Car shopping...um...dreaming

My favourite car out there these days is a Toyota FJ Cruiser. It's one of these. Of course it's out of the question right now, but it's nice to look. I'm not sure why I like them so much - they're the up to date version of the old Toyota LandCruiser - but I'm partial to Toyota, so that might have something to do with it. A co-worker has just bought a new Honda Fit, and I think that's what's started my daydreaming again.

I do this on occasion, although I simply can't afford a new car right now. It's kind of like perusing the real estate websites; I can't afford a house, but I like to see what's out there and what the prices are like. I just have to be a patient. Prices are bound to fall, there's going to be used vehicles for sale, I might just change my mind, etc. I went online and played around a little bit with pricing, interest rates, term, and down payments. A lease would work - if I had $15K to put down, which I don't. And a lease, unless you can write it off, is Not Good. Honestly, I just want something newer than my current one (an '81).

I was playing around with December's budget and because I get paid three times, I technically have a "free" paycheque. If I manage to just stick to my bills, plus some groceries, I should be able to put about $500 into each of my savings accounts! That's very exciting, particularly as I've already got my Christmas fund sorted out, so I won't (hopefully) need to draw anything from the paycheques to cover anything there.

I've decided to get my sister and brother in law gift certificates for Kiva or Heifer International. This way they can choose one or several loans to invest in or the gift of an animal for a needy family. I think it's perfect for them, particularly as they're trying to downsize and don't really need any more "stuff."

So my spending for the past several days looks like this:

Saturday
$6.57 water
$6.98 (2 x tea & breakfast sandwich)
$9.47 cat food

Sunday
$5.88 Starbuck's (a treat of steamed egg nog; felt I deserved it after my photo shoot the day before)
$41.98 yogs outfit from Reitman's (on sale; 40% off!) to replace old, shrunken workout pants
$39.47 Gail's Budget Binder

Monday
$103.14 "Bare Essentials" campaign through work (purchasing basic things like toothpaste, shampoo, etc. for women's shelters - that's the photo of "the stuff" at the top)
$4.02 tea and bagel at Timmy's
$28.84 for 69 5x7 pet photos (!)

I took the photos to the photo store downtown and said "Please don't make me take these to Wal-Mart!" The guy was awesome; I would have been happy with a price match (.97 cents for a 5x7 at Wally-World), but he printed them off for .39 cents apiece!! I am SO, SO, SO happy. I loathe Wal-Mart and really didn't want to spend money there, even if it was for charity.

Tuesday
$11.64 milk and snacks
$12.79 Quizno's (...haven't done a grocery shop yet...)

So, not too bad overall, considering about half of it was for charity, and I do get the money back for the photos.

IT'S GONE!!

I did it! I just did it...I did a $haronRose!

I just cut up my MasterCard! It's in half a dozen pieces on my desk. I couldn't stand it anymore, so pulled it out of my wallet, took the scissors to it and just did it.

There's still $53 owing on it (plus monthly fees of $6 - it's a secured card), so my plan is to pay off the remaining amount at the beginning of December (with my "free" paycheques), plus six months of fees, THEN cancel it. I'd already lowered the limit on it, but it's still too much of a temptation to keep around in my wallet.

And my mother called me yesterday and asked if books were fine for Christmas (I have my wish list on Amazon). I suggested either a Superstore or Tim Horton's gift card would be great alternates and instead she's settled on cash, most likely $1K!! :O Exceptionally generous...I'm going to funnel most of it towards a new(er) car, my travel account and my house account.

Although that would take care of my VISA card...hmmm...

Anyhow, I just had to share my news!

Tag!

Molson; representing the feline contingent. His cross eyes kill me!


This is Lidka. She's from Poland and was so wonderful. Isn't she gorgeous?

These were two of many wonderful, beautiful pets who came for their photos today. I believe it was a success today. There was about a half hour or so at the beginning when I was fumbling a bit with the download program, but once I got my head around it and relaxed, I was fine. We didn't have as many people as we would have liked, partially because it's Super Bowl weekend (or Grey Cup or something...), it was a beautiful day, there are lots of craft fairs around and people possibly weren't aware that our photo shoot was a fundraiser. The advertising is going to be amended to state that. As well, the man who played Santa said that last year the second day was a lot busier, so hopefully the same will be true this year.

But my back is sore and my knees are sore and I'm tired, but really pleased with how things turned out. So far we have about $600, with the potential for a lot more next week.

*******************************************************************

Frugal Dreamer has tagged me to tell six interesting things about myself and then tag six others.

So, this is my list:

1) I'm dating a man 15 years younger than me...and we share the same birthday!

2) I never wear - don't even own! - a lick of makeup.

3) I live by myself and I have three cats. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm going to turn into "the cat lady".

4) Even though I don't speak any different languages, I have a good ear for them.

5) I have a BIG sweet tooth!

6) I love crossword puzzles.

And the six others I tag are:

Canadian Saver

Becoming Debt Free in 2009

Butterfly Collector

Making Up for Past Mistakes

Saver Queen

Holly is Stopping Shopping

Moving money

I realized the other day that I was really tired of seeing my money just sitting around in my credit union, earning a few pennies (if that) each month, so I decided to move my "non-immediate" savings to ING. I transferred $500 (about half) from my vet account, my entire house account ($765.16) and my entire travel fund ($300). While the interest rates aren't what they used to be, the funds will actually earn some while they sit in ING.

I got more than I thought from my part-time job, too, so that topped up my Christmas fund, plus paid down some debt, which is nice. I now have only $53 owing on my Mastercard...I may just do a $haronRo$e and cut it up before I pay it off, simply so I'm not tempted to rack it up again! Regardless, it feels pretty good to have it down to such a small amount. I get three paycheques in December, so can you say 'bye-bye' Mastercard?

My spending over the past couple of days wasn't bad. I had arranged to meet a friend for dinner on Thursday night and when I arrived at the restaurant (the only genuine Mexican restaurant north of 60!) I saw three extra people! How fun! We had a great time and the food was excellent, as always. Mrs. Sanchez is a magician in a very small kitchen. Everything is made fresh when you order it and the place was packed.

Dinner: $20.16

I had a course again today, so the first spend of the day was at Tim Horton's for a tea to take with me. It was actually pretty interesting - how our branch in the government is organized - and I learned a few things that will benefit me as a supervisor. It ended about an hour earlier than it was scheduled to (yay!), so I stopped at the photo shop on my way back and then went to Subway to pick up my lunch.

Tea: $1.92

Subway: $8.92

It turns out that my friend brought her tripod into town for me today, so I didn't end up buying one (YAY). I had stopped at the photo store to look for something else I needed, but it turns out they didn't have it, so I saved myself some dollars there. Accessories for photography aren't cheap, so I'm actually a bit relieved right now. I'll save up to buy a few more bits over the next few months instead.

I'm off to bed. I'm tired and my nerves are starting to get the better of me, and I definitely don't want to be tired and unco-ordinated tomorrow! I have extremely expensive studio lights (borrowed) that I have to be very careful with - one slip and they're gone, quite literally - and I need to be calm and focused when I'm handling them.

We're all ready to go, so wish me luck!

Mid-week spending update

This is what Whitehorse looked like at about 1pm yesterday afternoon. I went for a walk with my camera at lunch and took a few photos along the waterfront. Every single tree in and around Whitehorse is coated with thick hoar frost - they all look like those white Christmas trees - know which ones I mean? It's freezing outside (-22C yesterday morning), but so, so beautiful. It's really early for such heavy and frequent ice fog, but what a beautiful world it leaves behind.



My spending this week hasn't been too bad. I bought breakfast at the hotel on Sunday (bacon, rye toast and eggs) and had a very quiet shift, which I spent reading for the most part. Nice to have a job that you like and that you can legitimately read at (of course, not until I've done my work, which at this time of year takes all of, oh, 10 minutes or so...).

$5.16 for breakfast (staff get 50% off)

Monday spends:
$24.01 for milk, tea (3 boxes Celestial Seasonings ON SALE!) and snacks

I also ordered $33.00 worth of coupons from Save.ca and got my $10 back from my friend, so not a bad day overall. Some of the coupons I'm going to give to the shelter to purchase pet food ($5 off Iams dog, puppy & kitten food).

Tuesday I bought a pizza to split with my friend while she and I went over what we needed to do for the photos on Saturday. I ordered over the phone for a pick up, looking at a pepperoni lovers for $15.99, but when I paid the bill it was only $12.50 for a medium! That was a pleasant surprise. I've been craving pizza for a while. It wasn't great, but it really hit the spot and satisfied the craving, so I'm good now for a long time.

Today I was really bad. I got paid today (and got $200 more than I normally do - still can't quite figure that one out, but it's unlikely that it's wrong, so, great!). I was rushing off to a class this morning - "Your Union and You" - and ended up stopping at Tim's for a tea and a bacon breakfast sandwich. I almost didn't end up at the class because we were two supervisors down, one of the the printers got jammed, the admin assistant was sick again and I had to call in one of the auxiliary staff to come in while our regular staff cleared up three days worth of mail in the back! I learned all this exactly 10 mins before I left.

Fortunately everything worked out: IT came to fix the printer, one of supervisors was just late, the mail got done, the auxiliary staff shift worked out perfectly and my class was actually more interesting than I thought it would be.

But of course, because I was up late, I didn't get lunch made either, so ended up going to Subway and picked up a 6" for lunch.

Breakfast: $5.06
Lunch: $8.33

I'm disappointed that I ended up spending that much for two meals, but I'm giving myself a break simply because I've been doing so well the past several weeks (overall). I think, however, that I'm going to have to get a tripod because I haven't heard from my friend since last week, although she was supposed to be in town at some point getting some work done on her car. This is a non-negotiable necessity for my photos over the next two weekends, so I may have to "splurge" and make a purchase.

I've just heard tonight, however, that there is competition for the Pet Photos this year, which is unusual. The ex-Board Pres (quite a piece of work) is taking Pet Photos at a separate location, although it's doubtful the money raised is going toward charity. This is actually quite mean-spirited and low, in my opinion, but somehow not a surprise, knowing how she is. I'm not certain, but it might even be on the same day. If so, that was done on purpose.

I'm working on a post about "winter weather and costs", which I'm hoping to post in the next few days (not before Saturday!). I think it will be a good reminder of what I've spend, what I need to spend, what you need to be careful with, necessities, etc. I don't have years and years of experience behind me, but it doesn't take long to understand a few important points.

Weekend round-up

I've just found out that the official term for ice fog is "Fog Depositing Ice" which is how Environment Canada describes it. Regardless, it's fog and it's ice and it was quite heavy and made the 10-minute drive into town a careful one in the -20C morning. It will dissipate once the temperatures go up, but as it's only 8:17 a.m., still dark and still cold, it will probably be several hours yet.

Yes, there are times when I wish I lived somewhere else (mostly when I'm scraping my car windows in the cold and the dark and am just sick to death of it), but those times are few and far between.

My spends from Friday look like this:

Lunch with a friend: $7.50 (a really excellent organic lentil/brown rice bowl)

Tea: $1.92 (I've decided to ask for a Tim's card for Christmas, seeing as I spend so much of my own money there every month - why not ask someone for a gift certificate to use instead?)

I was at the shelter dog wash on Saturday from 12 - 3 and afterwards stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few fresh things. I bought:

pasta $1.58 x 4 bags (the no name brand)
cat litter/food: $13.95
cucumber $2.59
egg nog $2.99
(9lb) box of mandarin oranges $6.98
cheese $12.18
cream of chicken soup (2 tins)$3.18
feta cheese (bag) $4.99
container of cat litter $10.48
3 tins cat food $2.97

Total: $53.35

Who spends $2.59 on a single cucumber? We northerners. Further north, in, say, Iqaluit, prices are even higher because everything is flown or shipped in. Prices for 4L of milk sometimes hover around $12!

You have to really like spending some time grocery shopping because produce can be pretty sketchy sometimes, so my general rule of thumb is that if it looks like it's been run over by a truck once, BUY IT! Twice, forget it. There'll be another truck in on Friday. All our produce is trucked in from Edmonton - takes at least a couple of days to get here and if the roads are bad during the winter, sometimes the trucks simply don't make it, or are delayed. Coming from Vancouver Island, where the produce is fabulous and cheap and plentiful, I was initially horrified by quality and cost, but you have to eat, right? You just have to suck it up and shop carefully.

My problem with coupons and fliers here is that most of the stuff that goes on sale, I simply don't eat or use. A lot of it is processed food items, some of it is stuff I just don't like, and there are a lot of cleaners that I don't use because they're not environmentally friendly. So it's mostly convenience stuff, which is great, to a point, but that leaves me with not much to choose from on the sale shelves and whatnot. I think I shall have to start scouring the coupon websites to see what sort of things they have and try to pick and choose what will work for me.

I am going to make some muffins now, so that I have them for work this week.

Mid-week(ish) update

This is why I love the Yukon in the winter - most days look exactly like the photo, beautiful, bright, sunny. With 8 months of winter, that's a good thing!

I'm really pleased that I've managed to do so well with my big grocery shop two weeks ago. I STILL have lots of food left. I've been able to take lunch every day and also have plenty left over for my dinner. It's a good thing I like potatoes! 10 lbs is a lot for one girl to eat...

My spending yesterday was stamps for my international Christmas cards for a total of $20.16 (12 Int'l, 2 US). I even got them mailed off, so that's one less thing to worry about this month. I'm not going to worry about my Canadian cards just yet, but can work on getting them done during my shifts at the hotel over the next several weeks. I'll sure need something to do, as high season is long gone...

I also bought a book: David Bach's "Start Late, Finish Rich", $23.05 (inc. tax). Are personal financial books a need or a want?? I've read his "Smart Women Finish Rich" and felt that this other title was more than appropriate.

Today my spending looked like this:

Phone/Internet payment: $43.00

Coke: $2.06

Tea: $1.92

Books: $50.30 (1 financial book, Gail's bible: "Your Money or Your Life", and a travel book, which will be paid for out of my travel account - "Lonely Planet: Southwest USA").

I went to the photostore today to check out tripods, too, as that will be my next purchase. There are some decent ones for 20% off right now, but I have to take into consideration weight, strength and durability as well. I was surprised they weren't as pricey as I imagined, to be honest, which is promising. A friend is loaning me hers for the pet photos over the next two weekends, so I can see how that works and make a decision from there. Some of the tripods even had little min levels on them...

I also loaned my friend $10 for gas for his truck (he gets paid tomorrow), and as he's good at paying me back, I don't mind doing this on occasion, although I did call him a mooch.

But it's time for me to get to bed, even though it's only 8:45. I was so tired by the time I got home after work today that I was dreaming of bed when I walked in the door at 5:30!

Remember

I find it disturbing that when I was searching for photos of poppies I ended up at a site promoting white supremacy...

I'd just like to take a moment to say "thank you" to those who have fought and died for our freedom in the past and who are fighting now. To those who fought bigotry and hate, so we can have the choices and freedoms we currently enjoy and - usually - take for granted. I bought a poppy several weeks, but lost it shortly afterwards, so felt a little naked without it today. I like to have the spot of colour.

My day was long. I had an early shift at the hotel and we were overstaffed at the front desk, so there wasn't much to do, which is really frustrating. It does mean double time, however, which is nice for my paycheque and I've decided that taking some extra shifts in banquets (serving, setting up, tearing down, etc.) over the Christmas season might be the way to go for some extra cash.

My spending today:

Tea $1.92
Gas $48.84 (46.555L @ $104.9L <--YAHOO!! Plus I made $1.40 I can put towards groceries at SuperStore).

I'm reading an excellent book, if anyone is interested in a recommendation. It's called the "Zookeeper's Wife" about the Warsaw Zoo during the war and how it became central to the Resistance and as a hiding place and way station for escaping Jews. It's really hard to read about the death of the animals, but it's a really well written and compelling read.

Saturday spend

I spent $7 on tea and danish for my friend and I this morning on my way to the Humane Society and that's it. I had intended to stop at the plaza afterwards and start my Christmas shopping, but the items I wanted for my mum (slippers) haven't arrived yet, so the motivation for that dissappeared very quickly. It appears I'll have to wait another week or so to start.

I was at the shelter this morning for a photoshoot. Last year, the Carcross posties had a fundraiser for us (Carcross is about an hour south of Whitehorse) and presented us with a cheque for $2600, which was a fantastic donation. This year they managed to almost double their collected amount and presented us with a cheque for $4000! Amazing! Carcross is a big cruise ship day trip destination, so a lot of the people who donated were just visitors, away from their homes for several weeks and missing their pets. One cruiser apparently made the bus driver stop specifically so she could drop $20 into the collection tin. She'd seen it on the Internet and wanted to contribute.

Anyhow, it's important for the board members to show up at as many fundraisers and promotions as possible, and I really like to be there to support my friend, the administrator, too. This shoot was really fun. The photographer for the paper took the pictures (his own as well as at least 4 others') and we should see ourselves in the paper next week. How fun! That's us at the top, there. One of the posties has a puppy called Melvin, who's actually going home next week, and that's Odie, who is still looking for a home. He's a bit overwhelmed with all the goings on, poor little fella, but a lovely boy.

Wednesday's pay was 1/3 of what I normally get because of my holiday, but I still made sure to put a little bit into each of my savings accounts. It appears that my princess might need another visit to the vet for an ear infection in the very near future, but I'm going to keep an eye on it over the several days and see how it goes. My vet account is rebuilding nicely after Bylaw's dental expenses, and I still have $125 in my car account after paying the insurance last week. While the pay was comparatively small, even after all my transfers, I still have enough for grocery bits & pieces plus my international stamps for Christmas cards.

An early night for me tonight - I have to be up at 5:30 to get to work. After a dinner of baked potato and sausage, I will most likely just head straight to bed, even though it's still early. I still have lots of time to do some reading, too.

Weekly Round Up

Well, I've got to hand it to myself: I sure can spend money! This comes as no surprise, but is definitely increasingly frustrating to me, so I suppose that, at least, is a step in the right direction.

My week looks like this:

Sunday - NO spending! Hurrah!
Monday - $9.00, Tim Horton's (3 teas & 2 choccy danish)
Tuesday - $480.08 car insurance for the year
Wednesday - $550.00 camera flash & extra battery for camera
Thursday - $119.00 exam fee & study guides
Friday - $56.35 prescription, toilet paper, milk & snacks

At first glance, I'm really quite horrified (I use this word a lot to describe my spends, don't I?), however, if I dissect it a little more carefully, it breaks down much better (as long as I conveniently ignore - for the moment - the Timmy expenses).

Car insurance is a necessity if you drive, as everyone knows. Paying off the full year in advance is quite a coup, as I normally pay monthly, which adds interest so is actually not a very fiscally responsible way to pay. This way, I've freed up $51.92 each month, which I can divert into my car account and/or onto my debt. Plus it was $16 cheaper than my statement indicated.

The camera flash and extra battery. That does, technically, fall into that awkward gray area, but I've been nominated to take the official "Pets with Santa" photos for the Humane Society at the end of the month! It's a fundraiser we do each year and it's hugely popular. We had a great photographer last year, but as he was the husband of one of our departed board members, we'd prefer to leave that particular option lie. Buying a flash was on my list of "eventuals" for the camera, and it's been moved up to accommodate my first ever photoshoot. I am both terrified and very excited about this fundraiser. I hope I'm up to snuff!

Yesterday's spend was a bit impetuous, I admit, however, I need this particular exam to get accepted into the local college. If I am going to reach one of my 5-year goals - teaching English as a Second Language - I need to start my classes NOW. The exam is called the LPI - Language Proficiency Index - and I can use it in lieu of transcripts to apply for a class. As I don't know what program I want at this point (Communications? Linguistics?), it makes more sense to work towards realistic classes (English, Psychology, that sort of thing), earn the credits and apply them to a program once I make a decision. The exam is being written December 6 and I've also ordered the study guides, so that I can make a real, concerted effort to PASS this. No one except me will profit from passing this, and I can't afford to waste any more time putting it off. I could register for a correspondence course from a bigger university, but it would cost three times as much. Each class at the local college is $150, a bargain by any stretch.

And today's spend, well...necessities all. Toilet paper, my prescription, milk.

Frugal Dreamer did some research into budget tracking options over on her blog. It appears the majority of us use Excel, but I'm going to experiment with a couple of others and see how it works out for me. I'm not that disciplined, so having a program that does a little more of the work for me would be nice.