Week Four Spending Update

My handsome boy, Bylaw.

I have a three day weekend this week, which is nice. There are no classes today for my program, so that gives me some extra time to relax and catch up on things around the house.

Bylaw had a vet visit today, something he is never happy about. He's in good health, which is great news, although I have no idea how old he is - 14-ish? Somewhere around there. Anyway, I'm very pleased. While I was at the vet, I was going to ask about the cat I rescued a couple of weeks ago, but the vet beat me to it. It turns out she took him home. He didn't even make it to the shelter, so hearing that made my day. She was the vet who did the initial check-up on him, too, so that's wonderful news. She said the kids had decided "Axel" was a better name for him. He is apparently very friendly, litter-trained, neutered and he has a nice temperament, so why someone would just walk away and leave him (and a second one) behind is a mystery. But I am SO happy he got a chance - look how it turned out for him!

My challenge exam went much better than I expected, too. I wasn't at all confident after I wrote it last Friday - it was quite tricky - and mentioned to a classmate that if I got 79.5%, I hoped the instructor would find the extra .5% to make it a pass. It turns out I got 98%!! I just about fell over, but am so excited and pleased to have one less class. I can use that time for homework in other classes. Goal met! :)

As for spending this week, it looks like this:

Jan 20

Groceries: $16.03

Jan 21

Tea (Tim's): $1.97

Jan 22

Tea (Tim's): $1.97

Wal-Mart: $11.03 (cat food, frozen chicken & broccoli portions <-- font="">)

Jan 23

Lunch: $19.88 (we had a field trip and went out for lunch afterwards)

Groceries: $46.39

Yogurt: $7.49 (Iogo - no gelatin, lovely flavours)

Gala apples: $6.38 (7 apples, 1.460 kg@$4.73/kg)

Bananas: $2.57 (1.325 kg @$1.94 kg)

Ginger root: $.18 (.065 kg @$2.82 kg)

Green grapes: $7.98 (.910 kg @$8.77 kg - they're delicious and sweet)

Red onion: $1.39 (.375 kg @$3.70 kg)

Oranges: $3.98 (bag of 6 or 8 "pink" navels - 1.36 kg/3 lbs)

Potatoes: $2.98 (bag of small white)

Green pepper: $1.03 (.235 kg @$4.37 kg)

Baking Potatoes: $1.74 (4 potatoes @ 1.640 kg @$1.06 kg)

Red peppers: $2.19 (.270 kg @$8.11 kg)

2lb strawberries: $4.96

Sweet potato: $3.36 (1 potato: 1.190 kg @$2.82 kg)

Jan 24

Groceries: $12.03

Sandwich bags (100): $2.36

Almonds (1 kg bag): $9.55

Tea/chocolate chip scone (school): $5.25 (OMG, that was good...)

Online game tokens: $20.99

Jan 25

Vet visit: $59.85

Total weekly spent: $195.39

Unnecessary spends: $57.06

Still too  high, but better than last week, although that included the rescue cat vet visit. I still have lots of places to cut - mostly food, as you can see, and definitely those stupid online game tokens. My intention is to reduce the amount I'm spending at school...obviously by overspending at the grocery store. My problem is that my intentions to eat better are good, but I seem to never follow through and so much of this ends up wasted. Better focus here will reduce wasted food AND wasted money. Seriously, how much can one person eat anyway?

Hope you all have a great weekend!