robex's Personal Finance Blog

Uh-oh. I'm not sure what happened but I've used up almost all the money in the grocery bag for the month. I guess I'll be running in a deficit this month because I still need to buy milk and coffee for next week, and probably some fruit and vegies, too. I'm okay for another week (I think) but not 10 days. Luckily, the freezer is still pretty well stocked, so dinners are taken care of.

I had an okay night at work. It was fairly quiet and lots of minor problems to take care of. I supervise about 18 people. Most of them I've worked with for a couple of years, but two of the staff that were hired last week I just can't warm up to. This is very unlike me and I hate the feeling, but I think that I just don't like them. Actually, I find them negative. In my opinion they have not worked there long enough to have the priviledge to be negative about our customers, staff, or general atmosphere...lose the attitudes, Ladies! I'm hoping to be able to wear them down to my way of service, otherwise I'll ask for them to be transferred into another area. I heard a few grumbles from other staff about the two of them tonight and I really don't care for that.

I work tomorrow and Saturday and have Sunday off. Then I work Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday off. I think that's going to be my schedule for awhile. I would really like either Monday or Tuesday off as well, but it's not meant to be right now. I'm going to eat some noodles now and go to bed...no dinner tonight...

We had a great time at Science World today. Took my three kids plus ds11's best friend. We have passes, but I paid for friend and lunch out at the restaurant there. We spent an additional 20 dollars to go see the Viking show at the Omnimax Theatre--the screen is a dome so everything feels 3D. It was very cool and the kids had a great time. I'm debating whether or not we're going to renew our membership when it comes due in March. My Mom and fil both give us money for Christmas every year, and we use it to buy family memberships to different venues in the lower mainland. The kids really like Science World, but we've had this membership for two years. They'd love passes to Playland, I'm sure, but I don't know that I would! I'm not sure that counts as good use for the money...I'll think on that one. We've had zoo passes for a few years, but they get tired of going there--another one that you really can only use weather permitting. The aquarium isn't too far away but it's horribly expensive and always sooo crowded. It's an awesome place to visit if anyone is planning a trip to Vancouver, though. Anyways, we have time to think about it.

All in all, we had a great day...however, I did spend about 70 dollars on our day trip. Usually we bring lunch and don't go to the theatre, but I was feeling flush today.

I just got home from work and need a few minutes to unwind before falling asleep. I had an okay night...went by fairly quickly and I had lots of little chats with employees that I don't usually work with anymore as they passed by the main desk. I don't work in that area anymore so it was nice to see everyone. One of the security guards always used to bring me a hot chocolate when I worked the late shift and it was great to work with him tonight.

My boss is super stressed. She asked me to increase my hours over the next few weeks. I would really rather not because I think that I work enough and would prefer to be home with my family, but she is so good about my hours that I hate to say no to her when she asks for help. I guess I'll do it for a while and see if we can get ourselves caught up. Maybe by the middle of November I can cut back again. I know that December is going to be crazy with all the Christmas parties we will be organizing, but hopefully I'll be spending the bulk of my week at home!

I guess I'll head off to bed now. I didn't spend any money at work tonight. In fact, I found two dollars in my jacket pocket!

Dh's cheque deposit went through. Thank Goodness!

Went with dd9 to the mall today and mailed off a medical receipt for ds11's orthotic inserts. Originally I was told that he wasn't covered as a dependent, but of course he is, so my HR representative put together a package to send to them and I re-sent all the other information. Hopefully we're covered for it...$295.00 would be nice in our bank!

Ds11 has an infected toe...now he's on antibiotics and foot soaks. This is the third time he's had this problem. Feet are an issue with him.

I have to work the 6:15-3:00am shift tonight...yuck! I won't have to do it again after this. It is so boring after midnight and I'm tired, so it's going to be a struggle to stay awake. Then I'll be tired all day on Wednesday, so it's kind of a blah feeling knowing that I have to go in. If I'm not too tired then I'll take the kids to Science World tomorrow. We have a family membership so it doesn't cost us anything, and we haven't been in a while. It's a great place for all three kids...but I hate the hour drive. We'll have to be back by 4:00 because of the kids' paper route, and I hate hitting rush hour.

I have to finish up here now and go get dinner ready. We're having spaghetti because there's leftover ground beef from Saturday's tacos.

Another wet, rainy west coast day...got up with Dh because he had an 8:30 meeting, and then I went back to bed and snoozed off and on until 10:30. The kids were watching t.v. in my bed, so I was sort of awake most of the time. After I got up and had a shower, everyone changed the sheets on their beds and we did loads of laundry. Dh came home, made lunch and I made a chicken soup for dinner. I think our fridge is pretty much cleared out of leftovers. Ds11 rented a few dvds, so he and ds5 are watching Spaceballs and Dh took dd9 to gymnastics. I'm going to make some garlic breadsticks to go with our soup for dinner. I think the weekend did me in from working so many hours and I'll be heading off to bed early tonight.

Dh's cheque never was deposited into our account on Friday. He has direct deposit so we're not sure what went wrong. His boss is away until next Monday, so he phoned someone else and she's trying to figure it out for him. We have enough left in the account to cover this month's mortgage but RRSP's come out at the end of the month and if this happens again, we'll be short on our payment. We'll see how long this takes to fix.

I'm already back in my pajamas...it's only 3:30. I don't have a very busy week, work Tues., Thurs, Fri, and Sat. nights, but should just be regular hours. I don't think the kids will be back in school this week at all. The teachers strike is still going strong and pretty much the all of Victoria was shut down today in support. There's a big rally at the Parliament Buildings and supposedly the shut downs will move to the lower mainland tomorrow or Wednesday. Ds5 is supposed to go on a field trip to the pumpkin patch next week and it will be a shame if it has to be cancelled. I'll take my 3 to a pumpkin patch but, unfortunately, I don't have a school bus, and that's the main attraction for my little guy!

It is pouring here today and the kids are at my Dad's and Stepmom's for a sleepover so I told them that I would do their paper route. I worked yesterday from 2:00pm-1:30am...my overtime for this pay period is going to be huge and I can't wait to get my pay on Friday, but I'm exhausted from working 28 hours in two days...going out to do papers in the rain is not what I feel like doing right now. I think I'll finish up here, grab a coffee and some cornflakes, and get it over with. I'll come home and take a long hot shower and then my nephew is coming over because sil is working and my brother is still in Australia. My Dad will bring the kids back here later this afternoon and will probably stay for dinner. I better count on my sil and nephews staying, too, because she'll be picking them up around 5:30...saves her going home and starting a meal.

Latest in the teacher's strike...the court has ruled them in contempt and has put a hold on the federation's accounts. This means they are unable to collect strike pay and are not allowed to accept money from other unions for pay either. The government has told the teachers that they will re-open talks when the teachers go back to work. I think that both sides have backed themselves into a corner and it's anyone's guess as to who will break first. I, personally, think this strike could go on for a looooong time. I am thankful that Dh and I don't have the worry of childcare because there are some families out there--teachers now included--who are really going to be hurting financially.

O.K., enough stalling. I'm heading out into the wet weather!

I worked from 9:00am-1:30am yesterday...or this morning depending on how you look at it. Thank goodness I get overtime pay! It was so busy at work there was no way I could leave. I ate a chocolate bar that one of my customers bought me and that was pretty much it for the day. It could be a new diet fad! Needless to say, yesterday was a no spend day...simply because there wasn't any time to spend money.

My neck is feeling better, but not great. I have to be really careful not to lift anything. It's hard to keep asking for help.

Got up at 7:30, took ds11, dd9, and nephew 10 to go meet grandparents for a whale watching trip and a sleepover. The boat left at 9:30 and we live about an hour away...had a shower, packed their lunches and off we went...just made it in time!

Picked up some groceries that Dh wanted. He wants to make tacos tonight with ds5. They'll be the only ones home because I'm heading back to work shortly. I'll take Sunday and Monday off this week...probably Wednesday too.

The teacher's strike is still on...apparently at a standstill. Hopefully, they'll be back in by the end of the week.

Dh has informed me that out of his 200 dollars spending money, he has 8 dollars left. Wow! What a budgeter. I'm waiting to see what he's going to do now. We're not even halfway through the month...

Oh my poor neck...I moved a whole bunch of heavy stuff at work yesterday and woke up this morning at 6:00 with a horribly sore neck and upper back. It's so bad that I couldn't roll over in bed and had to wake DH. He thought I was having a bad dream until I started to cry from the pain. Now I'm in pain but it's not as bad (due to the pain killer and muscle relaxant I took). I'm supposed to go to work around 4, but we'll see about that.

I had a really nice time at The Olive Garden yesterday with my sils. I spent 20 bucks on my meal with a big tip, and 15 dollars went to my niece for babysitting my kids. I took that money out of the entertainment envelope. After I moved all the stuff at work (which is not my job!) the manager of the department I was helping bought me dinner. I had a delicious chicken burger.

The teacher strike is still going. They've been ordered back to work and are being held in contempt now. Today the union will find out what the penalty for this will be...jail time or a fine. We will be starting projects at home on Monday if the kids are still not in school. Ds11 will be starting a timeline between World War I and II. Dd9 will probably do a cookbook with recipes that she chooses and tests...this will tie in reading, writing, and math. Ds5 will bop between adding simple equations and practicing his letters. All will be good!

I don't think I did anything to save money...all the bills are paid for the month, though. I still have 1 paycheque and my 500 dollar bonus coming this month and DH has two paycheques coming (3 if he goes into the warehouse at all in the next two weeks), so we are doing well this month.

The kids and I all had dentist appointments yesterday...no cavities! Yippee! The cost for cleaning and general dental care is covered by my dental at work, but I hate when the kids get fillings because they dread them so much!

On Monday we spent 2.25 renting a dvd. We'd borrowed The Incredibles from sil but it turned out that someone had downloaded it off the computer which I believe is illegal and also incredibly annoying because it cuts out every few minutes. So off we went to the video store. I really wanted Monday to be a no spend day, but I gave it up in lue of teaching my kids yet another lesson in right from wrong! Yesterday I went to work 9:00-2:30 and after the dentist Dh and I went to Wal Mart to look for jeans for me. All the pairs I own now have holes in the knees. I found a pair that I liked for 19.00 so I snatched them up...very good price. Dh bought two shirts for work, casual but nice, and altogether our bill was 56.00, which used up almost all of the 60 bucks in the clothing envelope for October. I bought the kids a whack of clothes in September for back to school, so I think that everyone should be fine for now. With Christmas coming, anything I would pick up can wait for gift giving time.

I am going out for lunch with 3 of my sils today...Olive Garden...one of my faves! I love their salad. Unfortunately, because the teachers are still on strike, I have to pay one of my nieces to babysit. Well, it's not a big deal. One sil works for the school board, so if the teachers weren't on strike than she wouldn't be coming, and my kids are thrilled because they love their cousin. My ds11 is currently taking the Red Cross Babysitting Course, and he'll be 12 in January. He's very responsible so we may let him start babysitting once his course is over. We would only leave him for very short periods of time. Ds5 can be a bit of a handful...he is very headstrong and stubborn when his mind is set and doesn't see his brother as an authority figure, so having ds11 in charge could be very interesting.

Ways I saved money:
1) Brought breakfast and lunch to work.
2) Everyone had leftovers for dinner. Better yet, they were Thanksgiving leftovers from my Mom's house and we didn't even cook the original meal!
3) Bought the 19.00 jeans I liked instead of the 40.00 ones--I didn't like them twice as much!
4) Returned the 23 library books that would have been overdue if not returned last night. We are bad for having overdue books...really wanted to save myself another fine!

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at sil's. She's an excellent cook and each family brings one item so dinner is done quickly. We had so much fun and as much as my sils drive me nuts, I do love them all. My favourite nieces were there and we had a lot of laughs...my stomach hurt when I was driving home!

On Saturday we did some grocery shopping and some banking. The kids were paid for their paper route so some money had to be transferred, ds11 owed me $15.00 for a book he bought, and they each took out $20.00 for their wallets. They had friends over for dinner and then dd9 went on a sleepover. I curled up in my bed with the boys and watched a show and they brought their blankets and sleeping bags into our room and had a sleepover with DH and I.

Yesterday was no spend day number 4...10 to go in October to meet my goal. I've started Christmas shopping, but it'll be delayed until the teacher's strike is over. I've heard they'll be back in a week, and I also heard that it will be 4-6 weeks! The government better smarten up and get on this. There are a lot of mad parents around and it's not the teachers being blamed.

We'll probably go out on a nice fall hike today and then we're going to my Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner tonight with sil and 2 nephews. She lives in a cute townhouse, perfect for one person, with a tiny yard. Our visit will be a quick eat and run because 9 people in there is pretty squishy and loud. This is the first family meal that she's had for all of us since she moved in 1 1/2 years ago and she only lives 5 minutes away! My brother is still in Australia and will be home in a week.

Happy Turkey Day!

I just got home from a 3 hour training session at work...I am now totally confused! I learned a ton and at the end of the session we were given a hard test. I'm sure I passed, but I messed up on one part, knew that I had messed up somewhere, and had to go back and re-do it...I know the instructors quite well so there was a fair bit of teasing on their part and I sure hope I got a good mark, or I'll never hear the end of it!

My kids are thrilled. We have a teacher strike in B.C. starting tomorrow, which gives them a 4 day weekend at the very least because it's Thanksgiving on Monday. Supposedly, the strike will last at least a week, but the government could order the teachers back to work. This is what happened two years ago, and the reason the teachers are striking, because nothing was settled last time! I like having my kids with me so it doesn't faze me to not have them be at school, but I sure feel for all those parents who work around the school schedule or who are barely making ends meet and will now have to pay extra for daycare!

I spent 19.00 on hair products today. I took 10 out of my hair/make up envelope for mousse, and 9 out of the miscellaneous envelope for a special shampoo that one of the kids needed. I'm liking the envelope system so far because everything has been accounted for and I don't feel guilty spending the money. We'll see what happens when the envelopes are running low.

I made DH beef barley soup today from leftovers. He has enough to freeze for a few lunches, so that should make him happy. I don't know what the deal is with him and beef barley soup, but if we don't have it in the house he goes on about his cravings for it...I'm just not that picky and will pretty much eat whatever is in the cupboard if I'm hungry...popcorn always works for me!

Tomorrow should be a no spend day...wait! I have to get turnips and carrots to take to sil's for Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday and mom's on Monday...yes, two turkey dinners in a row and I don't have to make either one,
AND I get the whole weekend off. This is the last weekend that I'll have off until the middle of May--work is going to be busy!

I'm keeping track of my no spend days in my entry title, otherwise I forget where I am...

Went to sleep at 9:00 last night, and was up for 11/2 hours through the night. I was so tired when the alarm went off this morning!

Took the kids to school, came home, tidied up and threw in a load of laundry, folded the load in the dryer, returned a few phone calls from friends, and am just about to go get ds5 from school. I will bring him home for lunch and then he's going to sil's and I'm going to work. Since DH got his new job, and it's part time, I feel that I'm not accomplishing what I need to get done at home. I know that it's partly because I am working more, but it's also because his schedule is all over the place, and I can't plan anything around him because I never know what he's doing from one day to the next. It really sucks when I've scheduled to go to work and then find out at the last minute that 'oh, yeah! There is a meeting at that time!' AAAAAAH! It's a hassle today, tomorrow, and Friday. Next week I am super busy at work so there were a few days that I told him not to schedule anything, because he needs to be home for the kids. Ds11 and dd9 are fine home alone for an hour or so, but ds5 is not and I don't want them to be responsible for him...not that he'll listen to them anyways.

So I'm off now to go get the little guy...Have a great afternoon!

I went shopping at the warehouse store with my friend after we went out for breakfast. Spent 17.00 there, got quite a bit of stuff, though. There were some good deals!
After I got home Dh (who did not go to work today) wanted to go for a walk, so we went to the dollar store, spent 8 dollars, and then went to Superstore and spent 16.00 there. We picked the kids up from school, and now am going to go put a roast in the oven for dinner. Dh already started the yorkshire pudding!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Shared the order of eggs benny for breakfast, instead of ordering two.
2) Walked to the school twice and to the grocery store instead of driving.
3) Convinced Dh that he didn't really want Chinese food for lunch--mostly because I was still full from breakfast!

That makes 2 out of 14 no spend days for October...

Dropped the kids off at school and went to work. I finished all my work over the weekend but my boss is stressed out big time so I went in to help her catch up. I took on another task that she's responsible for. I don't mind, keeps me busy and her calm...she always has tons to do. Our computer expert came in to see how my computer is doing (this is the one he set up for me last week, but is totally useless). I told him "It's pretty much junk!" He fooled around with it for a bit, agreed with me, and will have a brand new one for me as soon as he can--Yay! Yay! Yay! I also have the worst phone in the world, but one thing at a time...

Picked the kids up from school, went to my brother's to do some fundraising stuff for school and took one nephew home with me. My brother is going to Australia for 2 weeks to visit out great aunt who is 99 years old and still lives on her own. Sil wanted to drive him to the airport which is about an hour away, so 7 year old nephew came with me. We went home, got changed, and took dd9 to gymnastics, went to the bank, picked up ds11 from the school where he's taking a babysitting course, went home, got the kids a snack, made a pot of tea, picked up dd from the gym, went home, made dinner, other nephew came over from a friend's house, we ate, read some books, sil picked up kids, mine had baths, made lunches for tomorrow, packed school bags, read 3 more books, and they're all tucked in their little beds! Dh isn't feeling well and is supposed to go to his warehouse job tomorrow. If he decides at 4:40am when the alarm goes off and wakes me up, that he's staying home...well, let's just say he's going to wish he went to work!

I have tomorrow off and will work Wed, Thurs, and Friday. I have training sessions Thurs and Fri for 2 different things...my brain can only hold so much, hoping to retain something from these!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Brought breakfast and lunch to work.

oops, that's all I did to save money. Well, I didn't spend any so maybe I'll count that, too!

I did it yesterday...made my own laundry detergent. I spent 12.00 on ingredients for 400 loads of laundry. I usually spend 45.00 for 450 loads, so this is a huge savings. I think DH suspected I'd lost my mind as I stood there and grated 20 bars of soap, but after I explained to him that the price difference is about 3 hours of my take home pay and that will pay for a Chinese Food meal ordered in, well, the little lightbulb went on and he told me he was very proud of me...anything for an egg roll, I guess!

Anyways, I split all the money into envelopes (actually ziploc bags--no name ones, of course--because I don't want the money falling out and getting mixed up!) and took my treasure grocery shopping. We spent 215.00 which is huge BUT I now have dinners for the month and will only need to stock up on eggs, bread, milk and produce! Yay--I'm sure we can keep under 375 for the month, plus I have an extra 18.00 from last month to use.

DH happily took his 200 bucks and promptly went out and spent 80 at the bar and on Keno--spent the day with his Dad and siblings. I reminded him he was on his own after the 200 was gone...I am very curious to see the outcome of this. I suspect it won't be pretty. After he came home and complained because I didn't buy cans of beef barley soup (because I bought the ingredients to make it), I offered to let him be in charge of the grocery shopping and menu planning. He politely declined. This month is going to be fun, I can tell!

Today was 1 out of 14 no spend days...

DH just got his paycheque from his part time warehouse position and it was twice what I had budgeted for...very nice.

I went in to work for a meeting this morning. I sit on an employee board that meets once a month with an outside human relations specialist. Those of us on the board represent all the employees at my work, so we deal with everyone's issues that are brought up...wages, break times, customer complaints, staff problems, misunderstandings with managers, etc. We were elected by our prospective departments of which there are ten. We are only permitted to be on the board for one year and then someone else has a turn. Anyways, we are just finishing up the year and we were paid our hourly rate for attending meetings. We found out this morning that we are each being given a $500 dollar honorarium at the end of the month for all the extra work we did...on top of that, I mentioned to my boss last night that I was going to be asking for a raise and that I would put it in writing and cc it to our General Manager. She agreed that I should have one and told me that she will take it up with him personally. Even if he says no, I am thrilled that she will go to bat for me like this! It's been a great morning.

DH has gone with two of his siblings to visit their Dad who lives an hour away. Dd9 is camping and both ds11 and ds5 are playing at friends' houses down the street. I love my quiet house, and although I have lots I could be doing I'm choosing not to today. We will go grocery shopping later and the boys can pick a dinner for tonight and we'll have dinner theatre. It's a special thing that I do with the kids in our family room. Usually they are only allowed to eat dinner in the kitchen and we sit at the table...no television allowed!

So the first day of October will not be a no spend day, but I am going to try for 14 this month. Yikes! I may be setting myself up for disaster, but high goals set high standards.

Last day of my favourite month. Okay, I do really like October because of Thanksgiving and Hallowe'en.

I'm excited about starting our envelope system tomorrow. I took DH's spending money out of the bank today so he's set for the month. His paycheque was slightly more than we had thought, so I think any extra money that comes our way will all go into our emergency account because I've planned for everything that I can think of. I am very curious to see how it all turns out.

I only spent $2.28 today. Dd needed a new flashlight and rain poncho for camping this weekend. Luckily, the dollar store had both.

Spent the bulk of the day at the school helping with hot lunch. I will be working from 5:00-midnight tonight and I have a meeting at 9:00am tomorrow (I was really hoping to sleep in!), but it shouldn't go past 11:00. I've been looking on the web for suggestions on the best way to ask for a raise. My job changed about a year ago and I did get a pay raise, but last month I was given more responsibilities and expectations are higher and I want my pay to reflect that. The problem is, if I ask for it and am told no, then I don't think I really want to stay there. That's all fine but I feel caught between loving my job and being taken advantage of. I guess I'll put my request in writing and see where it goes from there.

Beat my goal by 2 days...yay, yay, yay! I was going to have October have 12 no spend days, but I'm now rethinking I should push myself to do 15. Oh, well, I have a day to decide!

Work was slow last night. Made it to 3:15 and dashed out. Got up this morning, took ds5 to gymnastics, brought him home, picked up dd9 at school, brought her home for lunch, made myself lunch, took ds and dd to dd's ortho appt., dropped her back at school, brought ds home and fed him lunch and made pizza dough for homemade pizza tonight. At 2:30 I'm going to pick up the kids from school because it is pouring rain today! Dd is going camping with her Girl Guide Group for the weekend and it's supposed to rain all weekend. I hate camping in the rain...glad I'm not going. Dd is looking forward to it. She doesn't care if it rains or not.

I'm working 4:00-12:00 tonight but I'll leave early if I get all my work done.

Things I did today to save money:
1) Vetoed dh's suggestion to go out for breakfast. (yes, again!)
2) Am making homemade pizza for dinner, will have enough for lunches for tomorrow.
3) Will take last night's leftovers for me for tonight...ooh, clearing out the fridge AND saving money!
4) Brought coffee from home to have during gymnastics, although I was thinking about Starbucks.
I think that was it for today...

I decided on a few more envelopes for October, so now I have:
Groceries 375.00
Clothes 60.00
Entertainment 90.00
Gifts (not Xmas) 35.00
School Misc. 20.00
Hair/Make up 15.00
Miscellaneous 20.00
Dh is on his own with 200.00 for the month, so this is for me and 3 kids. For anyone who already uses the envelope system, any advice? Do these amounts sound practical? I guess I'm about to find out...

Got a good deal on two gifts for the younger two kids for Christmas--shopping is coming along.

Spent 25 dollars at Superstore buying essentials and items to update the kids' earthquake kits for school.
We are under our month's grocery budget by 18.00...I am very pleased! Next month I'll be starting the envelope system for spending money and groceries. I think that I'll split the spending money into clothes, meals out, and miscellaneous. Since it's the first month, I know things will change as I go along, but if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Took the kids to school, did some work for fundraising, tied roller blades for kindergartens, went to Costco, picked up ds5 at 11:10 from kindergarten, went out for Thai food with a friend and ds5, came home, made a grocery list, went shopping with ds5 and dh, came home and prepared earthquake kits, stuffed flyers into newspapers for dd9 and ds11's route...sat down with a cup of tea and at 3:30 went out to help dd and her friend finish the paper route. I have to work 6:30-3:15 tonight--UGH!

I don't think that I did anything to save money today. I did get a coupon for Lysol toilet cleaner that I had sent away for a few weeks ago...maybe that counts. No, it doesn't because I wouldn't have bought the product anyway. I use bleach in the toilets. I will take ds's leftover lunch to work for dinner so I won't spend any money there.

I think that tomorrow will be another no spend day and that will make 12 for September. Friday is hot lunch at the school and I will go help with that. I organized it for 3 years, and stopped this year, but I should go and be there for moral support just in case. Ds5 will have lunch there so I will pay for that, so Friday will not be a no spend day.

I was supposed to go to work today but ds11 is home sick. I don't feel good about him being home alone for 6 hours, so I stayed home with him. When I phoned my boss to offer to come in and get work to take home, she told me not to worry about it, apparently I'm not missing too much!
DH went to work at the warehouse position for the day because he has meetings for his other job off and on through the rest of the week. I think that he's starting to enjoy it more...still not a lot of direction and he's confused by it but muddling through. The warehouse job is 6:00-2:30 so he'll be home nice and early. I'm so used to him being gone 10 -12 hours a day with his old job that I am loving this new routine. I feel like we're on vacation!

Took ds5 and dd9 to school this morning and did some fundraising stuff until 9:30. Came home, made tea for the sick boy, got him settled on the couch, and went back to the school to help tie rollerblades for gym class for ds5. They are so cute learning to skate!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Made up the rice for homemade sushi for tonight's dinner...did up extra for lunches for tomorrow.
2) Hung a load of laundry.
So far that's it, but there's still time in the day if I can think of something else to do.

Three Cheers! I met my no spend goal!
It was iffy there for a while, and certainly harder than I thought that it would be, but I did it...today is day number 10 this month of not spending any money! October is right around the corner, and I think I'll up it to 12 no spend days. I'd like to do 14, but Christmas is coming and shopping will be at a prime for me!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Hung up a load of laundry.
2) Went for a walk with dh this morning and when he suggested going to IHOP for breakfast, I suggested going home and making our own...
3) Baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and doubled the recipe, froze half in pucks for next time we are out of cookies.
4) Am in the process of dough rising for cinnamon buns, which ds11 pointed out on Saturday I have not made in some time.

I think that's it...I have a busy afternoon and work tomorrow until 2:30. Then I don't work again until Thursday night--Yay!

Very long day at work...stuff that should have been sent to me by 3:30, arrived at 8:00...yikes!

Had a no spend day, which was good, because I was really tempted to buy fries and gravy at work to snack on around 4:00. Instead I ate the apple that I had brought from home. I think that's 8 no spend days out of the ten I wanted to have in September, but I'll have to go back through my journal to check.

Came home, warmed up the plate of dinner that dh left in the fridge for me and watched the season premiere of 'Desperate Housewives'. I think that show is so funny!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Took tortillas and grated cheese out of the freezer for dh and kids to have for lunch...otherwise they go buy frozen pizzas at the store. This way they have enough for lunches for tomorrow.
2) Didn't shower this morning...had one late yesterday, so I just washed up and straightened my hair. I have really curly, long hair, so I either have to wash it and let it dry naturally, or straighten it with the hair straightener, otherwise it's a big fuzzball mess.
3) Brought leftovers from last night's dinner to work for lunch.

Tomorrow all three kids have school 8:30-2:30. Dd has an ortho appt at 2:40, and gymnastics at 3:30-5:00. I have a kindergarten parent meeting at 7:00. It's my nephew's birthday. Ds5 has rollerblading so I will help out with that at the school in the morning, after I do some work for the fundraising committee. I should have some time to myself...don't know what I'll do with it, though.

...just checked...and that makes 9 no spend days this month...one more this week and I met my goal. I am proud! And we still have 30.00 left in the grocery envelope, too. Next month I will increase my no spend days, and decrease my grocery money.
We can do this successfully!

Took ds11 we me to fill up the van with gasoling--67 buckeroos--ouch!

We went and bought lunch from the hot dog vendor. Two huge polish dogs, two pops and tip for $7.00. We sat in the sun and ate and chatted. It was nice. When we got home we walked ds5 down to his cousin's to play and ds11 and dd9 and I went to get Slurpees, which they paid for out of their own money. Tonight dh and I are going with sil and bil to a fancy buffet dinner that I got free from work, but we will have to pay for drinks and a sitter, and it's in a casino so if dh wants to gamble a bit that also comes out of pocket. I wish free meant free.

Dh has agreed to go on an envelope system for groceries and spending money. He's going to get $200 every month to do with as he wants. This will include beer and lottery tickets--the two things that I think are a total waste of money. We rarely fight, but I admit that I will battle on this when I'm frustrated. His point is that he hardly spends any money and this is what he wants to spend it on. I hope that with this new system since I already have budgeted his spending money I won't care or want to micromanage it. I did point out this morning that I'm not his parent and don't want to have to feel like I am. We'll see how this goes!

We are going to be so busy at work tonight with a fundraiser...that part is fine. Unfortunately, when I got to work yesterday I found out that in the morning one cook and two managers had been let go. The chaos from this is going to be huge--we've had so many changes in the last year with the company being bought by a large corporation, and this just adds fuel to the fire. I think that my job is pretty secure...that sort of lower middle management position where I do some of everything...I'm trying to lay low and avoid the confusion as much as possible.

Dh brought home a beautiful birthday cake for me yesterday. It had a marzipan and raspberry layer and was iced with real whipped cream-it was so good. (probably about 3 million trillion zillion calories per piece, too, but once a year! I better get those walking shoes moving.)

Dd is still sick. She's a kid who is never ill and can't stand missing a day of school. Well, she's in grade four, so this will probably change with time! I saw her teacher today and brought home some homework for her for the weekend. Unfortunately, with her being sick she can't do her paper route today and so ds11 will be doing it by himself. This generally leads to whining and complaining on his part, but not always, as he'll get more money on payday than she does. Those two get along so well it's unbelievable. They have always been close and rarely fight or argue. It's ds11 and ds5 who fight--not physically, but they yell and argue. Ds11 eggs on his younger brother who then loses his temper. It's great fun in the morning when we're running behind schedule!

Yesterday was a no spend day--I think that makes 7 this month. I don't know if I'll make my 10. I have to buy some stuff for work today, but I'm not counting that because I'll get paid back tonight when I hand in my receipt, and the purchases are not for me.

I'm going to go get what we need, and come home and hopefully have a quick nap before I leave for work.

Yes, it is my birthday...the big 39! We sort of celebrated last night by going out for dinner after Meet the Teacher night. We had Chinese food, one of my favourites! When I was shopping with my friend on Monday, I found the perfume that I love for $85.00 a bottle. Starting on Saturday it comes with some promotional make up and a purse that's really cute. The cashier gave me her card and wrote all the information down for me to give to dh. He called her, and paid over the phone, but he can't get it until Saturday. This doesn't bother me in the least because I know he spent money on something that I really want and didn't wander around the mall for 2 hours and then buy a present just because he feels that he has to. Everyone had cards for me this morning and I was given a dozen red roses..very nice!

My friend was taking me for lunch today but dd9 is sick with the flu that I had last week, so I'll see if we can go tomorrow instead. I work at 4:00pm today and tomorrow.

Yesterday I took back the skirt and exchanged a shirt for the proper size, bought some nylons and a Christmas present, so it was not a no spend day. Hopefully today will be one. I have leftover Chinese food to take for dinner.

Dh started his new job and is unsure whether he likes it. He had been at his previous job 15 years, started at the bottom and worked his way up. Leaving there was a huge decision for him but the 2.5 hour commute each day was becoming ridiculous. The job he has now is from home for the time being and he will be moving into an office 5 minutes from home in the next few months. I think that I've convinced him to stick it out until at least Christmas and by then he'll have a better idea of what's going on. He may just be overwhelmed with all that he has to learn. I hope so.

Well, ds5 has gymnastics this morning and then we'll be coming home to do some cleaning. I'm a big fan of Flylady and haven't been following for a few weeks. I really need to get back in my routine. I think with working so much and the kids back in school, I got distracted with other things that needed to be done. My mom always says, " A clean house is a sign of having nothing better to do." You can imagine what my house looked like growing up and I really like a tidy home!

My friend and I dropped off our kids at school, went out for breakfast (we shared an order of eggs benedict!) and clothes shopped for 4 hours. I did not find anything that I wanted to buy but I did decide to return one of the skirts that I bought last week. It's a suede, dark chocolate brown. I can't find shoes that would match it and don't wear a lot of brown or beige, but it looked great on and my Mom persuaded me to get it...it's better in the store than my closet, so Wednesday I will go and return it--good shopping on my part.

I will be picking the kids up from school soon. Laundry's going, brownies and breadsticks are in the oven, roast beef is in the crockpot. Dd has gymnastics after school, and I have a PAC meeting at 7:00. Hopefully, it will be a short one and I can be home by 8:00, and off to bed. I'm feeling much better, but not 100% and I work tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...ooooh!

Still got the flu--now it's in my chest and my voice is going. My kids are loving it, the theory being that if they can't hear me, I must not be talking to them! Luckily, everyone else feels better.

Had a no spend day Friday and today. Friday was super busy at work. One of my managers treated me to dinner. He's a nice guy and the other two people that we work with were away at another function, so he and I were left behind and sooo smoking busy. I love nights like that!

Yesterday dh and I took the kids to a car rally. The cars were all from the 50's and earlier. They all loved it and had hot dogs and cotton candy. In the evening dh and I went to our friends' 25th wedding anniversary. They are a great couple with two wonderful children (we named our dd after their daughter). We had a delicious meal and danced and chatted with people we haven't seen for awhile...had a good time.

This morning I did go into work for about 6 hours. I had some programming to do that had to be done and the other two people who know how to do it had the day off. I didn't want to call them in for me. I actually felt okay until after about the 4th hour and since I was there I finished up. I just got home. There's some leftover wonton soup in the fridge that I'm going to eat and then I'm going to bed. Dh and the kids have gone to McDonald's and sil's. I get quiet time--how nice!

Yep--the whole house is sick with the flu...except for ds5 who has loads of energy. I'm tired just watching him run around.

Got sent home from work yesterday. I think they were all tired of my croaky voice and coughing...very attractive, I'm sure.

Yesterday was a no spend day. I think that today will be another one. I may reach my goal yet. We have $100.00 left in our grocery budget for the month, but we have a full freezer and pretty full pantry, and should be fine. I will need to get fresh fruit, vegies, milk, bread, and butter, but other than that I can't think of anything that will need to be replenished.

Our investment counsellor is coming over later with some papers for dh to sign. We will now have his pension and all our rrsps switched over to one company. This should be easier for us to keep track. I hated having little bits at different locations.

So, although not a no spend day, I did well.

My Mom took me for breakfast and bought me two shirts and 3 pairs of earrings for my birthday next week. I bought 2 skirts and a pair of shoes with the money from my Dad. My work clothes have to be quite dressy, so my wardrobe is building up nicely. I hate wearing the same few things over and over... We had a really nice time together.

Went grocery shopping with ds5 and spent $72.00. I think I'll make the monthly grocery budget but it will be tight. Dh wanted to buy chocolate syrup the other day for chocolate milk but I vetoed it and then found a recipe on the net and made it as a surprise for him today. It was delicious-Hershey's better watch out!

Things I did today to save money:
1) Made homemade sushi for dinner instead of ordering it. Turned out great, we all pigged out, including dd9's best friend.
2) Made chocolate syrup from scratch instead of buying it.
3) Ate leftovers for lunch instead of starting a new meal from the pantry.
4) Bought huge quantities of flour and sugar because they were on major sale (even though I'm not out, now I should have enough to get me close to Christmas, when I'll have to restock for Christmas baking). I can now start my mixes.

Yay for me--no spend day number 4. Only 6 to go and I will be happy, happy, happy...

Dropped my youngest ds off at school. He was excited and happily went in his class. I cried all the way to work--one of my co-workers wiped the mascara smears off my face! Left work at 2:00 to go pick up kids. The kindergarten teacher told me he did great!

My Mom and I are going for breakfast tomorrow and then we'll do a little clothes shopping before I pick ds5 up from kindergarten at 11:10. Mom is buying me my choice of a birthday gift. I'm looking forward to spending some
quiet time with her.

I will have to pick up some groceries tomorrow after lunch. All 3 kids would like sushi for dinner, so we're going to try making some vegetable sushi for dinner... we sometimes pick up pre-made, but this will be fun to make with the kids and waaay cheaper!

Things I did today to save money:
1) Brought breakfast and lunch to work instead of buying it there.
2) Had tea and homemade brownies at home with ds11 instead of going to Starbucks with friend.
3) Will use books ordered from kids' school as Christmas gifts, instead of just letting them have them now.

I'm going to set a goal for myself to make one pre-made mix weekly. I'll hopefully have a cupboard full of mixes by November when I start working 3 nights a week. That will really help with quickie dinners, and dh will be less apt to go for convenience food if I've started the convenience part...