Day 14

Yesterday-Fell off the wagon! Need to get back on!!
Lunch - didn't happen, was waiting to go when I did errands and then the errands never happened as I got busy with other crap
Dinner - McNally Robinson
Money Spent - $10 Book
$19 Dinner
$18 Movie Tickets (Graeme owes me 1/2)
$15 food at movies (Graeme owes me $10)

Day 13

Well the weekend was abit harder to control my spending.

Friday
lunch - leftover salad
supper - went out with Graeme and Olivia to Tony Roma's
Money Spent - $17 for supper

Saturday
lunch - Moxie's with Karmyhn
supper - Karmyhn's parents
Money Spent - Hair cut $15
Lunch $15
Dress $25
Makeup $30
Cat food/litter $15
The makeup and cat food/litter went on my Visa so I will pay that off before I give myself my next budgetted amount of cash

Sunday
Lunch - sick, nothing
Supper - spagetti with vegetables in tomato sauce plus two slices of the pizza graeme ordered
Money spent - Gellati with Stacy & Eric $4
Slushie with Stacy & Eric $1.75

I haven't started the Lemonade diet as Marcia ended up quiting, saying it was really gross. I'll see, I'm might still try it.

Day 10

Yesterday
Lunch - veggie burger sandwich
Supper - Garden Salad, leftover pasta salad and blueberry crumble; plus appetizers & cheescake at Kayla's Norwex Party
Money Spent - None from my cash budget BUT I went to the Norwex party thinking I would ONLY spend $20 from previously said budget but I loved the stuff and stuck ~$140 on my VISA. Granted I see it as an investment since I bought the clean cloths, toothbrush & laundry supplies, all basic stuff that I would need to buy soon anyway in my grocery budget (almost empty on the current laundry detergent). Regardless I have about $200 still in my bank account that I was planning on putting on my credit card once the cheque had cleared so it will just go to this now.

I've committed to throwing a Norwex party in a few weeks but I'm seriously considering the idea of becoming a consultant. I used the products last night when I got home and thought that they were awesome. I'm looking forward to my cleaning paste & scrub pads to arrive in the mail so that I can clean my stove & oven! As a consultant I would receive 35% commision on sales, which means on a $500 sale night I'm taking home $175. Carolynn was at the house for about 4hrs which means she's making $40/hr and I'm sure Kayla's party sold more then $500!

Still thinking about it but I'm leaning towards the yes side.

Also on a completely different note, I'm starting the Lemonade Diet cleanse that Marcia is doing, on Sunday so we'll see how that goes.

Day 9

Yesterday Day 8
Lunch - went home and had left overs grilled sandwich and pie & made supper
Supper - Greek Pasta Salad
Money Spent - NONE! I went to the mall with alan and didn't buy any of the stuff i wanted YEAH! and alan treated me to a movie (Harry Potter) and popcorn:)

Marcia is on the Lemonade Diet right now. Its meant as a cleansing diet but you also end up loosing quite abit of weight. Lately I've been feeling fatter and fatter and I really don't want to continue on this track, especially if my sister will be losing weight!! I'm going to try and start on Sunday.

Day 8

Well its been a week and I'm still following my instructions, hopefully I continue to keep this up!

Day 2
Lunch - leftover pasta and pie
Supper - Mashed potatoes, tomatoe sauce & dilled carrots, & leftover pie
Money Spent - NONE:)

Day 3
Lunch - busy, only had trail mix :(
Supper - on the road, munched on chips and snacks
Money Spent - ~$50 for gas and snacks

Day 4
Lunch - camping - appetizer pot luck
Supper - camping - chicken, baked potato, corn on the cob & salad
Money Spent - $50 for alcohol

Day 5
Lunch - camping - left overs
Supper - camping - potluck
Money Spent - NONE

Day 6
Lunch - on the road - snacks
Supper - leftover perogies
Money Spent - NONE

Day 7
Lunch - trailmix, busy:(
Supper - Grilled Chicken & Veggie Sandwiches & Banana Cream Pie
Money Spent - $25 on groceries (Graeme & Olivia also put in $20/ea)

Day 1

Yesterday, in an attempt to form my habits I cooked supper for Graeme, Olivia & I. Made a Vegetarian Pasta Casserole with ingerdients I already had, as well as a wild berry pie. There was enough left over for today's lunch which I took with me this morning. I also went home yesterday and had Sheppard's Pie leftovers for lunch. And last but not least, I didn't spend ANY money!

Today we are going shopping for our camping trip/reunion this weekend and my bank account is empty so I will have to use my credit card. I will keep a record though and put the extact amount back on the card when I get paid tomorrow!

Also need to collect outstanding money from:
Marcia - $100 (balance for shoes & Tegan and Sara tickets)
Graeme - $100 (for first quarter's insurance)
Davide - $250+ (for decking material)
Andrea - $35 (Tegan and Sara ticket)

I'm starting to not like lending money to ANYONE as I find it a hassle to collect and it seems to cost more then I originally lend, whether its not getting the full amount returned or waiting for ever so I end up paying interest!

Forming new habits

Yesterday I made Vegetarian Sheppard's Pie for supper & started to clean the house (basically dishes & laundry). I also decided that this paycheck coming up I'm going to try the cash budget, where I'll pull out a budgetted amount for different expenses and once spent I'm shit out of luck! So I pulled out my mini file folder that holds receipts and I'm going to use that to seperate the money & receipts for each expense. I also want to start cutting coupons and I can put it in there too! My goal is to try and gain control over my finances again.

They say that it takes approximately 20 days to form habits. My goal is to make the following things a daily routine for me:

1. Cooking Supper at home & bringing lunch/snacks to work
2. Sticking to a cash budget and not using credit cards on a regular basis

Going to Mexico is also something I still want to do and yet I'm almost maxed out again so I'm not sure how thats going to work! Perhaps I just need to be stricter with myself. I wish I had a way of making extra cash fast but alas I can't think of anything right now.

I am going to start using the used bookstores again and trading in ones I don't want to read again for new ones rather then dropping the $10-35 a book I've been spending lately. As for movies I need to stick to watching catalog dvds at movie village with our $20/month membership and going to the cheap theater for 'new' movies.

I scare myself when I look at how I seem to stay in the vicious cycle of spending! Regardless of the amount of times I consolidate the debt!! It just keeps growing. Hence needing to form new habits. Hopefully if this works I can try it with my exercise, finishing university & finding a new job!