Did I Just Categorize Running as FUN???

I'm telling you, I hardly recognize myself these days.

Last week on Thanksgiving I did the Turkey Trot here in Long Beach. It's a super cool 5k on the beach, where people dress up. Very family friendly and fun vibe. I ran it with my friend Elaine, and set a new personal record of 32:21 for 5k. :) That beats my old time by 3:26, which made me very happy! (I'll post pictures when I get my camera back from my mom's house, I left it there on accident.)

I have NEVER been a runner. I literally did not think it was possible for me to run three miles. One of my earliest school memories is running in Kindergarten and coming in last place. But I've completed two 5k's now, and it definitely makes me feel good about myself. It's a challenge everytime, but the feeling of finishing the race without stopping to walk AND beating my old time made me want to keep signing up.

So, on Sunday I signed up for two more races. One is called Fast and Furious. It's a super cheap one in Long Beach on December 17th. Only $15! No medals or t-shirts, but I'm fine with that. I just want a reason to keep training and a chance to best my former time. I also signed up for the Long Beach Pajama 5k on February 11th. I'm doing that one with a friend from college who just had a baby. I think it will be fun, and again it gives me a reason to keep training. That one is $35.

I decided to fit both races into my November budget. One of them came out of my "cushion" that I set aside for unexpected expenses. The other came out of my fun budget.

Fun. As in, I sacrificed a dinner out or some new clothes to pay for a 5k.

Who am I, you guys?

But, I really am starting to enjoy running. It doesn't mean all my workouts are pretty, or that I always feel like going running after work. But I'm sort of hooked on the feeling I get after I do something I didn't know I had in me.

That feeling is similar to how I first felt when I successfully stuck to a budget. It's how I felt when I managed to go a whole year without shopping and get my credit card paid off for good.

A while back, BF said that if I can be as disciplined as I am with my finances, he knew I could take up running. I told him that was ridiculous, and that they were totally unrelated. And in some ways, they are. But I think the satisfaction of accomplishment translates. My competitive nature helps me succeed in both. The runner's high is similar to the budgeter's high. Or the debt-payer-offer's high. They both take a lot of work, and aren't inherently fun. But when you get to the payoff, they have their own appeal.

So, I encourage you, dear readers. Try something challenging that you're not sure if you can do. Believe that you can. Get through those first crappy weeks, where you hate it and you feel like it will never get better. Because it will. And the payoff is totally worth it.

No Spend November Update: Week 4

I did pretty awesome with no spends this week...I'll do a final post to see if I pulled off my eleven days...it will be incredibly close, but possible. Anyway, here's the info:

Tuesday: Bought stuff at Target, stuff for Thanksgiving, and two new long-sleeved workout shirts. Definitely not a no spend, but a good night for shopping.
Wednesday: NO SPEND! Came home after work and watched West Wing with the BF.
Thursday: Stopped and bought flowers and picked up some last minute Thanksgiving items for my mom.
Friday: NO SPEND! I gave blood in the morning, then hung out with BF's dad who took us out to dinner. BF bought me coffee on the way home.
Saturday: NO SPEND! Lazed around, then brought Thanksgiving leftovers to a party, along with a bottle of vodka I had in the freezer.
Sunday: Big time spending. Gas, pharmacy, car wash, groceries, out to dinner with friend, brought BF coffee at work. I also paid for two more 5k's.
Monday: NO SPEND! BF made quiche for breakfast, I made a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner. Went on a run and then watched more West Wing after dinner.

Because I was able to pull off FOUR no spend days this week, I am up to ten! YES! I have two more days left in the month, so as long as one of them is No Spend (which is totally do-able), then I will make my goal! I'll give an update after the 30th and make my new No Spend goal for December.

Anyone else manage some No Spend Days? Or did Black Friday get you? :)

Dabbling in Stocks

I saw that ING Direct was offering a $100 bonus through Sharebuilder if you opened an account this weekend and made two trades by the end of January. I know very, very little about stocks, but I decided to take the plunge and try to earn $100 (and maybe more if my stocks do well).

I transfered $50 from my ING Savings into a Sharebuilder account. I signed up for a free trial of their premium service so that I could make investments for only $1 (gotta remember to cancel is before January 1st!). I took a survey indicating that I was conservative about investing (more afraid of losing money than excited about earning it), and it suggested two investments. I set it up to make the trades on Tuesday. Since it's two investments, I'm hoping that counts for my two trades. I'll have to double check on that though.

The way I figure is that even if I lose all $50 (which is doubtful), I will still end up $50 ahead thanks to the bonus. I'm honestly planning on closing the account once the bonus posts to my account, since the whole stocks thing makes me nervous. Maybe I'll keep dabbling and let that $50 investment ride, but we'll see how it goes.

Anyone else done Sharebuilder before? I'd love some insight or advice on how to make it work for me!

My Financial Bucket List

Krystal at Give Me Back My Five Bucks is doing a giveaway on her blog for $500, thanks to Life Insurance Finder. I liked that blogging about this giveaway had a fun topic, so I'm actually doing this one in hopes of winning that $500. The topic: What's on your financial bucket list?

1. Pay off my student loans, which would make me debt free!
2. Get my six month E-fund fully funded (I'm more than halfway there!)
3. Get in the habit of fully-funding my Roth IRA (this starts in January)
4. Pay for a wedding without raiding my E-fund. No, I'm not engaged, but if we're talking bucket list, this is on there for sure.
5. Buy a home.
6. I want a pair of Uggs, but I can never bring myself to spend the money on them. Maybe this will be my 2012 reward if I meet all my goals.
7. Another trip to Europe, to see some of the countries I've yet to travel to.
8. Travel to every state in the US, and visit every Major League Baseball Stadium (okay, this is BF's bucket list item, but I've adopted it).
9. Buy something really nice for my mom (can't say what, she reads this. And it won't be tomorrow, but someday...)
10. Get BF out of debt...but this be my territory until after we combine our finances...for now gentle encouragement will have to do.

And if I win the $500, I'll be that much closer to my goals. :)

Target Victory!

Today I am pleased with my expenditures at Target...so impressed that I have decided to blog about it.

I had to return a conditioner that I bought because I remembered that I tried that brand and didn't like it. I also decided to return a foundation, because I am thinking of switching to Bare Minerals/Everyday Minerals again after my liquid foundation runs out. I got $19.55 back.

Also, a coworker paid me $20 for the fridge I bought for our academy several months ago. She was out on maternity leave, so I didn't expect to get it. I'm counting this as extra money, since it was extra from my budget.

So, I started out with a credit of $39.55. Here's how I got everything I needed, with three bucks to spare.

The shampoo and conditioner I planned to get were buy three, get a $5 gift card. So, I picked up an extra bottle of shampoo. I did this as one transaction and spent $15.19 and got a gift card back. In my next transaction I got my student teacher a $20 gift card as a going away gift. I also got stuffing mix for 89 cents, butter for $2.99, and cottage cheese for $2.69 (all ingredients for Thanksgiving meals). I used the $5 gift card, and spent a total of $21.57.

Then, I decided to swing by Marshalls and use my gift card...I was on a roll.

I need a couple of long sleeved shirts for running, so I got two of them at Marshalls. One is white and comes down over my hands with a slot for my thumbs. Which is fun. The other is bright pink and has a hood. They're both very visible at night and warm, which is good since most of my running is on the beach at night. I spent $11 out of my pocket for the two shirts, which I'm happy with.

So, last night was not a No Spend one, but I only spent eight bucks net, and stuck with necessities. Shopping Success!

Blue Light Special

This weekend I went to Ralph's, and as usual when I got to the meat department, I scanned to aisle for any packages marked down as "Manager's Special." That yellow and orange sticker makes my day! I bought some ribs, marked down to $3.48 (they were six something), chicken marked down to $4.44 (also originally six something). The beef roasts were on sale (50% off!) so I snagged a pot roast and some stew meat at a discount as well. SCORE!

I made the ribs in the crock pot last night, and they were great (Just threw them in with onion, BBQ sauce, salt and pepper). I made the chicken tonight and made corn tortilla quesadillas and beans. I think I'll wait for after Thanksgiving for the pot roast, since I don't want to go into the holiday with leftovers.

It's nice to stock up on meat when it's on sale. I know some people are squeamish about the manager's special thing...it's meat that's about to go bad. But I put it in the freezer as soon as I get home, and I've never had a problem with it. I find that I definitely cook at home more often if I have meat on hand. I can usually improvise some side dishes from the pantry (I don't have a pantry. I have random cupboards that overflow. But you know what I mean), which means I am more likely to cook without making another grocery store trip.

I also get salads that are on clearance-as long as I eat them within a day or two, they are fine also. This saves money and makes me try things I might no otherwise buy. I've gotten loaves of bread for 99 cents for the past three weeks as well. I keep my bread in the fridge, so I don't notice a difference after I toast it.

Do you buy items on Manager's Special? How do you get bargains at the grocery store?

No Spend November Week 3

Here's the recap on how many No Spend Days I had last week...

Tuesday: Michael's for craft supplies for Christmas presents. Spent around $40.
Wednesday: Book club, bought Panera for dinner. Spent around ten bucks.
Thursday: No spend! I had parent conferences, so this was a crazy long day at work. BF made dinner, and I didn't really have time to spend anyway.
Friday: Dinner out with BF, $29
Saturday: Grocery store-spent $90, but meat and soda were on sale, so I stocked up. BF paid for the drive-in since I drove.
Sunday: $20 worth of gas in my car. $20 for tickets to the LA Auto Show. BF loves going. I also paid $4 for parking.
Monday: No spend!

So, once again I only came up with two No Spend Days. This brings my grand total for the month up to six. :/ I need to come up with five more days in the next nine days. Eek! Tomorrow's out as I need to get a gift for my student teacher whose last day is Wednesday. But I think I can pull off a no spend Wednesday and Thursday, and I'm pretty determined to make the other three happen. I do think I saved money this month, since I held off on lots of little things to make the no spends happen. I only stopped for breakfast on the way to work once this month, which is a vast improvement from last month's laziness.

Anyone else doing No Spend goals? How are they going?