Another busy week is thankfully coming to a close soon! I'm still at work waiting for a slight buzz to wear off before driving home. I attended a reception that featured delicious appetizers (free dinner!) and an open bar, so I treated myself to a very small glass of chardonnay. I rarely drink and am apparently quite a lightweight! I made a big political mistake at work today and my boss was pissed. It was a relief to get out of the office and enjoy mingling with some friendlier colleagues.

I've fallen off the exercise wagon due to busyness, but will resume this weekend. I've continued to eat mostly healthy and light with a few slips last weekend, but that was due to a lethal combo of free food and hormonal cravings. I did enjoy every morsel!

I haven't had any time to look at YNAB, but I do need to buy the program in the next three days or I will lose my current info. I have managed to continue minimal non-essential spending. I will pay my property taxes at the end of September and I need to pre-buy my heating oil for the winter, although oil prices are so low at the moment that I don't know if it's worth it this time around. Anyone else reconsidering prebuying fuel oil this winter?

The free food barrage continues. A friend is away and her garden is producing tons of cherry tomatoes and delicious raspberries which she begged me to pick and eat. Ok! I have a million small apples from my backyard tree and I have received some garden goodies from another friend.

I tried something new yesterday. I do most of my food shopping at a local co-op store which was offering 20% off produce from one of my favorite organic farms, a sale that ended yesterday. I made the decision not to visit the store after work to take advantage of the sale because I most likely would have 1) bought more produce than I could actually use (but it's on sale!) 2) started to load other items that I don't really need into my cart (but I want and can use it!). I had plenty of food at home and there will be other future sales that I can take advantage of. This really was a big decision for me and I now realize that it was o.k. not to go. I sometimes become so anxious when faced with a decision like this that I give in to soothe the anxiety. I now realize that while it was tough in the moment to choose not to go (I'm missing the bargains!), the entire episode passed rather quickly and I really haven't thought of it since until I started to write this. I would like to remember and use this knowledge in the future to help curb unnecessary spending generated from "getting a good price". I like sales, but it's not necessary for me to take advantage of each one. Sounds a little corny, but it was a big deal!

So, no need to prepare dinner tonight and I've already made most of my lunch to take with me to work tomorrow. Yay. Tomorrow is pay day, and the $1,019.14 will technically go towards my October budget if I follow YNAB's philosophy. I get paid 26 times a year, so that means that I am living on approximately $26,500 a year. Wow, I don't know if that's possible, which is why I signed up for YNAB. I want to get a realistic picture of what it costs to live my life and whether or not I'm making enough to support it.

Time to go home!