I started my Christmas shopping today. Oops, I lied. Last week I bought Kazi's new bed and yes, it's still in its boxes. Tidier that way. I bought a gift for each of us today and I'm quite tickled about it - they may help me keep the heat down a degree or two over the winter! But I can't tell because a certain someone might read this and then there would be no surprise when gifts are unwrapped Christmas morning. And yes, I DO buy Christmas gifts for myself. I picked up that little tradition from my mother whose husband, my dear ol' dad, didn't usually select anything that tickled her fancy. Who knows better what you want than yourself? Yeah, you got it, first try! She would wrap them also and mark the tag "To Edith with love, Edith." She knew all about loving yourself first! My mother, she was way ahead of her time!
After 2 1/2 weeks of November, which is going by in a flash I might add, debt repayment is still King, or in my case, Queen. Oh no, I just realized that I haven't input my most recent debt payment or savings entries - I just got paid yesterday and made a bunch of transfers. Oh well, I'm not going to do it tonight. My bicycle awaits! And I just had 3 squares of chocolate because as Mark pointed out I need my energy when I'm cycling:) You're just the best pal a girl could have Mark!
I'm having a wee bit of trouble typing this. A crumb of something must have fallen under my "i" and "k" key so I'm having an annoying time having to tap those keys several times :( Lesson: don't eat dinner while catching up on blog post reading - your quinoa may end up in places it shouldn't!
I know a secret! Well, not really, but SOON I will! I am going to be a Secret Bloggy Santa, or a Bloggy Secret Santa or some such thing. It's so exciting - it's like getting a new member of the family and I didn't even have to suffer through nine months of extra bloggy fat! And at my age that would just be ridonculous! (My daughter's word)
Speaking of daughters, I bought Kazi's gift on Tuesday and we are sitting around waiting for the delivery truck to arrive. Any minute now....nope...still not here........how about now?..........nope....not yet...
This is Kazi's Christmas gift. Queen size Santiago bed frame from Jysk and a memory foam mattess. Both pieces were on sale - instead of spending $700 + tax I paid $500 + tax (plus delivery). It's a little big to wrap and besides she picked it out so lucky her she gets her gift 45 days early. Yup, only 45 days til Christmas!! Did that strike fear into your hearts? It did mine, even though I have nothing to fear - Christmas is becoming ridonculously easy this year. (Feel free to borrow this word for your own use.)
Michael and I are gonna buy a new TV - one o'them new-fangled gizmos that's only about an inch thick and has some kinda hard? high? heavy? definition...I forget zactly but it'll be great I just know it! Just so's we cin watch our borrowed libary movies from our bed. We're not getting any younger you know so either we move the bed closer to the TV or we get a bigger TV, one or t'other. I'm not quite sure what just happened there...
In other news...
Kim asked don't disasters happen in threes? Why yes, Kim, so they do! So, what was the third thing to happen yesterday besides dealing with impetigo (thanks Judy!) and a sewage-filled bathroom?... well there was one other thing and that was that one of our kids grabbed an EA's glasses that were sitting on a table and snapped them in half! That might not seem as disastrous as the other two DISASTERS but it was to the EA!!
today was MUCH better :)
Michael surprised me with a NEW pair of shoes from Fodemisi Shoes - they are clogs (remember clogs?), black, so comfy they're like a little piece of heaven for my feet:) He ALWAYS knows how to make a bad day better - thanks my WMH!!
I am going to buy TWO more pairs of Blundstone boots (I should never go into a shoe store after a bad day at school!!)
A pair of brown chisel toes:
AND a pair of "riggers" in crazy horse brown (hey, I didn't make that up!)
WOOT WOOT the bed is here! I sure hope Kazi is handy with a screwdriver har har har!
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!! (drum roll please...) TA DA!!
There is absolutely nothing interesting about the numbers thus far. I am on budget, a little under here and there: I budgeted $80 for Union Gas and it was only $45 and $60 for hydro and it was only $50. I have $8.63 left in the food budget til the 15th (shopped today so no problems) and $35 left in the gas budget but it's Kazi's turn to add gas so no problem there either. Her Christmas gift was paid for out of my Christmas fund so all around it's been a very boring month money-wise and isn't that a good thing??
How will I pay for my boots....well I don't have that quite figured out yet. Waiting for inspiration to strike...
Tomorrow I will update about my cycling adventure. There has been lots of interest and a few questions. I'm averaging around 15km per day which takes me about 45 minutes. I read my kindle or watch "Til Debt do us Part" to while away the time. My knees are feeling it so stocked up on ibuprofin today:)
Hey ho and away I go! Just a quickie before I go to work this morning. Just exhausted yesterday. One of our kids showed up with a note that he has impetago, not sure I spelled that correctly, Judy, help me out!
It is very contagious so I had to send him home, then we began the long process of sterilizing everything in the classroom. Well, you see, that wasn't bad enough so sewage started bubbling up through the drain in our washroom which then caused our classroom to reek and made our bathroom unusable which, when you're dealing with special needs students is a bit of a major pain in the royal you know what!! I am heading into school this morning with high hopes that the plumber who was called was able to fix the situation. And we will continue with the sterilization process which of course will also include scrubbing down the bathroom!
I'll be back later tonight with a cycling update and important info about that AND a Weekly Wrap as I'm a couple of days behind in updating financials for November.
Only one week left of October - that's CRAZY!! Where did the month go?? Well, I slept the last week away in a kind of daze, that's why I've been MIA for the last few days. (daze - days - I'm a poet!!) I have been feeling VERY TIRED, can't get rid of my cold, and work has been crazy-busy what with progress reports, IEPs, parent/teacher interviews, meetings......so for a few nights I was going to bed at 8 or 9pm.
"Ok - Exhibit A" (maybe I missed a career as a rapper!) The Good News: I did NOT go food shopping yesterday! And yes, it wasn't easy to stifle that habit but I did it! Even so I'm still very close to my $400 total monthly food budget due to overspending on Thanksgiving. Our fridge/freezer is definitely less packed but there is more than ample food to get us through to the end of the month. Sharon and Laura - how are you doing on this??
Other good news - DEBT and SAVINGS columns dominate my Spending Diary graph. Sometimes (ALWAYS) I feel guilty about my MISC purchases (read unnecessary purchases) but when I see the height of the MISC column compared to the DEBT and SAVINGS columns I can actually smile, laugh at my silly self (ha ha ha ha) and cast off those dang guilty feelings:)
The Bad News: I wish I could say there wasn't any bad news but there is a wee bit. I won't be able to make that extra deposit into my EF this month as planned because I had a few other expenses to cover and used that money up. You could say that's also Good News since I didn't have to take money out of savings to cover them. I had to buy a bulb for one of my headlights this week (well the car's headlights not MY headlight AND that's a whole other story!!) and I also took the car in for an oil change which always ends up costing way more than just the cost of the oil change - a brake light was not working, a filter needed changing etc. So the extra EF money was spent on the car instead and I am OK with that.
The extra expenses this month were more than balanced out by TWO GIFTS I received this week; one from Michael and one from Kazi.
This gorgeous leather jacket is a gift from Kazi. She works as a bartender for a popular club in London. Every couple of weeks unclaimed coats left in the coat check are given away to the Goodwill. This one she nabbed and brought home for me - it fits perfectly and goes really well with Michael's gift:
Michael gave me an early Christmas gift this week - my first pair of Blundstone boots! Now that he's working at Fodemisi's he gets a great discount making these unaffordable boots affordable!! They are the most comfortable boots I've ever worn and I never want to take them off - EVER!!
Aren't I lucky?? All I need now is a Harley!
Other Crap:
Sarah - I've fallen off the Scissors wagon but I do plan to get back on. It's just been one of THOSE weeks.
KAZI PASSED HER DRIVING TEST!! SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO TAKE ANOTHER DRIVING TEST TIL SHE'S 80 YEARS OLD!! WOOT WOOT!
After much taste testing Michael and I agree that the best chicken wings in London can be found HERE! However, just to be sure we'll need to try them again....and again....
the SMARTBOARD that I received for my classroom in September has finally been hooked up!! It's so much FUN!! My students will be using it for the first time tomorrow - I can hardly wait!! More about this in a future post!
Now here's a Weekly Wrap I can really sink my teeth into har har!
The past week has really been a No Spend week! I cut way back at the farmer's market buying only green beans and sweet new little potatoes. Total cost - $5.00. At the grocery store I bought: salad greens, tomatoes, baby cucumbers, bagels, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, nectarines, blueberries, raspberries and skim milk. I am proud to say I made a list and stuck to it - nothing extra found its way into my cart. In fact I didn't even USE a cart, just put things into my cloth bags as I shopped! Total cost $27.00 so amount spent on groceries this week - $32.00 instead of the usual $100.00 or more. Money saved will be applied to credit card.
This week I plan to skip the market altogether. We have all kinds of frozen veggies that Michael blanched from fresh and we need to use them up. We still have chicken, fish and steak in the freezer. I will need to buy more salad greens, bread and milk. That might be enough to get to next Friday's paycheque when a new grocery budget cycles in.
Personally I bought myself a coffee today at Timmy's as I was facing a long tedious day of professional development. It's tedious because usually the PD doesn't apply to me in my capacity of a teacher of students with developmental disabilities. However, it was a day of catching up with other teachers that I don't see very often and that was fun. Unless some emergency happens I should make it to payday with between $100 - $200 to apply to my credit card.
I have been on my fiscal fast for one week now and I can call it a rousing success, albeit a boring one (see yesterday's boring post called "Life is Dull as Dishwater":) Even Michael is holding my feet to the fire - today I texted him that there were some good movies on at the Rainbow Theatre (only $6.00!!!) and he reminded me I was on a "spending diet" as he so descriptively called it!! Why did I ever give him my blog URL I ask you!?!
Oh well, no one said living on loose change while saving every dollar to put towards debt and retirement savings would be a barrel of laughs! But if I don't have some FUNsoon someone is going to feel my wrath! AND the rainy weather isn't helping any. AND it's the weekend........mumble.......grumble......mumble...
I saved today's FREE newspaper to read tomorrow so I won't be tempted to buy one for $3.00. AND I am about halfway through a REALLY GREAT book called "Waiting to Exhale" by Terry McMillan so I have THAT to finish. AND I have about TEN FREE movies from the library still to watch....AND it's supposed to be in the low 20's this weekend with partial sunshine so hiking will be a GO on Sunday...HEY...things are looking up!!
Here's hoping YOU have a fantastic non-boring weekend!!
Some sort of Blogger problem occurred over the past couple of days which prevented me from posting and commenting, then I was at my trailer in Bayfield for a day with no internet so I'm feeling a bit discombobulated. I guess I'll start with the numbers and add any other interesting tidbits of news that I can think of:
Reducing my line of credit continues to be my #1 priority so I love seeing my debt-crushingly huge blue tower dominating my financial landscape. Poetic, no? Hey, I gotta do something to liven up the numbers.
Last summer I added $20,000 to my line of credit when I purchased my PEI home and by this Sept. I will have paid off that major expenditure leaving me with another $36,000 to pay off before retirement. At the pace that I am currently reducing my LOC it will be paid off at least a year (maybe two) before I retire! Keeping my fingers crossed here that no life-altering events occur like I get pregnant or something - hahahahahahah I kill myself sometimes!
Savings represents both long-term and short-term goals - $$ for retirement and $$ to pay for bills over the next year. Once my LOC is REPAID IN FULL I can really ramp up the savings by adding the blue tower to the green tower which will give me a greenish-blue tower I guess...
The gift savings account took a hit this month - it felt quite remarkable to transfer money out of my gift acc't and into my chequing account to cover a wedding gift and concert tickets for my daughter's birthday this coming September! I can barely believe I've PAID for Kazi's gift in MAY!! I am a changed woman - I am a financial PLANNER - hear me ROAR!!
The not-so-good news is that my hydro bill was up $10 from last month and I have no good explanation except that my daughter is finished her year at university and has taken up permanent residence on the couch watching TV with all the lights ON, her laptop open on the floor beside her in the ON position.
Yes, she does work - the latest news is that she passed her BARTENDER exam and somehow I'm supposed to be as overjoyed about this as she is...I did muster up a forced smile/grimace and gave her a hug/slap on the back/head. Do you know you have to get at least 95% on the Bartender's exam in order to mix up a bloody Caesar?? Yeah, yet to drive a car you only need a minimum of 80%... huh?? I guess it's more important to know how to mix an Orgasm than it is to know how much space to leave between your car and the car in front of you - does this seem odd to you?
Anyhoo, my daughter's a bartender. Not that there's anything wrong with that. She works all night and sleeps all day. But.. she knows her vodka from her gin!
When I start getting too sarcastic it's time to close down the computer. I guess I just wish she wasn't so captivated by the bar scene and all the drama that goes with it. Hopefully it's a phase.
I'll be back tomorrow with further life-changing and earth-shattering updates from the past few days. I know, I know, what a tease.
Until then, I leave you with a picture of my new BFF: . . . .....
Well there goes the first week of May. As weeks go I've had better and I've had worse. Actually, to be truthful and honest and all of that good stuff it was longer than a week, and I'm not just hallucinating.
May started in April for me, yeah, weird how that works huh? You see, I get paid on the last day of the month and if that day is on the weekend then I get paid the Friday before the weekend starts so I really got paid on April 29th which has to get me to May 15th. That won't be too bad because once again the 15th falls on the weekend, the Sunday this time, so I'll get my next pay on May 13th. Then the trouble begins in earnest as that pay has to get me all of the way to May 31st so more like 2 1/2 weeks instead of 2 weeks.
Getting paid twice a month is challenging if you have weekly payments or bi - weekly payments to make. There are either 52 payments a year or 26 payments on a bi-weekly schedule and I only get paid 24 times. See, this is where people on "Til Debt do us Part" get into all kinds of trouble with Gail - she likes to whack them upside the head because so many people forget that bi-weekly payments come off 26 times a year, not 24!
I arrange my payments to coincide with my pays so bi-monthly, the 15th and the end of the month. If you get paid every two weeks you can basically just ignore everything I said and I'm very envious of you!
May already seems like a long month and we're only 1 week in. I made a big boo boo by throwing caution to the wind last Friday and shopping at a second- hand store to the tune of $103.00. (I'm sorry...but I need shorts and jeans that don't create such a huge muffintop on my otherwise OK frame - I hate to admit it but that middleage spread seems to have moved in permanently!) Oh horrors! What was I thinking?!?!? That was basically my whole misc budget until May 15th. Doh! Then, when I was at the trailer on Saturday I spent more than my NEW Entertainment budget for the next two weeks on booze. Man, I am just going to the dogs here.
I will endeavor to rationalize that purchase by saying that the excellent bottle of scotch I bought will last for weeks and weeks of fireside chats and heart-to-hearts at the trailer. So really you could say it's an investment :) One that depreciates, but an investment nonetheless...
On the bright side...I'm thinking...hang in there, I'm sure I'll come up with something.....oh yes, I made an extra little payment of $43.93 on my line of credit so I would have a pretty number ending in zeros and I bought a wedding gift for a friend's daughter's wedding coming up in two weeks.
I might transfer the money for the gift from my gift account - I mean that's what it's for right? It's just that I'd like to build my gift account up a bit more before I start taking money out but that's just the way my little mind works. Once the money is in there I hate to take it out. Oh well, it will give me a bit more breathing space in my budget and I really need that.
Not done yet! I just remembered I spent another $180 this morning (gee, how quickly I can spend and forget!!!) on my daughter's birthday gift. She and I are huge fans of Keith Urban and he's coming to town 2 days before her birthday so that's taken care of! It's been a tradition since she was 12 to take her to a concert for her birthday, building years of memories of shared experiences - the first concert was Amanda Marshall - remember this one?
So, that about wraps it up. Stay tuned for week two...it should prove even more exciting!
Saturday's Tune: Michael's favorite song these days! (I got shivers listening to this choir's version - enjoy!)
I know, I know...it's a bit of a stretch but I like to be creative so give me a break. I never realized how many different ways the word "wrap" could be used and I thought this woman is not only very brave, but almost smug considering the completely wacky way she's got her head wrapped up. She sorta reminds me of The Flying Nunand if you remember that show you were a child of the 60's like me.
But I digress....which isn't unusual for me.
For your added viewing pleasure I have here my spending graph for the first week of March....ooooooooooh lots of pretty blues and greens. I have absolutely no idea what that means!
Not too much exciting going on...money is being thrown against my line of credit left, right and centre and misc spending is still being kept to a minimum. We did actually enjoy some entertainment in the form of a movie on Friday but we used our gift cards and took our own drinks and snacks so no cost to us for that:) Not too many bills have come in yet but I expect that to change any day now... I did get my Union Gas bill and was happy to see that it was only $87 and change. See, having hot flashes is good for something - I think I'm helping to heat the house!!
I spent a big chunk of Saturday crunching numbers to see if I can afford to retire 2 years (June 2014) early as is my desire. I was on my pension website to see what my teacher's pension would be, went to the CPP website too see how much that will be, blah blah blah. The upside is YES, YES I can retire early!!!!!!!!!!
Of course that means living on less which I am currently in training for lol! The fact that we live on less than 1/3 of my salary now (the rest goes to debt repayment and savings) is an excellent indication that that we can live, and live well, on less than a full pension. More details on that in another post!
For now, suffice it to say that I will be debt-free in LESS than 3 years and will have saved up enough to build a barn, renovate the kitchen, travel and so on. That makes me a very happy person indeed.
Are you planning for retirement? Don't tell me you're too young too think about it - you're never too young to get started on this oh so important goal!
In honour of No Spend February I have wrapped up this week with old newspaper:)
Due to events out of my control: snow day, sore throat, I am happy to report that I have spent NO MONEY besides the following expenses - debt, groceries, gas, condo fee and chequing account service charge.
When I wanted to get a Timmy's and a newspaper I made a pot of tea and went of the National Post website instead.
I was going to go to the movies yesterday but wasn't feeling well - now I wouldn't advise that one too often but I stayed home and save a few $$.
It was also the first two days of the second semester on Thursday and Friday so I was ultra busy and didn't even THINK about anything other than school.
So what have I learned? a) keep really really busy and there's no time for needless spending b) make do with what you have instead of wanting something else (tea, online newspaper) c) being sick has a silver lining:)
I had a toonie ($2.00) in my wallet at the beginning of the week and it's still there. I am drinking lots of tea and honey to keep my throat lubricated and my DD and I are spending quality time together.
Hope your weekend is going well (it's snowing like the dickens out there) and if you are doing the February NoSpend Challenge I hope all your expenses are small change!
News Beat: Did I have any no spend days this week?? Hmmmmm...yes, I think I had a couple, this week has been a blur so my memory is a little hazy...that's not a good thing...bad things can happen in a haze...like...overspending...yikes!!
The good news: our breakfast went off without a hitch! but almost with a stitch! or two! Sigh...I was doing EVERYTHING in a hurry today as I wanted to get to school even earlier than my usual 6:45am so here's one thing NOT to do when you are in a hurry: trim the hair around your ears with a sharp pair of scissors:( Do you folks know how much ears bleed when you give them a little snip?? Oh my. So picture this - me with a huge hunk of gauze embracing my ear with my glasses sitting on the outside of it so that no blood drips while I crack 60 eggs. Not an easy feat but I did it. Luckily I was all alone so no one had to witness my weirdness. After what seemed an imterminable length of time it finally congealed enough to remove the gauze. When my EAs started to arrive I let them take over cooking the eggs.
By 8:10 everyone had arrived, we said grace and sat down to scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages, hashbrown casserole, croissants and orange juice. We had a few leftovers that we managed to get rid of at lunchtime and what with tins of cookies and homemade peanut brittle that students brought in we were stuffed to the gills!
The bad news: I'm stuffed to the gills...no that's not it...I'm pretty sure I won't make it to the end of the month before the end of my money. So...do I make a transfer now from my savings or wait til the end of the month, calculate the damages and then make a transfer. If I transfer $$ now will that just encourage me to spend more resulting in possibly yet another transfer of $$?? Hmmm...I think I'll wait and be very CONSCIOUS of my spending...I'm not going to throw caution to the wind. Boy, December is very challenging isn't it? I felt the old pull of bad thoughts a few times this week: have I bought enough, should I spend more, oh oh sounds like Michael spent more than me, should I buy him another gift? what about Kazi...will she be satisfied with just 3 or 4 gifts this year instead of 10 or 12? I think it will take a few more Christmases before I get used to this downsizing. I'm willing to do the work.
Heartbeat: Tomorrow morning Kazi and I leave for our trip to Toronto. Yesterday she drove for only the second time. She needed to pick up her contact lenses so I went with her. She had to turn left at a major intersection and got really stressed out - after she made the turn we pulled into the optometrist's parking lot and she had a few tears. This is not going to be easy.
This photo of an ice-covered lighthouse was taken by the Associated Press and is making the rounds on the internet. It was taken December the 10th at the mouth of the Cleveland (Ohio) harbour.
News Beat:Here it is, only Dec. 5th, and I can see trouble ahead already. To balance out my extravagent weekend I need a WEEK of NO SPEND days. That will be my goal for this week. I have $20 left in my wallet and plan to keep it there til next weekend. This will not be an easy task but I have to rein in my spending somehow.
After work on Friday (not a great day at school) I decided that I wanted to go and browse at the local Talize (a really great second-hand store near us...we have turned the name of the store into a verb as in "let's go talizing"). That should have been the first warning sign to me to stop and evaluate my thinking but I chose to ignore my inner voice. I justified going there to myself because I am in need of long-sleeve tops to wear to work - my classroom is cold and although I suffer from hot flashes throughout the day inbetween times I freeze.
Michael had some extra $$ and so off we went talizing. We each spent around $140. That doesn't sound too too bad especially when I told myself that I saved a TON of money by buying second hand instead of new. I just know you are all familiar with that old excuse!!! But did I need that gorgeous pair of black boots as well?? Did I need that Le Chateau black blazer with the jewel-like buttons that I may wear once or twice a season??
NO AND NO!!
I'm not done yet...by the time we left Talize it was 7:30pm and we were absolutely famished. I suggested we go down to the local Vietnamese restaurant and have a bowl of soup...ding a ling - warning warning!!
Well the soup was really good and so was the chicken chop suey and the lemongrass chicken!! There are still leftovers in the fridge because like my mother always liked to point out: YOUR EYES ARE BIGGER THAN YOUR STOMACH!!
I wish I could heave a great sigh and say that was it, but last night was our dinner out in Sarnia with friends - we spent $$ on gas, $140 for dinner (YIKES) and then another $20 in a martini bar. I actually don't feel too bad about this one because it was a planned outing and I had $$ ready for that one but it still seems so extravagant after several months of living frugally! However, we had sooooo much fun, great conversation and a ton of laughs so I have no regrets.
I am hoping I can make up for talizing by having a no spend week (or three)! ha ha yeah right! I'm a little worried about my cell phone because when I got it out of my purse last night it was on the internet somehow (not on purpose) and I don't have a data plan - I use it only as a phone so I am hoping I don't have some whopping big charge on my next bill!!
On the bright side...let's see...is there a bright side?...I have spent 0$ of my gas money as Michael has been keeping the gas tank full and I still have plenty of grocery $$ left to last until the 15th. The heating bill came in $13 under budget:), and due to paying $2500 extra on my line of credit last month the interest was reduced by $4, not much but every little bit helps, and my car insurance was reduced by $3 a month because I bought a car that was 2 years older than my other car. Because of these little savings and a $100 HST cheque that will be coming sometime in Dec. I may just be able to make up for this expensive weekend. Only 3 more December weekends to go!!
Heartbeat:
Blended families can be a challenge sometimes so it was truly wonderful to spend some quality time with both Michael and Kazi yesterday getting our tree. Everyone was in good spirits and we all fell in love with Bruce the Spruce. I will post pictures when we get him all decked out but right now he is still outside (probably frozen) in a large pot filled with water....er...ice. Because we were going out of town it seemed like the best idea to keep him outside in his element until we were ready to get into full decorating mode...
Bruce the Spruce getting snowed on this morning! Poor Bruce!
How are you balancing all the EXTRAS in December??
I'm a day late with my Weekly Wrap because I was over at a girlfriend's house last night having some much-needed "girl time". I don't know about you but my deepest belly laughs and my deepest thoughts are those shared with my beloved girlfriends. Over glasses of wine, cups of tea, and homemade pizzas we hugged and giggled and laughed uproariously while creating works of art for an upcoming environmental artshow concerning oceans. My friend Jules (Julie) is a local artist that I've known for almost 30 years since we were both poor art students together at university. She is a devoted tree-hugger and always getting involved in artistic endeavors that have a "green" theme. So together with another very special friend, Troy, we chased beautiful watercolour washes around watercolour paper with straws, sprinkled on some salt in strategic locations and printed linocuts of fish and prehistoric-looking sea creatures onto the painted backdrop.
Mine isn't finished yet as I began to see interesting sea creatures in my paint drips so once totally dry I am going to outline the shapes in a permanent black felt tip marker. I'll share it here when it's totally finished.
COST: $12 for a bottle of wine. VALUE: priceless!
The other gift I gave to myself this week was ordering a new cell phone! Through my school board I can get a new cell phone every 3 years (FREE) on a corporate plan. I get a ton of minutes and unlimited texting for under $30 a month - a very good deal:) So I am happy happy happy!
News Beat: The financial news is good too! Over the first two weeks of November I managed to squeezeanother $200 out of my food, gas and misc. envelopes. I put $50 into emergency savings, $100 into Christmas savings and made an extra $50 payment into my RSP account. My Union Gas bill came in $25 under budget (probably the last month that will happen now til the spring) and I got reimbursed finally for school supplies that I bought back in August so my credit card is PAID IN FULL!!
I spent more $$ this week than last week, but still very much within reason. Yesterday was a PD day and we were given 2 hours for lunch and travel time. I ate lunch with a couple of the educational assistants who work closely with me in my classroom so it was a real treat to a) eat in a restaurant and b) share time with the people who are such an integral part of my program. It was time and money well spent.
So between beer after volleyball on Wed. night, lunch out yesterday and a bottle of wine for last night's "girl time" I spent a total of $35.00. I can live with that:)
My goals for the rest of November:
save at least another $50 from my misc. spending budget ($136 currently left in it)
not spend more this week than the $18 left in my wallet
save another $50 from food/gas budget (that may be difficult with the price of gas these days but I will try my best)
start my Christmas shopping by buying gifts for Kazi's stocking
News Beat: That's another week gone by. We had quite the mixed bag of weather this week ranging from gorgeous sunshine (got outside for brisk walks with my students) to today's football weather - cold, wet and muddy! The good news though is my school's football team won their semi-final game so Go Crusaders!
On the financial front: wayell (that's my southern accent attempt) I didn't keep that $20 dollar bill in my wallet but I still have two $5.00 bills so I'm only half disappointed...nah, who am I kidding? I'm over the moon to get through a week and only spend $10.00! (that was for my one weekly beer after my volleyball game on Wed. and Red Roaster coffee that I drank at the local library while using their wireless internet on Thurs. The other 3 days were no spend days - woot! I think I'll just pop that $10.00 into my Crofters Lane jar and start myself off with a new crisp $20.00 bill for the coming week - that puts a big smile on my face! That's $10.00 closer to my next summer's trip out to PEI! =)
My heating bill (natural gas & I also have a gas dryer and hot water heater) was $25 under budget so I added that $25 to my misc spending which now sits at a robust $280 (that's for the rest of Nov.) I took the $152 I would normally pay for property tax (but have a holiday this month and next month as I am on a 10 month payment plan) and socked it into my Christmas fund and now have enough to book my DD's and my annual Christmas trip to Toronto.
It's a Mirvish package deal - we are going to see Rock of Ages (love story set to the music of the 80's - Don't Stop Believin....), eat at a New Orleans style restaurant, stay at the very upscale Sheraton Hotel downtown, go see The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army at the Royal Ontario Museum and shop at the Eaton Centre. Well, my daughter will shop and I will hopefully resist the temptations that will surround me, make me weak, bend my will, torment me aaarrrrgggghhhhh! BUT, if my DD wants to buy me a Christmas gift I'd be ok with that tee hee =)
My DP gave me an extra $100 this month for our budget and I immediately socked that away in the Emergency Account so hurrah for an extra payment towards that goal!
On the down side I find that the rental car I have uses more gas than my little Cobalt. Oh poo. And I just got notice that my condo fees are going up by $25 in 2010 - pretty big increase:(
Heart Beat: DD went back to her classes on Wed. & she should only have to have the cast on for a few more days. It was touch and go there for awhile as she attends the University of Western Ontario and the professors were in a strike position but managed to achieve a tentative deal by 3am Wed. morning. So between school and her boyfriend I haven't seen too much of her since Tues. night but we stay in contact by texting and I go into her room when she's sleeping and kiss her sweet cheeks (she doesn't even know:)
So far NO CHEATING on the BUY NO NEW CLOTHES pledge (yay me) and only a wee bit of cheating on the diet...ssshhhhh....don't tell anybody!! Weigh in on Monday - eek! Here's how I cheated: beer on Wed. night (no it wasn't even lite beer), broken pieces of warm brownies that we made today at school to go with our lunch (well, I couldn't serve the broken bits now could I?), a couple of teeny tiny glasses of red wine mixed with some fizzy water...that's about it...hey that's not so bad:)
Dear Daughter continues to improve. She had a friend over today and they worked on school assignments all day. Now she is relaxing with yet another Harry Potter book. The pain is more manageable and she is sleeping better: she said to me yesterday that all she can do is keep telling the truth to whoever asks about the accident. While waiting is hard it's not nearly as hard when we're doing it together.
Financial Beat:
It's a wrap! The end of another loooonnnng week and for me, the end of the month. I get paid on the last day of the month and if it falls on the weekend then I get paid on the Friday prior making today - PAYDAY! Gee, it seems like it just was payday last week but it's been two weeks! Wow, time flies even when you're NOT spending money - what a concept!
I met my goals for this month - I paid down the line of credit by $1000 (plus the interest) and saved almost 30% of my income - $1400 (split between TFSA, Emergency and RSPs). My Christmas/Birthday account doesn't get a weekly/monthly deposit as it was an afterthought and didn't make it into my original budget so it is the recipient of any extra money I can squeeze out of my misc., food and gas budgets. The past two weeks I didn't use any of my gas budget ($150) as DD and DP (dear partner) fed the car so that $$ went into the Christmas account. I also slip spare change and whatever else I can wring out of an already squeezed dry budget into the Crofters Lane Jar as well as any snowflakes that come my way.
Today I spent just $88 of my next $250 for food as we are very well stocked and spent only $15 on gas for the rental. I'm not going to put much gas in it at a time as I don't know when I'll be returning it. No more news from the insurance company so the state of limbo continues. I'm a lot calmer about it all today - it's out of my control for now so will just have faith that it will all unfold as it should. I have appreciated the support and advice from you all.
November will be a "mystery month" for now as we wait to hear about the car. It will have some sort of impact on the budget and I will likely have to rework the numbers somewhat. To what extent remains a "mystery"! Just one more challenge to meet with humour and perseverence:) The good news is that I don't pay property tax in Nov. and Dec. being on a ten month payment plan so that will be another $304 going into the Christmas fund which will almost bring me to my goal so YAY! for Christmas:) Other goal for November - start my 10 lb. weight loss goal - GO ME!
Oh how I love to "wrap" up another week. October is almost finished and so far I'm still in the black. This has been a very low spend week and I don't mind a bit.
To summarize: our food budget is empty but as Michael just showed me there isn't any room in the freezer to store any more food. I replenished our milk supply, bought green onions for tonight's pad thai, and splurged on two 2-liter bottles of pop: Jamaican Ginger Beer for guess who and Fresca for me. We seldom buy pop but since we're having a guest for dinner I thought having a couple of different drinks on hand could classify as being "hospitable" and hey - we all need a few juicy rationalizations to get us through the week:) There is $1.81 left in the food budget til next Friday. Unless we suddenly go on an eating binge (it has been known to happen) we should be ok. Anyhoo, I could stand to lose 5-10 pounds.
On the bright side (and isn't there always a bright side?) we have used NONE of our gas budget as other family members have kindly gassed up the car so that extra $$ will get funneled into Christmas & birthdays which is currently looking rather dejected:(
We are still coming under budget for hydro (though not for long) - this month by $12 so I added that to my misc. spending which now stands at $90 until next Friday. I'll have to buy some Halloween candy with that and a couple of items at the pharmacy but should still have something leftover by next payday (Fri. Oct. 29). Barring any unforeseen Halloween candy eating binges that is...
P.S. the photo in my header was taken on Cascumpec Rd. just a few miles south of Alberton, PEI. In the few seconds that I stepped out of the car and onto the bridge to take the picture I fended off at least 8,000 giant-sized mosquitoes:) I WON!
