Insane Random Ramblings

Tomorrow is payday and I have a date with the mall. There are quite a few things that I want/need that I’ll be picking up this weekend. I want a few cd’s and some alli that I’ll get from Wally World. I need a new pair of shoes and some shirts for work. It’s starting to get cold and I need more long sleeved shirts. Almost 75% of my shirts are short sleeved or no sleeves at all because they’re summer shirts.

I said I wasn’t buying any more clothes for a while but I really need some things right now. I just hope I find a really good sale.

Today is payday. Yay for that! That means that everyone will be shopping like crazy today and tomorrow. Stores in the area will be having sales and everyone will hand out promotional products to try to get you into their stores. I never shop on payday, I always wait until the beginning of the next week because you can find better deals.

I will however go out for lunch with my coworkers. I haven’t been food shopping at all this week and I don’t want what I have (a enchilada meal). I’ve never had that before and I don’t want to upset my stomach while I’m at work. I’m not sure where we’re going for lunch yet. I just hope it’s somewhere good.

For a few weeks anyway. My spending has gotten out of control for the last 2 months and I need to bring it back to normal. That means I need to cut spending. That means no clothes, no sneakers and no casino visits (even though we didn’t go this past weekend). I also need to decrease my scratchie ticket consumption because I’m buying way too many of those.

I need to save my money for school. I’m not getting financial aid or loans and it’s going to be difficult coming up with that much cash. I also think I’m going to need a new computer, again. I could look into computer rentals but I would rather own my own computer. Right now, my computer is running very slowly and it locks up and freezes quite often.  I think it’s only going to be a matter of time before it totally conks out on me. I want to be prepared to at least buy a bare bones system to get me by.

Sadly there are no vacation plans for me this year. Maybe next year once I graduate I can think about vacation again. Until then, I’ll just look at brochures and daydream. I don’t think those little weekend trips count as vacation. Our actual vacation is the middle of August but I doubt if we’ll be able to do anything. That really stinks too. I don’t want to spend a whole week just hanging around Pittsburgh.

Maybe we’ll hit the lottery. Hey I said I was cutting down on scratchies, not Powerball. You never know, it could happen.

It’s that time again and I hate it. I need to pay my rent, car insurance, and utility bills. I need to move the money over from my savings accounts to my checking account to cover everything. I put all of my check in savings to gain interest until I need the money so I’m not actually using savings to pay bills. Man that would suck big time.

I need to figure out how much I have left over from my Economic Stimulus check so I can start planning my next vacation. I really want to go on either a cruise or to an island. One of my coworkers is going to Jamaica next week. I really wish that was me. I’ve never been to Jamaica and I’m not taking a real vacation this year.

Once I’m done with school I’m taking one heck of a vacation!

I would love to be able to spend this money on whatever I want to. In a way I can, I don’t have any bills that are behind. I don’t really need to catch up on anything. But a lot of people need to spend this money on things that they need. Truck drivers need diesel fuel, ranchers need horse supplies, people behind on their mortgage need to pay their mortgage payments. I don’t need anything at this point.

Of course I could pay a bill down or save a portion of the check. You can never have too much in savings right? I just feel guilty when I’m doing ok and so many other people are struggling and barely making it. So I feel like I should do something responsible with the money instead of blowing it.

What about you? Are you going to be responsible with your money or spend it on fun stuff?

Today’s five topic is things I may spend my Economic Stimulus money on:

1. Baseball in general. Whether it’s tickets, gas to the games or food. We’re making tentative plans to go to Chicago to either a Cubs or White Sox game. We may go back to Cleveland for a game as well.
2. Sneakers. I want a pair of Nike Shox but I refuse to pay $120.00 for one pair of sneakers. I don’t care if it is “free tax money”.
3. My car. I need tires and break pads. I don’t need rear spoilers or anything fancy for the car, I just want it to run.
4. A small portion will go to tuition for school. Anything I can do to lessen the need for a student loan the better.
5. Savings! Yup, even after all of the above I will still save a portion. I’m leaning towards 10% right now. I will save the money first and spend what’s left.

What about you? What do you plan on doing with your money?

I ran out of lunch items. I have enough food for breakfast and I have food for dinner at home. But when we went shopping this past weekend, I didn’t buy any frozen lunches because I thought I had enough at home. It turns out I only had 2 left in the freezer.

We did buy other food like hamburger and deli meat. We also got cleaning supplies for the house, and we looked at acne treatments for John but he doesn’t really need them. He has pretty clear skin so this 1 pimple he has is driving him crazy. Meanwhile I’m rolling my eyes because I have teenager skin with zits all over.

Now that I think about it, we really didn’t buy much. I’ll probably head to the store today instead of waiting until this weekend. That way I’ll have lunch for tomorrow and Friday. I much prefer bringing my lunch with me. That way I don’t have to go out looking for anything, standing in those long lunch-times lines and trying to figure out what I have a taste for that day.

I do have a taste for a baked potato today so I’ll hit Wendy’s for that and some chili. That should be a pretty filling lunch.

We went to the casino in Erie called Presque Isle. We were just driving around and didn’t have anything to do. John was showing me the showing me the short cut that he uses to get to NJ so we were all the way in Clarion County. Then he asked if I wanted to go to the casino and I said sure. So we headed over to Erie since I had never been there.

It sucked big time. The casino was small and very smoky. We both played several machines and had no luck. Every machine just sucked money down, they weren’t paying off at all. I didn’t see anyone really hitting on their machine. Even John (who gambles $20 max) said he wished we had gone to Wheeling instead.

My first trip to Presque Isle was probably my last!

We went food shopping last weekend and spent almost $75 for food for two people. But that food was only for 1 week. Yes 1 week! That’s ridiculous. Between the two of us, we were throwing junk food in the cart like crazy. When I go by myself, I tend to only get what I really need and not a lot of extra stuff. But this time I grabbed all kinds of junk that I know I didn’t really need.

We grabbed chips, cookies, and some kind of oatmeal pies. John was throwing stuff in the cart so fast that he would have thrown a Titleist golf club in there if I wasn’t watching him. We go shopping every week because the freezer is so small. But this weekend I may have to go by myself. I can not afford that much money every week.

And I’m tired of it. I just had a bunch of work done because the previous owner didn’t take care of the car at all! Everything I had done would have cost way less if they had just done routine maintenance on the car. I had to get upgrades to the sensors and a fluid flush and fill. My transmission fluid was so old it was starting to burn.

I also need to get the car painted because John’s ex scratched my paint. They tried to sell me the paint job, some tail light guards, and some other stuff. I was like “uhh no, I’ll get cosmetic stuff somewhere else”. I’m not going to let the dealer overcharge me for that. They have a heck of a mark-up for accessories. I’ll stick to the dealer for the heavy stuff and go somewhere else if I want my car to be cool looking.

With all the money I just put into the car, I doubt if I worry about making the car look cool for a while. Especially since I need a oil change and new brake pads. I guess spending money on the car never ends.