I spent $17.08 at WF because I forgot about a party to go to last night and I was supposed to bring snacks and a bottle of wine.

$8.62 at Blockbuster; this will last me most of the week.

.79 at a QT for a drink.

$42.78 as a part of my new dating regimen - a girlfriend and I went to a local sports bar during a football game. I had 3 glasses of wine (all I can drink gluten free) and ate lettuce wraps, again, only thing gluten-free.

Got change for my car, dropped off something at the dry cleaner for 4.32.

AND AM NOW DONE.

32.41 at the store. I'm done.

I spent $10.80 at Pei Wei for lunch
I took my mother to lunch and spent $10.02
I had a few more things to get at the store for $29.94 and I'm afraid I'm not done yet - it won't ever end, I guess.
$3.67 at Starbucks in a rare thing these days.

Actually, I wouldn't say I'm caught up, not even close. But this is the first paycheck in many, many moons where I didn't feel like I was slammed to the wall and only squeaking by.

I was hoping to keep up with the utilities, get my car registered and a couple other things that won't happen, but I was able to catch up in other ways so I'm in a better mood.

Here's how most of it has been spent so far:

$13.56 for gas. I live very close to work, so I typically only use a tank every two or three weeks.

$12.20 dry cleaning. Typically use dryel at home because it cuts the costs enormously.

Now here's where the ridiculous part comes. I was completely out of most food. And since I've been on the gluten free (and now DAIRY FREE AS WELL) diet, I've had to spend a LOT of money on specialty foods at Whole Foods. I wish there were cheaper ways of doing it, but I haven't found it yet. I have discovered that this diet is extremely difficult to stay on, but it helps if I have some options at home - gluten free cookies, for instance. I don't like a lot of sweets, but if I want something, I'm better off eating GF than eating gluten.

$26.46 - It was actually $6.46 on plastic food containers and $20 extra for spending $.

$278.24 at Wal Mart - actually $178.24 with $100 extra cash that will go to my mother for a debt. This included high dollar items such as cat litter, a water filter, a room heater (so I can save by doing yoga at home), etc.

$113.22 at Kroger because I had nearly $20 in coupons from them. Included store brand coffee, some produce, some meat, eggs. It was actually 63 on food, the extra $50 cash is again for my mother.

$287.50 at Whole Foods with $100 in cash for my mother. I spent $187 on high dollar stuff such as flax seed oil, progesterone cream ($40 a tube, dammit), yeast meds ($16), gluten free stuff, goat cheese (apparently I can tolerate that, just not cows milk), vegan cream cheese, gf bread, etc. Insane.

$9.66 at Blockbuster. I'm obsessed with Six Feet Under and am renting the whole show, two at a time. They have a special right now on their rewards card, so I bought it for $4.99 which gave me one DVD for free. Normally I don't rent that much, but it's already paid for itself.

$40 on tango lessons. I have waited a long damn time to be able to spare $40 for something like this. It's exercise, but I'm doing it because I love it and I'm looking to meet new dance pals. AND I'm trying to date again. Cheap entertainment if you spread it over a month as the classes are.

$45.58 for bare minerals again. I've been around the block on finding gluten free makeup. I had this once, decided I didn't like it, took it back, now I've reordered. I'll try it again. Next month I have another payment of $30.

$96.24 at the Vitamin Shoppe for a month's supply of yeast meds and two jars of rice protein. I've been drinking whey protein shakes in the morning for over a year, but now I can't have milk protein - casein - and it's in everything that gluten is not.

$69.67 for refills on prescriptions. This came fast because my entire bottle of thyroid meds fell in the sink and were ruined. I couldn't reorder until now. But it's good for 3 months.

$32.39 another indulgence this month - I found really great sheets at Stein Mart on sale! These are 300 thread count (normally I go higher as I'm big on sheets, but these FEEL much higher count and it was a great deal). I needed two sets as I rotate them, and my current two sets are over 10 years old and threadbare.

$13.08 for lunch yesterday. A rare indulgence.

$89.00 to pay back a Christmas loan from last year. I have one more payment then YIPPEE! It's gone!

$30.53 for PBS - an annual contribution.

$127.62 and $65.75 to pay back my office for personal expenses I accidentally put on my company credit card. One was for dinner and drinks with my college roomate and one was for a staff lunch.

This either leaves me with $100 spending money or $140 spending money. I'll let it ride for a little while before knowing. I will NOT be going crazy with it, but you have no idea how much RICHER I feel today.

One thing that always puts a lot of distress on me is when I "run out of things from the grocery store" or when my stuff gets old, threadbare, holey or ugly. Growing up in a large chaotic family, we were ALWAYS running out of SOMETHING: condiments, food, tape, pens, whatever. With my double Virgo tendencies, this drives me up a wall.

Between paychecks, I keep a running list posted on my fridge of things I'm running out of - coffee, air freshener, cat food, whatever. I clip coupons, shop for most things at WM, the rest at WF unless I have great coupons somewhere else.

For the last few months, I've been behind on getting my stuff - and I'm not talking about a bunch of useless stuff or shopping to make me feel better. I am in a good place with clothes (I could use a winter suit or two, but am not in desperate need), shoes, bags and the like. But I had to buy a lot of weird foods, ran out of makeup, had to change shampoo, etc. The sheets were worn, kept running out of coffee, cat food and stuff.

So I'm now caught up on Stuff and shouldn't need another run to the store for a month or so, except for maybe a couple of small things.

AND I haven't had much fun, so I'm looking forward to tango lessons, getting the Christmas loan paid off, not owing the office, etc.

Have a great weekend.

This has become a really tedious experience, but still necessary. So I'll keep at it. But I've become sloppy and I know it.

On 10/30, I got paid. Here's how I spent the money:

*156.38 on car insurance that was about to be cut off.
*849.55 on rent and water.
*200.00 to my mother for a loan.
*30.40 at Albertsons; mostly for cash.
*50.00 for annual eye exam and follow up to eye infection.
*115.02 to Whole Foods; included high-ticket items such as yeast meds, cranberry juice, gf products.
*178.68 at Walmart and didn't even buy all I needed. Included cat food, shampoo and other non-food items that just got out of hand.
*25.00 copay for annual gynecologist checkup
*6.00 checking fee at bank.
*1.89 at Pei Wei. Got a free entree, paid for drink.
*Another 34.91 at Whole Foods because it turns out I'm allergic to the Whey Protein I've been buying from Walmart. Also was craving sausage and bacon (in small doses) and am allergic to the WM brands.
*Another 2.00 at Walmart for almond milk because yes, I am allergic to milk. Heavy sigh.

I know I'm missing receipts, but I don't have them with me. Will get back with you on those.