From Bad to Worse

This is me, minus the moustache, counting my loose change. However there isn't enough loose change in this house to cover my messy chequing account. Just when I thought I had everything under control my insurance bill comes through almost $40+ higher than I thought it was going to be. Must read renewals more closely in future! And yet another little Paypal payment went through today that I forgot about...what the heck!?!

So now I'm more than a nickel short, I'm $57 short. That sucks. Do I transfer from savings or dip into my "not so sealed" POT? It never fails...I hate this time of year. More month than money even though it's a short month.

That's it, I'm going to bed.

Sealed Pot Blues

My lovely sealed pot has become  ......... undone.

I've been keeping bills inside my little pot but I couldn't keep all of the rolled coins in there (my pot was much too small) and I also had a huge jar of loose coins.  So a couple of days ago I rolled all the coins I had and marched off to the bank. My other purpose of going to the bank was to close my checking account and close my line of credit. Unfortunately it cost me $272 to discharge the mortgage attached to my line of credit. I handed over the $192 that I had received for the rolled coins plus another $80.

Right now I have no way of paying back my sealed pot the $192.  Even worse, it looks like I might have to make use of the bills in there for my birthday weekend away next weekend. So I feel like I'm having a little Christmas in May! It does make me sad though to have to use that money now but the money is going towards two things that make me VERY happy! My line of credit is KAPUT and I really need a weekend away right now.  I will consider the time away as some much needed stress therapy.

I am going to continue to save $$ in my sealed pot. And when I can I will make up for what I've taken out. It's all my stupid fault for thinking I could afford that lovely fire burner which I purchased at the beginning of May.  And I forgot how much it costs to get my passport renewed ($87) along with the cost of new photos for it($18). Then there was the license sticker for my car ($75) and the new fans/frying pan/sandals at Zellers ($108) and the little splurge at Talize ($40).  Oh, and let's not forget the $288 for my property taxes out in PEI!!

The only thing that makes me feel better (well, not the only thing) is that with the help of my sealed pot I am not adding anything to my credit card.  True, I didn't get to save quite as much as I wanted to but I did save a fair bit. And I think I can make it to the end of May without too much more trouble. (I probably shouldn't have said that - leave me alone Murphy!!)

Time Marches On

Bye bye March! Can't say I'm sad to see you go! Though I do miss your weather.... stupid me exchanged my dark and disgusting winter clothes for my brighter more colourful spring and summer wear in my closet. So then Mother Nature stuck her tongue out at me big time for my silliness and sent snow and ice pellets - serves me right I guess. Today I have my front door open anyway just for spite - it's a good thing (sometimes) that I have my hot flashes to keep me warm. I REALLY don't want to have to turn the furnace back on -
NO WAY! 


Just got my natural gas bill and although I budgeted $70 it rang in at only $51.62!! So another $18 for me! Natural gas heats my home, my hot water AND dries my clothes - very economical! I almost put the word "my" at the beginning of that last sentence but thought that might confuse y'all a little - it's not MY natural gas!! (heehee)

So I'm closing March's budget and have April's all ready to go. Although I complained about March being a spendy month I ended up with $16 left in my chequing account and $10 in my wallet plus I paid an extra $88 to my credit card so that when June rolls around I'll have a credit large enough on the card to pay for our new TV that we bought in January. The $16 got added into April's budget and the $10 went into my sealed pot.

I do have a confession to make, however. I did make two other purchases that I will now be working on paying off, hence I've joined Francesca over at the Tasmanian Minimalist in her NO FRIPPERIES APRIL challenge. We are going to TRY to not buy anything but necessities for the month of April. Now, this is going to be hard, especially if the nice weather makes a comeback as I'd like to purchase some new sandals, but I think I can wait until May.

So, my two other purchases....

• I sort of found myself in Winner's a couple of weeks ago when the weather was actually HOT and somehow some new clothes found their way into my cart - I don't know how it happened, really. And just to assuage my guilt I bought a couple of things for Michael and Kazi too!!! (oops)
• This one I'll blame on SFT over at SFT's Travel, Mortgage Freedom, 101 and Life Goals blog! After reading about her anniversary plans and the wonderful inn she stayed in and the lovely meals etc I decided I deserved (there's that bad word - deserved) a birthday weekend away in May! I did some checking around on B&B websites and found the PERFECT ROOM in a simply gorgeous home in Niagara Falls.  The rooms all have names and this room is called THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE STARS which has very personal meaning for Michael and I. When Michael and I first met and he came to stay at my trailer in Bayfield he asked me about the decorations I had attached to the lattice of my porch: a large metallic sun, several stars in different colours and a moon. I told him that at the trailer I have the Sun, the Moon and the Stars as opposed to when I'm in the city and I can't even see the stars at night! So when I saw the name of the room and it's low off-season price I knew it was meant to be! 

Isn't it simply divine??  I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it LOL!!

Weight Gain of 3.5lbs....

Yes, sad but true!

But luckily I was holding my Sealed Pot when I was on the scales!! I know in terms of money 3.5lbs isn't a lot but then $5 bills don't weigh very much tee hee! I save my pennies, nickels and dimes in a separate pot and when I have enough to roll I add them to my Sealed Pot and today I was able to make a roll of dimes - so another $5.00 for the pot!

I haven't done a financial report yet for March so here goes:

Money in the bank - yes
Owe money to the bank - yes but less
Credit cards paid off - yes
Interest and payments made on line of credit - yes
Food in the fridge - enough
Bills all paid in full - yes
Money transferred to savings - yes
Money transferred to credit card ($88) to pay for TV in June - yes
Tax refund received - not yet but soon

So, there you have it. The budget is chugging along taking care of itself. Payday is next Thursday and I'll likely have my refund by then too. I read somewhere that getting a refund is just poor planning. That I should ask to have more tax taken off at the source as opposed to lending it interest free to the gov't but I kinda like getting a nice little lump sum that would probably otherwise just get frittered away.

I am giving myself the gift of today to have as a lazy day. Read the paper, drink coffee and tea, catch up on blogs and posting, start a new book, maybe take a nap. I had a lovely dinner out with my brother and sister-in-law and then caught up with friends to go dancing and listen to a band that a friend plays in. I had a great time dancing and laughing with my girlfriends and Michael but when I got home my head was buzzing and my ears were ringing so I stayed up for a while to unwind making it 3am by the time I got to bed! But, that's ok, because I have a week off to catch up on things I need to do. Today, I can just "be".

What have you been up to on this lovely sunny Saturday?

Challenging Challenges

Besides Carla's double challenge of No/Low Spending and Decluttering my little piece of the universe I am taking part in two other challenges - The 10 Pound Challenge with Erika at Newlyweds on a Budget and The Sealed Pot Challenge with Sft at Travel, Mortgage Freedom, 101 and Life Goals. Also, once Little Lamb at Little Lam Wants to be Debt Free  becomes debt-free (very very soon!!) I will be joining her celebration by dedicating a 25km bike ride to her amazing accomplishment!

You could say that I'm challenged.

Here is a look at my Sealed Pot:

Now, I don't weigh mine like some people I know (Carla), but then $5.00 bills don't weigh very much! I'm keeping it well fed. I have a feeling I might need to make another pot or find something a little larger. But I'll wait and see. I've been thinking a lot about what I'll do with the money and I think I've finally decided. I'm going to put the money into something I really need for my home in PEI. I don't know what that'll be yet, but by December I will have made up my mind. Some possibilities are: a tankless hot water heater, new deck, new fence, leveling the driveway, commissioning a headboard from Jeffery Kerras at Back Road Folk Art, or another piece of furniture for the house.

I'm glad I didn't make a firm decision right off the bat about how I wanted to use the money once opened. It's nice to have something to dream about and I can keep changing my mind right up until December.

The 10 Pound Challenge is a different story:

I haven't been as successful with this challenge as I would like. There have been a lot of ups and downs, lots of temptations - invitations to dinner, eating out, Valentine's Day dinner and so on. I would say that 5/7 days per week I'm sticking to my "eating plan" (stole that from Gill - it's so NOT a diet!!)  Hence the ups and downs.

Now, if it were a TRUE eating plan I'd be able to stick to it even when I eat out, but I haven't been. I've been indulging myself. My only saving grace is I still have until April  16 to lose the ten pounds. I have lost a solid seven pounds and do notice the difference in the waist band of my clothes. I would like to lose at least another seven pounds for a total of fourteen pounds. Sooooooooooooooo I will keep trying. And trying. And trying. I won't give up. I'm pretty confident I can get to ten pounds by April 16. Then I'll try for another four to five pounds more by summer. I have hung onto a big pile of summer clothes from skinnier days - if I can't wear them THIS summer then out they go. I really don't to do that, hence the CHALLENGE!

Sigh......OK, time to get my but in gear...I think I need to go have some lunch...I'm suddenly feeling very hungry!

Double Challenge Month Update

Time for a little review (gee, I sound like a teacher don't I?). Just what HAVE I accomplished so far this month? It's a good thing I wrote down my goals on a separate page at the top of my blog!! LISTS are NOT for the feeble-minded, they are for the PRODUCTIVITY QUEENS like US - ya hear that Carla? - I said PRODUCTIVE!!
1. Financial Goal - set aside $88 towards the $440 I need to save for my half of the new TV! DONE!! (In fact I might end up saving a little extra and if I do I am going to put that money on my Line of Credit! Although the month got off to a rocky start (had to spend over $80 on ink cartridges plus my income has decreased by $500 per month) I have to say the last two weeks have been much better. I've had quite a few No Spend days AND I've stuck a few $5.00 bills into my Sealed Pot!

Decluttering Goals: (Carla - I did my decluttering challenges in a slightly different order - I hope that's ok!)
1. Personal Space Challenge: I chose to organize and declutter the ROOM OF MY OWN!  DONE
2. Family Space Challenge: I decluttered and organized our TV Room/guest bedroom/cat's room/my dressing room. DONE
3. I did the Dreaded Challenge in the 3rd week as I just wanted to get it over with! I chose to clean my itsy bitsy teeny weeny linen closet which of course doesn't come close to being as huge or messy as Kim's was but I still dreaded it all the same!! DONE!
4.  The Productivity Challenge: I chose to change my laundry habits by a) co-mingling my laundry with Kazi's and Michael's and b) doing it after 7pm on week nights instead of spending my Saturdays doing it. Partially DONE - happily I still have another week and a bit to change this habit. I only did a load of laundry Thursday night - I had one ready to go last night but something came up (plans changed - we went out!) so here I am again on Saturday doing my laundry (though it is co-mingled!)  HOWEVER, you wouldn't believe how PRODUCTIVE I'm being Carla!! In addition to laundry I've made a huge pot of soup, have cooked up a 1/2 package of chicken bacon (Carla - I could eat bacon everyday too!) AND have made a new batch of oat squares (this time I used brown rice flour instead of whole wheat) AND I've read two newspapers!! This is even more AMAZINGLY AWESOME AND PRODUCTIVE because I didn't go to bed til 2:30am AND got up to drive Michael to work. Maybe that's the answer to my productivity challenges - I should sleep LESS! So...next week I will continue with the productivity challenge and do my laundry in the evenings thereby leaving my weekend free for other things - like listing some items for sale on kijiji! 


Mini-Challenges:
1. Donate food to the foodbank or a similar needy program or family. DONE! I donated juice boxes and granola bars to our breakfast program at school.
2. Write a card/note/letter to someone using snail mail. DONE! I sent out two cards to my sisters who both live in Bracebridge.
3.
4.

Carla - have you given us the 3rd and 4th mini challenges yet?

I can see the light at the end of February! We're quite well stocked up on food and Kazi and Michael have been paying for gas for the car we all share. I think that overall February has been a great month thanks to Carla's challenges - I've been pretty frugal, I've spend my time organizing and getting rid of unwanted stuff and I've had a lot of fun besides! So Carla - THANK YOU!!

Saturday Befores and No/Low Spend February Update

I have been extremely fortunate so far this February. The only extra expense has been the purchase of ink cartridges for my home printer. That $80.00 expense has been counteracted by having several other bills come in under estimate AND by Michael and Kazi both contributing to the purchase. My heating bill was under estimate by $22 due to a mild winter and low natural gas prices; my electricity bill was under estimate by $6 and my PEI electric bill was under by $22. I have set the $88 aside that I needed to save this month towards the cost of our new TV and still have $234 left for misc spending for February. So, unless something really unexpected happens this month I should be able to meet my financial goal.

Our Valentine's Day plans include going out for wings (we will split the cost) and then going to see "Safe House" for $4.00 as it's cheap Tuesday at Rainbow Cinema. While I haven't had many No Spend days this month I have had many LOW spend days. I can live with that. My Sealed Pot hasn't seen much action this month as I've been using my debit card or PC points mastercard for purchases, but since I didn't go out this morning for a newspaper and coffee due to the bad weather I put the $5.00 I would have spent into my pot instead. I guess we just can't have it ALL!


Today's challenges have been set up and photographed for the "before" shots.  They are:

...sending someone a card or letter using "snail mail" so here are the three cards I'm going to send to 3/4 of my siblings.  Why only 3 of my 4 siblings you ask? Well, because I am going to email my brother Gord as I need to ask him a question requiring a more immediate response.

These three cards were made from photos of my friend Jule's much larger sized artwork. They were chosen by Reforest London for the purpose of making note cards to raise money for planting trees in our city.

One byproduct of this challenge has already manifested - I store my cards in the bottom drawer of a wicker filing cabinet. Sorry, no before shot but while looking for cards to use I ended up sorting and tossing cards received over the past...oh.....twenty years or so!! Then I matched up cards with proper sized envelopes so they'll be ready to use when I need them. So a little bonus decluttering project for today:)

After getting the cards written, addressed and stamped I'll take another photo for tomorrow's "After Shots" post. The decluttering challenge for today is my "dreaded challenge" which for me is the upstairs linen closet. Here are the before photos:

 This is the stuff that doesn't FIT INTO THE LINEN CLOSET so it sits on top of a bookcase beside the linen closet!!

 The dreaded closet....

...the stuff that falls on my head...

 ...a mishmash of lotions, potions and notions....

...sheets, pillow cases, and sundry other items that DO NOT belong there...

...the sleeping bag is covering up a number of sins...and somewhere in there is my sewing machine and who knows what else??

All right... the dreaded moment has arrived. The laundry is done, the dishes are done, the garbage has been collected so there are no other procrastinations I can manufacture!  I am going to take myself up there (cue spooky music) and face the monster once and for all!!

Closing January No/Low Spend

Well I've done all the cleaning I'm going to do today. The rest will have to wait. With the snowing and blowing that is going on outside my window though it was a good day to stay in and do a bit of frenzied cleaning. I'm sure I got a fair bit of exercise to-ing and fro-ing with the vacuum and running up and down sets of stairs with heavy laundry baskets.

As Tuesday is payday and with plenty of food in the house and gas in the car I think I can call it a month and tally up my numbers. I'm very happy with my low spending this month - I was more conscious of every single dollar I spent than I've ever been before and I still have $300+ put aside to pay for The Flood repairs when the bill comes in February. I also have an extra $50 left and if I manage not to spend it before payday on the 31st then it's going into my Sealed Pot, every cent of it! I'm telling you I'm having so much fun with my Sealed Pot - I don't know which is better - having a NO Spend day or spending a little so I can put change into my pot! It's a tough call! (Thanks to sft for this great challenge!!)

I did spend a little yesterday, just couldn't help splurging after being so "IN CONTROL" all month! It's really not my fault! I had to go to the new Goodwill Store downtown because one of my students has been hired on there and I had to get him to sign a form. Since I'd never been there before I decided to have a look around - oopsy!! See, I didn't go straight home from school in order to have a NO Spend day, but heck, I can't stay home all of the time...can I?  I spent $14.00! There, I've said it, I've just blurted it out - FOURTEEN DOLLARS!!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeK!!  I bought two tops I didn't need - one was an H&M top with the price tag ($39.99) still on it and another gorgeous blue and white tie dyed top that looks so good with my jeans - how could I resist? Oh, and I've been wanting to get a candle holder of some sort for my Room of my Own and I found the perfect one! My favorite shape is the spiral I think because of my celtic roots.

So there you have it - I squandered $14 on a whim - can you see why I need a personal finance blog to keep me in check?!? Oh yes, and that wasn't the end of my spending, oh no, I also bought some Halls for my dry and scratchy throat - YES - I'm a wastrel!! 

In case you didn't read between the lines there that were dripping with sarcasm directed at myself then go back and reread tee hee! Just having Michael compliment me last night on the H&M top made the purchase worthwhile:) I may wear the other one tonight as I'm going to Jambalaya with a girlfriend and then we might go to a movie. I know I know - I'm out of CONTROL!! (Actually, my dinner will be free and the movie will be $9 and I have $30 cash in my wallet so whatever is left by Tuesday will also go into my pot!)

The next few months will be very lean. This is the time of year when my payroll deductions go waaaaaaay up thanks to the Canada Pension Plan so I will be operating on $500 less per month until July when I no longer pay union dues (July & August)  and then in August my CPP is all paid up for the year and I start to get that $500 back again. So a NO/Low February will not be optional for me. I'll go into the details for Carla's challenges tomorrow. For now I'll leave you with photos of my new purchases!

                        $4.00

                   $5.00

                     $5.00

NO/LOW Spend January - Week Three

This week I only managed 2/7 No Spend Days. But I don't think I did any frivolous spending - you can give me your opinion as always.  This has been and will continue to be a quiet weekend. Both Michael and I have been diagnosed with the detestable "gucky throat" syndrome which is accompanied by the ever present "dry hack" or "wheeze" depending on your point of view.  Thus we are staying put and resting our weary bods. Well, at least I am. Michael is working today unfortunately but did take a day off yesterday. Last night we decided to give Netflix a try...well, at least we're giving their "free month" a try and we'll decide after that. I'm keeping close tabs on our "internet usage" and the movie we watched last night used just under half a gig. We get 60 gigs a month with our current package and I want to make sure we don't go over or we'll have to pay so much per extra gig.

Without further ado let's get to this week's spending. You'll not likely remember but last Saturday I had $20 in my wallet and $155 in the bank which included $50 car insurance $$ from Kazi. Not a lot at that point with 17 days left of January and now I have a lot LESS!!

• Sunday, Jan. 15:  We went to Starbucks/Chapters (my downfall) and I spent $11.38 for a card and a small gift for Michael - did I need to buy him anything more? No, but I saw a really cute metal case with a small notepad (yup, fell for another notepad but not for me this time!!) that locked when you slid the cutest little pen through the closing apparatus. I also had a coffee but used my gift card. I put the change into my sealed post when I got home ($3.62) So I was left with $5.00!  Then Kazi gave me her insurance money in cash so I added that to my wallet giving me $55.00 and I immediately turned around and stuffed the $5.00 into my sealed pot.  If I run out of money before the end of the month it'll be because I LOVE stuffing money into my sealed pot!! Money in my wallet now - $50.00
• Monday, Jan. 16:   NO SPEND - Hallelujah!!
• Tuesday, Jan. 17:   took Michael to Chaucer's pub for a glass of wine followed by a specialty coffee which cost me $30.00 including tip - YIKES!!  But yes, as you all know...he's so worth it!! So now I have only $20.00 in my wallet.
• Wednesday, Jan. 18: Good grief it's date night!! We met on the 18th day of April so every month on the 18th we do something for date night. So I picked Michael up after work and we went to Coffee Culture before going to see a movie (Contraband - really really good!) At Coffee Culture I had a soup and a coffee for $6.00 including tip.  The movie was $9.00 leaving me with $5.00 which I tucked into my sealed pot when I got home - see what I mean??? In my wallet now?? Nada! Nothing! Zippo!
• Thursday, Jan. 19:   NO SPEND!! Well of course - I had nothing in my wallet!
• Friday, Jan. 20: withdrew $40.00 on my way to work so I could get a coffee - my Friday treat for $1.80.  After work I spent $11.41 at No Frills on a few items we needed - not only did I stick to my short list but I decided a few things could wait! Then I spent $13.03 on quinoa at the Bulk Barn - why is that stuff so damn expensive?? Well, it was 20% off so I bought more than usual. I used my debit for both of these purchases, not cash.  When I got home I put my change into the sealed pot. After I ate I drove back to No Frills because I had promised Michael some gingerale for his poor throat and tummy and I had forgot the first time. I paid cash and put my change into the sealed pot leaving me with $30.00 cash from my original $40.00.
• Saturday, Jan. 21: drove Michael to work and bought my coffee and newspaper for my usual Saturday morning routine. I live for my Saturday mornings! Cost - $4.80.  Because I like to live on the edge I tucked $5.20 into my sealed pot! I now have $20.00 left in my wallet.

As of today, including food and gas money I have $136.00 left in my chequing account plus $20.00 in my wallet to get me through the next 10 days. That seems a bit challenging in my estimation (gulp) but I am super motivated. I also have another $300+ in my account that I've set aside (in my mind) to pay for the "pipe" bill next month related to The Flood and replacement of my hot water tank. So if I had to I could dip into that but my intent is to forget it's even there and live on the $156.  The car needs gas but it's Kazi's turn to put some in so that will help. We'll just have a low key week and keep plugging away. I'm not going to add any cash to my wallet - I can easily make it through with just my $20 (no birthdays or other unusual expenses on the horizon) and use the $136 in my account for groceries if we need any. We pretty well stocked right now but I'm sure we'll need milk and lettuce at least. 

So that's my highly detailed spending for the week. I feel really good about the results - we had fun, we celebrated but all within reason. I love keeping track of my daily spending - it really helps me be more mindful of what I'm buying or not buying as I seem to pick up a lot of stuff but almost always put it back on the shelf. I'm very clear in my mind what we need and don't need and right now I can't think of a darn thing we need!

Upcoming posts: a response to one of Judy's posts, A Room of my Own, February's Budget, Clean Eating

Hope your week of No/Low Spending was successful.....was it??

Chit Chat Chump!

So I got home later than expected yesterday after a nice walk in the woods and a nice bit of blog reading and spending money oh oh at Chapters/Starbucks. Sunday was not a NO Spend because a special someone (tall, dark and handsome!) is having a birthday tomorrow. Yes, his gift was the winter camping in a yurt experience BUT I didn't give him his card then so I bought a card and a little something extra at Chapters yesterday for a total of $11.36. My americano misto was free thanks to a gift card.

Sooooooooo as I was saying I missed out on Sunday Night Chit Chat...so I'm a chump! And I'd even taken pictures of what I baked and all. Oh well, I'll just save those pictures til next Sunday - you'll never know the difference hahaha! oops...

Today I told Erika at Newlyweds on a Budget who set up the 10 Pound Challenge what my beginning weight was (I started my weight loss efforts on Friday, Jan. 6th) and to date I have lost 4.2 lbs. YES!! This chump is chuffed!! Usually I get off to a good start and then after a few days I start adding things back in but NOT this time (well, except for the Wine and Food Show but I mostly stuck to my plan for that night!) It really makes a huge difference to participate in a challenge PUBLICLY! Oh, and did I mention the cash prizes??  Now I know that the first few pounds are the easy ones and from here on in I'll be fighting to lose an ounce or two here and there. BUT I have until April 16th so it IS doable.

Tonight it's back on the bike. I was supposed to bike on Saturday to complete my weekly 100km but instead I worked on the "Room of My Own" which will soon be revealed to you. I did go up and down both staircases in my house about 1,000 times carrying books, furniture, photo albums etc but can't put a number on that. But I am including the 5 kms from our hike yesterday as you'll see in my sidebar. So I was 15km short on the week. That's OK. It's a goal to strive for but I'm not going to beat myself up for spending time on something else that is so meaningful for me.

Now it's off to a supper of a big egg-white omelet with sauteed mushrooms, green onion and green pepper,   a side of green beans and a salad, followed by a 20km bike ride and then to bed with a book. I leave you with some photos from the Wine and Food show.  Most were taken near the end of the show so not a lot of people about.

 A lounge area where we finally took a load off and made friends with Alistair.....
keep reading...

 Wine glasses ready for Saturday's crowd...

 My fellow party animals - Troy, a college prof and Julie, an artist and teacher - we've been besties for well....decades!

My nifty plate which also holds my wine glass....oh, I see Alistair...

oh, look who's helping out at Jambalaya's food booth!

 Glass...as far as the eye can see...

 a Thai food booth...

oh no, all the coconut shrimp are gone!  Good thing, they're only a million calories each...

 Waiting for our free jerk chicken...

vino anyone?

There he is...hi Alistair!!

NO/LOW Spend January - Week Two

Wow, where has the weekend gone? I planned to post about my No/Low Spend January - Week Two yesterday but instead I took a trip down Memory Lane. Remember that place? I spent most of Saturday rearranging furniture, cleaning, going through boxes of papers and old photos and shedding many tears. Why? Because I am creating a ROOM OF MY OWN! More on that this week - that was just a teaser!

Oh , here's my version of a trailer:

I also planned to get caught up on everyone's posts, so sorry I neglected y'all yesterday but it was a very cathartic experience and now YOU are at the top of my list!

Let's get to the numbers shall we? I had some amazing No Spend Days this week and then I had a little splurge - nothing earthshaking. But, before I get going there's another number I'm celebrating this week! On my sidebar I'm counting down the days until retirement and the number slipped below 900 this week!! As of this minute I have 896 days left until retirement - woo hoo!

Alright, no more delays....(I started the week with $70.00 cash in my wallet and as you may or may not remember I was going to challenge myself to live on that $70.00 for misc spending and entertainment for the rest of the month!) That is so NOT going to succeed as today I have only $20 left and 16 days left in January. However, due to not spending all of my food and gas budget over the first two weeks of January and having my hydro and natural gas bills coming in under budget that $20 has increased. Let's see what I spent $50 on...

• Sat. January 7 - $7.00 movie ticket at the Hyland to see "Martha Marcy May Marlene" starring the younger sister of the Olsen twins. She was fantastic but the ending really left us hanging, and I mean REALLY hanging!  ($3.00 to the Sealed Pot)
• Sunday - No Spend: I did purchase a coffee at Starbucks but using a  gift card.
• Monday - No Spend
• Tuesday - No Spend
• Wednesday - No Spend
• Thursday - No Spend

I don't think I've ever had 5 No Spend days in a row before EVER IN MY LIFE!!

• Friday, January 13: $20.00 at the Wine and Food Show and yes I behaved myself pretty well. Considering how much I ate there last year and all of the desserts I sampled I can hardly believe I had such willpower this year. I had 4 two ounce samples of red wine and tried to stick to fish and veggies for my food choices: sauteed mushrooms in some sort of reduction, tomato bisque with shrimp garnish, escargot, an organic veggie wrap, jerk chicken (free from Jambalaya:), a special type of organic radish (I think the fellow called it watermelon radish? - they were cut in large slices and pink inside not white- no bitter taste) and then I tried the most interesting food of my night - a cheesecake made from squash, red pepper and a couple other ingredients with a piece of crispy fried bacon stuck into it - delicious! Lastly I had one scoop of organic vanilla icecream with a dollop of apple butter and when I say it was to die for I mean IT WAS TO DIE FOR!!  I also donated $5.00 at work for a gift basket for a staff member whose father died just before Christmas and put $4.00 in my Sealed Pot.
• Saturday, January 14: I spent $3.00 for some mutsu apples at the Farmer's Market which really should come out of the food budget but it'll all work out in the end...I hope! I also purchased a newspaper for $3.00 and a Timmy's coffee for $1.80.  I returned some wine bottles to the Beer Store and received $2.80 for my troubles. Together with the change in my wallet I was able to put an even $5.00 in my Sealed Pot. Michael and I did go out for a couple hours in the evening to a bar called Cowboys for a friend's birthday but he paid the cover charge and the cost of my LOW-CAL beer (Miller's Chill - it has lime added to it and is only 70 calories and is very yummy:) Thanks Michael!

So I am left with only $20.00 in my wallet. However, with the added $$ from my over-estimated bills and savings on gas and food I have an extra $155 in my account so in total I have $175 to cover misc and entertainment expenses until the end of January. AND THAT IS AFTER SETTING ASIDE $300 TO COVER THE COST OF "PIPE" RE the INSTALLATION OF NEW HOT WATER TANK!! I AM ECSTATIC!! So although I won't reach my NO/LOW Spend January goal of increasing my EF to $2000 I WAS able to absorb an extra $500 of FLOOD costs without taking a cent from my EF. Already I see this month as a HUGE success as long as Mr. Murphy doesn't pay me another visit that is.....shhhhhhhhhhh! 

My daughter will be paying me her share of the car insurance this week ($50.00) so that will put my wallet back up to $70.  I am comfortable with that for the next week or so. I bought groceries ($108.62 left in the food budget til Jan. 31st) and put in $40 worth of gas ($60 left in the gas budget). So all in all I call the 2nd week of No/Low Spend January a rousing success! And my Sealed Pot increased by $12!

How did your second week go???

Posts to come: Sunday Night Chit Chat, The 10 Pound Challenge: Monday's weigh-in and biking update, Vision Board, A Room of My Own

Hip Hip Hoorah Tomorrow's Friday!

That's not really my topic, just my heartfelt feeling at the moment. It has been a long and grueling week of meetings and helping kids transition back into the classroom after two weeks off with their families. One of my boys who is only 15 and about 6'4" (he has be bend waaaaay over to sniff the top of my head and yes I always smell good!) had a great day on Monday but the honeymoon period was over on Tuesday and by 9am wanted to "go home" and "see mom". I got him through to lunchtime by reading to him and acting out the actions to the stories in a very silly way. Yes, I still sit on the floor and have absolutely no dignity left.


Challenge Updates:
1.  The 10 Pound Challenge: click on the link to check out Erika's challenge at Newlyweds on a Budget! It's not too late to join!  I'm really hoping to win one of the great cash prizes - they are a great motivation to keep focused on this weighty challenge (tee hee!) To help me achieve this goal I have cleaned out the fridge, freezer, cupboards and pantry. I've told Michael to stop buying me giant chocolate bars. I'm back on the Calcium Diet AND I'm committed to pedaling 20km 5 times a week for a total of 100km per week. So far I've pedaled 60km this week and I'll be heading for the bike shortly after I finish this post. If I win any money for achieving a weight loss of 10 pounds it will help me with the next challenge...

2.  The Sealed Pot Challenge: thanks to sft for organizing this challenge. Head over HERE if you would like to learn more! If I win any of the cash prizes offered in The 10 Pound Challenge I will put it into my Sealed Pot! I'm doing pretty well putting any spare change I have into the Sealed Pot, but when I'm NOT spending (next challenge;) then there is definitely less for the pot! However I have a lot more time left to get it filled up so I hope to catch up to Carla who weighed hers - 3 pounds already!!!

3. No/Low Spending: I will update my week of No/Low spending on Saturday as well as my own personal $70 challenge. Suffice it to say that this is my 5th no spend day in a row. Tomorrow WILL be a spending day as I plan to go to the Wine and Food show with a friend. I will have to be careful to not eat or drink too much or spend too much either. Luckily my girlfriend has reduced price tickets because she works at Fanshawe College in the culinary dep't and they have a booth at the show. My plan is one or two glasses of wine (they are about 3 ounces - not a full glass of wine) and to eat my dinner there - some chicken or fish and some salad or other veggie dishes - (again, these are sample sizes so very tiny portions). Good luck to me!

And that's all she wrote!!

Tablets c1960

Definition of a tablet c1960: a number of sheets of writing paper, business forms, etc., fastened together at the edge; pad


My love affair with tablets, or pads of paper, began many decades ago (gulp) when my brilliant mother began tucking one into my Christmas stocking each year. We weren't allowed to come downstairs until 7am so my brother Kim and I would amuse ourselves with whatever we found in our stockings which somehow mysteriously appeared at the end of our bed sometime during the night. It wasn't unheard of for us to wake up at 3 or 4am and stretch out a toe to see if we could hear that longed for sound of crinkly wrapping paper and feel the firm but bumpy contours of our Christmas stocking. How thrilling it was!!


We would get together in the boys' room or the girls' room and occasionally even in the bathroom if our older siblings didn't want to wake up. I always hoped for one thing in particular - the thick pad of paper - YES, it's here!! What did I fill it with? Stories of my own, but mostly drawings - drawings of fashion designs (step aside Stella McCartney!) and houseplans...strange hobby huh? 

We look pretty posh don't we? I don't know how she did it but she raised 5 kids on the earnings of my dad's manual labour at the local co-op plus the money she made writing and selling children's stories. With two older sisters you'd think I wore a lot of their hand me downs but they were (and still are hahaha) 9 and 12 years older than me so she had passed their clothes onto others by the time I showed up. I did wear hand me downs, but they were from the daughter of the postmaster and were really good quality, lucky me! 


But I digress...


I want to show you one final gift from my Secret Santa - how did she know  of my long love affair with paper? (and lists!)

I. love. this. tablet!! A nice sized box for each day of the week and a shopping list on the side - perfection! A week at a glance! It goes everywhere with me tucked in a side pocket of my purse. Whatever did I do without it? When I get to the last page I plan to photocopy it and make my own tablet!


Now I must confess to a purchase...what??...but it's NO/LOW Spend January you say?!! HAHAHAHAH, fooled you!! A certain someone paid me back $25.00 so I spent $23 and change on these:

Everything was on sale at Chapters. The KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON daily calendar of British "stiff upper lip" humorous sayings helps keep me sane at work:) The Money Spent tablet has a brilliant setup for recording purchases, and the Great Ideas tablet is so I can record all of those super-de-duper ideas I have no matter where and when I have them!! The two monogrammed notebooks were $1.00 each and I just bought them because. They were cute and I wanted them.


So that is how you can SPEND and still have a NO SPEND day!........
technically.......no? Ah c'mon, it didn't change my balance one little bit AND I put the change into my Sealed Pot! 


The 2012 definition of a tablet: A general-purpose computer contained in a single panel. Its distinguishing characteristic is the use of a touch screen as the input device. Modern tablets are operated by fingers, whereas earlier tablets required a stylus.  (I have one of these too but shhhhhhhhh, don't tell Canadian Saver!! Oh crap, I let the cat out of the bag....)


Which type of tablet do I prefer?? Well, I could exist without my iPad, but I could never ever get through a day without a pad of paper! Sorry Apple!

Winter Camping in a Yurt - Day Two

So many topics to write about and not enough time. But I'll get there, I know I will. Tomorrow sees me getting back into routine again: get up at 5:45am, work til 3pm, get back on the exercise bike and start racking up the miles to get to Judy in Philadelphia! 


There are challenges galore: The No/Low Spend January, the Live on the $70 in my Wallet Challenge, The 10 Pound Weight Loss Challenge, the Biking to See a Whole Whack of my Blogging Friends Challenge and the Sealed Pot Challenge. So let me see if I've got this straight:


I can't spend, I can't eat, I must excercise and I must save. 


Thank goodness I have a great support team - YOU!!


Obviously I love a challenge, always have, so it's a matter of matching wits with myself to not only achieve my goals but have fun in the meantime. And believe me, I have more than enough ways  to have fun: I LOVE playing with my new iPad, I have the "7 Money Rules for Life" by Mary Hunt to read(thanks for the loan Carla!) along with "Plum Island" by Nelson deMille (I'm about 1/2 way through and it is SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!(thanks Secret Santa!!) and two books on making the most of my introvertedness (thanks to Lisa for that new word)! AND I have two other purchases I will tell you about soon made in December so they don't count in the No/Low Spend January though they do cause me a few guilty pangs once in a while (rarely!) 


So onto adding more FUN into the day - here are some more  Winter Camping in a Yurt Day Two pictures for your viewing pleasure:

A sneak peak at some of Michael's
inspirational words for his vision board.

The campsite looks a little forlorn
with a smidgen of snow, but no worries,
there'll be a blazing fire later in the day.

The temperature has fallen from +7c to -2c
but nothing that Michael's super duper coat
couldn't handle
with how many was it dear? 9 pockets??

At the start of the Cedar Trail,
about 2.3km each way.

Dear, how many times have I told you
to hold the camera HIGHER!! No one
needs to see all of my chins!

Although it's called the Cedar Trail it is
largely covered with oak trees - a slight
change in colour from grey and white.

OK, you didn't tell me there were STAIRS,
lots and lots of STAIRS on this trail!

We persevered on all of those stairs to reach
LAKE HURON;
just down the road about 30 minutes
from Bayfield where my, well
not mine anymore, trailer resides.

The waves were huge due to the strong winds - we could hear the roar of these waves from our yurt - I just love falling asleep to that sound.
My nice daughter downloaded a free app called Relax Melodies onto my iPad that plays all sorts of sounds from nature so last night we went to sleep to the sounds of ocean waves. The app comes with a timer so it will eventually shut itself off and an alarm so you can wake up to whatever sound you like.
I don't think I'd wake up though - the sounds are too soothing!

Pretending the wind chill isn't minus 50!!

When in Rome...

Right after this shot a big wave got him!!

Leaving our mark

Heading back - I snapped this photo
hoping to get the waves in the
background - I got more than I
bargained for lol!

I know, I know, we can be pretty
sappy sometimes...Michael more
than me of course:)

Ok, I told him to look "sexy"...

It was a pretty gloomy day weather-wise;
snow pellets off and on all day. 

This is where you go to rent a canoe etc;
closed for the season.

Ahhhhhhhh, stirring up the fire and
loving every minute.

Chef Michael warms up some chili to go with
our sausage on a bun - YUM!

He wanted to take a lot of pictures of his
Blundstone Boots because you can
send the photos to the company
and possibly win a trip:)

We rang in the New Year...again...
with a bottle of bubbly -
it was chilled to absolute perfection
with just a few ice crystals in it.
Freixenet is best
very very cold!

Oh no, not again!

I improvised by putting tinfoil over
the top of this lantern so the wind
wouldn't blow it out - worked great!

Popping the bubbly!

Nothing better than a
paper cup of cold bubbly...

...unless it's a paper cup of cold bubbly
in the middle of a snow pellet storm
by a roaring fire! Yes, I actually
enjoyed this immensely...

...and so did my fearless partner!
Happy Birthday Michael! (Jan. 17th!)

Keeping the home fires burning...

Twirling in the snow on my way to the
washroom hut (it was actually really nice
- warm, clean and most importantly
not too far from our yurt!

And of course the night wouldn't
be complete without
creating snow angels!

I wonder what Day 3 will bring...besides
more snow!
Hi honey!