Move over November - December is Coming Through!

I've decided to call it a month as there is nothing left to come off my chequing account.... good thing considering it's empty! Now I just need to make it to payday on Wednesday with the $10 I have in my wallet. No stops for coffee in the morning until Friday. Only going to Timmy's on Fridays instead of Monday through Friday saves me in the neighbourhood of $1.80 x 4 = $7.20 per week or $375.00 per year and that's nothing to sneeze at! Of course that's assuming I could last a year which in all honesty I couldn't so the point is moot.

Really, I have nothing to complain about - the money went as planned which is to say it's gone!


Happily (or unhappily, depending on your point of view) most of my $$ went to the payment of debt. I'm happy about being able to make large debt repayments but if I didn't have that debt to begin with think how much $$ I'd have saved by now, so you see....(ok, just spent the last 20 minutes talking to Kazi about people who claim unemployment benefits but who have no interest in working, her cold, what the difference is between the 2 kinds of onions in the pantry (well 1 was potatoes not onions so that is the difference), her boyfriend's cousin who is staying with his family now after spending a night or two in jail after a fistfight with her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend I'm assuming but you never know) and now I have no idea where I was going with my thoughts above.....so sorry folks!) 


No doubt I was going to say something profoundly life-altering but now we'll never know!


That's it for me tonight folks as I'm  headed downstairs to cycle another 15km on my journey to Brighton. I hope y'all had a great Monday!

Marching into April (yuck yuck!)

It's funny how when you look at the chart as a whole you notice the errors. Like I had a category that was called "Shoppers Drug Mart Sympathy Card" as if I'm buying those in bulk or something! So shifted that to my favourite of all categories - "Misc"!

But then I noticed another troubling trend - I can't seem to make up my mind if coffee (Starbucks, Timmy's, Red Roaster - yup, I like my coffee) is "Misc" or "Entertainment"!  Sometimes I put it under entertainment and sometimes I put it under Misc. Perhaps it's because sometimes I am just picking it up and leaving to go somewhere else, like work, and other times I'm actually staying, sitting at a table and chatting with Michael or a friend which could be classified as "Entertainment". That sounds sort of reasonable doesn't it?  

However, the truth of the matter is that I'm just inconsistent and forget from one day to the next where I should put it. 

Actually, I'm also afraid that if I put them all under "Misc" then there's next to nothing listed under "Entertainment" which makes it look as if I don't have a life and that's simply not true!

Why....just this evening Michael and I are planning an amazing night of entertainment!!! Yes indeedy!  As soon as I finish this post I am going to borrow a few movies - yes, I'm at the library so I can borrow them for FREE and then we are going to go home for a lovely home-cooked meal and we will have POPCORN while we watch the movie reclining in our most comfortable bed which means I'll fall asleep about half-way through it, gently snoring while Michael watches the ending of the movie very carefully so he can tell me tomorrow what I missed!!

it doesn't get any more entertaining than that!!

January Month End - Money, Money, Money

 I was going to wait until Monday to wrap up January but I went online to look at my bank account today and lo and behold my Jan. 31st paycheque was already deposited so thankyou schoolboard. I also was happy that I was within a few cents of correctly guessing how much it would be. I hope that I've also guessed Feb. 15th's pay correctly too.  We'll see....

I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay



Ain’t it sad


And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me


That’s too bad


In my dreams I have a plan


If I got me a wealthy man


I wouldn’t have to work at all, I’d fool around and have a _________
 
Title, Artist and fill in the blank!??!  Ahhhhh, it's too EASY!!
 
I'm tired of January but here's one last look at the numbers.  I love that debt and savings are the two biggest parts of my budget by FAR! I was fortunate to be able to pay an extra $148.30 out of misc. spending on my line of credit this month for a total of $1348.30! I am going to beat that LOC into submission!!
 
The other bonus was upping my EF to $1300. I'm going to set a new goal for that one I think. $3,000 instead of $2,000. We'll see, first things first, I need to do my taxes, think about topping up my TFSA instead of my RSP this year, as I'm not looking forward to paying the whopping withdrawal taxes on my RSP $$ once I retire. TFSA makes more sense. I was at my max but took out $5000 last year when I made my PEI house purchase. What I didn't know until recently is that I can put  that $5000 back into my TFSA in the following tax year:) Yippee!!
 
Oops, noticed a mistake in my chart. I meant to divide my insurance payment between Housing and Transportation but I forgot. I pay $205 a month for home and car insurance - isn't that a horrible amount?? Most of it is for the car - having my daughter on as an occasional driver raised it by $50 per month! (And yes, I pay for it:)
 
I'm looking forward to February's challenge - a NO Spend month. I am so ready for this! I've allotted $400 for groceries, $150 for gas and have $185 for misc spending which totals $735. My goal is to squeeze at least $100 from that little budget and throw at my LOC again. I see a month of self-denial ahead (although I have a Starbucks card, a movie card, and a restaurant card, so I won't be too terribly deprived:)
 
Oh BTW - we did catch two movies yesterday - "The Rite" with Anthony Hopkins and "The King's Speech" and LOVED both of them! Colin Firth really should win an oscar for his role as King George VI - but being British I'm a little biased.
 
Happy Weekend everyone - look forward to seeing all of your month end summaries and a No Spend month!

Johnny Depp & the End of November

What do Johnny Depp and and the month of November have in common?

To find out the answer to this deeply mystifying question, if indeed you care at all, you will have to wait until the end of this post to find out!

Month End Report:  (I am feeling slightly intimidated by this heading!)

My first pay for December will be in my account as of midnight tonight so financially November is ovah! Yay! November will be remembered as the month of the accident - the month my baby girl realized that yes, driving can be dangerous, that other drivers don't always drive the way you think they should. A rude awakening indeed. She's doing well - she's in good spirits, busy with exams, essays and work and looking forward to about a 3 week break from school. Our trip to Toronto is all booked and this Saturday we are going on a Christmas Tree Adventure (a surprise organized by Michael)- for the first time we are going to chop down our own tree! Usually we put up a fake tree as we generally travel to see relatives but this year we are staying home so we will celebrate with a real tree just this once.

Oh yeah...the financials, got a little sidetracked there: I ended up making a profit on the replacement car and applied it to my line of credit which made me smile. I was overbudget by $16 on groceries but under budget on gasoline, hydro, natural gas and cell phone. I met my savings targets and exceeded my debt repayment target so all in all there is light at the end of Dark November.

For December: I reduced my savings goals for December thereby increasing my misc. spending from $288 to $750 - hopefully that will be enough to see me through a busy month of entertaining and being entertained. I am really hopeful that I won't spend all $750 but better to be prepared as I am rapidly finding out! 

OK - if you hung out with til now in hopes of finding out what Johnny Depp and November have in common here it is - the answer - the culmination of an amazing post - here goes - wait for it - NOTHING!! Absolutely nothing, except that Johnny certainly brightens up an otherwise dark and gloomy month...much better than looking at say... this calendar instead..

Boring, right??
Yes, thank you - I knew you'd agree:) And therefore I have a reward for you:
On December 10th "The Tourist" starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie opens "in theatres everywhere" and here is a trailer just for you:

P.S. A couple of months ago I tried to downloand a free songlist courtesy of the National Post. It didn't seem to work at the time but when I was re-syncing my iPod a few minutes ago there it was - 13 free songs! So now I'm listening to my NEW FREE music and enjoying it immensely!

What is your latest freebie??