August Goals

Wow, it's already August in 2 days. I have to re-take the MPRE next Friday, and a week after that I'm back at school. Time is whizzing by...

• Study for, take (and pass!!) the MPRE
• Buy school books on Amazon (have to do this fast before the good deals are snatched up...) This was another ~$300 that had to go on the credit card. :( Even buying used, it really adds up!
  
• Schedule appointment w/gyno (I think this has been a goal for the past 3 mos! Can you tell I'm not excited about this one? :p)
• Book hotels in France/Germany (more about this in a later post...)
• Start learning basic French/German
  
• Put purses/clothes up for sale on ebay
• Gym 2x/week (maybe swim & elliptical)
  
• Swimming 2x/week (at an outdoor pool - I'm tired of being so pale!)
• Yoga 2x/week
• Keep up with readings for school (this is very important, since I'm going to be missing 2 weeks for the Europe trip...)

Credit Mentality

I was reading Debt and the City's post today about slipping into the credit mentality, and that "all it takes is one swipe" and I completely agree.

What drove me to that first swipe was likely a combination of stress from my move and from losing my job (all on the same day!). Since then, the stress has continued to pile on from unpacking (and subsequent feelings of suffocation), arguments/letters to the old landlord to try to get the security deposit back, finishing my paper and presentation, and dealing with a couple (thankfully minor) family emergencies.... the swipes have followed fervently behind.

The damage? I've spent about $3000 on a purse, shoes, and clothes (how quickly we fall into old habits!), not to mention all the money I've spent eating out with family and friends (neither M or I have cooked since we moved in... we only went to the grocery store for the first time a week ago).

I still haven't listed any of my old purses on ebay, so that will offset some of what I've spent (if all goes well, roughly half).

I'm going to wait for a few returns to post, add up every last cent I've charged to the credit cards, and then update my sidebars. And then I'll create a plan for tackling it! And I'm determined to fall back into the HEALTHY pattern I was in before we moved - namely, reacting to stress by exercising, NOT by spending! Not only have I been spending loads, I haven't been exercising at all... I am very disappointed in myself. :(

Busy

I've been neglecting the blog this past week, and I know why... I don't want to hold myself accountable for my recent spending. :p That and I've been writing a 25 page paper. Very, very slowly writing it. It's due Thursday afternoon, and then I'll have a real summer vacation for a couple weeks, so that's when I'll be updating my side bars and writing a post detailing exactly how much spending I've been doing.

Tonight I'm going to take a break from reality and go see Harry Potter with M. I actually get to see him before 8pm today!! The final project deadline was yesterday, and for the next month he'll just have some minor things to take care of (and then he gets a paid, full month off). The days of daily midnight working have passed! YAY. :) I anticipate lots of tennis, swimming, basketball, snuggling and video games (ok, mostly those last two ;))!

I got an award!

Thanks to Mydebtcomeback for the lovely Love Ya award! ;)

Here are the rules:
This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to six bloggers who must choose six more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I'm passing on the "Love Ya"s to these six bloggers:

1. Serendipity's Guide to Saving
   
2. M is for Money
   
3. Sense to Dollars
   
4. Beachgirl's Budget Blog
   
5. Living La Vida Broka
   
6. Moneyapolis
   

July Goals

• Finish presentation (due 7/13)
• Finish paper (due 7/23)
  
• Schedule appointment w/gyno
• Buy plane tickets to NY/book hotel
  
• Put purses/clothes up for sale on ebay
• Gym 2x/week (maybe swim & elliptical)
  
• Swimming 2x/week (at an outdoor pool - I'm tired of being so pale!)
• Yoga 2x/week

I'm postponing more personal training sessions at least until I start working a decent number of hours next month... I might be postponing them indefinitely. I'm going to try exercising on my own for awhile. I had a lot of fun with her, but I really can't be spending $120/mo right now. :(

The NY trip is up in the air... it depends on whether M will be done with his project before I start fall semester classes and whether I can earn enough money from my ebay sales. We'll see!!

My primary goals this month are to finish up my summer class and then really focus on exercising, reading fun books, and decorating the new apartment. :)

One Year

I missed my one year blogoversary by a day! Oh well. Better late than never. ;)

I've had a bit of a rough week and a half, what with losing my job and moving, and some credit card debt has begun to creep up on me again (I have to update my sidebars). But I feel very confident that I can tackle that on my own in the coming months (without large bailout loans from my bf!).

Overall, I think I'm in a better place than I was a year ago... I still love to shop, and I lust after expensive and shiny things, but I'm more aware of my limits. This blog has helped tremendously, and it's been fun to write! I hope it's been fun to read too. :) Thanks everyone, for coming along on my journey! Here's to another year of reformation... ;)

Internet has returned!

Whew. It's a good thing I was so busy with the move, otherwise I would've been writhing on the floor. :p Sure, I had my iphone, but it's not an entirely adequate substitute.

Anyway! The past week I've been up to one thing and one thing only - moving. We had movers last Saturday, but it's taking up until today to prepare the old apartment for the walkthrough and make the new apartment livable. Over the past two years, we've collected tons and tons of stuff!

The walkthrough was as infuriating as I thought it would be - the landlord wants to charge us for repainting (per an entirely illegal mandatory painting provision in the lease), and for "getting the apartment ready for the new tenants" (which, I might add, he hasn't found yet, and I hope he never finds because no one deserves to have that man as a landlord). Our money is supposed to be used for damage we caused, not to cover the expenses that he as a landlord is supposed to incur. I'm looking forward to battling it out with him. Since I have more time now, I better put it to good use!

Why do I have more time? I was FIRED from my job one week ago. Why was I fired? For taking a day off to move! That and apparently my boss was upset that, earlier in the week, after coming in on my day off as a favor to him, I left without asking his permission. I had been there 4 hours, we never agreed how long I would stay, and I had to leave. And no I wasn't going to waltz into a deposition and tell him I had to go! He fired his assistant a week earlier... after she thought she was having a stroke and had to leave early. It's pretty clear he doesn't care about the people who work for him... he just cares that they're in the office, to do his shit for him when he snaps his fingers. Definitely not a place I'd like to continue working after graduation! I'm glad I found out now...

A few more paychecks would have been nice though. :p I have my "back-up job" starting next month (the same job I worked all last year), so I'm not panicking.

I think the apartment (and my life) will be completely back in order a week from now. I can't wait to get back to a regular exercise routine, start cooking again (we've been eating out every day), and refocus on my goals.