A Number of Things

Self Portrait - circa 1988

I'm getting sick and tired of posting snow pictures, hence I went a completely different direction with this post by including a self-portrait of myself back when I was taking photography at university. Oh, the good ol' days...when I had zippo money, no daughter yet and I was happy living on my own, albeit in a rental apt on the main floor of a house where I encountered my first BAT!!

And I'm pretty sure the upstairs neighbour was selling drugs out of his apartment as I'd hear people clunking up and down his staircase at all hours of the night.

What I LOVED about my apartment was my huge treed back yard. I used to spend a lot of time back there - it was peaceful and very full of green growing things. There were tiny little violets that grew wild all over the lawn and since then I've always loved the colour combination of green and violet. I dug up a square parcel of grass and planted more flowers. It really was an oasis of calm for reading my huge and expensive textbooks and studying for exams. Isn't it wonderful that for everything bad in a situation (drug dealer, BATS) there is something equally good.  It's a good reminder to always look for that silver lining because it IS THERE. We might not see it right away, but we will find it if we make the effort.

Interesting how one photo can evoke such powerful memories. I must revisit my old photos more often. I look back at the skinnier me and feel proud of myself.  I suffered a lot by choosing to hang out with the wrong boyfriends but what I made out of my life gives me hope for my daughter's future. My dad used to say that what he admired most about me was my "spunk". In the moment I didn't really understand what he meant, but looking back over my life I get it. And I can see examples of that feistiness in my daughter's life as she deals with working at a nightclub called Jack's here in London. (more about that in a future post)

I've been getting away from talking about MONEY lately in my posts. I am finding that with my balanced budget things are pretty much looking after themselves. I have automatic payments set up for everything - bills and savings and we are managing quite nicely to stay within food, gas and misc budget amounts. I think NO SPEND FEBRUARY has really given me the discipline I need to control my spending.

Yesterday Michael and I went to see "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt and it was soooooo good and soooooo applicable to our own relationship that we just stayed in this "movie buzz" for the rest of the evening. I'm still feeling the after effects today - it was one great movie with it's main premise that LOVE can conquer all. Go see it! We used our gift cards and sat in the VIP section - very comfortable:)

Today my spending will be limited to a $3 newspaper and a Timmy's coffee. The only other money I spent this week was $20 for an ink cartridge for our printer.

Life is good.

TA DA!! WE DID IT!!

So, there it all is, in black and white.

If you need a larger view just click on the graph - it is in two

parts as I couldn't get it all onto one screen grab.

The Highlights:

• almost $2000 went to debt repayment which is over 40% of my income; I am really whittling away my line of credit; this is my #1 goal to get my LOC paid off before I retire and I am proud to say I may get it paid off EARLY if I can continue at my present pace:)
• although my income was down by $300 from the previous month I managed to save as much as I usually do - over $1200!!
• with help from other family members we kept the grocery and gas bills to a minimum and I found that I don't have to shop for groceries every week; instead I can go just when we need something - it really makes a difference to the bottom line!
• 17 NO SPEND DAYS - I think this is a record for me (sickness had a LOT to do with it though)
• I cut way back on entertainment basically because I was sick for a good chunk of the month, but hey - I'll take my savings anyway that I can!
• we came in under budget for heating and hydro - it really does pay to be conscious of utility use (not to mention that having frequent hot flashes means setting the furnace at a lower temp! hee hee)
• My total misc spending was $133; it could have been lower - I didn't HAVE to buy rubber boots and I didn't HAVE to buy a book; however I could afford to and I don't believe in total deprivation!
• My debt reduction and savings combined are 68% of my total income - I think that is quite an accomplishment. It means that the three of us are living on 32% of my income. That also means that I am a member of the Saving a Quarter club as $1213 in savings equals just over 26% of my income.

I am really excited about March. My income goes back up a little after having paid the Ontario College of Teachers their "membership fee" AND it's TAX REFUND month:) Most of my refund will go to paying my trailer property fee (well worth the cost) but I will have some extra to play around with - and playing around with $$ is one of my favourite pastimes! Yes...I am a geek!!

Congratulations go out to well, me, and all the other participants of the No Spend February month  (thankyou Sharon our fearless leader!) for hanging in there through thick and thin, for being so supportive of each other and encouraging some of us who faced some unexpected expenses and personal obstacles. We stuck together ladies and the bond we have formed will continue to help us through the months ahead as we do our utmost to beat down the debt monsters while also trying to save for the future.

It's a tough journey to go it alone so having my blogging friends to share it with has made it a daily practise that is something to look forward to rather than something to dread. I get so pumped reading your stories, your challenges and your triumphs and am so glad I stumbled across such an amazing group of women. It is truly inspirational!

And the Spending Continues...



Friday night has traditionally been our movie night. Last night was no exception. The difference was that instead of going to see the latest releases we went to a more "arty" venue. I had scoured the ads and there was NOTHING, I mean NOTHING that we wanted to see that we hadn't already seen. 
So we went to an often overlooked theatre in London and saw
Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling (yum) and Michelle Williams and
London River starring a couple of actors we were unfamiliar with. Both of these movies were showing at the Hyland Theatre.  I was so impressed with the quality and the "relationship" themes of both movies that I suggested we get Hyland Theatre membership cards, you know, to save money at which pointed Michael pulled two membership cards out of his pocket - he knows me so well:)
Then, because we hadn't spent enough money and because it was only about 9:30pm we headed to Maggies, a nice little jazz club on Richmond St. We had some Blueberry Tea (not much "tea" in it we were told:) and escargot (Michael not me) and some amazing bruschetta while listening to some great live music (though I did wonder it the singer knew any rock songs hee hee). Michael finished off with a glass of merlot while I had a FREE sample of a fairly new single malt called Singleton's - it was free because they only had enough for about a "half" serving and then the bottle was dry! So that was a nice little treat:)
I have to say it felt really weird to be spending any money - we shared the expenses though Michael bore the brunt of the costs.  Oops - forgot to mention that I stopped in at my local Giant Tiger's because I had seen in their flyer they had decorative rubber boots on for half-price ($20) and I also bought a pair of red canvas running shoes for $3.00!! Both of these items will be going out to PEI so I can stomp around my land in the red dirt rain or shine.
After those expenditures I still had about $60 left in misc spending money so today I went to the ATM and withdrew cash - this is the first cash I've had in my wallet since January!!!  AND it didn't stay there long:) I splurged on my one and only newspaper for February and bought everyone a coffee. The remainder of the $$ went into the Crofter's Lane Jar which has been totally neglected this month... until today.
So one of the benefits of a No Spend February has been a wee splurge with some of my remaining misc money. Tomorrow I will change my sidebar graphs and summarize what I learned during the No Spend month. I am having a totally lazy Saturday and once my loved ones head off to work I am going to get back on my bike to resume my journey to PEI. I still have a bit of congestion but am finally, really, truly, on the mend.

Talk to you tomorrow - hope your weekend is going well. (Still snowing here:(

Budget Blowup

Four days left in No spend February and I cracked.

And when I crack...I really crack.

The good news is that most of my expenditures were covered

by gift cards. It was actually a lot of fun.

The most....well, really the only fun I've had all month.

This was the sick month.

It was really all Michael's fault.

He called me at the end of the school day to ask why don't

I join him at Starbucks, the one at the Chapter's store?

I thought...ok...I haven't been to Starbucks all month and I still have

about $15 on my card so it won't cost me anything.

(HA! Famous last words...)

I sat like a good little girl with my chai tea latte slurping off

the foamy bits before I put the lid on as is my habit.

I managed to sit with my laptop for a good hour or more before

the call of the book sirens wound around the synapses of my

cerebral cortex and I floated on over to the sales racks and

lovely 50% off displays.

Oh...the temptations they were many...

One book that I MUST have is

"and I shall have some peace there"

by Margaret Roach who also has a gardening blog called

"A Way to Garden".

Margaret left a corporate job in New York to live in

the country and follow her first passion - gardening.

I allowed myself to purchase only one book today, however,

and it is the one shown above -

"Better Homes and Gardens New Garden"

which I am anxious to delve into as I spend the next

few years planning my PEI gardens.

By the time we left Chapter's it was heading towards

7:30pm and we were ravenous - book browsing

always makes me hungry for some reason - so we decided

to use our Christmas restaurant gift card and went to Swiss Chalet

where I feasted on chicken wings and spicy seasoned french fries -

a real pig-out!!

And of course we washed it all down with a lovely carafe

of merlot - pretty tasty! Our waitress was lovely - she bent a few

rules to get us what we wanted and gave us great service.

Conversation was lively and centered around future plans in Pei, especially

around the IBC (Islanders by Choice) alliance group that

has formed on Facebook to welcome newcomers, creating a social network

for people to meet whether they were born on the island or are "from away".

What a great evening:)

But now it's almost 10:30pm and I must get to sleep.

Last night I fell asleep at 9:30pm, I was so exhausted.

Tomorrow is Friday - yippee - and casual day so I get to wear my jeans.

One last weekend of No Spend February!

I KNOW I'm going to make it to the end with a wee bit of $$ leftover.

Dear God: please don't let me be struck down by lightening...

Weekly Wrap - Last Week of NO Spend February!!

Here we are heading into the last week of NO Spend February - that's one way to make quite possibly THE WORST month of the year speed by! I hope this last week also zips by superfast as the
money is running OUT!!
I have a grand total of $135.00 left to cover groceries, gas and misc. and I really hope I can make it to Feb. 28 without spending more than that (or...magically...any of that..) 
Only six more days, groceries have been purchased and I have
nothing left but a few fixed expenses.
I'd like to sound more confident but I'm afraid of invoking the power
of Murphy's Law!! I've seen the power of the dreaded Murphy
affect some of my fellow No Spenders so am trying to lay really really low...shhhh..

My thanks go out to Sharon who led us on this fearless quest. And
thanks also to my fellow bloggers/readers who were either involved
in the No Spend month or who cheered us on from the sidelines.
February is my lowest income month of the year
so it was the perfect time for this goal
and already I've been able to pay a bit extra on my line of credit....so YIPPEE! AND I was able to leave the extra $150 in my savings
that I mistakenly deposited at the beginning of the month.
Those are huge accomplishments for this, my "poorest" month:)
I would have been satisfied to "break even" so I am THRILLED with
the results!! Consider also that I spent $$ on Valentine's Day for both Kazi and Michael, never used the restaurant gift card or probably the BIGGEST accomplishment of all - I didn't spend ONE PENNY at Starbucks - woot woot!!

(Hmmmmmm I am seeing some possible future savings for EVERY month...)



Since I created these charts on http://www.spendingdiary.com/ a couple of days ago another $52.00 was spent on food but I'm too lazy to make the change
right now
so you'll just have to trust me on that one..heh heh heh:)
I also opened up another two, yes two, new savings accounts
with ING and put a whopping $10 in each of them.
I've decided to bite the bullet NOW and start saving for
my trailer rental fee (for 2012) and for the home insurance and
property tax for my property in PEI. This year's trailer
rental fee will come from my expected tax refund.

I think that I now have ALL of my weekly/monthly/annual expenses
covered, at least I sure hope so....is there a limit to how many
savings accounts one can have with ING???

On another entirely unrelated topic I'd like to thank some newer readers for stopping by and taking the time to read what I have to say.
It really means a lot to me when someone not only reads my posts but leaves a comment. Some folks, however, don't have a google
profile/blog so I can't thank them more personally so I
hope you are reading THIS post so you know that I'm grateful for
your readership.
So, thank you to Mena, anonymous, psych sarah, mary, christy, julie and bev and anyone else who has taken the time to pause for a moment and read.
Thank you - you brighten my day!





The Twelve Days of February

This is the first day of the final 12 days of February. Are you going to make it to the end of the month before the end of your money?? That seems to be the big question right now. Sharon, the creator of the No Spend February challenge is down to $271.00 for the rest of February (but she heard about a way to find some unclaimed money - to find out how she did this click HERE!)

Yesterday I unexpectedly had to spend $30 at the drugstore. Rats! Fortunately I am doing well in the categories of food and gas due to a little help from other family members. (Sidenote: I just found out I LOVE LENTILS!!! They are delicious AND inexpensive!!)  As it stands right now I have $102.00 left for groceries, $75.00 left for gas and $68.00 left in misc spending for a grand total of...wait for it...$245.00. Normally I would say that's enough but this Friday Michael and I are celebrating an anniversary as well as Valentine's as we didn't get to spend Valentine's Day together.

To save $$ Michael is cooking dinner at home, then we plan to go to a couple of movies and maybe out for a drink after the movies. We'll save more $$ by going to see the movies at the Rainbow.  Do you suppose the jazz club will let us BYOB??

Well, we're over the hump - tomorrow's Friday and this has been a pretty good week overall. Our broken angel is doing quiet well with our new strategies provided by a behavioral consultant from CPRI. The staff is working together well and the week has been much less stressful. Tomorrow our Best Buddies are coming to visit and we're having a pizza lunch:)

THEN - a THREE DAY WEEKEND!! This coming Monday is "Family Day" in Canada, a fairly new holiday (I think this is the 3rd year since it was implemented). I am really looking forward to spending a day with my wee family and to working a 4 day week next week.

Do you (my fellow Canuks) have Family Day plans??

Have a Sweet Valentine's Day!

If you read my Valentine's diatribe you'll have noted that the cynics were very much outnumbered by the believers. I think that says something nice about the world. (or at least about my READERS!!)

Today I received some cozy red "reading socks" (I can just envision being curled up by my woodstove in PEI with my red socks on:) AND a beautifully written original poem by Michael along with a special picture of the two of us.

Romantic stuff huh?  Sheesh he can be a mushy guy!

In return I had the photo of our foot impressions on the Northport Beach in PEI enlarged and framed in a beautiful frame made of juniper wood. That is especially poignant because the lovingly restored floors in our old farmhouse are juniper. For his sweet tooth a box of his favourite Dad's oatmeal cookies.

And a really mushy card.

For my darling daughter - an album of photos of the two of us from her 20th birthday party:

For her sweet tooth - a bag of caramel-filled chocolate hearts.  And because I am forever practical and she's been complaining of not having enough hangers I gave her a $5 pack of 30 plastic hangers.

So today was a bit of a spending day though spending on my loved ones was such a treat. The photos came to about $10, the frame and photo albums, cookies, candy, hangers and cards about another $45. I don't mind - I still have enough misc $$ to see me through until the end of the month plus money for gas and groceries.

I feel very blessed and forever grateful to have love in my life - the love of my amazing daughter and the love of a very good man. 

Here's my two week summary for No Spend February:

Right on Track!

A Lazy Day

We are having a quiet day around here - reading, blogging, doing laundry and I just made a big pot of ratatouille to take for lunch this week. I'll do my two week summary tomorrow as my little Valentine's Day treat and then Tuesday is payday and will take me to the end of the month (I hope). I did spend a little bit yesterday, but not much: $3.00 for the National Post (I caved), $5.00 cover charge for dancing last night, $6.00 for a Heineken (isn't that outrageous?) and about $1.00 for tipping the lady in the washroom. So a fairly inexpensive night.

As I glance over at Michael who is laying on the couch reading a book I think his eyes are closed:) No hiking today, just a restful, peaceful, relaxing Sunday afternoon.

I leave you with a song by the Moody Blues - remember them?

LAZY DAY by the Moody Blues

Lazy day, Sunday afternoon,
Like to get your feet up, watch T.V.
Sunday roast is something good to eat,
Must be beef today 'cause lamb was last week.

So full up, bursting at the seams,
Soon you'll start to nod off, happy dreams.
Wake up, for tea and buttered scones
Such a lot of work for you Sunday Moms.

It's such a crying shame
Week after week the same.
Today's heaven-sent and you're feeling content,
You worked all week long.
Still, it's quite sad tomorrow's so bad
And I don't feel so strong.

Lazy day, Sunday afternoon,
Like to get your feet up, watch T.V.
Sunday roast is something good to eat,
Now it's almost over till week.

That's how your life goes by
Until the day you die.

Girls' Night In

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yummy!

This is my contribution to our girl's night potluck supper.

Actually, I didn't make it 'cause around here the

master chef's name is Michael!

Michael made 40 Clove Chicken in the crockpot

and we're talking garlic

here - yes 40 cloves of garlic - though he says

he used what we had and there weren't 40 cloves left

but I sampled a tiny bit and it is so deliciously

garlicky and tender and moist. Other

ingredients include - wine, lemon juice, parsley,

oregano, basil, red pepper and celery.

Scrumptious, that's what I say!

I know there's going to be corn bread and crab cakes and

who know's what else - hopefully something chocolatey!

We're staying in and will likely kill ourselves

laughing, play guitar hero (Oh yes, I am pretty good on the

drums and guitar!), play board games, dance,

eat, drink and be merry!

Hope your weekend is getting off to a good start!

I'll do my weekly financial summary in a day or two.

Remember how I accidentally put too much into savings

at the beginning of NO Spend February leaving me with only

$82 misc spending for the entire month??

Well...due to only spending $150 in groceries for the

first two weeks of February and underestimating a couple of bills

I now have $114 in misc spending!!

Magical! It's gone up!!

Let's have NO SPEND MONTH every month!

And that's after I spent $13.45 on a small bottle

of rum - my only misc spend so far this month other than

service charges!

 Now I'm hopeful that I can make an extra small payment

on my line of credit to round it off to an even number.

A payment of $90 would bring it down from $48066

to $46600 for the month of February:)

Woo hoo!

That's nearly $10,000 paid off since August, 2010!

I'm going to put myself on the line here and predict that

by August of this year I will have paid off

another

$10,000.00!!

I really think I can do it!

Bad Day - Turn that Frown Upside Down

I pride myself on maintaining my sense of humour even on the worst of days. My day was pretty crappy, but not as crappy as the escape artist's day is about to come - yuck yuck yuck!

I don't want to go into great detail because I'm not a whiner - suffice it to say that a couple of my students had a really tough time today, then I had a looooooooooong meeting about one of the students, then I had a lot of school-related errands to run and arrived home finally at 6:45 pm, more than 12 hours after I left this morning. Then I proceeded to work up a new schedule for one of my students and just finished a couple of minutes ago. Just in time to get ready for bed as my throat/cough is adding to my sense of general blechhiness (yes, that's a word - in my dictionary anyways;) all day I was having hot flash after hot flash and then I realized - I probably just have a fever, silly me! 

And so, I leave you with a song as music always soothes the soul, hopefully it will get your toes tapping...

 

On the bright side I had another No Spend Day! :)

Weekly Wrap - First Week of No Spend February

 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!

The Greatest Discoveries Were Made by Mistake

Some incredibly wise person once rationalized their mistakes by saying the following:

"The greatest discoveries were made by mistake."

That incredibly wise person wasn't me but I'm happy to agree with good ol' whatzername.

I made a little oopsie, well more of an omission, it was really nothing at all, at least...I did nothing...and that was the problem.

What I meant to do was reduce my long term savings to $500 for the month of February from the usual $650 due to lowered income this month...due to my exceedingly generous donation (payroll deduction:p) to the Ontario College of Teachers. H  o  w  e  v  e  r...I forgot to make the change to the automatic transfer from my chequing to my TFSA and $650 was transferred.

Oh poo.

So my reckless and carefree plan (oh, yes, I have a plan) is to leave the $$ in savings, take it from my misc amount which leaves me with a whopping $82 in misc. spending for the remaining 25 days of February. Seems a wee bit tight but who knows...my mistake may turn into a great discovery like...I can live on less! Or perhaps I was meant to sell pencils on the corner...who knows???

Over the past 3 days of our No Spend February Challenge I have spent $0.00 in total above and beyond fixed expenses.  If I limit my spending to weekends only (not hard) plus Valentine's Day (that's a total of 9 days) I can spend $9.11 per day - hey, that's not so bad. OR, if I just spent $$ on Saturdays and Valentine's Day (5 days) I could spend $18.22 per day - wow, that seems like a lot!

Ok, I think I've figured out the "GREAT DISCOVERY" - my ability to do mental arithmetic in rapidly improving!!!

A Most Unusual Tuesday

Today is one of two days per school year that I am allowed to work at home. It is exam week and today is the day that students can go to school to talk about how they did on their exam. Since my students don't have exams they, and I, didn't have to go to school. Though it is expected that I actually will be working. And I did.

I finished the master schedule which magically meshes together the work schedules of 6 EAs with the timetables of 10 students. Of course, if it really was magical, it wouldn't have taken me a week to get it done! Then on top of that I created an individual schedule for each EA so that when they have a sick day I can give it to their supply. And then I created a Crisis Response Plan for the two students I have that display aggression from time to time. Then I stopped for a coffee break and played Free Cell and then took another break and made a pot of soup - now that's what's magical about working from home. Not to mention I'm wearing my sloppiest looking workout clothes (actually Michael's track pants - thanks honeybuns:) and a stretched-out discarded sweater from my DD. LOVE IT!!  NO MAKEUP - even better!!

So my envy of you working-at-home ladies knows no bounds!

The best part of today is that it is both February 1st - the first day of NO SPEND MONTH and a NO SPEND day! There's another advantage of staying home in my sloppy clothes and no makeup - I don't dare go out of the house looking this to spend any $$:)  Hmmmmmm - maybe I could come up with a mysterious illness that requires me to stay home for the next 28 days!! I'd better get on google!

I'm also hoping that the "Baby Armageddon" of a snowstorm that is on its way here from Texas keeps me home for another day tomorrow. It's a PD day tomorrow and last I heard we were being given the time to prepare for next semester which starts Thursday. Could I be so lucky as to get another day at home? Probably not.

Before I go I have to give a shoutout to Niki for guessing the ABBA song the other day - she was the first, but not the last:) Yay Niki!

Here's today's lyric - guess the band! And the singer!

"I have finally found a way to live



Just like I never could before.


I know that I don't have much to give,


But I can open any door.




Everybody knows the secret,


Everybody knows the score.


I have finally found a way to live


In the color of the Lord."

Cheers!

On to Trenton, ON

I was very grateful to receive the above cheque from my insurance company today which was the deductible owed to me from my daughter's car accident in October:)

I made the following disbursements:
Line of Credit - $40.00 because I like nice round numbers
Emergency Fund - $$468.02

I know those two amounts don't add up to exactly $500 but I contributed a little from my misc spending in order to have a nice round number in my EF - which now stands proudly at $1300!!!!! Woo hoo! At $200 per month I'll have $2000 by mid-May. I am so excited!!

Now to come back down to earth. My goal in No Spend February is to stay on budget. Sounds rather lacklustre doesn't it? I've had to reduce savings, groceries, gas $ and misc spending in order to maintain zero budgeting due to having lower income in February. One thing I won't reduce is the $1200 payment to my line of credit (broken into 2 payments of $600.00 each), my monthly $100 charitable donation, $100 for Christmas or the last payment to top up my RSP of $323. So my No Spend February won't accomplish anything miraculous but it will help get me through the toughest month of the year.

March won't be quite so bad. I'll have a juicy tax refund to play with and my payroll deductions will be back to normal. I also plan to play around with numbers while doing my tax return - I'm considering other options other than an RSP and want to see what that will do to my refund.

Now off to my bicycle - only 62km to go until I reach Trenton, ON. Michael's son lives there (he's a firefighter on the army base there) so I'll have somewhere to rest while replacing the bandaids on my feet!

Finally....Closure

Kazi was sick yesterday when I got home from school so I ended up not going to volleyball, but that was ok because it turns out I forgot to register for this session anyway! Kazi had flu-like symptoms so I made a quick run to the grocery store and bought gingerale, apple juice, clear soups and soda crackers.

During that time someone left a message on my cell which I forgot at home. Gee I'm getting forgetful...isn't that the first sign of...hmmmm can't remember. Anyhoo, I checked the message and lo and behold the insurance company finally got their hands on the police report from Kazi's accident back in October. AND THE OTHER DRIVER WAS CHARGED!! Kazi can move on now - she was so happy because she KNEW the other driver and their "mystery witness" weren't telling the truth.

This also means I will be receiving a $500 check as the other driver's insurance will be paying my deductible! I'm going to put part of it on my Line of Credit and the rest into emergency savings. My goal for NO SPEND February was to bump up my emergency savings which now stands at a measly $830 so cheers all round:)

Since I didn't go to volleyball I rode my bike, but rode at lower resistance and only 15 km. Knees feel good today. It was good to give them a day's rest.

So here it is, 7:21am and I'm having a great day! Hope you are too!!