Tag Archives: spending fast

Preoccupation much?

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 1 Comment

The preoccupation is becoming a little much.  So much so, that I find myself becoming obsessive with other things just to take my mind off money.

This is not all bad.

The last time I had a major preoccupation in my life was when I was writing my master’s thesis and planning my wedding.  What did I do?  I flaked out on my couch for hours a day reading the Twilight books repeatedly.  I think I read all four books 5 times back to back that summer.  Surprisingly I physically become nauseous if I try to read them now.

Last month I became quite determined to run the Bluenose half marathon in May.  Then it was starting the Hunger Games trilogy (thank goodness those books are short! I accept all judgment regarding my tween-lit love!).

My point?  My distraction from my finances last month actually led to money being left in my account at the end of the month.  It was slightly odd and amazing at the same time.  It’s been so long since that happened!  Well, there’s always some money, but this time it was almost $200.  So for me, a distraction was likely helpful.  Granted my distractions are typically things that don’t cost me anything, if I distracted myself with shopping that would be a problem!  I can whole heartedly tell you that I am happier for not racking my brain to try and find a way to make or save more money.

We had a big car bill last month which came out of our savings account so that $200 will go towards replenishing that account.

Our established credit card credit was partially used towards a course in January and recently towards insulating our basement.  I will give an update on that project soon!

Nothing overly helpful or insightful in this post.  Simply an end to my recent hiatus and an update on how I am doing.

Stay tuned for fancy-schmancy home project posts, hopefully coming soon!

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Fess up time

Posted on January 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

I have to share the good with the bad right?

Well, here it is.  Over the last two weeks I basically screwed our budget by the $500 I over-zealously put on Han Solo’s credit card!

Main problem?  We needed a new car seat ($230 – $100 (gift$) = $130). Then came a birthday I forgot about ($60).  Parking at work on days I didn’t take the bus (5 X $9 = $45), my bus pass ($100), extra gas money ($60). Coffee slip ups ($10).  Much needed baby clothes ($25). Han Solo’s automated credit card payment that I forgot to put on the calendar ($92) and finally the student loan payment that I got the days muddled up about ($300).

I was so concerned about the money disappearing on little things that I moved it before I should have.  Turns out the things I needed the money for weren’t so little.  Next pay I am going to give Han Solo and I some proper credit (metaphorically) and just leave the money where it is and move what is left at the end of the cycle.

Also, I hope to have our November to December progress and a 2011 year in review progress posted over the week-end.  It’s coming…just taking a little longer than I expected!

In Other News…

Remember that banker that I thought screwed our credit score?  Well she called last week to say that the loan expired.  We needed to bring in the written quote from the septic field guys in order to release the money.  There was a mix up at the engineering firm and the permits weren’t ordered when we thought…yadda, yadda, yadda, here we are again.  No written quote.  No loan.  And that loan was a struggle to get in the first place!

To tell you the truth, my first reaction to hear that the loan had expired (keep in mind she gave us no warning that this deadline was approaching) was relief.  I was relieved to never have to deal with this nitwit again.  But now that I think things through a bit more, our credit has taken another hit in the loan application (which we need to reapply for now), and I read this article about interest rates yesterday and it spoke of how banks are less likely to give loans these days if you look remotely financially insecure.  I chuckled a little bit here as we are not appealing candidates on a regular day!  Anyhow.  I’ve applied for some contract work and hope to start bringing in some extra money soon.  I think hubby should be back at work in the next few months, so while our backyard is disgusting if we run the shower and the washing machine on the same day, maybe we can turn this around somehow?

Waiting another month or so to reapply for the loan will give us another $2000 or so.  With that, we can reduce how much we are asking for and in turn have it paid off sooner.

I’m struggling with my inner-Pollyanna here, but I’m determined to rally!  Or collapse under the stress.  Stay tuned next week to see what happens!

 

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An Exercise in Self-control

Posted on December 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

We are 8 days into December and 8 days, officially, into our spending fast.

Today turned into a tense day.

I went to town to do some Christmas shopping and on the way in actually planned my stops so that I would finish by a Starbucks so that I could reward myself for responsible shopping – by buying a latte!?

Then I realized what I was doing and, you will love this, decided to go to McDonald’s for one of their peppermint hot chocolates instead!  Yeah, I thought I would be cost effective in my splurging!

What stopped me?  Well I decided that I would stop at a McDonald’s close to my house so that I could enjoy my refreshing, relaxing and rewarding beverage at home.  It was not until I was nearing the exit for McD’s that I realized that I could just drive another few minutes and have one at home and thus, not break the spending fast!

I am amazed at how easily by brain went to money spending mode and was justifying it!  Thankfully I caught myself and the fast remains in tact!

Today I would like to acknowledge our “family value”.  A term I use to help me recognize all our family members do for us – as it is very easy to take them for granted.  Family Value #1: baby-sitting.  My mother-in-law came to baby-sit this afternoon while I went out.  Had I had to hire someone it probably would have cost me about $30!  Realistically I would have just drug booboo around with me, but I would have paid for it in other ways later!  Family value #2:  Food!  We went to have dinner with Ma Kettle and my spendy brother the other day (Pa Kettle and my thrifty brother were away)  and my mum sent us home with two mini shepard’s pies!  To make it even better, each one was enough for two of us.  So three bonus meals for the cost of driving over!  In essence, saving us probably close to $20 in food!  Yah!

This exercise of not spending is more important than ever these days as a couple of days ago my hubby was offered a great “side hustle” (a term I learned from Snowball in Hawaii to describe extra work!  Check out her blog!), we have been diligently avoiding the grocery store and eating what we have at home and most of all we may very well meet our goal of $3550 by the end of the month with money left for what was supposed to be our first big payment on Han Solo’s credit card.

In other happy news, neither of us has dipped into the red in at least a month and if we make it to Tuesday without spending anything we will be +$60.  It may not seem like much but Hubby hasn’t been paid since the middle of November and getting by on my maternity benefits is pretty freaking impressive if you ask me!  The best part is that when Hubby’s cash does come in to cover this time, it will be all bank so that is how I stay motivated these days!

Stay tuned to see if my optimism last to the end of the month.  Same bat time, same bat channel.

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Spending Fast Meets Christmas Gift Shopping

Posted on December 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Today was my first proper day of Christmas gift shopping.  I managed to buy 1 gift and talk myself out the gift I had asked my parents for (a new pair of nike + sneakers – turns out there is an adapter for the piece that sits in the shoe and my sneakers were still in pretty good shape so no need for new ones!).  Out of our $400 budget here is how we have done so far:

Total for Sister-in-law’s family:  $117.58 ($2.42 under budget!)

Total for Father-in-law’s family:  $ 51.75 to date (budget $80, 1 gift to go)

Total for Mother-in-Law: $0 ($40 budget)

My side (2 parents, 2 brothers): $60 to date (budget $180, 4 gifts to go)

Grand Total:  $229.33

$170.67 and 6 gifts to go

Christmas addition:  A small loaf pan that I will bake some “extra” presents with.  Purchased with 40% off coupon at Michael’s for less than $12!

I’ll be keeping a close eye on these totals while we try to get some baking done and complete our shopping!

Hope everyone has kept to their spending fasts/budgets for the holidays so far!

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Spending Fast Underway! Sort of….

Posted on December 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

To say our spending fast is underway is a bit of a cheat.  We are committing to it and being very careful about what groceries we buy and avoiding spending money on non-essential items.  However, as I’ve mentioned before we have a chunk of money put aside to pay for Christmas gifts so while I am not out shopping up a storm I am totally excited about getting some Christmas shopping done.  Which is really scratching the “I need to buy stuff” itch.  January is going to be a bit of a shock to the system I think!

For more about the spending fast check out Anna Newell Jones’ page:  http://www.andthenshesaved.com/spendingfastguidelines/

Yesterday I was all pumped up and excited about making some DIY gifts.  The snag is that I have people in my life who, through no fault of their own, are not fans of the DIY gift.  They are quasi-snobs I suppose, but honestly very nice and generally awesome people.  They just don’t like that sort of stuff.  So while I was hoping to slash our Christmas gift budget I’m not sure how to do it without feeling unfair.  Like I can’t buy gifts for my sister-in-law and her family but give my brothers DIY stuff.  That does not seem right to me.  Now, if I could make something that my brothers would love as much as my sister-in-law’s family gifts that would be a different story.  But frankly, I’m just not that artistically inclined!

My new plan?  Supplement!  Everyone gets at least one flashy, commercial (assembled in China! LOL!), polished gift that was on their wish list.  After that, they get DIY gifts to “fill up” with.  After I finish this post I need to get to work on figuring out what everyone will be getting and what I will need to make.  With so many great websites out there, it will be hard to settle on a decision but at the same time, at least I can keep looking until I find the right gift!

DIY gifts pics will be posted here for our entertainment!

Today was better than yesterday, and oddly I had a worse night sleep last night and no nap today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better…or the same…but seeing as I’ll be lugging a baby in and out of stores, I’ll have to be efficient, have toys, diapers and food handy, and focused.  Think happy baby thoughts for me!

So, do you have any “budget challenging” people to buy for this year?  How do you plan to handle it?  Or perhaps just share a bitch-fest with me in the comment section, that’s cool too! ; )

Find of the (yester)day:  Photoshop free 30 day trials!  We had a ton of pictures from trips that turned out grainy due to poor camera settings (or maybe poor choice of camera).  Using the Photoshop Lightroom program, the graininess is gone and memories that I thought were destined only for my mind can now be printed and shared.  I can not describe the relief I feel.  I don’t have to spend $300 to salvage these pictures and everytime I thought of these pictures going to waste it really made me sad :( But no more!

BEFORE!

 

AFTER!!

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Posted in Christmas, Find of the Day, Spending Fast

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