Huh.

Browsing through news articles shoved at me by msn.com this morning, I came across one called How to Build Your First Budget (here). Having taught myself how to budget and always feeling like I'm forgetting or missing something, I skim through such articles for tips on ways to improve upon what I do, so... "click". Blahblahblah, know that, yup, check, get to the second page and woah.

"Food: Basic groceries should cost a single person about $150 a month. You'll spend a lot more if you eat out frequently, however, or if you buy lots of processed foods, frozen dinners and gourmet stuff. Cut your food costs by bringing lunches and snacks from home. Substitute potlucks or picnics for expensive socializing at restaurants."

Um, $150 for one person for a month? That seemed a wee bit on the low side to even me, and after A. agreed with me, I dug into what the government had to say. According to the USDA's report the cost of food at home, the average cost to feed one male (age 19-50) in March 2008 was $162.50 on the thrifty plan. On the lost cost plan, it was $209.10. For the moderate cost plan it was $260. The liberal plan was $316.40. For females of the same age group, the numbers were lower: $145.80 for the thrifty, $182.70 for the low cost, $222.40 for the moderate cost, and $287 for the liberal. As far as I know, these numbers are JUST for food items, no toiletries, paper or pet products. The numbers for April 2008 haven't come out yet.

Ok, so maybe not so low, considering they did say about $150.

Still, the numbers for March looked... off... from what I based my last budget review on, so I pulled out the January 2008 numbers to compare. Despite the rising cost in everything but wages over the last five months, the USDA has determined that the average cost of food at home has gone down. Yes. DOWN. By $1-3 in most cases, between the months of January 2008 and March 2008.

Hmmm. The numbers go up between December 2007 and January 2008, and then they start falling. I have to wonder if that's because some people just aren't able to afford to eat any longer.

Needless to say, the geek in me is eager for April's numbers to come out. I'm curious to see if the average price goes up or down. Based on my budget, they should be going up because for the third month in a row I've gone over budget. (I currently budget $480 a month for two adults, one child (girl, age 11), two felines, and that $480 includes all pet food and supplies, personal grooming, toiletries, cleaning, and paper products the household may need, as well as AC filters.)

Also needless to say, I think maybe I need a hobby I can afford to actually do because I'm enjoying comparing the monthly numbers waaaay too much. (LOL)

In other news, I went walking again this morning and determined that I like the earlier (6am) start time rather than the later (almost 630am) start time of today. While it was lighter outside (meaning I didn't have to carry a flashlight), there were more cars leaving the complex and spewing noxious exhaust at me as they passed. Yuck. So we'll get up a little earlier and be out the door by no later than 610am.

I also have my car today! This means that I can go pay for the Angel Food boxes today. Assuming someone is there to take the money.

Even though I have the car today, I'm not going shopping for the baby present(s) I need to get before next weekend. I'll save that for another day. I do need to go to the library though. Apparently, when you turn dvd cases back in, they like the dvds to be in them.

After watching the plants yesterday to see how much sun they actually got all day long, I'm more convinced than ever that they need to be in a wagon (or something) so that I can roll them around to the front of the building on days when I'm home. Of course, after reading more about the types of plants that were brought home, I'm also convinced that the lady at the garden center was a wee bit delusional when she told us that the size pots we got would be fine until the very end of the growing season because all my plants need to be in bigger pots. Much bigger pots. The recommended size is "no smaller than a 5-gallon bucket". Oh, sure, they can be potted in smaller, but they won't grow well because of a confined root system. And while I would have preferred to know that before hand, the little plants can sit in the little pots for another few weeks (though that one tomato plant might need to be replanted this weekend, and much deeper). By then it'll be obvious whether or not I'm killing them, and if they're dying, then there's no reason to repot them.

And I'm off to run what errands I can before it gets ghastly hot.

Wake-up call #84351

Like many people, I check my horoscope. I don't always check it daily, and I usually check it at night so that I can reflect on how my day went then decide how close the horoscope was. Most days it ranges from "close" to "dead spot on". A lot of days it makes me giggle with how close it comes and sometimes I wonder if my day would have gone any better (or if/how it would have been different) had I read the email that delivers my horoscope earlier in the day.

I opened that email this morning because yesterday just sucked and shattered a whole lot of eggs in my various baskets. After checking yesterday's email this morning I decided I needed to know what today's said, because had I read yesterday's email yesterday morning I would have been better prepared and then my brain wouldn't have exploded quite so much yesterday afternoon. (*deep breath*)

The horoscope comes with a general look at the day and then the more traditional sun sign reading.

Today's Outlook: The Moon in peaceful Libra today helps us smooth over the rough edges as we strive for harmony, especially after the challenges we faced yesterday. Fortunately, we get some common sense from energetic Mars, now stabilized in practical Taurus. But Mars forms a dynamic sextile with crazy Uranus, adding fuel to the determined engine of progress. Although we may be very unconventional, we can be brilliant as innovative breakthroughs come easily.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21):You might be very optimistic, believing that anything is possible. Still, you must remember that the real world does have practical limitations based upon immutable physical laws. Nevertheless, you can pull off some amazing stunts by bending the rules. Pushing the limits can help you to achieve the maximum effect.

So, yeah. Sort of a little nudge from the Universe that reinforces the idea that we'll be ok. Just what I needed this morning.

So yesterday? Yeah. A. went to the dentist yesterday. Wait, back track a bit. A. went to the dentist Wednesday afternoon. Not having been in a while, he needed to have some deep cleaning done. That is, he needed to have that scraping/scaling thing done where they dig under the gum line and scraaaaaaape gunk off the lower parts of the teeth. He was given an estimate/price sheet sort of paper that put the insurance adjusted prices at not quite $200. No biggie. That's why I have a dental fund going, right?

He set the appointment for that for yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. From what he said, he's sitting in the chair with "bamboo shoots under [his] gums" and they hand him the new estimate/price sheet... with a whopping grand total of $971.89.

That doesn't even touch the crown work he needs done.

Apparently he had some pretty deep pockets (what is he? a chipmunk??) and they decided they needed to pack those pockets with antibiotics... at $89 per pocket.

He did manage to talk them into delaying a couple of the things they wanted to do to him, so the bill yesterday was for $611.93... but he has to go back in 4 - 6 weeks to get the rest done, and there's still crown work looming in the future.

Needless to say, my brain went *pop* when he got home. Had it been me, I'd have left the pockets antibiotic free, paid the $200ish dollars out of the dental fund and since we put $100 each month into the dental fund, just gone back once a month to get another one done. Or, more likely, just avoided the dentist again until I had the money saved up. But that's me, and I'm the idiot with a temporary crown that's just about 6 years old (it was put in at the beginning of August 2001; company I was working for sold the division I was in right after 9/11, only the new owner(s) didn't want to keep the employees so I lost my job and I lost my dental insurance. I had to cancel the appointment I had in November to have the crown put in and I've not been in a position since that time to get it taken care of).

So yesterday afternoon my brain was going 'splodey. In a bad way. I sent him to buy his lottery tickets and a pack of cigarettes for me, even though I stopped smoking almost two years ago.

Four chain-smoked cigarettes later I was ok again. Yes, this is a bad hit for us financially. No, this isn't the best time ever for it to hit. Yes, it could have come at a much worse time. Yes, it completely zeroes out the dental fund I'd been building - the bulk of which was earmarked for K.'s braces. And yes, it either completely zeroes out our emergency fund or the money we've been putting aside for the last few months for a down payment on a house. And yes, there's still the roughly $500 more we have to come up with in 4 - 6 weeks, and then the additional $750 or so for the crown work that really should be taken care of as soon as possible.

But things could be worse. They could be much, much worse. And this morning I've been reminded that God doesn't allow us to be burdened with more than we can carry and he made me the way I am for a reason.

I can't fix this situation, but I can make sure we get through it.

Yes, things will be tight - almost painfully tight - for the next few months, maybe even the next year and my family may actually have to watch some of the nearly 400 movies/seasons of television shows we own rather than going to the movies or picking up stuff from BlockBuster. No, we may not actually be able to swing a house at the end of the new lease (July 2008) like we had planned. Yes, I will have to put off the dental work that I need done. Yes, I may even have to delay K.'s dental visit for a few months. No, I have no idea how I'll deal with her birthday since all the "extra" money I was setting aside will vanish for a while. And no, I don't even know how I'll deal with christmas. Yet.

But things could have been worse. Much, much worse. We've crawled out from bigger hits than this intact. And really, when I step back and look at the whole big picture, I needed this to happen. I've been lax with the budgeting in the last two months. We've been very indulgent with whims and desires lately, partly to make up for last decade. This little incident is the Universe's way of telling me "Ok, kitten, play time is over. Get back to work, get back on track. Find the balance."

So, yeah, things will be tough for a while again, but because of this situation I've realized where some holes in my budget are, and I've realized that we have more "extra" money than I thought, and if I can caress the budget just right, we may just end up better off by the time this ordeal is over.

And those cigarettes I sent him after last night? They're gone. I don't need them today. I haven't needed them since the end of the fourth one last night.

Grocery Budgets...

I've spent the past few hours browsing the forums at Frugal Village and a few threads are really intriguing me. In a few places throughout the forums, I've seen people saying that $450 a month to feed 3 people is entirely too much. Maybe I'm misunderstanding them since I lump all my paper products, toiletries, health/beauty supplies, and cat stuff in with my grocery money.

Since the first of the year, I've had to increase my grocery budget from $400 a month to $480 a month. For three people and two cats. We haven't changed our eating habits for the worse, in fact, we've been eating better - more fresh fruit and vegetables, more salads, less meat, less pasta, more rice, organics when the budget allows - but in the past six months I've seen the cost of regular 2% cow milk rise nearly $0.60 per gallon so that it's now anywhere between $3.50 and $4 a gallon, depending on where I look... and that's not even the hormone free/organic milk the kid loves so much! I've watched as the price of apples often sores to over $3 per pound. Bananas are often $0.50 or more per pound. Salad greens - romaine, leaf lettuce, even iceberg lettuce - are usually $2 or more a bunch, and for the three of us it usually takes at least 3 bunches for one week.

Am I shopping in the wrong places? Am I living in the wrong place? Sometimes I wonder.

I believe this topic will need further thought. Right now, I need sleep.

Money... (and stuff)

It's a very strange experience to be barely out of bed when I check the bank balance to verify a paycheck deposit, open my budget spread sheet, groggily blink at everything and realize that I've done such a good job on setting up the household finances that all I have to do is verify payments, update the balances on my spread sheets, and decide where the surplus goes. The experience becomes even more strange when I realize that the numbers are going up.

The emergency fund is growing.

The slush savings is growing.

Even the ING savings is growing.

And there's still money left over after all the regular monthly expenses for this half of the month are accounted for.

It's just... weird... for me. I'm sure it'll normalize eventually. I guess I'm still adjusting from having the majority of A.'s paychecks sucked up by debt to having actual surplus and wiggle room in the budget each pay period. Weird as it may be, it makes me giddy to see the balances on the savings (all three accounts) rising. It means things are moving in the right direction. And I like it when things move in the right direction.

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Another short 'to do' list for today. Besides cleaning the bathroom, it's mostly laundry and finalizing the grocery shopping list. A. has my car today so I might do some cleaning around here while I wait for him to come home. He's supposed to be home "around lunch".

K. is spending the night with my mother tonight. They have a tentative date for a drive-in and a car picnic. K. has never been to a drive-in so it's bound to be an experience for her.

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I have decided that I'll be going to the doctor some time this year (which reminds me, note to self: add HSA account to the budget book this weekend) and as such, I've also decided that until that time I'll be keeping a sort of health diary. I'm tired of every doctor I've ever seen telling me that whatever I'm complaining about (from joint pain to exhaustion to infected sinuses) is just a result of my weight when I KNOW that it's not (basically because the complaints either came before the weight or, in the case of infected sinuses, not weight related at all). So what's going in this nifty little health diary of mine are the things the next doctor needs to know about me: my daily weight, how much sleep I get and when, what I eat and when, what exercises I do and when, and how I feel in general, both emotionally and physically. Tedious? Yes. Necessary? I'm beginning to think so. I can't go for the rest of my life avoiding doctors because they piss me off by not being able to see past my weight. Yes, I know I need to lose weight, but don't blame everything that's wrong on my weight.

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Website update! I ordered the space for my website the other day and everything is transferred over and looks to be in running condition. www.consecratedheart.com I am happy.

I think it's time for another cup of tea. I know it's time to be poking at the laundry.