General Info: Well yesterday was super busy for me. I had to work but we were slow since the rest of the world was off. Anyway, I brought my coupon binder to work so that I could clean it up and reorganize for the new year don't worry I did this on my breaks. There were a ton of 12/31/08 expired coupons so the binder is pretty empty right now but today there are 5 coupon inserts so I will be busy tomorrow refilling it.

I think I found a great way to save money already. I had planned to get a few things that were good deals this weekend but upon returning home last night I realized I left my purse at work. Luckily I am on the early shift so I called one of my friends and asked her to lock it up for me (I am not about to spend another 60min driving back and forth). So I will not be driving around to much this weekend.

Family Stuff: Yesterday was Brad's birthday I can't believe my oldest baby is 19. Where has the time gone? He loves fish and Doug started fishing this summer with my brother so last night we had a good old fish fry for dinner with salad and mac and cheese. He didn't want a birthday cake but he did want one of my special Oreo cookie milk shakes (he lived on them when he broke his jaw and had it wired shut for a couple of months).
Later that night I attempted to fix our neighbors fence since they now have 2 dogs and the weeds growing on it has pulled the fence over to the point that the dogs are jumping back and forth between the two yards.

Budget: I have been trying to decide how I wanted to figure my food and household budget this year and I am going to try to cut off $115.00 from my monthly budget. If it works out we should have $1380.00 to add to savings. This portion of my budget is for all food for 4+ people including camping meals and holidays (except going "out to eat"), all household expenses including cleaning and repair, feeding 3 dogs and finally pool chemicals.

Diet: Getting back on track with South Beach I will be eating better carbs again and hopefully getting rid of all the free candy from Walgreens.

Breakfast: one of my childhood favorites "Onion eggs w/ bacon" (I made enough so that I have 3 more days worth put away)
Lunch: Doug sabotaged me and bought white castle I only had 4.
Dinner: appetizer night - salad, chicken wings, toasted ravioli, mozzerella sticks and/or what ever else I can find to make.