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Showing posts from May, 2009

My budget spreadsheet is a mess

Back to the drawing board, as they say. I got it sorted out today, and I already know what the problem is. Luckily, I get paid at the end of the week, so I get a chance to start over again. What happened was I was paying my basic expenses and putting the rest of my money onto my Line of Credit. My rationalization was that if I ran out of $$ I could tap into the LOC. Then when I ran out of money, I would berate myself for considering using the LOC, and use my credit card instead. Now I have a $300 credit card bill to pay off, and tracking the expenses has mucked up my pretty spreadsheet. For June the new goal is to keep at least $300 in my account and shelve the credit card. For good, I hope. Seriously, Karissa

The Cost of Wellness

So far, my new morning routine consists of: - two Super Orti-Vite vitamins ($42 a bottle) - one Omega 3 - 6 ($16 a bottle) - one Aloe Immune ($41 a bottle) - 2000 IU liquid Vitamin D (free from naturopath) - one Macrobid (covered by SunLife) - two Valacyclovir (covered by SunLife) - two eggs and toast - apple or strawberries - glass of orange juice (canned concentrate, pulp-free) At lunch I have been eating dinner leftovers, which is usually rice and a meat/veggie concoction that I throw together. Yesterday I remembered to pack some fresh veggies and dip. At some point in the day I eat two more Valacyclovir, and thanks to all this pill-popping, I'm drinking tons of water. All day I sip on a red raspberry leaf tea ... I don't mind it if it's cold. Dinner is more protein/veggie/grain stuff and another Macrobid. If I remember and think my stomach can handle it I eat an iron pill ($24 a bottle). Nighttime routine is one more Omega 3 - 6 and another Aloe Immune. My naturopath sa

Boy, when I get sick ...

I have known for the past few weeks that I was feeling low. Every time I thought of something to post on this blog I decided it was too negative, or whiny, or not grateful enough. Like, the old me. I was snapping at my son A LOT. And freaking out on his dad TOO MUCH (well, the doofus did play a mean trick with money in April, but I didn't want to react the way I did). I was spending A LOT of time at work trying to wrap up the semester, and trying to get to my weekly Al-Anon meeting each Tuesday afternoon. I spent a weekend with my mom, which turned out pretty well, for maybe the first time ever. I was stressing a lot about a potential new relationship. And then I got sick. Disgustingly, embarrassingly sick. I couldn't keep water down and what I thought was a spider bite on my back migrated to my front. I writhed and itched and thought I might be dying. After a whole weekend of suffering, I went to the doctor. Diagnosis: SHINGLES. Yes, the same shingles that my grandmother gets.

April spending

I went $67 over-budget in April, but I'm not kicking myself for it, because I earmarked ALL of my income tax refund to RRSP savings and debt repayments. As well it was Bean's third birthday on the 30th, and I forgot to budget for it. I bought his main birthday gift - a Little Tykes easel - last November and had it stored in my dad's basement until Easter. The party itself cost me a few bucks, for cupcake mix (I made 40 cupcakes, 24 went to his friends at daycare) and muffin tins, loot bags for Bean and his friend Gloria, juice and snacks, and a round of bowling for the main event. We had a lot of fun. There was also my Overspend Weekend , which could have been worse. My mom came to visit this past weekend and I spent some unbudgeted funds from my May budget because when we are together we like to shop. I took it easy though, and bought only a few tank tops and a pair of jean shorts at a heavily discounted price, a brand-new wallet at a second-hand shop, and some liquid lau