Monday Accountability Post

simplyelise · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

2. Any progress towards your goals?

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?

simplyelise · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Good! We picked up a couple grocery items for about 15 and the only other shopping I did was picking up baby shower gifts for a coworker with collected funds.

2. Any progress towards your goals?

Paid another $745 towards SL payoff. Also put $100 in a sinking fund for car repair/replacement.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?

Still loving leggings and boots with a dress. It's basically my winter uniform. Hating (on me) ankle boots. Like how they look on some people, but I don't think I can pull them off.

cbee817 · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? Not bad- groceries $120, gas $25

2. Any progress towards your goals? $500 went to general savings, taxes are done (just need to double check the numbers).. should be getting about $2,000 back from feds and state which will go to the vacation savings account. And I'm officially over $100,000 in my 401K.. super proud of myself for that.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I have to dress business casual for work, at home I'm usually in sweats, and when we go places with the girls, it's a button down, jeans, and sneakers (actually a bit of a sneaker snob) so I can chase after DD#2. I wear what fits me well and I feel good in.. I don't like wasting money on trendy pieces.

Melliewood · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? We hardly spent anything

2. Any progress towards your goals? I still want to pay off our credit cards ASAP

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I don't pay attention enough. I am too busy being cold :P

AprilZ81 · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good! We had free pizzas with friends on Friday night. We spent about $20 on side items, but it was still cheap by any standard. Saturday we were snowed in so we didn't spend anything. Sunday we made our monthly contribution to church and bought groceries ($103).

2. Any progress towards your goals? All goals are on hold right now while I apply to new jobs and figure out how much (if any) money I will be bringing in after my lay off takes affect.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I pay little attention to fashion since my current job allows me to wear jeans to the office every day. lol

jessica490 · February 2015

1. $13 CVS, $23 paint

2. $800 to house fund, basically paying back what we owed for federal taxes, but were getting $276 back from the state which will go back into savings.

3. I'm not big into fashion...so mostly sweats/sweatshirts, jeans and sweaters are my thing

smbenevides1989 · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Okay. We spent $25 at TD Garden for snacks, spent $25 on dinner so we didn't spend a fortune at TD, $19 for groceries, $14 for wine, $60 gas for both cars, and $63 on clothes for the kids for next winter.

2. Any progress towards your goals?

I was able to put away $91 in overtime money and just staying within budget.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?

I'm enjoying the leggings and dresses/boots combo, but it's been so cold, I really haven't done it this year. But I am enjoying my skinny jeans/boots combo with a shirt and infinity scarf.

vlagrl29 · February 2015

1 - pretty good. I went to a 2.5 hour astangha yoga workshop on friday and was starving afterwards so I ate dinner out for $21. Saturday we ran a few errands - Hobby Lobby ($10), Michaels ($3) and Ate dinner for $15. Also rented a movie ($1.60). Sunday DH went to the grocery store to get a few things we were out of ($25).

2 - $66 to savings and $66 to retirement

3 - I love wearing my jeggings with boot socks and knee high boots with a long sweater. I also love that I can just wear comfy clothes around the house since I stay home during the day with DD. If we weren't going to the indoor park later I wouldn't even be getting my jeans on until my students come over tonight for lessons.

hoffse · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Our wasn't too bad. We spent nothing on Saturday - got to eat at an amazing restaurant on H's employer's dime. Sunday morning we went to Panera because I was craving one of their souffles, and then we spent about $55 on groceries and $25 on gas.

2. Any progress towards your goals?

H and I both opened some rewards credit cards last week and were approved. We are waiting for them to come in the mail. Our spending has changed somewhat in the last year since H started working, and we are getting more involved with firm recruitment. We spend a lot more on restaurants and travel than we used to (all reimbursed), so we're getting some better cards for those categories. Chase ended up extending us an absolutely obscene amount of credit - I might actually call and ask them to lower it because it seems absurd.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?

Last weekend I was at a restaurant and saw 5 college girls there. They were all dressed in black leggings and had these oversized sweatshirts with the names of high-end beach towns on them (Rosemary, Seaside, etc.). It looked like something right out of the 80's. I guess that's the trend now down here? If so, I'm not loving it. Summer fashions around here tend to be more my speed: lots of pastel cotton shorts, seersucker, sundresses, etc. Vineyard vines, Vera Bradley, J. Crew, and Brooks Brothers are all very popular.

Xstatic3333 · February 2015

1. Not bad. $83 on groceries, $115 on pre-ordering plugs for our vegetable garden (budgeted), $25 on "fun" (budgeted)

2. It's a non-paycheck week, so not this time

3. I'm pretty bad at fashion. My general uniform is jeans, t-shirt from target, fleece on top.

blondie42107 · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?
Groceries and a birthday gift, all budgeted for. We did pick up an extra organizer for our den $15, not planned.

2. Any progress towards your goals?
Not this week.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?
I love scarves. I really don't mind leggings but seriously the ladies I work with need to remember they're at work and consider wearing a top that covers their butt...

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

we spent nothing on friday and saturday. Sunday $95 on groceries, and then we took our two pets who have been having some allergy, anxiety, and touching issues to a animal communication specialist- $80. I think it was helpful, we're going to make some diet changes, that I'm still researching, but we've quite literally spent $1000s of dollars at the vets office trying to get to the bottom of these issues over the last 18 months, so if an $80 session with an animal mind reader improves anything I'll consider it well worth it. (this is why I always strongly encourage people bringing pets into their lives to be sure they have a budget line item and a savings account for pet expenses).

2. Any progress towards your goals?

we're reigning in our spending to adjust to our new normal of H's single income, Last month we didn't put anything in savings, this month I'm prepared to put about $800 in savings, so I'm feeling good. Now I'm just waiting to hear about my promotion and if back-pay is involved.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?

I Love leggings for a casual weekend look with a long shirt or as an alternative to tights on a cold day under a dress with boots for work, however I can't stand when people wear leggings to work like they are regular pants. and I'm sorry, there are just some fashion trends that do not look good on everyone, I've accepted that at 5'9 and all legs I will never be able to pull off a min-skirt, mini-dress, or short-shorts in any tasteful way. I don't ever consider leggings as pants to be work-attire, but there are several women I've run into in professional settings (my office, hair salon, and bank) who are pushing the high 20's and 30's on the BMI scale who really should not be wearing leggins as pants ever, sorry if I can take a pretty good guess at what color your thong is under your "pants" you're not dressed for work, and you'd probably get a little side-eye from me for wearing that in any public setting. Phew...rant over!

Xstatic3333 · February 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:
1. How MM was your weekend?
we spent nothing on friday and saturday. Sunday $95 on groceries, and then we took our two pets who have been having some allergy, anxiety, and touching issues to a animal communication specialist- $80. I think it was helpful, we're going to make some diet changes, that I'm still researching, but we've quite literally spent $1000s of dollars at the vets office trying to get to the bottom of these issues over the last 18 months, so if an $80 session with an animal mind reader improves anything I'll consider it well worth it. (this is why I always strongly encourage people bringing pets into their lives to be sure they have a budget line item and a savings account for pet expenses).

2. Any progress towards your goals?
we're reigning in our spending to adjust to our new normal of H's single income, Last month we didn't put anything in savings, this month I'm prepared to put about $800 in savings, so I'm feeling good. Now I'm just waiting to hear about my promotion and if back-pay is involved.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?
I Love leggings for a casual weekend look with a long shirt or as an alternative to tights on a cold day under a dress with boots for work, however I can't stand when people wear leggings to work like they are regular pants. and I'm sorry, there are just some fashion trends that do not look good on everyone, I've accepted that at 5'9 and all legs I will never be able to pull off a min-skirt, mini-dress, or short-shorts in any tasteful way. I don't ever consider leggings as pants to be work-attire, but there are several women I've run into in professional settings (my office, hair salon, and bank) who are pushing the high 20's and 30's on the BMI scale who really should not be wearing leggins as pants ever, sorry if I can take a pretty good guess at what color your thong is under your "pants" you're not dressed for work, and you'd probably get a little side-eye from me for wearing that in any public setting. Phew...rant over!

The animal communication specialist sounds interesting! Hope it helps. I'm curious, what diet changes will you be doing? I'm finding the world of pet food to be kind of a mine field, and we're having a hard time finding a brand we can trust in terms of sourcing that also agrees with our dog.

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

-SNIP-
The animal communication specialist sounds interesting! Hope it helps. I'm curious, what diet changes will you be doing? I'm finding the world of pet food to be kind of a mine field, and we're having a hard time finding a brand we can trust in terms of sourcing that also agrees with our dog.

It was interesting. The history of how we got there is the following:

The cat started chewing her fur off in October 2013, we treated her for anxiety (prozac, pheromone plug-in), allergy (benadryl then prednisone), ran a bunch of blood tests for blood count, parasites, kidney/liver function, anemia..., had her teeth cleaned and several teeth extracted (thinking chewing was a symptom of pain), treated a gland infection (twice), and put her on a prescription diet of lyopholized protein food (at $80 a bag or $3 a can), none of it made measurable improvements to her behavior (and anyone who has pets can guess how much money we spent).

The dog had a terrible ear infection in November 2013, she scratched herself so hard that she lacerated her ear with her claw. the yeast build up in her ears was so bad she wouldn't let us touch them to treat the ear infection, so I spent a week on the following after-work routine; get home feed the dog, give dog a sedative, wait 2 hours until the dog is all loopy and drunk, still wrestle with the dog to put drops in her ears, go to bed upset about torturing my puppy. Then in January she rubbed all the fur off her eye because her face was so itchy...put the dog on prednisone and start exploring limited ingredient foods (fortunately we were feeding her high quality kibble so the cost wasn't much different). In June we tried to get her off prednisone, which resulted in another nasty ear infection (which my parents had the joy of treating while we were on vacation). WE've been working through a food trial on various limited ingredient foods (she's had duck, bison, venison, lamb, and curently eats a rabbit kibble) and we have not been able to get the dog off of Prednisone, which is a steroid which is OK for short term use, but used long-term can have significant side-effects including cateracs, diabetes, and bone/joint issues, she's on the lowest dose she tolerates and is still a little itchy. The dog also has issues with us touching her ears and feet (probably because the allergys make them itchy/sore).

We love our vets, but feel like they've done literally all they can do to try to help oour animals, that is how we ended up looking at holistic alternatives. The sessions were interesting, the Energy worker/communication person spent the first 45 minutes or so focusing on the cat, I don't buy 100% everything she told us, but I'm researching suggestions she made. She sensed that the chewing issues were anxiety driven, and my cat "told" her the the Prozac made her feel dizzy. She suggested a couple food addatives, one being an herbal calming supplement and that we add some coconut oil to her food. She spent the last 45 minutes we were there with the dog, she said the dog was having a hard time digesting the food we were giving her, and that her head hurt because of the build-up of yeast. She explained that the dogs allergies are basically causing her to feel like she's got a really bad head cold all the time, that her ears feel all clogged up (maybe explains why the dog doesn't listen well, even though we know she's smart and knows what we're asking her to do) she had a different herbal for the yeast she reccommended. She also said the dog is suffering from some low grade inflammation in her joints and back, she did manually adjust the dog's back and the dog did seem much more comfortable the rest of the day.

For both animals she suggested we consider a raw food diet, which I know is controversial. The holistic animal person does not sell any of the herbal supplements or raw food, so I believe her a little more, since she makes no profit off of selling us those items. The woman who runs our agility classes is a distributor for a raw feed company that sells pre-made raw meals along with supplements. I am warry of the raw food for fear of salmonella, E. coli, and increased risk of toxoplasmosis in cats. Raw food enthusiasts are quick to tout that animals digestive systems are equipped to handle that kind of bacteria, but I worry a little bit about introducing salmonella/E.Coli into the environment of our yard, fortunately H cleans the cat boxes already, so toxo is less of a concern, but still there as the cats could carry it around on their feet. anyways, I'm trying to research Raw diets, but it's hard to find unbiased literature.

Pet food is such a mine field, our breeder and the trainers we work with all feed raw and say their animals are the healthiest they've had, Vets don't recommend it because there is not a lot of safety information out there, and since outside of sled dogs and track-greyhounds it is a relatively new diet that doesn't have a lot of research besides anecdotes supporting it.

blondie42107 · February 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:
1. How MM was your weekend?
we spent nothing on friday and saturday. Sunday $95 on groceries, and then we took our two pets who have been having some allergy, anxiety, and touching issues to a animal communication specialist- $80. I think it was helpful, we're going to make some diet changes, that I'm still researching, but we've quite literally spent $1000s of dollars at the vets office trying to get to the bottom of these issues over the last 18 months, so if an $80 session with an animal mind reader improves anything I'll consider it well worth it. (this is why I always strongly encourage people bringing pets into their lives to be sure they have a budget line item and a savings account for pet expenses).

2. Any progress towards your goals?
we're reigning in our spending to adjust to our new normal of H's single income, Last month we didn't put anything in savings, this month I'm prepared to put about $800 in savings, so I'm feeling good. Now I'm just waiting to hear about my promotion and if back-pay is involved.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?
I Love leggings for a casual weekend look with a long shirt or as an alternative to tights on a cold day under a dress with boots for work, however I can't stand when people wear leggings to work like they are regular pants. and I'm sorry, there are just some fashion trends that do not look good on everyone, I've accepted that at 5'9 and all legs I will never be able to pull off a min-skirt, mini-dress, or short-shorts in any tasteful way. I don't ever consider leggings as pants to be work-attire, but there are several women I've run into in professional settings (my office, hair salon, and bank) who are pushing the high 20's and 30's on the BMI scale who really should not be wearing leggins as pants ever, sorry if I can take a pretty good guess at what color your thong is under your "pants" you're not dressed for work, and you'd probably get a little side-eye from me for wearing that in any public setting. Phew...rant over!

I ranted about leggings too!

mana8503 · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

$0 Friday/Saturday - too cold to go anywhere

$115 groceries, $30 breakfast, $20 girl scout cookies

2. Any progress towards your goals?

Paying off a 0% card in 2 weeks. After they are all gone, I'm reevaluating our savings. I want to do 1/2 overage in savings, and 1/2 towards furniture. I want to get (nice) binds for the whole downstairs, and curtains, and then get a new couch and maybe a recliner. Old stuff going to the basement for h's man cave.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now?

I'm not really into fashion. My mom got me some statement necklaces for Christmas, but I can only wear them to work since the baby likes to grab and pull EVERYTHING now. I like wearing scarves too. I tried the leggings with tunic tops, but I feel like my ass is hanging out.

vlagrl29 · February 2015

I'm also addicted yoga leggings. I bought a matching pair for DD and myself.

Xstatic3333 · February 2015

@formerlygdaisy09 my vet is super anti-raw food too, but it seems worth trying in your case since you've tried everything else. Your poor pup! I agree that it's really tough to get good, unbiased information. My vet only pushes pretty mainstream brands, and on the other side of the coin are the extreme all natural people who only do raw in all circumstances and use garlic instead of flea and tick preventative. I just want to feed my dog high quality dog food that's not sourced from China and doesn't give him tummy issues, but every article seems to have some sort of agenda and even the more expensive manufacturers can be a bit cagey about how they source things. The world of dog blogs is a scary, scary place!

Wulfgar · February 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? We paid cash for everything except MW's and I's spa day. We used some of our tax return to pay for mine since her work got her a nice package. I had to skip out before the manicure though to go to my shrink.

2. Any progress towards your goals? Made a payment to my credit card for $150. Barring any unexpected expenses, the credit card should be paid off by the end of April.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I love and hate at the same time the yoga pants, leggings craze that is going on. I am sorry, but if I can see your whole lower half at a glance then the leggings/ yoga pants are too tight especially if you are not wearing a long shirt or something to cover your hips.

vlagrl29 · February 2015

Wulfgar said:

1. How MM was your weekend? We paid cash for everything except MW's and I's spa day. We used some of our tax return to pay for mine since her work got her a nice package. I had to skip out before the manicure though to go to my shrink.

2. Any progress towards your goals? Made a payment to my credit card for $150. Barring any unexpected expenses, the credit card should be paid off by the end of April.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I love and hate at the same time the yoga pants, leggings craze that is going on. I am sorry, but if I can see your whole lower half at a glance then the leggings/ yoga pants are too tight especially if you are not wearing a long shirt or something to cover your hips.

Yeah, I don't wear my yoga leggings anywhere except when I'm at yoga class. If I wear leggings out it's always with a long sweater. Same with jeggings.

als1982 · February 2015

1. Terrible. My FIL was in town for the weekend and we are expected to pay for everything. And when we go out he always chooses the most expensive option! On top of that, he complains and insults us the whole time!! He even had the gall to ask H if we could give him $100 to go to the casino. WTF?! We're still recovering from his visit, but I'm betting his visit cost us $250, not including the flight we booked using our points...

2. By the end of the week, I'll have put $2,000 toward my student loan and $1,000 in savings. This puts us at $3,900 on my student loan so we'll have it paid off by our goal date of May - yay!!

3. The best part of my day is when I can change into sweatpants, so there's that. I've never been much into trends, classic has and continues to be my personal style.

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

@formerlygdaisy09 my vet is super anti-raw food too, but it seems worth trying in your case since you've tried everything else. Your poor pup! I agree that it's really tough to get good, unbiased information. My vet only pushes pretty mainstream brands, and on the other side of the coin are the extreme all natural people who only do raw in all circumstances and use garlic instead of flea and tick preventative. I just want to feed my dog high quality dog food that's not sourced from China and doesn't give him tummy issues, but every article seems to have some sort of agenda and even the more expensive manufacturers can be a bit cagey about how they source things. The world of dog blogs is a scary, scary place!

Pup is a trooper, but all her health issues seem to be allergy related, so I'm willing to try pretty much anything if I can be relatively sure that it's safe. In some senses it seems that raw food from a small distributor may be safer than processed kibble packed in bulk. I've asked for safety data from the companies we're looking at. Prior to our whole allergy issue we were feeding our girl Blue Buffalo chicken and Rice, it's what the breeder recommended if we weren't doing raw, and it seemed to be the right balance of nutrients without being too rich for her puppy tummy. But as I'm learning diets that work for one dog don't work for others.

Our current Rabbit and Potato diet is, from what I've heard, suppose to be one of the more successful diets for dogs with allergy, so I'm thinking it must be one of the preservatives or something that is causing her to have this reaction. I did find a little red-yeasty build-up in her ear cannal yesterday, poor girl H had to pin her while I cleaned one ear, hopefully we'll get the other one cleaned tonight!

Edit: For the flea tick stuff, the folks that are suggesting we go raw don't go to that extreme, but they do titer revolution to their dog's exact weight, so rather than squeezing the whole tube of preventative intended for dogs 40-80lbs onto a 45lb dog, they get a syringe and measure exactly how many mLs a 45lb dog should get...I think I could get on board with that. but I would never consider not treating my dog for parasites. There is a small anti-vaccine movement happening in dogs too, I can't jump on that bandwagon.

simplyelise · February 2015

vlagrl29 said:

Wulfgar said:

1. How MM was your weekend? We paid cash for everything except MW's and I's spa day. We used some of our tax return to pay for mine since her work got her a nice package. I had to skip out before the manicure though to go to my shrink.

2. Any progress towards your goals? Made a payment to my credit card for $150. Barring any unexpected expenses, the credit card should be paid off by the end of April.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I love and hate at the same time the yoga pants, leggings craze that is going on. I am sorry, but if I can see your whole lower half at a glance then the leggings/ yoga pants are too tight especially if you are not wearing a long shirt or something to cover your hips.

Yeah, I don't wear my yoga leggings anywhere except when I'm at yoga class. If I wear leggings out it's always with a long sweater. Same with jeggings.

Yeah, I'm with you and everyone else who's posted. I only wear leggings with dresses. I don't have that many clothes, so I have to be able to continue wearing my business casual dresses to work during the winter. Leggings make it happen!

vlagrl29 · February 2015

simplyelise said:

vlagrl29 said:

Wulfgar said:

1. How MM was your weekend? We paid cash for everything except MW's and I's spa day. We used some of our tax return to pay for mine since her work got her a nice package. I had to skip out before the manicure though to go to my shrink.

2. Any progress towards your goals? Made a payment to my credit card for $150. Barring any unexpected expenses, the credit card should be paid off by the end of April.

3. Fashion trend you're loving/hating right now? I love and hate at the same time the yoga pants, leggings craze that is going on. I am sorry, but if I can see your whole lower half at a glance then the leggings/ yoga pants are too tight especially if you are not wearing a long shirt or something to cover your hips.

Yeah, I don't wear my yoga leggings anywhere except when I'm at yoga class. If I wear leggings out it's always with a long sweater. Same with jeggings.

Yeah, I'm with you and everyone else who's posted. I only wear leggings with dresses. I don't have that many clothes, so I have to be able to continue wearing my business casual dresses to work during the winter. Leggings make it happen!

I've seen much younger girls wear leggings as pants and they can get away with it because they haven't had a kid yet. LOL. Mom pooch for the win

vlagrl29 · February 2015

als1982 said:

1. Terrible. My FIL was in town for the weekend and we are expected to pay for everything. And when we go out he always chooses the most expensive option! On top of that, he complains and insults us the whole time!! He even had the gall to ask H if we could give him $100 to go to the casino. WTF?! We're still recovering from his visit, but I'm betting his visit cost us $250, not including the flight we booked using our points... 2. By the end of the week, I'll have put $2,000 toward my student loan and $1,000 in savings. This puts us at $3,900 on my student loan so we'll have it paid off by our goal date of May - yay!! 3. The best part of my day is when I can change into sweatpants, so there's that. I've never been much into trends, classic has and continues to be my personal style.

your too nice. why can't your FIL afford his own way?

als1982 · February 2015

vlagrl29 said:

als1982 said:

1. Terrible. My FIL was in town for the weekend and we are expected to pay for everything. And when we go out he always chooses the most expensive option! On top of that, he complains and insults us the whole time!! He even had the gall to ask H if we could give him $100 to go to the casino. WTF?! We're still recovering from his visit, but I'm betting his visit cost us $250, not including the flight we booked using our points...

2. By the end of the week, I'll have put $2,000 toward my student loan and $1,000 in savings. This puts us at $3,900 on my student loan so we'll have it paid off by our goal date of May - yay!!

3. The best part of my day is when I can change into sweatpants, so there's that. I've never been much into trends, classic has and continues to be my personal style.

your too nice. why can't your FIL afford his own way?

To put it simply: a lifetime of bad decisions.

vlagrl29 · February 2015

als1982 said:

als1982 said:

1. Terrible. My FIL was in town for the weekend and we are expected to pay for everything. And when we go out he always chooses the most expensive option! On top of that, he complains and insults us the whole time!! He even had the gall to ask H if we could give him $100 to go to the casino. WTF?! We're still recovering from his visit, but I'm betting his visit cost us $250, not including the flight we booked using our points... 2. By the end of the week, I'll have put $2,000 toward my student loan and $1,000 in savings. This puts us at $3,900 on my student loan so we'll have it paid off by our goal date of May - yay!! 3. The best part of my day is when I can change into sweatpants, so there's that. I've never been much into trends, classic has and continues to be my personal style.

your too nice. why can't your FIL afford his own way?
To put it simply: a lifetime of bad decisions.

ah I see - that sucks

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