Today was mother-daughter day, and we definitely spent some money, but I'd budgeted for it. We went to Albuquerque to have some fun, including lunch and the Fun Center. We stopped at Old Navy because all of F's dresses are waaaaay too short (they are quite loose in width - my skinny little girl! - she grew 2" from Dec. to June). We had lunch.

I wasn't being particularly cost-conscious, but there are ways we saved:

- shared a lunch (so total for lunch for two of us was $10). Ate at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, and got to watch the soccer (football) match on the large screen. F was very happy to see her favorite player - Giroud - and that France won.

- I got coupons online for unlimited passes at the Fun Center, so we saved $8. We definitely made full use of the unlimited pass, partly because Monday is pretty quiet there so you don't have to wait in line. We did go-karts twice and bumper boats twice and a round of mini-golf and the bungee jump.

- We visited Sonic during happy hour for slushes so the total for both was $2.35.

On the way back home, F said "I love mother-daughter days." So worth it, so much fun, and I agree with her: I love being with her, too.

Tomorrow - more frugal, and definitely a no-spend day. We are meeting some people for a free hike in the mountains.

I calculate our net worth every three months, just to see how we're doing. We're now at $1,072,306 (up from $1,023,088 last quarter)! Yay! (This is mostly our two houses... one will be paid off next summer and the other - the one we live in - will be paid off in 2020 at the latest but I'm hoping it's sooner).

The Dublin house has only $7000 left on the mortgage, and the value is going up, but we will pay a lot of taxes when we sell which is a bummer. So I probably should have put that in the liabilities column.

It seems odd that our net worth is good, and I'm super happy about it, but I only have $68 to spend on groceries for this week. Argh! And we are having people from D's work over for dinner tonight. I am making a nice pasta dish (with sundried tomatoes and white wine - already have both - and rocket/arugula - also have - and shrimp - have about half what we need).

Oh, Ryanair. The world's most irritating airline, but so inexpensive and they always go where we want to go.

The problem is their luggage restrictions... all those bags that say they meet airline carry-on sizing restrictions do not meet Ryanair's even more restrictive 7.87" thickness requirement. And there isn't any leeway because they have a rigid box and your bag has to fit inside it. If your bag doesn't fit, they will charge you 60 euro to check it (that's over $80).

I have a Campmor Essential Carry-on which is soft sided; if you don't fill it too full, it will easily mush into Ryanair's box. (That, by the way, is the perfect carry-on bag - it weighs about 1 pound and only costs $30). It has a big, ugly logo that upsets people who hate big, ugly logos. Ryanair now allows a "personal item" which can be 13.75" x 7.87" x 7.87" so you can put some of the overflow in there.

But... the Campmor can only be carried as a shoulder bag or a backpack. And F needs wheels. Unfortunately, all of the wheel bags have a rigid base and that base almost always is more than 7.87". There is a wheeled bag you can get from the UK (40 GBP); they'll ship to the US. That's an option.

But here is what I'm thinking: what about a folding luggage cart? (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Conair-Compact-Folding-Multi-use/dp/B002CV8UXE/ref=pd_sim_hpc_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0D48861PCG4T5T4J7CBE . Then F can have a soft bag like mine and it can sit in the wheeled contraption. When we need to put it in the Ryanair box, the wheels are folded up and stored inside it.

Yes, all of this is to avoid baggage fees. We've paid to check one bag, and that's it. And that bag needs to contain F's booster seat because that would otherwise be considered a separate bag! And if we get it from the rental car company it's about 50 euro ($75!!!!).

Some notes: we are very light packers. Last time we traveled far, to Canada (varying weather) - F and I packed together in my Campmor carryon. She also had a small bag of toys/card games. She is now bigger and she has been traveling with her own carry-on wheelie, but it won't meet Ryanair's restrictions even though it's smaller in every other dimension. Also, we can stuff some things into the checked bag if needed.

I love our city in the summer - there are so many fun, free, community things to do. One of my favorites is Music on the Hill, which is basically a huge picnic with music. Everyone brings blankets and picnic dinners. The kids run around playing. Our local bank gives out little rubber koosh-ball like things that the kids play with.

We go up to the front and dance. You see tons of friends, and sometimes people you haven't seen for a while. It's a small enough city that we know a huge percentage of the people there; maybe that's why it's so fun.

And, seriously, free music is awesome.

Last night we sat with a big group (several blankets all pushed together) including a couple and their kids who have just moved here from the UK, who now have a bunch of instant friends.

I made potato salad for the first time (despite my brother who said "I never eat potato salad; it was the answer to every food poisoning question in medical school.") We brought yummy sandwiches, and cherries and cookies. And chips and salsa. And watered-down lemonade.

Do you have free music/festivals/picnics like this in your town/city? Do you like to go?

I got a weird letter today from my general liability insurance company. They said they made an error calculating my premium, and if I still owed money to pay on the premium, they'd adjust it, and if I'd already paid in full, they would send a check. Really? I hope so. Wonder how much? Are we talking 50 cent or $50?

In other financial news:
- F is not loving this week's camp as much as last week's, but it's from 8:30-3:30 and I'm able to get some significant work done which will allow me to take off some time next week when she doesn't have camp.

- I drove over a screw on a jobsite (this is one of those job hazards!) and had to go to the tire store. But - yay! - the screw was just stuck in between the treads and was super short so it didn't puncture anything. They removed the screw and didn't charge me.

- Because we hosted a coach last week, we have very little grocery budget left for this month (but we do have some dining out budget which I can move into the grocery bucket). Luckily only one more shop for the month. I'll need to be strategic.

- I am making my packing list (one of my favorite parts about traveling!). I will post about this at some point, but you probably guessed that I'm an extremely efficient packer. I do carry-on only. This saves bag fees. And I have a very inexpensive carry-on ($30) and very light; it's the best on out there.

Summer is hard - for some reason our food budget goes way up (I think it's having friends around - we seem to want to get together, enjoy outside when it's warm out).

Anyway, we're still trying to find ways to save.

I registered F for soccer next fall early (deadline is July 1 for earlybird) and saved $10.

And we visited Sonic today during Happy Hour (2 to 5) for slushes (during Happy Hour they're half off). Total was $2.16 for two.

I canceled a subscription to a magazine. This is the only magazine I subscribed to (except for a professional magazine that I somehow just get). I find it's more exciting to see what I can find at the library's free magazine exchange.

I am making a sketch model (that is a rough model, not the finished pretty models you see in lobbies of buildings) to use for design, with cardboard I had in the office. I don't make finished models for my clients unless they pay me! (But they all want the sketch model - I usually say no because it's made for my use and to take to my engineers so they can understand the building I'm designing).

Just found a great show to watch on the bbc iplayer. But it's only available for one more day! So I used the bbc downloader so now we have it for a month. The show is called Tigers about the House about a zoo trainer who hand-raises Sumatran tiger cubs in his front room!

And, finally: dinner tonight is from the freezer (chili that was frozen from a big batch) with a salad. I make the dressing myself; so much less expensive and a lot tastier!

That was a quick round-up of our savings today. It makes me feel better just to see it listed like that!

A frugal thing:
I had an old skirt that I didn't want to wear as a skirt anymore, but I liked the red fabric. So I mined it for fabric, and made it into a tank top.

I am equally proud that I did not keep the scraps (which I am prone to do); that'd just be more clutter. I have a lot of things I keep in case they're useful, but tiny fabric scraps is carrying that too far. F's fabric scrap bag is already full, so I got rid of the scraps.

The grocery spending this week was about $80 more than normal - yikes! But there's a reason... we have a British coach from F's soccer camp staying with us. He's 22, and he eats a lot!

But... we get a check for $80 from the camp at some point as a "thank you" - really it's to cover extra food costs. Characteristically, I am not worrying that they'll forget to send it to us.

F is so sad that the coach is leaving this evening. I'm sad, too. We'll miss him!

Just got a notice that the coaches (Brazilian this time) from next week's camp need somewhere to stay. I'd do it, but D thinks it's a bit much to do it two weeks in a row. Next year...

I will hopefully be able to post some photos after the party... but in the meantime, some of the frugal things we did for this party:

- having the party at home (we always do that)
- food is hot dogs, watermelon, crisps (last year we ordered pizza and it was expensive!)
- cake is from a mix, and I'm making my own buttercream frosting (last year we ordered an ice cream cake - sooooo expensive - and not that good - never again!)

The party is an Ultimate Challenge party (this is a change from what we'd originally discussed which was a camping party). We have all sorts of games/challenges (I found them online, and a lot were from that show Minute to Win It which I've never seen because we don't have tv, only Hulu). This is what F wanted - something active, something fun! I will let you know how it goes...

I bought most of the supplies for the games from the dollar store.

The first game is Defying Gravity, where you have to keep two balloons aloft for a minute. There is face the cookie where you have to get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands. The best one is probably Walk the Plank: you have to walk across a 2x4 and get water from the bucket at the end (except you don't have anything to put the water in - so you can use your shirt or your hair or cup your hands - then walk back and fill up a tupperware at the start of the 2x4. Will probably take multiple trips!).

It's warm and beautiful outside, and the garden is looking nice. By 4 pm, the sun will come around and the garden will be shaded.

OK, I'm going to go take the cakes out to cool... then frost.

I finally opened a Target credit card. A lot of my purchases are from there - I buy our toilet paper and kleenex there, plus clothes for F. And my omeprazole and some other household goods. I get 3% on our Capital One card, but Target offers 5% cash back, so I decided to do it.

Since I decided to do it after I made the purchase on our Capital One card, they handed me a $5 bill instead of the 5% discount (purchase was $60 so that is more than 5%!) and then two $3 vouchers (yay! not sure why we got those).

By the way, the $60 was for 8 boxes of kleenex and two pairs of sneakers for F who has gone up a size and a half!

This is the first year that D has a full-time job working for someone else. But we still have to pay estimated taxes. And it's even harder to figure out, because in addition to the full-time job (they take federal and state withholding so that part is easy), he still does some side jobs.

I am going to get the estimated tax payment together tonight and mail it off when I'm downtown tomorrow.

I also have to pick up a library book for F who is reading more this summer than she did during the school year! I think it's because she doesn't have to record it. I'm not a big fan of recording reading; you'd think I would be since I'm such a big fan of recording everything else, but it just makes reading a chore rather than a pleasure.

In other news: we're still working on the garden, F's birthday party is Saturday afternoon and we are hosting a soccer coach next week (one of the coaches for F's camp). Crazy busy, but fun!

I haven't written anything in a while because I've been so busy at work. And any leftover time is devoted to F. Right now she and D are watching a friendly match between USA and someone (pre-World Cup) and dinner is in the oven (per D's request - a roast dinner - chicken, green beans and potatoes).

- The plus side is that if you're super busy, there aren't a lot of spending opportunities. (But I did manage to buy eight milky way midnight bars at 50 cents each - I eat one a week - my guilty pleasure).

- We've gone to the pool about a million times, including today; F has been bringing allowance money to buy ice creams (today's cost a week and half allowance - but that's her choice!) and otter pops (25 cents). The pool is only a few minutes from our house, so she can swim for just an hour; it doesn't need to be a big excursion.

- I finally got paid by the gym (for April!). So... $60 snowflake. I haven't put it toward the mortgage yet. Will do it on Monday.

- I have several things to sell on Craigslist, but no time to photograph and post them.

- F's birthday is on Tuesday, party the following Friday, so prepping for that. Tonight's task: use my office flip-chart to do a page for each of the games/challenges we're doing (it'll be up on an easel) and wrap her presents.

- I've been working on our garden every evening just before or after dinner. Today's task: finish building a table (extremely rustic!) out of scrap wood we had in the garage.

I sprung for pool guest passes today ($40 for 10). We took one of F's friends with us, which was very fun for her and meant that all I did was keep an eye on them when they were in the pool and make them lunch (there are two grills at the pool, so they had hot dogs, also some crisps, cherries, a yogurt and an apricot). Also gave each of them a dollar for ice lollies and candy. I didn't get any real work done, but I was productive this morning, so it's ok.

Also, F is going to that friend's house tomorrow, so I can go into the office and to meetings.

The guest passes will come in handy because we are hosting one of the soccer coaches from soccer camp the week of June 16th. They give us an $80 stipend for food, and we'll hopefully do some fun stuff with our coach (take him/her to the pool, go to Bandelier or Tent Rocks, have a picnic dinner at Music on the Hill). F is so looking forward to it, and so am I! The coaches are from the UK; yes, not as exotic to us since D is from the UK, but really cool for F.

Did I mention that the world cup will be going on? We don't have TV, but we got my mom's cable company password so we can watch online.

They are showing a few of the world cup games in the park on the big screen outside - a wonderful free event, and I'm hoping a lot of F's soccer friends go, too! Another opportunity for a picnic dinner.

Meanwhile, I have put tons of sweat equity into the yard. I am going to go out there after the sun is less intense and build the raised veggie bed. I still have to build a little "wall" - sort of a screen for our bbq - will be 4' tall and have a shelf on top where we can put plates/serve things. Also room for a table next to the bbq. I need to start scouring garage sales for the table. And then our garden will actually be a usable space! It's like gaining a 13'x18' room!

I live on a hill, so our yard is not huge (which is fine by me!) and the space (flat space) is precious. I live in the high desert, so the shade is precious, too. And summer is here, and I really wanted to spend time outside, but the outside was so poorly configured and unusable. Oh - and we want to bbq and plant vegetables.

Anyway, we decided to entirely reconfigure the front garden (not the nice top part where we have our "frass" - that's faux grass. That is working well for us).

We hired people to help because I just have too much work right now. But I am building the wall, and we moved a bunch of river rock today. And moved dirt and other things around, so that when they come back tomorrow, they can hopefully finish up (or maybe by Tuesday?)

I will definitely post photos!

Sorry I haven't posted lately.

F was in a three-day soccer tournament, and somewhere in the middle of it, I caught a cold. Something is going around, and the girls played in the rain. They actually had to stop the play for lightning (there is a lightning siren); we all got in our cars and waited for the all-clear siren. I don't think being out in the rain was so great for me. That evening (Saturday) I had a really sore throat. It rained the next day, too. Today's game was nice. I wasn't the only mom with a cold. We just stayed away from everyone else.

There were some unexpected cold and soccer-related expenses. Parking for the soccer complex is $5 per car per day. And there is no way to get there except drive (you could carpool, and we did on one day, taking another girl down to the tournament). Dinner on Sunday night when I felt awful: made D get a cooked chicken from the supermarket, and some chicken and rice soup for me. And no one felt like cooking today either, so we went to the Range. My thought was that if I ate a bunch of green chile I'd get better faster. (That might be true! It's a New Mexico tradition to fight a cold with green chile).

The range t-shirts were funny: New Mexico. Not really new. Not really Mexico.

Here is one of our US senators holding up the t-shirt:
http://www.heinrich.senate.gov/photos/meeting-with-sandoval-county-mayors_--bernalillo-new-mexico-february-21-2014

I have almost $300 in F's birthday account... this party will NOT be that much, and all gifts already paid for. No big presents (unless Grandma and Grandpa get her a new bike, which may happen), but the gifts are meaningful to her.

She is getting:
- a replica Brazuca (that's the World Cup ball)
- kids' guide to the World Cup
- Arsenal piggy bank (combining the love of pigs and Arsenal football club)
- my old snoopy (she has been very into old Peanuts cartoons!)
- a tshirt and water bottle I made for her on cafepress with characters and quotes from Yonderland, her favorite tv show
- I am making her stilts (already bought the wood) from a pattern they gave us at circus camp last summer

Now that I type out the list, that's a lot of stuff. None of of it cost much, and at least one thing was free, but I think she'll be thrilled!

Grandad (in the UK) and the UK Grandma will probably send money, and so she can decide what to get - maybe a peanuts cartoon book or Ultimate Weird but True or a book of jokes or puzzles.

And now I'm off to make a list of fun frugal things to do this summer!

Lots of expenses coming in...

The largest was a portion of my big medical bill from a few months back. I'd already paid $500. The rest was $1038. I still haven't gotten the bill from the doctor or anesthesiologist. My deductible is $2500. I have been throwing money into the "medical envelope" so the money is there for those expenses. It wasn't an optional surgery, and everything is fine, so I am thankful despite the expense.

F is playing in a tournament this weekend. You could look at it one way: a weekend of entertainment for $38 (there are 5 games over three days). It is budgeted for in "classes" which is where soccer is covered. On the bright side: no piano for the summer, so we can build that envelope back up.

I still haven't been paid by the gym, and I am starting to get grumpy because the owner comes in while my class is going and leaves before it's over, so I can't discuss it with him.

I hurt my back playing adult v. kids soccer, so I have to pay for a little bit of PT. Usually I wait for it to go away, but it's not going away! I had one session which got me to 80% recovered, but they told me I'd probably need one more. I waited to see if it would get better on its own, but it didn't so my next appt. is scheduled for tomorrow.

Everything else is low (groceries, utilities, etc.) so I am feeling ok despite the extra expenses.

The next thing to work on is F's birthday party; it'll be at home, so not super expensive.

And then we need to convince D's co-worker to house-sit for us while we are in Europe visiting D's family; that way we won't have to pay for dog-boarding. And the cat won't be lonely. Our cunning plan is to have him over, I'll make him dessert and he can fall in love with our house and our pets! Fingers crossed!!

Just got home from a super long day. First, as usual, I cleaned the litterbox and the birdcage and vacuumed. We packed a lunch for later. Then F had a soccer game; didn't win, but ended up tied for third in the league.

We ate our packed lunch at the soccer fields with another friend on F's team while watching the boys' final game (their friend DB was in the game).

Then we drove DB down to ABQ with us for another friend's birthday party.

After the party - bumper boats and mini golf - the party continued at a pizza place where we all had dinner.

So far we hadn't paid for anything all day! So we stopped at Sonic for slushes before we headed back home.

Not only was today really fun, it was a great day for another reason: Arsenal won the FA Cup! Now, I don't really care about that, but it makes F and my husband very, very, very happy, so I'm happy, too! They are watching highlights from the game right now, but I really need to get F to take a bath. She is covered in sweat and sunscreen and pizza dough and slush!

Hope you had a great day, too!

I didn't receive a payment for teaching at the gym in April, but I figured that was because the owner hadn't been in the gym for a while. Well, I saw him today, but still no payment. I couldn't ask him about it because he came in while I was teaching, and left before my class was over.

I was even more irritated because I taught today even though I hurt my back on Monday. It's not all the way better yet, but I did light weights and just took care of myself. I wanted to teach because it's my obligation and because there are very few subs. So I'm feeling like I'm holding up my end of things, but he's not.

I always put that gym payment toward our mortgage, and so I couldn't put much toward it this month. Grrrrr.

Maybe now that I write this he'll pay me tomorrow and I'll be able to give you a positive update.

We've needed a shopvac for a while... there are several reasons, and the main one is that we have frass (that is fake grass!) and although you don't need to mow it or water it, you do need to vacuum it! We borrowed a friend's shopvac last year, and it worked really well. (We have pinon needles that get stuck in it, and it makes it pretty much unusable since they're so sharp).

I'm glad I waited, though, because I just took advantage of the Amex offer to spend $50 at Lowes and get $10 off.

I also bought materials to make stilts for F for her birthday (she does this circus camp each year and loved the stilt-walking!).

There are other offers up on Amex, but I don't buy anything I wouldn't normally be buying.

There are some good deals on there, though! If you use amex, be sure to check out the deals regularly...

NOTE: In case you are cringing, frass is actually a really great thing in the Southwest where water is like gold. We think of it like a grass-like carpet rather than actual grass. When we want real grass, we go to a community park. It makes a lot of sense that real grass is a community investment where water is scarce rather than an individual right. (And our water bill is really low!).

I drove on the school field trip today to Bandelier National Monument. It was all day long, and I am sooooo tired.

The bonus was that I thought each driver would have to pay for parking, but they don't charge school field trips. So $12 saved.

The other bonus was that F got to leave school early because we returned from the field trip early.

So we spent $2 at Sonic for lime slushes (half price drinks during "happy hour" 2-4 pm) after school since I'd saved the parking fee.

The sad part was that Bandelier had a huge flood last September (the largest in the park's recorded history); the water rushed right down the canyon. It tore down trees and broke off large chunks of the asphalt trail. It even ripped off a drinking fountain (we saw it in a tangle of fallen tree branches). They've done a ton of cleanup, but the trail on the west side of the canyon was super-sandy (it was like walking on a beach).

Luckily Alcove House (a ceremonial cave 140 feet above the canyon floor) has reopened, so we got to go up the stone stairs and wooden ladders. All but just a few kids and adults went up. This was the first time F has done it, even though we've been to Bandelier before.

Anyway - such a cool trip, and I got to take a day off of work!

In June, F will be nine. Nine! She is still so young. The kids in her class dress like silly kids; they aren't into clothes at all. Most of them watch very little television. F won't go to the movies and hasn't seen Brave or Frozen or any of those. There aren't any "mean girls" yet; I hope there won't ever be (they are growing up sort of like siblings since there are only 18 kids per grade). She is still good friends with a lot of boys in her class.

I think nine will be pretty much like eight in a lot of ways. (Most of the kids are already nine; but F has a summer birthday).

Here is what she is getting for her birthday: a brazuca (replica of the World Cup ball), more soccer socks (more colors!), Arsenal piggy bank (combines the love of both Arsenal football club and pigs), book for kids on the World Cup, my old Snoopy cuddly toy (she's really into the Peanuts right now), stilts (which I am making with the pattern they gave us at circus camp last year - buying wood this week), a new water bottle (which I am making on Cafe Press with her favorite character from Yonderland).

She has requested a camping-themed birthday party. I was thinking of having the party up at the local forest campground (just get an afternoon campsite), but she wants it at home. May be able to talk her into the campground and then we could have a group hike to the waterfall.

I want to do the party frugally, of course. Was thinking of:
- inexpensive headlamps as party favors (found them for $4 each) or maybe marshmallow roasters (if Target has them - they were in the dollar bin a few summers ago)
- scavenger hunt through our arroyo (or on the waterfall hike)
- setting up the tent for them to play in (not sure what to play?)
- s'mores (roast marshmallows over a little firepit)
- roast hot dogs on the grill
- maybe a s'mores cake? or is that too much s'mores?

Any other ideas? Games or anything?

It's 10 pm, and I am sitting here with my laptop while D heads back to F's friend's house. Her friend is having a sleepover birthday, and F wanted to stay, but she sounded conflicted. The friend's mom, who is a good friend of mine, just called to say F wants to be picked up.

For the record, I think 9 is too young for sleepovers. (Even though this particular family is fantastic, and I know the kids won't stay up too late).

So I have a few minutes to write a little bit.

Friday was popcorn day at the bank, so I made a deposit (rent check from my office sublet) and paid down principal on our mortgage ($169). And got the popcorn, of course, which I gave to F after school for a treat. Bank popcorn is the best! And we're now in the $72k's on our mortgage. As usual around this time of month, I play all sorts of games with the mortgage calculator. But really you just have to keep chipping away at it. I am putting this out there, though: I want to own our house by October 2018. I will be 52 years old (that's 4 1/2 years from now).

I also found out last week, that my second office sublet, the one who doesn't get a parking space and has just a desk in the main area (but pays very little for the desk) is leaving as of the end of May. I like having the extra money in the business, but it's not a lot, and I figured that I might figure out someone else at some point.

And just a few hours later, I got a call from my friend K. She's an architect, too, and she was calling because she's designing a porch for a house in a neighborhood where I lead the architectural review committee. K works out of her house, so I immediately said, "I don't know why you're calling, but you need to come share the office with me and A!!!" (The guy who sublets the one of the other office spaces is our mutual friend, A, and, yes, he's also an architect).

She hasn't committed yet, but pretty much said yes! I am so relieved, but mostly happy to have K there - she is close friend, and a great person. But we also are like a support group for each other.

We don't have television or cable, but manage to watch a lot of it regardless (on our computers, for free)!

- Moone Boy (on hulu; regular hulu, we don't have plus). This show is a funny sitcom about a boy in Ireland with an imaginary friend (who happens to be Chris O'Dowd). I used to live in Ireland, so it's nice to hear the accents again, and the references are hysterically funny!

- Orphan Black (watching on Amazon Prime for free, but most episodes are still up on the BBC iplayer). I know there are British, Scottish and Americans married to them on SavingAdvice. Wondering if you are watching, too? Second season just started, but we are still on the first. I can't tell you about it much because I'd give it away, but it's sci-fi and mystery, and fascinating!

- All Over the Place (this is one that F loves! - it's on bbc iplayer) - British kids' show; the hosts visit crazy places in the UK (and America and Australia)

What are you watching?

My husband is not a big spender, but he's not all OCD about spending like I am. I think it's possible that he's normal, and I'm a little too frugal. I don't know.

Sometimes, though, the difference in our spending habits makes me feel a little bit frustrated.

Today I got home from teaching at the gym (I thought for certain I'd get this month's payment today, but I didn't, so I was pre-frustrated; this payment goes toward our mortgage). I was starving because I'd just taught weightlifting; there was pretty much nothing in the house to eat, but I cobbled together a salad (when you lift weights, you really feel like more than salad, but I put a little turkey on it).

Then I sat down to do the monthly financials. Today, my husband charged lunch out (which he does once a week; I never eat lunch out unless it's a family lunch, but that's my choice). And he'd charged $90 for two shirts. (I think I've mentioned I haven't bought any clothes this year after determining I have enough clothes). He said it was from the birthday money his dad sent from the UK, but I have no record of the birthday money being deposited, so he might have put it into his business account.

Then I ate a little bit of ice cream from the freezer, because I told F that I'd take her for a treat after school, and I don't want to spend money on a treat for me, too.

I know you're all going to say I have to do something for myself once in a while, and I do, I promise! Like two weeks ago I took F down to Albuquerque and we had lunch, played mini-golf and got slushes from Sonic. I'm not feeling sorry for myself; it's not that. It's more that I'm wishing that everyone was as into sacrificing as I was. And I seriously can't ask for that, so what happens is, I do less for myself to offset everyone else's spending.

OK, rant over.

I think that we did well this month despite some of those extra expenses. I know grocery spending was low. And D made some side money (I really shouldn't complain about him buying stuff once in a while since he often makes extra).

I took advantage of the American Express "spend $5 on itunes and get a $5 statement credit." It's hard to believe; that means free music, right? I spent $5.20 on four songs to use for my spinning class. Need to check to make sure I get the credit.

There is also an offer for $5 statement credit when you spend $25 at Petsmart. I need to get down there tomorrow to buy cat and dogfood I'd be buying anyway.

And thinking about dogfood and catfood... I am really conflicted. We don't have a ton of money to spend, but I am realizing that Iams, which I thought was good, is basically just like supermarket brands. Every website says to go with the grain-free, protein based foods, but they're super expensive. Iams is about $28 for 25 lbs. v. $52 for a 30 lb. bag of Blue Buffalo.

I might use our coupon to try something new...

What do you use?

Our girls - who named themselves the 56ers (which is the sum of all their shirt numbers - don't you love math-oriented girls!), were amazing! They got third place, and each got a bronze medal.

But what was more important was that they came together as a team in only a few short hours (some had never even met before). They played with enthusiasm and heart and sportsmanship (no fouls!). They played in sleet and snow and freezing rain and insane wind (30 mph with 50 mph gusts).

They played five games total, and we were out there for 6 hours!

I just got a text from one of the dads who said his daughter had "the best day of her life. She's still wearing her medal." She was not our best player, but she played time in every single half (in the tournament, halves are only 12 mins each) because my husband is the coach and that's what he believes in. I am proud of him, too!

And... of course it was a no spend day... it was too cold so the snow cone truck didn't even come out to the field. And the coffee and donut stand was there, but I don't drink coffee and I can't eat donuts. So we didn't buy anything. We brought our own lunch and snacks (everyone, brought stuff for the other girls to share).

Win-win!

So first a recap of our No Spend Days... These don’t include regular bills (utilities, etc) only discretionary spending.

Sunday - catfood $6.48 (used $5 off rewards coupon)
Monday - NSD
Tuesday - bought foam roller for leg pain $37 (it's working! more on that later!)
Wednesday - NSD
Thursday - $2.16 for two ice creams (one for me, one for F) at Baskin Robbins - this was $1 kids scoop day!
Friday - NSD
Saturday - out to lunch (planned) with F’s former teacher (about $25 for the three of us)

The snowflake ($8) was from selling an old office chair on Craigslist. It wasn't a great chair, and not in excellent condition. My office mate thought I should have sold it for way more. Really? It was not a very expensive chair to begin with. I just wanted it gone, and the $8 will go to the mortgage principal. Combine that with the other snowflake this month ($9 from pinecone) and the regular amount that we budget to pay down principal. And hopefully I'll get my gym payment next week.

This weekend is all about soccer. F had a game this morning. Then it was out to lunch with her former teacher (I had saved up for this, and we have eaten some weird but inexpensive dinners recently). The wind started to blow around the end of the game. Tomorrow it's supposed to be SUPER windy, and F has a soccer tournament. She'll be playing 5 games total (she's one of a team of only six girls and they play 3 on 3, no goalie). We're there from 8:30 to 2:30.

Besides making some sandwiches for us, I got some clementines today for the girls, and D got a big thingy of water with a tap so the girls can refill their bottles. Everyone else will probably bring things to share, too. I might make some hot chocolate; it'll be cold out there! And we're bringing our backpacking tent in case it's really awful so the girls can huddle in there between games.

I ran into a friend at the store today, and she said her kids don't play soccer because it's so windy and dusty on the fields we play on and she doesn't want to take them down there. But honestly I think it's fun!

Have to go now and pack up for tomorrow...

I haven't bought any new clothes since December, after determining that I don't need anything. It hasn't been too hard, but I really want this shirt:
http://factory.jcrew.com/womens-clothing/knits_tees/long_sleeve_tees/PRDOVR~A0140/A0140.jsp?color_name=navy-white
Which is ridiculous, because as I mentioned, I don't need it.

And furthermore, I am going to need to pay the Big Medical Bill soon, and I am funneling any extra money into the medical "envelope."

I shouldn't be feeling deprived. Seriously, I am not deprived in any way. And I just bought a foam roller, so it's not like I never buy anything for myself.

It gets me thinking again about how much we really need, and how we decide we want something. I really like the "waiting period" method of buying something, where you wait a certain amount of time before you make a purchase.

(I am not buying the shirt, by the way; I have enough shirts).

So F will be playing in a soccer tournament on Sunday; this is in addition to her regular game on Saturday. I am freaking out a little bit, because as coach, my husband had to pay up front for the team fee for the tournament and then we have to collect money from each player to pay us back.

The total (gulp) is $180, so it's $30 per player. Seems steep to me, but F really loves soccer. This is going into the entertainment budget.

The scary part is that we need to collect money from everyone. Maybe we can collect at practice tomorrow evening, because the charge is already on the visa card. I'd hate to get stuck with any of this.