Week 2: Ballers on a Budget

How does a married couple wanting to cut back spend their Sunday afternoon? Well, we went to the local shopping center to check out all of the liquidation sales. We did have a purpose. We're in the market for a new television since our plasma crapped out in November. I was pretty disapointed with the prices. Circuit City is only offering 10% off their TVs. Boo. We were expecting much better deals. Joe seems to think we can find what we want online cheaper than in any retail location. I personally could live without a new, giant TV, but there's a huge mounting bracket above my fireplace where our TV used to be before it died. And then there's our old tube TV sitting on the hearth. It's super classy.

We weren't quite ready to go home after window shopping so we headed to Barnes & Noble. It was nice. We each got a tall skinny latte and cozied up with our favorite mags. While Joe was ordering our lattes, I had to walk away from the Starbucks counter because they had some pretty decadent desserts calling to me like sirens. I hightailed it to the magazines and picked up a copy of Cooking Light to bring me back to my senses. While in the food section I picked up the latest editions of the Wine Enthusiast and Food and Wine magazines. Yes, we're those people who sit and read an entire magazine or two and leave without buying anything. I told Joe to replace the US Weekly subscription he bought me last year for Valentine's day with a subscription to one of those.

So we found our Sunday entertainment for under $10. While we probably could have not spent any money at all, it was a nice treat. Cutting back has made the things we once indulged in regularly seem special. That's not so bad.

Week 1 of the Austerity Program

Well, considering I am suppressing two "addictions" at once (shopping and eating), it hasn't been the best week of my life, but it was definitely not the worst!

As part of our New Year's Resolution Joe and I agreed to spend only on necessities for a month and see how much we manage to save. So far, so good...we've managed to buy only gas and grocery. I guess I am still thinking in terms of college when I could go to HEB and buy a weeks worth of grub for $20...ah Lipton noodles, Tostino's pizzas, and Diet Dr. B. But I am always stunned at how much groceries cost for a week (around $130)...and they never last and I end up making a grocery run later in the week which ends up being another $30-$40. Now that we're eating 3 homemade meals plus snacks, we're using all of the groceries and more. Plus, we're eating a lot of proteins, and fresh veggies, and none of the cheaper starchy foods yet, so that makes the bill a bit higher.

I only cheated once by stopping at Starbucks for a tall skinny latte before hitting the grocery store but really I think it probably saved me money in the end since I wasn't shopping on an empty stomach...that's how I'll rationalize it. :)

South Beach wise...I am also doing well. No indescretions to report but I did have a dream about eating a glazed doughnut. Is that weird? I feel like Homer Simpson.

How am I coping with all of that salad I've been eating lately? I have never been able to find a store bought dressing that tasted homemade but I finally found one that I LOVE! Apparently everyone else loves Garlic Expressions too, because twice at both the Ft. Worth and Dallas Central Markets I've gone to pick up a bottle and it was completely sold out! My mom uses it so much that she buys 4 bottles at a time. I noticed they sell it by the case on their website so I may have to buy in bulk! Yes, it's that good.

The best salad dressing EVER!

Pheebs Turns One

Yesterday Phoebe officially turned 1 y.o. While I did not buy her a birthday cake or make her wear any silly party gear, I thought I would at least write a blog. haha She's been such a wonderful addition to our home and makes us laugh constantly. I fully credit my dogs for making me smile everyday that Joe was away in Iraq...all 18 months! It was a little easier to come home from work everyday knowing that there were two little critters waiting there, always happy to see me.

I bought Pheebs last spring after losing our other yorkie, Ozzy.. We'll never know what went wrong after that surgery while still in vet care, but January 19th was a sad sad day for us. We took Oz to 3 different vets before we made the decision to put him to sleep. The only alternative was an expensive brain surgery with no gaurantee of normalcy. Joe was in Iraq so this was a hard blow to take for us. Poor little Harry waited by the window for 3 days for Ozzy to come home.

We never had any doubt that we wanted another yorkie. We waited a few months to begin looking and definitely did our homework. After looking at several shady breeders our vet finally refered us to a responsible breeder. The wait was worth it and just like my mom said, "I just knew" I'd found the right fit. She was slightly out of our price range, but the reassurance of knowing the breeder and seeing how well she cared for her dogs was worth every cent.

Here's Pheebs from the day I brought her home until last week.

Pheebs on her first day at Casa del Arnold.

Ready to go to Yorkie Meetup at the White Rock Lake dog park.
May 08

Pheebs on July 4th at my parents' house in Whitney.

Posing is her specialty.

Playing at the dog park in September.

In December in her holiday garb.

On a windy January day in Whitney with Tino and Harry. It was a little too windy to be glamorous that day!

New Year- New Resolution

I have several resolutions but the one which I feel most passionately about at the moment (because I spent too much $ in my time off of work) is frugality. I recently heard some tips on NPR while riding home from shopping at the Crate and Barrel Outlet with my mom (yeah, I know). The advice was to cut up the credit card...or hide it. In my case, burn it beyond recognition so as to avoid any possibility of usage. Thankfully, I have only one of those evil, evil things, but it is beyond paying the full balance every month...way beyond.

The second bit of advice was to buy absolutely nothing but necessities for one month to see where all that money goes. This means no dining out...I think this is the hardest one to overcome because I love to indulge. With those savings I plan to pay extra on my CC balance. Is it possible I could be free of this yoke and harness by 2010? I am going to try. I am sick of wondering where my money went. I am still living in the same mindset/lifestyle I was when Joe was making six figs and that needs to change. The Great Suzy Orman, in all her infinite wisdom, said that in order to reduce debt, one must either make more money or cut back. I will do both. That means I will be working on my summer vacay. Boo. Guess I had better start thinking about where I'd like to work.

Other resolutions:
Get healthy- mind and body.

- This year my anxiety reared its ugly head again after hibernating for 4 or 5 years, and I realized that I could no longer suppress it alone. I am trying to get this under control and I'd like to be able to do it sans meds.

- Eat healthier (Not dining out should help!) My little routine of healthy eating and cooking fell by the wayside when Joe came back from Iraq. I've been avoiding my too-tight jeans and resorting to my more forgiving clothing. Ugh. If Oprah is the Queen of Yo-Yo dieting, I am a Yo-Yo Diet Princess. It's not healthy and I need to stop it!

- Get active. My gym closed (I needed to save $ anyways) so it looks like I need to dust off the old elliptical machine and dumbbells. My overly ambitious 5K training last fall lead to a back injury that is exacerbated by high impact activity. Getting old sucks.

I think that once I get these things under control I will be much happier. They are all intertwined and I am the only one who can change it.