Magic Penny's Personal Finance Blog

Busy weeks mean little spending! A few more checks have been made out to the girls' schools, should be done with those for a while. Using YNAB, I can calculate that between August and September I have spent $445.97 on school for the girls. That also includes jazz shoes for the youngest, but doesn't include school clothes. In the past I would have paid for all of those expenses out of my daily budget, gone over, and pulled from savings. This time around, though, I've been able to set some aside specifically for that expense, and when I went over I could take here and there from other categories. Never touched savings. So this program really has been helping me do better things with my money. Now that I have a more realistic look at my expenses, I am giving myself a bigger target amount to save up under "school expenses".

I have only gone to the gym a few times this week. I have been so worn out being back to work, I felt like I really needed to let myself rest those mornings. Those first few weeks back in a special education center are rough on the teachers, the students, and I'm sure the parents as well. I have come home with a full lunch bag three times this week, I haven't even had time to eat! As chaotic as it may feel to me, the kids are still learning, they are happy, and we are getting our routines down. It's only the second week.

As for my certificate coursework, I did some of the homework during the week but the majority of the work will be done on the weekends, I think. I'm not going out of town anytime soon, I can't afford the time away. But hey, that's less spending there, too!

Little by little we are getting the hang of things in the classroom. Our days are very busy, I can say that much.

I've also finished 2 weeks of my practicum already, 13 to go! I like my practicum supervisor, she is going to be a great resource to me. Already she's given me some great suggestions that I will implement to help run the class more smoothly.

This weekend I plan to stay close to home. We will take the kids to D.C. for a picnic in the park where we got married, so that should be free. Besides that, I plan to get to the gym a few times with my girls and do homework. I really need to stay on top of things, it's the only way I will make it through this semester.

This week has gone smoothly for my own kids, though they are looking forward to sleeping in this weekend!
I'm proud of them both for getting through the mornings independently. My oldest, the one with ADHD who just turned 16,was so easily distracted and a procrastinator. I always felt like I had to babysit her. Many mornings would end with both of us frustrated and one of us grounded from her phone. She's been much more responsible this week, it has been a very good start.

Everywhere I turn is an energy suck. Ever have those days? One hour til bedtime!

On the financial side of things, at least I am able to move money around to cover all of the back to school expenses that continue to arise. I just move the money from some other part of my budget. Sigh.

This was the week where everything started up again. I returned to the classroom to set up and prepare before the students return. My own children had orientation at two different schools. My graduate classes started as well, which meant an online class meeting, and two meetings with my practicum supervisor. One more day, and I will have made it through all of the obligations successfully!

14 weeks to go for my intensive practicum and coursework... what can I say, I'm an optimist!

Fortunately, being busy meant that I didn't have time to do much spending. I will have to order a few more textbooks online, which will hurt. I'm hoping I will be able to rent some of these.

The weather should be beautiful this weekend, which is a good thing, we have lots of fun planned! Most of it has been paid for already. I hope everyone has a great long weekend to refresh!

The girls and I had our hair cuts at the hair academy yesterday. Total cost for 3 haircuts, including tips, was $53. This is a savings of probably close to $75 for all three of us.

I am very satisfied with the results. My haircut is just as nice the haircuts I have gotten at my usual salon. I should note, though, that I don't have "tricky" hair or have a very special cut. The girls are happy with their haircuts as well. The oldest wishes she had asked for more layers, but that was more of a communication error. She wants to grow her hair out longer but didn't specify she still wanted layers. Her stylist was new, too, and didn't ask her about them. Now she knows.

I will go back to the hair academy in the future. In addition to the "stylists in training", there were experienced teachers on the floor constantly collaborating with the stylists to make sure they were on the right track.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to try to save some money on hair maintenance. My advice, thought, is to bring some patience with you! These stylists are typically young and inexperienced. They are not nearly as efficient as the more "seasoned" stylists. It took a little over 2 hours for shampoo, scalp massage, hair cut and blow dry. My stylist was being super careful not to make any mistakes! But that is how they learn, and I would rather she be too careful than to be scissor happy and hack away at my hair carelessly!

The surprise vacation for our 2 year anniversary turned out to be to Puerto Rico, woohoo! We were informed about a hurricane when we arrived at the hotel, and then our return flight was uncertain because of the tropical storm, but actually the weather was great for the majority of our trip. There was one day where it was kind of overcast and scattered storms, but we still managed to swim that day.

Now that I am back I have to catch up on my budget and then prep to return to school next week. Back to packing my lunch and following a schedule! I have already cut up veggies for salads for the week. I picked up some deli turkey and I will boil eggs this weekend as well.


The girls are all set for school, they've been picking up clothes here and there throughout the summer. I'm all set for school. Tuition is paid for fall semester. I'm also ready to get back into my classroom. I'm well rested from the summer and energized to start up again. I'm going to need that strength for this semester!

I went ahead and scheduled hair cuts for the girls and me at the local school, we go this afternoon. My regular stylist charges $40, while the school charges only $12! Even the budget hair places around here start at $23, and that is not including wash and blow dry, so I was shocked to hear that our haircuts will only be $12 each! I'm very excited about trying them out. I'm sure it will be fine, our hair styles are pretty simple. I have faith in the young talent out there! Besides, it's just hair, it will grow back!

I've been using Ynab for a few months, and it has been eye opening. For starters, I've always claimed that I didn't spend a lot on clothes and personal maintenance like skin and hair. Well. I was wrong. For the past 3 months I have spent significantly more on clothes and upkeep than I budgeted for, what I thought I was spending. I am way more vain than I ever realized!

Tracking and seeing my spending on these items has made me think, how much of my resources do I really want to be spending on appearances? Looking at me, you wouldn't think I spend a ton, I don't look like a high maintenance woman. But it is still a decent amount of money considering my income. Especially since I also include clothes and personal maintenance for my 2 teenage daughters as well. I can't imagine what some of the truly high maintenance women I know spend on appearances. I just don't want to spend that much money, I have better things to be spending my money on right now!

I figured out how to pay what I need to for the month of September, until I get my full-time paycheck at the end of the month. I won't be able to save anything in September, but at least all of my bills will be paid.

I'm so eager to move forward financially. This past year has been almost a step backwards financially. The money that I was making was going towards my tuition or towards braces for my kids. Not a whole lot of money was left over to advance the numbers, but it was used for important things nonetheless.

On a positive note, I started attending the 5:15 AM workout classes at my gym, 5 days a week. I don't know how I actually started doing this. I've been telling myself to wake up early to work out for years. Never done it. Yet this summer, I just started doing it. I think I just wanted to DO IT. To see what it was like to ACTUALLY FOLLOW THROUGH with something! I just sort of "turned off" the whiny voice in my head that wanted me to go back to bed. I knew it was there, I just, ignored it. And nothing bad happened. I get up, get dressed, make coffee, and go to my class. Boom, it's done. Here I am, 2.5 months later, still getting up and doing my classes. Go figure!

I've been missing from SA for wow, nearly a year. A circus was running through my life and I couldn't bear to put it all in words, it was too exhausting. But I've been reminded of the importance of journaling as a way to clear your mind, organize your thoughts, and reduce stress. Not to mention that it helps me manage my financial plans more effectively.

If you remember, last year I took an teaching assistant position because I came back to the school district after the year had started. This resulted in a big pay decrease for me, but I'm back teaching this year. I return in a few weeks. I'm super excited to be teaching again, I love my current school and students!

I have to get through September with no pay, as our school district only pays once per month. I started using YNAB a few months ago, so I have developed a budget with my remaining funds to get me through until my first paycheck again. Now the trick will be not to go over this budget! I really want to make it through this last sparse month successfully, so I need to make good choices with my money.

DW planned a surprise anniversary trip for us so I may not be on very much next week. But I look forward to catching up on everyone's blogs!

I have missed reading about everyone! I have been busy with my coursework (week 12 of 16!) and work. I haven't tallied up my supervised hours lately, but I'm still working towards that goal. Next semester the hours will really start to accumulate.

My money has been pretty middle of the road. Since I'm making less this year due to the job change most of my income will go towards tuition. So I am saving monthly but it will go to the university when I get the tuition bill.

Besides that, I've enjoyed a few weekend trips with the family this fall, and now it's on to holiday preparations.

I will get back to more consistent blogging when things settle a bit, miss you all!

Yesterday was my first day back to full-time hours along with the part-time hours. It's a little misleading to say that, as my full-time job is actually only 35 hours a week and the part-time job is just 10 hours a week. It still makes a busy day for me, but it's doable for this program. Plus I still get my weekends off.

I've talked the kids into selling the items of higher value through Craigslist instead of a yard sale. I admit we have enough on our plate right now and don't need to add another activity.

We all have off on Monday so we plan on grilling and may invite some friends over for that. I guess that all depends on the weather.

I already purchased DW's Christmas present. It is a maple coin rack with her branch of service and name engraved on it. I pick it up sometime this week, then I just have to keep it hidden.

I have some Christmas ideas for the kids that are brewing in my head...

Next Saturday our family will be having a yard sale, the kids are very excited. We usually just donate our unwanted items, but the kids enjoy earning money and were excited about the idea of a yard sale.

We have been setting aside items we don't want all summer. This weekend we will go through the attic and decide what will stay and what will go. We don't have tons of stuff, we are very good about decluttering throughout the year, but we will give it a go anyway. I will schedule a donation pick up for that afternoon to take away any thing that was not sold. This will free up quite a bit of room in the basement, where we are storing all of the goods right now.

As for this weekend, a few easy errands this afternoon, and date night that we are both really looking forward to! Tomorrow is an October Fest with the family. It is free entrance but of course you have to pay for food and rides. I don't do rides but I do enjoy the German food! These purchases will come out of my cash allowance.

Since I will be starting full-time practicum hours soon I need to tweak my savings goals and decide how to divide the full-time paycheck. My part-time paycheck is already taken care of. It will only be about 6 hours or so a week, so I figured all of it could go to savings. It is set up to be directly deposited into my online savings account.

The household bills, groceries and gas are currently being covered through our joint account. Kid expenses are also covered through this account, plus child support.

Additional expenses that will be coming out of my full-time paycheck:

-I will start before school care again for my youngest, that will be $300 a month.
-Tuition expenses will be approximately $12,000 this year (spring and summer). I'd also want to set aside the money for my final fall and spring semesters, that will be an additional $8,000 to save this school year. so that's a total of $20,000. I am waiting to see what financial aid I qualify for, but for now I am assuming that I will cash flow this.
-I plan on contributing to one of my employer-sponsored retirement plans such as a 457(b).

So there probably won't be a whole lot left over from the paycheck once I take care of these expenses. But it will pay for my education, which will get me a much higher paying job, and allow me to earn the mandatory supervision hours, and keep me contributing to retirement. And a little bit left over for some fun for the family!

I will be starting full time hours next week at my former school, and in the spring semester these hours will count as practicum hours. My evening part time job already counts towards required hours. I'll just be able to reach required hours twice as fast come January. This is my ultimate goal, to earn this certification before I turn 40. All of my career decisions at this point are based on whether it works for my family and whether it supports my ultimate goal of earning certification.

(When I actually get the certification I will tell you all more about it, I just don't want to jinx myself!)


I'm in a comfortable pattern of child caring, exercise, homework, house care, part-time work, child time, sleep.

Starting next week it will be child caring, full-time work, part-time work or exercise, child time, homework, sleep. Weekends will be family time, exercise, homework, sleep.

So this year will be very busy, I must keep my priorities at the front of my mind to keep motivated. I am fortunate that I will be getting paid from both of my positions. I won't be paid as much as I was making last year, but considering it will all go towards certification, I am more than willing to have a little pay cut for 9 months.

DW prefers to do the cooking so that takes a huge burden off of my shoulders, it's incredible how much work revolves around feeding the family! If we didn't have to eat, wow, we would have so much free time!

Ever since I completed my master's degree I've paid for additional courses out of pocket. Now that I'm getting into this certificate program full time, though, it will be pretty tough to swing tuition just out of savings and cash flow. I completed the FAFSA this evening online, it was way less painful than I expected! I also contacted the military education office at my university and asked to set up an appointment to find out about financial aid options for military spouses. All in all, a productive evening online. One more thing to check off my list that I was procrastinating on!

Yesterday I did a few hours of shadowing as I got to know the practices that my new job follows. 3 hours of supervision complete, 1497 to go!

I learned so much in those 3 hours. It was really cool to see the techniques that I have been reading and learning about put into practice.

Belt tightening is in effect. Our bills are covered, but I won't be able to contribute to savings until I start to bring in paychecks. Discretionary spending will also have to be closely watched since there is less room in the budget for the unexpected.

It's ok, though, because a year from now we will be in a much better place financially because of sacrifices today.

Since I am not working full time this year I am going to volunteer more with my children's schools. I am heading the used book swap events at one school, and I will be secretary of my other child's chorus booster club. I don't want a position involving lots of "limelight", I'm quite the introvert. I realize that both of these positions will require making connections with people, and that part is ok. Its good for me to step out of my comfort zone and do hard things, but I still want to stay true to my strengths and preferences.

Today I start my supervision hours, I will be meeting with 2 clients. I'm eager to get started!

The interview went well on Friday and I was offered the position! I am to start as soon as my background check is complete, should be next week some time. 1500 experience hours to get started on! I'm excited about it because most of the clients will be on the nearby military base, an easy commute.

We took the girls to see the movie If I Stay. The girls had already read the book and wanted to see if they could spot the discrepancies in the movie. I cried during the movie. I knew I would, though, I cried my eyes out when I read Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook, lol.

I also worked out this morning and I'm already sore. Usually I'm not sore until the next morning!

I've been ready for sleep since like 6pm. I thought it was because I worked out, or because we were running errands in the heat. But then I remembered that I only had one cup of caffeinated coffee today. My doctor told me to keep reducing my consumption from 3 cups to 1 cup, sigh. Thankfully I don't have any headaches, though.

This afternoon I have a meeting with a potential supervisor for my credentialing program. She is qualified to provide supervision hours for my program. If I earn my hours through her or another approved supervisor, outside of the university, I save myself the expense of 15 credit hours. On the other hand, if I choose to go that route then I am responsible for tracking all of my supervision hours correctly and will have to go through the credentialing board requirements on my own.

Things are settling down on the home front. It feels so good to be home again! I'm coming to terms with the fact that this is a rental. We have made it into a beautiful home that we all enjoy.

These last few months have been extremely tumultuous in my world. Blogging under another name I had last mentioned that DW and I were going to be in separate households and commute on weekends to see each other. At the last minute (literally, just days before the kids returned to school, which would be the cut off time for any moves), we made the decision to remain under the same roof. We are a family, a blended family, but still a family. We need to prioritize that relationship over all else.

Financially we will take a short-term hit. I do not have a job lined up here, but that is only for this semester. I have been taking courses for my post-graduate certificate and need 1500 supervised hours. It would take me several years to gain these hours in part-time work. Now that I am not working I can do these hours full time in a practicum in the Spring. When I successfully meet the requirements of the certification board and pass the test I can easily double my salary. So it is worth the sacrifice.

The kids are back in school and seem to be blending back into their home after a summer away with dad. I will miss the summer but I am welcoming the new start for all of us.