Moving Update

I think buying boxes is a huge waste of money. Which is why I went to stock up at BevMo. Now it may look like I have a drinking problem, but at least I didn't have to pay any money for them! The plus is that they're STURDY (duh, they're made to hold heavy glass bottles!). Perfect for heavy books and fragile dishes. And I'm lucky to have friends who have moved recently and have all kinds of bubble wrap and blank newsprint which they gave to me. It seriously was a lifesaver in terms of cost. That stuff is not cheap. 

I am 1 dollar away from going over budget on groceries this month. The plus is that the month is nearly up. The bad is that although we have enough food to pull together meals, and we don't have to buy groceries for a week, the plausibility of that happening is slim. I suspect that we'll be buying pizza and subway for a couple meals at least (ugh) for ease. We'll see. Either way, I'm really proud of myself for doing SO well with my grocery budget for the past two months. Hopefully it will continue. 

I ended up finding a 20% off coupon for BBB yesterday, and I got TWO trash cans (one for the kitchen and one for the spare bathroom) for really cheap. It was on sale :-) And yes, I didn't have to buy a 40 dollar trash can (who does that!?) but it was important to me that I have one that looked nice, and that had a flip top because I cannot stand open trash containers. Awful. Money well spent, IMO. 

Progress Bars

No menu this week. Boyfriend will be gone until Wednesday, and we have enough random stuff to pull together a couple of meals. 

The packing is coming along. I've spent a fair amount of time watching tv, but I did manage to pack up the entire kitchen (minus food, obv.), all of our clothing (except the stuff that needs to remain hanging, like boyfriends suits, and the stuff we're going to wear this week. Plus, a lot of random stuff. I'm planning on packing the books and dvds into our huge suitcases (I could literally fit inside them). Of course I forgot to have boyfriend leave his car keys to the storage unit (which is over his car) so I'll have to do that when he gets back. The rest of our stuff is either furniture, or stuff that's already boxed (which we store that way). I also went through all my files and trashed a bunch of stuff I didn't need. So I feel good about the progress I've made so far. I've left the framed art on the walls, because it just doesn't make sense to take it down and have it be in the way this week. Plus, it's all mega expensive, so I'd rather not take the chance!

We're thinking we'd like to move late this week (not the weekend) so we can be out by the first. There's still a lot of roommate drama regarding payment and I just want to be out ASAP!! However, that will depend on if we can get the keys a couple days early. And of course, boyfriend has to work this weekend :-/ Bad planning. But he doesn't actually have his schedule yet, so maybe he'll only have to work one of the days. We have to figure this out by tomorrow so that I can rent a UHaul. Last time we moved I forgot to reserve it in advance (well, it was my first time ever renting one, I didn't know!) and they were out. Oops. 

I have a 20% of coupon for the Container Store to use before the 30th. There's a ton of stuff I want (none of which I can afford). But I think I'll have to pick out a few things we need to get before it expires. Of course they have every single trash can known to man there, except the one I want. They do have it at Bed Bath and Beyond, so I'll have to wait until I get a coupon for that. Hopefully soon!

It's official!

We got the apartment! And we're moving in (gulp) a week. Um… I guess I'd better start packing. (There is nothing worse than packing, IMO). 

The best part though? UNpacking! I absolutely LOVE setting up a new place, buying new things to make it pretty (okay, my funds are like zero this time, but still) and getting settled into a new routine. I look at each move as a place to start fresh on many levels. And I'm SO excited that after 7 years, we'll finally be living ALONE together. It's about 5 years overdue. And I can't wait. Anyway. 

Now that it's official, there's MUCH to be done. I have a to do list a mile long and not a lot of time to accomplish it. 

Weird Week(s)

This week we've only eaten two of the meals I'd planned! A bunch of last minute stuff came up, so we subsisted on chips and salsa and bagels. This coming week won't be much different. Boyfriend will be out of town for most of it for a wedding on the east coast, so I'll be on my own. Which means, I'll be eating chips and salsa and bagels for dinner. That's just how I roll, don't judge. On the bright side, our grocery bill will be teensy! Here's our abbreviated menu. 

Monday

Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich

Dinner: Chicken Tortellini (him), WW Cheese Tortellini (me), salad, flax seed bread

Tuesday

Dinner: BLT sandwiches (skip the bacon for me, but add avocado), pea soup

Wednesday

Lunch: Chicken Wrap

Dinner: Roasted veggies in parchment (new potatoes, carrots, leeks) with thyme (this was on the menu for this week, but we didn't get to it), chicken (him)

Thursday-Sunday

Nothing that qualifies as a real meal. 

I expect I'll get out of the store this week for 10 bucks. All I need is tortellini, a tomato, lettuce, avocado

My life is a money drain

While we've not technically been approved for the apartment yet (I saw it, and I love it!), I'm already feeling the money leaving with fury! Moving is EXPENSIVE. It's nauseating, actually. The expected expenses (security, last months rent, application fees) are a huge nuisance, but you know, necessary. And we'll have to rent a U-Haul, which will be I'm guessing… 100 bucks? Not bad, but not super fun either. We've paid the security (holding) deposit and the application fee thus far. Ew. 

I think we've solved the problem of the furniture and the fridge! We're going to end up taking our old fridge back (and bleaching it out!). The maintenance man in the building offered up a gently used fridge for only 100 bucks, so our friends have offered to buy that one. Sweet! And although I've not had official dealings with them, we've heard through the same maintenance man that a couple of girls are moving out and have furniture they don't want to take with them. If it's not sketchy, I have no problem unloading a couch (and getting it steam cleaned and buying a slip cover for it). The bookcases and table? Our friends have no desire to unload their stuff to reload it on new shelves (there are a lot of them), so they're buying us new ones! (The exact same ones we had from IKEA). Score :-) So, I guess THAT money issue won't be awful. Although the couch issue isn't solved, it's possible. And otherwise, we'll just rough it for a bit. No biggie. 

The other issue, which I have a huge problem with, is paying off our current roommate. We were supposed to be out by June, but since we're leaving early, he seems to think I should pay him for all of May (500 bucks), plus the housekeeper in June. Um, no. I'm 100% on board with paying utilities through the end of April (we move May 1st, provided we get the apartment of course!). I will happily pay for what I use. But paying him when I don't live here!? HELL NO. Roommates are the worst.  

And of course, we'll probably have to pay a large sum to the cable company for canceling our contract early (if they can't transfer it entirely… meaning my name, credit cards, etc are in no way attached to it) to our roommate, I'm going to have to cancel. Somebody else ruining my credit? No thanks. That should be a barrel of monkeys. The apartment comes with basic cable included in rent, so I'm considering just 86-ing the cable (the only reason we really have it is the wonder that is DVR) and just watching our shows online (we hook the laptop up to the tv), and getting netflix. 

And there are of course, the little things which always come up. Since we have two (full) bathrooms now, we'll need to buy a second bath mat, trash can, soaps, hand towels, etc. Plus we'll need a kitchen trash can. And a microwave. And I'll finally have to break down and purchase new checks to pay rent with, etc, etc, etc. Oiy. What have I gotten myself in to? I think it's safe to say that my ability to fund my emergency fund by August is QUITE unattainable. And for the first time, I sort of having regrets about paying my car off instead of putting that money into savings. But only a little bit. 

Moving Soon!?

I just realized I forgot to put my my menu for the week. Oh well. Nothing terribly unusual about it!

Anyway. It looks like there is a possibility of us moving this month! (Officially on May 1) We've found an amazing apartment (technically boyfriend did. I haven't seen it yet… but he's picked out apartments for us in the past and he's good at it). Brand new, stainless steel appliances (no fridge of course), brand new berber carpeting (the next best thing to hardwood floors!), two bedroom (which means two parking spots, a necessity) and pretty big! The best part!? It's just 20 minutes (or LESS!) from work, and it's in the same building as some good friends! Score. 

The bad? It's uh, expensive. Not unheard of, but more than I was hoping to pay, really. 1475. That's a lot of money. However. I've never found a 2 bedroom place for that. The cheapest I've found one (even the east coast) was about 1700. So, the amount we'll be able to save will be paltry. But, it might be worth it. 

The problem? It's going to cost us about 3500 on move in day. OUCH. I mean, really, ouch. Sigh. We have about 7k in savings between the two of us, and will have amassed more by that time, so we have the money. But I was secretly hoping to stick it out here until Mid June to save a wee bit more. Oh well. This place sounds great and believe me, I'm desperate to move. I'm hoping it will still be available this weekend so I can go see it, and hopefully we can put down a deposit. :-) If its refundable, I may just have boyfriend put one down tomorrow to hold it. 

Nods to Right

My E-Fund status bar? Not nearly as lovely as it once was, but it's on its way back up. Slowly but surely! Our move will put a real damper on this goal, sadly. Our rent will (probably) more than double (ouch!). But it will be SO worth it! Roommates are infuriating :-) Plus, moving costs money. We have not the funds to hire movers (although it seems that the last two times we moved we proclaimed proudly that NEXT time, we were hiring people to lug our crap for us. Never seems to work out that way), so we'll probably be paying through the nose for a broken down u-haul and buying friends pizza for their help. Moving also requires the payment of security deposits, setting up new utilities, all that lovely crap. And then there's the REAL money drain: buying a new refrigerator, a new couch, and a dining room set. Oops.

You see, when we moved out of our last apartment, we were moving in with a roommate (oiy) who had a full set of that sort of furniture already, so ours would not quite fit! So instead of paying to put our stuff in storage, we lent it to a couple of friends who had conveniently just moved out to LA (from the east coast) that very same month, with the stipulation that we'd get it back when we needed it. However… the fridge has just gotten a wee bit gross, and I refuse to use it. And the couch? I've ALWAYS hated with a passion anyway. And the table is dandy, but another friend of boyfriends broke our chairs (seriously, who breaks chairs and refuses to even offer to pay for them!? really, he's not my favorite person). So, really, I do not want our stuff back. Which means that we'll have to get new stuff. A fridge can be procured for less than 1k (which is money I do not want to spend, but sadly, a fridge is quite handy to have around). We can get a pretty decent couch from IKEA I suspect. And we can do without the table if we get a coffee table. We eat at the coffee table all the time anyway. Also, I do not like the idea of spending a lot of money on nice stuff to put in an apartment. I want to spend good money on GOOD stuff we LOVE when we buy a condo. We'll see how it all plays out soon. 

Something else I'm rather proud of? The credit card which I used to whip out often, has stayed nicely in my wallet, and has only come out to pay for budgeted expenses. I'm pretty proud of that. I've gotten the hang of this grocery budget, and it seems to be working! Yes, I feel very squeezed in it, but it's doable. Amazing. I'm just hoping to keep it up. And I HAVE to, especially come June. 

weekly menus

Enter, another boring week! Due to our expensive date(s) yesterday, we need to really keep an eagle eye on the grocery budget this month. 

Monday

Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich

Dinner: Chicken tortellini (him), spaghetti (me), salad, garlic bread

Tuesday

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: veggie tortilla pizzas

Wednesday

Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich

Dinner: Rice stir fry with chicken, broccoli and carrots (him), oatmeal with granola (me)

Thursday

Lunch: Spicy Chicken Wrap

Dinner: Cucumber, avocado, cheddar wraps, pea soup

Friday

Lunch: Spicy Chicken Wrap

Dinner: Pea Soup, Grilled Cheese and Tomato

I definitely need to add some new recipes to my repertoire. I'm way too rooted in predictability. I'll try to scope some out…

Life

Well, our Friday off went swimmingly! (I wish every week could be a 3-day weekend!). We ended up skipping the trip out of town (well, we put it on hold for a week or two) and hanging out with some friends for the day. We hit up a double feature (you MUST see How to Train your Dragon!. I was dead set against it, and thought it would be awful, but I LOVED it. Completely wonderful), and had TWO meals out (they weren't too expensive at all though). So, it was not a cheap day, but you only live once. And it was fabulous. 

Today is a low key day, and tomorrow we have plans to catch up on all our shows on dvr (we're like 3 weeks behind!) and hang out with some friends in the afternoon. Hopefully going to bed early will be on the menu, because I've been seriously overtired lately!

We also bought a few shares of stock! I wish we could buy more, but it's expensive! I'm excited to dabble in the market though (with individual stocks, not just my retirement funds).