Sunday 19 July 2009

Debt down! :)

Payday #4 allowed me to bring down my debt by another $110. Not huge, but I have to keep "baby steps" in mind. A little at a time is the only way the debt is going to go away. Funny how that works, eh? You can rack up a fortune of stuff in a single day, and pay for your impulse for years. Too bad I didn't learn that years ago, but ah well. Here I am. I regret that, but it would be far worse if I hadn't a) recognized my stupidity or b) done anything about it. Compared to the old me, I'm a paragon of frugality these days. With some debt and out-of-control-spending maintenance to go...

My paycheque was $394.63 and disbursement of funds on Friday was as follows:
LOC: $50
Visa: $60
ING: $75
Gift fund: $15.00

Spent: $200
Debt paid: $110
Savings: $90

My paycheque is 6 hours short for the Canada Day stat, so I'm going to expect the difference on my next one. Normally I have no complaints or problems (I only work one day a week), but for some reason I got the 8 hours at time & a half, but it shows only 2 hours of regular time when I was definitely here all day.

I've managed to save an extra $90 so far this month, too, which is nice. I'm going to modify my EF fund and cap it at $1750 for the time being, so that I can funnel another few dollars a month towards my debt. I am also debating about taking some courses through Athabasca U in the fall which would require me to take out a student loan (if I'm eligible). This is sort of a sore point because I've worked hard to bring my current student debt to a manageable level ($1800 - whoo!) and am loathe to bring it back up again. Still...I'm thinking hard about this.

The travel plans have changed a little bit, but not. We've pushed our start date back a week, as D now has a ceremony to attend. His grandmother died last year and the ceremony is to place her headstone. I think all the grandkids are getting their Native names, too. D is the eldest grandchild and his Native dress has already been made for him. I told him that is not something he can miss. No way. I have no problem leaving a week later so he can attend this. He was a little hesitant to tell me about it, but it made his mum really happy as well as the great-aunt & uncle who will be giving him his name. I might have been resistant had this been, say, 5 days before our return date, but again, the point is not really when we go, just that we do.

We saw "Harry Potter 6" last night in a very hot theatre. I didn't actually notice the heat until about the last 45 minutes when it became oppressivly obvious. The two theatres here are old and have no air conditioning, so they did what they could with two fans, which wasn't much. What can you do? The movie was entertaining, but it's been so long since I've read the book, I barely remembered anything that happens, apart from the key points. Still, it's as true to the story as it can be and I enjoyed it. A good addition to the HP movie series!

6 comments:

dinah34 said...

yay for paying down debt!

i'm waiting for the crowds to die down before going to see HP.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo!!! :D

The Asian Pear said...

debt down is always good. no matter the amount. :)

and I SO want to watch HP movie. But i'm waiting til the movie theatres are less crowded. SOO envious right now.

Jerry said...

I like that you support something that is important to someone else. That leads to mutual respect and it is a key to any good relationship.
I am looking forward to seeing HP6 as well -- just re-read HP7 and was sad that the story came to an end. If she had wanted to (and/or needed the insurance of more income, which she clearly doesn't), Rowling could have gone on with that for a lot longer! Good for her. Glad you enjoyed HP6 despite the heat...
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

Northern Living Allowance said...

@Dinah - I think HP will be around for a bit to be enjoyed in the less crowded theatres (and if you can be pulled away from your new laptop!). The heat took away from the enjoyment of it for sure and made everyone restless, but it was a bit disjointed anyway and I think some people lost interst. Shame!

@FD - I KNOW! :)

@Pear - Have you seen HP yet?

@Jerry - thanks for the nice comment! I've heard that HP7 is going to be in two parts. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that!

The Asian Pear said...

NLA - I just saw it this Friday. (I waited 2 weeks purposely to avoid the crowd.) I hate to say it... I was a bit disappointed. I guess cause it was SO long... And there was still so much cut out. And the big fight scene at the end of the book got cut. I'm hoping the final 2 movies will make up for the action though!