Living off schedule (and off balance)
July 10, 2010
Despite knowing about our trip down south last weekend for a couple months, I failed to prepare far enough in advance to prevent several wasteful results of being gone and off routine.
Spending, while not wildly out of control, couldn’t be said to be under control either because I’ve honestly not been keeping track of my cash flow spreadsheet. July doesn’t have a single entry listed.
A) While down south, I went to Target fully knowing I needed 4 or 5 items and that they weren’t really budgeted for. Went anyway. Luckily, I found nothing on the list except a handful of really cute and well-priced cards that I needed for weddings, birthdays, and other occasions: $6.
B) We ordered take-out lunch while rushing from lodgings to hospital to see the new baby and parents; we failed to take note of the total price until I asked for it after calling the order in: $70!
C) Vending machines in hospitals take credit cards now. When you’re there all day for multiple days and only brought one bottle of water: $10
D) Groceries that I didn’t have time to prepare beforehand went bad (some salsa, some pasta sauce, some veggies)
E) Grocery shopping only happens on weekends so getting back late on Monday night meant eating leftovers brought back from the weekend OR …. eating out. One night, a high-earning friend was in town and insisted on going to Ruth’s Chris so also insisted on treating so we now owe her the next dinner, instead of just paying our own way each time.
F) It could have been worse, without fresh veggies to fix lunch either, it was a peanut butter sandwich every day this week. I’m glad that I really like PB!
G) Almost forgot, I also spent $40 on groceries for the new parents. A gift, let’s call it.
Bills didn’t go unpaid, thankfully because I tend to pay them every two weeks and the day before any trips, but I did forget to calculate my net worth for the month of June, I forgot to set up some invoices, and barely managed to meet other online commitments.
It’s time to get it together.
1. Invoices – prepare and send
2. Net worth – pull it together! Since I’m still in between paychecks, it should be fairly accurate
3. Grocery shopping – at least decide what recipes are up for the week and make up the list. Perhaps even go today. (I’m still pretty achy, yesterday was a tough day.)
4. Cooking!
Prepare chicken stock for soupbases for the week.
Defrost another chicken and have PiC learn from the fabulous @HeatherSolos from Home Ec 101 how to wield a knife and break down a whole chicken (almost the only kind of chicken I think is cheap enough to buy). I prefer to hog kitchen duty but my bones and muscles can’t handle the heavy duty stuff.
Perhaps defrost all the jambalaya making stuff and make up a whole tureen for the week?
That’s more than enough for today since I also have to get some work-work in before Monday. And PiC promised to sit down with me and crunch numbers for some possible trips we’d like to take.
That’s how my past weekend was. Unfortunately, I didn’t pass up Target lol