By the Numbers

I have been bogged down lately due to my habit of taking literally thousands of photos when I travel. My recent trip to Scotland was no exception! I snapped crazily away at every waterfall, every mountain, every castle, every sheep, every island...well, you get the picture heeheehee. So far I have "sent to trash" around 1,000 photos due to being blurry, uninteresting, bad light etc. I hope to delete at least another 1,000 over the next few weeks, hopefully more.

So I thought I would do a "by the numbers" post as October has provided a number of numbers...groan...significant ones from my point of view. As the month is rapidly coming to a close this post could also serve as a budget update. Killing a few birds with a couple of big numbers, sort of....here goes.

• 290 + 145 = 435 pounds Sterling still in my money belt after the trip! That's never happened before, usually I spend all of my cash and then turn to credit cards. The 290 is what I had leftover, the 145 was what my brother had leftover and which he gifted to me towards my next trip. He's planning a trip for next year to Ireland where he'll be spending Euros instead. The 290 that I brought back is almost 1/3 of what I took with me (900 pounds) - my brother taught me a thing or two about how to be frugal while travelling :) 
• $411 Canadian dollars each - the total for 3 weeks of renting a car plus gas came to $411 each. I tried to put the 145 pounds he gave me towards the rental car but my brother wouldn't let me - he was quite adamant that it go towards my next trip. What a guy...but really, that was quite economical I thought thanks to my daughter who was working at Enterprise at the time and gave us a hefty discount. Thanks Kazi!!
• $1,000 - sent to savings this month.
• $55.97 - electricity which is quite high for this time of year but I was informed that the hot and humid weather lasted all through September requiring the continued use of A/C. Next bill should be lower. I've allotted $45 for November's budget.
• $45 - I've also allotted $45 for natural gas for November which is higher than October's bill as the furnace has started to kick in. My last bill was $33.08.
• $82.98 - my cell phone bill was a whopping $4.00 higher - I turned my phone on a couple times to use the GPS; my fingers are crossed that my next cell bill is back to its usual amount of $79.00. Yes, cell phones are expensive to operate in Canada.
• $280 - my food budget. I know I overspent on food as I stocked up my pantry for soup making, Scottish oat scone baking, crockpot recipes etc. I could find out how much I overspent but I don't really want to know...it was BAD!
• ZERO!! Gas for the car budget line. Yup. I had about a quarter tank when I returned and I had a $25.00 Esso card. Now at the end of October I have about half a tank still. I've been driving a little but still walking and biking a fair bit.
• $86.27 misc spending budget line was quite low this month though I did make a few small purchases: about $20 for a hockey stick, yes for me, I'm now playing ball hockey! Also bought new knee pads for volleyball for $25. I purchased 3 books from Amazon. While away we went to a number of bookstores, used and new, and I took photos of the covers of books I would like to buy as I can get them cheaper from Amazon. That amounted to $33.27. The other thing was $8.00 for a good pair of goggles hoping to stretch out the biking season a little. Cold air makes my eyes water, especially when biking so I'll see if the goggles cut the breeze a bit. Worth a shot. I had allotted $500 to my misc budget so the leftover amount went to paying down my mastercard. 
• $100 - The outstanding amount still on my credit card. $111.00 is what I have left in my chequing account. I am going to pay off my credit card and will have $11 left to spend until Oct. 31 when I get "paid".  That's a bit of a stretch but I've starting putting money in my snowflake tin once again. I was able to stash $200 this month. So if I have any sort of emergency like running out of Miss Vickie's salt and vinegar chips then I'll have to use a snowflake or two!
• 73,000-68,698 = 4,302!!!!!!!!! This is my most significant number as of yesterday. I saw my odometer turn over to 73,000kms. When I purchased my used Honda Civic it had 68,698kms on it. I purchased it in September 2017. So in 13 months I have driven only 4,302kms (which equals 2673.14 miles) The average is 20,000kms per year. I am thrilled with that number! You will remember I wanted to go car free but then decided it would be too difficult. I have achieved a compromise that I can live with....for now.
• 15 - doing all that walking and biking over the past year has helped me achieve one other goal - to lose 15 lbs! Yay me! Those extra lbs have been really hard to shift thanks to menopause, my age and my metabolism slowing way down. 

So that's it for now. I will share more photos after another round of editing..but will leave you this one til then...

Traffic jam on the Isle of Skye!

The Cost of Christmas

I really don't want to know!

Actually, it's not that bad. I started December with a misc budget of close to $1,000.00. That had to cover all gifts (Kazi, her boyfriend, neighbour, 3 girlfriends, 2 brothers, 1 sister-in-law plus her mother and brother, my nephew his wife and their son - my great-nephew). Oh...and me!! (my gifts to me are all from the used bookstore! I hope Luna doesn't pick the one I want to read first!)

And let's not forget Luna and Lily...I bought some treats and toys for their stockings...sorry, Lily, you have to wait til Friday!!!

But that's not all. My misc budget also covers entertainment - eating out, going for drinks etc. It covers decorations - I bought a new (fake) Christmas tree (40% off) and light up wall decoration...(70% off!)

...and then there's the baking supplies...Bulk Barn LOVES me!

...and the Christmas candy...yes, they follow me wherever I go! (Bulk Barn)

...the craft supplies... (Walmart and Michael's)

...and the liquor too! (tastes the same as Bailey's at a third of the cost!)

Christmas can easily get out of hand - I saw in the financial news today that Canadians are the worst abusers of their credit cards....in the entire WORLD!!  So...I must confess....that I used my President's Choice Mastercard for ALL of my purchases...then went home and promptly paid them off! Why? So I would have enough points to purchase Kazi's new comforter set and new pillows, new sheets and all of her stocking gifts!! That's what saves my bacon every year - POINTS! 

My cheap thrifty ways continue into retirement! My gift giving this year includes crocheted wash/dish cloths along with new Body Shop soaps and lotions;  homemade treats and 2nd hand books. Points bought the new stuff and my baking supplies were bought in bulk. I'm not a label whore so Cartier's Irish Cream is very satisfying. 

I am proud to announce that I still have $$ left in my chequing account! Not a huge amount but enough to get me to the end of the month. My fridge is stuffed and my truck has a full tank of gas. I vowed to myself I wouldn't take money out of savings and I didn't. Yippeeeeeee! 

Did you have a Christmas budget? Did you stick to it?

Getting Excited - 56 Days to Go!

I have had a thrilling day. And for once I'm being serious! However, you'll have to wait a little bit before I share my news! Or you could guess...hahaha...Here's a hint - I spent many many hours on my lovely laptop today :)  That's it, that's all you get.

Oh, something I will share is the amazing deal I made yesterday on www.shop.ca! Not sure if there is an equivalent shop.com in the U.S.?? Anyhoo I ordered my dining room area rug a few months ago from shop.ca and was impressed with their service. It arrived 2 days after I ordered it! Their prices are reasonable, their selection HUGE and there are always lots of things on sale. The gorgeous rug I purchased was only $120 (6'x8') and delivery is free anywhere in Canada. I see that coming in very handy in P.E.I.

On to my deals...I noticed a few days ago that shop.ca has partnered with aeroplan and until May 16 they are offering 15 aeroplan miles for every dollar spent! So I decided this was a good time to order a few things I've had my eye on so I did, I went for it! Carla - I'm finally buying that Vitamix I've always wanted! And also a picnic table that folds up into a suitcase (a large-ish suitcase), an inside grill for those frequent windy PEI days, a few more kitchen items, some solar lights for on top of posts, and a water pic. (been wanting one of those for a long time!)

AND I am now the proud owner of enough aeroplan miles to fly home from Charlottetown, PEI!! Pretty good deal eh? And I'm not even finished yet! I used my President's Choice master card and thus earned another big bunch of points I can use for free groceries!! She shoots...she SCORES!

Did lots of cooking today - made a yummy smelling cauliflower soup and did lots of juicing. I have some cooked shrimp for salads and some chicken defrosting. I'll bake that tomorrow. And I got my laundry all caught up - just need to put the sheets back on my bed. I'm still sticking with the flannel - it's just not warm enough to make the switch to cotton yet. But warm weather is in the forecast for the coming week so the bike will get some action! Tomorrow the day starts at a chilly 2c so I may wait til Tuesday to ride my book to school. YAY!!

On to the pile of stuff I brought home from school. Now that everyone knows I'm retiring the cleanup has revved into high gear. I've made some serious inroads but have a long ways to go still.  I'm surprised (though I shouldn't be) of how much stuff I've brought in from home over the years...I tell ya, teaching is not a job...it's a lifestyle! 

 An overview of what I brought home on Friday...

The light in the fridge at school burned out so I bought a package which contained 2 bulbs, may as well keep an extra on hand at home...

a photo of my favourite guy - Todd!! We're planning a retirement party and he is at the top of my list of invites - he graduated 3 years ago and not a day goes by that I don't think of him and miss him :)

Dust masks - not sure why I had these at school but there must have been a reason lol! They will come in handy when I start to carve wood again and/or refinish furniture.

These are great for painting trim!

Two document pouches...

Packing tape dispenser, yes I'll definitely put this to good use!

Index cards for my future office...

 Another bunch of CD's and even a cassette!

Empty notebooks - I won't run out of paper any time soon!

That's all she wrote today folks! I'm off to exercise and have some soup. And a little old Tiskybella is telling me she's hungry too! Happy Sunday! (Why do the weekends go so quickly???)