Seriously though, it was just me being practical. Driving to Toronto and back last night plus building in time for flight delays meant I'd be bone tired today and I am. Happily her flight was only delayed for an hour while she was in L.A. On her flight TO Australia a month ago it was delayed 6 hours! I had visions of sitting in Pearson airport until the wee hours of the morning and then having to drive from Toronto to London - so just to be safe I took a sick day. It's only my 3rd sick day since September so I only felt a wee bit guilty. I have to keep telling myself that THEY CAN get along without me once in a while!
Flights to New York were cancelled but fortunately the current major storm bypassed SW Ontario. Thank goodness for small mercies!
So - today's hot topic! PAYDAY!! There's such a long build up to payday and then minutes after it's posted to my account it's all dispersed! Very anti-climatic! Here's how this pay has been dispersed:
$2327
-$1200 to savings; $79 for internet; $32 to Reliance (rental for my super duper hot water heater!); $73 for Union Gas (heat, hot water tank and I have a gas dryer); $72 for electricity (usually it's around $50-$60 but we've been running a space heater in the basement when we're down there watching TV/riding stationary bike); $175 PEI mortgage, $8 to Netflix (we don't have cable TV); and $155 for condo property taxes.
If you're following along with a calculator that should leave me with $533 for groceries, gas and misc until Feb. 28 but I also paid off my PCMC (President's Choice Mastercard) as I do every payday. I use this card to buy groceries and gas as I get points I can use for groceries. Using my mastercard this way means $200-$300 free money annually for groceries which really helps at Christmas and when I go east for the summer. I've never paid a cent in interest as it's paid in full twice a month.
So what I have left is $273 as well as $90 cash in my wallet some of which I'll use tonight when I go out to dinner with 3 girlfriends. (I'm also waiting for a reimbursement from school for about $40). We're also going to see "Monuments Men" tonight but that's being taken care of with gift cards. I've done a Costco run, a produce run at United (my favorite Asian grocery store that has the largest selection of produce of any store and at the lowest prices) and a No-Frills run. I don't foresee spending any $$ for food for at least two weeks. I may be able to tuck some of that $274 into savings if I'm careful!
Woo hoo Canada just scored - they are up 1-0 against Austria!!
But Dougie the Dodge needs gas so I'll be filling him up today. Over the past month I've been driving Kazi's car, Cora Cobalt (Kazi calls her Stella) and that has really saved me $$ in gas. Also, I don't think I spent more than about $75 on groceries over the month she was away. I had a very frugal month indeed!
The first thing I do when I get paid is to transfer at least half into savings. So once I retire I will have had lots of practice living on half a paycheque! And once I dispose of the condo I'll have much lower expenses and will be able to continue saving, just not as much obviously.
So that's my current episode of "HAVE FUN WITH PAY DAY"!!
Hope it was as much fun for you as it was for me. I feel like I should call this post "Don't Read This - Its Boring" a la Sluggy!!
Oh well, I can't be at the top of my game for every post ha ha! If only! Anyhoo I hope your Valentine's day is a happy one if you go in for that sort of thing.
Canada just scored again! Now THAT'S exciting!!
<3
