I'm Still Here

I haven't been posting very much lately, but I wanted to let you all know I'm still here and doing OK. It's been a bit of an adjustment the past couple of weeks 'going to work' everyday. Then Cub got sick. Nothing major, but he needed his Mommy. Then Hubby was 'on vacation' from his regular job for a week. I loved having him around everyday,and in a much better mood too! It reminds me why I work so hard, and so many hours - so I can earn enough money that he can give up the job from that horrible place. Next week, I have DD2 home for March Break all week, and Cub will be home Thursday & Friday. Next Saturday is Cub's 4th birthday and we're going out for lunch.

I really struggled with the 'budget' for the new paycheque. I figured out how much I am getting paid every two weeks ($686.73) and how to break that down for the four piles of money. Every other week, I will be putting $70 into the Emergency Fund, $ 68.75 into Planned Spending/LTS, which leaves me $547.98 for Cash Flow. Out of the CF, $ 482.85 will go to pay rent which will leave me with a whopping $ 65 for everything else - groceries, fuel, bills, etc.

I have to be honest - this very first paycheque, I treated myself. I went clothes shopping. After I set aside all the amounts that I have to set aside, I went to Talize for some work shirts. Being the size that I am, most women's clothes don't really fit right, so I headed for the men's section. I bought 6 short sleeved shirts (collars and buttons down the front), 1 vest, and 1 long sleeved shirt. I also bought 2 work out videos on VHS and a CD for Hubby. I paid a total of $34.23 for all of it. Oh, how I love thrift stores! We also went to an outlet store this week to see if I could find a new suit for me. Well, I found 2 that fit reasonably well (the pants will have to be hemmed though) and looked decent. That store was having a 'sales event' so I paid $144.47 for two matching suit jackets and pants. Ouch! I don't regret it though, as the suits will likely last me for at least 3 years.

My stock up item for the week was bodywash. I hate running out of bodywash and I so dislike using soap. We typically only use Ivory Bodywash, because it doesn't leave a flowery scent on your skin which is important to Hubby because of his allergy to bee stings. Flowery scented stuff tends to attract bees, and he could very well die if he's stung a couple of times. I would rather not take the risk. I haven't seen that brand of bodywash on sale for a good price in a long time, so when I saw it itn the No Frills flyer for $2.99 for the 705 mL bottle, I knew I'd be buying several. I was going to buy 12 of them, but seeing as there was only 12 on the shelf, I only took 8. I don't want to be the 'shelf clearing' kind of buyer. I also managed to snag a good 'sale' on Pull-Ups this week for Cub. ( Good lord, isn't that kid potty-trained already?!) I had an email coupon from Shopper's for $10 off the purchase of $50 or more, and the larger packs of Pull-Ups were marked down from $27.99 to $19.99. I bought 3 ( after going to the 3rd store to find them), used my coupon and paid only $52.97. One of the stores that didn't have any on the shelves gave me a raincheck for two packs. The raincheck is good for 30 days, so its like extending the sale for me. :)

I'm hoping to get the paperwork together to file our taxes this week. I still have lots to do in that department, but with only DD2 home this week, I should be able to take a big chunk out of the preparatory work. Cross your fingers for me!

Today's agenda includes grocery shopping, laundry, making bread, and cleaning the kitchen. I don't know how much of that will get done, but I'm going to give it the old college try.

Enjoy your weekend everyone, and don't forget, clocks go forward one hour on Sunday.