Now that my travels are over till at least May (yes, I am planning another long weekend trip already!!), it's time to start saving and making a little money.

I went on my Etsy.com shop and posted a few new things...a frugal zine I had made for friends as a gift, which I saved electronically and selling for 50cents. I posted it twice within 12 hours and already sold two. Even if I just sell 10 of them, it's a few dollars in my pocket for work that I had already done. They charge 20 cents for the listing and probably another 5 cents or so when I sell it so I only end up with half of the money but that's ok! I also posted some handmade vegan soaps because I have tons right now!

Another way I will save money is start my penny jar. I have been meaning to do this for awhile now. I am starting a penny jar and will save pennies for a year, then buy a gift card with what I have accumulated! My sweetie started something like this too back in January but using all his change and already has $155 saved up in less than two months! Change really adds up!

We're going to the bank next week to talk about our mortgage and how to better pay off some debt. Right now is a good time to do this and we're confident our payments will go down afterwards :) People tend to be afraid of banks (I know I am!) and all that financial mumbo jumbo. Personally I think we're doing pretty good, as our credit cards should be all paid off within a couple of months, even with my big spending habits when I travelled last week :)

Went out to dinner last night. We hadn't done that in awhile...I tend to go out to dinner with friends sometimes but not often with my partner. We went to the new bistro we like because on Wednesdays they have pizza/pasta night for $10. VERY good quality food. I had a pad thai with tofu & I splurged and got sorbet for dessert but we both shared it and drank water. Tonight is tofu scramble & Sweet potato fries night..I can't wait!

I looked over the sales flyers today as they come out every Thursday in the paper at work. Sadly, no good sales. I don't buy a lot of processed foods or any animal products so unfortunately I won't be doing a whole lot of grocery shopping this week. There seems to be a lot of meat on sale right now...yikes.  We'll just eat what we have and I will replenish the produce at our favourite produce market.

I received a late birthday parcel from an online friend. Wow, does she ever know me! Anyone who knows me, knows that my guilty pleasures are dark chocolate and coffee. I received some Ethiopian Fair Trade Coffee beans and Fair Trade organic dark chocolate! Now I have coffee beans for another two weeks which will save me money! yay! My chocolate supply was running out too, i always have dark chocolate on hand. I got two bars from another friend and one is almost done (I eat a square every few days). I also received some lovely Protea and Dwarf Sunflower seeds! Am I spoiled or what?
 

I will be testing out the warm honey body wrap i made this weekend and if it is successful (my partner will be my guinea pig), i will post the recipe and instructions....stay tuned!

Peace.

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I read an article recently discussing being frugal, then binge buying. I was thinking...mmm. is this me?? I LOVE making my own things, love saving money on items, love taking advantage of sales and buying used/thrift. For me it's a game thinking I am beating the system and not giving in to capitalism and the high life. Then, on a whim thinking that I've saved all kinds of money doing this and that, I reward myself by purchasing something I shouldn't have. The person who wrote the article described it as dieting. Say one week you're eating all healthy and are feeling good, then the next week you reward yourself with tons of junk food. How is that helpful? Right?

I barely spent anything on Christmas gifts this year and boy was I proud of myself. I've been doing this for years but I love it that I can keep it up year after year. Then we purchased a new sink, and a front loader washer and dryer. We already had a functioning washer and dryer but I did often have to wash clothes again because of rust or it was ruining my stuff. They weren't a very good set but they sort of worked right? my mom gave me money towards it, so really I only paid for one of them. Then the sink....a $400 purchase. yikes. Our bathroom had this ugly pedestal sink that took over half the bathroom but hey, it worked. I don't regret my purchases , especially the washer and dryer because they will save us a lot of water and energy in the long run. I also bought a handmade dress online for well over what i pay for a thrift dress. Could have done without it right? Right. So after all these efforts for me to save, is it because I want to then turn around and buy fancy stuff?? Or is it really beacuse I want to pay off debt? Probably a little of both.

One day I just love the fact that I buy mostly thrift clothes and barely eat out, then the next day I am looking at $100 shoes and go for sushi. I don't even get myself. Our debt is going down, so at least I am seeing results, but I then turn around and get some nice stuff to delay paying things off. My credit card just upped my limit because I always pay on time. argh.

Just today, I went into a fancy store with NICE clothes..you know those designer ones. I looked at the 50% sale rack and saw a $450 down to $225. YIKES! So looking was nice but I was smart enough to get out before it was too late. Also checked out a great shoe store, also with boxing day sales. $300 shoes....50% off. ouch. I was tempted as I saw a few pairs I liked, but lucky for me I have bad arthritis on one of my feet and can't really wear high heels....most of the stuff i saw had big high heals. I'm thinking the universe was on my side today. So I walked out. *phew*

I even walked into my favourite store which sells all kinds of inexpensive stuff like incense, funky jewelry and housewares. It's a tiny store. I looked at a rug for $17, a really nice big throw rug which would look great in the upstairs guest room. I didn't even buy that! YAY! I wanted it though, but figured I didn't really NEED it. The guest room has a little rug in it, maybe it's not that pretty and i found it in the garbage, but it's there and it's functional. :)

So next time you tell yourself "Hey, i saved $100 this week!!!" Take those savings and pay off a bill instead of running to the store and get that pair of fancy shoes you wanted. :) I know this will take some practise for me, but I know I can do it.

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When these tough economic times started, my sweetie and I were not affected at all. Recently. his company just did some restructuring and his dept wasn't supposed to be affected. Now his boss is urging him to move (1500miles away!) and take a job at head office...which means there will be massive layoffs at the management level all around the country. He panicked as he earns a really good living and to be cut off from that would be VERY hard. He said he doesn't want to move, so I told him to say no to the job, offer some other solutions and see what comes of it. Worst case scenario, he leaves with 6 months severance pay but jobs in our city are scarce and at his level he'd have to take a major paycut if he got another job. It's kind of scary. I told him not to worry as I didn't have a  bad feeling about it. He is one of those people that is really hard working, extremely brilliant (high IQ!!) and people just love him! I don't foresee a problem with him getting a job or asking them to keep him here perhaps taking a paycut if needed.

On the bright side, the place where I am currently doing temp work wants me to work more hours so I can have enough work days accumulated so they can hire me on for a few months with a REAL salary (not the bad hourly wage temp agencies give).  (I need 60 days for the temp agency to be able to release me without the company i am working for to be penalized). What all this means, is by mid-Feb I will be making almost double what I am making now!!! The contract might last about 4-6 months so if things do go wrong, I can support us with my fancy government salary for awhile! woohoo!

We also have insurance with our mortgage and credit card company, so if he loses his job we won't need to pay our cards or mortgage (I think it's up to a year). So the security is nice, knowing we won't lose anything.

To be on the safe side, I am going to stock up on staple items and household goods (there are TONS of sales right now) this weekend. I told my sweetie not to worry, that my frugal ways will make him feel like we're living a life of luxury..haha (ya right!) We don't have cable though we do have satellite radio which might have to go....let's hope nothing drastic happens but I am anticipating the worst and planning for it just in case.

I wanted to put my creativity to use for earning money, and since my zine sales have gone down after the holidays, I had to think of something good I could sell that would be cheap to send. I bought a bottle of potent pheromones on ebay and will be making small vials with them blended with some oils to sell as Valentine's Gifts. I'll just charge $3 or something so people can afford it and be able to give something fun! I should be getting it next week and will start production. I just received a bunch of essential oils and fragrances so I will use those as well!

Now I have to rethink my mom's valentine's gift. I was going to send her a dozen roses ($40 incl tax & delivery on flowerscanada.com) but now I have to scale it down. I decided to make some candles instead and will go to the grocery store to get some $8 tulips and will courrier them (I get 75% off next day courrier stuff). This might cost me $15 altogether. :)

Almost time for lunch. I forgot to bring my lunch again today! (duh!). I guess it's back to the $3 indian place!

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I'm noticing that I am missing a few gifts for people, so naturally being an internet geek, I go online to websites which list sales and coupons for various websites for online shopping. EVERY store seems to have alluring deals that make me want to buy....yikes!

Twice this evening i caught myself filling a cart with stuff I didn't need to buy for people, then after a few minutes when I was just about to fill in my credit card, I closed the window and decided not to do it. Yes, free shipping is great (if you spend $50!) or free stuff is nice if you buy some items from their store, but in the end you end up spending more than intended. Oh boy.  Good thing my frugal brain is shouting at me before entering my card information : "STOP, you don't need these things!!"

Most of my shopping is done already for my friends and family members and I still have a few items to make. Sadly I am missing a few key gifts for two close friends and I can't figure out what to get as hard as I try. I've managed to spend less than $150 in total for ALL my gifts but if i am not careful i'll break my limit. :S

Tomorrow I have another day off, so I will venture out to buy a used book for a friend (something i should be able to find as the book he wants has been out a few years), and a gift card for a girlfriend of mine who likes to buy books online. Now I just have to find a bunch of stocking stuffers for my partner and i'm done. Good, I think I made it through the night without spending a dime. :)

 

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MAKE A PAYMENT TO YOURSELF

A few years ago I opened an ING savings account. This is not my primary bank.  When they sent me the bank card in the mail (we don't have ING branches here), i just discarded the pin number so i wouldn't use it in ATMs. I set it up so that $25 a week would be taken out from my main account and into my ING account. I work it in as if I am paying a bill, even $5 a week that you forget about ads up! I use this money for when I travel home (I get there with airmile points or super seat sales and use the saved money for spending). Since I like to get away every three months (travel is my luxury!) and my budget is tight, I need to put money away like this if I want to indulge. In three months, I collect roughly $300 which is more than enough for me when I travel, as I stay with family and friends so most of the money is for going out to eat a few times and some shopping! 

PENNIES!

Another option which is to keep a jar of pennies. I tend to dip into jars with silver coins but I usually turn my nose up at pennies..haha. So i have started a jar of pennies at home and although this will not get me anything expensive like a plane ticket, after a year you could have enough for a gift for someone or perhaps a few food items when you're really down and out. 

DINER & COFFEE CARDS

I also keep coffee cards from every coffee place in town as well as a few restaurants. This weekend I got a free 1/2lb of organic coffee beans and accumulated a free meal at a diner near my place.  I also have a Burger King card too. (though i tend to stay away from junk food). My sweetie and i usually go there when we're just craving for grease! When I go on "dates" with friends, we like to save money by just going for coffee instead of dinner. One of my close friends and I frequent a cafe about once a week for long chats, he lets me use my card for  both of our purchases which means after 5 visits i get a free drink! Him and I also go for cheap sushi for lunch every few weeks and again i use my card for both purchases. 3 more sushi lunches then I get one freeI YAY! I also tend to keep the freebies for times when I am in between paychecks with little or no money to spare, I don't use them when I have money to spend.

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I recently called my credit card company to ask how i could get a lower interest rate as I am trying to pay it off and currently only work part time. I saw that they had cards on their website with better rates than mine. Because I had never missed a payment and was in good standing with them, they decreased my interest by 6%!! So I am now paying 14% instead of 20% just for calling. This took all of one minute. He also said my balance would reflect the new rate in 45 days. Better late than never! I can't believe I didn't call sooner!

 

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