Do you even know where your paycheck goes? Sometimes I am at a loss where my paycheck went or if it even came at all! Did I even get paid? ‘Cause some days, it sure doesn’t feel like it. My wallet is still empty!

If you have that feeling a little to often, then it’s time to take a closer look at your finances.

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when we evaluate all the things that we spend money on. It’s almost time to file taxes, folks! If you have children in college, it’s also that time of year again when they renew their FAFSA applications and if you’re like me, you’ll probably have to renew yours too. It’s not only time to file your income taxes, the deadline for paying your property taxes has also just passed. For some employers, it is also the time to wrap up your medical spending accounts and re-budget for the next year.

Money is what’s on my plate this week so I found it interesting to stumble across this infographic this morning which shows how the average consumer spends their paycheck.

It comes pretty close to reflecting my actual spending habit. Some things like our housing, insurance and transportation expenses are pretty static and there’s not much else you can do about it. But the rest of the expenses like food, entertainment and ‘everything else’, we can do something about. And I am still determined to even be more frugal this year. We waste a lot of stuff!

How about you, does this infographic reflect your spending habits?

whoa! RT @jmom: Watching the Staircase (Peterson trial documentary) on Sundance channel and husband’s art work is in the background!

— Sundance Channel (@SundanceChannel) January 29, 2013

 
It’s true! I was watching the documentary last night while the hubby was snoring as always. Then all of a sudden, I saw one of his prints on the wall of the Peterson house!

I had to wake him up to show him. lol! Thank goodness for the DVR, I was able to rewind it for him. I should have taken a screen shot. It’s a print of his Durham’s 5 Points drawing that the Peterson’s bought at an auction a few years ago. I remember meeting them at that event. Who knew years later he would be accused and convicted of killing her?

My girls never liked to eat school cafeteria food so they always brought their own lunch from home. When they were in elementary school, I would pack their lunches for them but by the time they reached middle school and high school, it became their job to pack their own lunches.

Today though, the tables were turned on me when my youngest daughter packed a lunch for me. I had never been so thrilled to bring a packed lunch to work!

First off, she packed it in her own lunch bag. I don’t think she realized though how strange it would be for me to carry this into a medical related facility. LOL!

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Durham finally got its first snow fall of the season last Thursday night. It didn’t come as early as in previous years when we got snow in early December then on Christmas day. Nonetheless, it was exciting for us who don’t normally get snow. I was also hoping enough snow would fall so that we’d have a snow day on Friday.

Of course, it didn’t happen. No snow day for me. Snow did fall, and it was a joy to see. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough to stick on the pavements and only caused a two hour delay to the start of our day.

Just a few days before the predicted day, we had sunny, 70 degree days. It almost felt springlike and my husband swears some of the daffodils out back started to sprout already.

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