Today I filled up at BJ's for $3.76/gallon. It's been 9 days and 280.5 miles since the last time I filled my tank. I have been very conscientious of my driving habits and it has been paying off. I hit a new record for fuel economy with today's fill-up...*drum roll please*...

36.5 miles per gallon !!!

This is driving in mostly rural/suburban areas with a car whose EPA estimates are 27 city, 33 highway and 29 combined (08 Honda Fit Sport Automatic). I am very happy with these numbers and will, of course, strive to improve.

I love being picked to try out new products, and while I can't give away any specifics since I crossed my heart and promised Pinecone I would never divulge the information, I can say that I really enjoyed this product and hope to see it in stores soon...with a few of my recommended tweaks of course!

$5 Pinecone check to the Goal CC -
New Balance: $7,765.73

http://www.projecthavehope.org

Please check out this website. It is a non-profit started by a woman from my hometown and it is simply awe inspiring.

She is helping women in Uganda to sell their handmade jewelry with the profits going to
- send their children to school
- send themselves to vocational training
- start new businesses to sustain themselves

Wow. Many of us have great intentions and good thoughts but never actually DO something to help. I am one of these people, and I am truly inspired by this project.

The beaded necklaces & bracelets are beautiful and will make wonderful gifts. We have a Bat Mitzvah to attend in a few weeks and I think this would make a great gift. I think I will buy a few and attach a notecard explaining where they came from.

I just had to post this picture of our new 14 foot canoe on top of my little tiny Honda Fit!

We received $900 just as expected. We've decided to use ours to actually stimulate the economy in our own little way.

We are using about half to buy a canoe so that we can go fishing and camping this summer as a family. The other half will be used to purchase clothing for myself and my husband as neither of us have bought any new clothing in at least 3 years, and unfortunately we have both "expanded" in that time. I am hoping to have $50-$100 left over, but anything left over will go toward the goal CC.

I got paid today, so $2.93 goes to the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,767.79

Received $20 from MySurvey and $5 from Pinecone Research this week so I am putting an extra $25 toward the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,770.72

Also, bad news: I paid $3.39/gal for gasoline at BJ's (cheapest place around)- up from $2.99 a month ago!

Good news: I got 36.1 miles to the gallon on my last tank of gas.

I have totally been avoiding my blog. I have not had anything big to post, and I know I should be posting the little things because that is what keeps me moving in the right direction but...inertia.

I have also been slacking on putting my purchases into YNAB. It is okay because I buy nearly everything with my debit card or check so I can always go back and compare my bank accounts to the YNAB and catch up. Still I should try harder to make sure I am current on how much I have available in each category so that when I am out shopping I know when I need to stop. It has not been an issue so far because I am not a shopper, but I need to keep up with it so that it does not become a problem in the future.

Anyway, not much to post but I am trying. So, toward the goal credit card:

Last paycheck dollars & cents- $8.56
ING interest earned in April- $15.12
Not sure where it came from but it is showing up in my YNAB software toward the goal- $4.96
Total extra toward goal CC: $28.64
plus regular monthly payment of $175=>
$203.64

New Goal CC Balance: $7,795.72