HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

When you arise in the morning

Give thanks for the morning light

Give thanks for your life and strength.

Give thanks for your food

And give thanks for the joy of living.

And if perchance you see no reason for

giving thanks,

Rest assured the fault is in yourself.

American Indian Saying

No Spend Days

Yes, I've kept my money in the vault this week!


Monday - No Spend
Tuesday - No Spend
Wednesday - No Spend
Thursday - I cannot tell a lie; I bought a coffee for $1.65


Friday - ?? I will be doing some food and beverage shopping for Thanksgiving weekend. Because of my frugal ways this week I have $$ left to cover these expenses:) We have been invited to my nephew's cottage on Lake Erie (near Port Dover) for the holiday weekend.  He and his partner bought it this past summer and they've invited us a few times but this will be our first visit. 


I am so excited as the weather is supposed to be PERFECT!! We are going to go hiking, sit on the beach, bask in the sun and no doubt I will put back on a pound or two! Well, I have to show how thankful I am for this year's incredible harvest lol!


Tomorrow I'll be buying two pumpkin pies from our highschool's culinary class and I 'll be picking up a bottle or two of wine to take with us. Saturday I'll be picking up a few things at the farmer's market (squash, bread etc) and then I'll be cooking OUR turkey and all the fixings for a Saturday night Thanksgiving dinner with immediate family. Early Sunday we'll head to my nephew's place and come back on Monday - a nice little get-a-way!! Ohhhh my stomach hurts just thinking about all of that rich food. I will try to take very small portions so that I don't totally negate the progress I've made in weight loss.


Tomorrow I will post my weekly wrap and then I likely won't post again til Monday night. I have lots to write about such as goals and challenges for 2012. Lots of you have been writing about similar things and it's got me thinking. Which is good.


Well, gotta go. I want to see some of the NHL game tonight (Montreal vs Toronto...go Habs!) and then see who our provincial premier will be for the next 4 years...yes, it was election day today!  Did I vote?  Of course!! 


Ok, bye for now!

Lost and Found

Tuesday - No Spend Day! I made myself a tea at school, grabbed a free newspaper from the office and sat outside in the sun at Starbucks - the one whose patio gets the afternoon sun. As I sat there I swear I could hear the birds going "cheap cheap!"


I have "lost and found" the same two pounds for the last two weeks!! I've been falling off the wagon...a lot! Very frustrating - I don't think I'm going to hit my goal of another 10 pounds off by November! My rate when I was just losing was about 1.5 pounds a week so.....not  going to make it. But I am renewing my efforts and did really well yesterday...today I had lost those 2 pounds once again! Now the real effort must be put into NOT regaining them.


Good news: Michael got a one-off gig coaching Good Life Fitness executives at their PD day - $1500.00 for one afternoon!! Woot! AND my daughter left me a note to say she's been promoted to bartender - no more serving!! More money!! I've asked her to pay for her car insurance ($50 per month) and she hemmed and hawed, now she doesn't have any excuse!


Happy HUMP DAY to all of my fellow working stiffs!

999 Days to Go til Retirement

Just a quickie post to point out that my countdown widget has finally dropped to below 1000 days until retirement. When I started my financial retirement plan I had a SEVEN year plan and 2555 days to go! This is all contingent upon having enough $$ to retire on but things look good as of today!!

Woo hoo - 999 days to go!!

No Spend Days

How's THAT for motivation? My plan this week is to have 5 No Spend days, including today. And gathering from the way I'm feeling it shouldn't be too difficult.  My cold symptoms went underground yesterday and I thought I had really evaded the bullet. Ha ha on me. So I stopped taking oil of oregano thinking smugly that I had pulled a fast one on these puppies:

Yes, today I started having symptoms again so it's back on the oil of oregano though I think I'm past the point of no return. Crap. So it will be straight home from work for the next few days, no stopping at Starbucks or any other cash-sucking evil stores. Speaking of which...


Yesterday Michael and I took more old clothes to Talize and received our $5 coupons. That gave us a total of $15 in coupons so we decided to go in and have a little look around.  Yeah, really, we're only looking...HAH!! What with the chill in the air and me not wanting to turn on the furnace yet I thought I should get a few long-sleeved tops to wear. Usually my hot flashes keep me more than toasty but when I spend a while sitting and using my laptop I do get chilly. I found a couple of really nice tops - one still had its original tags on it! Michael was looking for shirts to wear to work and found a really really amazing leather jacket for $25.00! How he ever found that in the shirt aisle I'll never know! 


But now I'm down to $78 in personal spending money til my next payday which is Oct. 14th. This should be more than enough as I only tend to spend money on the weekend and there is only 1 weekend between now and payday. But I will help myself along by declaring the weekdays as No Spend days. Hey, whatever works right?

MISSING YOU!!

I usually spend Sunday morning getting caught up on all of your posts - this usually takes 2-3 hours. Today it didn't.  Know why?  Because so many of you have been feeling "under the weather" and haven't been posting!! There are some extreme germs making the rounds so build up your immune systems everyone! 


Because - I MISS YOU!!


Everyone that IS posting seems to be really glad to see the back end of September, me included. September is always tough around here and then there's Christmas just around the corner! Glad I've been saving for Christmas/birthdays all year long - can't believe how great that's been to be able to pay for gifts out of my gift budget line instead of withdrawing from long term savings. 


I have updated my financial goals in my sidebar (way down) though I didn't do too well in choosing the bar colours. Oh well, that's a goal for October! Yesterday I did the grocery rounds and overspent a wee bit. But that's ok because the quinoa I spent $17 on will last a LONG time and the turkey I bought at .88/lb is for next weekend - yes Canadian Thanksgiving is next weekend already!! And I'm prepared!


Today it's only 4c outside so I am wrapped up in afghans so I don't have to turn on the furnace. But the great news is that I won!! the $35.00 Novica gift certificate that Judy was giving away!!  Thanks Judy!! I'll post a pic of my gift when I receive it from Novica!! It's definitely going to be something to keep me warm and lift my spirits:)


So my friends, please get well soon! I am doing quite a bit better - the oil of oregano seems to be doing its thing. Yesterday I woke up congested but today NO CONGESTION AT ALL!!

Saturday's Child Works Hard for Her Money

Sometimes I don't understand myself and I get confused. Today was one of those days. Have you ever had your colours done - I don't mean for makeup but for your personality? I'm blue and green. Which means I'm not gold (or orange). People who are gold are well organized, therefore I'm not. Organized that is. I know that - yet I still get upset with myself. 


Today was marketing day. My fiscal fast is over so I made the rounds to my favourite places this being Saturday morning. I dropped Michael off downtown and headed to the farmer's market. I loaded up on produce and paid with cash.

My next stop was a variety store to get my Saturday newspaper - $3.00 - I paid with cash.

Then off to the Bulk Barn where I bought quinoa and decaf coffee. AND I used a coupon, aren't you proud?? I paid with debit. 

Next stop - Pioneer Gas Station for gas (duh) and I used my "Bonus Bucks" card - I now have $1.00 in free gas!! My pioneer station has a drive through Tim Horton's and since my fiscal fast is over I bought a gigantic coffee! To pay for the gas I used my President's Choice Mastercard because I collect points (just cashed in $80.00 worth of points last week for groceries) and for the coffee I used cash.

At Talize I dropped a bag of clothes and received a $5.00 coupon to use on my next shopping trip - LOVE this thrift store! But no shopping today!

Nope, I was off to Shoppers instead to pick up some body wash that I noticed on special when I was in there picking up a prescription a few days ago. Yup, still on sale!  Used cash.

My last stop was at the NoFrills near where I live. I loaded up on tilapia which was on sale and a few other grocery items. I stuck to my list!! I paid for my order with my President's Choice Mastercard.


Next stop:

Home sweet home

Have you picked up on my helter skelter payment methods? Of course you have, and so did I when I sat down with my budget to record my purchases. It took me a looooooooooooooooong time to record my purchases and balance my books to my online bank balance. Eventually I did manage to balance the books but I was pissed off at myself for such chaotic practices. The problem is that unless I want to give up collecting points with my Mastercard (I don't) then I can't really make much of a change and will have to accept being "all over the place". 


One thing I should have done was NOT used my debit at the Bulk Barn - I should have used my credit card. Then I would only be using two payment methods instead of three. I don't know, I just don't think and whip out the first card that comes to hand. 


Please don't tell me to use cash only - I can't keep track of it - I need the paper trail. Cash just disappears in my sweaty hands. I do keep a bit of cash in my wallet for my misc spending, such as my newspaper and coffee. 


That's my sad tale of woe for today (other than complaining about how COLD it is!) I've read my newspaper and drank my coffee. The laundry is done...I think...I better go check. Plus I'm going to ride my bike for awhile because later I'm going to:

The Waltzing Weasel for wings and a pint!


Hope your weekend is less confusing than mine!