Bi-Weekly Budget Projection: May 26 - June 8

I'm REALLY hoping June is a slow month as it seems that it should be: no birthdays :) no father's day for me :( but a trip to the fiance's hometown to see his father :)

There isn't anything that I really need but a few things that I want: a couple of new pairs of capris (I have gone down in size since I last bought new ones) and a pair of more comfortable work sandals. I'll have to see how the spending in the other categories go before deciding to "splurge" on clothing.

I REALLY want to stay on budget in June, there was just too much happening in May and the spending got carried away ... I WILL do better in June!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!
TTFN, Morgaine

Bi-Weekly Budget Update: May 13 - 25

So, I went over the bi-weekly budget by $158.73, any guesses how the overage was supported? ... Credit card :( but I did pay back exactly what I spent this last 2 weeks back on the card today (payday) :)

The purchases were (mostly) anticipated, and while I didn't have money saved up a head of time, the gifts were purchased early because we were downtown last Saturday and the shoes happened to be on sale. So it was a timing issue more than anticipation. Also, one purchase I made using the CC was purchased online so I had to use the CC anyways.

As it stands I am already overbudget in May by $59.48 and we still have about a week left to go. Argh!

TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: May 16 - 22

16: $7.67 (lunch)
17: $3.92 (dinner) + $4.25 (snack) = $8.17
18: $28.22 (debit - new purse) = $28.22
19: No Spend! (finally!)
20: $5.65 (snack)
21: $55.00 (cash - lunch for me, the boy, and my Mom) + $1,000.00 (cheque - deposit on wedding venue!!!) + $80.02 (credit - bday gift for T) + $42.97 (debit - Canadian Tire - $32.81 bday gift pt 2 + $10.16 bug stuff for the house) = $1,177.99 - $1000.00 (coming from wedding fund) = $177.99
22: $14.70 (credit - wedding inviation sampler stuff) + $24.39 (credit - personal care) = $39.09 - $14.70 (coming from wedding fund) = $24.39
Total: $252.09
 Emotional Tracker: 17th - really bad day, woke up late, got to work late, it was busy at work, my debit card was cancelled by my bank (potential fraud), I had to buy dinner because I didn't get home until late on Monday and didn't have a chance to make both a lunch and dinner for Tuesday. I only spent $3.92 because that's what I had available without my debit card working, when my fiance picked me up I was able to get something after, but of course neither was healthy. So, all in all a REALLY Craptacular day! And today (18th I'm writing this note) I feel worse because I ate so poorly and it seems to really have had an effect on my stomach as well as my emotional well-being. I gotta stop doing this!

Notes: Booked the wedding venue! We are booked for September 8, 2012 :)

Bought T his birthday gifts (the shoes were less than expected because they were on sale!) for a total of $112.83 (which is less than $100 before taxes, and I'm happy with that). I did put this on my credit card (Mastercard) because I didn't have the amount in my account, but it will be paid off when I get paid.

So, it was an expensive week, but I was expecting it. This weekend is going to be expensive with dinner out on Saturday and the making of a cheesecake and regular birthday cake. But it's T's 30th so I have to make a big deal out of it :-)

Tomorrow is payday so I will be posting my bi-weekly numbers. Definitely not as good as the last one :(

TTFN, Morgaine.

Getting to Know Me ...

Saw this on a few blogs today (Originally from Homeowner by 30 )

The ABC's of Me ...

•Age: 30

•Bed Size: Queen

•Chore You Hate: Taking out the garbage, but I don't do this normally :) Other than that, dusting, its kind of pointless really.


•Dogs: none, bunny instead :)



•Essential start of your day: sleeping in 10 minutes before I actually have to get up.


•Favorite color: Green


•Gold or silver: Silver



•Height: 5 feet 1 inches (petite)



•Instruments I play (or have played): flute and rockband bass :)


•Job title: Service Support Associate (this doesn't actually tell you anything about my job, and I'm ok with that)


•Kids: not yet ...


•Live: Toronto, ON Canada


•Mom’s name: L (don't want to give this one just in case)


•Nickname: (same as above)


•Overnight hospital stays: None since birth :)



•Pet peeve: Rude inconsiderate people

•Quote from a movie: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Princess Bride

•Right or left handed: Right.



•Siblings: 1 brother



•Time you wake up: 7:10


•Underwear: Yes.



•Vegetables you dislike: brussel sprouts, ewww!


•What makes you run late: Oversleeping and TTC - Toronto Transit Commission (thanks Cassie ;P)


•X-rays you’ve had done: when I got hit by a car ...


•Yummy food you make: Garlic Chicken, desserts


•Zoo animal: monkeys

Weekly Spending Report: May 9 - 15

9: $2.90 (cash - milk) + $2.72 (cash - breakfast) = $5.62
10: $2.72 (cash - coffee and cookie) = $2.72
11: $7.90 (cash - lunch) = $7.90
12: $20 (cash - Tim Horton's card refill) + $3.93 (cash - snack) + $7.33 (cash - dinner) = $31.26
13: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $38.71 (debit - personal care) + $4.98 (cash - snack) = $45.54
14: No Spend!
15: $12.41 (cash - rabbit food and treats) + $15.75 (debit - movie) + $11.28 (cash - movie concessions) = $39.44
Total: $132.48

Emotional Tracker: This was a rough week. The spending flood gates opened early and didn't close. In fact they are still open considering I just bought lunch :( Particularily Thursday and Friday were bad as I felt REALLY stressed out this week (monthly cutoff plus at work and a test for my bookkeeping course on Thursday). I need to learn to stop feeding my emotions (literally) especially with bad food. Something I'm working on on top of the financial stuff.

Notes: I am happy with spending overall this week, but still, if I hadn't spent so much money stuffing my face this week, I would have come out of this week really happy.

Funny how you tend to run out of stuff all at once? On Friday I bought: shampoo, body wash, face wash, and body lotion. Which are all out or on the verge of being out.

Went to see Thor on Sunday (fiance's choice, of course). It was alright, not as good as Ironman, not as bad as Spiderman. Just sort of meh. And, it totally didn't need to be in 3D, it didn't add to the movie whatsoever. But, try to convince the boy that we don't need to go to the 3D showing ...

I'm hoping to spend a lot less this week, as I only had 1 No Spend last week (because I wasn't feeling well on Saturday I didn't leave the house), I want to have at least 4 this week. Today's lunch out is the only meal out I have planned (ok, it wasn't planned) this week.

How did your week go?

TTFN, Morgaine

Bi-Weekly Spending Post: Apr 28 - May 12

What? A positive bi-weekly budget???

Yep, for the first time EVER (well, since I started tracking and budgeting, but I would imagine that this is still the first time ever) I had money left over! I'm looking at these numbers and I find it hard to believe that I can't couldn't stick to my budget before. I even spent money on clothes and gifts!

BTW, the left over $51.82 went to my "pay off debt fund". I hope to have an extra $1000 to throw on the Citifinancial loan in December. I've set up an auto-savings plan at ING for $35/bi-weekly which should get me $500 in this account by the end of the year. The other $500 has to come from snowflakes and other forms of "extra money" (i.e. overtime worked, GST refunds, etc). I'm not sure if its doable, but whatever is in that account in December gets thrown on the loan.

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, its been super busy at work this week (which did equal some overtime! :D) and I had a test on Thursday in my bookkeeping course. The course is going well, I'm getting it, even though it does seem that we are going through the material quickly.

Ok, I just wanted to post to say, yes I'm still alive and tracking my money! Hope everyone else is doing well.

TTFN, Morgaine

Spending Analysis: Jan to Apr 2011

So, I am re-reading Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Debt Free Forever (for motivation!) and I've decided that since I've done a good job of tracking my spending since February that this might be a good time to work out the Spending Analysis in chapter one. OMG! What an eye opener :(

So here it is in all its "glory"

I decided that its quite a lot to take in, so I grouped some categories and came up with this as the averages:

And, I had to get all "geeky" about this and creat a pie chart!

So, here it is. Scary, huh? Food is a HUGE improvement area. So, is not spending more than I make. Ouch.

Lots of room for improvement. Any comments or questions?

TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: May 2 - 8

2: No Spend!
3: $12.15 (cash - dinner) + $1.75 (cash - drink) = $13.90
4: No Spend!
5: No Spend!
6: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $7.90 (cash - lunch) = $9.75
7: $50 (cash - gift: Mom) + $57.61 (debit - Zellers: $3.04 household cleaner, $11.29 Mother's Day gift for my Godmother, $42.84 "essential" clothing)= $107.61
8: No Spend!
Total: $131.26

Emotional Tracker: ate out twice this week, I should have only ate out once, but I kept Friday's lunch on the cheap side - sushi = cheap and yummy! :)

Notes: All in all I am pretty happy with this week. With the exception of Saturday I kept the spending pretty well under control.

I've sorted out my at class dinner situation. I will allow myself to eat out one of the two nights. This Tuesday I did that and then found out that Thursday's class will be online! So I ate at home. If I had known that earlier I wouldn't have bothered eating out on Tuesday but oh well. The teacher will be letting us know with more time ahead for future online classes so I should be able to schedule this better. Next week both classes will be at the college but Thursday there is a test so I will allow myself to eat out on Thursday after the test :)

My Mom needed a new vacuum so I gave her the cash I would have spent on a Mother's Day present ($50) and gave it to her towards her vacuum. I found a very nice clock that has room for 3 pictures with it, I know my Godmother will love it, and it just happened to be on sale :)

How did your week go?

TTFN, Morgaine

Projected Budget: May 2011

This month is going to be expensive in the Food and Gifts categories - I already know this! May has both Mother's Day and my fiance's birthday :)

We'll be going out for brunch for Mother's Day (approx $50) and I'm planning to spend about $40-50 on flowers - that you plant - my Mom is a gardener. I also buy something for my Godmother as we have a very close relationship, but I'm hoping to keep that in the $25-30 range.

For the fiance's birthday, we'll be going out somewhere "fancy" maybe Keg, Earl's, or Ruth Chris (he loves steak, could you tell?) - approx $150 - and he also wants to have wings with friends - approx $20. He has told me that he wants new running shoes - approx $150. I am also making him a "Twix" (TM) cheesecake (yummy!) - approx $20-25 for ingredients. This is his 30th birthday so it is a very special occasion :)

Whew! That's around $500 right there! So, I can't be spending too much in those other categories!

I'm glad I'm being proactive and anticipating these costs, but still, May is going to be an expensive month.

TTFN, Morgaine

P.S. dentist is all done - for this year - so that should allow me to save up some more money :)

Monthly Budget: April 2011 - Oops!

So, I went over budget more than anticipated - oops! The last few days of April killed my budget (almost as much as the beginning). It just seems that as soon as I get a paycheque (Mar 31 and Apr 14/28) I go a little crazy, because I feel like I have money. Even though I already overspent in that particular month.

Food and Entertainment were RIDICULOUS this month! I can't believe I spent so much money stuffing food in my face! This is a HUGE area for improvement. We did do a lot in April which accounts for the Entertainment (this is usually a fairly low category) and now that I have the course and other things to keep me "busy" hopefully that number will go down.

On to May ... well, at least the variable budget numbers are increased this month :)

TTFN, Morgaine

How did you do in April?

Weekly Spending Report: Apr 25 - May 1

25: $9.27 (debit - lunch) + $2.70 (debit - groceries) = $11.97
26: $5.65 (cash - dinner) + $3.75 (cash - snack) = $9.40
27: No Spend!
28: $2.50 (cash - snack)
29: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $7.64 (cash - lunch) + $4.01 (cash - bday card) + $11.29 (debit - advil, ugh!) + $36.85 (debit - gifts for my friend) + $25 (cash - dinner) + $50.37 (debit - indigo, board games)= $137.01
30: $15 (cash - goodies at a bake sale, for a good cause :))
1: No Spend!
Total: $175.88



Emotional Tracker: 29th - just couldn't be bothered to bring my lunch (decision made the night before) and then my friend called to ask if I would be up for going out for dinner for her birthday. So, I ate out twice on Friday when it could've only been once :( Other than that, I wouldn't say any purchases were emotional but just hunger. Gonna make sure I have plenty of snacks for the nights I have my course so I'm not tempted by those d*mn vending machines!

Notes: Nothing other than above. 12 No Spends for the month of April, not quite my 15 target, but I am still happy with this number :)

April's monthly budget update tomorrow.

TTFN, Morgaine