I made the jump to digital today. Had a converter box coupon and went to K-Mart. Found a DTV tuner from Zenith, paid only $10 out of pocket for it. I hooked it up and so far, so good! The picture is really clear, I’m getting more channels, and it was really easy to set up. The only catch is that I can still lose the signal, so I have to move the wires around at the back of the TV occasionally to make sure they are in the optimum spot. I moved the bigger TV out and I will probably put it in the boogeyman closet (coat closet) for the time being. I’d like a bigger TV, but I must have composite inputs or I can’t play my Playstation. I have priorities!

I’m finagling all kinds of wacky ways to scrounge up the moneys. I will hopefully get my MyPoints reward and my free magazine subscription soon. But maybe not. It’d be nice if I did.

I’m going to start retirement investing. I can’t afford much (like $10-$20 a pay period if I work enough hours), but something. I want to start with an aggressive profile, so I’m doing some research. No one tells you that investing for retirement is a pain to set up. I want it to be easy! I’m going to take a good look through the ol’ options and see what I can get.

The cash budget is going well. I feel more comfortable saying I don’t have the money when I physically don’t. I still put some things on my credit card, but they were business trip expenses and I should end up being reimbursed for most of it. Also, I totally noticed my eMusic charge was lower this month (?) and that I got more downloads (?!). Yay eMusic!  I get a lot of great music from eMusic and it is well worth the cost. I buy little, if any, music from iTunes anymore because eMusic is such a good deal and it really has unique, good music.

One thing I did spend more on than I budgeted for was pets. Yan was drooling and losing weight. Miraculously, he ended up just fine, gained his weight back right away, and stopped drooling. But I did pay for a vet office visit… ouch. They take CareCredit, though! I paid for the office visit out of pocket, but it’s good knowing they take my interest-free health credit line if something terrible came up. I have CareCredit for dental expenses that don’t get covered by insurance. I actually don’t understand how I can be paying for dental insurance and yet have such exorbitant charges for work done… seriously, shouldn’t insurance actually pay for things? I mean, they do pay, but they only pay a tiny amount. I think dental insurance should be mandatory from employers and I think that the companies should only offer plans that give complete or nearly complete coverage. My last dental insurer covered 80% of just about everything, with the only exception being orthodontia. That’s how coverage should work.

I also bought food for the pets, so I had to add in a line on the budget for animal expenses.

They are supposed to go in for a checkup this month, but I’m going to try to wait till next month. I have dental and doctor visits to take care of this month.

I’m quickly learning how not to eat out. Even when I do go I try to give myself a rule that I cannot spend more than $10. In some places this works well, but in others I have to order an appetizer or a sandwich. It works, though. I am still spending a lot at the farmers’ market but it’s for delicious produce I actually eat. Hoping to roast some sweet peppers tonight or tomorrow, maybe put them on a pizza crust with a little oil, some tomatoes, maybe some bacon and cheese… mmmmm. Or I could just eat them straight. That works well, too.

I am very lucky this month… a member of the CSA I wanted to join is going on vacation, so I’m buying a share near the end of the month. This will be deducted from the cash budget but I’m really excited to see what food I get. It will be a nice amount of food.  A coworker just recently got a share from the same CSA and she described the loot to me… sounds so awesome!

This is going to be a very busy three day weekend for me, but I’m excited to be able to spend lots more time with friends.

Our relationship started innocently enough. I was young. My parents approved of him. He was local. It was a lovely, rosy time.

But then things got a little tougher. First, ATMs started charging me fees, so I had to find his ATMs, which were suprisingly hard to come by. If I got money at any other ATM, I was charged a fee by the ATM, and then he, out of jealousy I suppose, charged me a fee, too. But I let it go for awhile. I mean, it’s just a little fee, right?

As I got older I wanted a savings account, so, ever loyal, I opened one with him. But since I had little money, he paid a piddly fee and I was fortunate to earn more than 10 cents on my savings. That hurt. I thought he cared!

Then I started seeing his commercials. He bragged about offering free things, like checks and ATMs. Never mind that the free checks ran out years ago. Never mind that the only free ATMs were his and I’d have to reroute my commute to use them. He didn’t care. He even bragged about online billpay being free. So I signed up and he charged a fee.

I found myself looking at other banks. I noticed that they paid more for savings. With a cheating heart I moved my savings to another bank and made an unreal $4 the first month on my tiny amount of money. I was happy. But after receiving a billpay charge I realized I wanted more.

I looked and looked. ING, my savings account bank, paid a high rate for checking but offered no paper checks, which is a deal breaker for me. Montgomery Bank had a spiffy deal but I had to make 12 debit transactions a month, which meant going off my carefully structured cash budget. But I found Chuck.

Chuck is paying interest on my money. Chuck is reimbursing my ATM fees. Chuck gives me checks to write. I had to open a brokerage account, but I don’t even have to use it. I combed the fine print. I think Chuck is the one for me.

Of course, now I have to go about the business of dumping my current bank. This nifty guide at the Simple Dollar is proving to be quite helpful. I’m monitoring all my automated transactions and will be getting paperwork required to start the switching process. It will take time, but I’ve shed my tears and I’m moving on to something better.

However, in the immortal words of 2gether, “The hardest part of breaking up is getting back your stuff.”

I’ve spent less than $250 a month for food. I’m happy about that. I’m also eating healthier than I’ve ever eaten, with little processed food, many whole grains, more beans, and lots of fresh veggies. I am going to live off of the farmers’ market bounty as long as I can. It makes me feel better knowing that I’m eating more vegetables than I have ever eaten in my life, including lots of things I’ve never had before I moved out.

I still want to cut back on eating out and buying food I don’t use. Throwing food away is so lame. I’d like to spend about $200 a month on this category.

Now it’s today. My account looks great. The rent check actually won’t be taken out until tomorrow, which is fine with me. I will still have a nice amount of money (about $800) left in checking. All sounds dandy. So I went to the store to get a new Playstation memory card since the one I had (which included saved games for Tactics, VIII, IX, and probably other games, probably Chrono Cross and Kingdom Hearts) has disappeared in the move. I tore my house apart looking for it, with no avail.

The store sells no Playstation products. Only PS2 and up. WTF, Sony? Couldn’t you have made the new memory cards more easily backwards compatible with the old games? I was able to move over the games on my last existing card to back them up, but seriously… what a pain in the butt.

So I didn’t buy anything. I was going to buy shelves to complete my “entertainment center” and cubes to finish building Guinea Pig Mansion (which will be moving into the kitchen soon so I can put a table in the dining room. But I didn’t. Forget it. I just went home, played Tactics, and made leftovers for lunch.

Furthermore, to convince myself that I really can live off the food in my kitchen and that I can just let my money mellow for another pay period, I just moved that $300 dollars not back into savings, but into my high yield savings. So it’s “gone” and I can’t spend it. Brilliant.

I’m considering getting an ING Electric Orange checking account, but I’m just not ready to take the plunge. I love the savings, though. I made $5 in the last couple months. My old savings made me about $5 in the last 3 years. So this is a win. Except I have no save games until I find that stupid memory card… grr…

I didn’t go to the mall. I didn’t buy new shoes. I didn’t even buy a meal until today, I’ve been eating stuff from home instead. And you know, it’s better. It really is. Not taking my debit card to work has been really good. I eat better and cheaper when I bring stuff from home.

Today someone mentioned that he was sad I wasn’t teaching. I know he sees potential and intelligence in me and it’s flattering and lovely, really. He’s a volunteer and a really great person. But I got to thinking about things. You know what? I’m glad I switched jobs.

I took about a $5000 paycut to work where I am now. That’s a lot of money. But the benefits have been great. Sure, there’s plenty of stupid politics and annoyances and stuff, but I love my job. I really do. People notice that I’m in happier spirits. I work shorter days and I don’t take work home. I have the most flexible schedule ever. I can go in late and work late or go in early and come home early. I have vacation days that I can take easily. I can work on projects that require me to be creative and to use my intellect.

I do miss some things about teaching in a formal classroom, I really do. But when it comes to the joy and comfort I have at this job that $5000 was worth every penny. I don’t feel so stressed and rushed. I can focus on things other than work, like my friends. I can hang out with people every week. I love that. I missed that so much.

Today was a crazy busy day. Lines backed up everywhere. It’s only January. I’m sure February will be crazier. I had a few encounters with crabby people but overall I got to talk to lots of great visitors, present my favorite show, and take care of business. Yesterday I got to show some friends around and I really had a blast. It was so much fun. I had to look at the museum through visitor eyes again and that is so healthy for me. It’s an amazing place.

In Affluenza there are a few chapters about how work days have lengthened and people have little leisure time. It’s so sad. We try to buy happiness by buying stuff, but then people don’t have time to use the stuff or see family or help the community. So people try to buy their way out of the misery. What a sad state of affairs. And now we’re on the verge of a recession. I think it will be a good thing if we have a recession. People need to stop getting into such terrible debt. Companies need to stop tearing down good, small, affordable houses to put up condos, lofts, and McMansions that no one can afford. We need to stand up as a society and stop being consumed by being consumers.

Maybe I need to keep on the no buy kick for a little while longer. I’m going to rebuild my savings. Bush may want me to buy more stuff, but I’m not going to. I’d rather be ready when the slump hits.

Oh, to make my no-buy difficult I’ve noticed my lips are getting chapped and flakey so I wanted to exfoliate them a bit and be heavy handed with the lip balm. I have plenty of lip balm. Anyway, rather than look at expensive products I just exfoliated my lips with a little sugar and water. Fabulous and cheap!

So I’m going to try a couple weeks of no buying. This will be really hard for me but it needs to happen. I have too much stuff. And I’m spending more than I ought to. This is foolishness.

I really feel like the Lord has been calling me to slow down, too, and not to waste time on the frivolous. Like this conviction to take the bus to work. Taking the bus not only gets me walking as I play my little bus game, it also gives me a good 15 minutes that I can reflect and pray. Man, do I need that 15 minutes. I find myself so much more relaxed when I come home after taking the bus. I really hope I can stick with this mass transit to/from work thing for awhile because I need it. It’s so healthy.

I’ve had some cool things happening in my life and have been asking for prayer. I’ve really realized today how many phenomenal, godly women are around me, praying for me. This really touches my heart (I’m getting teary right now, for goodness’ sake). Having such beautiful, intelligent, and genuinely good women looking out for me, checking on me, and praying for me is the most amazing blessing in the whole world. Thank you all so much. I’m praying for you all, too.