week two report

Week two wasn't quite as thrifty as week one was, and I didn't manage to bank anything into the slush fund, but I'd still call it a success. I managed to get all the way to Thursday without cracking into the weekly $60, and being that Thursday was the hump day of what was turning into a pretty meh week, I felt like a couple of Thursday night bruskis, so picked up a six pack on my way home. I also went out and got the ingredients for my $10 lunch date on Friday, which also included some pilfering from our fridge since I blew $9.11 on specialty cheese for our gourmet grilled sandwiches (they were gooood). A few bucks on dish soap, and renting two DVD's (for the price of one thanks to the awesome coupon pack we got as a Christmas gift from my parents) saw me with $30 remaining on Saturday evening. Paul and I agreed to pool our resources and get some gourmet dinner ingredients and a nice bottle of wine. We made an incredible home made basil linguine (I freaking love my new pasta rollers, also a Christmas gift) with a simple but incredible tomato basil sauce, and had a young but great bottle of Portuguese wine ($40). We did not budget for the bottle of white wine necessary for the pasta sauce, so I cracked into the $100 spend on anything monthly money for the first time, but that bottle will last us a while for sauces and risottos and the like.

This coming week will be a challenge since I've got a birthday coming up. I figure the remainder of that monthly $$ will go towards hooch and ingredients for the little soiree we're throwing on the weekend. This week I also sold an accessory pack I had for my mixer that I never use for $100. I'm contemplating throwing that money on the birthday pile too. I know it's breaking the rules, but I figure if ever there was a time for rule breaking, it should be on a girl's 30th birthday. We'll see.

I did also teach a big course last Sunday, and after I had paid a second instructor and paid off my out of pocket expenses for that and a future course, I had $300 in my pocket. I am paying 5.2% interest on my line of credit, and earning 3% on my tax free savings account, so I figured that the split should be 2/3 debt repayment, 1/3 savings. I paid off $200 on the line of credit, and banked $100 in the savings account. That is going to be my strategy with extra money coming in. Lastly, I paid off what I hope will be my last big Mastercard bill. Now that I'm using it only for gas, groceries, and business expenses (which get paid off right away) the monthly bill should be significantly less than what it has been. I do face some expenses shortly though, having to renew my class 4 drivers license next week, and there is the matter of purchasing a wedding dress, which needs to be taken care of by mid February.

Okay, I can't put the long run off any further. Off I go.