SNOW DAY!!

I was just talking to Kazi yesterday about what a gift a snow day is to a teacher. Our lesson plans are prepared and we are all set to go. Then when the schools are closed, LIKE THEY ARE TODAY, we can save those lesson plans for the next day....hence...NO PREP! But just so you don't think we teachers sit around eating chocolates and watching the soaps on a snow day I do have plans to finish my marking and do some research for my next unit - The Winter Olympics!

Here's the funny part, sort of. I managed to be sitting at my desk in my classroom by 6am this morning as usual. Yes, there was a foot of snow on my truck so I just went out earlier with a broom to clean it off. Yes, not all the roads were plowed so I stuck to the main roads. Yes, the parking lot at school was filled with mountains of snow but I managed to park my truck. Yes, the buses were then cancelled but I didn't think they'd close the schools. BUT, lo and behold, at 7am the school boards announced the schools were closed! So, silly me, I gathered my belongings and headed for home.

Now I have a chance to write a post, read the paper, leisurely work at my marking, shovel out my parking spot so it's not a mess for tomorrow and get some cycling in. I've changed into workout clothes so I can get 15km in on my bike. Life is good.

Challenges:
No/Low Spend - I am 4/6 (4 No spend days out of the 6 days of January) Well, it is only 8:17am but I'm not going to any stores today. We'll eat what we have on hand so I feel confident I can call today a No Spend Day.

Cycling - 15km yesterday after taking Saturday off. Will cycle another 15km today for a total of 60km so far in January. I'll try to aim for 300km this month.

5 Day Juice Fast - COMPLETED!! And I feel so much better. Good energy, alert. I am having a breakfast juice right now (beet, beet greens, carrots, celery, cucumber, ginger, grapes and a grapefruit. I also drink two mugs full of hot water laced with lemon and fresh ginger every morning instead of coffee. And I drink cold water throughout the day infused with lemon and cucumber. Yum.

How's the weather in your neck of the woods??

Rolling in the...

money!

Now THAT'S tempting fate isn't it?  I think I can hear the car falling apart this very second! However, I do feel fairly confident that I'm going to reach the end of the month before I reach the end of my money!  And I feel darn right ecstatic about that!

Although I had a few extra expenses - ink cartridges for our printer ($82), oil change and new air filter for the car ($67.00), the final payment to Reliance for new pipes to connect our new hot water tank ($302.00), a new Netflix charge ($7.99) and a wildly insane $27.00 splurge at Giant Tiger two days ago (a shower liner, a $3.00 hat, $6.00 for new socks and a $10 summer top for MOI!) I still have about $110 left for the month!! I usually NEVER have $$ left at the end of the month so I think I'll celebrate by putting more gas in the car and doing a little extra grocery shopping! My life is so thrilling these days!

I had a few little "bonuses" this month that helped me pay for those other expenditures: my Line of Credit interest was lower than anticipated, my Union Gas was $22 less than budgeted for, my condo fee was a little less than I thought, my London Hydro was $6 less than budgeted for, Kazi and Michael helped out with the printer cartridges and gas for the car, AND I stayed out of TALIZE (my neighbourhood thrift shop) AND out of CHAPTERS (my local bookstore)!!  I really did have good control over my spending this month!

Oh, and I almost forgot!! I put an extra $88 on my mastercard this month - it was my financial goal for Carla's Double Challenge and I did it! I will put $88 on my mastercard every month til June which is when we'll pay off our new TV that we purchased at Tepperman's. So Carla my dear - I have met all of my challenges for February. My challenge for March is just to stay on budget for the month. And hopefully get my taxes finished. Just waiting for Kazi's tuition credit. My refund will be around $1,000 and I plan to pay down my line of credit with it. This time next year it will be completely and utterly PAID OFF leaving me with only a small mortgage on my PEI home as debt. I have NO car payment and NO credit card debt and NO mortgage on my current home. I am in the final couple of years before retirement and am right on track with debt reduction and savings. Come September my SEVEN year plan becomes a TWO year plan.

I'm getting there!

Early morning mist at Crofters Lane, PEI

Challenging Challenges

Besides Carla's double challenge of No/Low Spending and Decluttering my little piece of the universe I am taking part in two other challenges - The 10 Pound Challenge with Erika at Newlyweds on a Budget and The Sealed Pot Challenge with Sft at Travel, Mortgage Freedom, 101 and Life Goals. Also, once Little Lamb at Little Lam Wants to be Debt Free  becomes debt-free (very very soon!!) I will be joining her celebration by dedicating a 25km bike ride to her amazing accomplishment!

You could say that I'm challenged.

Here is a look at my Sealed Pot:

Now, I don't weigh mine like some people I know (Carla), but then $5.00 bills don't weigh very much! I'm keeping it well fed. I have a feeling I might need to make another pot or find something a little larger. But I'll wait and see. I've been thinking a lot about what I'll do with the money and I think I've finally decided. I'm going to put the money into something I really need for my home in PEI. I don't know what that'll be yet, but by December I will have made up my mind. Some possibilities are: a tankless hot water heater, new deck, new fence, leveling the driveway, commissioning a headboard from Jeffery Kerras at Back Road Folk Art, or another piece of furniture for the house.

I'm glad I didn't make a firm decision right off the bat about how I wanted to use the money once opened. It's nice to have something to dream about and I can keep changing my mind right up until December.

The 10 Pound Challenge is a different story:

I haven't been as successful with this challenge as I would like. There have been a lot of ups and downs, lots of temptations - invitations to dinner, eating out, Valentine's Day dinner and so on. I would say that 5/7 days per week I'm sticking to my "eating plan" (stole that from Gill - it's so NOT a diet!!)  Hence the ups and downs.

Now, if it were a TRUE eating plan I'd be able to stick to it even when I eat out, but I haven't been. I've been indulging myself. My only saving grace is I still have until April  16 to lose the ten pounds. I have lost a solid seven pounds and do notice the difference in the waist band of my clothes. I would like to lose at least another seven pounds for a total of fourteen pounds. Sooooooooooooooo I will keep trying. And trying. And trying. I won't give up. I'm pretty confident I can get to ten pounds by April 16. Then I'll try for another four to five pounds more by summer. I have hung onto a big pile of summer clothes from skinnier days - if I can't wear them THIS summer then out they go. I really don't to do that, hence the CHALLENGE!

Sigh......OK, time to get my but in gear...I think I need to go have some lunch...I'm suddenly feeling very hungry!

Weekly Wrap & Other Crap (How to get Great Stuff for FREE!!)

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!

I think that's a WRAP!