No/low Spend

I had a nice day today, I am happy to report. I got up a little earlier and went to have coffee with my brother Gord and sister-in-law Pat. We chatted for almost 3 hours! Then I went to my Asian grocery store as I needed more cucumbers for juicing and some zucchini for making Ratatouille.

While I made soup I listened to the World Junior Hockey Game (Canada vs Finland) on my laptop. I don't have cable TV anymore, just Netflix, so I listened to a live audiocast of the game. Unfortunately my team took a lot of really stupid penalties - like a 10 minute misconduct for a stick to the head of a Finnish player. We deserved to lose that game. Tomorrow Canada will play for bronze at 9am and guess who will be listening while she does her school prep?

Tonight I am going to see The Life of Walter Mitty with a girlfriend. I watched the trailer and it looks pretty inspirational - just the kind of kick in the pants I need.

So while I didn't have a NO Spend day I consider it all money well spent. I made a huge pot of soup that I'll take to school for lunch saving me mega lunch money. And I'll make coffee or tea at school instead of spending $2.00 daily at Timmy's.

For the price of a coffee I got to see family members and listen to my brother ramble on about birdhouses and motorcycle trips. And for the price of a movie I get to spend time with a girlfriend who understands my life right now.

So all in all I spent ($2.00/coffee + $12.00/vegetables + $9.00/movie) for a total of $23.00. No, I won't be having popcorn. This is Day 4 of my Juice Fast and I'm doing great! I've had two mostly green juices today (kale, chinese broccoli, celery, cucumber, carrots and a fruit thrown in to sweeten it up - blueberries in one and an apple in the other. Delicious. Really. I mean it.

I'm beginning to notice more energy and more clarity in thinking. And my immune system really needs the boost. One more day and then I move on to Ratatouille and a root vegetable stir-fry. Can't wait! I use potato, sweet potatoes, turnips and onions and believe me when I say it is sooooooo tasty!!

No time for biking today but that's OK. I was really feeling it in my knees today so I'll postpone til tomorrow. And I did do 16km last night. So, I'm on track for spending, on track for biking, on track for juicing and on track for getting out there and socializing.

Yup, a good day. Hope yours was just as good...or better!!!

PS - I never thought I'd say this but I just told Kazi to have fun at Bingo!! Now who's the old lady?!

A Frugal Date Night

Did I ever tell you that I got TWO offers for my trailer this summer? Yes, it's true. After I agreed to sell it to my friends for one price I received a second offer a few days later for $2500 more. I was on the horns of a dilemma. Do I screw over my friends for a bit more cash? I was sorely tempted. The two offers, by the way, were a YEAR after having it on the market and on kijiji. I had a few emails and phone calls but no firm bites. So when Michael told our friends about it and how much I hoped to get I jumped at their offer when they made one- they didn't lowball me or anything, they offered me just what I wanted. How was I to know that shortly thereafter I'd get a better offer.


Or was it.............?


Before you leave this post scratching your head in bewilderment thinking the crazy lady has finally cracked up for good and what the heck does this have to do with a frugal date night let me enlighten you.


Hello...are you still there? Oh, good...ok here goes.....


Our friends who I DID sell the trailer too with still a few regrets own a restaurant called Jambalaya - yummy Cajun & Caribbean food with a bit of Thai thrown in for fun.  Is it starting to make sense yet? Last night when I picked Michael up after work we had less than 1.5 hours before our movie started at the Hyland. Since Jambalaya is two doors down from Fodemisi Shoes where Michael works we decided to eat there. Needless to say, once we'd eaten our way through soup, cornbread, pad thai for me and Black Pepperpot (Guyanese chicken stew) for him, plus drinks (sour green apple spritzer for me, red wine for him), we were pleasantly surprised when head chef and owner Kevin said "folks, it's on me!" 


When I made the deal with the owners to buy my trailer I did jokingly say they could give me "free pad thai" for life but I know when you're in the restaurant business in a city with way more restaurants that it can sustain it's not in your best interests to give away food so I appreciated the gesture very much. (It's not the first time he's done this for us either, though I never expect it.)


The pad thai is such a huge meal that I always bring half home and have it for lunch (I just finished it up and it was so delicious!)   So our only cost for our "date night" evening was the price of two movies each (yes it was a double header we couldn't resist) and 1 bag of popcorn for a total of $30.00! Frugal indeed!


Which was good since I splurged on a new vacuum cleaner yesterday when I was Christmas shopping...oops! I would say that our old vacuum cleaner SUCKS but clearly it doesn't "suck" very well at all. And if there's one thing you want to be able to say about your vacuum cleaner is that it SUCKS!


Today is a relaxing day - I've balanced my books (that's another story in itself!), done all the laundry, read the paper, read all of your posts, went to the farmer's market, filled the car with slightly less expensive gas (as compared to last Saturday) and now I am heading down to the basement to do some more de-cluttering followed by some cycling. Happy days are here again!

Going to Hell in a Handbasket!

There's a movie I've been wanting to see and it was at our local repertory theatre last night. It's called The Guard. (the movie, not the theatre!) If you get a chance to see it GO!


I don't usually do too much on a Tuesday night, but I met up with a friend at Timmy's for a good ol' gab session (sorry Mark, we didn't talk about you, maybe next time, but I was thinking about you!), and then I swung around downtown and picked up Michael from work and we just spontaneously (I know, crazy huh?) decided to go get a chicken shawarma at Pita Pita (like the best and cheapest food in the world!) and then catch the movie at 7pm, home by 9:15pm. 


So I was like REALLY living it up on a Tuesday night! 


What is the world coming to?


Next thing you know I'll be boogying all Wednesday night(yes, I can't believe I just used that word) to Motown music on rollerskates at the North Optimist Club! 


Oh wait, I am going there...never mind. 





Have a humping great Wednesday!