Down to 4 digits

Last week I made another car payment of $2,500... And my debt is down to $9,520.39 (stupid interest). I have hit the 4 digit mark.

Did some unnecessary spending this month, and I feel guilty, especially because in January I will not be able to pay much off my debt, what with a quarterly tax payment due, plus a dive trip, on top of the fact that January is usually my slowest month at work (hence why I schedule vacations to warm sunny places during that month).

Recent money savers:

  • Made peanut butter/pumpkin doggie treats from scratch for (some) friends with dogs, as holiday gifts. This brought up some holiday stress though (see below).
  • Lots of cooking at home. This recipe, arroz con pollo is a favorite now, and is great for using up all the hot sauce I have.
  • I bought cuticle pushers and a cuticle cutter and learned how to give myself a real manicure at home. Those items are technically wants, but hey, the money it saves me in the long run, right?



The gift tradition of the holidays makes me feel kind of crumby. I felt all warm and fuzzy as I made these homemade dog treats for my friends' dogs. I had four people in mind to give them to: My friend/business partner Chad, my office manager Angela, my friend/dog trainer Mike, and my friends Shannon and Justin, who very often let Petri run around in their back yard all day with his best friend (their dog Fiyero) while I'm at work. Perfect, right? Then as I'm making the treats, I'm thinking of how I'm going to write about them on this blog, because making them is a perfect example of a money saving activity. And then I think "oh shoot, so-and-so might read this and wonder why I didn't give them doggie treats." And also thinking, "Well that person doesn't have a dog, but they are a really close friend, should I be making human treats too?" And I'm standing there rolling the dough and stressing about this more than I need to, but it took a lot of the holiday fun out of things, even if I was listening to my four favorite Christmas albums in a row. And then I'm like, "wait, I'm also Jewish... Have I budgeted any time for making latkes this year?!

And then I start thinking dark thoughts about Christmas and how I resent the pressure, and how imperfect the season makes me feel- how I'm not giving enough, or leaving people out, or blah blah blah. The pressure I put on myself to be more giving seems to be consistent everywhere I go. I'm just glad I don't own a TV and never listen to the radio, because ad exposure would make the inadequacy ten times worse.

Okay but my four favorite Christmas albums are, in no particular order:
1. A Charlie Brown Christmas
2. Mr. Hankey's Christms Album
3. The Nutcracker by the New York Philharmonic
4. Sufjan Stevens's Christmas Albums

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