May is Toast!

There are more than just a few of us who are glad to see May quietly disappear.  Just a few days into  May I was already overspending. And what with my birthday and a weekend away, new car license sticker, renewal of passport, new fireburner, new fridge and stove for PEI, new fans for the early summer heat, some new clothing and shoes...well, let's just say it's time to pay the piper and pull the belt a wee bit lot tighter for the month of June.

Thankfully it was payday today so I took $1300 and paid off most of the fridge and stove which was sitting on my President's Choice Mastercard. Don't worry, it's only been sitting there for a few days. I've had the card for several years and have yet to pay a penny in interest charges. However, the cash back has provided me with several hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and groceries. It's a great little system as long as I keep good track of purchases and pay them off quickly. I usually check my credit card purchases daily online and pay them off then and there.

June SHOULD be a fairly frugal month except for one occasion and that's my daughter's graduation from university on the 19th. I'll be taking her out for lunch after with her boyfriend and family members but I don't know what to get her for a gift! Her boyfriend bought her a big gold watch.

It seems that girls wearing huge men's gold watches is all the rage right now. Ok, so now, how do I compete with that?  I'm on a fairly tight budget this month and I didn't plan for this purchase, yes, all my own fault. My daughter is hard to buy for, she only likes certain things and being her mom I don't know what those "certain things" are, because I'm like, NOT COOL!

For example - she is looking for a dress to wear UNDER HER ROBES during graduation and to lunch after. She has shopped, so she says, in every store in London and there is NOTHING suitable. Nothing. In the entire city. There is not a single store in London that sells the certain type of dress that she wants. So I'm a bit stymied. Obviously I can't go out and buy her a dress. Just the fact that her MOM picked it out would mean she wouldn't like it even if she DID like it. You see how hard this is?

So I've asked her to think about what she might like as a gift. I'd love to give her a weekend away somewhere like we used to do BEFORE boyfriend. She thought that might be nice but WHEN??
Hopefully it will all work itself out, it usually does but not without the requisite amount of sighing and angst!

Are you as glad that May is over as I am?