Money? What money?

 Some folks have been blogging about how they spent their money this summer, as if summer were coming to an end or something. (Insert sound of sobbing here)  I thought this would be a good first step for me to start disclosing to you and admitting to myself that I went through a truckload of money this summer - luckily it was only a Toyota truck.


So first off we bought a BBQ. We scored big time on the BBQ - $78 at Walmart AND it has a side burner. This is how we cooked all summer, not yet having a stove. 

I bought a few clothes, mostly second hand or marked down by 50% (do you know they have end of season clothing on sale in mid-August? I love it!) However, I paid full price for this little number that I told myself I needed for a tiki-themed party I attended. Cute n'est pas? ($30)

 I thought we did pretty good on our furniture shopping - I bought this adorable rocking chair for $25...  (oh and those sneakers for $80, on sale from $149)

 and this table for our upstairs bathroom - fit perfectly! ($60)

 Not really having any furniture got to be a bore by the second week. We either had to stand up or go lay on the air mattress. So we bought some outdoor furniture from the Super Store that was on sale. Once we build our deck we'll be all set for furniture.

The faux wicker set (2 chairs, loveseat, cushions, table and umbrella) $199

 The dining room furniture - table, 4 chairs and umbrella - $99.

We bought the futon at Walmart for $128; it'll be fine for one of the spare bedrooms once we purchase REAL bedroom furniture. The side tables came from used furniture stores. $15

 Food, food and more food. You're just lucky I don't have any photos of me eating one of about 50 icecream cones!! We ate out a lot...too much, in fact. Due to the...ahem...rainy weather we found ourselves heading to the pub on a frequent basis - the food (and beer) was just so good!  $???

We became regulars on wing night Thursdays, and open mike Mondays, and Tammy & Jay Roy Wednesday nights and...you get the drift!

 We did get some exercise - dancing to the tunes played by Joey Doucette:), of course that would just make us thirsty again!

 Woops, didn't realize I was hanging out in the background of this shot - this is Steve, Kelly and Ellen - Steve is the owner of the Albert and Crown, our local. And we all became very good friends.

 Another major expense, one I haven't added up yet, of course was gas. We travelled all over the island and I don't regret one cent of that money. $??

 Here we are at a picnic in Canoe Cove - what a great spot! But we did bring our own lunch so brought down the expense somewhat. Just had to pay for gas.

 We attended just about every live music event at the Albert and Crown (paying a cover charge each time) and especially enjoyed the folk music of Laura Smith. $?

 We spent some money on gardening tools, an axe, a machete and lots more. I'm really not missing a tooth in this photo. Really. $??

 Here I am dealing with the wood from the maple tree I cut down - do you like my new wheel barrow? About $60.

 We each bought a bike. I bought mine at Walmart - just under $100. Michael bought his from a fellow who fixes up used bikes and sells them - he paid $50.

 $7 to pay for four magazines that had stories in them written by my mother - priceless!! Found them in a second-hand furniture store!

 $10 for our Welcome sign. Not a good deal - it's like a piece of wallpaper stuck to a piece of tin and within a couple of days the paper was coming loose. A job for my Gorilla glue!

 $5 for my cut glass hummingbird feeder - it works!! Hours of enjoyment, money well spent!

 Alcohol. Way too much $$. This is something called Sourpuss (sour raspberry I think) mixed with 7UP - oh my it's so good but it goes down like koolaid - too fast!

 Gahan's beer! A microbrewery on the island - good stuff!

Had a really yummy dinner here. $40

Our light cover for our outdoor light - so happy to find one - $6.

 Here it is in place, all painted up.

 This band was terrific - called Ol' Savannah - they were playing on the street in Charlottetown one night. $2

 Just in case you needed to see the light from the other side....

 Oh here I am getting icecream...they have a flavour called Toffee Almond Chill that we don't have here in Ontario. LOVE IT!!

 Yes, I bought a bat house, should have bought two! Lots of mosquitoes this summer! $15

Our clothesline:)

And of course we had to pay $43.25 to leave the island. I don't much care for that cost but have you seen the Confederation Bridge?? Holy cow - we'll be paying for it forever!


There were many more costs I haven't tallied (and probably won't - I'm thinking I'll just start fresh in September!) Groceries, dishes, gas for the lawnmower (lawnmower was free from a friend), oh yes and we paid $625 to have electric baseboard heaters put in and $120 for new kitchen faucets. 


I used $1000 from the sale of my trailer towards the summer's costs, we had some money saved up ($380) and we made $180 at a yardsale before we left. The rest came from NOT saving as much as I usually do. I sort of suspended my automatic savings deposits for two months to give us more cash flow. Oh yeah, and we had to have a repair done to the car, around $220.


So I feel like I've been bleeding money all summer long but have September's frugal budget in place. More on that in another post, this one is already way too long. 


There's just so much to tell y'all!!