Wednesday 9 May 2012

Only Wednesday?

It feels like it should be later in the week for some reason. It started off awkwardly enough when I got asked for coffee by a patron on Monday. I was handed a paper with the question and simply handed it back without responding after reading it. It felt that weird. And weirder that I've had a feeling for a while that it would happen.

Anyhoo...

I made some decisions and took some action today about my debt and my cash. I have a little less to work with as I had a rather unexpectedly expensive vet visit yesterday ($523.85), but there we are. Joey had surgery on his paw to remove "something" from it that was causing the problem. The infection had cleared up for the most part, but the vet didn't quite know what it was that she removed, although she got all of it out. It's going to a lab Outside for testing. I'm curious to know and want to ensure it's not something serious. Poor Joey! Now I have to give him medication every 8 hours for a couple of days, but it's liquid, which is much easier to dose him with. He's doing pretty well for the most part and slept well last night after his traumatic day yesterday.

My debt looked like this:
M/C: $255
Visa: $2504.19
LOC: $4000

And now looks like this (or will, once the payments clear):
M/C: $0
Visa: $1000
LOC: $3750

I'm hoping to completely pay off the Visa by the time school starts and knock another $500 from the LOC. I'm going to adjust some auto-payments (RRSP, EFund, LOC) starting in September, so that I'm not leaking cash unnecessarily. I can easily put these things on hold, and even saving $80 a month will go a long way towards paying my rent and bills while I'm studying. In the meantime, I'm aiming for $1k in my EFund, and will look into switching over my Internet to cable (get more GB for the same price I'm paying now) or changing to a lighter/less expensive package temporarily.

I also have several things I need to do in the next couple of weeks. I need to change my winter tires over ($100) and get an oil change ($65), as well as pay a friend for some lovely stained glass she made for me last year ($150). She's been very good about this, but I'd like to get it paid and not worry about it anymore - I'm forgetting about it more often than I like as it is!

I splurged on some soap today and called Victoria to buy it. My friend will bring it up for me when she comes next week, so I'm saving on shipping, got 10% off my purchase because I bought so much, and actually got a new "flavour" to try - Vanilla Coconut! My cost for 17 bars of Salt Spring Island Soap is $97.40 (including tax). I adore this stuff, and it's so dry up here that having soaps that are made with coconut/palm/olive oils make a huge - and noticeable - difference for my skin.

It's time I was off to work...

5 comments:

Jane and Chris said...

Funny, I thought it was Thursday today. Have you thought of making your own soap? It will cost so much less than buying it.
Poor Joey, hope he's feeling better soon..paws hurt so much for them.
Jane x

Unknown said...

Poor Joey! I hope whatever it turns out to be is benign. I know my critters have done their part in wrecking my financial plans, esp in the past year. Good thing they're worth it, huh?

Great job getting those totals down. =) Ouch on the soap, but I'm guessing that'll last a good long while. I ditched hair products awhile back and just use a pea size amount of coconut oil in my hair now. Works great for the curls as long as I stay away from the roots.

its me, sam said...

OMG, I'm sitting here at the computer howling with laughter over the "note"... I haven't stopped laughing for over 5 minutes, my dog thinks I'm crazy!

hee, hee, hee...

Hope the cat gets better soon!

But I'm still laughing over the note...

Northern Living Allowance said...

@Jane - I don't usually buy this stuff as it IS so expensive, but this is the extra $100 I set aside from my mother's birthday present to buy myself something nice. It's handmade and truly lovely stuff. And thank you - I hope he feels better soon, too!

@Karen - they are SO worth it! I guess it has been a bit of a pricey year in that respect. I did myself in, too, when I punched a hole in my truck in October. *Sigh* And I love the soap... :) And I actually got more soap for less cost than I did last year, so I was actually quite pleased. This is coming from my birthday money.

@Sam - I know, right? I have to say it's a first for me. What do you even say to that? Haven't seen him since, but I'm sure he'll be back. I'm just trying to ignore the whole thing!

MW said...

I was wondering about Wed too. It's one of those weeks. Must be remnents of the super moon...

You cannot put a price on something that helps dry skin. I've made do for many years and ended up using more of a lesser quality product with not great enough results.