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Home > Archive: August, 2012

Archive for August, 2012

Looking for Petunia 100 - dog update

August 30th, 2012 at 02:26 am

Hello Petunia

Can you give us an update on your dog and your neighbour?

Lunch made for the week, meal planning done

August 20th, 2012 at 01:35 am

A very good weekend. Did my budgeting, looks like I might meet that goal of getting under 11K on the LOC by mid September. Lunches are made for the week, as well as a few sweets which is what tends to send me to the vending machine. I'm slightly over budget on the groceries because I found two sale items for the freezer, and was $65 under budget last week so I'm a little low on the basics. So far it's going really, really well with writing down everything I spend. As much as I hate it I really do love knowing exactly what I spend.

I'm looking forward to a good week!

No lunch expenses last week and 2 NSD

August 18th, 2012 at 08:03 pm

My planned lunch date fell through at the last minute so no lunch or vending machine items purchased all week. That's a first in many, many years. And I had 2 NSD this past week. Don't think I've ever done that before in this lifetime. Was able to do a taste testing for $20 and will add this to the LOC debt payment. It feels good!

Tracking spending and lessons learned

August 12th, 2012 at 09:50 pm

I've always asked that my lessons be gentle ones. Tracking my daily spending has revealed some spending that I haven't included in my budget. Fortunately they are small items that are indeed gentle. Three items I need to include are vitamins, parking for medical appointments, and grocery spending while at the cottage. I completely overlooked the vitamin costs and the parking expenses. Perhaps $30 a month in total (won't know until I do a summary - I see an excel spreadsheet in my future). I also include the extra grocery costs in my budget when I do plan to go up north, but I didn't include enough.

Another lesson is that I need to start putting money into my Christmas fund throughout the year. Here's a very good reason: while away I came across a wonderful store that I have been to many times but it's pricey. They are going out of business and everything is 40% off. Naturally I had to capitalize on this opportunity. I bought ten Christmas gifts plus stocking stuffers for $272. Fastastic savings but not a planned expense. And it should have been as I start Christmas shopping early every year.

This is week two of planning lunches. I know I have a luncheon on Wednesday that I need to pay for. It's in my budget. While on vacation last week I thought about ways to make it more create and healthier. I've stocked up on fruit. Off to make the lunches.

Progress on home made lunches and tracking my spending

August 4th, 2012 at 06:20 pm

Wrote a nice long blog but it got lost in internet waste land.

Recap: I made my lunches for the week and froze them. Managed to only have unplanned spending of $7.53 which is a heck of a lot less than the week before. Darned emotional eating! I ate my lunch for breakfast then did drive through just before an important job interview that may have a significant impact on my income. I'm not beating myself up over it.

I have been tracking every penny I spend as my SA colleagues suggested. First, I hate doing it. I always forget and then at the end of the day I'm searching for my receipts. Second, holy cr$p, I spend a whack of money. This week was spendier than normal, had to pick up some clothes for my son. Fortunately he is not a clothes horse and I spent only $100 overall for shorts/underclothes/socks. He only asks for clothes twice a year and could care less about what brand they are. I'm fortunate.

Lastly, I have budgeted to pay off $886 on my LOC in the next 5 or 6 weeks. That will bring it in under $11,000. It looks right on paper but not sure if it's doable.

We have a heat/humidity/smog alert. Geez, we need rain!

Have a great weekend, especially to those of you who have a three day weekend!