanted to track my spending...officially. I know what my budget for whatever is and I try not to go over it, but I don't add up the different categories at the end of the month to see how I did compared to the actual budget. Today is June 1 and I am going to track my spending for this month.

I already have a birthday dinner planned for this weekend. So besides that, I'm going to try to have 15 no spend days. I will not count the days that I have planned to go grocery shopping or pay my regular bills. What I will count are the days that I just run and eat out or buy a nail polish or whatever.

I'll post my monthly budget in the next few days.

We'll see how I do....