I'm making good progress towards my savings goals. I am really proud of the amount of self-discipline that I have developed. Yesterday was a very challenging, but ulitmately victorious day at work, so to celebrate, I stopped at the local coffee shop and had a soy chai latte. I had stopped getting lattes in the morning and started adding that money to my savings. It had been so long since I had one, the chai was absolutely delicious.

I am also making great progress in saving on my groceries, but the rising gas prices seem to be cancelling those savings out.

If things go according to plan, I will reach my savings goal for the house by mid-June. I also want to get my emergency fund back to where it was before I was unemployed last year.

So, I feel really good about my savings. I get such a thrill when I see the balance rising.

It's been a good week. I did eat out twice, but I decided that it was OK. They were lunches with friends, and I would have had to decline spending time with them if I chose to eat my lunch alone at my desk. I feel really good about my growing ability to curb miscellaneous spending.

A few months ago I opened a disability insurance policy. As a single parent it's important to me to protect my income. This coverage also pays you when you make routine visits to the doctor's office, so I just received a check for my last office visit. The co-pay was $20. and the check was $15., so that's like a $5. office visit. That money goes straight into the savings account.

On the moonlighting Freelance writing front I found a new writing gig, sold an article and got a new resume client. So things are slowly moving along. A friend wants me to help him to find an agent for his book on foreign policy, and I'll be helping him to polish that manuscript up in preparation for shopping it around.

Tomorrow I will attend a housing fair put on by the city's housing department. They have finance workshops and other educational opportunities aimed at first-time home buyers. I'm just bursting with excitement about moving closer and closer to my goals.

I got my $300 state refund the other day, but that will go to pay off a bill and the remaining $48. will go into savings. I have been limiting my lunches out at work to one day a week. Preparing my lunches at home and bringing them to work has also allowed me to stick to my diet more consistently.

All of this focus on saving money has caused me to realize how much I have been wasting. Reading the blogs here and following ya'll's progress is also inspiring.

When my federal refund arrives and the much fabled 'stimulus payment' arrives those will both go into my home savings account. Never have I been this excited about NOT spending money. Kinda strange. . .