I forgot, in the midst of my mammoth car post, to mention a couple of things.
First, I am currently reading The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke by Suze Orman. While I would advise you to take some of her advice (e.g., "follow your career dreams, even if you have to survive on your credit cards for a while to do it!") with caution, overall I have been very pleased and have learned a lot in the first half of the book. The companion website also has a customizable personal financial advisor module that you can work through, which I have just begun and now need to tweak since I bought a car... Anyway, check it out from the library or get it through interlibrary loan if you need to or splurge and buy it used on Amazon.
Now my celebration: I did one of those things I've been putting off for a while and got my three annual credit reports from http://www.annualcreditreport.com. I also coughed up the $15 and got one of my FICO scores once I checked over the credit reports and ascertained that they were all correct. I knew that I should be in pretty good shape, but I wanted to know exactly where I stood. Happy dance-- I'm in the top tier! Low in the top tier, but top tier is all that really matters! As my length of credit history grows with time, my score should automatically keep going up, provided I don't screw up anywhere. :D
Monday, April 30, 2007
Why you need an emergency fund
Remember how I swore that May was going to see a change in my spending habits? Well, it definitely will-- in a big way. Why?
Well, I found out on Thursday that my beloved '98 Neon would be unable to pass state inspection without about $2,000 worth of repair work on, well, pretty much everything. The cradle that holds up the drive train and engine had taken a nasty hit the last time I visited my parents (don't dig canyons in your driveways, people!) and that was smashed all to heck, and pretty much every belt in the engine was about shot, and the front struts and the rear brakes, and... yeah.
I have been employed for eight months. Fortunately, my first order of business after getting a paycheck had been to start shoveling money into an emergency/car replacement fund. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to replace the car for another couple of years or so, but I realized that I would have to start saving for that goal immediately. At the same time, I also had to start paying back my student loans from grad school, acquiring a professional wardrobe for work, outfitting my first real apartment, and, well, generally starting life without the benefit of a spouse's income or wedding gifts (note again how society screws the single folk). I'll let you take a stab at how much I had saved up. My tax refund helped in a huge way, but still.
I've spent the last four and a half days agonizing over my options: fix up my rattletrap bottom-o-the-line worn-out Dodge, buy a really cheap used car, finance a lightly-used car, or finance a new car. There are obviously pros and cons to all of these options (despite what they say, buying a new car isn't necessarily a bad idea-- who cares if the resale value plummets if you're just going to drive the car for 15 years until it dies, anyway, and hey, a 5-year warranty is nothing to dismiss lightly).
This morning I put money down on a 2000 Honda Civic that my parents found at a mechanic's they trust. I'll be pooling basically all of my resources from the car fund and my regular savings account and my latest paycheck to swing this, but I think I can do it without help. It'll be paid for in full and fully mine on Saturday. The fact that this car was within my cash ability is a miracle. The trustworthy mechanic and my parents all think that it should be reliable and last me several years. I am thankful... but I am also tapped out.
I am currently strategizing how I am going to swing this and still survive until May 31st (next payday). Fortunately I knew that I was going to be in these straights before April's paycheck ever hit the bank. Here is my plan:
1) Find out how much I am actually supposed to be paying on my student loans per month, and then pay that. I've been making about double payments up until now. 'Fraid I'll have to stick to the minimum for a few months to get a cash cushion built back.
2) Call my power company and tell them I want an actual reading this month, not an estimate. I get royally socked on the months they do an estimate, and this is not a month where I can afford to be overpaying them for an extra $30 worth of electricity that I didn't use. I can't wait until the next month's reading to get the overpayment credited on my bill. I need it in my checking account NOW.
3) Pay all of my fixed expenses (rent, student loan, tithe) immediately to reduce the amount of uncertainty as the month wears on. When you get down to $20 in the checking account, you need to know exactly what you have where and where it needs to go.
4) Buy a lot of ramen. My monthly grocery trip is almost due. I need to stock up on the cheap stuff and start digging into the frozen chicken and rice and ancient spaghetti (is year-and-a-half old spaghetti safe?) that I have stashed away. I will probably go to Wal-Mart instead of Shop 'n Save because they tend to be a bit cheaper.
5) Do free things-- go running (yeah for great weather!), go fishing with my grandfather (not free, but I'm not getting my $32 license fee back), read all of the books I've been accumulating (love that balcony!).
6) Drink the beer Althea gave me that she got for free (see her last post).
7) Tell my parents and grandparents that I am now collecting aluminum cans. I have heard of a place that pays 75 cents a pound for aluminum. I don't drink things in cans (except the free beer), but I can pick up trash and have relatives save their cans for me. It's pocket change, but every little bit helps.
I will need to get shorts this month, so hopefully Goodwill will come through. I will put it off as long as I can to get the truly necessary expenses paid first, though.
:) Suggestions welcome!
Well, I found out on Thursday that my beloved '98 Neon would be unable to pass state inspection without about $2,000 worth of repair work on, well, pretty much everything. The cradle that holds up the drive train and engine had taken a nasty hit the last time I visited my parents (don't dig canyons in your driveways, people!) and that was smashed all to heck, and pretty much every belt in the engine was about shot, and the front struts and the rear brakes, and... yeah.
I have been employed for eight months. Fortunately, my first order of business after getting a paycheck had been to start shoveling money into an emergency/car replacement fund. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to replace the car for another couple of years or so, but I realized that I would have to start saving for that goal immediately. At the same time, I also had to start paying back my student loans from grad school, acquiring a professional wardrobe for work, outfitting my first real apartment, and, well, generally starting life without the benefit of a spouse's income or wedding gifts (note again how society screws the single folk). I'll let you take a stab at how much I had saved up. My tax refund helped in a huge way, but still.
I've spent the last four and a half days agonizing over my options: fix up my rattletrap bottom-o-the-line worn-out Dodge, buy a really cheap used car, finance a lightly-used car, or finance a new car. There are obviously pros and cons to all of these options (despite what they say, buying a new car isn't necessarily a bad idea-- who cares if the resale value plummets if you're just going to drive the car for 15 years until it dies, anyway, and hey, a 5-year warranty is nothing to dismiss lightly).
This morning I put money down on a 2000 Honda Civic that my parents found at a mechanic's they trust. I'll be pooling basically all of my resources from the car fund and my regular savings account and my latest paycheck to swing this, but I think I can do it without help. It'll be paid for in full and fully mine on Saturday. The fact that this car was within my cash ability is a miracle. The trustworthy mechanic and my parents all think that it should be reliable and last me several years. I am thankful... but I am also tapped out.
I am currently strategizing how I am going to swing this and still survive until May 31st (next payday). Fortunately I knew that I was going to be in these straights before April's paycheck ever hit the bank. Here is my plan:
1) Find out how much I am actually supposed to be paying on my student loans per month, and then pay that. I've been making about double payments up until now. 'Fraid I'll have to stick to the minimum for a few months to get a cash cushion built back.
2) Call my power company and tell them I want an actual reading this month, not an estimate. I get royally socked on the months they do an estimate, and this is not a month where I can afford to be overpaying them for an extra $30 worth of electricity that I didn't use. I can't wait until the next month's reading to get the overpayment credited on my bill. I need it in my checking account NOW.
3) Pay all of my fixed expenses (rent, student loan, tithe) immediately to reduce the amount of uncertainty as the month wears on. When you get down to $20 in the checking account, you need to know exactly what you have where and where it needs to go.
4) Buy a lot of ramen. My monthly grocery trip is almost due. I need to stock up on the cheap stuff and start digging into the frozen chicken and rice and ancient spaghetti (is year-and-a-half old spaghetti safe?) that I have stashed away. I will probably go to Wal-Mart instead of Shop 'n Save because they tend to be a bit cheaper.
5) Do free things-- go running (yeah for great weather!), go fishing with my grandfather (not free, but I'm not getting my $32 license fee back), read all of the books I've been accumulating (love that balcony!).
6) Drink the beer Althea gave me that she got for free (see her last post).
7) Tell my parents and grandparents that I am now collecting aluminum cans. I have heard of a place that pays 75 cents a pound for aluminum. I don't drink things in cans (except the free beer), but I can pick up trash and have relatives save their cans for me. It's pocket change, but every little bit helps.
I will need to get shorts this month, so hopefully Goodwill will come through. I will put it off as long as I can to get the truly necessary expenses paid first, though.
:) Suggestions welcome!
Long time no Blog
Like Kelly the month has been busy for me. Thankfully my bank account has begun to look respectable again which makes me happy. Rent is coming due so we'll see how that plays out.
Conferences, rebates and coupons have abounded. I did a good deal of my spring planting (container garden in 3rd floor apartments only) last night and I can only hope that the seeds on store strawberries are viable or I'm going to have a very unproductive mouldy mess on my hands in a few weeks.
A couple of times lately people have asked me how I get by on so little money. Generally I point to my excessively full freezer and people figure it out. I'm not sure I actually have to buy any non perishables for the rest of my life. I'm single and I live with my cat. I don't eat much. On the other hand the 2 half cases of beer in my kitchen and the 2 Tupperware containers of sauerkraut and hot dogs in my freezer remind me that I get by partially on free goods and luck. I don't quite know how I got the luck but I do know where I got the free stuff. The free goods I have gotten so far this month include:
BEER (if you saw how much you'd abuse the caps button too)
strawberries
food
spray sunblock
decorative oil and herb thing (free at Yard sale)
toothpaste (thanks to the Rite Aid rebates program and some coupons)
FREE SAMPLES (see above on use of caps)
How do I do it?
The free samples are thanks to the Wal Mart free samples page. They're reliable and ship quickly so I feel pretty comfortable with them. Now if only I could get them to send me their circular I could unload some of these coupons. Another free sample offer I've put my hat in for is the 24/7 day diary giveaway on Colgate.com. Supposedly you submit a diary of one day in your life and they send you deodorant, tips on living life 24/7 (whatever that means) and a day diary kit. I'll let you know if anything actually arrives in the mail.
The small foods were gleaned from conference snacks and other events leftovers. The lesson, hang around until the end of the party and see if you can help them clear away all that extra food.:)
How did I get all the other stuff? Well the trick is to be nice. As much as I may want to let out my inner curmudgeon... Be nice to anyone who coordinates large events that involve free stuff or even large amounts of sell able merchandise. Be nice to anyone who can't resist a buy one get one free sale. Most of all be nice to your coworkers who need a place to drink beer until 1:am. As long as they're the clean types you will gain far more than you loose...except in sleep.
My Boss's wife is proving to be a real asset. We swap coupons and occasional conversation and since goodwill prevails we each get goods. I have gotten lunch and strawberries and she has gotten some of my homemade candles. She also turned me on to a church rummage sale where I did buck a bag hour and got some holiday presents, a sweater that should yield some fantastic yarn when unraveled. (I don't wear sweaters) (I also don't know how I got to be so freaking domestic) and a pair of jeans that don't fit. Hey buck a bag hour is cutthroat. I'm thinking I can sew them into usefulness (freaking domestic) but I'm not yet sure if I want to put forth the effort.
Of course I did also buy 2 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies there. I even broke my "No buying of junk food" rule for that. Still they're GS cookies. I'm out of orange tic tacs so I need a new source of sugary crack cocaine like goodness.
I'm still enjoying the benefits of Rite Aid rebates and this week's promotion of a food bar free with coupon. How silly of them to put the circulars with said coupon in the front of the store. The trouble is it's one per customer so I have had to use only one per trip. That's cut me down to 3 bars so far but I'm working on it. I use food bars or trail mix as my lunches at work so these things will have to taste pretty dreadful before I won't eat them.
I guess this is how I get by. Who else wants to give me stuff? :)
Conferences, rebates and coupons have abounded. I did a good deal of my spring planting (container garden in 3rd floor apartments only) last night and I can only hope that the seeds on store strawberries are viable or I'm going to have a very unproductive mouldy mess on my hands in a few weeks.
A couple of times lately people have asked me how I get by on so little money. Generally I point to my excessively full freezer and people figure it out. I'm not sure I actually have to buy any non perishables for the rest of my life. I'm single and I live with my cat. I don't eat much. On the other hand the 2 half cases of beer in my kitchen and the 2 Tupperware containers of sauerkraut and hot dogs in my freezer remind me that I get by partially on free goods and luck. I don't quite know how I got the luck but I do know where I got the free stuff. The free goods I have gotten so far this month include:
BEER (if you saw how much you'd abuse the caps button too)
strawberries
food
spray sunblock
decorative oil and herb thing (free at Yard sale)
toothpaste (thanks to the Rite Aid rebates program and some coupons)
FREE SAMPLES (see above on use of caps)
How do I do it?
The free samples are thanks to the Wal Mart free samples page. They're reliable and ship quickly so I feel pretty comfortable with them. Now if only I could get them to send me their circular I could unload some of these coupons. Another free sample offer I've put my hat in for is the 24/7 day diary giveaway on Colgate.com. Supposedly you submit a diary of one day in your life and they send you deodorant, tips on living life 24/7 (whatever that means) and a day diary kit. I'll let you know if anything actually arrives in the mail.
The small foods were gleaned from conference snacks and other events leftovers. The lesson, hang around until the end of the party and see if you can help them clear away all that extra food.:)
How did I get all the other stuff? Well the trick is to be nice. As much as I may want to let out my inner curmudgeon... Be nice to anyone who coordinates large events that involve free stuff or even large amounts of sell able merchandise. Be nice to anyone who can't resist a buy one get one free sale. Most of all be nice to your coworkers who need a place to drink beer until 1:am. As long as they're the clean types you will gain far more than you loose...except in sleep.
My Boss's wife is proving to be a real asset. We swap coupons and occasional conversation and since goodwill prevails we each get goods. I have gotten lunch and strawberries and she has gotten some of my homemade candles. She also turned me on to a church rummage sale where I did buck a bag hour and got some holiday presents, a sweater that should yield some fantastic yarn when unraveled. (I don't wear sweaters) (I also don't know how I got to be so freaking domestic) and a pair of jeans that don't fit. Hey buck a bag hour is cutthroat. I'm thinking I can sew them into usefulness (freaking domestic) but I'm not yet sure if I want to put forth the effort.
Of course I did also buy 2 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies there. I even broke my "No buying of junk food" rule for that. Still they're GS cookies. I'm out of orange tic tacs so I need a new source of sugary crack cocaine like goodness.
I'm still enjoying the benefits of Rite Aid rebates and this week's promotion of a food bar free with coupon. How silly of them to put the circulars with said coupon in the front of the store. The trouble is it's one per customer so I have had to use only one per trip. That's cut me down to 3 bars so far but I'm working on it. I use food bars or trail mix as my lunches at work so these things will have to taste pretty dreadful before I won't eat them.
I guess this is how I get by. Who else wants to give me stuff? :)
Saturday, April 14, 2007
A very discouraged post
I haven't posted lately because I am once again scraping the bottom of the checking account for the month and there were no coupons in the last paper and April is looking very, very long (at least I'm almost halfway through now!). Professional membership fees and workshop attendance are sucking money out of my budget very quickly (and, contrary to my parents' persistent belief, my employing institution does NOT spot me for those). The $32 for a fishing license didn't help (but I get a summer's worth of fun with my grandfather out of it, right?).
Oh, and putting a whitewater reservation for my vacation on my credit card is going to hurt when the bill comes in about a week.
I have food in my cupboards and freezer but it all takes time to make and between working weird hours and my suddenly busy evening social life of (free) church activities, I have no time to prepare any of it. I'm down to my last Ramen package. This is bad.
Bleak. Financial situation is bleak. I've been shoveling money into savings, but I fear that some of that is going to have to come back out.
May will be a new leaf! I swear it! I will buy 2 or 3 pairs of shorts either secondhand or at Gabe's, perhaps two summery blouses for work (again, secondhand or at Gabe's), and that will be it for clothes. My entertainment will be reading all of these books I have stacking up and going running. And planning my vacation to West Virginia in July. :) I have three months to figure out how to do a week in WV on next to no money! Suggestions welcome!
Oh, and putting a whitewater reservation for my vacation on my credit card is going to hurt when the bill comes in about a week.
I have food in my cupboards and freezer but it all takes time to make and between working weird hours and my suddenly busy evening social life of (free) church activities, I have no time to prepare any of it. I'm down to my last Ramen package. This is bad.
Bleak. Financial situation is bleak. I've been shoveling money into savings, but I fear that some of that is going to have to come back out.
May will be a new leaf! I swear it! I will buy 2 or 3 pairs of shorts either secondhand or at Gabe's, perhaps two summery blouses for work (again, secondhand or at Gabe's), and that will be it for clothes. My entertainment will be reading all of these books I have stacking up and going running. And planning my vacation to West Virginia in July. :) I have three months to figure out how to do a week in WV on next to no money! Suggestions welcome!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Experimentation
I am seeing more and more that successful skinflintery relies heavily on the ability and willingness to experiment. In the last few months I have experimented with:
lowering my heating bill by raising and lowering my thermostat, crocheting my own socks, stretching laundry detergent, making soap from the old wafers (I'd say the results were mixed [please ignore the pun]), freezing eggs and getting stuff for free by putting out the word you were in the market for it.
Right now I have several ideas in the works including putting myself on the good side of the old bon mott "You have to spend money to make money." I understand how this works however in the past it has been easier to make money by saving money. Now however my circumstances have changed and my ambition has widened I must change my tactics.
Like Kelly, I too have been experimenting with coupons, rebates and the like and have had some success. While I don't get the paper a little diligence online and in the stores has gotten me a half decent stash and persistence finally yielded a real newspaper coupon circular in one of the shopping carts that litter the town. I KNEW someone would be absentminded eventually! With rebates fortunately all you need is the store's circular and a sense of adventure. So far I have shelled out more than I really care to admit in the pursuit of nearly free goods and am now awaiting my check. I have saved all my receipts so that if the check does not arrive I can take the matter up with the customer service people. With any luck this will not need to be done.
One of my other experiments is of course finding and securing sources for more coupons. So far I have a humble exchange going with my co author here and I have been trying to cultivate one with my coworker/supervisor's wife. I have met her twice and she seemed a very nice friendly person so once I heard she was into couponing I started sending samples of my wares her way through her husband. Amazingly enough today while I was attempting to compose this entry she came in to visit her husband in passing and I was poised with another stack of coupons. We chatted amid ringing phones and we now have an exchange going! One successful experiment.
I'm also exploring a few other avenues for revenue. I have decided that it is no longer acceptable for me to not know where the nearest recycling center is since it seems like a lot of other people manage the half hour trip regularly enough. Once I did a little research though I discovered that they no longer pay for deposit bottles and cans. Now I know there is money in this. My new goal is to find a local scrap metal dealer for aluminum and steel cans and with any luck a place for glass and even plastic and paper. You may see me soon fighting off homeless people for cans along the side of the road!
What else am I experimenting on? Homemade chap stick, homemade candle wicks, selling candles, freebies, homemade designer moisturizers, guiding the conversion of my s/o, powdered milk, home grown food (in an apartment), yard sale hunting, making a price book and the ever popular tightwad diet.
lowering my heating bill by raising and lowering my thermostat, crocheting my own socks, stretching laundry detergent, making soap from the old wafers (I'd say the results were mixed [please ignore the pun]), freezing eggs and getting stuff for free by putting out the word you were in the market for it.
Right now I have several ideas in the works including putting myself on the good side of the old bon mott "You have to spend money to make money." I understand how this works however in the past it has been easier to make money by saving money. Now however my circumstances have changed and my ambition has widened I must change my tactics.
Like Kelly, I too have been experimenting with coupons, rebates and the like and have had some success. While I don't get the paper a little diligence online and in the stores has gotten me a half decent stash and persistence finally yielded a real newspaper coupon circular in one of the shopping carts that litter the town. I KNEW someone would be absentminded eventually! With rebates fortunately all you need is the store's circular and a sense of adventure. So far I have shelled out more than I really care to admit in the pursuit of nearly free goods and am now awaiting my check. I have saved all my receipts so that if the check does not arrive I can take the matter up with the customer service people. With any luck this will not need to be done.
One of my other experiments is of course finding and securing sources for more coupons. So far I have a humble exchange going with my co author here and I have been trying to cultivate one with my coworker/supervisor's wife. I have met her twice and she seemed a very nice friendly person so once I heard she was into couponing I started sending samples of my wares her way through her husband. Amazingly enough today while I was attempting to compose this entry she came in to visit her husband in passing and I was poised with another stack of coupons. We chatted amid ringing phones and we now have an exchange going! One successful experiment.
I'm also exploring a few other avenues for revenue. I have decided that it is no longer acceptable for me to not know where the nearest recycling center is since it seems like a lot of other people manage the half hour trip regularly enough. Once I did a little research though I discovered that they no longer pay for deposit bottles and cans. Now I know there is money in this. My new goal is to find a local scrap metal dealer for aluminum and steel cans and with any luck a place for glass and even plastic and paper. You may see me soon fighting off homeless people for cans along the side of the road!
What else am I experimenting on? Homemade chap stick, homemade candle wicks, selling candles, freebies, homemade designer moisturizers, guiding the conversion of my s/o, powdered milk, home grown food (in an apartment), yard sale hunting, making a price book and the ever popular tightwad diet.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Small triumphs
It has been a fruitful week in Kelly-saving-pennies land. It has not been so fruitful a week in Kelly-not-buying-expensive-clothes land, but we're going to focus on the positives here...
My coupon clipping and usage resulted in a savings of $6.50 in straight coupons and another $2.00 on top of that because the supermarket doubles coupons 99 cents and under. My total coupon savings (not counting sales) was therefore $8.50. I'll also be getting 17 cents off per gallon the next time I go to get gas, which should bring my total scrimping up to a nice even $10.00 or so. Hooray. I put a ten in the money jar. :)
Also along the coupon line, today's paper was a gold mine! There were FOUR coupon circulars in the Sunday paper. Some of them were pretty good, too. I have noticed that the product manufacturers usually time their coupons so one set expires the same week their new ones come out, which is convenient. I just always clip the coupons for items I use, and then I weed out the expired coupons as I file the new ones. This way I don't generally go out and buy a bunch of something when I don't particularly need it just because the coupon is going to expire soon (I make exceptions occasionally if it's a really good coupon). I know a fresh batch should be coming along to take its place. I use the coupons-- the coupons do not use me. :)
My penny bottle was filled up to the base of the neck (I use a SoBe bottle), so I rolled pennies this evening. I scored $7.50. I would have scored an even $8.00, but I'm four pennies short. Oh, well. The remainder will be a good starter for the next batch. Never pass up a penny on the sidewalk! Never! They add up!
So my money jar is already up to a tidy $25 again, and I think I'm making a trip to the bank tomorrow... though I might have to haul my bulky and dense deposit in a heavy-duty backpack.
I mentioned that I spent money on clothes today. Part of that was for a new pair of running shoes. I'm going to try to get in the habit of running in the park now that it stays daylight until past seven again. Aside from the initial outlay for shoes (get a good pair-- you don't want to hurt yourself with cheap ones, trust me), running is free and is really good for you (walking gives almost all of the same benefits without the impact factor and is also free). I then came home and pulled out my two little $3-at-Target weights and did some weights excercises to work on the arms and shoulders and tummy. A couple of hand dumbbells are possibly the best investment in frugal physical fitness that you can score-- they're cheap to begin with, they never wear out, and you can do about a million things with them. Just search online for weights workouts.
My coupon clipping and usage resulted in a savings of $6.50 in straight coupons and another $2.00 on top of that because the supermarket doubles coupons 99 cents and under. My total coupon savings (not counting sales) was therefore $8.50. I'll also be getting 17 cents off per gallon the next time I go to get gas, which should bring my total scrimping up to a nice even $10.00 or so. Hooray. I put a ten in the money jar. :)
Also along the coupon line, today's paper was a gold mine! There were FOUR coupon circulars in the Sunday paper. Some of them were pretty good, too. I have noticed that the product manufacturers usually time their coupons so one set expires the same week their new ones come out, which is convenient. I just always clip the coupons for items I use, and then I weed out the expired coupons as I file the new ones. This way I don't generally go out and buy a bunch of something when I don't particularly need it just because the coupon is going to expire soon (I make exceptions occasionally if it's a really good coupon). I know a fresh batch should be coming along to take its place. I use the coupons-- the coupons do not use me. :)
My penny bottle was filled up to the base of the neck (I use a SoBe bottle), so I rolled pennies this evening. I scored $7.50. I would have scored an even $8.00, but I'm four pennies short. Oh, well. The remainder will be a good starter for the next batch. Never pass up a penny on the sidewalk! Never! They add up!
So my money jar is already up to a tidy $25 again, and I think I'm making a trip to the bank tomorrow... though I might have to haul my bulky and dense deposit in a heavy-duty backpack.
I mentioned that I spent money on clothes today. Part of that was for a new pair of running shoes. I'm going to try to get in the habit of running in the park now that it stays daylight until past seven again. Aside from the initial outlay for shoes (get a good pair-- you don't want to hurt yourself with cheap ones, trust me), running is free and is really good for you (walking gives almost all of the same benefits without the impact factor and is also free). I then came home and pulled out my two little $3-at-Target weights and did some weights excercises to work on the arms and shoulders and tummy. A couple of hand dumbbells are possibly the best investment in frugal physical fitness that you can score-- they're cheap to begin with, they never wear out, and you can do about a million things with them. Just search online for weights workouts.
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