Spending Fast: Day 3

So today is already starting a little bit hard =
I wasn't able to make lunch last night with the in-laws in town, and trying to be a good host; so I don't have a lunch :-(

Also tonight, we are invited over to the hubbie's uncle's house and I was told that there will not be any vegetarian/vegan options. I get pretty used to eating something different than others however didn't want to appear rude if I have already eaten before arriving or bring something for me to eat. The hubbie is encouraging me to go buy my food = going against what I'm trying to achieve.......ugh. If I lived closer to town, I would just go home and make something however we live too far out to do so.

Lesson I'm learning: Put your needs before others if you really want to achieve your goal.

P.S. Definitely not used to doing that.....but it's true. If you think about it, even on a spiritual or physical level (i.e. wanting a more calm life or to lose weight), in order to achieve your goal, you can't give in.......you have to stand for what you know is good for you.

SOLUTION  Going to Qdoba and using a buy one get one free coupon --- so still "saving" with a free burrito that I will bring with me tomorrow while running errands in town all day.

Over Goal: Aprox. $7

My Spending Fast

So I'm giving myself the 30 challenge before quitting my job to go on a "Spending Fast." I live a pretty frugal life already so honestly this is going to be a little hard honestly…..

I'm telling myself to spend money on only what I NEED instead of, "Well, it's under $5…ya only live once……." and any other excuse to spend beyond my needs. Also to boot, I live about 30mins out of town so if I forget something at home of needs something, including a snack, I plan to bring more with me in my car as a "just in case."

In order to help me with this Fast, so I have my priorities and focus, I have made a list of what I believe to be need and want:

Need:	Wants:
Groceries	Eating out/happy hours 1x/week - more of bummer as I was pretty frugal when I did go out = normally spending $10
Mortgage	Gifts - will be recycling, re-gifting or making all gifts
Cell phone/internet	Haircuts
Utilities	Clothes
School loan payment	New hobbies or crafts
Gas	Groupons or Living Social Deals
Auto Incidentals (just in case = have to get to school)	Specialty Coffees at Coffee Shops
Medical exams	Contact Lenses

As you can see from Wants List, that I really don't have anything extravagant. My haircuts along with color, styling, waxing were under $60 an appointment. Now, I am dying my own hair from color and processor that I get from Sally's that cost $6-8 for both however it lasts me about 6-8 months totaling a whopping $1/month. For eating out or happy hour, luckily I live in Reno where I can go for a happy hour or get something to eat for under $10. I normally ate out only one time a week any how so…..it'll be interesting to see how I get around this one.

Couple of Clarifications:

1. Specialty Coffees at Coffee Shops - I'm allowing drip coffee as it's much cheaper but the main reason for this is some study groups for school meet at Starbucks and sometimes it good to keep in contact with some of your professional network. To save even more money, When I can buy Starbucks bagged coffee on sale (or ask for it for Christmas gifts) and then use the empty bag to get my FREE coffee. I also have a gold card that I use in order to rack up points towards a free food item or coffee.
2. Contact Lenses - I wear glasses and contact lenses. I prefer to wear my contacts when I'm dancing, or doing other physical activities; however, I just bought my last pair of glasses and now have "an extra pair" as my bang-up glasses. I am not really in a position to afford more contacts and the solution to clean then when I need food and gas.

Lastly, the reason why I am doing this beyond the obvious of needing to live like this once I quit my job to not go into debt due to cost of living expenses, is……..I have a lot of things at home that I have once bought and never worn, used, make into that craft/gift, etc. and would like to downsize what I have and only keep what I need and use on a regular basis.

Thanks for stating the journey with and if you have any tid-bits of advice, I would gladly appreciate a comment on this blog.

1 minute updo

 

This literally too my 1 minute to do :-)

 

I'm in finals week so ponytails and updo's it is so anything quick that I can accessorize and look acceptable is perfect. (I didn't accessorize this look however you can add flowers and barrettes, etc. for fun.

 

Steps:

1. Put your in a high ponytail
2. Pull the elastic away from the scalp so you can part your hair, leaving a channel for the hair to be pulled through
3. Pull you hair through the channel from the bottom up (so now the ponytail hair is flipped upwards)
4. Flip your head forward and back comb the hair
5. Put an elastic at the bottom of the ponytail hair (may need to comb out the tease a little on the top hair for "neatness")
6. Tuck the elastic underneath the hair, close to the first elastic and bobby pin into place

 

Making Money on Bing

Get rewarded while surfing the internet!

 

I use Bing as a search engine to look up show-times, research travel sites or other misc. things and earn point while doing it. I signed up for Bing rewards through my Live account and starting surfing.

You get automatic points for "signing-up," referring friends, and every day there is a spotlight topic that you can click on to automatically earn 1 point. Mind you, you top out every day at 16 points (about 30 searches); however, with referring friends and do some other requests from Bing, you can earn 100 points at a time. At around 400 points, you can start to redeem your points for a promotional code for some of the following:

• Red Envelope $15
• ProFlowers $15
• Starbucks $5
• Amazon.com $5
• Groupon $5
• Xbox points
• Redbox Rentals
• Donations to different Charities

I've redeemed my points mainly at Amazon.com and have use them on purchasing textbooks. At least for Amazon.com you can put in the promotional code and let the points sit on your account until you are ready to use them.

 

Honestly, even if you don't use Bing......try it out, get your points and have a fatter wallet around Christmas time by earning free stuff while surfing the net. Who knows, you may even like it.

Megabus - $1 each way from Reno to San Fran

So, I was listening to a travel article on my Pulse news app on my phone and ran across Budget your Vacation: 4 Tips to Save Money and found out that as along and you book 30-45 days in advance; you can book a trip to......

San Francisco from Reno for $1 each way
(along with a $0.50 reservation charge).

Mind you, that this $1 trip is really only during the normal Monday through Friday workweek; however, the weekends range from $16-18 each way. If you come back on the early 8:30am bus on Sunday, then you will most likely only spend about $2.

BUT STILL!! Imagine the international flights that you can go on for way less than leaving from RNO airport. For instance, I looked up taking a trip to Puerto Rico from Reno and the cost ran about $550. From SFO airport, the same trip was only $350. And you wouldn't have to pay for parking, tolls, and gas on top of airfare, etc.

 

Once on the site, you will choose your state and then city from which you are leaving. Then, you will see the options of where you can travel to with Megabus. In the Reno area, I could also leave from Sparks and there are two options of trips:

1. Sacramento - 2hrs 40mins
2. San Francisco - 4hrs 10mins

The buses go straight to their destination without making pit stops so there is a restroom on the bus along with:

• FREE wifi
• Reclining seats
• Double Decker (2 stories of seats to choose from)
• Handicap accessible (moderately impaired -- probably because of the stairs to the bus)
• Seatbelts
• and of course, Professional Drivers

Hope this helps with cheap travels for summer!

Leftover chili bake

Ok, so I had a ton of rice left over from make a stir fry, veggie korma and another meal. I didn't flavor the rice so I could use it multiple meals and i didn't want to throw it out. So after grabbing things from my pantry......I turned the remaining rice into a chili bake.

Ingredients (but feel free to add more. I just used some of what i had to save on groceries):
- plain rice (2 maybe to 3 cooked cups)
- kidney beans (16oz can rinsed ans strained)
- corn (16oz can)
- tomato sauce (16oz can)
- sprinkled in some chili powder, garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt & pepper, cumin, minced onion, cilantro and chives (Any and all spices i thought would be good in a chili and what I had on hand. I was out of bay leaves and some others.)

I sauteed the beans and corn in butter while adding the spices one at a time. Then, I added the tomato sauce and little simmer just for a couple of minutes before adding rice to the mix. I sprayed the casserole dish with nonstick spray and then spread it out.

I shredded about 1-1.5 cups of pepper jack cheese and sprinkled it on top. Then bake at 400° for 25-30mins uncovered OR if the mixture is hot enough from the fry pan, just broil the dish on high until the cheese browns.

Enjoy

FREE STARBUCKS

Did you know that for every empty bag of Starbucks coffee, you can exchange it for a tall brewed coffee at any Starbucks store? Neat!
I'm on a student budget. So its nice to have this as an option when somebody says, "hey, let's meet for coffee and catch up." LOL
**BTW, the offer for the exchange is good up until 30 days after the Best Buy date stamped on the bag.