February challenge, January update AND Sunday chit-chat

I've committed to both of Carla's challenges in February because, why not? Why not challenge myself to another low/no-spend month PLUS a good old declutter? The biggest challenge for me will be to figure out what I want to tackle, savings-wise: do I want to bump up my EFund or continue to pay down my debt? Plump up the vet or travel accounts or focus on the VISA card?

The final week of January hasn't been a great no-spend, but it wasn't frivolous - at least, not for the most part!

Jan 25: Robbie Burns day! :)
$5.38 for tea & a cocoa macaroon
$3.85 tea & bagel at Tim Horton's
$10 co-worker for 5 tickets for fund-raising draw
$5 co-worker for another co-worker's good-bye gift

Jan 26:
$11.86, bag of nuts (organic and very delicious, but yes, very expensive. May have to reconsider these next month)

Jan 27:
$40 Chiropractor
$67.71 groceries
$51.35 16kg bag, dry cat food (for the boys)
$6.29 watch battery - now I can't get the back on again... >:(

These are the groceries I bought (forgot the 24-roll NN toilet paper, and picked up milk after this). Still can't quite get my head around the fact it's almost $70 worth and that's IT. Even with 30% off the meat. I have two packages of cheese there which is $13, so perhaps that's part of it. I love this PC extra-aged cheddar!

Let's see what the damage actually was:
1 kg NN hone - $8.98
2 pkgs cheese @ 6.79 ea: $13.58 (regularly $7.99)
Brown sugar: $2.99
Roasted red pepper hummus (400 g): $5.79
Sandwich bags: $2.98
50' aluminum foil: $3.79
2 pkgs rice cakes: $2.48 ea (I generally buy organic, so these are a couple of dollars cheaper)
chicken 1: $10.98 (less 30%)
chicken 2: $10.72 (less 30%)

So. I can definitely do better in some respects. And I'm sure there are those of you out there who are asking, "What? No fruit or veggies?" Well...I have a bunch of apples already at home, and I'm currently trying to eat my frozen veggies, but I'm really (!!) bad at actually eating what produce I buy, so I limit it. Comparatively it's cheaper, but sometimes not by much.

Sunday chit-chat.

What are you…

Reading?  Finished reading “The Girls Who Went Away” last night, so I have to figure out what I want to read tonight. I borrowed “Enough Already” by Peter Walsh from the library, so I think I might start that to get me in the right frame of mind for Carla’s February declutter challenge. I’ve read a previous book of his and liked it – although parts weren’t applicable, like the chapters on kids - so I thought I would probably enjoy this one, too.

I gave up on the “Money Drunk, Money Sober” one and took it back to the library.

Watching?  The usual – DIY/HGTV. J

Listening to?  Nothing special this week.

Cooking/Baking?  I’m already trying to decide what I’m going to have for dinner and haven’t had breakfast yet! :P

Happy you accomplished this week?  The final exam for my writing course.  I lost motivation about halfway through. It wasn’t awful, just not quite what I was hoping for. A good clean of the apartment.

Looking forward to next week?  The start of the February challenges and figuring out what I want to strive for! J Returning a book to the college and getting a $45 refund (need to find my registration form for this).

Thankful for today?  Dinah (my diabetic cat) is doing very well. I took her to the vet yesterday afternoon to get her glucose levels checked. They’ve fallen back into the normal range (13.5 as of yesterday, from a high of 20.8 last week), which I’m very pleased about. So two injections a day, plus her diabetic diet, is working well.

Whoo!! Finally - updates for “Angry Birds!” And free, so even better. J

After coming back from the vet, I spent most of yesterday afternoon rearranging my living room. It’s a small space and my furniture is a bit too big for it. It wasn’t an awful initial arrangement, but it seems you have to live with something for a while before you see how it might work better. I moved a bookshelf, switched the sofa & loveseat locations, et voila! It’s actually cosier than it was PLUS I can finally use the electric fireplace that came with the suite.  It works great and I can hopefully keep the electric bill down a little by using that instead of the baseboard heating.

While I was at it, I swept and mopped the floors, vacuumed the rug and the bedrooms and dusted (almost) everything. I still have to clean the bathroom, but that will get done another time. I was too pooped to do it all in one day!

I had a phone call from my brother in the UK, too. It’s my mother ‘s 80^th birthday this July and my brother and his partner want to make it special for her and her twin sister, who lives out east. I was having a bit of an issue with this mostly because I feel obligated to attend for obvious reasons, but was thinking it’s either this or the UK trip. Realistically I can’t do both in the short time I’ve allotted for travel. My brother - being the swell guy that he is - offered to pay for my flight to Ontario so that I could attend the birthday and not jeopardize my UK trip next year in the process. I didn’t say yes right away, but I’m definitely considering it. It would mean I could get Outside for a trip – perhaps spend a few extra days in and around Toronto visiting a friend or tagging along with him and his partner to Montreal (I heart Montreal). If I do it, I can just add in the cost of the ticket to my overall costs next year. Hmm. Really, it would be silly not to take him up on this wouldn’t it?

I’m looking into the deferred leave program through work and brought home a couple of paystubs to play with to see if it would be a worthwhile undertaking. Then I had the brilliant idea of just trying this on my own to see if I could do it for several months before I make the decision to officially sign up. You can take a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of one year off and most people take 3 years or so to put the money aside. I’m just not sure I can wait that long, but it’s all a matter of priorities isn’t it? I’m playing with the percentages (up to 10%) to see what would be comfortable for me. I have to also take into consideration my debt payments as well as my RRSP & EFund contributions, so I have to take the maximum I can without leaving myself struggling and “destitute.” If I start on my own, I can adjust as I go, save more or less as the mood strikes, but once I make a decision with the work program, I’m stuck with the amount I choose, so a trial run, so to speak, might be a good idea.

This might be my February challenge, actually...

One of those days...It's going around!

Well, it appears several of us have had rather trying days today. Is it a full moon by chance? My day was a rather high-anxiety one and this bothers me because I never used to have anxiety.

I'm the focus of an unwelcome crush at work. The fellow in question is a homeless alcoholic and is more often than not drunk when he comes in. He never touches, never makes inappropriate gestures, but always has makes a point of asking me if the clocks are right and what the time is. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it started last summer sometime. He'd been AWOL for months and one day lurched in, loaded to the gills, and proceeded to hover and harass and not leave me alone. Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes and just his presence now is enough to get my anxiety working overtime. Plus, because of the redesign, I have nowhere to hide - we're wide open to the public now. I mentioned this to my supervisor, but it's difficult to know what to do. It's a public building and anyone can come and go as they please. Banning people is next to impossible. I said I would really like an off-desk job, but it's not like you can schedule that around these visits because you just never know when he's going to be in. What can you do? I dislike having my heart race every time I hear the front door open and spending my whole day wondering when he'll arrive, leaving me anxious and tetchy with everyone else.

Perhaps my energy is focused on the wrong thing or the wrong way?

Anyway, that kept my heart rate at a high rate for most of the day, even though he was only in for a few minutes this morning.  Like I said, I've never had anxiety before, but I don't like this feeling one bit. The feeling of having to look over my shoulder all the time (so to speak) does nothing to make me enjoy my time at work. This is part of the reason I'm continuing to look for something else.

It doesn't help that I've not been sleeping well for the past couple of months, either. Two or three solid nights sleep in the past 6 or 7 weeks. I'm just feeling exhausted and we all know that game, right?

Then when I stopped for milk this evening on my way home I saw my ex (I don't think he saw me; if he did, he didn't say anything). *Sigh* Rush of anxiety. Why? I don't know. It's been two years for crying out loud. He's moved on, blah blah blah...

There's something(s) I'm resisting or not doing.

But what good happened today?

• bananas for my oatmeal for the next few days! $3.72
• did the dishes when I got home. I'm doing well with getting them done quickly instead of leaving them for days...
• back to one of my regular tasks at last! I've been desperate for something to do since we reopened and I'm so glad to have my main task back
• the weather is at a balmy -17C. Lovely after a frigid week!
• I'm going to enter a writing contest that could win me a trip to Frankfurt, Germany! :)

I guess it's all in how you look at it. I'm going to change into my pajamas now and watch "Consumed" on HGTV. Terrific show and I'm learning good lessons from it.

Have a good evening all.

Sunday night chit-chat

What are you… 

Reading?  “Money Drunk, Money Sober” by Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan. A 90-Day program to get you “sober” about your money. You first identify your particular money addiction and acknowledge it, then work through the program day by day to repair the issues. I picked it up (at the library) because I thought it could help me focus a bit better, but it’s just okay. I’m going to read the whole thing, see how I feel about it, and then see if doing the program will actually help me more than I think.

 “The Girls Who Went Away” by Ann Fessler. This was a book that came through the library as a request from another library. It looked interesting, so I bought it from Amazon with a gift card I got for Christmas. It’s about girls in the years before “Roe vs Wade,” who were made to give up their babies for adoption and the shame, guilt and societal backlash they got in exchange – as well as well-meaning but misplaced advice like ‘move on and forget about it.’ The author is herself one of those babies and it was a conversation with another woman – once one of ‘those girls’ – that got her thinking that no one had ever asked these women how they felt about this. The focus has always been on the children who were given up. This book is Ann’s way of coming to terms with her adoption, the reasons behind it and meeting her birth mom for the first time.

“A Beautiful Blue Death” by Charles Finch. A Victorian mystery set in London concerning a servant who dies after ingesting a very unusual, but particularly deadly, poison. The (unofficial) detective is an upper-class gentleman who uses his connections to help solve the case. I’m only about a third of the way in, but it’s beautifully written and very engaging.

Watching? DIY/HGTV. I love most things that concern construction (which, yes, includes cute tradesmen…*ahem*…sue me). I still have the Jackie Chan movie to watch as well as “Bridesmaids.” I bought the latter off Amazon for $10 with the gift card I got for Christmas.

Listening to?  My usual “Top 25.” I am not brave when it comes to music, however, I’m glad I made the choice to purchase Adele’s “21” from iTunes last year. She’s simply amazing and hugely talented. I haven’t heard a voice that beautiful for many years.

Cooking/Baking?  I made apple cinnamon bran muffins (a mix), so I will have a snack at work for the next week or so. Otherwise, I’m trying to attack whatever is in the fridge and empty some containers and shelves. Not leftovers, per se, but stuff that needs to be eaten and done with so that I can refresh a few things after payday.

Happy you accomplished this week?  My first English assignment (which wasn’t difficult) plus I was one of a few to get an extra mark because the instructor had posted to wrong assignment on the wrong week. J Despite quite a spendy week, it was all – apart from my visit to Timmy’s – necessary stuff. I am finding I spend a HUGE amount of money on food, so I need to look at that. I have, however, been shopping (mostly) to my lists, so that’s an improvement. Menu planning would help, but I’m hampered by the fact that I have a small fridge freezer (already stuffed) and it’s just me. A small, separate freezer would help, though, as it means I could cook less, which would be great because I don’t like to cook anyway.

I’ve started looking at things to declutter again. There’s a little murmur out there about this right now, and I figured I’d add my voice to it. I did really well on this during the late summer/early fall last year, but bit by bit, I’ve started “collecting” stuff again and I can really use the motivation to get myself going again. I started with my fridge and got rid of a few things, but there’s still much to do there. This morning I cleaned and deleted a few things off my computer that were cluttering that up. At the beginning of the month I went through my emails and unsubscribed to quite a few things, helping keep that much tidier as well. That felt great!

Looking forward to next week?  More of the same. Paying more attention to where I’m falling down with my intentions as well (eating better, spending, making time for things I enjoy, etc).

Thankful for today?  That my diabetic cat seems to be doing a bit better. After her vet visit on Friday afternoon, she’s up to 2 insulin injections per day to see if that helps the glucose levels balance better. Also, the other diabetic food that she was on – which was making her vomit (TMI?) – has been switched back to the original stuff and there have been no problems so far. She’s even eating her proper diabetic tinned food again, which is a real relief. So while it was an additional expense I wasn’t anticipating, I’m thankful for the skilled and caring vets and staff at the clinic I take her to. There’s a reason they’re quickly becoming the “go to” clinic in town.

That I met a good friend for coffee this afternoon. I treated myself to a tea and a breakfast Panini (which was disappointing) and spent an hour or so in excellent company. She’s a lovely woman and I value the time she takes to spend with me; she’s very inspiring and full of great advice. I passed along an item of mine that I thought her 5-yr old son would like. When I was down south last year I went to IKEA (DANGER! DANGER!) and picked up many things, among them this item, which I thought would be really fun on my wall. Only it’s a ceiling light (they had it up on a wall at the showroom, hence my confusion). At any rate, it’s been sitting in my living room ever since, so I passed it along to my friend who said her son will love it.

A memory of Cornwall

(photo courtesy of Cornwall Online Holidays)

This is a photo of Praa (pronounced 'pray') Sands, Cornwall, just outside of Helston, and about a half hour walk from where my grandparents used to live; down the lane, past farms and across the moors and finally past an old, collapsed tin mine. SFT has that beautiful photo of the Cornish coast on her page and it's just got me wistful and somewhat homesick the past few days.

My grandparents raised my dad and his brother here after moving from Portsmouth just before the war. My uncle remembers days when the two of them would be gone from home for hours, and a time when they discovered a fridge washed ashore and full of butter! A real coup at the time when everyone was restricted to rations.

After spending the war in the Mediterranean, my grandpa was the Reverend at Breage for thirty years - I remember going to church once when we were visiting - but the majority of my memories centre around this beautiful stretch of sand. As a family we'd spend hours and hours there, my grandma having baked goodies and made sandwiches for all of us. There was a shop just off the beach at the far end, where we'd buy ice cream on occasion (the "P" for parking at the far left of the map below), but we were happy to just swim, poke around the rock pools and play with abandon.


Breage Parish Church.

My grandparents are both buried here, but not together. :( As grandpas was a vicar, he was interred in a special area with the previous vicars. Grandma, apparently, was "just" his wife. I find this sad. Grandpa knew when he was 14 & grandma was 12 that he would marry her and they almost 70 years together. Not many can say that these days.

The last time I was here was 1993 and then only briefly with my sister. When I'm in the UK next year, I am going to make sure I visit and stir up some memories.

This is a map area:


We would walk down Rinsey Lane (they lived just south of Rinsey village) to the coast path (red line) and across the moors to the beach from there. Grandpa always insisted we stick to the path because the area is riddled with mine shafts from the old tin mines that dot the region and the earth is very unstable. There is actually an old tin mine at Rinsey Head.




(thank you cornwall365.co.uk)

The name of this mine - I've just learned - is Wheal Prosper. There are all kinds of photos of it on the web, some very lovely. From the looks of it, there are now paths down to the mine and around it, but grandpa never let us stray far.

I have been very homesick for the UK for several years now. I wasn't born there, but I have citizenship and am only one generation removed. Perhaps it's because all my memories of time spent there as a kid were happy ones with grandparents (except for grumpy grandpa Wallace...) and cousins and aunts and uncles, visiting the farm in Hertfordshire where my mum grew up, this beautiful area my dad called home...

This has nothing to do with finances, but it just struck me that I needed to keep focused on my goal for next year and this has helped with that. I hope you enjoyed the visit...

This is what ice fog looks like

I found this on the Weather Network website. This was shot at the corners of Third Ave & Main St in down town Whitehorse. This is what it's been looking like the past few days. Brrr...Enjoy!

This 'n that

I'm at home for a second day today with a sore back. This particular issue comes and goes and hasn't been a problem for quite some time, but it reared its ugly head yesterday just before I went to work. My back - "seizes" is the best word - from time to time between my shoulders, just at the base of my neck. I can't turn my head or lift my arms above my shoulders; particular movements seem to make it worse, like driving. It used to last for days regardless of what I'd do, but the past couple of times has only been a day or two, which is...better.

I took an Extra-Strength Tylenol but it didn't help, so I came home instead. Sitting, standing and doing lots of things that would just exacerbate the problem didn't seem like the best way to spend my day. I've been sitting on a ball at my desk at home for about a month and apparently it's been great for my back. It has helped my posture (which is poor) to the point that switching back to a chair the other day was, I believe, the root cause of my back problem yesterday. I'm back on the ball and it's helping immensely. I have a chiropractic appointment lined up for Saturday morning, and that should help as well. An unexpected cost, but not outrageous at $40, so I'm okay with that extra expense this month.

I'm certain a new bed would also help, so I'm going to start looking at prices for a mattress set. The Brick had an excellent Boxing Day Sale, but I don't want to finance anything unless I can put a dent in it right away, regardless of the length of the "Don't Pay" incentive. My bed is okay for now, but is already third-hand and its best years are long behind it.

The temperatures are doing some fancy footwork over the next couple of weeks. Environment Canada is generally more accurate, but the Weather Network has longer term forecasts posted - just to make us miserable ahead of time! And we've actually just gone DOWN a degree to -39C this morning...

Because we use more gas at this time of year, it's important to always have a full tank. I was down to a quarter tank by Monday and even though I don't venture out of town during the winter, you never want to get stuck without enough gas, just in case, particularly with frigid temperatures. I'm glad I got an oil change last week, too, and the fluids checked.

My spending since the 14th looks like this:

Jan 15: No spend!

Jan 16: Gas $62.69 (49.749L @ 125.9L). It generally costs me about $75 to fill from empty and I try to fill only once a month. Because I'm lazy, my "commute" to work is all of 7 minutes (= 40 mins walk). Once the temperatures go up and the light stays a bit later, I'll be walking. My goal is to drive as little as possible during the summer. I'll have to get my bike tuned up for that challenge, so will budget for that accordingly.

Jan 17: $6.96 4L milk (I was surprised, too. I generally pay about $4.59) and $3.80 for a bagel and tea for breakfast at Tim Horton's. My first visit this year! I decided I needed a treat.

Jan 18/19: No spend!

Tomorrow I have to take my cat to the vet for a glucose test to check her levels and see if an adjustment is needed for her insulin shot. She's doing "okay," but not great. She's still thin and listless, although her appetite has moderated, which is positive. She's vomiting a lot, though, which is not, although this may have something to do with her change in food...

One of my favourite book genres out there these days is the memoirs of those who have undertaken a year-long challenge of one sort or another. There's a particular name for it, but I can't remember what it is. Gretchen Rubin mentions it towards the end of her wonderful "Happiness Project," which I loved. "A Year Without Made in China" and "Not Buying It" were a couple of the first ones I read, several years ago, and there are a number of them devoted to not spending. This is something I would really like to do, so I'm going to have a think and see what I can come up with.

Stay warm out there!

YAY!

We're all doing so well on our January challenge! I'm enjoying following everyone's progress, it's really motivating.

Looking forward to the same in February... ;)

Soooo...um...

Remember how I said I prefer the snow and the cold to beaches? I got my wish, because this is what our week looks like:


http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CAYT0019

It's supposed to go up a smidge and then right back down next week, too. What it doesn't mention for today is the heavy ice fog that's obliterating the valley. Most times it burns off by early afternoon, but sometimes it hangs over town all day. Terrible stuff for vehicles - and people! About midway down the page are some photos of what ice fog looks like - it's essentially just 'regular' fog, but frozen. Brrrr!

Stay warm everyone!

Sunday chit-chat

My first "Sunday Night Chit-Chat" posting. What a great idea to wrap up the week! Thanks Carla. :)

What are you… 

Reading? 

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Sarah Rainone. A Nick Hornby-esque book about a group of 4 twenty-somethings reconnecting at a wedding for two high school friends. The collective dislike of the bride & groom – and their reasons behind it - comes out as you follow each person’s story. Each chapter is a different character and "named" for a song.

Watching? 

“The Return of Sherlock Holmes” on DVD (although not as enthusiastically as I thought I would, despite Jeremy Brett as Holmes) & almost anything on the HGTV & DIY networks. Since my new landlady got satellite installed when she arrived in October, I'm afraid I've been a slave to the remote...

Friday night I watched “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” I love animated movies and hadn't yet seen this one. I have “Nice Guy” starring Jackie Chan lined up for some time this week, too. I [heart] Jackie! Adorable AND a kung fu master.

Listening to?  

“Top 25” on my iTunes playlist. Not very interesting, as this is what I *always* listen to.

Cooking/Baking?  

Butter chicken with rice (although this is technically leftovers). Plotting the best way to use up a bunch of overripe bananas. 

My last creative effort was a raspberry lemon mousse cake for New Year’s Day. It's a fussy and slightly frustrating recipe, but well worth the effort once it's completed. I switched the gelatin for agar agar, the vegetarian/vegan alternative, as I'm trying to avoid anything that has to do with (dead) horses in that respect. That also means most yogurts are out, as many of them contain gelatin. This is ongoing, although how I would replace glue is a bit of a conundrum...

Happy you accomplished this week?  

No un-necessary spending, and a big dent in my VISA debt: almost $500 this month - already!

Looking forward to next week?  

Much of the same: more no-spend days; continue making breakfast and lunch daily; keeping my “eyes on the prize” as the saying goes and aiming for my base 2013 travel fund by the end of the year.

Thankful for today?  

It’s -36C outside. I am thankful my cats and I have a warm, safe and comfortable place to live. That I have the best landlady E.V.E.R. And that you guys have welcomed me back so warmly after a lengthy silence. You’re awesome!

Spend/no-spend update, week 2

Time for an update to stay accountable to this challenge! So far I believe I'm doing very well. I actually cancelled my attendance at a workshop I was going to take tomorrow because I thought the "suggested donation" of $30 would be better spent elsewhere - or not spent at all!

It's a chilly -23C here today (-34C with windchill, but let's not count that...), but the sky is clear and blue, and the wind has tapered off somewhat. The temperatures have dropped 20 degrees in two days and the next week or so look to be much the same. Our real winter has arrived at last. While warmer temperatures are nice, it's just not right. The North needs to freeze. Beaches appeal to some, but not to me. Call me crazy, but I prefer the snow and cold of the North, which is why I went up instead of down! At least for now, but I will never willingly go to a beach. That's just not my idea of a good time.

Anyway, what does my week look like this week? Let's see:

Jan 6: No spend!

Jan 7: Brunch with a friend (at her house), which was a lovely two hours spent in excellent company. I stopped while I was out and bought cat food (3 tins) and one box of cat litter for a total of $15.74. I also bought a package of rice cakes for $4.92.

Jan 8: I worked today, but have NOT bought lunch during the week so far. I've been making my own. It helps that there isn't anywhere particularly close-by to buy lunch. You essentially need to bring along lunch and snacks, so it's unintentionally helpful in that respect. On the way home I bought a bunch of bananas: $3.50. Yes, that's correct. It is a lot to pay for bananas. :(

Jan 9: No spend!

Jan 10: No spend!

Jan 11: Pay day!
Bills paid:
Hydro: $90 (I'm on equal payment plan and this, apparently, is my equal monthly payment. I could likely just pay about $60 p/month and still be in a credit over the winter, but I'll revisit this in the spring)
Internet/phone: $119.29 (Internet has gone up to $62.95 p/mth; phone is about $35. My internet is ADSL, cable is the same price and no, there's no other supplier)
Cell phone: $28.33 (I'm on the bare minimum plan)
Oil change: $75.60 (it was time)
Groceries: $47.75 (because I was smart and stocked up on dry goods!) What did I buy?

• 4L milk $4.59
• 2 loaves bread: $5.98 (for the two; separately $4.99 ea)
• Pre-made salad: $3.73
• 1 english cucumber: $1.98
• Baby spinach (lg container): $4.48
• 2 bunches green onions: $1.78 (0.89 ea)
• Two yogurt parfaits: $5.98
• 6 Ambrosia apples (which are fabulous, btw): $5.71 (1.740 kg @ $3.28 kg)
• 6 Pears: $4.92 (1.330 kg @ $2.82 kg)
• 3 Baking potatoes: $3.33 (1.180 kg @ $2.82 kg)
• 2 red peppers: $4.78 (.545 kg @ $8.77 kg <-- not a typo if you can believe it! Outrageous.)

Plus I put $100 into savings!

Jan 12: Groceries: $17.51 (dark chocolate coconut ice-cream, frozen peas & corn)

Insulin needles: $39.95. I have a diabetic cat and decided that stocking up makes more sense. I bought a box of 100 needles, although it's not really a discount as the individual bags of 10 are $4 apiece. I also queried a charge for the sharps container ($7.25) and it was refunded to me. I have always been under the impression that you just exchange a full one for an empty one; I don't ever recall having to pay for these before, so I'm glad I asked. I put the $7.25 back into my jars and coin containers.

Jan 13: No spend!

Jan 14: Cat food (diabetic kibble, 8.5lb bag): $46.20

4 boxes cat litter (15kg ea): $31.96 (I get this from Cdn Tire, as it's the best deal out there, so I stock up when I buy. It's $7.99 for the box, and sometimes it goes on sale at $5.99)

8 tins cat food: $29.40 (Holistic Select, 13 oz cans @ $3.50 ea. This is a lot to spend on cat food, but they all eat the same stuff and this is the only type my fussy little Princess will eat anymore. The boys aren't quite so spectacularly fussy...each tin lasts 3-4 days)

Paper towels: 8 rolls for $4.97, which is actually a great deal! I'll have paper towel for months now.

My new VISA arrived with less fanfare than anticipated, as I forgot it was coming. The number is only 3 digits different than my last one, but I've put it in my wallet anyway. The urge to use it has not struck once since the beginning of the month, so I have hope that I'll be able to continue this no/low-spend challenge through February as well. That would be a huge accomplishment!

I've also adjusted the auto-payment on my LOC from $85 bi-weekly to $50, which is just over the minimum. This is so I can focus on paying off the VISA first and fast. I'm comfortable with this and will keep it low for as long as it takes to pay off the CC. Last night I rolled the coins in my piggy-bank and came away with $100! I still have lots of coin to roll and I plan to put it all on my VISA (except $80 US, which will go into my US account in case I visit Alaska again this year).

All in all, I'm pleased with my progress thus far. My frame of mind has adjusted itself from "lack/deprivation" to "nurture/plenty" and it's amazing what a difference it makes. I just have to stay organized and continue making breakfast and lunch a daily habit, as well as having snacks available so that I'm not starving by the end of the day. So simple, yet it's taken me so long to "get it." :)

English class starts on Monday; writing course finishes Friday. My sister has given me 2-weeks' homework as well (we're doing coaching sessions on Skype; it's something she's looking at getting into and I thought it would help keep me on track, structured and accountable for whatever I take on this year) and my brother is taking the first step of one of his challenges this year. While I was in Victoria over Christmas, we gave each other challenges to be completed by the end of the year, and we are accountable to each other for their success (or lack of). Mine are to save $1500 - 2K towards a trip to the UK next year and to write and send a book to a publisher in 6 months! My brother's are to take more initiative within his relationship and to audition/play music with people 3 times. We chose to give my sister a challenge to volunteer somewhere that rings true for her, but doing something she wouldn't ordinarily do. These have to be finished by the end of the year, so there's room for some flexibility, but the intent is to do things that are a bit scary because without that, you don't get the same feeling of growth or accomplishment. 

Doing things because you can is fine, but to really push yourself to do better, you need a little bit of scary!

Update on no-spend January (+ more)

I'm doing well actually. I've set up a simple calendar on the computer - one of those "fancy" downloadable templates - and am marking in whether I spend or not as well as keeping general stuff on it as reminders, etc.

When I got back from Victoria in December, and prior to reading Carla's blog entry about her challenge, I stocked up on groceries. I spent slightly over $250. This includes purchases like a giant bottle each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 3 bags of rice, 4 tins of beans, some frozen items, a selection of meats (a family size salmon & some ground chicken) and various other non-perishables that will carry me through, and hopefully over, a month. There's a lot of veggies in there, too, but those will obviously have to be replaced regularly.

My intention is to not eat out this month, or at least not as often. I whine about how I have no time for breakfast in the morning, but I actually have plenty. I distract myself and choose NOT to make it or lunch. I have no excuses now that I've suspended Facebook for a month. It's a huge time suck and I need to break my addiction. I'm hoping that by the end of the month I'll feel like continuing for another month...then another. I don't want to deactivate it permanently because most of my friends are Outside and overseas and it's nice to be able to drop a little 'hello' here and there to them. It's my own obsession with it that's become the problem, not Facebook itself.

So how have I done since January 1?

Jan 1: $6.99 for a bottle of Tylenol. I'm not supposed to take Ibuprofen - kidney-related - so bought a bottle of Extra-Strength at one of the only places open New Year's Day. Overpriced for a bottle of 24 tablets.

Jan 2: No-spend day. A visit and tea with a friend for a couple of hours.

Jan 3: No-spend day #2! I called Visa to claim I had lost my Visa card. This is patently untrue, but is a step to save me from myself. I had the Visa number on Amazon and on FB (I know...) and giving the card to my friend to look after was pointless as I had memorized the number long ago. This way I get a brand new card and once I activate it, I will give it to my friend ASAP to keep hold of. A bit drastic perhaps, but 2011 was a terribly spendy year - although I am very, very happy with everything I got, which includes the long coveted KitchenAid mixer...

Jan 4: My dad's birthday. He would have been 81. Another no-spend day.

Jan 5: $2.16 mailing a late Christmas present & $26.03 on groceries. This was a bit of a bust in the sense that I left the groceries in the truck while I was at work and the temperature dropped to -12C or so...the milk is fine, the strawberries too, the eggs? Not sure. I put them out on the counter this morning for about an hour, so hoping they're not (still) frozen. I'll find out eventually! The bananas, however, have turned a lovely shade of dark green/black, so instead of going in my porridge, they'll be made into loaves or muffins or something. Oops. Still, I'm happy with the costs as it wasn't outrageous (at least not for here) and the strawberries actually look edible.

Today I'm going nowhere and doing nothing but catching up on some things around the house: laundry, dishes, tidying, and completing a lesson in my writing course. Tomorrow morning I'm going for brunch at a friend's house. I need cat food and cat litter, however, so it won't be a no-spend day, and while I'm out I'll take care of the recycling.

I mailed off a reimbursement form for some physio sessions I've had through October & November and will be getting approximately $280 back. In October 2010, shortly after my last post, my back went out and I was off work for two weeks. That was about a month after I had my little meltdown at work. So my body was making me do what my mind was only telling me to do - you. need. to. stop.

I had some physio sessions but because of how my symptoms presented then, the actual problem didn't get figured out until THIS year when I went back FOR THE SAME PROBLEM. It turns out it's the L2 area of my spine - the nerves had pinched somewhat and the symptoms that took me back this year were different than the last ones. The reason? We moved the library in October & November and had over 3000 boxes to fill, stack, move and unpack; shelves to unload and reload; kitchens to clean, tidy and refill; items to be discarded, deleted and catalogued (and repacked). It was a HUGE job and it took 7 weeks from start to end. All the heavy lifting and twisting I did exacerbated the problem area again and caused me enough problems that I took time off to recuperate about once every 10 days or so. It's getting better, thankfully, in part to daily and multiple trips up and down the stairs at work. As long as the weather stays warm (nice, but definitely oh-so-wrong for this little corner of the world) I'm going to start walking to work by the end of the month, which will help both my overall health and my bank account.

This blog did wonders to keep me accountable for things and I've missed a lot by not keeping up to date on your lives & posts. I'm happy to be back.

PS: This is the link to the article that I got published last year. It's about my trip to the horse sanctuary in Oregon. So much for anonymity! ;) http://www.whatsupyukon.com/index.php/component/content/article/271-august-18-2011/3413-safe-in-their-final-years.html

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Here we are on the other side. Hope you all had a great new year's eve, doing what you wanted to do.

This is what I did:



It's my vision board. I did one back in June that's far more detailed, but that took me ages to finish. I gave myself half an hour on this one, using images from the ones I started collecting at the beginning of the year. There are similar images on the first one, but I thought this was a good time to do another one. I've just hung it up in my office, as I spend a lot of time in here. A perfect place to see it frequently, which is the idea.

These are fun to do and there's no recipe for them. Pictures, images and/or words from magazines or any other place that "speak" to you, bristelboard or foamboard or even a piece of construction paper, glue, scissors and about an hour of time. The first one I made took me months, literally, as I pondered and thought and finally gave up on it. After my clarifying road trip in May, I finished it quickly and it's hanging over my bed. The intent is to put some daily energy into looking at your vision board and really feeling these things that you want (e.g., money, a fancy car, a holiday, better health, love, etc), so your subconscious takes over and your wants come to be. Basically it's the law of attraction, visually. I ground mine with gratitude - "thank you" is in there somewhere.

Some times of the year are stronger energetically than others - the soltices, for instance. New Year's is a good time, perhaps your birthday or another significant date that means something to you. Give yourself an hour or two, or really challenge yourself with a 10- or even 15-minute run and see what shows up, but don't think too much on the pieces you're putting down. If it doesn't speak to you, put it back and try another one.

Don't think, just do, as the saying goes.

Health, happiness, joy, success and abundance to everyone in 2012!