Oh my gosh - Long

It is not that I did not intend to be here! First I lost my password and when I reset it I was told that is was invalid. Anyway after I while I got it together. And I am back.

Update on me:

My ex-husband lost his job and has moved in with me and the kids. After 5 months of no job and 2 months of living with us he has a few good leads and hopefully will have something by the end of February. Oddly enough it has been very nice having him around. It has been 12 years that we have been apart and we have gone on and grown up. He has been at home with the kids during off days taken them and picked them up when needed. He has taken out trash and fixed things around the house. He even shoveled my walk and drive. All without even being asked! There has been some talk about "getting back together" but that is still to be seen.

My goal for 2009 is to work on getting out of debt and learn to manage money better. I am paying off my car in the next few weeks. That will give me 300.00 more each month. I will add most of that to other bills to pay them off. I plan on spending only 200.00 for food and 50.00 for non-food items a month (this may change if ex stays and we have a little more money) . I am Meal Planning to help me stay on budget. It worked well in January but February has been bad as far the budget goes. I had a Superbowl party with a few friends last minute and it just threw everything off.

Spent in February as of 2/5:
Food- $179.74
Non-food-$28.26

Now tonight I am going to dinner with a friend and ex is staying home with the kids. He, DD#1 and DS have a stomach bug and are not eating much so DD#2 will be on her own which she loves.

Now my meal plan does not have specified days. That way I don't feel locked into it and I plan a day for leftovers or carryovers (meals that were skipped for whatever reason). I usually go from Sunday-Saturday. But since we have had a few sick days this week I will have more carryover meals than usual. This is what I have planned for the next few days:

Breakfast:
Pop tarts, toast, eggs, yogurt and applesauce

Lunch:
Buy out, leftovers or lunch meat sammies

Dinner:
Shake-n-bake pork chops, cornbread stuffing, green beans, rolls

Chicken Piccata (New) , roast potatoes , peas, rolls

Salsa chicken, rice, green beans, rolls

Bisquick chicken nuggets, french fries, fruit