My Trip to the Optometrist



Will I look like Paris Hilton?



I am feeling blessed today. I really really appreciate your supportive comments re shopping trip with DD. Really. That good ol' catholic guilt is going back to the confessional where it belongs. (I'm Anglican, not Catholic, however I teach at a Catholic highschool, attend mass, and hang out with Catholics all day so it's bound to rub off just a wee little bit:)

But seriously, (yeah right, like I can ever be serious:), several comments on yesterday's post had the following themes:

•  All of your spending less in the past couple of months allowed you to LIVE MORE this month!  from Sharon

You're exactly right Sharon - I have squeezed my pennies so hard  the last few months that I exceeded both my debt repayment goals and my savings goals.

• if you can still pay for your bills & don't use a credit card, you are so far ahead of the pack!!! ...good for you on splurging on you - i bet you haven't done that in a while! from jpkittie

Yup, no credit card saw the light of day except at the Hilton to pay for valet parking. I have paid that off already. I carry zero balances on my two credit cards. However, I did make a vow not to buy any new clothing for a year so either I accept a failure there or perhaps renew the vow but for say, 4 months at a time instead of a whole year??

Oh yes, I PASSED my eye exam so I take my place amongst all of you scholars out there lol! No studying involved either:) But the great thing about that is I am going to keep the glasses I have for two more years and am putting my $400 coverage towards a pair of prescription sunglasses...so no more ill-fitting clip-on shades over my regular glasses:) AND I was SO HAPPY because my previous coverage was only $200 and didn't cover the eye exam but my benefits plan was updated last year and now I have $400 coverage PLUS they pay the $95 eye exam!!!!  So that's one expense I thought I would have to pay for and now I don't!! Merry Christmas to me!

However...the new sunglasses plus glare coating and scratch resistant coating came to $552 so I have to pay $152 BUT I still have enough in my misc. budget to cover it so I am super duper happy as I thought I would need to transfer more $$ from savings for this expense.

So I am feeling much much happier and less guilty today thanks to you wonderful people and my benefits plan.

Thank you thank you and thank you!  This is why I blog - to be part of such an amazing group of smart, funny, generous and thoughtful people, who just all happen to be women...hmmm...nope, won't go there today:)

Weekly Wrap

News Beat:
That's another week gone by. We had quite the mixed bag of weather this week ranging from gorgeous sunshine (got outside for brisk walks with my students) to today's football weather - cold, wet and muddy! The good news though is my school's football team won their semi-final game so Go Crusaders!

On the financial front: wayell (that's my southern accent attempt) I didn't keep that $20 dollar bill in my wallet but I still have two $5.00 bills so I'm only half disappointed...nah, who am I kidding? I'm over the moon to get through a week and only spend $10.00! (that was for my one weekly beer after my volleyball game on Wed. and Red Roaster coffee that I drank at the local library while using their wireless internet on Thurs. The other 3 days were no spend days - woot!  I think I'll just pop that $10.00 into my Crofters Lane jar and start myself off with a new crisp $20.00 bill for the coming week - that puts a big smile on my face! That's $10.00 closer to my next summer's trip out to PEI! =)

My heating bill (natural gas & I also have a gas dryer and hot water heater) was $25 under budget so I added that $25 to my misc spending which now sits at a robust $280 (that's for the rest of Nov.) I took the $152 I would normally pay for property tax (but have a holiday this month and next month as I am on a 10 month payment plan) and socked it into my Christmas fund and now have enough to book my DD's and my annual Christmas trip to Toronto. 

It's a Mirvish package deal - we are going to see Rock of Ages (love story set to the music of the 80's - Don't Stop Believin....), eat at a New Orleans style restaurant, stay at the very upscale Sheraton Hotel downtown, go see The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army  at the Royal Ontario Museum and shop at the Eaton Centre.  Well, my daughter will shop and I will hopefully resist the temptations that will surround me, make me weak, bend my will, torment me aaarrrrgggghhhhh!  BUT, if my DD wants to buy me a Christmas gift I'd be ok with that tee hee =)


My DP gave me an extra $100 this month for our budget and I immediately socked that away in the Emergency Account so hurrah for an extra payment towards that goal!

On the down side I find that the rental car I have uses more gas than my little Cobalt. Oh poo.  And I just got notice that my condo fees are going up by $25 in 2010 - pretty big increase:(

Heart Beat:
DD went back to her classes on Wed. & she should only have to have the cast on for a few more days. It was touch and go there for awhile as she attends the University of Western Ontario and the professors were in a strike position but managed to achieve a tentative deal by 3am Wed. morning. So between school and her boyfriend I haven't seen too much of her since Tues. night but we stay in contact by texting and I go into her room when she's sleeping and kiss her sweet cheeks (she doesn't even know:)

So far NO CHEATING on the BUY NO NEW CLOTHES pledge (yay me) and only a wee bit of cheating on the diet...ssshhhhh....don't tell anybody!!  Weigh in on Monday - eek! Here's how I cheated: beer on Wed. night (no it wasn't even lite beer), broken pieces of warm brownies that we made today at school to go with our lunch (well, I couldn't serve the broken bits now could I?), a couple of teeny tiny glasses of red wine mixed with some fizzy water...that's about it...hey that's not so bad:)

Whew - marathon post!
Cheers!

Woops

Right around when this picture was taken (May 2010) I was at my lowest weight for the past few years. I had been following the Calcium Diet and it had been going quite well. And yes, I was going to a highschool reunion in June:)

What I just realized today when I was getting fall/winter pants washed and pressed for the upcoming cold season (yuck) and hence my post title "Woops" is that I gave away all of my "fat pants"!!!

Hmmmmm...didn't think about that when I made the decision to not buy any clothing for a year.  The reason I gave away all of my "fat pants" (you know you all have them so don't judge me lol) was to give me motivation to stay at the lower, more desirable weight. In retrospect I wonder how I could have been so stupid!

Winter is coming, I need to store up some fat to see me through the cold and flu season (see how useful juicy rationalizations are?) but now I have no cushion, no extra stretchy pants with slightly looser waistbands and baggier butts! What was I thinking? I am sitting on the horns of a dilemma.... either that or I am sitting on a large bag of popcorn from the movies last night after a big bowl full of delicious pad thai a la Michael!!  Not to mention a box of Smarties!!

Big sigh...

So now I not only have a budget to stick to but will need to drop a few pounds so I can stay in my current size-restricted winter wardrobe.

Another big sigh....

Perhaps those two goals can work together: eat less food --> save $$ on the food budget. This is going to be tough people - anyone want to drop a few pounds with me and keep me motivated?

The Year I Didn't Buy Any New Clothing

My "New" Alfred Sung Sweater



On Sept. 22nd I declared this "The Year I Didn't Buy Any New Clothing" and almost a month has gone by without making a purchase. That's not to say the thought never crossed my mind - it did and still does almost everyday.

It's been an interesting process so far. I saw some really nice winter coats at Costco - great for hiking in the snow, making snow angels, skating outside at Victoria Park and so on. Then I said to myself - "self, you can continue to wear your daughter's lovely castoff she gave you last winter when she bought herself a new coat - you don't NEED a new coat, you just WANT a new coat."

Whew! Made it over that hurdle.

As the weather started to get colder I thought about new gloves and new boots. Then I thought I could stitch up the hole in last year's gloves and start polishing up my collection of boots. Yes, there is the odd scuff here and there but they can certainly get me through another Canadian winter. Suck it up Jane...and I did.

Now Halloween is looming and we've been invited to a party.  Ideas of costumes started running through my head and I envisioned myself out shopping at the local Talize but then I wised up and decided I would rummage through the house and be "creative" instead.

Betcha thought I'd forgot about that picture up there of me (squinting into the sun) with my NEW black Alfred Sung silk/cotton sweater on that absolutely fits me to a TTTTT! I love it and it's just what my wardrobe needed. And it didn't cost me a penny.  I found it.  In my condo complex parking lot. I had walked by it once or twice and just thought it was a rag. Then I picked it up to see what it was (luckily it wasn't a dead skunk!) and saw it was a sweater. So thinking that it was perhaps my daughter's and she had dropped it getting out of a car I brought it inside and washed it.

Well, turns out it wasn't hers so I was faced with the dilemma of going door to door to ask everyone in my neighbourhood if they'd lost a sweater or I could just keep it as a reward for my discard rescue efforts.

I tried it on and of course decided to....keep it! Yay me!

The Long and Winding Road of Debt

When one (me) buys a new home when one (me) already owns a home and a trailer certain sacrifices must be made in order to:
a) remain solvent
b) not go broke
c) not declare bankruptcy
d) all of the above

Therefore, in keeping with the theme of frugality enforced upon me (by me) I am declaring September 2010 to September 2011 to be:
THE YEAR I DIDN'T BUY ANY CLOTHING and perhaps the year I explore fully the use of colons and lists while posting.

Included in this "clothing ban" will be:
a) shoes and boots
b) purses, belts, jewelry and other accessories
c) socks, gloves

Allowed items will be:
a) underwear (they don't make 'em like they used to and what if I'm in an accident??
b) clothing borrowed from my stylish, rich daughter (payback time!)
c) gifts (Christmas is coming after all)

So I hereby pledge my troth - me and my money will not be parted - for better or worse...