Long time no post. It's been a weird few weeks. Decided not to get divorced. Decided to go to medical school. Believe Im in the throes of a midlife crisis...may need to call Oprah or Dr Phil but for the moment I need to figure out how to a. pay off my debts ASAP, b. pay for medical school (I dont want loans that I will be paying off forever) and c. feel centered and grounded in my life. Someone pass the Prozac.

1) $ Spent--$42.27 Walmart (mostly office supplies); $38.77 Gas (ouch!); $53.88 Groceries

2) Expenses Cut--bought only the things that were on my shopping list

3) $ Earned--$0

4) $ in Savings--$3

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--nothing

7) Increase Financial Awareness--back to the library for more books on financial topics

1) $ Spent--$0

2) Expenses Cut--wanted to go shopping but didn't guess that saved me at least some money

3) $ Earned--$8 rebate check

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--nothing

7) Increase Financial Awareness--read Dollar Stretcher website

Over the last few days I have really been in a cleaning/organizing mood. Each day I pick a room to tackle (the size of the room depends on how much work I have scheduled for the day--slow work day=bigger or more complicated room such as the kitchen, busy work day=closet or smaller less complicated room like the guest room).

Yesterday I cleaned my bathroom. Scrubbed it from top to bottom, took everything out of the medicine cabinet and tossed the old, outdated medicines, cruddy loking ointments, etc. Cleaned out the linen closet and refolded all of the towels, tossed the raggedy towels into the workshop bin, and tossed a whole tray of old makeup (for some reason I hate to throw away old makeup when I buy new stuff so the old stuff, which I never wear again, just takes up residence under the sink).

Next I made a list of everything that needed replacing (cold medicine which was three years out of date, a flapper valve for the toilet tank because it drips incessantly) as well as things that need to be stocked to carry this room through the next six months (toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc).

I do this to each room about every six months so that I never run out of things. I will keep an eye on the list I made so when shampoo comes on sale I will stock up, and also when floss goes on sale I will know that I DONT need it. Unfortunately I'm tempted to buy stuff when it is on sale regardless of whether I need it or not. I have eight containers of dental floss which I really didn't know I had...guess there was a sale some time back and I got carried away.

1) $ Spent--$75.86 household supplies; $1689.80 bills (house payment, phone, cells, etc)

2) Expenses Cut--went through my house which I do about quarterly and made a list of all of the supplies (shampoo, toothbrushes, etc) that I need to stock up on. Went to the store and purchased the things on my list that were on sale. If I couldn't find the item on sale I didnt purchase it and will wait to get it when it comes on sale.

3) $ Earned--$2200--check from a client

4) $ in Savings--$5

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$300; paid off $317 credit card. Three more credit cards to go!

6) Giving--tithed $100 to religious organization

7) Increase Financial Awareness--really paid attention to the prices when I shopped today. Usually I just throuw what I need in the basket and not really compare prices; today I was comparing ounces vs. price, etc.

1) $ Spent--$36.42 gas; $27.01 Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cake

2) Expenses Cut--borrowed a friend's housr for my sister's party. Since I live a few hours away, I usually end up taking everyone to a restaurant in her town whenever we celebrate any occassion; this saved quite a bit over what it would have cost at a restaurant

3) $ Earned--$0

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--hosted a great party for my sister's baby shower

7) Increase Financial Awareness--nothing today

1) $ Spent--$85.93 at Walmart, mostly stuff for my sister's baby shower; $81.11 grocery store, again mostly food for my sister's baby shower

2) Expenses Cut--bought all of the food for my sister's baby shower which I will prepare instead of having the event catered so that saved a lot of money

3) $ Earned--$0

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--volunteered at a kids safety day today

7) Increase Financial Awareness--watched Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad's Guide to Wealth" on TV this evening. Realized that my balance sheet is way out of balance--it's heavy on the expenses and liabilities and light on the income and assets sections

1) $ Spent--$18.95 car oil change; $16.00 mail Ebay items; $21.77 paid off one credit card

2) Expenses Cut--used a coupon to get a better price on the oil change; got rain checks for a couple of items that were on a very good sale at KMart but were out of stock.

3) $ Earned--$32 from an EBay sale

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--nothing today

7) Increase Financial Awareness--went to the library ans checked out an armload of books on saving money, earning extra money and basic personal finance principles

Financial Update 6/1/06

1) $ Spent--$14.37 dinner out for me and the hubby on the way back from work. Breakfast and lunch were covered by the client so hubby and I used the Entertainment Book 'buy one get one free' coupon and had a great Chinese dinner.

2) Expenses Cut--nothing in particular, however when doing laundry this evening I used half the recommended detergent as usual and half a dryer sheet per load as usual and washed two medium sized loads of laundry then dried them together because I dont like to waste the energy a dryer uses for a little load of laundry.

3) $ Earned--$0 but did get in some networking with a couple of possible new clients

4) $ in Savings--$5

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$10

6) Giving--nothing today

7) Increase Financial Awareness--read Bottom Line Secrets website and a bundle of emails from a variety of money saving/budgeting listserves