April recap and May goals

Let’s look back at April’s goals.

April goals

1. Come up with a savings goal for Carla’s April savings challenge, post to come Done
2. Try something new; budget bi-weekly instead of weekly to coincide with my paycheck I did it for the first pay, not the second
3. Finish my scarf and post pictures Still not done but there are pictures online
4. Finish my vision board (gotta get this done, it is way overdue) Nope
5. Read 4 books Finished 3.66; Cutting for Stone, Silver Sparrow and 32 Candles and 2/3 of The End of Your Life Book Club
6. Work out 3 times a week Worked out 13 times, it wasn’t 3/wk but on average it works
7. Do another cleanse Done
8. Wake up early every morning to read and/or workout Nope
9. Figure out what to do with all my bank accounts Sort of, the one that’s closing will be moved to PC, the rest remain where they are

Savings Challenge goals

1. Cash only.  I will take out my spending allowance bi-weekly on pay-day and not take out anything else until next pay-day … 2 very long weeks from now.  Dust off my beautiful budget wallet and put it to good use this month. Hide my credit cards.  Hide my debit card.  This girl is going paper only!! I was so good until I went to Costco on Friday
2. Investigate cutting some of my regular costs.  I’m pretty sure the discount on the internet part of my Rogers bill has expired.  Time to see if I can get another discount. Called but the deal was not that great  but I didn’t really look into any other ways of reducing my costs
3. Get back to meal planning to use up what is already purchased.  My freezer is full.  The only thing I should be picking up from the store is perishables; milk, fruit and veggies.  Nothing else, if I want bread I need to get back in the habit of baking some. I planned my meals but didn’t always stick to the plan
4. Minimize eating out.  As I say this I realize I have a dinner tomorrow and a lunch on Saturday already lined up.  I will make a conscious effort on both occasions to eat as cheaply as possible.  I don’t want to isolate myself to save money; that doesn’t seem like a good trade-off. Nope, ate out 10 times
5. 10 no spend days for the month. 8/10 not quite

I think I had way too much going on in April so some a lot of things fell through the cracks.  I really need to revisit my goals mid-month to see how much progress I have made.

So how did I do financially in April?

	Budgeted	Actual
Housing	15%	13%
Transportation	3%	4%
Saving	56%	56%
Debt	17%	17%
Life	9%	14%
	100%	104%

I received a bonus in April and saved 62.5% of it.  But even with this additional income I still went over my budget. But on a positive note it is less that the 112% I went over in March.

May Goals

1. Exercise Monday through Friday
2. Finish my vision board
3. Finish my scarf, I’m almost to the halfway point
4. Read 2 books
5. Use only cash and stick to the budget
6. 10 no spend days

I will continue to meal plan as I think it helps.  Other than that I am just going to try to be better.  Could I be any more generic?? LOL

Food, worthy cause & the budget

I did a quick look in my freezer and I think I can avoid the grocery store for the most part this week.

Sunday – spaghetti and sausages with sauce
Monday – leftover spaghetti
Tuesday – fried chick peas and rice
Wednesday – curried shrimp and rice with corn
Thursday – leftovers
Friday – frozen pizza
Saturday – South Street burgers (we did not go last week )

I have everything already in my kitchen.  The only reason I have to go to the grocery store is for milk and fresh veggies and fruit.  I do need to pick up a few things from Costco but I’m going to try to push that back until later this week.  Although if one of my co-workers suggest we go I will most likely be swayed.  I lack will power where Costco is concerned.

***

I read Carla’s post about Jen today and felt moved to donate to what I think is a worthy cause.  It wasn’t much but I hope it helps.  I can’t imagine what Jen is going through.  I pray that Jen’s surgery is successful and her recovery is quick.  It is just a little reminder to me to be grateful for my good health.

***

I still had money left over from 2+ weeks ago so I didn’t take out any more last Thursday.  I only took out $40 today as I am going to take my sister to get her eyebrows done tomorrow and I have a couple of things to drop in the post.  Other than that I am going to try to make it to the weekend without taking out any more money.

Think I can do it?

March recap and April Goals

Oh March, you were an expensive month.

Firstly my March goals:

1. Carla is having an Easter Secret Sister Swap.  You know I had to join that, it was so much fun last time.  I need to finish putting my package together. Done
2. Stick to the budget (this is a given but since I didn’t write it in stone last month, madness ensued.) BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
3. Continue to work out at least 3 times a week Nope
4. Research new living room furniture. I bought new curtains yesterday and they let in so much light I can now see just how awful my couch really is. LOL I looked online so I am counting this as a win
5. Move my bookshelf Done
6. Start and finish my Steelers scarf Started but it is nowhere near finished
7. Read 4 books I read one
8. Finish my vision board Nope

3.5 out of 8.  Dang, I need to step up my game.

On the money front, I still track all my spending I just don’t post it here.  I’m leaning towards monthly updates, so let’s start with last month.

My girl Gail (I think she’s everyone’s girl) breaks down budgets like this:

housing	35%
transportation	15%
saving	10%
debt	15%
life	25%
	100%

March’s budget for me was supposed to look like this:

housing	34%
transportation	7%
saving	20%
debt	17%
life	21%
	100%

Instead my budget actually looked like this:

housing	31%
transportation	9%
saving	15%
debt	28%
life	30%
	112%

I think I double counted some things as I didn’t do my usual put the money on my credit card right after I charged it. I won’t be making that decision again any time soon.

Having said all that my savings increased, my debts decreased and my net worth increased by 3.5%.  Not as good as it could have been but I’ll take it.

Thankfully it’s a new month!!  And with it comes new opportunities to get it right.

April goals

1. Come up with a savings goal for Carla’s April savings challenge, post to come
2. Try something new; budget bi-weekly instead of weekly to coincide with my paycheck
3. Finish my scarf and post pictures
4. Finish my vision board (gotta get this done, it is way overdue)
5. Read 4 books
6. Work out 3 times a week
7. Do another cleanse
8. Wake up early every morning to read and/or workout
9. Figure out what to do with all my bank accounts

I have a lot of repeats from last month.  I am going to keep them on my goals list until they are part of my routine then I will come up with new goals.

January Challenge recap

Yes I know I am late to the party, but I want to be accountable so here goes.

My goals were:

For the No/Low Spend part:

1. Cash only – no debit or credit Pass
2. Stick to my budget – I will be coming up with a weekly amount shortly Well … not when I add in the pairs of glasses bought.  I was good for 50% of the month
3. Start another ‘sealed pot’ and really seal it  While I didn’t dip into the last one, I can’t say for sure my kids didn’t help themselves  Done
4. One 7 day fiscal fast Not quite 7 days, I did I hit 5
5. 4 No Spend Days each week Not quite either, but I did have more no spend days that in recent months

For the Decluttering part:

1. Get my dining room back to serving its purpose, it is a hot mess – there will be photo evidence  Done
2. Shred the piles of paper around my home Done
3. Declutter my bedroom Not even close
4. Pare down my closet Forgot this was on the list

Well I did more than I would have had I had no goals.  Say that 3 times fast!! LOL

All in all I am glad I participated.  I could have done more but I am okay with what I accomplished.  I mean did you see what my dining room used to look like???  That alone was worth it’s weight in sweat.

 

So close

 (Source)

I was on a “no spending” streak for the past 5 days.

Until today.

I was very low on gas and had enough to get me to work and back.  My aunt asked me to take her grocery shopping today.  I did not have enough gas for that.  So while my next planned expense was supposed to be lunch tomorrow, I bought gas today.  And since I bought gas I also spent money on postage.  A task I was delaying until I broke my fiscal fast.

Then my aunt cancelled because it’s snowing.

Oh well.

This week-end is looking like a spendy one.  I am out of a lot of staples.  I am going to try to “make do” until the end of the month.  I still have $130 in my grocery budget.

I finally added categories to my hexie budget wallet.  Sunday I will start the week and see how it goes.

My weekly spending looks like this:

Transportation $30
Food $90
Entertainment/Eating out $40
Everything else $30

For a grand total of $190/week.

I think I can make it work.

What to say

I am not impressed with myself at this moment.

 (Source)

I have managed to incur my first or second(?) NSF fee, because I am impatient and clearly lacking memory skills.

I have a budget that I swear I know how to use it but I managed to screw it up.

I transferred money into my savings and marked it down in my spreadsheet.  But days later when I was checking my savings account I did not see the money show up and there was no pending transaction.

At this point I doubted that I had actually done the transfer and arranged another transfer … you can see where this is going, right?

Anyhoo, both transfers went through with not enough money in my account, the second one resulted in a $45 NSF fee.  *hanging head in shame*

I have called my bank and explained that I am an idiot and is there anything they can do and they have offered to go half which is more that I could expect.  The credit should appear in my account by the end of next week.

I can’t believe I did this.

WSR – 12/03/12

Nov 25 – No Spend Day

Nov 26 – $13.97 groceries

Nov 27 – No Spend Day

Nov 28 – No Spend Day

Nov 29 – No Spend Day

Nov 30 – $17 sushi lunch

Dec 1 – $14.58 dinner with my kids
$54.24 Christmas shopping
$41.42 old navy
$12.66 bulk barn
$47.74 shoebox project
$52.10 groceries

Dec 2 – $51.16 grocery
$45.11 Christmas shopping
$15.02 contact lenses solution

Grand Total: $363.00 – $147.09 ish Christmas shopping = $215.91 NET
4 No Spend Days

I am pretty much done with Christmas shopping.  I was able to fund my shoebox project from my Christmas budget.

The elevator in my building will be out of service from today until Wednesday.  I am not sure if that means it will be operational on Wednesday but I stocked up a bit on groceries just in case.

November Goals

I can’t believe that it’s November already.  The year is almost over.

I don’t want to put too many goals on my list this month.  I would prefer to do 2 things well than fail at 10 things.

So here goes.

New Goals

1. Ripped in 30; 5 times a week for 4 weeks
2. Complete my Christmas shopping
3. Start and possibly finish my vision board

On-going Goals

1. Reducing my debt
2. Increasing my savings
3. Tracking my food/calories
4. Track my spending and try to stay closer to the budget

I think this is enough for this month.

My Christmas list is relatively small compared to most; only my parents (3), siblings (3) and kids (2).  Grand total 8!!  *small dance*

I have no idea what to get most of these folks.  I would like to not spend a fortune in total.  I have counted and rolled most of what’s in my sealed pot.  It adds up to $412 so far.  I would prefer not to use it all, but right now it is about $50 per person.  Do-able but it would require me to be creative.  I think I am up for the challenge.

My Dad wants men’s yoga shorts like these from Lululemon, but doesn’t want me to spend the big Lululemon price tag   In fact he would be very annoyed with me if I bought him a pair of the desired shorts. *big sign*

My Step-mom is usually easy enough.  She likes sparkly things and nice scents.

My Mom … needs nothing.  Not sure what to do for her as I don’t want to give her another “thing”.

My sister (from my Dad) is easy enough; either gift certificate to the movies or something sparkly.

My brother (from my Dad) is not so easy.  He likes Best Buy … would probably love a gift card from there but that makes me uneasy as how much does one give without it appearing “cheap” or “too expensive”.  (My Dad is old school and still believes $20 is a lot of money.  Well it is, but it no longer has the buying power like it used to.)

My other sister (from my Mom) usually gets $50 cash from me.  But that was before she worked.  Now I am not sure if I really need to give her that much as she now has cash of her own.  She likes brand name things and is at an age where if she doesn’t like it she won’t wear/use it.

Princess doesn’t have a lot of wants.  She is “sitting” on a bucket load of cash from working this summer and has purchased very little, mainly food.  I know she needs some undies as there was a laundry mix up … I’ll leave it at that. But other than that I am at a loss.

Diva wants to change her hair colour.  I do not want her to use chemicals.  She would like hair chalk.  I am agreeable to this option.  As my luck would have it one of those daily deal sites had a set on sale.  So this gift has been ordered.  I would also like to get her the latest Dork Diaries book.

Some where I read about getting your children 4 gifts for Christmas; something to wear, something to read, something they want and something they need.

Hopefully I can think of a few options for my kids and 2 of my siblings and my Mom.

Any ideas?

WSR – 09/16/12

Sept 10 – No Spend Day

Sept 11 - No Spend Day

Sept 12 – $7.26 groceries

Sept 13 – No Spend Day

Sept 14 – $17 sushi lunch for co-worker’s birthday
$20 gifts for retirement party

Sept 15 – $1.20 stupid tax in the form of library fines
$35 retirement dinner party
$4 allowance (Diva also had library fees)
$16.65 groceries
$35 badminton lessons for Diva

Sept 16 – No Spend Day

Grand Total: $136.11
4 No Spend Days

This leaves me with $33.89 to last me the rest of the week.  Which might have worked except I have an appointment with my chiropractor on Wednesday. I have already gone over my yearly benefit amount so visits are now out-of-pocket. My appointment will cost more than what is left in this week’s allowance.

I am hoping to get to a point where I don’t need to borrow from next week’s allotment.

From the looks of things so far as long as nothing else comes up, I should be on budget for the month.

Recent thoughts

Being on a budget sucks.  I know I don’t have to tell anyone that, so really I am only just stating the obvious.

I had an “ah ha” moment the other day.  I realized the reason I am in debt is because I spend tomorrow’s earnings today.  I know this on an intellectual level as it is simple math but I don’t think I ever “got it” on an emotional level.

Recently I challenged myself to live off of $170/week as per Carla’s September savings challenge.  This would be fine had “things” not popped up.

First extra pull on my funds was the first week of school.  Between both my girls, the amount they needed was almost 65% of my weekly allotment.  I decided to challenge myself and not pull the money from my savings.  A decision I did not regret at the time.  Not saying I regret it now but it sure made life a lot more challenging.

Then I filled my tank.  And bought groceries.  Ate out with friends.  Went on activities that were planned long before I made the decision to live on $170/week.

With the exception of the treetop trekking & Niagara as they were budgeted events, I have pulled all other spending from my weekly total.  It’s been hard and has challenged me more that I care to admit.

So this brings me to my next 2 conundrums.

1. Tomorrow I planned a birthday lunch along with one of my co-workers for another co-worker’s birthday.  The cost for this will be $17.
2. Saturday I am supposed to attend a retirement dinner party for 2 ladies I used to see almost daily at the Post Office.  In total the evening will cost me $55.

Both these activities were planned last month.  At the present moment I think I am going to go, borrowing against next week’s allowance.  Then challenging myself to live off the rest.  Bad mindset I know.

I also want to put Diva in badminton lessons through Toronto’s parks and rec programs.  This will cost $35 for 9 weeks.  This will leave me with just $63 for next week. I think it is do-able, it just might not be pretty.  Thankfully I still have 3/4 of a tank of gas left.

It just feels like there is ALWAYS something.  It really does make me think about those who don’t have a choice; why it is that the poor get poorer.  And to think I don’t even have to think about paying for most medical expenses.