Bye Bye May, you won't be missed!

I admit that I didn't watch my spending much in May. I only got 13 no spend days (my goal was 18 and I've regularly reached 20 nsd/month) and I've spent more on some things than I wanted. The good news is I've worked a lot more than scheduled, so my bottom line hasn't been affected.

Today I just lounged around the house... I did a bit of laundry but that's about it productive-wise. I managed a no spend/no drive day though :-)

I'll be back tomorrow or Tuesday with a tentative budget for June.

No spend: 93/200 (13 in May)
No drive: 42/100

Today's spending, in pics

<-- hanging baskets









<--- container herbs








<--- and my gerbera daisies from the other night






I spent $175 for all the plants this year (I also got some plant food, green and red pepper, tomato and cucumber plants for that price) and I'm hoping my sister pays me back half. She got an $1,800 bonus on her pay this week so she could share !! :-)





<--- Abs follows me everywhere when I'm outside!







<--- Babe also follows me EVERYWHERE in the pasture... note the ugly red shadow roll she has on, that's to prevent more skin on her nose from peeling off. Her previous owner had a halter that was too tight on her, so it cause permanent "damage". She now has a new bright red halter, but it still seems to cause her problems. The old guy didn't stick around for pictures, he was going back to their shelter to hide from the mosquitoes!!!

(and no, we didn't pick Babe's name!!)

Sabotaging myself

I'm not going to make my goal for sure...

At lunchtime I went to pick up my book that was in at the library... from the office I've worked at the last 3 weeks, it's only about 5 minutes so I have enough time on my 45 minute lunch break... I got the book I'd reserved plus a few others and since I'd forgotten my book, I bought a re-usable bag for $1.

That's all I spent, so I wasted a no-spend day on something I already had 4 of. *sighs*

I work again tomorrow, 3 hours, then I'm done until Monday morning. And I find out Tuesday how many more full weeks I'm going to work.

The forecast calls for rain tomorrow and not too great on Sunday, so I'll be doing indoor activities all weekend probably...

No spend: 92/200 (12 in May)
No drive: 41/100

My mechanic's advice

So today I stopped off to pay my bill for an oil change I had done yesterday (my dad brought my car in for me) and my mechanic asked for a lift to a body shop so he could go pick up a car... on the way over I questioned him about cars, specifically the make & model I wanted (Pontiac G6)... he asked how many kms mine has (165,000 km or 103,000 miles) and how many kms I drive per year now (10,000 km or 6,250 miles, approx).

He told me a car like mine is usually good for 250,000 km at least...

I'm probably going to wait and see until the end of the summer and keep on saving my money. The more I have save, the less I have to finance (even if I'd only pay about 1% financing). I'm going to be applying for a job where I'd need to travel a bit more (about 50 km round trip daily). If I don't get that and keep driving to the same workplace as I am now, I'll probably keep the car til it dies.

My oil change was $33 something and I bought some gorgeous gerbera daisies (my favorite) and some sunflowers to plant for $19.75. So my spending streak continues!!

First time in over 2 years...

... that I bought a magazine off the shelf. I have canceled most of my old magazine subscriptions (I used to get like 11-12/month) and I'd been really good at saying no in-store. I did buy one today (Everyday with Rachael Ray) and I actually felt guilty!!!

I've been spending since I last blogged:

$5.35 groceries on Monday
$58.09 groceries on Tuesday
$39.13 misc. stuff today (some groceries, some bath stuff, magazine)
$27.05 gas today

I also got my dad a magazine subscription for Father's Day ($22.05).

Payday's tomorrow and I still have $1,035 in checking now that I haven't transferred over yet. I do have a couple things transferring tomorrow and I'll probably need about $50 to stain our porch floor (got it built last year but nothing's been applied to preserve it yet).

I certainly will not meet my goal for the month (18 no spend days).... I really, really hope for a better June!!

No spend: 92/200 (12 in May)
No drive: 41/100

PS did I mention I'm looking at buying a new-to-me car, possibly borrowing $12,000??? My dad has money sitting in a bank account earning 0.2% (yes, I know!! I told him to move it to ING) so I could probably get him to loan it to me for 0.5% or 1% until December or March 2010 at the latest. I'm still thinking about this...

Review: Nestle Noir

Last Friday, I received my free chocolate in the mail!!! Ginger from Ginger Won't Snap was kind enough to post about these and send 25 samples to fellow Canadians :-) Here are my impressions:

Nice packaging, even if it is a bit excessive (plastic wrap on the outside, cardboard box, then a plastic tray with 10 little compartments and finally a multi-layered paper cover over the chocolates.


I like the shape of the chocolates, and the size... a bit smaller than a 2-bite brownie but I eat these in 3 bites. The outside is hard chocolate and the inside is very delicate, mousse-like and perfect to run my tongue over.

I tasted both samples, the milk chocolate and the dark (52% cocoa). I prefer sweeter things so my favorite by far was the milk chocolate. I found that the dark had a bit of an aftertaste that wasn't as pleasant.

These are the perfect size to share, 10 per package. They make a great afternoon pick-me-up or a nice, sweet treat after dessert.

I do find the price a bit more than I'd be willing to pay on a regular basis ($3.99 suggested retail), but once in a while I can see picking this up for a special treat.

Thanks again Ginger for letting me sign up for this taste-test!!

Weekend's over

We had our long weekend last week in Canada, so it's back to work tomorrow! I appreciated being able to sleep in this morning, but wasn't surprised when I first opened my eyes at 7:20! I turned over and went back to sleep for about an hour and a half, which felt great.

I did a bit of laundry and weeded a bit, but other than that I was absolutely lazy! I watched back-to-back-to-back episodes of Jon & Kate plus 8 on TLC. With all the drama going on with them these days, I can't wait for the season premiere tomorrow!

I spent $5.02 on groceries (bread, cream) but didn't drive (caught a lift to the store). I love this whole wheat bread I buy at our local store, but it would be a lot cheaper if I used the 10 kg of whole wheat flour I have here!!! Maybe next week.........

No spend: 92/200 (12 in May)
No drive: 41/100

Thursday/Friday/Saturday

I might as well combine all 3 days:

Thursday was a no spend day.

Friday:

$20 lottery tickets with my coworkers (good until mid-June)
$18.30 postage stamps (new ones with horses on it)
$90.80 phone, cell and internet bill (I love that it's combined, easy 1 payment)
$xxx.xx donation

Saturday should be a no spend day.

I worked this morning 8-10, then have another full week ahead. The lady I'm replacing is off until June 2nd but I expect it to be prolonged... she goes back to the doc then but probably won't be ready to work.

I got my refund back for the farm share, plus my post dated check, so that was a relief. I found out they decided to close for personal reasons (a break-up) which I find really sad. With the money, since it was going to be spent anyway, we might buy a new BBQ. I don't trust the old one at all... didn't even get the tank filled last year. I also want to buy 4 hanging baskets, so will use these funds instead of taking from savings (Freedom Account).

If I end up spending today I'll edit this post.

No spend: 92/200 (12 in May)
No drive: 40/100

ING Canada - another rate reduction

1.35% now!

That's so low :-(

Wednesday Spending

I parted with more than $200 today:

$97 groceries
$27 gas
$78 coffee discs

Yes, I really spent $78 on coffee discs! These are well sealed and last a long time, so I went ahead and ordered a big bunch...

For groceries, I came out of there with just 3 bags and the bill was that much! It used to be that $100 in groceries was at least half a cart full. I did get really healthy stuff though so I don't feel bad.

I put some books on hold at the library, but there are 2 in Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series that I can't get there so I'll be using a gift card for. I used to buy books every 2-3 weeks, but now I feel very guilty about buying a couple once every 6 months!!

No spend: 90/200 (10 in May)
No drive: 40/100

Tuesday tracking

I didn't spend today... we were pretty busy at work after the holiday so I put off my errands until tomorrow. I plan on making a stop at the library to put a few books on hold also. So far this year I've read 38 books, not bad at all :-)

I picked up another couple days early June... I had planned on taking June 1st off but if I can put in a full day, I'll take the hours instead. A friend told me I need to think of a good reward for working so much... I'll have to ponder what I'd like :-) Maybe a trip to the garden center, now that I won't get my weekly produce basket I'll need to plant some things I really want.

I'll report my spending tomorrow... I will probably get gas too before the price goes up on Thursday...

No spend: 90/200 (10 in May)
No drive: 40/100

Playing with my sidebars

I took about an hour today to go through all my scheduled hours for June, July and August and figure out what my paychecks will look like. I use this tool, the payroll deductions online calculator, and my pays usually end up exactly as calculated. It is great for people like me who work different hours each week.

I also found out today that my weekly produce basket won't be happening :-( There is a problem at the farm and they are reimbursing everyone. I don't have any more information than that, but I feel quite sad for the growers :-(

Because of the numbers I saw in my spreadsheet (future pays) and this refund I'll be getting soon, I thought I'd fully fund my laptop account. I will just buy a new laptop when mine dies (it's 4.5 years old) but I want to see the money there for when it does die, I can go online that same day and order a new one. I'm not sure what I'll get, but I don't want to pay more than $599 + tax.

I will also be removing my new-car fund. I'm almost positive I'll be financing a new car when I get one. Again, I have no idea when I'll get a new car but probably sometime within 2 years (my car was bought new in September 2000, it's a 2001). If I can find a 0% financing deal, I'll go with that. The money is going to stay in my car fund (maintenance and replacement fund) but I won't keep track of it separately. It just seemed like I was never making any progress.

I didn't spend or drive today... I baked a bit, did housework, read and will try to go to bed at a decent hour as I have a full week. Last week I often went to bed around 11:30, that's way too late for me...

No spend: 89/200 (9 in May)
No drive: 40/100

Catching up

I haven't had anything too exciting to blog about the last couple of days... Saturday was a beautiful day and I did a bit of spending:

$2.60 postage stamps
$15.00 lobster

I had enough lobster for 2 meals, plus I have 5 claws left for lunch today... I am not a big lobster eater, so I might be done for the summer.

Sunday was raining, miserable weather, so I stayed in and read, napped, watched Survivor (unfortunately I lost the $80 pool!!). It was a no spend/no drive day.

Monday is our holiday and I'm sticking close to home. Need to do laundry, a bit of cooking for the week ahead and I want to finish my book. I will also plan out the week to see what I need groceries wise and plan my errands accordingly. I put off my hair appointment until the 2nd week of June.

No spend: 88/200 (8in May)
No drive: 39/100

Long weekend

Finally, the long weekend is here :-) We're supposed to have fantastic weather today which is very welcome. I do have to work from 9-12 though... but it shouldn't be too bad.

Friday I had another no spend day :-) I did find out I will be putting an extra 2 full weeks, as the lady I'm replacing and her husband are splitting up. Actually, he's dumping her after 23 years of marriage, for no reason (so he claims). Very sad. I do welcome the extra $$ but it's the same old story: I much prefer to work part-time.

Weekend plans include a bit of yard work, a visit to the beach (if I'm smart I'll walk), some horse racing (the Preakness is on today), a marathon of 5 episodes of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency that I'm behind on, some reading and.... well a whole bunch of nothing I hope! There are plans to buy a bit of lobster as it's cheaper than it's been for years, and the Survivor finale tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

No spend: 87/200 (7 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Thursday heartstopper

Yesterday I managed another no spend day :-) It did get terribly windy in the afternoon though, and overnight... enough to almost cause me a heart attack! One of the smaller pasture gates wasn't properly tied (my dad's fault) and when I looked outside after dinner my old guy was running in the yard :-( That has to be one of a horse owner's worse fears... at least his pasture mate was still in the pasture (she didn't see the open gate I guess!) but one was running inside and the other was running outside the fence, frantically.

It took lots of running on my end, a bribe with oats and a small miracle that no one was injured... if ever he'd gotten on the road it could have turned extremely bad. Also, he doesn't have his halter on in the pasture, but I think he will from now on...

Just 7.25 hours to go today at work, 3 tomorrow and then I can really enjoy the weekend :-) Can't wait!

No spend: 86/200 (6 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Wednesday May 13th

I managed a no spend day, finally! I did sign up for a fundraiser at work though, 25 cents per day taken off each pay, but I'm not counting this as spending as it won't be effective until 2 pay periods anyway.

I'm counting down the days until the holiday weekend, I might also take a day off at the end of the month, before my long stretch starts. At first I was planning a small trip across the border, but my mom and sister are there now actually, so I'll go another time, maybe in the fall.

Tomorrow is pay day, I have my transfers set up, just going to check I didn't forget anything. I need to cancel my hair appointment for next week, I had one for a cut and color but it seems like I just got it cut and I'm quite happy with the length now. I'll stretch it for another 2.5 weeks...

No spend: 85/200 (5 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Tuesday spending

Well it wasn't as bad as I thought:

$37.00 gas
$38 or so at Shoppers Drug Mart (some food, some health and beauty items)
$18.30 dinner & tip

I really, really want a no spend Wednesday, we'll see by tonight if I manage!

No spend: 84/200 (4 in May)
No drive: 38/100

A streak I can't break!

I thought for sure today would be a no spend but I stopped by another job site after work and bought a $10 Relay for Life calendar. It's for a good cause but I still hated losing my no spend day! The seller had asked me Friday but I didn't have any cash on me...

Work went well, the weather is nice, so there are no complaints :-) Tomorrow I need gas in a bad way, then some groceries, dinner, and some stuff at Shoppers Drug Mart (they are having a 15,000 points if you buy for $75 promo). Big spend day in the works.

I'm counting down the days until Victoria Day holiday, on Monday... just 4 full days and 3 hours left to work! To me, this holiday really kicks off the summer season.

No spend: 84/200 (4 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Sunday tracking

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms in pf blogland, there are a few of you who visit regularly and I hope you had a fantastic day! Weatherwise here it's been terrible, I feel bad for the nurseries who usually make a killing on this day selling baskets, plants and garden stuff. A producer once told me that the money they lose when the weather is bad on Mothers' Day is usually never recovered.

Anyway... I was out early this morning to buy an ingredient for my dessert, needed eggs too so I ended up spending $7.87 on groceries. We had fried clams for dinner, so another $20 there [it was $13.25 but I gave my mom the balance... I felt bad that the DVDs I got her weren't in yet :( ]

As I said yesterday, I'm putting in a full week at work and have a dinner on Tuesday night. While I do really appreciate the hours, a big part of me cringes whenever I have to work a full week. I so enjoy being part-time and since I'm going to be so busy come mid-June, I was looking forward to a slow and easy May... I'll get my break after September 15th though, when those full weeks are over.

So this was a weekend where I spent and drove both days... here's hoping to a better week!

No spend: 84/200 (4 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Quickly...

It's midnight Saturday/Sunday so this means I haven't posted in 3 days... I thought I better write a little something so you guys don't think I've disappeared!

Yesterday was busy with the split shifts and cooking and visitors at home... I did spend money on salad ingredients (pasta, cucumber, tomato, pepper... $6 something) and I bought 3 greeting cards, $1 each.

Today I spent approx $3 on heavy cream and $13 on Smirnoff ice coolers (I rarely drink!). We had my coworker's retirement party, bbq with lots of sides, great cake and yummy desserts, it was very good and a lot of fun.

Mothers' Day tomorrow, I need one thing for my dessert (a butter pecan cake) and we're getting fried clams probably for dinner, so I'm spending money 3 days in a row.

I did pick up a full week of work, I was only supposed to put in about 15 hours but got called this afternoon to put in 39 so can't complain!!

No spend: 84/200 (4 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Rainy day posting

We're having a lot of rainy weather lately, but I tell myself it's good for the lawns and it'll keep the forests from getting bone dry. I am not letting it affect my mood :-)

I didn't spend today so I'm back on my spend, no spend, spend, no spend trend!! I don't even have cash on me, so need to make a stop at the ATM. Payday is only next week, but I have about $350 in checking I haven't moved yet.

I work a weird shift tomorrow, early morning then late afternoon split (2 different offices though). Then I work Saturday morning again... I still don't know if we're doing anything special for Mother's Day, I should decide on a dessert though :-)

No spend: 84/200 (4 in May)
No drive: 38/100

2 observations and some spending

Here are 2 things I haven't spent money on in 6 months:

Clothing
Car repair/maintenance

I bought a bunch of clothes before my trip, stuff I'm still wearing now. And the last time my car was in the shop was during my trip... I'm now due for an oil change though.

Today I had a couple more expenses, a $20 retirement gift (cash) for a coworker who retired in December. He has everything so we're putting cash in a card, all of us together. I also gave $5 for my share towards a bbq we have Saturday and I'll bring a pasta salad (the $5 covers meat).

My sister went to the city and bought the movie Bienvenue chez les ch'tis . It was all the rage when we were in Paris and we bought the dvd then not realizing there were different region codes. It played in our rental apartment ok and on our laptop (it was great to watch it during a 7 hour wait at the Toronto Airport!!). Anyway she paid $30 for it so I'll give her half (and I think she was the one who paid for the other one we got!!).

And finally, 2 little kids came by on their bike, in the rain, selling 50/50 tickets for a school function. I bought one for $2...

No spend: 83/200 (3 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Tuesday tracking

I guess I didn't follow the May pattern, I had another no spend on Tuesday... I did drive to work though, even if it was just a short shift.

I'm trying to clean out the freezer and found 2 pork tenderloins from February frozen in there. I made that for dinner and there are lots of leftovers for the next few lunches. I also found some berries from last summer that need to be eaten before the start of the new season!!

Today I'm planning on making chili, another great way to cook once and get a lot of meals out of it. It's raining and cold, so will be good comfort food. I should also make bread in the bread machine which I'm using, but not as often as I should (still buying store-bought bread!).

There's just about 1 month to go before I start receiving my weekly produce basket. I really can't wait to see what impact that will have on my grocery bill... Will have to analyze this summer and see if it's worth it (just supporting young, local growers sounds very worth it though!!)

No spend: 83/200 (3 in May)
No drive: 38/100

Spend, no spend, spend, no spend...

and on and on it seems this month.

Sunday I spent $25 for some fresh lobster. We ate the rest of it tonight, so got 3 meals out of it. Yum. I didn't drive my car though. Oh I also ordered my mom's Mother's Day gift... $41 or so. I got free shipping (from Chapters), I just hope it gets here by Friday *crosses fingers*

Monday I drove, but didn't spend!

If the pattern continues, I should be spending money tomorrow (even if I don't know what I'd need!)

I'm thinking of taking a trip (small, local but overnight) at the end of May... it's my last weekend off until mid-August. I don't want to part with the money though!!! Still trying to figure out costs...

No spend: 82/200 (2 in May)
No drive: 38/100

New month, new goals

Yesterday I ran my errands, finally. I got gas, a few groceries and a treat. The damage was:

$28.00 gas
$34.10 groceries
$4.96 Dairy Queen blizzard (midnight truffle.......... SOOO good!)

This morning I worked 3 hours and I'm now off until Monday at noon.

Today, I haven't spent anything yet... I watched the Kentucky Derby and I'm really happy that the underdog won!!!

Other weekend plans: spend time outdoors and maybe eat a bit of fresh lobster, as fishing season started this week.

For May, I plan to save as much as I can in my 2010 vacation fund. As I work more hours in June, July, August and September, this will be my focus too.

And I'm very glad (and relieved) that my monthly retirement savings are going so well. I will have $1,003 as the end of May already!

Finally, for my May no spend goal, lets say.... 18???

No spend: 81/200 (1 in May)
No drive: 37/100