Bitterly cold temperatures and gusting winds have significantly hindered my running schedule. Ok, so I'd much rather be in bed than outside running at 6AM. I've switched to doing some pilates DVDs at night instead....but I miss the running.

Anyway, that means no contributions to the $20 through running, but I recently sold two CDs on half.com so I'll add that to the challenge:

Previous total = $74.70
CD sales = $13.62
New total = $88.32

This must be called the challenge because it's hard enough for me to remember. Geez, last update was two weeks ago. I can't remember that far back so I'll recap just lats week:
Sun-8 miler = +.72
M,T,W and F, 6 miles/day = +2.16
Sat and Sun, 8 miles/day = +1.44
Reached water goal each day! = +9.73
Subtotal = $14.05
Grand total = $74.70

Old total: $56.70

Saturday: Laundry, did pilates with mom (seemed more stretching than the physicalness I'm used to from running- but my tummy hurt!), drank tons of water including at the restaurant, so I'll kick in $1.39

Sunday: Ran/walked 6 miles. +.54
Monday: 2 mile walk. +.18 and drank three thermoses of water! (I was being a desk jockey) +1.39
Tuesday: 5 mile run. +.45

New total: $60.65

Saturday's temperature reached 69 degrees! Sunny but very windy.
Sunday was mid-50's with plenty of lovely sunshine, no wind. Couldn't resist and went out for a run. Glad to see many other people taking advantage of the great weather, too.
If this is Winter, bring it on!

Miles run = 6.5
$$$ added to the challenge = 0.585, heck round up to 0.59 since I walked/did lots of errands Saturday
New total = $56.70

Nothing in life is free, eh? I was pulled into an emergency meeting that lasted the entire morning, then had to do a teleconference with the FDA, who then wanted a resubmission with additional info. Oh they wanted it this afternoon. Yay, deadlines. Though yes, my boss was kind enough to order some Wegmans sandwich platters. I guess that nets me the $5 I would've otherwise spent grabbing a meal at Subway.

Also ran today. Another 5 miler since my knees are killing from the fall I took. 45 more cents to add to the challenge.

Previous total: $50.66
New total: $56.11

Tonight, I made a stop at Target to buy some new sweatpants since I found a large hole in my old ones (actually I'd tripped and fallen but that's another tale of klutziness for later). Grabbed a pair on sale for $17, went to purchase and the durn things rang up at $29.99. Whoops, I'd already run the credit card through. So I got sent to the Happy Returns line.

They should call it the Anything BUT Happy Line. There were only two cashiers facing a phalanx of customers. I overheard one ask the other, "Did you call for backup?" and the reply was, "You think someone's gonna come help us???" True, I think working the returns registers, especially the week after Christmas, is one of the least desirable places to be on Earth.

But to be honest, the line moved slowly, but people were patient and seemed to be getting their returns. I noticed everyone was clutching a receipt in their hot little hands- VERY important, as we shall see. Now, the lady in front of me was exchanging a purse, did NOT have a receipt, not even a gift receipt. From what I overheard, they tried to process her return using her drivers license. Uh uh. Nope. The lady turned red. The cashier asked if the license had expired. The lady turned a darker shade of red as she showed them it was still valid. The cashier then asked if she'd made other returns using her license. Yup, turns out she'd made two prior returns (at Target, I think).

Warning bell! Target has some sort of policy against allowing people to make returns without a receipt, something like only two returns per year. Sort of a big slam in the face for not keeping your receipts. The policy sounded a bit harsh to me, but who knows, stores need to protect themselves against shoplifters. But boy oh boy, would I hate to be in that poor lady's shoes right now. She was upset, but she also made a rather funny comment about her addiction to buying ugly purses.

Moral of story: Treat your receipts like Gold and hold on to them.

****
$20 challenge update: Ran 5 miles (tripped and fell, resulting in hole in sweatpants and truncated run) in the morning and walked 2 miles during lunch. So 7 x .09 = .63 added to the pot. I did drink three thermosfuls of water but bought a soda at Target, so that doesn't count.
Total: $50.66

Found some pennies in the parking lot to add to the challenge; hey, every cent counts!

Current total: $50.03

Some more "rules" for my challenge:
- My car averages about 25mpg. The last price I paid for gas was $2.25/gallon, so that means for every mile I run or walk, I've saved 9 cents of gas consumption! That'll go into the pot.

- One of my vices is buying a soda at work instead drinking (free) water. I have started bringing my thermos to work and drinking hot tea at my desk, so I'll kick in $1.39 (the price of one soda bottle) for every work day I drink at least two thermos-full servings of water.

This challenge is addicting! Glad to see so many people getting on board!

First day of a new year, first day entering the $20 challenge! This is a good way to keep track of miscellaneous out-of-pocket spending, while keeping in mind the Big Picture Goal which is my 2007 New House Fund. Yes, this is sort of like comparing a guppy to a whale, but a lot of little things can add up to something substantial.

My first entry into the challenge is $50, which is the portion of the money my relatives gave me for Christmas that I haven't yet allocated into savings. Ironically, yesterday I went shopping with my aunt and cousin and we went into Sephora aka cosmetics heaven. My cousin went on a crazy spending spree there, and I was sorely tempted to pick up a random eyeshadow or mascara here or there. But I have several unopened tubes acquired as freebies (never hurts to ask the ladies at the cosmetic counters for freebies) as well as too much makeup sitting around on top of my dresser (thanks to previous duty free spending sprees). So I held off the makeup bug and contented myself with playing and sampling instead of buying.

I think once the banks reopen, I'll deposit that money and save it for some other day. Here's to the New Year and New Savings!