Toilet-Paper-Tracker

Soccer camp starts next week, which means that we get to meet the coach we are hosting on Sunday evening. Except I just got a call from the organizer, and we may be hosting TWO coaches! This is great and a little terrifying.

One can stay in our spare room of course, and the other can either put a futon in there or take F's room (she said "I hope he's an Arsenal fan" - there are Arsenal posters and memorabilia all over the room!). F always sleeps in our room anyway. It'll make things a little more complicated in terms of having to move things around (she'll need access to her clothes and she'll want to move certain toys down to our room, too.

Also means making three lunches in the morning. And extra food at night, so I need to make a careful meal plan.

I was thinking:
- white chicken chile
- tostadas
- tortilla espanola with a salad
- pasta with bacon and peas and goat cheese
- maybe risotto? maybe lemon crumbed fish?

One night we're having a barbeque with all four of the coaches at our house, but it'll be potluck. I'll get hot dogs and buns and fun toppings (chile, cheese, relish, etc). Maybe with french fries...

So... soccer season has started... I can't believe it! F's first practice was Monday night, and she has practice tonight as well.

When she practices, I run around the old horse racing track (the fields are in the middle of what is now a derelict racetrack). It's flat, it's packed dirt, it's 1.1 miles - perfect! I have my running stuff ready to go.

F is feeling very anxious about me running, worried that something will happen to me. Yes, she is still seeing someone, and I think we're making progress. But I AM going to run tonight.

No game this weekend, which is good because I want to go to the pool and hang out and relax. Next week is soccer camp for F. Then school starts the middle of the week after that. And at the end of that week - first tournament!

So - a lot of soccer.

I'm pretty happy to get my running in while she practices; free fun! (If you can call it fun). My other exercising happens at lunch time.

How do you fit in your exercise? It's not easy with work and all of the other obligations we all have!

We just got back from a long weekend in Denver! What a great trip! There are some things I would have done differently, but it was a lot of fun and not too expensive.

What we should have done differently:
- We chose a hotel on 16th street... in the end it really didn't matter that we were in the heart of Denver. If we go again, I'll pick a nicer area and a hotel with a pool that doesn't charge for parking.
- The mermaid show at the Aquarium was recommended to us. Not that great, and the food was not that great either. To me that could have been skipped and we could have eaten somewhere better.

What we did right:
- We drove (and we specifically drove our more fuel efficient car that uses the less expensive fuel). I filled up the car before we left and spent about $18, then put $30 in the car while we were gone and came home with 3/4 of a tank of gas still in the car.
- We chose street parking lots rather than the $35/day that the hotel charges for parking. We saved $50! Walked less than a block.
- We ate lunch at the Aquarium to see the mermaid show, but didn't go to the Aquarium itself. We have an Aquarium here.
- Botanic Garden was worth seeing though not incredibly cheap. But beautiful!
- We visited the Denver County Fair - super fun! F made a Peeps Diorama, and there was a scavenger hunt. We didn't eat there, and I'm glad; fair food = yuck. But D did try a cookie made with ground up crickets that they were letting people sample. Again.. yuck.
- We met friends who live in Denver for a nice meal out at a Korean place. I was stuffed! D got a beer, which he normally doesn't do out, but hey, he's on vacation. They had unlimited sides and the food was really good! We don't have a Korean place here.
- Hammond's Candy Factory tour - FREE and they gave us each a giant lemon candy cane at the end. The tour was short, but fascinating, and totally worth doing!
- Colorado Rapids soccer game - my friend's son is the event manager for the Rapids so we got free tickets, 8th row, to a sold out game against the LA Galaxy! So much fun!!! We even saw two of the British soccer coaches that stayed with us during the summer when they ran the camp F did. She was so excited to see them!!
- Stopped in Trinidad, CO on the way back down for lunch - that might have been one of the best meals we had, and it was only $22 for all three of us. If you are ever in Trinidad, stop at the Daily Grind. They even had gf bread, so I had a sandwich, too.

We fit a lot in a three day trip. Since we didn't have airfare or soccer tickets to buy, we decided to splurge a little on food... usually I bring food, but we wanted to eat out.

The dining out budget is almost gone for this month, but it was worth it!

I did a little spreadsheet a year or so ago of all of my clothes, how many of each type, etc. to figure out the ideal number of each item. This was fine, except that I forgot to take into account condition. I had a lot of things with holes, stains, faded, didn't fit, that I never wore, that looked terrible on me.

This is what happens when you stop buying clothes for a long time. Things wear out. Even if you don't use your dryer.

Well, Creditcardfree and Snafu opened my eyes a little bit, and I went through my closet and removed 27 items of clothing (this is everyday wear, not once-in-a-year going out clothes or pajamas or underwear or socks or workout gear). I wasn't left with much, but I did see that I had the basis of a wardrobe. I have about 4 long sleeved tshirts and 4 short sleeved tshirts. One tank top in a pretty color. A couple pairs of jeans that fit well. Two pairs of cropped summer pants. Two nice summer dresses (one black, one brown). One pair of shorts, two casual skirts and one skirt I can wear to work.

I also saw that when I removed certain items that I was left with a big wardrobe gap. Primarily: things to wear to work. My work is very casual, but not so casual that a threadbare tshirt with holes is ok. Also not so casual that I can wear workout gear to a meeting.

I had $111 in my clothing category (I put in $15 a month, but often raid it for other things like and outing with F).

Armed with a list of things in my reject pile that I actually really need, and was wearing, but were not really wearable, I went all the way down to the outlet mall (20 minutes away! that seems like not that far, but that's pretty much on the edge of town). A friend had mentioned that there is an Ann Taylor Loft outlet down there, and that's where she shops. I put on a podcast because that way I would be distracted and not turn around and go home.

I had a clear morning (no work to finish imminently) so I could take my time. F is in camp.

With the help of a super nice salesperson (and the fact that I was there at opening so it wasn't busy), I managed to buy:
- one pair of black narrow pants in a knit fabric but jean style perfect for autumn because they are long and not jeans (original price was $69.99, I paid $14.88)
- one pair of the same pants in grey (original price $69.99, I paid $9.88)
- really pretty tank top in purple (original price was $29.99, I paid $14.99)
- the same tank top in a black/white print (original price was $29.99, I paid $14.99)
- black tank top with cinched in waist (original price $36.99, I paid $14.99)
- purple tshirt ($9)
- green tunic with 3/4 sleeves ($27.99)

Total: $105

Everything is knit fabric (it's a sensory thing for me), machine-washable. I made sure of that; I don't dry clean/lay flat/iron or otherwise tweak my laundry.

I am feeling like a really good shopper right now whereas before I felt like a terrible shopper with a hideous wardrobe. Thank you to this group for pushing out of my comfort zone a little - I am pretty excited to get dressed tomorrow!

Today I sold an old suitcase on craigslist... the suitcase is way to big and the only time I ever traveled with it was when I moved to Dublin. It got a big "heavy" sticker on it at the airport because it had everything I needed to live for a year over there!

I sold it to a woman who works right around the corner from me... her daughter is going to college in Hawaii... I told her about the history of the suitcase and its travels to Ireland, and she said it was definitely good luck! I hope her daughter loves college! Apparently there is an agreement between New Mexico and Hawaii that students from her get in-state tuition there and vice versa... hmmm....

The money from the suitcase will go to the mortgage of course.

I saved $75 today! We bought a new mattress, and had no way of getting rid of the old mattress.

Options:
- The easiest option was to ask for a "large item pick-up" from the City's solid waste department - they charge $75.
- Find a friend with a pickup (I don't have any friends with pickups or trucks that I can think of, but I was going to put a post on facebook)
- Pay someone to haul it to the dump, but I figured that would cost about $75 with the dump fee
- Put the mattress on craigslist as a free item - that was my first option and best option... and someone emailed! So now the mattress is gone and it's not filling up the dump either.

We (and particularly my back) are loving the new mattress. It's a Keetsa Pillow Plus, and it's not particularly expensive, and it has a memory foam top and feels great. A big purchase, but according to my physical therapist, one I won't regret.

F's sleepover was a success! We had dinner at the pool. The two friends who slept over are extremely picky eaters. I know they eat mac and cheese, but I told them that we were having turkey burgers and that chicken hot dogs were an option; they still chose mac and cheese. So I put the other package of turkey burger in the freezer for another week. We also had roasted mini peppers; I only made half of the bag because I just knew they wouldn't eat very many. One girl had one, the other had a tiny nibble. We also had cherries and strawberries. One girl had three strawberries, the other girl doesn't like fruit (!!?). We had ice cream sundaes with sprinkles and chocolate sauce. They both ate that!

I am blessed with a child that eats everything (except mushrooms). I realize I am very fortunate, and not all children are like this. I was a picky eater when I was little. But the girl who doesn't eat vegetables or fruit is a VEGETARIAN! So she also doesn't eat chicken or fish or beef. She ONLY eats past and pbj's. And ice cream. Oh - and she was very proud that she tried something new and liked it recently (baked beans). If you guessed that she's overweight, you're correct. I've known her since she was 6, and now she's ten. Her parents have always thought she'd grow out of it.

They make a special dinner for her, which I refuse to do. Anyway, it's not my child, and she is a really sweet, wonderful girl (I just worry about her, and it seems like the parents think her eating quirks are funny!).

All the girls were GREAT! They had fun, they giggled, and were asleep by 10. Phew!

Right now F is doing her Khan Academy math work; all the kids going into 5th have to complete 4th grade math as a review. She's 85% complete and wants to get to 90% today. She decided to do 5% a day so she can be finished by Tuesday.

Oh - and her tooth just fell out. The tooth fairy is not currently prepared. I need to slip out for a few minutes.

Otherwise, today will be low-key as it should be after a sleepover. Adult v. kids soccer kickaround at 5 pm.

The meal plan for this week:

- turkey burgers with roasted mini peppers
- crustless quiche
- tostadas
- chicken piccata
- gambino crime family pasta
- big salad with cheddar bay biscuits (copycat recipe!)
- grilled cheese and tomato soup

We have two girls coming for a sleepover tonight and F requested turkey burgers and roasted peppers for dinner. We'll barbecue at the pool and the girls can go in and swim, play foosball, etc. Ice cream sundaes back at home for dessert. We just went to the store to get more sprinkles.

Savings v. spending:

- I took F and her friend to Baskin Robbins yesterday. Saved $1 from a coupon, and got the coveted "buy any cone, get one for 99c" coupon on the bottom of my receipt. Spent: $5.17, Saved: $3.89

- I found a meter at the post office today with money in it. Saved: 10c

- Four of my items sold on ebay (which is why I was at the post office). I've received payment for one, but the total is $60! Saved: $60 plus I got another $1.38 off the shipping from paypal because I printed shipping with them.

- Picnic dinner tonight at Music on the Hill (the last Music on the Hill of the summer - sob!). We're bringing white chicken chile from the freezer (our favorite crockpot recipe) and sour cream, tortilla chips, raspberries and cookies from home. Spent: $0 extra (this is from our regular groceries).

- Took F to Sonic for slushies, then brought them home to eat and made our own tater tots (much healthier Trader Joe's version which is just potatoes and salt) so we didn't buy them there. Spent: $2.17 for two because it was happy hour.

D and I realized it's time to start planning our next visit to the UK. For those of you who don't know: we go every other year to see D's family. His mum was able to travel here this past Spring (after several years of medical issues), but his dad can't travel and his sister won't come to the US (long story). So to see everyone (including our nephews and niece), we have to go there. Oh - and I forgot all of D's cousins!

Anyway, we always add a vacation on to the end of the trip, since at that point we're already in Europe and Ryanair flights are pretty inexpensive if you don't check anything.

After our trip to Las Vegas, F was pretty enchanted by the Venetian, and we thought it might be nice to at least have a day in Venice (it's beautiful, but not really the type of place we'd like to stay for a week - we like a more low-key, small vacation town and a weekly let). We've been to Italy before (actually we were in that region in a town called Montalto de la Marche which was quite a bit less expensive and more real than Italian tourist spots). But this time, we're thinking outside Italy a little bit... Our current options are coastal Slovenia or coastal Croatia. (Somewhat cheaper than Italy, close to Venice, especially by boat, and there are several towns that are exactly what we're looking for).

We have $2770 in the airfare category and $650 in the rewards category, plus I have another $691 that I can redeem in rewards. At the moment, flights next summer are about $5300 for all three of us - gulp. Is there a better time to buy tickets? (We have to do summer, but if we purchase them 6 months in advance, is that better than purchasing them a year in advance?).

I made on purchase today:
a New Mexico Trader Joe's bag for my friend who used to live here and moved away about 10 years ago. I called her to say "hi" and tell her about the bag, and as I suspected she was totally excited. I'll probably pay more for postage than the 99c that I paid for the bag! I miss my friend a lot; she's in California now.

I spent most of the day working on answering contractor questions for a fire station that I designed that is out for bid. There were some seriously stupid questions. "Where is the Project located?" (Um - it's called the Glorieta Fire Station; do you think it might be in GLORIETA?!! Also there's a vicinity map on the Cover Sheet!!!). "What size is the lot?" (In the drawings, on the Survey, where you would expect to find it). "Which way does the drainage run?" (You are kidding, right? We included a Grading and Drainage plan in the plans and it's a little more complicated than just answering a question! Look at the PLANS!!!!). "Is there a benchmark?" (YES! That is why it is labeled benchmark on the survey, which is where surveyors put benchmarks they've set. READ the PLANS!!!).

Can you tell I'm frustrated?

At least I'm paid to answer idiotic questions. (Not enough, though).

These kinds of days make me want to eat chocolate, but we are having a healthy dinner of fish with homemade aoili and roasted cauliflower. That'll probably make me feel better than chocolate anyway.

I always do a weekly meal plan, but I don't always post it.

Here it is for this week:

fish with roasted cauliflower (fishy)
taquitos (chickeny)
baked potatoes and broccoli (potato-ish)
grilled cheese and tomato soup (bready/cheesy)
freezer with salad (something from the freezer)
pasta with red sauce (pasta thing)

That is three vegetarian meals, one fish and two fowl. We don't eat beef/pork/mammals, but I am also trying to eat less chicken/turkey.

Plus we may (or may not) be eating out tonight. I'm waiting for our friends to return from an overnight backpacking trip; if they're up to it, we're all going out for pizza. We have $130 in our dining out budget. If we do go out I want green chile and feta on my pizza; not everyone's favorite, but believe me: it's awesome!

Which reminds me... we are beginning our Thanksgiving discussions/negotiations/arguments. My brother wants an all-vegetarian meal. My mother wants turkey. We are having 24 people with varying diets. I don't care what we have as long as I can eat at least something (I don't eat gluten and I eat very little dairy). I'd like to make mashed potatoes with red chile sauce. My brother wants to make some other type of potatoes. So far we're only having potatoes. Oh - I wouldn't mind doing at least one dessert because I love dessert and it's pretty much off-limits if I don't make it.

Right now I have a crostata (Italian rustic tart) in the oven, and that would be a good candidate. (No, we are not Italian). I could also make a Tunis Cake (no, we are not Tunisian). My mother wants to buy dessert because she thinks store-bought desserts are nicer/fancier than home-made ones. And baking makes her ovens "too hot." (I am not kidding).

My brother has this idea that everyone (all 24 of us) should be able to eat everything.

I live 1000 miles from my parents' house, and because my mother doesn't cook I'll need to bring my own pans, etc. My brother bought baking trays last year to leave at her house, and she's still upset about it. She wants to give them away, but I reminded her that he might want to use them for his potatoes this year.

Did I mention that when my brother cooks he never makes enough? He says that there are lots of other things to eat, so he only needs to make enough for about 6 people. I am a terrible over-feeder. I will make mashed potatoes for 24 as if everyone is ONLY eating mashed potatoes.

I like cranberry sauce. Other people like cranberry relish (blech). My mother likes the cranberry sauce in the can, but she will stoop to my level and eat my home-made stuff (but she always mentions that she prefers the can).

I always want to have a salad. No one else wants salad. It's just not "Thanksgiving."

My mother likes that spinach stuff with a can of cream of mushroom soup in frozen spinach. She is surprised every year that I can't eat the mushroom soup since it's thickened with flour.

This could go on and on, so I am going to go eat that crostata now... I truly hope you haven't started planning Thanksgiving yet, but if your family is as neurotic as mine, please comment so I know I'm not alone.

I just saw this map on Apt. Therapy...
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/what-is-100-worth-where-you-live-221874?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=managed&utm_content=FaceBook

Our County says $100 is worth $100 (but is the most expensive place to live in our state), but for some places on the map it's like having a 20% pay cut (or a 5% raise in others). Interesting.

In other news:
Went to a party last night and had a great time. And of course another bonus was that we didn't need to make dinner, just a dish to share.

F has a friend coming over today, then soccer kick-around and then we may go out for pizza. We haven't eaten out since we got back from our vacation 3 weeks ago, so we've got money in that category.

F's two week camp is over at noon today; we'll have lunch at home. And then she goes back to camp for the end-of-camp performance. It's a circus camp, and F is doing fabric/silks (aerials) and unicycling and stilt-walking. This is her fourth camp with this circus troupe. So much fun!

Nine to noon is not a lot of time to get much done, but I made some work phone calls, went for a short run (it's the only kind I do - 1.5 miles). And I also paid down mortgage principal with a few snowflakes.

$77 gym money
$5 craigslist sale
$15 survey amazon certificate

We've paid off $6830 this year so far! And the mortgage is down to $51,357. Next month we'll be below $50k and we're celebrating by going to Denver for a Colorado Rapids soccer game and weekend break!

Several snowflakes came in today and yesterday... I am so happy because I thought we'd paid down as much as we could on the mortgage this month.

- $77 payment for June from the gym
- $5 sale on Craigslist
- $15 amazon credit from a professional survey that I participated in

Wow!

So I'll be taking a trip to the bank tomorrow.

The difficult thing today is that F has been really anxious at camp this week. I had to pick her up early. She is going to see her psychologist tomorrow to work on how to talk herself back down when she gets really worried.

Tonight: we're bringing dinner to Music on the Hill. Should be fun, and we should see lots of friends up there!

Today...

1. I started the day off right and sold something on Craigslist (just $5, but still...). The person I sold it to is the boyfriend of a friend of mine! We both had no idea when we were working out how to meet up. Small town.

2. Went to weightlifting class at the gym. Free because I teach there. I went to Pilates yesterday. (Still sore! That was a lot of hip work).

3. Had lunch at home (leftover tuna with celery and some crisps; also a plum and some blackberries). I love that there is a ton of fresh fruit in season. We bought cantaloupe, blackberries and pineapple. Fruit makes even my boring lunches sort of exciting.

4. Having some new friends over tomorrow. This always makes me look at our house with new eyes. I identified two quick jobs: fixed trim on a window in our bedroom and sewed a fraying part of our slipcovers. It's nice when new people come over because I take care of small things that I've let go for a while.

5. F seems keen to go to the pool (yay!). She went off the diving board for the first time yesterday (and then repeated her new trick about a thousand times). She's pretty excited to go back this evening. The pool is open until 7:45 pm, so I think we'll bring dinner over and D can meet us there. Tonight: chili and corn on the cob. Yum! Maybe I'l bring some pineapple, too.

I see that I didn't mention work at all in my five things... which is good - it means that everything is going smoothly. I got in enough hours while F was at camp and I got a lot done.

Hoping your day was good, too!

Today was pretty low-key. I wanted to go to the pool, but F said she'd rather go tomorrow when her friend is over.

So... I vacuumed and cleaned out the litterbox, washed the picnic blanket, dusted, got the fur off the pet covers that I keep on the sofa, cleaned all of the kitchen appliances (including toaster crumbs and the inside of the microwave).

We had a nice lunch on our patio (finally it's warm enough after weeks of rain every day!). Quesadillas and watermelon and leftover roast courgettes and red pepper.

Then I worked on the General Store dollhouse I made for F. It's almost done! I think we'll be able to decorate it tomorrow! I will definitely post some photos.

We played tennis at the park (and unfortunately lost a ball; ah well).

Then we went to the store to get strawberries and whipping cream. I made mini pavlovas for dessert tonight. That might be my favorite dessert ever. I had two egg whites I'd saved from a recipe that used just yolks, so I wanted to use them up, and meringues are perfect.

Tonight we're going to watch Married at First Sight which is sure to be completely stupid, but we all need to relax. Last week was stressful (work) and rainy (a day of crazy hail which made the upper patio fill with dirt which we had to dig out) and emotional (F had some anxiety due to the thunder associated with the rain). I am looking forward to sitting at the pool tomorrow and reading the book on my phone!

Sometimes I feel like our weekends are dull compared to other people (I'm on Facebook too much obviously), but I think I like them that way. Are you a high intensity weekend person or a low-key weekend person? I think they can both be frugal...

Today was pretty busy (every day this week has been busy). I managed to get a lot of work done, but also exercised and did some stuff around the house etc.

Here is the Free Stuff from today:
- Got two books from the library for F (Chomp and When you Reach Me)
- While I was there, picked up three magazines for me at the magazine exchange rack
- The pay machine was out of order so I parked for free which is good since I was only there for 2 minutes
- There's been a flooding situation at one of the neighborhoods I work with (I am their Design Review Committee Chair) and it's meant a ton of phone calls. I've been carefully logging my hours; so I guess I've made some extra money this week.
- Tonight is crash potatoes and grilled veggies (courgettes and red pepper). Yum!
- Spent some time today listening to the Undisclosed podcast on my phone (it's a follow-up to Serial; if you were super into Serial, you need to listen to Undisclosed!)
- I have a ridiculous but fun book on my phone by Liane Moriarty (also from the library)
- We'll watch another episode of Celebrity Masterchef tonight (best show ever!)
- I went for a run today (free exercise!) which was both awful (running is awful) and felt great afterward. And I passed another woman who was running like me (I don't know how to explain it - we were both the same age and we were clomping along similarly in our non-fancy running clothes) and we said hi and "keep going!" which felt good!
- Went to the bank to pay down mortgage principal (got a $23 check from our utility and had $327 from our Irish house) - and it was popcorn day! I love popcorn day!

I hope you had some Free Stuff, too!

The last couple of days have been so stressful work-wise! Ugh! I don't even want to go into it... just lots of work, not enough time to do it, millions of phone calls from people who want me to help them but it's not part of my role to settle disputes between property owners (and even if I wanted to help, it would be bad for me to do that).

So, I am exhausted.

The result, though: no spending. No time to spend anything.

What we did spend money on: got a few stickers for F's Women's World Cup sticker book. Yes, she was THRILLED about the final match! She wore her Klingenberg jersey. She was so passionate about the game, some people at the next table (we saw it on a big screen at a restaurant her in town) said "We want her to sit with us!"

Right now: it's just stopped hailing (for the second time). Big hail, too - like 3/4 of an inch! And I'm super sad because the one thing I really look forward to all week (besides Celebrity Master Chef) is Music on the Hill. And it's not looking likely. We'll see what the weather does.

I'm going to go pick up F from Circus Camp. And then I guess either Music on the Hill or a quiet evening at home.

We've been trying for several days to bring money from our Irish account to the US. Now that we don't have to make mortgage payments on our Irish house anymore, we decided to use some of the rent money we receive for the house to pay down principal on our US house (about $400 a month).

TransferWise seemed to be our best option because we don't have to pay ATM fees and the fee they do charge is really small. They give you a good interest rate, too.

There were a couple of options on TransferWise, but because our Irish bank charges for transfers to other banks, we decided to go with their debit card option. It didn't work, so D called the Irish bank, and they said it needed to be used at an actual ATM first.

There's a bank in town that doesn't charge a fee (although our Irish bank does, ugh). So we took out $80 and tried TransferWise again.

It still didn't work. So D called the Irish bank, and they said that we could only take out 300 euro at a time using the debit card.

D tried taking out only 300 euro, and it worked! So now we have a way to get that money out of Ireland and into our US account. It should show up on Thursday.

D took the $80 from the ATM to the bank to pay down principal today on our US mortgage.

This month's mortgage principal so far:
- $150 budgeted
- $80 reimbursement for coach hosting
- $90 gym payment
- $80 from Irish house
- more to come!

I don't know about you, but net worth seems a little weird to me... I mean, we have to have somewhere to live, right? So the value of our house, which is the majority of our net worth, doesn't seem like it really adds to our investments. I guess we could downsize if we wanted to at some point.

Anyway, I still calculate net worth every 3 months.

Net Worth Total = $996,326
Net Worth of only Investments = $407,482

Investments haven't gained any value since March, but rose because we put money in each month. Frustrating, and it's why I only check every 3 months.

I got paid by the gym yesterday, and it was $90! That was for May; the owner is characteristically late on paying us. I drove it to the bank this morning to pay down principal so we're now at $52,817 (and that's before our regular payment posts on the 7th).

A little more about the gym: we used to have a space close to downtown, but the owner is moving us to his other gym. It's ok with me because my house is equidistant between the new place and the old one, but I think we're going to lose some members who won't be able to make it there on their lunch hours. I thought we'd pick up members from the new gym, but after I toured around, I realized it's really two separate types of clientele. Our people take classes in weights (light weights, high reps) and cardio (spinning, zumba) and the people at the gym do only Golds type freeweights (heavy weights, low reps). They won't be coming to our classes.

And we won't be using their gym. I thought that the treadmills that were taken out of our gym went to the new gym, but I think they were sold. There is no cardio equipment at the new gym at all.

Also - I thought there would be someone to greet, check people in, take payments. There isn't. The people at that gym have a key to get in when they want. Our instructors have a key so we can teach our classes. We still have to take payments and sign people in, open the case to sell water, etc.

Here's the thing: I am really considering calling the private club here in town where most of my friends belong. It's far from my house, but not that far. And it's closer to my office. I have so many friends there, I know I could build up some classes. And I'm pretty sure they pay better (and on time). It feels risky for some reason, and I don't know why. I've been really loyal to this gym, but maybe it's time for a change.

Anyway, the other thing I did today was take our cat to the vet. He is so fat, they gave us some free food to try. He is honestly not that fat. He's a big cat to start with, and he's pretty sedentary. We play catch with him, and we give him less food than it says on the bag to maintain his ideal weight. The doctor gave us wet food to try. I guess free food is good.

I am realizing this post sounds sort of grumpy, and I am almost never grumpy, so I apologize. I will have a better attitude tomorrow!

F was not very happy with me this morning. I had to drag her around on a few errands...
1. To the office to pick up some things I needed to bring to my client. Plus a check that had arrived.
2. To the bank to deposit the check, and the reimbursement for hosting a coach at camp. And paid down mortgage principal (regular $150 plus $80 reimbursement check). Also bought tickets to the Fourth of July pancake breakfast.
3. Dropped off the things to the client.

It took less than an hour.

We bought the pancake tickets with cash from a counter check... If I had gotten cash, I would have had leftover cash which somehow just disappears. This way, nothing leftover to spend. Buying them early saved us $2. We only buy two tickets because I can't eat the pancakes, so I just bring something along and we all sit on a blanket on the grass. We park at my office so we don't have to pay for parking.

On the mortgage front: we now owe $52,907, and that will be less when our regular payment goes through on the 7th. When we get to $50,000 I promised that we would do something fun. That will most likely be in August... wow... I guess that'll be our road trip to Denver to see the Colorado Rapids!

Made $10 selling some books on craigslist, and I took that over to the bank to pay down principal right away. So we've paid down $252 this month to principal. And I have an $80 check that just came in the mail (reimbursement for hosting our coach). Since we were happy to host her from our regular budget, that will go to mortgage principal as well.

Our meal plan this week is:
chili with avocado, chips, sour cream
fish with courgettes and red pepper
risotto with peas and sundried tomatoes and goat cheese
tostadas
big salad with garlic bread
pasta with red sauce
baked potatoes and broccoli

That kept our grocery budget down since we already had a lot of the ingredients.

And finally... the BIG NEWS: we made the final payment on our house in Dublin, so we now officially own it! I am hounding D to make sure we don't somehow make an auto-payment or pay the life insurance policy we no longer need. We can now take money out of the rent we receive for that house to pay down the mortgage on our US house.

I of course have been playing with the mortgage pay-down spreadsheet to see how this will affect how long it will take us to finally own this house. Just a few more years...

And I found out today that my close friend and her husband just took his bonus and paid their house off. It was a big bonus, I guess! She said they discussed it and (like us) decided they didn't want to fritter it away or spend it on something they didn't need. He's already contributing to their 401k. Their daughter goes to the same private school ours does, and will most likely go to the same high school. This is probably why we hang out with these friends the most! We prefer bbq potlucks to expensive restaurants and paying our houses off instead of new cars!

We had so much fun in Las Vegas! We were smart about certain things (and not as smart about others) so I thought I'd share... Here are some of our ways that we saved money in Las Vegas:

1. We don't drink - drinks are expensive in Las Vegas.

2. We don't gamble. But I found a dime on the stairs down to the pool!

Now the not so obvious things:

3. We booked our vacation through Southwest Airlines (flights and room) and got a way better deal than booking flights and hotel separately.

4. We stayed at the MGM Signature because we wanted a kitchen, but we also wanted access to the MGM's fun pool! The hotel is non-smoking. We asked for Tower 1 because it's closest to the MGM pools (in fact it's closer than MGM rooms) and we asked for a room on the strip side (no music from the pool bothering us, plus a strip view).

5. We bought water for $2.50 (big water!) just outside the MGM at the ABC Store. A huge savings over buying water in the hotel. We put it in our fridge.

6. We brought a suitcase full of food (bread, cereal, cheese, chips, veggies, ranch dip, butter, cookies, fruit etc.) so we only ate out one meal a day. Our room's kitchenette came with a microwave, toaster, plates, cups, utensils and a little stove. We didn't use the stove, though. Southwest lets you check two bags each for free; this was the only bag we checked since we all just do carry-on.

7. The international coke product sampler at Coke world (or whatever it's called) is more than enough for a family. You just need to buy one! And a really fun activity for $8.65.

8. We brought our own tubes for the Lazy River at the MGM pools; I bought them at the dollar store. No one cared that we were using our own tubes. One waitress by the pool told us if we took them to the little tube kiosk they'd blow them up for us.

9. If you want a snack at the pools, the fries are the criss-cut type with good seasoning and are only $5 (not bad for Las Vegas) at the snack bar. We brought our own water down to the pool each day.

10. If you are willing to walk a little bit, there is an In-n-Out not very far away (about a mile). Our total was $22 for all three of us. We found out how to walk online - you need to be on the Excalibur side of the street and then cross at Tropicana.

11. It was super hot and we did want to see some hotels which were pretty far away, so we got a 24 hour monorail pass for $10 each (D used a link online). We went in the evening to the Venetian and a show at the Mirage, then we used them the next day to go up to Paris and the Bellagio. The great thing about the monorail was that we didn't need to walk through the sometimes smoky casino to get to it from the MGM Signature.

12. The Bellagio is pretty fun to walk around and they have a crazy Conservatory that is worth seeing. The Venetian has separated their casino so no smoke to walk through - and there are free opera shows in the main piazza.

13. We didn't buy anything except a coca cola tiny polar bear at Coke World and a magnet at the M&M Store for F. We're not big shoppers. At M&M world, if you buy something, you get a shopping bag for $1. We didn't need another shopping bag, so we passed, but especially if you're buying a $4 magnet, this is a good deal.

14. The Hershey store is worth seeing; they were handing out Hershey kiss samples when we were there. If I had a younger child, I would consider bringing a few Hershey treats from home just in case they "needed" chocolate, but F was fine with our homemade chocolate chip cookies back at our room.

15. The pool at the MGM was amazing, so we spent every morning at the pool and only ventured out to see things in the afternoons. We brought a huge bottle of sunscreen and used a lot of it!!

It was a fun trip and if we hadn't seen shows, it would have been pretty reasonable. The shows... well, that's why we were there! We don't get these sorts of things where we live! Blue Man Group - amazing. Beatles Love - awesome! Worth the splurge!

We are going to Las Vegas tomorrow, so today is all about prep:

- Got work stuff in order (deposited a check, sent drawings to the printer so they can print while I'm gone for a project that will advertise for bidding this weekend).

- Post office to mail off F's thank you cards for her birthday

- To the grocery store (we are taking a suitcase of food and also got lunch for the plane) - $38 total

- Books back to the library

- Deposited the $10 I got from a Craigslist sale so now the mortgage is $53,147

- Updated transactions in YNAB so we know how much money we have when we're away.

- Packing is ongoing... ugh.

- Syncing phone because we're not taking computers.

- Check in online (in 11 minutes!)

Our coach V left just after lunch today - we're so sad! But it's less bad for F because she has a friend over, so it's not so quiet around the house without V here. And V, who is Welsh, left F with lots of Welsh goodies including a Swansea City teddy bear.

I've already done the sheets and they're hanging on the solar dryer (clothesline!).

I took F and her friend to Baskin Robbins (coupon!) and we'll be driving the friend home soon. The two of them are both keen soccer players and they're in the living room with D watching the Germany-Sweden World Cup game. They were just outside squirting the wall and each other with squirt things.

I have a weakness for ice cream in the summer when it's this hot, but other than that, today is a low-cost day.

Tonight - dinner at a friend's house. They told us we don't need to bring anything, but we'll probably stop and get some kid-friendly drinks (lemonade?) to share.

1. My coworker's wife left me a magazine (brand new issue of RealSimple) that she is done with; she leaves me magazines which is awesome! When I am done I take them to the magazine exchange at the library. I was actually at the library today and I picked up the current issue of Dwell at the magazine exchange, so I have two new magazines to read!

2. I got a book for me (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) and a book for F at the library today. Hope she likes her book! It's difficult to find books for her (she doesn't like scary or disturbing but everything at her reading level seems to be scary and disturbing).

3. Went to the dollar store and got three floating tubes for $1 each. We are going to be at a pool next week, and it's not clear if you can bring your own floaties or not. If you can't, at least we're only out $3. If you can, we save a lot of money not having to rent their tubes.

4. We are going to the pool today! It's hot, and it'll be something fun to do with our soccer coach who leaves tomorrow for a camp in another city.

5. Lunch will be at home. Dinner, too (bbq chicken and veggies with yummy sauce).

That's it for now! I need to head off to pick up F from camp; I don't want to miss the big water fight!!!

We have enough in the EF to cover unexpected expenses, but I am trying to pay back the EF.

The accounting right now is that I've used the EF to pay for:
1442 for new stucco
444 for medical

We'll see how it goes, but I am figuring we can pay both of these categories back over the next few months.

In the meantime, our budget is working out well. I just split our personal articles floater (21/month) off of our auto insurance (108/month) to track things better. I know that the personal articles needs to build up and is paid in January, and the auto is paid monthly, so they're a little different. Even though it may be easier to lump things together in some ways, it helps me to have things divided up as much as possible.

By doing this I realized that I had too much saved up in the insurance category (more than I need to build up enough for the yearly personal articles payment). So I have an extra $75 to pay back the EF.

All the camp payments for this summer have been made now, too, so the camp category is building back up for next year.

And I just took a $10 craigslist payment to the bank to pay down the mortgage principal, so we're now at $53,158.

F's school was very generous and gave me a gift at the end of my year as Parent Association President.... so nice! Here in Santa Fe, it's traditional to give a Nambe for gifts like that. Nambe is local and very unique and also useful.

If you don't know Nambe, you should look them up!

Anyway, they gave me a really beautiful cheeseboard, but it was so LARGE and something I'd only use maybe once a year. I called the Nambe store which is a 5 minute walk from my office and they said I could exchange it. I got a (much smaller!) dish, and it's really beautiful.

Part of me felt a little guilty to exchange a gift, and also I'm usually super practical, but I am uncharacteristically excited about having something beautiful.

I took a photo of it next to the Alessi bowl we got for our wedding, but I think the image thingy isn't working....