Little Savings

Get Rich Slowly had a great post the other day about using small amounts to save for big goals. The article really struck a chord with me because I had just decided I wanted a Digital SLR camera … and I had no idea how I was going to get one! While I don’t have any small ‘income’ streams, I do occasionally receive ‘found money.’ I have a $90 tax credit cheque – that I was just going to feed to my chequing account – which I’ll put toward my Digital SLR goal, and in January, I will get the cashback reward from my credit card and another tax credit cheque. I’ll put that toward it too. I may also receive some cash gifts for Christmas …

I’d like to buy the camera soon though, preferably before the trip we’re planning to Europe in May. Which means I’ll need another means of saving for the camera. (Because I don’t ‘find’ that much money!) I will have to think this over and also keep an eye on prices in the mean time, so I’m able to tell a good deal when I see it (maybe on Boxing Day). I’ve narrowed it down to two models, one of which is currently on sale, but since my search just began, I don’t know if $70 off is a good deal or not!

Thanksgiving Pictures

We went for a walk to see the colours and I took a few photos:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Weekend Review

Everything worked out great for our Thanksgiving trip to my grandparents’ cottage. We had great weather and a good time. I even took a few pictures (maybe I’ll post some later).

No Spend Month

I’m satisfied with my Thanksgiving Weekend spending. I had to buy bus tickets, but this money came from my travel savings, not my entertainment budget. I also bought us some buns and cherry tomatoes at the farmer’s market from the travel savings – this is somewhat debatable. We were on a trip, but perhaps this purchase should have come from our grocery budget. We’re so tight this month though, that we wouldn’t have been able to afford them (too frivolous) so I’m satisfied with it coming from the travel savings.

Wear It or Toss It!

I’ve been chugging along with this. I’m not quite at the point that I’m feeling it yet though. Chances are we normally wouldn’t have done laundry yet, so it’s just like the normal cycle time between washing.

I have decided to get rid of one skirt, rather than wear it. It’s a great grey (tweed?) skirt that I’ve had since high school, and it looks very nice on. It’s quite tight now though (always was a little tight) and I’m kind of afraid to wear it. So it shall go.

Grocery Budget

We did a huge shopping trip yesterday, and redeemed $75 in store points. We got alot of food, which will mostly last us – maybe even to the end of the month (hopefully!). However, the grocery budget goal will probably not be achieved. We only have $13.79 remaining and I don’t think that will be enough for milk and pet food for the rest of the month. Well, actually, I know it won’t be. We will have to dip into November. That’s not horrible though – we were attempting to make it through the month on less than half of what we normally spend. So spreading the September overage out over two months is probably more realistic.

At the store we were lamenting the excessive cost of red peppers and an employee overheard. He pointed out to us two package of four almost-bad red peppers. Some were soft, and some had black spots. But they were only $0.99 for four! We scooped up both packages. Last night we cut up and ‘organized’ them into ‘good’ which we’ll eat or feed our pets, ‘satisfactory’ which we diced, froze and will use in recipes, and ‘soft’ which I will use in a recipe (mostly for flavour). We also got 6 apples for $0.99. They were bruised, but I cut out the bad parts and made apple crisp with most of them. I plan to make apple sauce with the others tonight. I’ve generally avoided almost-bad produce, because I couldn’t use it fast enough. But now that I’m really cooking, I’ll have to remember to look!

I have been doing quite well with cooking our food. I’ve pretty much taken this on as an additional goal. I’ve been making our dinners and last night I baked chocolate pumkin muffins (to start using a can of pumpkin we had) and apple crisp (to use the almost-bad apples we bought at the grocery store) for snacks/desserts for the week.

Office Organization

Again, no progress here. I’m not really sure what to do. My husband doesn’t have a lot of free time, so even though he’s committed to helping, I’m not sure when that will be. Perhaps tonight I’ll tidy the clutter that’s accumulated around the papers, so the problem doesn’t get any worse. And maybe I’ll get a big box, put everything in it, and sort though it from there … Yes, those both sound like excellent plans and I’ve put them on my to do list for the evening.

Wish List

I haven’t added anything else to my list … still just the black shoes. I just have to decide where to buy the shoes. And wait until I have enough money for them, rather than taking from future months’ budgets (this is key!)

Weekend Review

No Spend Month

I had to go to Wal-Mart for some groceries and to look at stationery. Walking in, I was very aware that I couldn’t spend any money and was careful to only look at the items I’d come to see. It was a successful trip, though, because I didn’t spend any of my money (I did buy the groceries, but more on that later).

Now, a confession, I bought a few things in the lead up to my No Spend Month. Namely, a sweater I’d been looking for all month (I finally found it! I couldn’t let it go!) and some Burt’s Bees lip balm (because I honestly couldn’t last the month without it). I spent my last dollars on a piece of pizza and chocolate bars, and donated my final $0.50 to our grocery budget (because it needs all the help it can get!)

Wear It or Toss It

I kind of forgot about this on the weekend. Not that it matters, because I wore clothes and didn’t buy any new ones. I think it’ll get harder as I go on.

Also, I’ve decided on the best way to organize my clothes for this challenge. For now, the shirts I’ve worn will collect in my laundry basket. I’ve taken all of my pants out of my closet, and they’ll be put back in as I wear them. This may be a little more confusing logistically later …

Grocery Budget

I’m actually really happy with how well this went. I spent $44.28, and my goal was $40 … so not bad for the first week! I bought the ingredients for a pasta dish for one night, we had english-muffin pizzas for dinner Saturday, and I bought the supplies for grilled cheese, to fill in any gaps. I also invested in a 10 lb. bag of potatoes and some baking powder. I spent more for a smaller container of baking powder, but it was good for a whole year longer than the bigger one, and I can’t imagine using all of it. I think it was a wise decision.

Sunday I baked maple oat cookies (which turned out just okay – I didn’t flatten them enough before baking), double chocolate chip muffins (yummy) and shepherd’s pie soup (which I thought I made up, but it turns out there are recipes!) All three of these recipes were great, because we already had everything we needed to make them. And they got me started on making more of our food. And they’ll last for the week …

Office Organization

I’ve had zero success in this area. I barely touched the piles (really just moved them around looking for something). I’m overwhelmed. I asked my husband if he would help me, as a project, and he agreed (it is all my mess). I’m not sure when we’ll be able to start, because he’s usually pretty busy, but I think it will be good to have someone to help and motivate me.

Wish List

Nothing’s really happened here either, but that’s okay. Because the goal isn’t really to fill the wish list. So far I think it’s just a new pair of comforatble black shoes. At some point this month I’ll need to acquire a coupon for shoes – the store I want to get them from regularly has $10 off coupons (another advantage of waiting – time to seek out coupons).

 

I also went to Driver’s Ed on the weekend (I’m about 9 years behind on this … ) and hung a mirror in our bedroom. I also tidied up a bit, so it was a pretty successful weekend. We’re trying to plan a Thanksgiving trip to my grandparents’ cottage this weekend … so we’ll see how that goes.

I want to change my life in the month of October

I want to change my life in the month of October. I’m actually really happy with most of the big stuff, which is great. But my day-to-day life could use some work, so that’s what I’m setting out to do.

No Spend Month

I am pledging not to spend any money in the month of October. This mainly applies to my entertainment, clothing and personal care budgets. I’m unhappy with the way I’ve been spending those funds (early in the month, and then dipping into other areas and spending more).

We’ll still buy groceries and the items our pets need. I will pay my bills. Unfortunately, I will need my October paycheques to pay them, otherwise I’d pay them all now and really do the No Spend Month, just buying groceries and pet care items. So for me, this means no clothes, no movies/eating out/magazines/etc., and no new shampoo, body wash, etc. (don’t worry, I won’t smell – I have a lot stockpiled, from a previous budget overage).

Also, my husband and I are currently, kind-of, slowly working on/updating our apartment. So this will continue. Those purchases will be made from our joint account and do not come from the above-mentioned budgets.

I’ll put the money that I’ve budgeted for entertainment, clothing and personal care for October into separte accounts, which will hopefully provide me a bit of a cushion in these areas going forward.

Wear It or Toss It!

I have a very small clothing budget of $50/month. It’s actually $75, but I’m setting aside $25/month to buy a bridesmaids’ dress for my friend’s wedding.

I haven’t been doing very well on this budget lately though, and have dipped into my general savings (with no defined purpose, it always gets hit first!) and the money floating around in my bank account (the little overage every month that is suposed to collect in my account for months when there’s a little underage) and spent quite a bit.

The Great American Apparel Diet and Six Items Or Less have inspired me, but I’m not ready to comit to all of their requirements, so I’ve made up my own combination of the two …

I will wear each of my clothing items at least once, before buying any new clothes. The rules/exceptions:

• This applies only to my ‘work’ wardrobe – It’s largely business casual, so this is often what I wear on weekends as well. I don’t have many ‘casual/lounge’ clothes, and am rarely tempted to buy more. I do have a small ‘formal’ wardrobe, but I won’t have anywhere to wear all of my dresses in the next month. I will take a look through these items when I donate other clothes.
• Out-of-season items don’t count – I’ll wear my summer tops with sweaters, but it’s a little late in the year, and getting cold, for fluttery skirts and sundresses.
• I can donate anything I’d like without having to wear it (or after wearing it). This will help me go through my closet as well and donate items I don’t wear - If I’m not willing to wear it to keep it … then I’m sure I’ll never wear it again. Theoretically I could donate my entire closet and buy all new clothes, but I don’t have the money for this.
• I can wear items multiple times; since I can’t buy any new clothes until everything is worn/donated, there’s no need to limit it.
• Shoes don’t count in the wearing or the buying. I really need a new pair of shoes, and it’s getting to be too cold to wear some of my shoes.

Grocery Budget

My husband and I went WAAAY over our grocery budget last month. We will be working toward making up the overage by spending less the next few months, but this has been a problem for a while (this month’s was just really bad), so we’ll also be spending October’s grocery money in cash.

(Usually we each put our share onto a grocery store credit card that earns points toward free food at the beginning of the month, and spend it down from there.)

In order to achieve this goal we’ll be planning our meals and shopping trips in advance, participating in Frugal Girl’s Food Waste Friday, and I’ll make more of our meals (as opposed to buying prepared foods). I actually plan to take MAKING all of our food on as a challenge, perhaps in November, so this will be a little warm-up. I may also post pictures and lists of what we buy, like Frugal Girl, as a way of holding us accountable.

A couple of other things I’m planning to do:

• Office Organization – It looks like a tornado blew through our office, and only my things were affected. It’s all my mess of mostly papers and some other stuff to go through. As our spare room, the office collects alot of clutter. My goal is to have a usable office by the end of the month.
• Start a Wish List – since I won’t be spending any money this will be easy, but my hope is even when I am finished that goal, I will continue. Items must be on the wish list for a month before they are purchased.

Wish me luck!

Be content with your life as it is.

Hi, I’m Carolyn. Nice to meet you.

I’m interested in talking about budgeting and personal finance, and living frugally. These areas impact all sorts of different things though, so there’s alot to talk about!

The title for my blog came from a post called The Best Kept Secret to Frugal Living. And it’s true. My life is great, yours probably is too … so why not just be happy with it? Sure we all have goals, and hopes, and dreams. But I don’t need those things to make me happy … I’m happy now. So “Be content with your life as it is,” will be my little mantra, to remind me that things are good.

In the same post, the author, Sarah Winfrey, offers Tips for Finding Contentment. My favourite: Tell yourself the truth – “I have enough.” I think that’s a really great way to live. Not striving to have more, but with the goal of having enough. In fact, I bet most of us have already achieved it! I have enough.