Six on a journey

I would like to delete this blog. How do I go about it?

So yesterday I swung by the drugstore so that I could pick up some mani/pedi stuff that I needed. I haven't gotten a professional mani/pedi in months and decided to give them to myself. Hence I needed to stock up on a few items that were running low. Well wouldn't you know it before long, the 5 minute stop turned out to be a one hour ordeal! I bought all the items needed, the cashier guy put them in my shop bag and I left. I used the store points card to save some money as well, and was very pleased with myself. While I waited for the train, I wanted to calculate how much money I saved, so I was looking at my receipt and that is when I realized I was missing an item!

So back to the store I went, and headed up to the same cashier guy. He looked all over the counter. I rechecked my bags. And it's nowhere to be found. He called upstairs for the camera guy to ask and watch the video of him putting my shop items in the bag and the camera guy is like yeah you put everything in bag. Now I am just thinking, I must be going crazy. There is no way for me to loose an item of shopping during the time it takes me to walk out of the store and getting on a train.. They said since the camera guy saw the cashier guy put the item in my bag, there is nothing they can do, sorry.

Humph! So, then I asked him is it possible for me to watch the video myself then? I had to at least make myself sure that I was not loosing my marbles. They said sure. So after waiting a few minutes I go up to the camera room (seriously someone gets paid to monitor the camera?). The guy rewinds the video to the time when I was at the check out counter. Lo and behold there is the cashier guy putting my lost item in a hanging plastic shipping bag on his left side. The rest of the stuff he puts in the canvas bag I ask him to put them in. And I leave the store taking just the canvas bag. The next customer after me obviously got the hanging plastic bag with his/her items and a surprise gift of "Orly Top2Bottom"!

They were very nice about it and replaced my "lost item". However it made me think:

#1: How could the camera guy have missed something that I catched within seconds? I mean, isn't it his job to pay attention to the tiniest details?
#2: Wow, I am good at this stuff of noticing very tiny details happening at a very small time frame.
#3: Perhaps a career change is in order??
#4: How glad I was that I asserted myself when I knew something like this must have happened and asked to watch the video myself and not just take their words for it.
#5: Situations like this can be handled amicably without using harsh words and anger. Like the way I did. Yey me!
#6:My nails will look so much better once I make some time to sit down and give myself the manicure that I more than deserve at this point.

Do you want to see what warranted all this part-time detective work? Why, it's only this tiny little bottle of this:



Isn't she pretty?

I am so tired. I have been running around since I came back home from work. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, running. Accck. Sometimes I just want to relax. I never seem to have time to do that. I don't know why. There is always something to be done. Right now it's 1 hr past the time I am supposed to *try* to be in bed by, and I am still waiting on my laundry, still fixing up some issues on my computer. Still wanting to mop down my kitchen. I just want to scream.
Sorry it's not PF related.

I would like to have a savings at least 2 x the size of one I have now (not including the 401K) and have enough for more than 20% of a down payment on a house. But I think I have been too passive about it. I think it's going to take me a long time to achieve these goals by making what I am making now (which is not too bad, but I could do better), living in one of the most expensive cities, and having only control over what I spend on my grocery and "want" items. I need to think big, and while in the process of "thinking big", I need to bring in extra income. Seriously I have to do something. I will start by updating my resume this weekend, and looking at what kind of side gigs I can do. Now that I am done with grad school, I do have the time!
In other notes, I have been keeping up my running, eating healthy most of the times. Yesterday was the only day in the week that I did not bring my own lunch. So ended up buying pasta made for you for lunch. I also ate veggie pizza after my run and a small bag of chips. No wonder I gained 3 pounds between the morning and the evening! Does anybody know when is the best time to weigh yourself? I guess I could google it, but if anyone knows, please let me know.
I brought in my lunch again today. And I am going to plan out our (BF is visiting this weekend) meals for the weekend and my meals for the next week.
I plan to keep it a cheap weekend. I am going to rent some dvds from the library, although we might watch the new Harry Potter movie. Not sure though.
Well, have a good weekend everybody!

Well I seem to be running out of everything and thus not helping my tight budget. I have to live in a very tight budget all of remaining July. BF birthday is in August and I will be traveling, and I have a little surprise planned for him.
Yesterday I had to buy some necessary toileteries as I am out of toothpaste, hand soap, TP, face wash, face lotion etc. My drugstore had a buy one get the other 50% off for Oil of Olay products, so that's what I got for face wash and face cream with SPF 20. Not their fancy spancy new stuff called regenerist and difinity and what not - just the regular stuff. The face wash is pretty nice. It's a cream wash with micro beads. Can't beat that for 50% off. I also ran yesterday. It was pretty hard, but I did it for 3 miles continuosly. The first mile is a killer, but after that it starts to get easier for me. My next goal is to be able to run 4.5 miles continuously. I won't push myself too hard though. I have been bringing in my own lunch for a few continuous days! Yey me. I have been exercising and eating pretty healthy, but still do not seem to loose any weight! I had planned to loose 5 pounds in July. It's already the 15th! I also need to get new running shoes soon. Maybe next month. On other news, this particular pair of sandals I was craving for for a few months was on sale online. I was debating on whether to get it or not, and today it's sold out. All the better for me I suppose. See, waiting a day or two and not buying on impulse does really save you money one way or the other. Either you decide to not get it, or it gets sold out!

Guess what? I found $7 in one of my pant pockets! I have used it up in buying eggs, fruits, veg and now I am really out. But I will be fine though. Last night I made rice and beans. It was simple and delicious. I had some tinned organic kidney beans. I looked up a recipe online and it was great. It made leftover and I will have it for dinner tonight with some kind of shrimp. (I will have to look up a recipe - I have some precooked frozen Shrimp) I also ran 3.5 miles yesterday and did more that 90% of my laundry. I just need to hand wash some stuff today. This morning, I spent 2 hrs at the park with my dog. It was so beautiful out. I am so glad I went. I haven't been to this particular park in a while. There were flowers everywhere. So so nice in the middle of the city.

I see that a lot of you are having weird dreams. I had one also about a day or two ago. I dreampt that Jon Bon Jovi gave me a bad haircut, charged me $130. I paid him $100 and didn't tip him. What is that all about????

[X] Eat ramen with stuff in it for lunch
[X] Learn how to use my stopwatch
[ ] Transfer windows itunes to mac
[ ] Get comfortable with using mac
[ ] Inquire about replacement battery for my old Dell
[ ] Learn a particular programming language
[/] Laundry
[ ] Clean
[X] Run
[X] Wash dog

An Indian take out last night did me in. After my run, I really did not feel like cooking, or eating the same things I had. I had about $16 left until the 15th in my grocery budget. But my take out was $13. It made leftovers though and I will be having the remaining for dinner tonight. Still, I have no more money to spend on grocery until the 15th. Technically I do, but I want to see how will I manage without any grocery shopping until the 15th. I still have tofu, courgette, slices of red capsicum, milk, one egg, mushroom and plenty of dry supplies like rice and lentils. I still also have some Amy's frozen Indian dinners. So I should be okay. Even if I broke down and had to buy something, it will be things like ingredient items such as onions and tomatoes that I can buy one of each at the veggie stand. **Note to self: I should definitely buy some fruits. I will just have to float over $5 from some other category and buy these items.

In other notes, I ran yesterday at a pretty good pace and I am proud of it. But I do wish that I could keep that competitive side of me in check. I ran in a group and I was the 1st one to finish with the 2nd person tagging 2 seconds behind me, but I didn't really have to push myself to be the first one. As I was running, I was even telling myself "self, slow down, you do not need to win", but hearing the thumping of the feet strikes close behind me made me go faster. Hmmm.. does that say something about my personality??? I wish I could apply that in some other areas of my life instead where I could use a little bit of competitiveness.. Time for a self evaluation!

I have been getting a little frustrated as of late. I participate in a 401K plan, I do automatic savings, I try not to go overboard in my spending. The only areas where I seem to have any control over are flexible spending like grocery, miscellaneous purchases, lunch money etc.

And guess what? I feel like it's not making much of a difference. I know every little bit adds up, but perhaps I need to think big? Think about additional income? Do freelancing? If so, how? when? what?

These are the things that are bothering me. I guess what is also bothering me is that I need to pay 2K in credit card this month. I have not been carrying this balance so I will not be paying any interest if I pay it off this month, which I plan to. I had to buy a few plane tics and I also went a little crazy with buying after-graduation-treats for myself. But I plan to replenish this amount somehow. Selling my cds and books won't make much of a dent, so I will have to think of something else. Any ideas?

In other notes, I ran 3 miles yesterday and made myself a delicious veggie and tofu sautee (3 servings).
Running makes me want to eat healthy so as not to undo all that exercise, which also helps my pocket. So maybe I will meet the goal of loosing 5 pounds in July after all. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I think the most amount of weight I could loose is about 8 pounds. I plan to achieve that and maintain it.

Okay that's about it for today. I am off to bed. Good night!

Uh I feel exactly that somehow - unmotivated. The whole tracking your money business sounds like and is kind of tedious. Why, I spent $26.85 on groceries yesterday and I spent about 10 minutes trying to remember one of the items I bought. (The receipt doesn't indicate the items, just the prices)
I went to a health store to buy my grocery and bought mostly organic stuff so it might seem a little steep.

For $26.85 dollars I got

1) 1 big courgette (zucchini)
2) Two handfuls of baby bella mushrooms
3) Organic frozen corn (Now that I think of it, I think corn is one of the things that you really do not need to buy organic)
4) Avocado (ditto as above)
5) Apples (better to buy organic coz of all the pesticides)
6) Tofu (It was cheaper at the healthfood store)
7) A red capsicum (better to buy organic)
8) A sesame noodle lunch pack (yum)
9) A box of chocolate chip cookies (They are little ones and I eat 3-4 a day with my afternoon tea)
10) Sleepy time tea (same price or lower than regular grocery)

I am planning on making this last a whole week. I have some stuff on the freezer already. I have milk and eggs. For some reason I can get the same brand of orgainc milk and eggs for almost 50% off at my health food store than at the regular grocery store, which turns out to be even cheaper than the regular milk and eggs! I wonder why? (touch wood so as not to jinx myself :P I plan on buying organic milk and eggs there)

If I buy anything, I will be buying some more fruits. Lets see if I can manage.

The weekend did not start out nice. First of all, it rained all day long in my city. I was supposed to leave that night to go see BF, but my flight was delayed by 6 hours which would have meant that I fly out after mid night. So we decided that I would go home instead and take the morning flight out. So I went home, and had to buy myself dinner and breakfast the next morning since I had nothing at home.

I had a good night's sleep and left the next morning, and had myself a very good weekend. But now that I am back, I need to focus on keeping within budget and enhancing my personal finance. We have certain plans for the future and it's very crucial to stay the course for us to achieve them.

Speaking of personal finance, I picked up money magazine at the airport. I read a few articles that suggests that I need to revisit my 401K allocations. There are certain things that I am not clear about, perhaps I will write about it here and someone can clear it up for me.

PS: I still managed to run 30 mins on the weekend each day while travelling!

So yesterday I went running and I felt much better over all. Then I made myself some ricotta pasta,showered and packed since I am leaving to see BF tonight. I have a very tight budget this month. I am planning to not go over $100 in grocery and $20 in lunch take outs. I only have around $7 left over for my lunches. If I go over, then I will have to use my grocery money for my lunches as well. I am allotting $120 in general foods item.
So, here is my budget for flexible expenses:

Grocery: $100
Lunch: $20 ($6.48 remaining)
Household: $20 ($9.15 remaining)
Personal Care: $25 (I plucked my own eyebrows instead of getting it done at a salon to save money)
Misc: $50

Already it looks like I am going to have to spool over some money from my grocery budget to lunch money budget as I didn't bring my lunch today.

I also have $16 credit on one of my credit cards that I will perhaps use for something for my BF. Maybe a book that he's been wanting.

Uh. Exactly that.

Probably because I missed out on my run yesterday and instead had 2 leftover beers from the fridge. TWO, not one.

Probably because my place has a mind of it's own and starts to clutter itself no matter how much decluttering I try* to do.

Probably because it's been a little over a month since I got my master's degree and I haven't done anything productive since then.

Probably because work is boring.

Probably because I have been giving myself little treats* and telling myself I deserve it after almost 3 years of hard work at the university (while working full time).

Probably because now I am seeing how much I have spent on these treats.

help!

1. Keep Grocery/Lunch Expenses under $150. Update: lowered to $120
2. Set up and keep vet appointment
3. Take inventory of items to sell (craigslist?)
4. Place advertisement for items to be sold
5. Plan out BF's birthday surprise
6. Run 4 times a week
7. Loose 5 pounds
8. Learn something new/interesting in my field of interest each week (so that's 4 ish topics -doable)

BF came to visit this weekend. We had a great time, with not much spending. I did not do any of my runs this weekend, but we did a lot of walking. So, I need to run today and on Wednesday. I will try to run for 25 minutes continuously, and if I can't reach that goal, no big deal. It's important to remember in the beginning of starting to run is not to push yourself too hard.

Today unfortunately will not be a NSD, because I have a library book that is over due. I will spend about $0.25 on fine, but it's still unnecessary spending nonetheless. I did bring my own lunch, we will see if that is enough. Usually whenever I bring my own lunch, it's never quite enough.

Yes that happened. If that's possible. To start with, yesterday I went for a run and ran 1.75 miles in 22 minutes. I didn't push myself too hard, so I know I could have done better.
After the run, I got myself a personal size veggie pizza from Subway like I always do on Thursdays after my run. It's my treat to myself.

Then I started to tackle my decluttering project and you will not believe the amount of papers shredded, amount of random little things set aside to toss out, amount of labeling that went on. I stored away all of my winter stuff under my bed in the under bed storage thingo. I sorted my laundry to be done, went through mail.

I also need to do something about this printer I have. What can I do with a printer (a cheap kind but with brand new cartridge) that I just do not want anymore? I suppose I can give it away to Salvation army? I ask because nobody is going to want to buy that piece of clunky printer - actually, they won't take it even if I pay them to probably. It's not that it's too big, but its just in the way. I don't even use the printer at home. I have a very small desk and I like to keep the surface of it clear. I will call up my neighborhood Salvation army and ask them I suppose.

I also have an old bike that I need to get rid of, not because I don't want it, but because it's taking up space and I don't use it often. If I was to sell it, I couldn't possibly get more than $30. But I have read about this organization

http://www.p4p.org/: pedals for progress , so I might just donate it to them.

Next step in my decluttering project is to make a list of things to donate, things to sell and things to toss. This is not a short project, I am sure it will take some weeks since I haven't even gotten to my hall way closet and kitchen and books that seem to have taken over my place and the cds I mentioned yesterday. Anyway, long story short, I got so carried away, I couldn't go to sleep on time because I didn't want to leave things all jumbled up and now today I am paying the price with lack of sleep and crabbiness.

I have a considerable amount of cds that I could get rid of once I convert all the music I want to keep into mp3s, and hard bound text books and paperbacks that I can do without. So I am leaning towards selling them. Would it be illegal to burn mp3s and then sell the cds? Will I get into trouble with the music police?

Also, have you guys any experience with the craigslist or amazon selling your 2nd hand stuff?

I also have some household items that are only taking up space. Hopefully getting rid of clutter will turn into some extra income. Who knew de-cluttering could be potentially inspiring?

Writing a PF blog is hard! I can't always think of PF related topics to write about. I am afraid this is turning out to be a diary instead of a blog. Hopefully I can throw in some financial stuff here and there. I created this blog so that I can be accountable for myself financially and otherwise. So perhaps writing my daily musings will indeed help me keep myself in check?

Oh, I know what!! Here's something PF related that you guys will not be too happy about:
I haven't checked my 401K in a long while. Partly because I was scared, partly because I was finishing up my graduate school and got too busy. Also because I forgot my password and haven't bothered to do anything about it. Bad, bad, bad girl. I need to take care of this ASAP. Don't yell at me.

Yesterday I ran almost 3 miles, after which I had a dinner of organic pasta with fresh courgette, grape tomatoes, sweet peas and sauted shrimp. It took 10 minutes to make, and it was delicous. I like to buy these pre cooked frozen shrimp from TJ's, and mix it in with many of my dishes. I don't eat a lot of meat, but this is something I enjoy from time to time. Also, it's frozen, so I only take out what I need.

So for lunch today, it was pasta salad with above vegetables and tofu added in instead of the shrimp. I also sprinkled some Herbes De Provence on top. I like the flavor it gives. Yum! I also had a banana and an apple this morning. I like to buy mostly organic veggies and fruits, but it gets pricey. So I usually follow "what is worth spending $$ on and buying organic and what is not" rule. Apparently fruits and veggies with shells/peels/cover/extra layer on top that you discard (oh, it's called the skin!) is not worth buying Organic since they absorb less pesticides. Some exceptions are crucifers like broccoli and cauliflowers - which for some reason do not absorb much pesticides either.

Today I have a lot to do on my list, so I won't be running even though I would like to. Actually it's not that I would like to, it's that I have gotten into the habit of running so it feels awkward if I don't.

To do:

[ X ] Remember 401K password and see how it's doing (DONE! How easy was it once I made myself accountable for it? I had been putting it off for months! MONTHS!!)
[ X ] Organize paper works
[ X ] Laundry
[ X ] Return the under bed storage thingo I bought for winter clothes (It's not air tight)
[ X ] Plan lunch/snacks/before run snacks/after run dinner for tomorrow

Does not spending any money apart from "reoccurring planned for" payments thwart a NSD?

For the record, I did NOT have a NSD. I was too tempted by a mini ice cream in my favorite flavor. So there goes $2.50 and a potential NSD.

I did pack my lunch to bring with me though, so that's good. And I am going running this evening so that will keep me away from the shops or any other potential NSD unfriendly places.

Update:

After reading the comments on this post, I have decided that NSD for me will comprise of days where I do not spend money on crap that I don't need. While it's true that there is really no "No Spend Day", I feel that we have control over at least what we spend on. Basic things in life like rent, electricity, food, of course we have no choice but to fork over money for, but we still have some choice over how we spend money on them. For example, you would not want to spend your money on junk food every single day, would you? Or spend exuberant amount of rent/mortgage on a building that is not built green, etc?

Hello everybody. Today's my first day here. I started this blog to challenge myself to save as much as I can in 6 months. Once that 6 month time period is over, I will reevaluate my situation and set up another set of goal(s) for the next 6.

Hello I am Six, and I am very happy to meet you all.