I also spent no money today, so there's my first no spend day for 2008. Here's to many more....

Gil, the grocer, delivered today.

Even though I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I partook in all the holiday deals and ended up spending $133 on $218 in food.

I bought stuff I know we'll definitely use in the coming weeks, plus a few things we'll only use if the grocery stores all close down and it's a toss up between eating over-processed chemical-laden foods or chowing down on toasted terrier and barbecued Bichon.

As long as I'm talking deals and the end of the world, I'll also share that I went to my local beauty supply store to get some shellack for my hair. That and some goo stuff that makes it look less like a football helmet and more like ... well ... a bad toupee.

The store was having a deal that if you buy two of a certain product line then you got one free. It just so happened my "beauty" products were part of the deal, so I ended up with an extra bottle of stuff to throw on the 'do.

I now have enough hair product to last me through Armageddon as well.

So I joined the ladies in the 'hood for a friendly game of bunko last night. It was the first time I played; and aside from the constant moving around, I rather enjoyed myself.

Of course, it helped that I came home with $5 more than I went with. ...

This month, I have managed to double my business income thanks to a huge project that I took on. This is a good thing since Christmas is coming. (It's also a good thing because I went a little wild last month and drained a savings account that I need to replenish.)

I also found out today that another huge project is coming my way in December, so it looks like the financial "fun" will continue.

I'm leaving next Wednesday for a chi-chi hotel with my husband and daughter. After a hellish Thanksgiving last year, we decided to blow off both sides of the family and create a new tradition that is simply ours. It won't be a cheap Thanksgiving, but then I won't end up in the mental institution or in jail for tossing a turkey at a relative.

As long as I'm babbling on about things that are not even remotely related, I'll continue....

I've been enjoying Broken Arrow's slow-cooker chronicles. Personally, I rarely use the slow cooker because I found that after a while all the meals that came out of it started tasting the same.

Which reminds me that I'm still enjoying the

Quick-Fix Meals cookbook that I checked out from the library. I did buy a copy for $5 on Amazon that was marked as "nearly new." It was pristine, so I decided to give it to my sister for Christmas. However, I'm still going to buy my own copy at a later date.

Last nights' meal out of the book was a chicken enchilada dish that was yummy.

Tonight I've been invited to play Bunko with some neighborhood moms. I've never played Bunko, but rumor has it money could exchange hands so I figured it was worth an evening out on the town.

If I should "strike it rich," I'll let you all know in the morning.

As the end of the month is fast approaching, I'm tallying up the monthly spending plan and it ain't pretty.

I've gone over in numerous categories and right now am "overdrawn" by $854. Technically, I'm not "overdrawn" to anyone but myself since the shortage is covered by one of my savings accounts. But I'm falling back into my old habit of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

My biggest problem area is eating out. Aside from the fact that I spent way more on food during a four-day trip with my husband earlier in the month, I've gone out for dinners here at home just because I haven't felt like cooking.

I also spent more on medical than I had planned to since my daughter had to have a vision therapy evaulation, which involves a $200 doctor visit -- not covered by insurance ($@$@!&$ insurance companies....)

Then there was the little issue of my utility bill being paid for twice due to user error when adjusting an auto bill pay with the bank. (Yes, I screwed up....)

The good news is I made $668 more than I anticipated I would this month. This allowed me to put more into savings and toward debt repayment. Of course, if I had known I was going to overspend, I could have put more toward the categories where I was over but it's always best to sock a little something away in savings and throw extra toward the creditors every now and then.

Hey, look at that ... two posts in two days. I'm on a roll!

If you look to your left, you'll see I've updated the debt and savings figures. The debt is very slowing going down and the savings is slowly going up. The savings could have gone up faster if I hadn't just spent $5,500 on a new fence. But it's a beautiful new fence and the dogs are happy with it, so I can't complain.

No, we don't have any. But we did just go see the animated rat movie, Ratatouille, at our local dollar theater and I have to say it was a very enjoyable experience made even better by the fact that we didn't have to take out a second mortgage to do so.

I often forget about the dollar theater, but I think it's going to be the first place I look for what's showing the next time I'm up for a movie outing.

The total cost for three of us was $16.50, which included admission, a big bag of popcorn, three drinks and a bag of Skittles for the sugar fiend.

If we had seen the movie at the regular movie theater, I'm guessing it would have cost the three of us $50.

I probably could have gotten by with spending even less by either eating before we went or sneaking food in, but there's no beating movie theater popcorn in my book. Since we rarely go to the movies, I figured it wouldn't hurt to pay for the real thing.

As for the movie, it's very cute, but it did leave me starving for something other than popcorn, so dinner is calling now....

As my husband prepares to start his new job, I'm hashing out all the little financial details to make the transition go smoother for all involved -- mainly our creditors.

The extra income from the first paycheck will be going back in our fence fund. We used the original fence money to buy my husband a bunch of new suits this weekend since the new job requires that he wears a suit every day instead of his usual slacks and dress shirt.

After the first month, we will start divvying up the extra income into thirds, with a third going toward debt, a third going toward savings and a third going toward current expenses (i.e. vision therapy).

I did the math the other day and if we stay on track we should have all our debt paid off within 5 to 7 years. Also, once the vision therapy is done, we will be able to afford a car payment so we can replace my husband's van, which is on its last wheels. However, before we buy a new car, I want to sock away a huge down payment so it'll probably be more like a year from now before we go car shopping.

We have also decided to pay someone to replace the fence instead of doing it ourselves. I plan on getting estimates next month and then getting work done in September or October.

Meanwhile, my husband left me with all the automatic deposit and withholding paperwork to fill out this morning. Pretty funny given my history with banking....

My husband took a bad fall on his bike trip. He got back on, though, and made it all the way home. But when he got here last night I thought we were going to be spending some time in the doctor's office this week.

He's missing big chunks of flesh all over his body. The biggest missing part being the size of a platter on his hip and butt.

Now that his personal medical team has dispersed, I'm in charge of changing the surgical dressing each day until he leaves for his next trip (which will be tomorrow). We went to Walgreens to get bandages and antibacterial ointment; and left $37 poorer.

I did pick up an Easy Saver catalog while there and am thinking about taking advantage of some of their deals. I'd be interested to hear from others who shop there to see if it's worth it. Also, is it worth paying the extra money for the Grocery Game list of deals at Walgreens?

As promised, I considered all your money-saving advice (from all two of you)....

Question: Do you eat out or have a coffee habit? Do you have a soft drink habit? Smokes? Magazines? Books?

Answer: We eat out maybe once a week. I believe in not living a life of deprivation so my monthly spending plan includes an "eating out" category with $255 in it.

I don't have a coffee or soft drink habit. I don't smoke. And all my books, magazines and DVDs come from the library.

Question: Do you keep a record of what you spend? It's quite surprising when you see it in black and white - your areas of waste show up quite clearly.
And don't forget to check out the bigger areas - like getting a better deal on insurance, comparing power providers etc.

Answer: I am an active participant in a 12-step program for compulsive debtors (DA). And, as a result, religiously record every time I spend. And, I haven't forgotten to check on the bigger areas. I'm getting a great deal on insurance and I only have one choice for power in my area.

Any other ideas?

I try not to post more than once a day, but I just have to say that whenever I read blogs about saving money by anyone 25 and under, it brings a smile to my face -- especially when I see 17 and 18 year olds starting Roth IRAs and working so hard to reach their financial goals. These folks have it figured out. Too bad I didn't at that age....

Thanks to a slight decline in some stock holdings, my contingency fund fell $374.47.

I can't complain, though, because overall this stock has done very well throughout the years and I do expect it to bounce back.

In the past, I wouldn't have even noticed this drop in stock value because of my chronic case of vagueness when it comes to my finances. But, I'm happy to say, that I am now learning to live in clarity when it comes to money, so there's hope for me yet.

You'll notice I updated my debt and savings figures. Fortunately, the debt did go down ever so slightly and the savings did go up.

In my vagueness, I still haven't figured out all the pension account balances and such. But, it is on my "to do" list -- along with 100 other things.

As I tally my spending plan up for the last four weeks, I've noticed a huge drop in spending for groceries -- to the tune of $300 saved.

How did I accomplish this?

Well, primarily by not going to the grocery store.

Yes, you heard me right. I QUIT going to the grocery store to shop. Instead, I'm having the groceries delivered from my local store. The $9.95 delivery fee and $5 in tips to the delivery person each week is nothing compared to the money I used to spend on impulse purchases.

Not to mention, I also find myself buying more store brands now because I actually see the huge difference in price between the generic stuff and the name-brand items. The grocery store's online shopping feature lists items from cheapest to most expensive, so I can easily see what's going to be the best deal. And, guess what? The generic stuff really does taste the same.

Yeah, well, I know that would make him happy too, but we're talking about something else here....

We're talking CAFFEINE!!!

Yes, in addition to his little alcohol fetish, my husband has become a coffee freak of late. He says it's my fault because I "made" him go to Starbucks in Times Square last fall and I "made" him get a grande mocha -- even though I personally don't drink mocha or any type of coffee for that matter. Now he has to have a coffee or two every day.

As we all know, though, that can get expensive and we are trying to pay off the debt here so Starbucks twice a day is just not going to happen.

Instead, my husband has been scoring his caffeine from the free dispenser at work. (At least he says it's free. For all I know, he's been stealing it in a fit of caffeine-induced insanity.)

But what to do on the weekends? Ummmm.... Perhaps make coffee at home????

The problem is that we don't have a coffee maker -- at least my husband didn't think we did. So last night he asked me to find a used coffee maker when our neighborhood holds its community garage sale in June. (An annual rite of passage each summer in the suburbs, followed immediately thereafter by "Big Trash Pick-Up Day.")

I, however, did one better than that. I climbed up to the tallest shelf in the kitchen and dug way back behind all the unused kitchen gadgets. Lo and behold what did I find but a two-cup coffee maker that I have owned since my days as a single girl living large in the big city.

Oh, but wait, we have no coffee filters for the cute little coffee maker.... Once again, I did some digging around where no woman dared to tread in at least a decade or two and found the filters as well. (OK, actually, I made my husband dig those up, but I did tell him where to find them....)

So you think all this would have landed me a big kiss or at least a "Thank you, honey, you're GREAT!"

Not even!

Instead, the caffeine fiend ran out the door as fast as he could and sprinted to the nearest grocery store in search of coffee beans.

This morning I walked in the front door after my run and was greeted by the smell of freshly made coffee. And, oh yeah, a very happy husband. To think I didn't even have to put out.....

(I just need to preface this post by saying that I do not drink unless I'm sitting on a beach and I'm having a frou-frou drink with an umbrella sticking out of it.....)

Last night my family attended a birthday dinner for my husband's brother, who will be moving to the Pacific Northwest soon. As my brother-in-law prepares for his move, he is cleaning out his condo in order to sell it. He decided that my husband should be the recipient of his entire bar collection.

When my husband told me this on the way over to the party, I envisioned bringing home a few bottles of whatever. What I forgot was that said brother-in-law used to be a bartender and had been collecting a vast range of alcohol for years.

As a result, we came home with three huge -- and overflowing -- boxes of alcohol, most of which has barely been open.

My husband enjoys a glass of wine or two with dinner, but he essentially now has the makings of his own neighborhood bar. We're talking BIG bar here, folks.

If I were doing the $20 challenge, I'd say we just saved at least $500 -- if not more -- on alcohol. But since I'm not doing the challenge, all I have to say is:

CHEERS!

I've discovered the key to not spending money -- don't leave your basement all day.

Yes, I hibernated in the basement office working and as a result have my first no-spend day since starting my blog.

I should be jumping for joy, but tomorrow I have to pay $20 for Mini Me's OT appointment; plus the housekeeper is coming so that's $80; and the dog is going to the groomer, which will cost $50.

Maybe I should just barricade myself in the basement for the rest of the month...

I've noticed numerous postings on emergency funds lately and I have to say that for all of you building up those EFs one dollar at a time "Good for you!"

I have a lot of debt (look to your right if you don't believe me), but I also have a lot of savings (look to the right again...)

So why don't you just use some of that savings to pay off your debt, you may be wondering?

Ummm ... well, let's see:

1. I'd like to be able to keep paying my bills and feeding my family should my husband or I ever lose our jobs or get too sick to work.
2. I'm old (but not as old as my husband) and would like to some day retire and not be eatin' Alpo.

So whether it's an emergency you're saving for or retirement or a new fence, keep up the good work on the savings front. (And, no, I'm not laughing at those of you with $40 in your emergency funds!)

I hauled two GIGANTIC Tupperware containers full of change to the bank this morning -- almost throwing out my back in the process -- and was delighted to find that I had amassed $348.02 in pennies, quarters, nickles and dimes. It's currently all residing in my checking account, but I'm debating between putting it in the new car fund or the new fence fund.

Meanwhile, here are some other things I found in the coin jar:

$11.50 in Pesos
$1.10 in Euros
500 Yen
2 safety pins
2 buttons
1 flimsy metal ring that looked like it held a key at some point
1 gold circle that's the size of an eraser head
1 McDonald's Monopoly piece good for a free small drink (expired in 1996)
Enough lint to fill two or three belly buttons

All but the foreign money now resides in the trash.