All Gassed Up

Two challenges I have been working on in 2018 are 1) use as little gas as possible and 2) eat as little refined sugar as I can. So far I'm doing pretty good, especially where gas is concerned.

Since replacing my truck with a Honda Civic at the end of Sept. 2017 I have been lowering my monthly gas budget line - from a high of $200.00 (when I was driving Dougie the Dodge truck) to $60 now (driving the Honda).  A nifty savings of $140.00 per month! Yahoo!

AND... for the past 4 months I've only been filling the Honda once a month at a cost of $45.00 so I think it's time to reduce the budget line for gas even further - from $60.00 to $45.00 a month. Since buying the Honda the monthly amount I spend on gas has decreased by $155.00/month ($200 - $45). My car insurance and house insurance amount to $156.00 ($124 + $32)!! So by switching from a V8 truck to the Honda I am saving enough in gas to pay for car and house insurance!! That's amazing and has put a big smile on my face!! 

As most of you know I was thinking about going car-free so by driving something a lot more economical and lot more "green" than the truck goes a long ways to making me feel better about still driving.

Once it warms up a little (right now IT IS FREAKING SNOWING!!!) then I won't even be spending $45.00 per month on gas because I'll be biking most places within the city. I have met Goal #1 👍

GOAL #2 - the struggle continues...
I would estimate that I have decreased the amount of refined white sugar in my diet by about 75% (or more).  Which is great! I no longer spend time browsing the candy aisles at Dollarama (there are TWO Dollaramas within a block or two of my house though with me not shopping there as much as I used to I'm sure one of them will have to shut down due to poor returns!!) Since the beginning of January I have intentionally made purchases at Dollarama twice. Once was to buy a little somethin somethin for Valentine's Day which I shared with Kazi. And then one other time when I had a craving for chocolate covered almonds.

Zero Easter eggs consumed this year though I noticed a chocolate bunny on the kitchen counter :) and yes, I had a nibble. But the rest I'll take up to Kazi's room where I won't see it. I'm on the See Food diet, I'm sure you've heard of it - "if I see food, I eat it!"

It's not that I have stopped eating snacks - I have had a few bags of salt and vinegar chips and I have been baking oat scones on a regular basis. In addition, when I have a craving, I eat a few raw nuts which of course are high in fat and calories. BUT, the fat is good fat so they say. We've also turned to avocados (again good fat) and very satisfying. I tried (and failed) to eat one or two squares of dark chocolate a day as there are many health benefits but I couldn't stop at one or two so have had to give that up.

But I'm not giving up wine and beer - you have to draw the line somewhere! Besides...both have health benefits if they are consumed in reasonable amounts!

I've had to face the fact that I can't control myself around sweets. So I try to provide myself with sweet stuff that is somewhat healthier. My scone recipe spreads 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar throughout a yield of 12 scones. I use whole wheat flour instead of refined white flour, large oats, soy milk, butter, one egg and a half cup of currants. They are delicious and filling and use mostly healthy ingredients.

This isn't a diet about losing weight though I have lost 5 pounds over 3 months. It's more about trying to make healthier choices. It's hard though, I admit it. Menopause means I have to eat a lot less to maintain my weight as opposed to when I was a teenager and could eat as much as I wanted without gaining an ounce! NOT FAIR! 

I found a site that calculates your BMI but uses your age as well as gender, height and weight in their calculation. Yippee - on their site I am within the "normal range" - the loss of just 5 pounds and inputting my age (61) and gender has moved me from straddling the line between normal and borderline over-weight. I am going to save the results and look at them everyday for the rest of my life!!!

If you want to check your BMI go to https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/

Wow, What a Week....

......in American history!! And that's all I've got to say about THAT!!

Because my life is much more interesting...NOT!! But it has been a busy and productive week here in little old London, Ontario. 

Transportation Update:  after walking with me around my neighbourhood in my last post (thanks for tagging along :) I realized I had forgotten a few things...important things...other places I get to by walking or cycling. 

Such as... our dentist is a block west of the library - very handy - but my doctor is a 20-30 minute bike ride away which is ok in the summer but not so much in the winter. I only go a couple times a year so it shouldn't be too onerous - that trip will be a CAR SHARE trip. (There are two medical walk-in clinics near by that I could use in a pinch but regular appointments will remain with my family doctor.)

My best friend is a 30 minute bike ride away but we have other ways of getting together, like meeting halfway, sharing a car rental or Car Share. I'll be seeing her tomorrow at a craft sale which I will bike to. 

Thursday (the day before yesterday) was my weekly get together with my brother, Kim. However, it rained all day and there was a Severe Storm Watch in effect so I had to cancel. That was disappointing and I'm not sure how I can get around in bad weather when it's "at the last minute" type of thing. 

I am waiting til after my trip in September to sign up with Car Share. I can use that when the weather is bad. Or use Uber, whichever would work out to be the cheapest. I haven't mentioned taking the city bus - I'm not fond of taking the bus and am not really familiar with the routes near me. I'd rather not go down that road (haha) if I can help it. 

I also forgot to mention that I'm only 1km from London's system of bike trails. I certainly cannot go without forest bathing at least a couple times per week. It takes me about 5 minutes to get to scenes like below, which calm my nerves and make me feel whole once again!

Okay, this is a bit random but I am thrilled that a vegan restaurant - Globally Local - has opened up near me. It is only a block and a half away and I rode my bike there last night for vegan tacos and fries. Soooooooo good!!

Also random - on Tuesday I rode my bike to the final protest and laying to rest of our Hydro One action that I've been involved in for almost two years. Here we are all gathered one last time at our local MP's office after the gov't sold a company that belonged to the people of Ontario to raise a little short term cash. BOO!!!

 Then on Wed. I rented a car to take Julie and I to the beach - it was a perfect weather day! Booking the car through Kazi I paid only $20 for a 24 hour period!!! Less than the cost of gas if we had gone in Dougie the Dodge!

 And, in other news, Luna kept a close eye on me while I made up 10 bags of trail mix and other energizing snacks for my upcoming trip to Scotland. Isn't she helpful?

Overall I am happy with how "transportation" is going but there are definitely some kinks to work out. I don't know if I can do this forever; time will tell. It's difficult to be spontaneous and hard to work around bad weather.

On the other hand it's wonderful to not have to worry about costly repair bills, insurance and the price of gas :)

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood...

Two weeks ago today I sold dear old Dougie the Dodge. How has it been going? So far, so good.  As I may have mentioned before my neighbourhood has almost everything I need within

 a block or two radius.

Come and walk with me. 

There's my condo with the crabapple tree out front - hence "Crabapple Landing". 

 As we leave the condo complex we are walking east towards Northland Mall - I can see it from the end of the condo road. If you squint really hard you might be able to see a yellow shopping cart that someone has abandoned in the mall parking lot - it's just beyond the No Parking sign and sitting between two cars. We'll see it again later. For now we're going to turn left.

 About 150 steps from my front door, but invisible due to many trees, is a plaza called Huron Market Place. There used to be a movie theatre where the World Gym is now. I took Kazi there many times - her first movie theatre experience there was "Lion King" when she was four. She found out that life isn't always fair and sobbed her little heart out.

 I do my own taxes so I don't use Liberty Tax Service but further down is Dollarama which is very handy - I was just there yesterday buying trail mix and nuts to pack for my hike in Scotland.

Across the street from Dollarama is my local library. Most of my library interactions take place on my iPad as I download books to read but lots goes on there - bookclubs, lectures, movies, a knitting group, English Second Language classes, crafts and so on.

There's the Huron Market Place sign - another

store I go to frequently is Giant Tiger. I get good bargains on produce and it carries

pretty decent brands of clothing and household products.

Here's one spot I won't be going to for awhile! My local gas station! 

That price is per litre, not gallon.

 A bit further down from the library is another plaza which I use once in a while. It has a pet valu store along with an LA Fitness, several restaurants, a bank, a used sports equipment store (it's where I purchased cleats for slo-pitch). 

Across the other street from the gas station is yet another plaza with my favourite thrift store -

 Talize  :)

There are three coffee shops nearby - Williams, Tim Hortons and Starbucks. I don't

often go to Williams though I do like their food better than the other places.

Further down from Talize is my pharmacy - Shoppers Drugmart - 

We're not heading in that direction today. Just past Shoppers is the

Bank of Nova Scotia which is where I go.

Right now we're on the other side of Northland Mall - we haven't crossed 

any roads or walked on any streets - we've just walked through parking lots.

Ummmm....I guess one Dollarama store isn't enough!!

My favourite restaurant is in this mall. It used to be several blocks to the east but when

the mall was refurbished it changed location which makes

it even closer to me. Sweet!

Further down the front of the mall is my favourite grocery

store - No Frills. It has really improved over the past couple of years - also being

refurbished. The best thing is the increasing variety of foods due to serving a large ethnic community.

Here we are inside the mall - you can see the Wine Rack :) and the Health Food store, both used frequently! There is a nice area for socializing.

Here is that shopping cart again, we are seeing it from the other direction.

We are now heading back to my condo complex, the entrance of which is past those

apartment buildings. We are still walking through parking lots.

The apartments are kept up nicely - they have access to a swimming pool which is

just beyond that atrocity of public art. I read an article yesterday about so-called

"public art". It stated that public art should be ART first and PUBLIC second. I have

to say that in this hideous example PUBLIC came first and ART second!!

 Here is the entrance back into my condo complex. The mall and apartments are 

behind us now. All of the trees in the complex

have grown very tall in the 23 years we've lived here.

These condo owners used to be able to see their neighbours on the other side

of the cedars, not any more. The street light is being

swallowed up by the trees!

 There's my place below. To the left of the crabapple tree you can see some branches

 from a maple tree. It was just a sapling when we moved in and now is 40+ feet tall. 

There is another one shading

the back side of the house. I had to change all of my perennials from sun-loving to shade-loving 

over the years but I don't mind. When it's 30c outside it's 24c inside. I rarely have to turn on the A/C.  

 Home sweet home.

I didn't even show you all of the many many restaurants/fast food places. Within a couple of blocks there is: a Macdonalds, A&W, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Harvey's, Fireside Subs, two pizza, no three pizza places, Dairy Queen, a place that sells greek food (can't remember the name), Fast Eddies etc.

Most I haven't been to as I cook 99% of our meals at home. 

BUT - I am excited to say that a "Globally Local" restaurant has just opened in the old Harvey's location and is open 24/7!! 

VEGAN FAST FOOD!

 Kazi and I have already eaten there and it is fantastic! And affordable!! 

So there you have it - what the heck do I need a car for? 

I rode my bike to my optometrist app't in less time than it takes to drive there.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with my cart. The last time I used

my cart for groceries I was a student at university without a car. I'm glad

I never got rid of it! (the cart, not the car!)

On Wed. I'm renting a car for 24 hours to go to the beach. It will cost less than putting gas into Dougie for the same trip.

I went to Bracebridge in my brother's car and I gave him $$ for gas.

I know that once we start getting cold weather and snow travel will be more difficult. 

Hopefully I can figure out ways to make life easier. 

Car-Free Decision

Thank you all who commented on my post yesterday about going car-free. Your input is helpful and appreciated.  This morning I did wake up with a little anxiety about the decision - as someone who has been continuously insured for  43 years it is kind of scary - I won't lie!

So many people think that what they drive reflects on who they are and how much money they make. My daughter bought a Jeep as it appealed to the type of lifestyle she wants to live. (I hope she'll figure out that the high monthly payments she is currently making aren't worth the sacrifice) - but she'll have to figure that out herself.

Personally I've ever only owned two BRAND NEW cars in 43 years of driving. I've always looked at a car/truck as a means of getting from point A to point B.  I appreciate air conditioning but that's about the only thing I've insisted on when purchasing a new or used vehicle. The first new car I purchased was a l979 or 1980 Datsun F10 which I then sold a year or two later when I moved out of province. And then I once leased a Cobalt from 2002 to 2006; I turned it in when the lease was up and purchased a used car. I do not get any car-induced high when I drive new vs. used.

Today I face my first challenge - I visit my brother every Thursday afternoon (travelling by bicycle usually) and there is a 40% chance storm watch in effect. Yesterday it was a 40% chance as well and here in NE London that amounted to about 5 minutes of mostly light rain. I don't have to decide for a couple more hours but I don't like having to cancel plans because of the weather. Let's see what happens!

I've Gone and Done it!

I had a lot of  possible titles for this post: like "Bye-bye Dougie Goodbye", "Going Car Free", or "Car Sharing- is it for me?" and so on.  Yes, Dougie is gone, sold and hopefully loved by his new owner. Unfortunately Dougie is just not the vehicle for me anymore. Sentiment is not a good reason to keep a car...or truck. 

I've debated for awhile now whether to try living car-free as Dougie can sit there in his space for a week or more before I drive him anywhere. The last time was a week ago when my friend Julie and I went to the beach. The steering seemed a bit stiffer than usual - I knew something was up.

So on Monday I took Dougie to my local mechanic. It was bad news - the steering column was seized up and would need an expensive repair. I had to decide whether to get it fixed or if this was the time to let Dougie go. One consideration I had was to donate it for a charitable receipt. But my mechanic knew someone looking for a small truck, took a couple of photos of Dougie and contacted him. We were able to work out a deal then and there - I pocketed a goodly sum of cash - more than I expected and walked home. 

It does hurt a little to give up Dougie but he was meant to live in PEI (along with me:) where having a pickup truck is standard. I kept driving Dougie for three more years after selling my house in PEI but knew I'd have to make a change at some point. So I finally did. And now on to the next adventure - seeing if I can manage with my feet, my bike, a car-share vehicle located a few blocks from me (a Prius), taxi, Uber, bus, train and car rentals (Kazi can give me really good deals!!)  She's already quoted me a price between $20-$30 for a day at the beach (24 hours) which includes insurance and gas!! Yes, I don't even have to pay for the gas! Dougie takes at least that much just in gas to get to the beach; so I've got that covered :) 

Bye bye Dougie!

I know I can manage without owning a vehicle for most of the year but then of course there's winter to consider! I'll have to be creative.  I am motivated by the fact that I will have two less budget lines in my monthly budget - car insurance (around $110/monthly) and gas, currently budgeted at

$80 per month. Yes, only $80 a month for a V8 truck! When I first retired I allotted $200 a month for gas and sometimes used more than that. I have gradually reduced that amount over the past three years by walking and biking more. Fortunately I have most of what I need in the immediate neighbourhood. I'm debating whether to add a "Transportation" line to my budget or whether to include it (Uber, car share etc) in my Misc budget. I'm leaning towards having a transportation line so that I can easily see how much I'm spending. 

I can say that I am feeling lighter. Being an environmentalist and owner of a V8 truck just don't go together well in my mind. Going car-free reduces my carbon footprint quite a bit. There was an article in the paper recently that listed BIG ways to help the environment: having one less child,  reducing travel by one international flight per year, don't eat meat and/or go car free. 

I'm working on the meat.

Let's see how I do without a car.

Dougie taking a beating from a hailstorm.

Jane in Wonderland

Hi everyone - I'm back :) Truthfully, I've been back for a few days but I had a wicked case of jet lag to get through and since then I've been editing and deleting photos - I only took 1497 of them! I take a lot of duplicates from various angles and distances, then keep the best and delete the rest. I'm not finished yet but thought I'd get started on some new posts anyways.

Wed. May 24th saw me rise at 4:00am in order to get to London, Ontario's International (yes, truly) Airport to board an early flight to Toronto and then on to Vancouver. My daughter hooked me up with an Uber app giving me a $15 credit which was just enough to get me to the airport. Lucky huh?

Below is a photo taken shortly after my arrival - that's it - the whole airport. It doesn't really operate like an "international" airport - I left my suitcase inside while I went out and took this photo - then I realized I'm not supposed to leave my suitcase unsupervised incase someone wanted to turn me into a drug mule...or worse! But when I went back inside the security folks seemed quite unconcerned. Welcome to London!

I'm hoping this isn't my airplane...

No matter the time of day or night a Timmy's somewhere is always open :) A shot of caffeine was exactly what I needed at 5am. And again I left my suitcase unsupervised while I lined up for a dark roast. I did keep my eye on it though.

Pretty spiffy huh? I like it because I don't have to look very hard for my gate.

Of course there is the usual pathetic corporate nod to our First Nations people. I'm sorry, I just think those in power could do so much better. And then...everything went to sh-t!!

I thought I had everything under control! I signed myself up for notifications (delays and cancellations) of London to Toronto flights because lately there have been a LOT of delays and cancellations due to construction at Pearson airport in Toronto. But I didn't receive any notifications and we boarded promptly.

However, once they had us trapped on the plane they announced a 20 minute delay. That doesn't sound like much but the whole flight to Toronto only takes 20 minutes. Then the 20 minute delay became a 40 minute delay. My heart rate went up with each increase. Finally we took off - at the same time as my Toronto to Vancouver flight was boarding!

First sight of the Rockies

 Once we landed I chomped at the bit wanting to get off of the plane to see if I could still make my connection. Well, you know how long that process takes! I sprinted into the airport and asked an employee which gate I needed - she yelled out Gate D34 and I raced down several hallways suitcase whacking at my heels. I found the gate and the last couple of people in line. Thank God!! I was in quite a lather but managed to make it to my seat before I collapsed.

The fabulous Canadian Rockies.

The flight was uneventful (thankfully!) though I have to say as we started to descend I was a bit worried about the mountains that were poking up through the clouds.

But I guess the pilot knew what he was doing as we broke through the clouds with the mountains at a safe distance.

I travelled with just a carryon and a backpack so leaving the airport was easy peasy. Finding the Enterprise car rental depot wasn't quite so easy but a lovely volunteer at the info booth gave me directions (I'm sure he's done it 10,000 times before) and within minutes I was on a shuttle and then in my rental. A Hyundai Veloster which I never quite got used to. Never thought I'd say I missed Dougie the Dodge but I did. I mean, if my foot even got near the brake pedal I almost went through the windshield!!

Stay tuned for the rest of DAY ONE. It gets better :)

Busy Times

On Tuesday our parking lot was getting cleaned...yes, the parking lot is now cleaner than my house! I had to keep my truck out of the lot for several hours so I saved up a bunch of errands to do to keep me busy and away from home.

First I played slo-pitch and managed without my toque and mittens...just barely. That took me to about 11am. Since my birthday is this month I decided to renew Dougie the Dodge's license sticker. But first Dougie needed an emission's test. We have to do that every couple of years. Off we went to Jiffy Lube where I told the attendant that the generous provincial gov't had promised me a "free" test this year. Indeed it ended up being free as Dougie has no emission problem. BUT, you just knew there was a but didn't you?...when I went to the Service Ontario office to get my license plate sticker the cost had gone up from $90 for one year to $120! An increase of $30 - so much for freebies!

Oh well, glad to get that checked off my list.

Kazi had bought a new rain jacket recently on sale at a new store called Atmosphere so I thought I would see if there was a rain jacket there for MOI! And there was, lots of them. I found one in blue that in addition to having lots of bells and whistles also had ARMPIT ventilation!! As Annie can attest I tend to sweat big time when wearing my "monsoon" rain coat. I might as well NOT be wearing rain protection at all. Last year I bought rain pants with zippers down the sides of the legs and with that ventilation I got along just fine. No sweat. So really hoping the added jacket ventilation will keep my upper body dryer.

Perhaps you can see in the photo below, that although I am all smiles my torso is soaked though my sleeves are fairly dry. I guess my arms don't sweat.  But that is why I am in need of ventilation!! That photo is from when Annie and I hiked Hadrian's Wall in 2015. It had rained  for several hours by the time of the photo and we were in need of tea and cake!

All of that explanation to justify spending over $100 on a rain jacket! I really really need it! I'll keep you updated, Annie, on my sweat condition hee hee... I'm taking it to Vancouver Island for a test run!

Since I wasn't too far from Kilally Meadows I went for a jaunt through the forest. There was nobody on the osprey nest!! Either the mister AND missus were fishing in the river or the ballgame in progress upset their routine. As I walked the path near the river I saw them both fly over me several times circling around and around - did I look like a tasty fish? A giant one that's for sure. If they could haul me up to their big nest in centre field they wouldn't have to fish again for weeks!! Ohhhhh...that's why they BOTH were flying - I'm a two osprey carry!

My estimate was for the babies to be born around May 10th, so perhaps they have arrived - but would both osprey parents be hunting at the same time? Enquiring minds need to know...

Before I could head for home to the newly swept parking lot I headed for the grocery store. I took my time, worked from my list and after making it through the checkout went to see if I could safely park dear old Dougie in his spot once again. Yes, it was all done and so was I. It was way way way past my lunch time so you know what I did next!

March Money

So many of you, my fellow blogging friends, live quite happily on a strict budget and make "living on less" a game or a challenge. It's comforting to know that there are so many people, besides me, who are whackos live this challenge daily in order to reach important goals. For many of us that goal is TRAVEL. 

Sometimes I am questioned by people for walking to places that they drive to. I explain that I have a budget line for gas and to make it work then I have to walk to a lot of places. "But you have the money" is a response I sometimes get and yes, I do have the money but I'd rather walk and put more of my money into my travel account. This isn't about being "poor" and making do. It's about making choices and prioritizing those choices. The day will come when my priorities will change (hopefully not soon) and I will save for something else.

I have learned many "savings hacks" from all of you, along with some great recipes, and I appreciate that we freely share our frugal ways.
U da bess!

My monthly budget has a "misc." budget line which is quite generous and covers lots of things: clothing, books, music on iTunes, going out for dinner, playing volleyball ($2.00 a week!), going to movies, things for the home, art supplies, gifts, charitable givings, general mad money and so on. Some months there are more of those things than my misc budget can handle so I'll move something to the next month, (like renewing my passport). This month I had to pay out $220 for truck maintenance and instead of moving money from savings I decided to try covering it from my misc. budget.

So things are a wee bit tight right now as I'm trying to leave my savings alone. Thankfully both pension amounts will be in my account by Friday - I just need to make it to Friday on the $165 I have left in my chequing account. Shouldn't be too difficult. I only need to buy a few groceries. All the bills are paid. I should even have money left to purchase a few more British pounds :)