14: No Spend
15: $2.00 (cash - chocolate, damn co-workers!) + $28.74 (credit - amazon.com for soap molds!)=$30.74
16: No Spend
17: No Spend
18: $8.69 (cash - lunch) + $21.10 (debit - personal care items, damn cold!) + $31.00 (cash - dinner) + $22.13 (cash - personal care: contact lens solution and some other things) + $3.78 (debit - entertainment: 2 books)=$86.70 (ouch!)
19: $14.72 (personal care: BC pills) + $12.58 (cash - dinner)=$27.30
20: $6.00 (cash - tea that my Mom is going to reimburse me for)
Total: $150.74
I'm happy that I had 3 no spends (almost 4, in fact since my Mom is going to reimburse me, I would like to count that too, but anyways) but Friday I went overboard! There was some personal care items that I had been putting off buying for a while (hair ties and clips) but I knew that I was going to have to buy the contact lens solution since I had just bought contacts and the BC pills. The hair items could've waited. I HAVE to do much better on controlling my spending than that!
On the 18th I went out with my Godmother to the show I had bought tickets for her for Christmas: "The Man in Black: a Johnny Cash Tribute" which was a really good show. I didn't really know much about Johnny Cash before the movie "Walk the Line" but I did enjoy the movie (Joaquin Phoenix TOTALLY got robbed of an Oscar on that one!) and I found that his music was one that I could appreciate even though it isn't my usual style of music. Anyways, we went out to a nice dinner and so that put me back $31 but it was a place that I really enjoyed, I had a nice glass of wine and we shared a desert, so it was a very nice evening :)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Savings Goals
Ok, so I stole this idea from hklover86 over at My Money Journey (if you haven't checked out her blog, you should, I loved her posts on the 7 deadly sins of personal finance).
I know I have the sidebars, but I think I'd also like tracking my savings on a spreadsheet too, it does keep me a bit more honest on my savings goals. As well, it has some categories of wants that I haven't actually started saving for but hopefully soon. I want the Efund to be at least $1K before worrying too much about the other stuff.
So, most are not until mid 2012 because they are wedding related (wedding, honeymoon, eye surgery) but I hope to at least start saving for them soon, even if its only $10 per pay. I probably should run one of those savings calculators and see how much I need to set aside to reach those goals. I know the wedding one will be on track soon, fiance will be adding more per pay once he receives his income tax return and pays off ALL his debt (I'm soooooooo proud of him!) and I am hoping with the new job to increase my contribution to this fund as well as at least the emergency fund.
You know what, I will run those calculations and update the spreadsheet. I will write another post (hopefully not too long from now) and try and keep this updated.
TTFN, Morgaine.
I know I have the sidebars, but I think I'd also like tracking my savings on a spreadsheet too, it does keep me a bit more honest on my savings goals. As well, it has some categories of wants that I haven't actually started saving for but hopefully soon. I want the Efund to be at least $1K before worrying too much about the other stuff.
You know what, I will run those calculations and update the spreadsheet. I will write another post (hopefully not too long from now) and try and keep this updated.
TTFN, Morgaine.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Soap!
I mentioned in a previous post, that I have taken up a new hobby - making soap! So far, I've spent around $200 and have made a few presents. I have a lot of birthdays coming up so I will be making soap for my friends. I am also making soap for my wedding favours! I think it will help keep cost down since it is DIY and its personal and totally goes with our Celtic theme. So, here are some pics:
I'm hoping to make some more really special bars to sell on my Etsy store. More on that coming ...
TTFN, Morgaine
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| Wedding Favour Soap! Teal Celtic Heart with "Atlantic Seashore" scent |
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| Gingerbread scent with Oatmeal |
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| Grapefruit dual layer |
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| Heart Soap for Valentine's Day |
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| Raspberry body scrub |
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| Pacific Seashore scented with sea salt scrub |
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| Love Soap for Valentine's Day! Bottom layer is clear glycerin with real rose buds and the top is goats milk with hearts stuck into it. All scented like roses :) |
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| Side view of the love soap so you can see the layers and rose buds |
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| Stars - using ice cube trays from Ikea! |
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| Stars embedded in the bar |
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| "Tutti Fruitti" bar - bits of soap embedded in the bar |
TTFN, Morgaine
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
New Glasses!
Just got my new glasses from clearlycontacts.ca and they are great! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wears glasses and/or contacts. They were almost $300 less than my last pair of glasses and they are nicer and way lighter! It only took 2 days for shipping and shipping was free!
Today, I am home sick with a cold. My finance thought it would be a great Valentine's gift to give me his cold! I think I would have been able to go to work but I didn't get much sleep last night as all we had for cold medicine was daytime formula and I find it keeps me up. This is bad for my budget, though as I'm still temp and I won't get paid for today :( But the thought of being on the phone queue all day was too much for me to bear today. The next couple of weeks are going to be tight, but soon I will be starting my new job at my new pay rate and that will help a lot towards my financial goals.
Ok, time to get more rest and make some soup!
TTFN, Morgaine.
Today, I am home sick with a cold. My finance thought it would be a great Valentine's gift to give me his cold! I think I would have been able to go to work but I didn't get much sleep last night as all we had for cold medicine was daytime formula and I find it keeps me up. This is bad for my budget, though as I'm still temp and I won't get paid for today :( But the thought of being on the phone queue all day was too much for me to bear today. The next couple of weeks are going to be tight, but soon I will be starting my new job at my new pay rate and that will help a lot towards my financial goals.
Ok, time to get more rest and make some soup!
TTFN, Morgaine.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Spending Report February 7-13
Feb 7: $0.75 (cash - coffee)
Feb 8: No Spend!
Feb 9: $0.75 (cash - coffee)
Feb 10: $8.46 (cash - lunch)
Feb 11: $0.75 (cash - coffee)
Feb 12: $14.73 (debit - gift) + $25 (debit - gift card) + $14.38 (debit - $12.68 gift and bag $1.70 household), $70 (cash - reimburse from planned spending - eye doctor), $25.25 (debit - Valentine's Day gift) + $4.52 (cash - gifts) + $14 (cash - bingo - for friend's birthday celebration) =$153.88
Feb 13: $20 (cash - lent to brother) + $3.00 (cash, conveince store) + $164.18 (credit - to be reinmbursed from planned spending - eyeglasses and contacts) =$187.18
Total =$351.77-$234.18(from planned spending acct)=$117.59
Notes: friend's birthday caused me to spend $58.25 ($12.68 gift for another friend's birthday later this month, I saw it and said this is PERFECT for my other friend so I had to pick it up - last one!) Plus $25.25 for Valentine's Day gift for the bf. We decided not to spend a lot of money on Valentine's Day for two reasons: (1) we are saving for wedding (2) our anniversary (1st date) is March 10th so we tend to celebrate this day more than Valentine's anyways.
Glasses are EXPENSIVE! glad I planned ahead for this purchase! And, I will be reimbursed the $70 eye exam fee from bf's medical plan, so it can go right back into PS account. Although, this time I ordered them from clearlycontacts.com which was a lot cheaper than my last pair of glasses which were over $400! I also ordered some contacts to wear on special occasions.
They just made the move from free coffee to $0.75 for coffee at work, but rest assured, I have now brought in my own tea and will use the hot water from the machine for free from now on :) So, there may be more no spend days in my future ...
TTFN, Morgaine
Friday, February 11, 2011
Spending Report: Jan 31 - Feb 6 - Finally!
In my efforts to ramp up my budgeting by tracking my expenses more effectively, I am tracking my cash purchases in a notebook and regular purchases from my debit/credit card weekly on the blog. I'm hoping to put this up every week on Mondays, but this week I wasn't feeling well at the beginning of this week. Well, without much further ado:
Jan 31: $1 (cash - snack) + $12.19 (visa - ebook) = $13.19
Feb 1: no spend!
Feb 2: $2.48 (cash - snack)
Feb 3: $7.98 (cash - lunch) + $8.99 (cash - magazine) = $16.97
Feb 4: $8.80 (cash - lunch) + $38.02 (debit - personal care) + $16.70 (debit - $13 clothes, $3.70 food) +$2.15 (cash - snack) + $7.10 (cash - snack) = $72.77
Feb 5: $22.30 (debit - hobby) + $15.32 (debit - $9.13 hobby, $6.19 food) = $37.62
Feb 6: no spend!
Total: $143.03
Wow, the 4th was a really bad day for me! Why are vitamins so expensive? Also, I bought a pair of those portable slip on shoes because I had an interview and I was wearing my winter boots. But since they have multiple uses (and I am interviewing quite a bit lately) I figured it wasn't a really bad purchase for $13 (even though I didn't get that job :( ) But, I do have 2 jobs that are checking my references, so that's a good sign, right?
TTFN, Morgaine
Jan 31: $1 (cash - snack) + $12.19 (visa - ebook) = $13.19
Feb 1: no spend!
Feb 2: $2.48 (cash - snack)
Feb 3: $7.98 (cash - lunch) + $8.99 (cash - magazine) = $16.97
Feb 4: $8.80 (cash - lunch) + $38.02 (debit - personal care) + $16.70 (debit - $13 clothes, $3.70 food) +$2.15 (cash - snack) + $7.10 (cash - snack) = $72.77
Feb 5: $22.30 (debit - hobby) + $15.32 (debit - $9.13 hobby, $6.19 food) = $37.62
Feb 6: no spend!
Total: $143.03
Wow, the 4th was a really bad day for me! Why are vitamins so expensive? Also, I bought a pair of those portable slip on shoes because I had an interview and I was wearing my winter boots. But since they have multiple uses (and I am interviewing quite a bit lately) I figured it wasn't a really bad purchase for $13 (even though I didn't get that job :( ) But, I do have 2 jobs that are checking my references, so that's a good sign, right?
TTFN, Morgaine
Thursday, February 10, 2011
New Job!!!
Wow, 2 posts in one day!
I got the job that I REALLY wanted hooray! It is for the same company I'm working for now (pension industry) but not the same job I'm working at now - which is temporary anyways. I've already admitted that I don't like the job that I am doing now but I love the company. Basically the job I'm doing now is practically call centre (on inbound phone queue from 9-5) but I also have cases assigned to me that I have to work on during the day. The combination of these two with very little time to follow up and get in touch with clients has been making this job very stressful for me. I also have to tell someone when I'm going to get water or coffee or even if I have to go to the bathroom! I can't eat when I want because a call might come in.
So, the new position I will be off the phone queue (Thank God!!!) and processing requests for a different department and answering email questions. It is another maternity contract until Dec 31st but who knows, maybe she won't come back (unlike the last contract) or I make a good enough of an impression that they find some way to keep me - fingers crossed! The job is a significant raise in "salary" - $23.60/hour which is actually the highest salary I've ever gotten :) Downsides: no vacation - boo! and I have to "earn" sick days - I get 1.25 of sick days for every 1 month that I've worked. I don't take many sick days so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I didn't have any vacation planned for this year (next year - wedding and honeymoon!) so I can't be working a contract then, please, please! But, I also get 8% added to my pay to compensate for this, so that's not too bad. Oh, and I will be part of a union (union dues, boo) but I can also contribute to a pension! I'm not sure I will do this yet, actually, I might wait until the contract is up and see where I stand then and then possibly do a non-contributory buyback (pension terminology has already creeped into my brain!!!)
So, I will be updating the budget yet again with new numbers as soon as I get paid. So looking forward to it!
TTFN, Morgaine.
I got the job that I REALLY wanted hooray! It is for the same company I'm working for now (pension industry) but not the same job I'm working at now - which is temporary anyways. I've already admitted that I don't like the job that I am doing now but I love the company. Basically the job I'm doing now is practically call centre (on inbound phone queue from 9-5) but I also have cases assigned to me that I have to work on during the day. The combination of these two with very little time to follow up and get in touch with clients has been making this job very stressful for me. I also have to tell someone when I'm going to get water or coffee or even if I have to go to the bathroom! I can't eat when I want because a call might come in.
So, the new position I will be off the phone queue (Thank God!!!) and processing requests for a different department and answering email questions. It is another maternity contract until Dec 31st but who knows, maybe she won't come back (unlike the last contract) or I make a good enough of an impression that they find some way to keep me - fingers crossed! The job is a significant raise in "salary" - $23.60/hour which is actually the highest salary I've ever gotten :) Downsides: no vacation - boo! and I have to "earn" sick days - I get 1.25 of sick days for every 1 month that I've worked. I don't take many sick days so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I didn't have any vacation planned for this year (next year - wedding and honeymoon!) so I can't be working a contract then, please, please! But, I also get 8% added to my pay to compensate for this, so that's not too bad. Oh, and I will be part of a union (union dues, boo) but I can also contribute to a pension! I'm not sure I will do this yet, actually, I might wait until the contract is up and see where I stand then and then possibly do a non-contributory buyback (pension terminology has already creeped into my brain!!!)
So, I will be updating the budget yet again with new numbers as soon as I get paid. So looking forward to it!
TTFN, Morgaine.
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