Challenge updates and parents' absence

With my parents gone, nothing gets done at their house. That includes groceries, cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding the dog, etc. Sadly, I am the type that will get them done for them, so I was traveling back and forth mid last week to go to my parents' house and clean and cook and play Cinderella man. I've also been rather upset at how things are going down on that home-front and my parents in general, but I won't bore you with that.

This weekend I had to work on Friday on my part time job (left right after my full time job), then crashed at my parents' house and did more cleaning and cooking in the morning, then went shopping. For myself. Yay! I have a new pair of jeans. I was proud of myself. I was looking for a very specific jacket which one of my younger brothers had 'borrowed' from me yet never returned, and I also found that after only 2.5 hours of searching. I don't get why/how people can like shopping. It was driving me nuts!

I don't have the exact numbers right now, but this weekend was expensive, while still within budget. I did buy food (twice) for my parents' house, but I am taking that out of the money I was supposed to pay to them anyway (I pay an additional $100/mo to help with the phone bills or whatever else needs to be paid). So it won't throw my February budget out of balance.

I had a chance to weigh myself, and for the Erika's 10lb challenge, I've lost 3~4lbs, and we're halfway through the challenge! It's ok, I always start slow. Like, very very slow. But I must kick it into high gear if I want to still be part of the -10lb club. I will be doing a bit more walking, which I did some last week, but not enough because I was mostly traveling or doing chores. I do feel clothes fitting a lot nicely, so that's always a plus.

Last, for Carla's low-spend February, I'm still right on track and need to get my numbers together tonight. For the de-cluttering challenge, I did clean on Thursday if I remember correctly, but I didn't take any photos. Have to do that tonight. I actually know where my things are again! Hurray!

I'll be catching up to everyone's posts soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

PS: And to the few of you that have today off or next Monday or both, I'm jealous! I want a Monday off!
PPS: And to those of us that get paid on a bi-weekly basis, if you get paid this week, then March is a 3-paycheck month. Hurray!