Update

If anyone is still out there: Hello!

I know I have been gone for some time, but I assure you that I did not forget about the blog, nor have I stopped following other blogs religiously.

I have been giving blogging quite a bit of thought actually over the last several week and have decided that one for the sole purpose of PF is not for me. I have so many other interests and want to be able to express them all. Therefore, I have decided to give regroup and come at it again from a different angle.

I am currently in the process of putting together a new blog which I am hoping to get up an running by the end of the month. This blog will take a more general approach of all things that inspire me and that are important to me ... including finance.

The name of the new Blog will be Something Borrowed.  And I will be sure to post a link up once it is ready to go.

Let me ask you this: If you could start a blog (or another blog) what would you write about? What inspires you?

SG

Champagne and Birthdays

This past Sunday I celebrated my Champagne Birthday (I turned 24 on the 24th). The celebrations consisted of an amazing sushi dinner and a night of friends, music and dancing at a downtown pub on Saturday and a family lunch on Sunday. Both were an amazing time and made me realize how fortunate I was to have so many people in my life who love me and are there for me.

However, with the marking of yet another year come and gone one cannot help but reflect on life. And let me just say you cannot plan everything (and there are few things that I love more than planning). My 18 year old self would not even realize the person that I am today...that is a good thing in most regards.

Not that I am unhappy with how my life is going...just certain aspects of it. The issue of my finances is something that I have never been happy with. I have had a job since I was 15 yet NEVER have been able to get good with my money! 

So my birthday resolution:

To enter my mid 20's with a good grasp on my personal finances.

By that I mean that I am giving myself a year to get happy with how I am handling  my finances. I want to find out where my money is going and why I can never seem to hang on to it. Also I want to be able to find a good middle ground of caring about my finances. No more all or nothing!

So here is to a year of financial health!

Shoe Gal

Update Much?

So if anyone is still reading this...I'M BACK!

Because there is no bad time for Chuck.

Before I try to justify my blogging hiatus I should thanks Asian Pear for getting my the push I needed to get back in the game. In fact I cannot believe how long it has been...and as I type this it is starting to sink in how much I have missed it!

So the main reason I have gone MIA has been work. I have been working crazy hours and have not had much time to even turn on my computer (as was evident by the layer of dusk on my laptop). In addition to work my friend had a tumor removed a few weeks ago and much of my free time was spent at the hospital and later with her at her house.

So in general I have been putting posting for way to long and finally decided to just do it rather than continuing to procrastinate. However, I have a birthday and a house guest looming over the end of the week so I doubt my posts will become regular by the end of April but, I will be trying to keep up with it. 

But enough excuses! It feels great to be back.

Unfortunately, much like this blog, my finances have also been completely lacking TLC over the last 2 months. One thing I am beginning to realize more and more as of late is that I do not seem to have a happy medium when it come to my finances. I am either obsessively involved or completely disconnected with what is happening. Anyone else get that?

So in order to find a happy medium I am going to try to use this blog as an outlet for more than just my financial obsessions. I hope to have more posts about fashion, news, health and anything else which may be on my mind. What are your thoughts?

 Shoe Gal

Does frugality apply if it not your money?

I'm baaaaack! Sorry about missing most of last week but I had a vicious could...and worked 53 hours which made it very hard to find time for anything other than feeling sorry for myself. But on the bright side I had a fantastic weekend and was more productive this weekend than I have been in the last 2 months. So yay me. AND today is a provincial statutory holiday for where I live so I can spend all day continuing to be productive and starting to study for my upcoming course in May!

This past Saturday OT and I had our Valentines Day getaway, it was perfect. He planned the whole thing and we ended up going to the Fairmont in our city. Probably one of the best dates we have had in quite some time. We ordered pizza, watched girly movies (The Notebook AND Dirty Dancing...that was his gift to me), and stayed up talking until 4 am. AMAZING! But the hotel stay did get me thinking about how people interact with "free" stuff.

This kind of came to me when I found myself reaching for the mini shampoo and conditioner. In the past I normally take them with me...and they end up collecting dust in a drawer. But I feel like I should take them because they are free and leaving them seems somehow wasteful, even though I don't even want/need it (I ended up leaving the products). So I got to thinking about other behaviours I have observed when something is free or at least free for you.

Another hotel example: I find that I take longer showers when I know that my parent's don't have to pay for it. I also leave the light on even though at home I harp on people for wasting electricity. Really I should be treating it the same way, but because it is "free" I do not think of the cost that is still associated with me. I have seen friends do the same thing...some have even justified it as "getting their money's worth".

I have gotten better at this though. Although I am very far off from minimalistic, I do what I can not to be wasteful. The area I think I have improved the most is thinking twice before getting something just because it is free. I do love freebies and samples still, but I try to consider if I am ever actually going to use the freebie because at the end of the day useless free stuff is still useless.

Another thing that bothers me to no end is when people spend like no ones business when they are not the ones footing the bill. I have seen this countless of times and it really bothers me...here is the most recent story:

One of my coworkers is getting married this summer and really loves to talk about her wedding...a lot...really a lot....and since I tend to work with her quite a bit I know many details about the magical day. One of which is that her parents are covering the entire event, and no expense has been spared. She constantly talks about how when they want something they get the very best. And every time she mentions an upgrade it goes a little something like "....well the other thing was fine, but I really wanted the other one and everything should be perfect so what's another $*insert sum*". Now from what she has told me this event is already costing a pretty penny...as in tens of thousands of dollars...and personally I would never be able to justify spending $2,000 on wedding favours for the guests (not even making this up).

So one particuarly stressful day while she was discussing how it was only going to be an extra couple of hundred dollars for the caligrapher to mail out the invitations I asked her point blank, "But would you still spend the money if you and your future hubby were paying for it". Her response was exactly what I expected...silence followed by a hesitant and somewhat guilty sounding "probably not".

So I think it is somewhat safe to say that most people are less concerned with being economical when they are not the ones spending money.

What are your thoughts? Do you shamelessly take all the free stuff you can get your hands on or order the most expensive meal when you do not have to pay (no judgment, I've done it too)?Do you even consider the cost of something when it is free for you?

Shoe Gal 

Still alive...but barelly

If anyone is still reading this I am sorry about my absence this week. I have been working crazy hours this week and sleeping for the rest of the time because I caught a cold.

Will be back to business as usual next week...I hope.

All the best,

Shoe Gal

Its the most wonderful time of the year!

Well guys and gals, it is official accounting busy season has begun! I left for work at 6:55 am and did not get home until 9 pm. This included a total of 2 and a half hours of driving to the client. To make matters worse I woke up feeling awful this morning and progressively felt worse and worse as the day went on.

I took my temperature when I got home and sure enough I have a fever. :( I have being sick.

A quick valentines day update: I ended up getting stuck at work so I had move back our reservation, but OT and I make it for dinner as planned. It was a great meal and overall the evening was a success, even though I started to feel sick half way through. He ended up breaking one of our VDay rules and paid for the meal! It was really nice not to have to spend money, but that was still not part of the deal.

Other than that everything is great. I apologize for the tarty lame-duck post today, but I am feeling rather ill so hopefully I will be back to myself on Thursday!

I hope everyone is having a good week and is avoiding the nasty cold bug going around.

Shoe Gal

You can't put a price on love...

 

Credit

Although I have not been single on Valentine's Day for a very long time something about this holiday irks me....well actually a lot of things about it irk me. Most of all it is that it a holiday that makes it the social norm to spent money for no real reason.  In fact according to this article the average US consumer is planning to spend $103 for the occasion.

Not sure about you guys, but I think that is a ton of cash to spend on a teddy bears and chocolates!

It's not that I have anything against romance, to the contrary actually, I think it is great to show your loved one how you feel about them. It is even greater to do it everyday rather than waiting for the one day a year to make a grand gesture.

All that being said Mr. OT does not share my feelings about the holiday. So in order to reach a happy medium we have agreed on the following:

1. No presents. We always get each other a card but that's it. (If you listen very carefully you can hear Hallmark executives rejoicing!)

2. When we do spend money it is on experiences such as meals and getaways.

3. The celebrations do not need to take place on actual Valentine's Day (great way to save cash!).

4. We split the expenses. 

So this year we will be going for an Italian dinner (I picked the restaurant and made the resos) tonight and he panned a surprise for me for next Saturday. I would totally be lying if I said I wasn't excited, but on the other hand I do not know if we would do as much if we lived together. I think the total cost of everything will be around $200 so despite my best efforts we are right spot on with the statistic.

What are your plans for tonight? Do you and your sweetie split the costs or does the guy pay?

Shoe Gal