On a Whim in Nicaragua

Monday Today I spent $5.21 on ingredients for the lunch I am making for my Tuesday lunch date.  A few weeks ago I made roasted cauliflower with brown butter and linguine.  I did not enjoy it at all and would not make it again.....but I turned the left over roasted cauliflower into soup and froze it.  It is absolutely delicious, I had a bowl for lunch today. Tuesday I bought a cup of tea for $1.77.  I made an asparagus goat cheese toss for my lunch date today.....wow yummy.. I found the recipe on the Canadian Living website.   I will definitely make that again and it was so easy to make. Wednesday NO spending day!  What I did do is finish the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy.  That means I read all three books since last Saturday.  It is a great series even for an adult.  I could hardly put it down.  Now I need to find something else to read.  Any suggestions? Thursday I got gas and took out $20 in cash....so $40 tota...

Day 9,10 and 11 were a write off..... I had lunch out on Friday at the Downtown Diner for $8.50.  I wasn't overly excited about the burger I had, but the fries are like chip wagon fries with sea salt...they were yummy and I would have them again.  Apparently the pork sliders are their thing so I will have to try those one day and see.  I got gas for $30.00.  Saturday was the day my niece stayed over.  We got a movie that I had a gift certificate for that was no cost to me.  We ate at the Honest Lawyer which has just opened.  I had the full coverage burger and it was tasty although I didn't get a lot of flavor from the caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms, they had sea salt on the fries as well but this time coarse sea salt like you would get on a pretzel.  It was so enjoyable I dipped the fries in mayonnaise and then whatever little pieces of salt I could find on my plate.  She had the mini burgers and enjoyed 2 of them and some of my...

Day 5:  NO spending day.  It was a quiet Monday. Day 6:  I spent approx $6.00 to fill a prescription. I should probably update you on another goal I had for this year.  I have been trying to make it to the gym twice a week since January.  It doesn't seem like a big goal but some weeks it is tough. Truthfully I haven't made it even once in the last  two weeks but I got back on track today with a bootcamp class at the YMCA I go to.  Although I am not noticing much difference in my weight or how I look I have noticed a substantial difference in how I feel......GREAT!  I am also hoping it will translate into an improved softball season. I may never be in the shape I was at 20 again but I can certainly try and be closer than I am now. Today was also lunch date day.....my coworker brought pulled pork sandwiches with carrot stick and cherry tomatoes.  She also made chocolate peanut butter squares....ummm delicious.  I will have to get that ...

Day 1: NO spending day fell off the rails badly.  It was the Thursday of a long weekend likely a poor choice for a no spend day.  I bought an $18.45 bottle of wine and took a friend for sushi dinner for $50.00.  So much for that. Day 2: I am going to call a success.  I did spend $45.00 on a massage but I will get the whole amount back when I submit my receipt to insurance so technically I didn't spend anything and for now I am sticking with that! Day 3:  For all intents and purposes looked good at the start until I went to a birthday party and upon suggestion of wine said I could walk over and get a bottle.  Total day spending $9.95. Day 4:  Today turned out well.  I spent the day with and at my parents.  I didn't spend a dime or go anywhere near a place to spend money.... I am 2 for 4 on this so far and that's not 1/2 bad.  Practice makes perfect.  There must be a number of other cliches that would suit this occasion but yo...

I have always struggled to be fiscally responsible in life.....live within my means and all that.  Well I have had it, it is high time to get it under control.  Until now it hasn't stopped me from doing what I wanted but now I am interested in making investments into real estate and that requires me to have under 40% service to debt ratio.  If I made more money that would be a breeze, but reality says I don't so here I am. I have watched episodes of Til Debt do us Part and read articles on the web and so far came up with the following 2 ideas to get me started. Do you have ideas that worked you would like to share? My big weakness is eating out and I think that comes from working in restaurants and hotels for almost 20 years, it almost became ingrained.  So the plan is give myself cash weekly and that is my spending money.  The other thing I found that may be helpful is to have no spending days, I will try 10 per month.  On this plan I am not going to...