The start of a New Year

Today was another day of getting things done here at home. Between watching football games I got the bank account balanced - our standard bills paid - AND the "little black book" caught up. We'll get more into that later. Dan has said that I have had some very productive days since we have been back 'home'. The unit is straightened up - cabinets are rearranged - laundry is caught up (even did a load in house today) - and now the bills are done and the finances are caught back up. Then - the best part of the entire week - Dan is feeling much better. I think that he is definitely on the mend.

Speaking of football - I'm happy for Bobby Bowden winning his last game as a coach at Florida State - I know that many people think he should have retired a couple of years ago and it is probably true that Jimbo Fisher called a lot of the plays today - but Bobby was still the official coach of the Seminoles and they won! Congratulations on a career that only a few will ever achieve. Go Bobby and enjoy your retirement!

Tonight I will be routing for the Gators - I don't know if this will be Urban Meyers last game with the Gators or not, but it is Tim's last game. I will be cheering them on - and we will see if I'm a happy camper tomorrow or not. Let's hope I am!

Okay - let's talk about finances for a few minutes - Let's go back to the month of October - we were traveling that month so things are a little different. The breakdown goes like this:
Fuel - $907.36; Groceries - $381.28; Meal's Out - $285.58; Misc - $2,986.23 for a total of $4,560.45. Not a good month - no saving this month.

Now, how about November - Fuel $415.81; Meal's Out $151.31; Groceries $950.96 (have no idea why groceries are this high); Camping Fees $35.46; Misc. $2,123.40 for a total of $3,676.73. A little better than October - but not good because we were not traveling - we definitely need to do better in the future.

So, how did we do in December with Christmas - Fuel $319.00; Meal's Out $79.61; Groceries $977.48 (again I don't know why this is so high); Misc. $2,046.12; Christmas $2,180.23 for a grand total of $5,602.44. - Now I know this is not real good, BUT while we might not have been able to save anything this month we did not have to go into the saving account to pay for Christmas. That is a good thing. The big thing this month will be to get back where I write things down as we spend it. Let's hope we can get back to saving some money instead of spending it. (If we took the Christmas expenses out we would have been about the same as we were in November - still not the best we can do). The challenge is on to do better in this new year! (Of course, Dan says that I give out too much information - but I told you that I would be honest and tell the good that bad and the ugly - where we spend money and where we saved money - it's just the last few months we have been spending instead of saving!)

Tomorrow I still have a couple of things I want to do here in the unit. Monday we will go into town and get the tag for the truck. That should be it. Dan is still taking his medicine but is still improving everyday. The weather here has been horrible -rain and cold. It is suppose to be around 30 tonight and 23 tomorrow night and then down to 20 on Sunday night - I think that is a little cold for me (I know I was just complaining about the hot weather - we are never happy!) Hopefully, I won't complain too much!

Hope you all are having a good start to the new year. Take care and ---------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!