Healthy Eating

I think it's really time for me to learn how to cook. M's work has been leaving him exhausted, disinterested in cooking dinner, and yearning for fast food (or expensive "gourmet" delivery aka Cheesecake Factory), which is bad, because I want to lose weight and I want to save money. So I've spent the past 2 hours compiling a list of healthy, easy, and fast recipes (I should be studying, but I've been having so much fun checking out allrecipes.com! ;))...

M doesn't like food plans (he thinks they're restrictive), so I'm going to make this flexible. I'm also going to earmark two days for fast food/delivery/dining out. Also, although last week I had time to do the dishes every day (had a few days off), I usually only have the time/energy to do it once during the week. So it'll be nice to have a couple days of no mess!

I'm aiming for 2 vegetarian meals, 1-2 fish meals, 1 chicken meal, and 1 red meat dinners per week. This is what I'm thinking about for this week (3/8-3/14):
--btw, these are all supposed to take only 15 mins prep AND cook time!!--

Vegetarian

• Greek garbanzo bean salad (can eat for a few days)
  
• Asparagus and tofu stir fry
  

Fish

• Steamed halibut with bok choy

Chicken

• Stir fried chicken and asparagus

Red Meat

• Take-out

MPRE

I have the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam aka legal ethics test) tomorrow, so I'm going to buckle down for a bit and study far away from the computer (because there are a million other things I want to do than study for this exam).

I was told this exam is "harder than the bar" - but I think that's just because no one studies much for it, so whether you pass or not is a crapshoot!

I can take it an unlimited number of times, but it's $60 (and $10 for parking - what a rip!) every time I do, so... I'm really hoping to pass!! Wish me luck. ;)

Update: It went... ok? My friend put it this way - "either we failed, or we passed!" Complete uncertainty walking out of that test. We'll see in 5 weeks (I can't believe it takes that long to score a scantron!)

Week 1 Spending

This week is almost over, so I thought I would take a look at my spending.

Included in Budget Skeleton
Rent: $1050 / 1050
Cells: $120 / 120
Food: $40 / 200 (edited on 3/7)
Drugstore: $0 / 20
Debt: $570 / 1139
Gas: $22 / 40
Health Insurance: $0 / 99
Total = $1762 / 2668

Not Included in Budget Skeleton
Kindle Books: $25
Dry cleaners: $40
Household: $14
Cook Book: $16 (added on 3/7)
Total = $95

Left to spend: $866 - 95 = $771

I'm going to take the $95 out of my food budget... not sure if I can only spend $65 on food for the rest of the month, but I'm sure gonna try.

Food Expenses

I've been bringing my lunch to work/school pretty much every day for the last month, and I've settled on a few foods that I now bring with me consistently. I noticed on someone's blog that they were trying to keep their daily cost down to $4/day. I thought it'd be interesting to calculate how much I'm spending every week.

My lunch (Tu-Th) consists of:

1. Naked Juice or Odwalla (whatever's on sale) - $2.50-3.50
2. Arrowhead bottled water - $.16 (3.99 for 24)
3. Croissant - $1.16 (3.50 for 3)
4. Slice of Ham - $.25? (4.50 for ? slices)
   
5. Slice of Cheese - $.60? (5.00 for ? slices)
   
6. 2 100 cal snack packs - $1.16 (2.50-3.50 for pack of 6)

Monday and Friday (the days I stay at home) I cut out the juice (I drink whatever's in the fridge) and substitute the croissant for a peanut butter sandwich. (I have two jars of peanut butter in the cupboard that have lasted me for months)

So that means I spend $6.83 three days out of the week, and $3.33 two days, for a total of $27.15/wk, or $108.60/mo.

At all other times, I'm either eating with M or friends and then it gets trickier to calculate. But $108 seems pretty reasonable, right? I could cut out the juice, maybe find a cheaper alternative? I'll have to think about it. I enjoy drinking it... makes me feel healthy. ;)

Pressure

Have any of you been getting pressure from relatives to buy property? I have my dad in one ear telling me it's the time to buy, and M's dad in the other ear saying the same thing.

I understand why they're doing it; partially because it IS a good time to buy (for those with the money), and partially because, I think, they wished they had bought something when they were my and M's age. Oh, and also because neither of them know the extent of my credit card debt. :p

I know that I am absolutely not financially ready to buy. M probably is, actually... but I think it would be smarter to wait until we're both ready. I don't think we need to be in as much of a hurry as the 'rents are suggesting... prices are still dropping! And hopefully the trend will continue for the next year. At that point, I won't be the poor student anymore and we can figure out for sure where we want to live for the next 5 years.

...Having said that, I will still obsessively stalk Redfin.com for pretty houses! Just looking, no touching. ;)

My Ideal Apartment

I've been thinking about apartments a lot lately, partially because we're moving in a few months and partially because I keep seeing "for rent" signs all over the place. (hopefully it'll be the same when we're actually looking!)

I came up with a list of things that my ideal apartment would have:

• at least 2 bedrooms, 2 baths (one in the living room/entrance area for guests; we have this... and a bathroom in the 2nd bedroom, which is useless)
  
• on the 2 streets w/bike paths, 1-2 miles west (I won't mention street names for anonymity's sake ;)); if I can't get that, it has to be no farther east than our street, or 3 miles max west of here
  
• not less than 1200 sq. ft. (we're in a 1400 sq. ft apt right now)
• new kitchen (I'm so tired of old appliances!)
• kitchen faucet with removable head
  
• hardwood floors in the living room, carpet in bedrooms (we have carpet everywhere now)
  
• mirrored closets (we have this)
  
• walk-in closet in 1 bedroom
• nice countertop in bathroom; new shower
• dual sinks in master bathroom (this isn't a deal breaker, but it'd be useful)
• washer/dryer in unit (this IS a deal breaker; we have this now, and I don't want to go back to lugging my stuff over to a laundry room)
  
• nice lobby
• 2 side-by-side parking spaces (we have tandem right now and it's a pain)
  
• pool for the building
• pleasant landlord! or professional management company
  
• no more than $1800

Unfortunately, for the location I want, that price is virtually impossible. But maybe I'll get lucky... prices do seem to be dropping. I think?

Fun Weekend

I had a lot of fun this weekend, but unfortunately it was a little expensive... and will be more expensive when I pay my friend back what I owe her.

Friday, I went to a friend's brother's surprise birthday party at a bar/restaurant that's known for their beers and burgers (he's a big fan of both). I like burgers, but am definitely not a fan of beer. I did find some apple cider beer that I really liked though. My friend bought me a drink and we shared a basket of fries, and then I turned around and bought her dinner (and another drink for myself). That was $22. Then I had the burger along with the rest of the table. I chipped in $20 to the bill. So I ended up spending $42. My wallet wasn't happy. :( My stomach wasn't happy with me either... Later that night, I had major stomach cramps. I rarely drink, so maybe it was that. Though both the burger (very pink) and pork belly (friend's dinner - I had a bite) were suspect. Regardless, I had a great time! Shared a lot of laughs. :)

Saturday, I saw Rent for the first time... my friend bought the tickets (and wouldn't let me pay her back! but I know I will eventually... whether covertly stuffing money into her bag, or taking her out to eat ;)), and my friend's brother paid for dinner (pizza) and parking. He felt bad that I had come early the night before to help my friend save a table, and bad that I had seen him "drunk" (he really wasn't! but the sentiment was cute).

So that was my last February weekend. I'm really going to watch myself this month... especially when it comes to spending and eating.