Always Sunny

I allocated $50 per 2 weeks per person. It's the 7th of the month, and we have spent about $27 per person so far. We are quite close to our goal this time, however we did eat out of the pantry for a few days. So far no lunch spendings for both of us, and no breakfast out apart from the 2 coffees we got. We want to have this work even when we start the university soon.

If you are cheap like me and do not have cable and require the converter box when TV goes all digital, here is a link to apply for a coupon. People, be honest and apply only for the number of TVs you have. Why does a household need more than one TV anyway? From what I hear the converter costs about $60 and I "think" the coupon is for $40. I am not sure if the coupon takes off $40 and lets you have it for $20, or it lets you have it for $40. Anyway, here it is:

I have been bringing my own lunch/bkfast for 2 WHOLE days now saving me at least $15 so far. This weekend we have to do a lot of cleaning of the house, laundry and cooking. We budget $50 per person fortnightly for grocery. I haven't really been grocery shopping this month and instead eating out of the pantry. We also have been incorporating fruits into our meals/snacks. I am not really a big fan of fruits unless they are the exotic types already peeled and cut up. But I have been buying them and peeling and cutting them up to grab and go. Hopefully we can stick to it. I want us to eat healthy balanced with enough servings of fruits and veggies everyday. Getting there slowly.

I have two credit cards. One of them annoyingly has "annual fee". I called them up and asked them to waive it and they did! I called the other to lower the apr and they did!! There is no harm in asking after all. I have marked to call them again in 4 months. I did all of this as my SO was dozing off in the couch "watching tv". He has no idea we are a little less poorer within 10 minutes.

I saw this woman in the streets all decked out in fur from head to toe..She looked quite disgusting sauntering in the shop in front of me like a big fat bear on a prowl from behind. I think her hat had squirrel tail attached to it and she gave out some moth repellent scent as she walked around. It was very nauseating. But then I thought wait a minute, I have leather coats and shoes and bags. How much better am I than her?

Today I will sit down and write down our meal plans and go grocery shopping accordingly. We will also have to budget for university expenses since it will start soon. 2008 is going to be a year of no waste. No wastage of food, no wastage of money, no wastage of time. I want to learn and achieve a lot in 2008. I figure I alone spent about 70 dollars just eating out lunch in the month of December. Give or take a few dollars here and there, that's about 1K just on lunch a year! Yikes!

I still have 50 dollar gift certificate from Christmas to an electronics store that I have to use up. I am thinking of what we need to buy. There are a couple of things we need, but will have to prioritize.

Today is the last working day for 2007! I have to say I made some money mistakes this year. Not bringing my own lunch to work has cost me hundreds of dollars this year. Just like a lot of other people, I go over my budget at the grocery store and on lunches. I guess I underestimate myself on how much I DO eat. So one of my goals to be added to my list for 2008 is to stay within the budget on groceries, and bring brown bag lunches to work.

1) Exercise (whose isn't?)
2) Be debt free
3) Increase my EF
4) Be more responsible in all aspects
5) Be a nicer person
6) Do better in school

What are yours?

We spent around $400 for Christmas on gifts. I think I could have managed to spend about $100 less and cut back on a few people, but it's all fine in the spirit of Christmas. What I would really enjoy for Christmas is I think not having to travel, and just staying in surrounded by friends and families by the fire place, talking, reading, listening to music or watching good movies on the tele and drinking good wine. I really do not care for all the hustle and bustle and people rushing through. For the next Christmas, we plan to make it much low key and spend a lot less. We might go back to catching good movies in the theater or on dvds and getting Chinese take outs. Chinese take outs are so much better on cold winter days, don't you think?

We are almost done with Christmas shopping. Just a few tiny items to buy. We are planning on doing a lot of cooking during the weekend before we go and see family/friends on Tuesday. In the past years we have tended to eat out a lot on Christmas hols. We will not be doing that this year. What is your Christmas tradition and is there one thing that you do that you always look forward to besides spending time with family of course?

I went to a shop yesterday. I was on the queue to pay when I saw a girl in front of me take out a coupon. I thought to myself, "I could have looked online and printed out a coupon before I came shopping". I told the cashier I "forgot" to bring the coupon with me. She asked me what the coupon looked like and I could answer that because I had seen the other girl's coupon. She said no problem, and took the % off. She also said "It's fine, we don't really need the physical coupon". Is it cheating? I don't really feel bad. I just think that "there is no harm in asking". But maybe I should have just said I don't have a coupon but can I still get a discount? Would she have laughed to my face then?

2008 is when I intend for us (me and my sidekick) to be completely debt free. It seems possible as of now, but who knows what surprise expenses will pop up. I find budgeting very difficult. So my goal for 2008 is for us to discipline ourselves to remain within our budget. Anything that is not in the budget, we will just have to do without. I hope we can obtain this goal. If anybody can share any budget success stories, that would be awesome.

Hi all.
I have decided to join this blog after much lurking. I have some debt, but I am working on paying them all off. I think I can use the motivation and ideas from the good people here.