We've been looking for new furniture since we moved in. And we found it and decided what we wanted awhile ago. We finally decided to make the purchase this week. We bought three pieces of leather, a couch, love seat and push back chair (recliner). With taxes, delivery and some leather protection warranty, we paid $2,921. We receive our furniture on Monday!

I think I mentioned that we got around $1400 for damage done to some of our furniture during the move. We are applying all of that to the purchase. I'm going to throw some snowflakes at it in addition to using some savings. Eventually we hope to sell one sofa that is replacing so that should help a little, too.

The latest snowflake is $12 from Pinecone. CrazyLibLady mentioned that the $3 cash out option was back! She was right, so I used my 1200 points for $12. I expect that money in my PayPal account tomorrow. Which reminds me I had another small sale on eBay for which I probably gained $4.50 after fees. The little amounts add up!

I'm nearly done with all Christmas tasks...yes, shopping is done, wrapping is complete, some gifts mailed. Just working on the menu and getting grocery list together. Oh, and I need to send our eCard yet as well. Otherwise, I'm just enjoying the season!

We received our 'refund of premium' from USAA. We get one every year. And each year it seems to go up! Last year it was $69. This year $81.12. This sort of makes up for the fact that our auto insurance rates went up when we moved.

I don't have specific plans for the money other than to save the money. I'll count it as a snowflake for the month. I'm guessing it might help cover the cost of college books in the spring. Or could offset the money spent for our adopted family. However, I think that actually ended up being covered by our Christmas budget!

Today, I'm spending money on postage to mail two gifts. I bought fuel for my van. Later I'm getting a haircut. We are also out of coffee, so need to pick that up! Dinner is planned for here at home tonight. We may have lunch out tomorrow as we will be viewing our daughter in the Christmas parade downtown.

I'd like to think it will be at least a low spend weekend, so we don't have much more to spend until payday! And as I write that I've been thinking about doing a no spend month, likely in February. It's the shortest month, even with it being a leap year! And I think it may be one where we don't have as much going on. Has anyone done a no spend month recently, ever or want to?

Apparently we took out cash last month at enough places to get our ATM fees refunded to the tune of $11.25! I'm thankful our bank refunds these (only up to $15), but I don't like that we paid them in the first place.

I did find (and told my husband) about ATMs around us that do not charge fees for withdrawals. Another thing you have to adjust to when you move!

We just booked an airline ticket for our daughter to come home for about 13 nights. It could have been longer, but she needs to go with the marching band to the bowl game before she returns home. She will be in California on Christmas Day as it turns out. The cost was just over $600! I would have booked much, much earlier, but couldn't until we knew the whole bowl schedule. I should get her spring break trip booked right now, too.

We are helping buy gifts for a family in need. It was a last minute decision on our part. The gifts need to be dropped off on Monday.

Under the heading of toys for a 13 year old girl is listed Educational Books. Thoughts on that? My sister said all books are educational. However, I wonder if non fiction is the direction they are pointing. Or possibly trying to avoid certain types of teen novels.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to read them. We are shopping later tonight or tomorrow morning with our 15 year old daughter that probably will be a great help, too.

I'm terrible at remembering we have savings that earns interest. Maybe because it isn't much. One account earned $25, while two CDs earned almost $29 in the month of November. We also deposit $25 into a savings account as part of the agreement on one of the CDs. So we are accumulating $75+ each month. Not a lot but it counts!!

I sold another item on eBay yesterday. Already paid and mailed! That is another $12 added to the $63 profit. If the buyer of an auction that ended Monday would pay I have ANOTHER $12 to add. Hoping the payment is soon. I also have a bid on another item!

I mentioned photo books a few posts back. I did get one complete for my parents. It was $9.99 plus $7.99 shipping. It has photos of the grandchildren. It will arrive in time to wrap and mail for Christmas. I think I can fit it in a Flat Rate Priority envelope, so shipping should only be an additional $6. I debated about having it sent direct, but it seemed less personal. Nice gift for less than $25.

I paid all the current credit card spending. One card had over $1200 on it! But since we use YNAB, I knew the money was there to pay it. Our available spending is a bit sparse for the next two weeks, since there was a little overspending on our Thanksgiving trip. I don't think it should impact us much, since we just plan to stay home and do minimal outings.

That's what my husband is giving me for Christmas. I found them refurbished on eBay today. The actual amount was less because I had a $2.28 Ebates payment in my PayPal account that arrived last week.

It does seem I often buy my own Christmas gifts. I was contemplating a FitBit, but knew if I said that to DH he would head to Best Buy and pay full price. (He doesn't shop around for the best price.) When I saw them on eBay today, I jumped on it. I feel better trying it at that price. And that puts it in budget for our spending!

I listed more items on eBay yesterday and have five items ending today. I'll sell at least $68 worth!

I'm going to buy the last two gifts, other than stocking stuffers, today! So excited to be nearly done with the shopping. And I think I'm on budget too.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted on my own blog for over a week! We did start traveling last Monday night, so that obviously had an impact.

We just arrived home today. I have not yet, caught up YNAB with all of our spending. Many things have been entered, just not everything. So I really need to go through and see what we missed. My husband is much better at logging these right away. I usually wait until I am home. I hope the damage wasn't too bad. I know I allocated some money to several of the expenses.

Tomorrow is payday, so the money will be there to pay anything we didn't specifically budget for.

I'm nearly done with Christmas shopping. I only made one online purchase on Friday, but it helped wrap up the items I'm getting my husband. He had added something I wanted to the cart, so I ordered my own gift! I used the American Express card and will get $15 back after our purchase posts.

Are you done with your shopping? Did you travel for Thanksgiving?

We are going out to dinner tonight with the couple that let my husband stay with them for a few months before the rest of us moved here. It's a bit of a pay back dinner. They got to choose. It's a restaurant my husband and I have not been to, but the couple advise the bill could easily reach $30 a person for food and drinks. Not terrible, but not frugal either.

I don't really want to spend the money, but I'm hoping the time out will be enjoyable. And paying for a meal out is way cheaper than my husband paying for housing out of pocket while we still had a mortgage payment.

Are you eating in on this Saturday evening or going out to dinner?

I'm still doing eCards in early December, and skipping the traditional pictures and cards. However, I'm in the process of making two photo gifts. Neither one is specifically for Christmas.

The first one is for my sister and her family. They adopted a 9 year old girl this August. She had been placed with them in August of 2014. We don't live nearby so I wasn't in a rush to have a gift for the big day. I finally decided that a photo album of pictures from the first year would be welcome. My sister is extremely busy with her new life as a parent, and as a kindergarten teacher. I did have to tell her about the gift since I would need her help to obtain enough pictures. She was thrilled!! The book is over 40 pages at this point. I'm just waiting for a few more photos.

The second photo album is for my parents, the grandparents of my new niece and my children. Their album will be pictures of all the grandchildren from the last 15 months or so. I gave them a photo book two years ago and they LOVED it. It is always out on their coffee table. I've only just begun this album, but I think it will come together a little quicker because I'm limited myself to the basic 20 pages. I also chose a size that is on sale for just $9.99 plus shipping. We have come to the conclusion that since we won't be together for Christmas we don't need to exchange gifts. But since I have this idea that I know they will love and the price is right I'm doing it anyway. They also have an anniversary just 2 days after Christmas, so I can consider it an anniversary gift too.

I won't order the photo book for my sister and her family until I know for sure that I can get at least 40% off. I'm using Snapfish which currently has 50% off.

Do gift photo gifts or send photos with cards?

My youngest daughter has wanted a Wii U for over a year now. There are some new games she wants to play. I've put it off since we already own a Wii. However, she asked for one AGAIN for Christmas. So this time, I'm giving in. She is willing to pay a portion, up to half actually. I'm doing my best to get the best deal...primarily by buying used.

I purchased an Wii U with several games for $300 the other day on eBay. My ballpark for just the Wii U was $200. I kept missing out on auctions and Buy It Now offers because other people were willing to pay more. This seller had six games (including one with lots of accessories) included. At least two of the games were ones my daughter wanted. And even used would have cost me $80. I plan to sell at least three of the games to help offset the cost. I think I can sell for $65.

Another way to get the cost of this new system down is to sell the old Wii. My older daughter needs to decide if she wants to have it for her dorm room. I think she is leaning towards no. It won't bring much money, but maybe $40. And then the girls need to determine if there are any other games we already own that they want to sell. The games will still work with the new system.

I also bought another game she was interested in for an amazing deal...Lego Dimensions. It costs $99.99 normally. Which is a CRAZY price for game!!!! I was able to get Target to price match it to Amazon for $84.99, then used a 35% Cartwheel offer for the game, and a 10% off gaming coupon, a $10 gift card and 5% off with my Red card to get the purchase price under $40. I grabbed the deal because I knew it was a super price. I'm not entirely sure that I will give it though. It may get returned if I decide it is too much (I normally only spend $150 on each child)! I may save it for her birthday in July. Or I could even sell it and make a little profit.

I'll have to let you know what the final cost of this gift ends up being after I do so selling in the next few weeks!

Does anyone else have a gamer in their family? Do you have ways to keep your costs down? Have you ever bought used for Christmas (I have!)?

It's been a pretty good day for a birthday. I'm a low key kind of gal who doesn't need much to be happy. But I enjoyed phone calls from my mother and best friend. We ate dinner in tonight, but my husband surprised us with cupcakes! There were also a few gifts: a pair of slippers and a new CD of Christmas music. A couple items I asked for.

I also received a $100 check from my parents. I'm not sure exactly what my plans are for that money. Maybe a new sweatshirt!

I redeemed my Swagbucks last night for a $25 Amazon gift card. It arrived today! I was a little disappointed to learn that my birthday Swagbucks were 55 SwagUps! I should have waited one more day to redeem. I'm sure there will be another redemption before my SwagUp expires.

I spent the Amazon gift card, plus two others worth $30 to purchase some Christmas gifts. I only paid $8 out of pocket on a $63 order. Very pleased with that!

If you want to catch up with my Christmas planning and preparations, check out my other blog,

Your Organized Friend.

The milder weather has meant a much lower electric bill. Our largest one was this August after moving in. It was over $300! I know much of that was the incredibly high heat, humidity and having doors open, going in and out many, many times.

I did unplug our second fridge that is in the garage within the last month. We used it rather full this summer, but we stopped stocking as many beverages. At times it was nearly empty. So unplugging made a difference I'm sure. Along with much milder weather!

I unplugged a few clocks, and have made a point of keeping some lights that I think are high energy users limited in use.

The new electric bill due at the beginning of December is $130.58. Last month the bill was $185.82. The month before it was $279! Can you see why I like these lower bills?

Are any of your utility bills lower this month?

I got my flu shot today. I don't always get them even though covered in full by our insurance. We are traveling over the holiday and I feel there's an increased chance of catching it! My daughter will get hers in about 10 days when they have a Saturday clinic.

We purchased just one new strand of holiday lights this year. I recycled three at Home Depot last week that didn't work. I really only needed one more set for our second tree. I also picked up an automatic timer. Cost at Home Depot was about $12.

We stopped by Fresh Market to buy some food items for gifts. One is for a birthday. Another to include with a Christmas gift. And the others for stockings. We spent nearly $20 on those. The nice thing about food items as gifts is they are generally consumed and don't add to the clutter of someones home!

With some planning and creative thinking one doesn't have to spend much on Christmas. We have drastically cut our budget with fewer people to purchase for. I'm also using Swagbucks, Bing Rewards and credit card rewards to off set some spending as well. I would have skipped those new lights I mentioned as well as the pricier food gifts too if I didn't already have a plan to pay for them.

This blogger has a list of ten free and almost free gifts to consider to reduce your holiday spending. I thought some of them were very clever!

Have you saved for Christmas? Will you make a budget? How do save on Christmas expenses?

We went to the grocery store (commissary) Saturday rather than our usual Sunday. We were wanting to combine trips, so we went early. I thought I had my list complete. It seems that was not the case. I've discovered about six things I still need. So I will go to a more local store today to pick those things up.

Prior to this trip, we have spent $207 on groceries. I would guess another $20 and we should be good through mid month.

I'm realizing I need to start using our Amex card for groceries. We have the Blue Cash Everyday which provides 3% back on groceries and 2% on gas stations. I know there is an American Express that offers 6% but I believe that one has an annual fee. I never used the American Express before because we did so much of our grocery shopping at Super Target and used our Red Card for 5% off.

I will talk with my husband about this and see if he is willing to work with two cards for purchases. We usually just work with one at a time, so this would be a change.

Do you forget things on your grocery list sometimes too? Which rewards card(s) do you use for groceries?

Did you know if you have an Amazon Prime membership you now get access to some music for free. This morning I was reminded of Harry Connick Jr's new album. I looked it up on Amazon...and it's free because of our Prime membership. I was originally going to tell my husband to get it for my birthday later this month. I guess not since it is free.

Because of my birthday this month, I have been given some coupons to use: $10 to Kohl's and $5 from Famous Footwear (there's not even one in my state). I will use the Kohl's coupon because I have several I can combine. In fact, I think I'll buy myself a birthday gift with these coupons. My husband wouldn't mind being off the hook for the purchase. I also have $10 in JCPenney rewards to use this month as well. Time to shop...hopefully for free!

Our spending seems to be right on track this month for what we've budgeted for everyday expenses. Payday is actually next Friday already! Early since the 15th falls on a Sunday.

We're going to what I think is the last football game of the season...maybe more if they go to playoffs which is actually likely. The coach of this team is a former NFL player (isn't that cool?). So we'll spend about $20, $14 just for admission and at least another $3 for dinner as my daughter is starving by third quarter. This is budgeted under entertainment.

No particular plans for the weekend. We might get some new Christmas lights. I have a post scheduled tomorrow on

Your Organized Friend about checking on our holiday lights.

We are trying to keep spending to a minimum because of our upcoming trip and recent car repairs. So far it seems to be working. I do credit YNAB for helping my husband and I be on the same page.

My daughter's both have ideas for Christmas. And so does my husband. Our youngest daughter wants a Wii U. Those are nearly $300 new. That is twice what I normally spend on them. We already told her she may need to chip in, which she was fine with. I may be able to snag used on eBay or locally on Craigslist or Facebook, preferably under $200. The other daughter has a list of graphic t shirts she is interested in. She also wants a wireless adapter for the drawing tablet she got last year. Those things I can snag pretty easily. I guess I need to get back to Bing and Swagbucks and accumulate more Amazon gift cards.

Do you use Amazon Prime Music? How is your spending so far this month? Are you planning Christmas gifts yet?

I was at Walmart last night to buy gum for my daughter. She paid for it out of her allowance. We stock up with three packs at a time, so her cost was $2. In the candy aisle I found my favorite flavor of candy canes. Wintergreen. I feel like I have been searching a couple years for this flavor. So I bought them for $2, along with the traditional peppermint flavor that was just $1. I had that item on my baking list, so I can cross one thing off.

My primary errand last night was actually the library. I had a book that was due. I had tried to renew it online, but my account showed expired. I vaguely remember there was a three month 'trial' or 'probation' period. I also had a feeling my daughter owed a library fine for two books we never got notice about their due date. So, I returned the book, renewed both our cards for three years (no charge), and paid her fine. The fine was $7.60! Two books that were overdue by nearly three weeks. I also got her account set up to send us email notification of due dates. We usually rely on those notifications. And these are newer accounts in our new town. We should be able to avoid any more fees in the future.

The reference to my baking list above can be found on

Your Organized Friend. I'm doing a lot of planning for Christmas now, so I can be less stressed in December to enjoy the season. You can do it too!

Geez. It starts with needing an oil change. Then noticing the vehicle states a code indicating tire rotation, and spark plugs need to be done. Then my husband reminds me the back rear window has been getting stuck and the motor is probably out. Yep, confirmed by the dealership. Oh and yes, you need new rear brakes!

It's all done. And the bill was $946 AFTER our 10% military discount.

We only budget $250 for this pay period towards the first three things. Clearly the other two were more expensive! I did find $100 in a buffer emergency account and $30 in home maintenance that can be applied. There is probably more. Luckily next pay period we should have some 'extra' cash to help get it paid off.

And yes, we have a healthy emergency fund...just trying not to see this as an emergency!

I must say this makes me so grateful for our Christmas fund. I've been saving $50 each month to accumulate $600 by the beginning of December. I have no worries with this big repair bill that our Christmas holiday would be impacted. I do only have eight people (including my husband and myself) that we are buying for this year. We have cut way back. In fact, I'm telling others to keep their money and spend it on their own holiday rather than on us. We don't need anything. And if we do we can buy it ourselves.

How much do you spend on vehicle maintenance each year? I actually have no clue. Time to dig out repair receipts for the last few years.

We have our van at the car dealership for maintenance today. We needed an oil change and tire rotation. We are also doing a tune up (spark plugs). These were all suggested by our vehicle's on board computer.

We decided to have them look at a rear window that hasn't been able to roll up and down properly. In fact we sort of stopped using it since we didn't want it to get stuck in the down position. It was $50 to diagnose which they apply to the repair. The repair is $400 because new parts are needed. I don't want to pay for it honestly. If it were just me, I simply not use it. But husband wants to take care of it while it is there. It's not in the current budget at all. We do have plenty of cash in the emergency fund. But this isn't an emergency is it?

We are also getting our rear brakes replaced. We knew these were coming up, but have not kept it on our minds since we moved. Now is the time. $270 to complete that maintenance work.

I guess this dealership provides a 10% discount for military, so that will help shave some money off the costs of the repairs.

Why is car maintenance so annoying?!

If you have read my other blog,

Your Organized Friend, in the last couple days you know I'm starting my Christmas planning. One thing I'm trying to decide on for simplicity sake is Christmas cards. I sent them last year. I probably spent $30 between photos and stamps for 35 cards. I bought the cards on clearance the year before, so that was the least expensive option.

This year I'm considering eCards. I can get a one month membership to American Greetings for $3.99 or Hallmark for $5. Each membership is unlimited cards for the period of the membership. I could also get longer memberships that would bring the per month cost down. Both sites allow the card to be sent to Facebook(and some other social media sites) and/or email. I would still have to mail one or two cards to a couple people who are not online (my mother in law, who is 80 is one).

I'm considering doing this to save time for me, the clutter for others, money for us and keep my stress level low. You can tell me if you think it's tacky, but I don't care entirely what others might think. I'm still making an effort to connect, just a different form. I could opt out of the Christmas card giving all together, but I don't think I'm ready for that.

What are your thoughts on eCards?

We have $231 left in our everyday budget categories on this last day of October. My husband is going to get gas today. And after that I really don't expect any spending today. We have $35 in our wallets that should cover the admission to the final band competition this evening.

I would guess YNAB users would be encouraged to roll those numbers into the next month. I think this is how living on last months income is suppose to be built up. However, I'm playing a little catch up with some recent spending for airline and college football tickets. I'm going to move the rest into the Vacation Fund which is where I put those expenses. As a result the vacation category is negative right now. I think I can get most of it funded by the time the charge for airline tickets is due in late November.

I can at least make payments on all the other cards we have been spending money on because the money is already there in the budget to pay them. I love it! So easy to know we haven't overspent on those.

No spending on Halloween Candy this year. Or costumes. The owner of this house we are renting said to expect 200 trick or treaters! I guess since it is a nicer neighborhood people bring their kids here to get candy. I'm actually glad we have somewhere else to be!

Today is the last day of my 31 Days of Decluttering and Organizing on

Your Organized Friend. If you are looking for some ideas to tackle while you hand out candy tonight be sure to check out the entire series. Starting tomorrow I'm going to write about Christmas planning.

I stopped by Best Buy today and was able to get customer service to apply the 10% off coupon I tried to use at the time of purchase last week. Last week they refused because they had priced matched the item. This week item is on sale for same price as we priced matched for. I did make note that if I were to return item and purchase it today they would take coupon because they were not price matching. Woman seemed to get that and took care of it. $40.67 back in our pocket.

I proceeded to go buy fuel for my van. I did buy the premium since we seem to get better gas mileage. I spent $37.09. This leaves us with just under $16 in our fuel budget through Saturday.

I realized my daughter really wasn't wearing the second pair of khaki pants to school. I asked if they could be returned and she agreed. I have a credit balance of $18.19 on our Citi card now.

And finally it was time to shop for some warm weather gear. It shouldn't get that cold here where we live, but we are going back to the Midwest and will be seeing an outdoor football game in late November...to see my daughter play and march with the marching band. We need to be prepared for the cold. I purchased one pair of long underwear pants and lightweight down coat for my daughter. After $20 of Kohl's cash, a $10 coupon, and a 25% off coupon my total was $35.29 for items that would have been over $132 if they weren't on sale. I'm thinking my daughter could actually layer her coats. Not sure what she will think though

I ended up spending more than I returned or got back, but I'm still happy with the results. I wish I had thought to get gas after having the khaki's returned. I would have used that credit card! Oh, well there will be other spending at some point.

My information was stolen from the government along with my husband's and 21.5 MILLION other people this summer. Ironically just this week the Army posted reminders about how to avoid identity theft. As if we only need to do these things to avoid theft of identity. What about our own government keeping the information provided to them safe?

We have been given three years of credit monitoring including our daughter under 18. Not sure about our oldest daughter seems she should get it too. She may be notified separately. There is identity restoration service and $1 million worth of insurance attached to this as well in case our identities are stolen causing financial harm.

Ick. Sometimes I really do dislike the government!

Oh, and the insurance company for the moving company is offering us $1400 of the $2600 we claimed for the damage they did to our things. One of the items that is damaged the most is being denied! We can appeal. We are going to discuss tonight to determine if we will or not.

Everything that was moved was put on an inventory. The driver logs it along with current damage. He seems to have logged damage on an entertainment center that would match the area we are claiming, but I think his notes were for other damage in that same area...not the big damage we now have and didn't have before. It is really hard to prove this unless we had up close pics before, which we don't. Why would we take a close up of the corner of furniture when it wasn't damaged? It appears someone attempted to repair the area with wax, marker and spray stain. It looks awful. And I feel so mad when I think about it.

I'm working on calculating our net paychecks for next year. I won't really have all information until January, but I have the taxable portion so I should be able to roughly calculate taxes owed for 2016. I need to know this to figure the withholding necessary. I was way off this year since I hadn't figured out the tuition tax credits. The main reason I want to figure net pay is so I can determine if we can actually afford this Europe trip my daughter wants to take. It is a trip that will cost us close to $5K. It is definitely something to plan for and figure out.

After making the meal plan yesterday, I need to start working on the grocery list. I will start with ingredients needed for the meals and add on other items we need closer to my actual shopping trip.

My daughter lost the end cap to her flute head joint at the football game on Friday night. We looked it for it, but she was all over the school grounds that night. I found one on Amazon for this specific brand of flute. It is $8.98 with shipping. I had Citi Thank You Reward points and a gift card from Bing Rewards that I applied to it to make it zero out of pocket.

My husband received $100 from my parents for his birthday. He's applying those funds to his birthday gift(a sound bar) purchase which was over $200 after we used gift cards. My parents didn't send cash last year, so I thought they were done after sending us cash for many, many years. I need to go back to Best Buy and see if I can get them to apply a 10% off coupon. I tried when we bought it, but because they were price matching they wouldn't accept it. Now the item is on sale on their website for that amount we price matched for. So if I bought it this, we should be able to use the coupon. That coupon amounts to $37 and worth the effort I think! I let you know how that goes.

We currently have $20 worth of Kohl's cash because my husband and I bought running shoes earlier this month. A pair of jeans were also purchased. So now I need to decided how to spend our Kohl's cash. I even have a 25% off coupon and another $10 off a $10 purchase coupon I should be able to stack with the Kohl's cash. Right now I'm think of practical items: gloves, long underwear, shirts for my daughter. It seems I could get a couple of those for free or very little out of pocket.

I ordered an item from Amazon last week only to realize a day later we didn't need it. So I wrote refused on the package. Amazon has it and after I emailed said they would credit our credit card. It's only about $6, but I can put that back in the budget!

I was happy to learn from my daughter we don't owe any money to the University for this billing period. I do know she needs to put down $200 for her sophomore housing contract sometime in November.

I've already started talking to my kids about what they want for Christmas. Luckily they both have ideas! This helped me so much last year with shopping to ask early and get it done early! I'll be sharing a lot of my Christmas planning in November and December on

Your Organized Friend. You might want to follow along for ideas if you want to get a head start on your holiday list.

We also made a purchase of college football tickets for the three of us. We want to see our daughter's marching band performance. And we do like the games, too. Other family members are going also. Tickets cost us $255! I charged them to our Discover card. The most recent statement closed just prior so we have quite awhile before we would actually HAVE to pay the balance. I noticed there is just over $9 in rewards I can use towards the balance, too.

I took two library books my daughter checked out. We kind of think they may be overdue. Library wasn't open when I dropped off. Usually we would get an email reminder. Not sure if it went to spam or what. And we are having issues logging into her library account to check. So I'm planning we owe a few dollars to the library.

I'm excited about the end of the month. We get to budget again...and pay off all these cards we have been making purchases on. The cool thing is the money is already set aside! I love YNAB!

Thanks for reading my random post!

We spent $22 to fill our van before our trip. I would guess we have the same amount of fuel we had before we left. Luckily that should get me through the week. It seems it is also time for an oil change and other routine maintenance on my van. Will get that done in early November.

Admission to the band competition was $10 each. So a crisp $20 bill out of the wallet. They did include a program which many other schools sell for $5.

We left after my daughter performed and before the awards to eat at Subway. We spent $14 there. This was basically lunch and dinner for us.

Our final expense for the day was a trip to Trader Joe's. We bought two canisters of coffee, two pumpkin bread mixes, crackers, a red pepper spread, pumpkin butter, two frozen stuffed mushroom appetizers a cheese cake and ginger cookies. The total bill was $50. These aren't exactly items we put on our every day list, but they are some treats we like to indulge in when we get to shop at Trader Joe's. I think it has been nearly three years since we shopped at one. We already made coffee this morning and my daughter opened the pumpkin butter. I'm incorporating one package of stuffed mushrooms into a meal later this week.

All of our spending has been recorded in YNAB. My husband noticed yesterday when he recorded our Subway expense that we went over our restaurant budget. Yep. I didn't expect we would go more than once. But I did budget eating out for band competitions into the entertainment category. So the beauty of YNAB is I can adjust where this expense actually falls. I can either increase restaurants by the amount we spent (and decrease it in the entertainment budget) or change the expense to the entertainment category rather than restaurants.

YNAB[/url=http://ynab.refr.cc/M52KHR8] refers to this as rol... working for you? Anyone about to start a trial or make a purchase?

Our daughter has a band competition out of town today. We were up early to get her ready. And that was after a late night of Friday night football. If the band does well today she won't be home until midnight! We sent her with $40 for food. Likely way more than she needs.

My husband and I will travel up to the competition. So we have the cost of fuel. And we will eat at least one meal out. I'm going to try to convince him to eat lunch before we go. Since we will be in the larger town we may stop at some stores we miss from our old town. Specifically Trader Joe's coffee is on the list.

Admission to the event is $10 per adult. So there goes a $20 bill out of our pocket! I just took $100 cash out yesterday and it feels like it is being spent fast. We did budget for this though.

Have a Super Weekend! If you are at home and looking for some decluttering or organizing ideas, read my 31 Days of Decluttering and Organizing posts

Your Organized Friend.

I donated the money in my PayPal account today. The money was from snowflakes: YNAB referral money and Pinecone survey rewards. I donated to Momastery(look for the page on Facebook). I was inspired to give the $21 I earned away. You can read more about it

here. Little amounts of money from many people add up. And this didn't even have to affect our budget! I was saving for something, but it can wait. I will earn more snowflakes.

I sold shares from my oldest daughters mutual fund today. The market was up just enough that I didn't want to miss out. If it goes up more great, I have more money I need to withdraw. I'm paying ourselves back for covering her first semester of tuition out of our savings. I withdrew $1718 worth of shares. I will need to do this at two more times before the end of the year. I figure if I dollar cost averaged purchases, I can dollar cost average sales, too.

Are you ever inspired to donate when you least expect it?

I redeemed

Bing points yesterday and immediately received a $5 Amazon gift card.

Today, I ordered a $25 Amazon gift card for 2200 Swagbucks. That, of course, has not yet arrived. I did get my 200 SwagUps for that redemption, so I'm already back to having over 200 SBs in my account.

I almost said no spending today. However, I dropped a package I paid shipping for online yesterday at the post office and they asked if I needed stamps. Yes, actually I do. So $9.80 for book of stamps.

I love snowflakes and low spend days!

I'm still writing my 31 Days of Decluttering and Organizing on my other blog, Your Organized Friend, if you are interested. Just ten days left!

I received my first $6 referral for

YNAB in my PayPal account yesterday. Much faster than the 30 days they indicated. Effectively, YNAB was only $48 rather than the original price of $60. I just need four more people to buy the software under my referral and the software will be free for us.

The Best Buy gift cards we ordered from our Citi rewards arrived on Saturday. The gift cards amount to $200 and I will record them as a snowflake. We almost made our purchase Sunday, but realized we had a 10% off coupon at home that they said might work. It seems the item we want to buy went off sale, raising the price nearly 20%. They will however, price match with Amazon.com, who still has it at the price Best Buy had last week. Sales person wasn't sure if they could combine Price Match with 10% off coupon. I'm going to try though. I also remembered that I chose Electronics Stores for 5% cash back on my US Bank Visa for third quarter. That will amount to around $10 back when I use that credit card for this purchase. Specifically we are buying a sound bar for one of our televisions. It's for my husband's birthday.

Today I ordered the famous L.L. Bean boots for my daughter to tromp around campus with this winter. Those were $99 shipped. But like nearly all of their famous boots they appear to be on back order. Some said January 4th, but this pair said December 4. Hoping they fit and arrive just before the weather turns colder.

Oh, and I'm starting to follow Hip2Save again for the holiday season. I don't usually follow the other months of the year...I find I buy too much stuff I don't need!

Do you follow Hip2Save? Do you have L.L. Bean boots? A sound bar for your television? Let me know if you use my YNAB referral code so I can thank you!

Our water bill arrived yesterday. It's lower!! Last month it was $63. This month $37. That is a $25 savings. We have had the sprinkler system off for nearly three weeks, so I'm sure that helps.

After our first large bill of $76 two months ago we went looking for a leak. Turns out we turned on a sprinkler zone with a missing sprinkler head. Water was gushing out! Apparently owners knew this, but failed to tell us. If we had known we wouldn't have turned that zone on. The reason we did turn it on, was because there are shrubs in the zone. I figured those needed water. Well, until they have it repaired they won't be getting water.

I did get notified of a $6 reward from YNAB. Thanks for using my code Debt free by Thirty! I don't think it pays out for another month. But I'll look forward to it when it arrives.

The other good news financially is that I don't think we have a bill due to the university this month! Next month we probably need to put down a deposit for NEXT year's housing. I can't believe they have to work on that so early.

Our weekend is set to be low key. Apparently a perfect fall day today weather wise, so we should get out and enjoy it. There will be spending. Likely on new running shoes for my husband and groceries.

Enjoy your weekend!!

My husband and I sat down and did our budget last night in YNAB. This is our third budget of income and it seems like it is getting easier. I expect it will keep getting better too.

One neat thing about YNAB is that you can click on a category and see the transactions that flowed out of it. For example in our Household category we had spent about $122 during the first two weeks of the October. We talked about doubling it, but then when we looked at the transactions we recorded there we realized that $42 was an Amazon purchase that I had but actually had snowflakes that covered it and the YNAB cost of $54 was in that category. These were unique expenses that we don't need to be part our budget for the remainder of the month. So we simply added $35 to cover the remainder of October.

We paid off all transaction that occurred on credit cards since the beginning of the month. And I paid off the Citi Thank You card IN FULL that I mentioned needed to paid by the end of the month to avoid interest!! That feels so much better to have that off our plate.

The next 'bill' we need to be aware of and budget in is our airline tickets we purchased earlier this month for Thanksgiving. I believe this is due in the last part of November. The charges were $882. I already found about $25 to apply to it. If we can stay under budget this month then I will send the extra in to start working on that charge.

Moving right along!