More on Books...The Big Reveal!

This bookcase with the clock now looks like...

....this... the clock has been moved and I was able to get a lot more fiction books onto it...

 This "book stool" has been disappeared with the books going upstairs to my bedroom/study.

This  dog's breakfast has been turned into...

...this...and will stay this way!! The old old cupboard was my grandma's - when I got it the stain was black and gummy so I refinished it. I'm ashamed I let it get covered up with a ton of stuff!

TOO MUCH STUFF!!

A neater and less cluttered table top now - my nature books and travel guides now reside in the book holder. Oh, by the way the two small plants have also been moved along with a few other things. My grandma made the crocheted table cloth.

The inside of my secretary now looks like...

this!! This is my small collection of history books.

This small bookcase was my mother's. I added a few more books to it and turned some sideways to maximize the space.

The rest of the fiction and reference books went on the two bookcases that are in my bedroom...

 It was pretty easy to shuffle some things around to make room...

After going through all of my books I ended up donating only TWO books to the Goodwill Bookstore and since they had a 50% off sale today I ended up purchasing six (new to me) books. Yeah, I bought more.

But I have an excuse awesome reason why!! 99% of the books I've read over the past couple of years have been e-books borrowed electronically from the London Library! And in addition I have purchased a number of books using the Kindle App. So for the next long while I've decided to go back (mostly) to paper books so that I can catch up with what's been given to me, keep the ones I love, and donate the rest.

I'm gonna be BUSY!!

Frozen Assets

When I got up this morning it was -29c so is it any wonder my ass(ets) is/are frozen??? I've managed to have quite a few NO spend days this month because who wants to go outside?? That being said I did do some shopping on Friday in preparation for my Valentine's Day guests. But I'm still on track for February and may have some $$ left at the end of the month if I can stay the course!

Gas Budget - I have almost a full tank of gas and $120 left in the gas budget. If you don't drive anywhere gas stays IN the tank!! Also, I lumped ALL my errands together last Friday to use as little gas as possible. I've been averaging $30/week for gas so far which means I might have $60-$80 left in this budget line at the end of the month!

Food Budget - I spent more on food for the first half of this month than I did during the same time period in January. Some of that went for snacks for my party plus I bought extra food that I cooked for breakfast Sunday morning. There is still $116 left in the food budget and I won't be shopping for a a few days as I couldn't fit another thing in my fridge if I tried! I'm sure there will be a few dollars left in the food budget at the end of the month.

Misc Budget - Out of the $313 in the misc budget for the 2nd half of the month I have $230 left. Money has been spent on wine, chocolate treats from the Bulk Barn, movie rentals for the party, music downloaded from iTunes and a book from Amazon for my Kindle app. Upcoming expenditures include going to lunch with a friend tomorrow and the Bryan Adams concert on the 24th (though I've already paid for the ticket!) I hope I don't spend all of the rest of this budget by Feb. 28.

For the next few months any budget remnants will go to paying for my trip to England in Sept. So far I need to pay off my plane tickets and the deposit for my hiking trip with Annie. I therefore challenge myself to direct at least $150 (gas - $80; food - $30; misc - $40) towards my Mastercard at the end of Feb. Whatever is outstanding on my Mastercard will be paid off using my tax refund sometime in March.

Increased savings so far this month includes $350 from my pension and $200 in interest for a total of $550!! I have two more interest deposits from RRSPs to come yet this month. I'm surviving on my pension so far - I'm doing it, I'm doing it!!

Famous last words.....