Nov 17th - Not bad

Today was not too bad, I spent $532 on winter tires for my car. I wouldn't have, but the more I think about it, the better an idea that seems. I bought the Michelin X-Ice XI 2s last year in September, because the drive on Hallowe'en on Rogers Pass scared the ever loving shit outta me. Instead of using cash to get all seasons, I chose to keep the tires on all year. Because they're a winter tire, and therefore very soft, I expected that they would wear down at an insane rate on all that hot pavement because of all the drives I did to Kelowna over the summer. When I got to Canadian Tire this morning, I asked the guy to throw them out if they would be useless for even the summer, and as they were wrapping up, I saw them throw the tires into bags and put them in my trunk. Yes! One less expense!

I've been very careful with my money lately, and it's very strange how upset it's made me. Saving money is a GOOD thing, but for some reason I'm freaking out over it. I guess it's because I'm having a hell of a time finding a second job, and hanging around the house 4 days in a row has made me absolutely stir crazy, which is frustrating me like nothing else.

There's only so much time I want to work on Christmas presents, and once they're all in the mail I've got nothing to keep me busy. I used to play World Of Warcraft which kept me busy for hours (!) on end, but now that I'm done with that, and I'm finding that TV is not a good substitute for nothing to do, the frustration level is getting worse.

This is the first time I've had such a hard time finding a second job in a long time. People keep saying the economy isn't what it was, but I see the malls and WalMart parking lots filled to the brim during the week, so I know consumerism is certainly NOT dead, at least not in this town.

To date I've applied at Indigo (/Coles/Chapters), Starbucks, Superstore, Michael's, and a few other smaller local stores, and haven't received a call back. Ultimately my goal is to work at Indigo, I am a MASSIVE book lover and I know the discount they get thanks to my friend Tammy's job at the Coles in Fort St John, and I WANT IT. Plus, the smell of fresh books...mmmm.

Anyway, I've been using this budget worksheet to figure things out. Gail is an awesome lady, as anyone who has seen her show knows. She thinks the general Canadian public is fucking retarded, and so she should, you should see the high income that some people have who are living paycheque to paycheque! Insanity. Anyway, she's tough but reasonable on her show, which is exactly what I love. The one issue I have with her spreadsheet is that the areas you are filling out aren't really clear, and there's no spot for the average amount of money you spend on gifts, only clothes. I don't know about anyone else, but I have gifts I give every month depending on birthdays, get well cards, whatever, and I'd really like to have that added in. So, what I do is add the average onto my clothing budget (which is not easy to do, since I can go 6 months without buying any) and figure it out that way.

According to her spreadsheet, after paying $550 a month to debt repayment (I owe a total of $1700 on a credit card, and that's IT) I should still have $400 a month left! Uh....what?? That means I should be making double payments on my car, to get it almost paid off completely when I move back to BC to attend school.

I think I've got some more careful planning ahead. There are some very hard to resist opportunities to go for coffee to Starbucks, Timmy's, Mac's, where is closest. There are even harder to resist opportunities to go out for lunch with everyone, especially at this sandwich place near us (and WOW is their food good). I think the reason I have such a hard time resisting is because the lunches I have been making for myself lately aren't the best, that's for sure. If I made them more tempting (like this week's shepherd's pie) it may make the temptation easier to deal with.

Either way, I have many things to save for:

$5500 for tuition for my first year at UBCO
As much cash as possible for car payments should I not be able to pay it off before I move.
About $130 for gas for whomever decides they can move me (either my friend Jody in Kelowna, or my roommate here who's from Kelowna).
$400 for a NetBook

So, so much more. I am not getting my cats declawed, as it just plain costs too much money, and can be so painful!

Nothing.

Nothing much interesting is happening here. I got a second job at the bingo hall as 4 days off in a row is too boring for me. I thought my back would be destroyed after the first 8 hour shift, and it definitely wasn't doing too too well, for sure. However after having a few days off, it started getting better and better, and then I bought a new bed. I worked 19 hours on my feet over 2 days, which is amazing since it's been 10 years since I last had to do that. It's been good so far!

I saw The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and Gerard "hot ass" Butler. Num nums, was a good movie.

That's about all...

Issues

I seem to have some issues when it comes to money. I feel like everything is working fine, so I spend a little money here and there for things that help me with my life, and then something goes terribly wrong. For instance, a few weeks ago my computer decided it couldn't handle fast internet anymore (wireless or otherwise) then it crashed and would only boot with one stick of ram. Awesome, slow computer, slow internet. After all troubleshooting was done, each issue points to the motherboard. Unfortunately, the computer is more than 2 years old, and while it was good for a while, there were some games I played that I wanted to crank the settings on video wise, but never could as I had to go with a budget card.

Fine, I thought, I'll just save up for an iMac and get a ridiculous video card with that. Except, my savings are gone thanks to the wedding, as well as a certain outstanding bill I've been dealing with since I was 18. They offered me a $600 buyout to get rid of the damn thing for good. There was no way I was passing that up, so I went for it. My $800 savings went to $200 just like that. I'm glad though, as the bill was sitting at $1500 when they offered me that deal. I would have been a total idiot to give that up.

My boss and I had worked out ahead of time that we would put in for one vacation day equalling 10 hours at the end of the month, as I would have accrued it by then. I looked at my cheque after I returned from the wedding, and suddenly there's 15 hours missing? Where did these extra 5 hours come from? On top of that, my boss didn't put in for the vacation day, so why was it deducted?

We got paid on Thursday, so there was only one day left in the week. It wasn't taken care of by the time the weekend started and I still haven't received a deposit, so I emailed my boss again asking for an update. I hope this gets resolved soon.

Anyway, so I have a shorter cheque and a broken computer.

A while ago, I think it was the beginning of May, I had to get my car checked out so I could put Alberta plates on. I went to Southwest Certigard who told me the only issue was my struts. I figured, okay, well he said I had until probably late August. A month later, they started clicking. I called today to explain the clicking and when I heard it, and now the repair bill is at least $800.

Awesome.

News.

Actually there isn't any. Not a lot has been happening. Erin and Brendan's wedding was absolutely perfect, including the weather. The bride's dress was very classic as was her makeup. It was an event for the record books.

I recently got internet put on my phone. I discovered I could have 500MB of transfer including email for $5 more a month. I'll give it a few months, and if I don't like it, I'll go back to just having email.

The cats are doing well, no health issues in a while (thank heavens).

I went shopping with a friend and spent $111 on 3 shirts and and undershirt.

I am just so excited to see my friends play on July 8th. What a blast that will be. Plus, bonus! My friend loaned me one of his lenses before he went to the Phillipines and it looks to be a damn cool zoom lens. Awesome.

There just isn't a whole lot else happening. Ahh well.

Life.

Well we've already had snow this month (yes, June), so there goes my idea of an awesome summer.

Ahh well. The weather is what it is, and trying to predict it is impossible. The weatherman with all his technology can't even get it right, so there's no point in trying.

In other news, I am almost completely done with the tech industry. I hate going to work each day, and I'm tired of hearing about issues with this, and issue with that. I desperately need a change of scenery, and a BIG change of job. Currently, I'm planning on sticking with it, because I'm finally making enough money to pay my debts. One was finished on Friday, the next one should be done by the end of the month. All that leaves is my car, and I'm free and clear after that!!

I attempted to make meatloaf tonight for my dinners for work. The directions said cook for 50 minutes, then put tomato sauce on it, then cook for 10 minutes. Had I done that, I would have been eating pink hamburger for a week (not that I would). It took me 2.5 HOURS to cook the damn thing. I am never making meatloaf ever again. Geez!

Finally, last week I came back from one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen. It was absolutely amazing and I wish the couple the best. It couldn't have gone better.

I wish this could be more interesting, but alas, that's my life.

Budgeting

I have been reading many a blog lately regarding saving money (Gail Vaz-Oxlade anyone?) and watching shows like Til Debt Do Us Part. It's unfortunate for us single folks that there will never be a single person on that show to help people like me, but it's still a good lesson. Some of them have had such extreme budgets that 2-3 people are living on what I spend alone for groceries. Guess they don't eat a lot of vegetables.

Anyway, I have this terrible habit of blaming my spending on other people:

"Wow, these Kelowna trips are killing me!"
"I have too many friends in Kelowna"

And not saying things like:

"Wow, I spent way too much! That lunch out wasn't necessary, nor should I have had all those drinks"
"I should have let my roommate and his GF go there without me, it cost me too much!"


So, I have been reading Gail's blog. Her budget spreadsheet is a touch confusing because it's asking for Net and Gross income, but doesn't say monthly. For some reason I thought it was yearly, so it was telling me at the end of each month that I should have $36,000 left over. Obviously that's not correct, so when I corrected it, it says I should have $158 left over each month, and that's on the pay periods where I have NO extra money (meaning, no overtime, and no evening/overnight premiums), so a base pay period. In the explanation of how to work the sheet, it says to take that left over money and add it to the variable expenses section, except I had already done that. So, if I should have an extra $158 a month left over AFTER $100 for emergencies and $161 for savings, then where the hell is all my money going? Clearly I should be dealing with the jars, as what I'm doing right now isn't working.

As it is, I've just realized a few hours ago that the pay day won't come until AFTER I get back from Kelowna, which means when I get paid tomorrow, that's all I have. That's not good. Add onto that the cost of the gift to them (it's okay, they just want money for their trip to Greece in August, I don't have to buy it right away) plus the trip and any incidental expenses (read: car issues) and I'm pretty much screwed. I'm very happy that I have such a wide network of friends, as there's no limit to the places I can stay overnight. I will not be going for very long. I am off Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat. The wedding is the Saturday, so I took Sunday off as a vacation day and for recovery reasons. So, if the wedding starts later in the afternoon, I can get up super early that morning and head down there. I don't want to spend very much, but at the same time, I don't want to be late for the wedding, so maybe I'll head up there Friday night. Then when I get into town it will be easier for me to spend less. I can get up the next day and buy breakfast, then the rest will be wedding stuff. Maybe I'll do that.

Either way I desperately need a budget that works. I'd love to stop paying $31.03 including interest on my credit card plus bank fees each month for parking alone, however when my back is messed up like it was this week, I CANNOT take the bus, or I'll end up in the hospital. There isn't a single person who lives near me that's on my team and is off the same days I am, so I am left up to my own devices. Sadly, that means paying at least $5 each Thursday for the meeting. I had originally planned on taking the bus today, because it would have been $5 total (even if the meeting ran late), but the jerkiness of the bus would put me in hospital, I'm sure of it. So, sadly, there's another $5-$10 that goes to the credit card.

So, to make sure I am staying on track, I will be updating this site far more than normal. Hopefully the money stuff isn't too dry! After all, I need to save for my new computer.

No longer on the prowl!

So I finally found a roommate! his name is Chris and he's from Kelowna like me! He's a nice guy who just finished working on the rigs and wants to find a job here in Calgary. His girlfriend Nicki is really nice too. He stays up super late and always tries to be as quiet as possible. He also always takes out the garbage which is awesome!

I must admit it's nice having money now. My savings account is bigger than it's been for a long time, it's been great!

I still haven't swapped over my plates, which I really should do. The initial cost for the provincial check plus the cost of a new drivers license is a bit much for me. I just don't want to see my savings account dwindle right now, so I'm not willing to fork over the money. Silly, right? I'd save $50 a month if I did swap them over, but something is holding me back from doing it.

I found out there's yet another position opening up in my old office, not sure if I want to head back right now. I have $3000 to pay off in bills (credit card, old computer loan) so once I do that I can start saving to move back. Probably won't happen for another year or so, but still.

I really love Kelowna and the more I think about the people there the more I want to move back. Crazy, since I'll never make that kind of money out there. Ahh well!