I have been a Finacial Slacker!

Ever since my daughter went away for one week, I have been slacking big time! I understand what happened to me during that period of parental freedom. I somewhat reverted back to my old irresponsible self except I still go to work everyday. I also had a financial snafu occur in April and had to basically wipe out my EF. I suppose between feeling free and discouraged I just ignored my financial life for a few weeks. I have not even update my account registers since the beginning of April! However, I am not going to beat myself up over it, however I am going to jump back in with both feet enthusiastically and see where else I am able to save that I can rebuild my EF again. Even though I am very lucky to have the EF to cushion any financial blows, I still felt a bit discouraged for a couple of weeks. Anybody else feel that way? Besides that happening I also was buying coffee out a lot and last couple of weeks were lunch disasters. April is now over and forgotten; I am moving on to May with perseverance and total optimism. My personal goals for this month are as follows:

• $300 towards EF
• Half of the CS will go towards the activity fund
  
• Breakfast and Lunch brought to work
• Pay off one credit card

One saving grace is that after this month the natural gas bill should be about $20 a month and I would like to dump that extra cash into paying off my debts. Last month I earned $121 in mystery shop assignments so I will see $109 at the end of May which will go towards the activity fund. I already have nine assignments for this month and three on-site research survey's to do this month. The on-site research surveys are done locally and paid in cash (total $40) and I am going to use that money towards filling up my car.

I ran out of beef in April, so I went to the local warehouse store to stock up again. Month of May will be pantry challenge month and only going to the store for perishables i.e. fruit, veggies, dairy products, eggs and bread. My meal plan this week is simple:

• Mon - Leftovers
• Tues - Beef burritos and yellow rice
• Wed - Potato salad and chicken burgers
  
• Thurs - Pizza
• Fri - Leftovers
• Sat - Pot Roast & Noodles
• Sun - Tilapia and rice
  

Even though I have been the financial slacker, I have been going to the gym consistently and making dinners at home. I am happy that my clothes are becoming looser and that my waist has shrunk down from 29 inches to 27.5 inches! My gym dues of 21.39 are not wasted I have been averaging 5 days a week which is about $1.06 per session!

I am giving myself until May 15 to finish decluttering the upstairs and then the following weekend I would have liked to have any paining done for those two rooms.

Financial slacker out...