getting a grip on our spending...

We have become lazy, Rene and I have been spending so much money lately it's a little bit sad.

We have been living in our new cheaper apartment for about 3 months now and we have saved nothing. I'm not upset about this, it's just silly that we haven't. We were doing so much better with our money before because it was necessary.

So we decided that today was our last time eating out for as long as we can, and we are going to try and save save save! We really need to. We might be moving sometime this winter.

:)

I think I may have fried my brain today...

I have been watching Ted talks all day, I'm sure you could have guessed that since I posted a few here. And I think I may have subjected myself to a little bit of information overload. I was trying to tell someone about some of the stuff I had heard today and I started jumbling all of the talks together into one super talk.

My brain = Well done.

Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothes | Video on TED.com

Suzanne Lee: Grow your own clothes | Video on TED.com

An interesting idea.

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com

I'm enjoying my favortie part of the day...

and I wanted to share it with you.

It's blissful. You should try it yourself. :)

I have a stick blender in case you're wondering.

I have one of these almost every day. Strawberry milkshakes rock.

P.S. The washing machine and I are getting along very very well.

I am SO excited!

So yesterday Rene and I were talking about maybe getting a portable washing machine. I figured out the math and if we could find one for $300 it would EASILY pay pay for itself in about 4 months. Plus we wouldn't have to worry about trying to find loonies at 8pm so we could have uniforms for work the next day anymore. And we wouldn't have to worry about the stupid machine in the building being broken or in use. AND I wouldn't have to hand wash my uniforms anymore when we don't have the money to use the machine.

Basically we agreed it would be a good idea once we had $300-400 to spend. But I was bored so I though I would entertain the idea and took a look on kijiji to see if anyone in the area is selling one, just to see how much they are selling it for. You know, research.

So I found one on kijiji, for $225 so I thought I'd email them to see if they still have it, because $225 is really cheap. And they emailed me back and said that if we came and got it this weekend, we could have it for $180!!!!

So I get a new washing machine on sunday! YAY! No more spending our change on stupid washing clothes!

Here I am!

And here we go again.

We got a new computer about a month ago, so I can actually use the internet again. The old one was really getting on our nerves. We almost dreaded using it. It spent 2 whole months off for a while there...

So I just started working full-time at one of my jobs. Maybe we will be able to afford buying some luxuries now.

I'm working at a chocolate shop on the other side of town(Casual) and a bakery near my house(Full time) It's nice because at the chocolate shop he's starting to trust me more and just gives me jobs and goes and plays computer games all day, or we work together and chat all day. We are starting to get used to each other. The bakery is awesome. It has the perfect hours for me. I work 5 till 10 or 11 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then from 3am till 9 or 10 on Friday and 1am till 7 or so on Saturday. Which is awesome. Yesterday I finished work, came home woke Rene up, we went to the farmers market, and I still had my whole day left. :) Perfect. PLUS I'M WORKING AT A BAKERY!!! I love it so far. My boss is great, the day I started was payday and when he was explaining the pay schedule he asked if I needed money now since I wouldn't be getting paid for 2 weeks. How nice. :) I also get full benefits there which is great.

Rene and I are starting to try our hardest to save up our money. My goal is to be able to retire in 10 years. It would be great to be able to just work if we want to, not because we have to.

But I have to get cooking, family dinner tonight!
That's all for now. :)

Okay I'm doing it!

Let it be known that I am going to attempt to give up toilet paper.

(Actually I already have, I've been off the stuff for about 3 days)

Whenever I think about this I think about my teacher who would say to us. "I think it's crazy that gst is supposed to only be on products that aren't considered a necessity to life. EVERYONE needs toothpaste and toilet paper."

I used to snicker, I haven't used toothpaste in over a year.

Jokes on him. I need neither.

Bwahahaha

I've been busy

I recently got a job at a cafeteria that is so incredibly understaffed that during my first 2 weeks of work I have managed to get over 10 hours of over time.

It's been crazy, and to top it off, some of the people who do work there.... don't even work, so it's really more short-staffed than it needs to be. Fun stuff.

The fridge is on at my mothers house...

And it's sooooo bizarre for me.

I just find it so strange to look in there and see so much food and nothing that I want to eat. Like... Nothing.

Oh and I ate a piece of fruit from out of there yesterday and it was so cold on my teeth. Yucky.

I'm done work

I finished work for the summer, and it kinda feels like winning the lottery! WOOHOO!!!

I've been working with the heli-skiing company I worked with(and quit) like 3 years ago. It's been fun, but I now know for sure that it is not the thing for me, and that I want to be where the love of my life is(that's Rene in case you're wondering)

So, now what?

All I know is that I want to learn more about chocolate. I love it, it's what I really want to do with my life. So we will see how that goes, hopefully I can just find a job with one of the other chocolate shops in Edmonton for now, but I would LOVE LOVE LOOOOVVVEEE to go and work in say... Belgium. :) but who wouldn't?

As for other updates:

The fridge is still off

So are the lights

I have been using regular toilet paper lately(With not being home and.... you know... that whole being lazy thing)

The car is re-insured(Booooo)

My sourdough starter is.... tired, but kinda alive

The computer is usually off

I've been dabbling in making my own hair gel(Successfully I might add, just working on making it last more than 3 days before rotting)

I've been sugaring my legs instead of using a razor(Yeah, the razor is still there, but I'm working on that)

Still no shampoo or toothpaste

AND I've been doing oil pulling... most days(I've been living out of a suitcase for a while so some days my oil is still packed)


... that's all I can think of right now.


What have you been up to?

I've got a new job

The only thing I don't like about it, is that I'm out of town for it.

It's actually an 8 hour drive away from home :(

Which means I won't get to see Rene as much. Which makes me sad.

But! On the positive side, if I do this, and I get a job with them for the winter, it means that Rene will be able to go to school next year(Not the one coming up but the one after that) Which is good. :)

So, things are good. :)


Update on the fridgeless-ness.

I like it. Rene doesn't seem to have any problems with it either. Our milk does go bad faster. But we just drink it faster. Milk is really the only thing we have that needs to be refrigerated... We buy meat the day we need it, and cheese lasts a while. butter we keep on the counter anyways, and eggs have been doing fine just being flipped everyday. :)

My family thinks we are crazy. Personally I'm very proud of us. :)

This is what it looked like when I did it.

Since this picture I have started to use the empty fridge part as storage. and our freezer portion is much much much emptier. All we have in there right now is some jam, milk, a little bit of cheese and the ice that keeps it all cool. :)


I LOVE not drinking ice cold water. Mmmm. So much better.

If all your friends were jumping off a bridge...

Would you?


Probably not because that would just be stupid. But if all my friends were turning off their fridges, would I feel inspiered and try to follow suit? Probably... yes.

I have been reading about alot of people who have turned off their fridges, and I feel incredibly excited when I hear that, I may even dream about it a little bit, but just a little bit. :)

Rene was initially very very against it, saying that I was trying to change his life. Which I thought was a little bit over dramatic, I HATE cold water anyways, we only keep our beverages cold because of him, and he doesn't even drink that much water anyways. I think I might have found a solution though, we are going to try to turn off the fridge, and use the frezer portion of our fridge as a cooler, for now. I've said that if it isn't working, we can turn it back on.


Who know's maybe this will fail miserably, maybe it will free us just a little bit more.

I'm hoping to turn the beast off this weekend, if I do, I will let you all know of the progress on monday. :)

Have a good weekend.

3 weeks sans computer, and lovin it

I would apologize for not posting for the past few weeks, but I'm not going to, 1 because no one wants to hear it, and 2 because I'm not sorry.

The reason I haven't posted on here in almost 3 weeks is that we turned our computer off after I made my last post and simply haven't found a need to turn it on yet.

It acutally started out as a dare to Rene, He had the day off work and I simply said "I bet you can't leave the computer turned off all day, you'll go crazy." so he left it off, and I said the same thing the next day. And we just haven't turned it back on yet. We don't need to. My phone connects to the internet and so does the wii(I'm on the wii right now).

I think we're both happy with it, I haven't really felt the need to turn it on.(Rene just reminded me that skype is on the computer, which is what he calls his mum on)

With all the extra time I've had from not being on the computer at all, I've been reading alot, and the library is my best friend(I have 6 books out right now, and I think I've started a book a day habbit) One of the books I read was "Your money or your life" which Frugal+Urban suggested on her blog(The link is over on the right, great blog, go take a peak) GREAT GREAT GREAT book, Love it. Going to be following it. I actutally went a scoured the secondhand book stores in the area for it, and found it for 10 dollars(Which is something the authors would be proud of I think. And I'm making Rene read it. It's something I feel like I can stand behind.

If you are at all interested it's something worth taking a look at, and maybe a quick read through.

Also, Audrey, if you read this, I did sign up for ravelry, you should email me and I will tell you my account name. :)

Till next time my friends

Seriously. Stop with the sugar alcohols

Please.

Stop eating sorbitol, xylitol and any other "tol"s you have in your home.

I know that they aren't as bad for you as white sugar is.

But they aren't good for you.

I have a HUGE beef with the "Tol"s of the world. You may think you are doing your body good using them. You're not. Your body doesn't recognize them as sugars and doesn't get any satisfaction from eating them, WHICH MEANS you will still want more sugar. So while you aren't ingesting sugar, you're also not making your body happy, and you will just want more sugar right after you've consumed your "tol".




Please.


Just stop.

>:(

I'm done.

I've got the knitting bug again

I've been knitting a lot lately, like every chance I get.

I just finished a pair of socks that I got a little bit anxious with and made them a tad too small. :) Fun part is, I knit them at the same time. I read about a way of knitting 2 socks at once that looked really hard, so I had to try. :) It's called!!!! Double knitting. It wasn't super hard, but it wasn't easy either, it's very unforgiving if you make a mistake. :) It was super cool though.

Well that's what I've been up to.

Do you knit or crochet?

My hikers :)

I love my hiking boots. :)

I was walking to the store in them the other day while it was raining and the poor things were like a sieve, I haven't waterproofed them in about 3 years. I got some water proofing and cured that lickety-split.

I've had my hikers since I was 14, almost 10 years now.

They are still in great shape.

They have lived though lots, a summer of mowing grass at a golf course, which gave me a very weird tan line on my ankles :)

I used to wear them to the ski hill everyday, just untied.

They used to go though shoe laces like they were going out of style, but when I was younger my aunt gave me a pair of leather shoe laces, and I haven't had to change them since. They did break once, but I was able to tie them back together.

They still look fairly new for the most part, they do not look 10 years old.

They are still comfortable, very.

They are awesome.

I'm so happy that my mum insisted I get some nice leather hikers instead of some crappy cheap fabric ones which were "cooler" I've probably saved around $1000 NOT buying hikers over the years, plus... well I haven't been buying hikers and we all know how green no buying stuff is. :)



Do you own anything that you've had for years and still love?

I did not get the job.

So I talked to rick on monday, and right off the bat he said to me "I just have to tell you, and I'm really sad about this, one of the pastry chefs from the winter called my earlier today and took the job I was offering you."

So basically the decision was made for me. I had been of the mindset that I was going to take the job and not see Rene all summer, and I think we were both getting used to the idea, but then it was gone. I can't say I'm terribly upset about it. I'm relieved actually.

Because I'm next up on the list if rick ever needs someone, so basically next time a pastry chef is needed, he will be calling me. :) Which is nice, but then I'll be in the same situation, I'll be taking a job that will allow me to have no home life what-so-ever.

Which is sad, but it will be helping my career by leaps and bounds... which is good right? Money over happiness, my mother would be proud.

(Sorry about all this I really need to vent)

I've come to realize, my mother and I have very very different wold views. I'm of the happiness is everything vein of life whereas my mother is of the money rules all vein of life.

For example, yesterday my mother called and we haven't talked in a while because she was just in Hawaii with my dad for 3 weeks(How hard for them :P)so she asked about my new job, I told her that I love it and that my hours have just changed, before I was working 6 hours a day for 4 days a week, now I'll be working 8 hours a day for 3 days a week, which both Rene and I are fine with, I'm happy, I love my job, I'm where I want to be in life, and at home. After hearing this my mum promptly asked where I was going to be applying for my second job, so I said "I'm not getting one..." To which she said "Oh, are you sick lately?"(Which means "The only reason you could possibly have for not working AT LEAST 40 hours a week is that you are terminally ill") So I said that no I wasn't. So she said "Well, I don't see how that can work... you'll never survive."


We just "Survived" and entire winter on Rene's part time job. Granted we had to borrow money from my parents a few times, but for the most part we did it ourselves. Why is it so hard for my mum to see that I'm happy where I am. I never ever want to talk to her about money or jobs, it just upsets me and she makes me feel like a bag of dirt. I love my mum and we really get along great, a used to go to the bar with her all the time when we worked together. She's fun, we just can't talk about work. Ever.

At least that's my only beef with my mum, I'm lucky. :)

Just needed to vent.

Why with the hard decisions...

How on earth did this happen?

Yesterday when I logged onto my email, I found a lovely little note from the head of food and beverage for CMH. They want me to work for them. Full time. For the summer and hopefully for the winter.

I have never really heard of this happening, first I have never heard of someone being asked to work there, and second I have never heard of someone being asked to work full time right off the bat.

It's a HUGE opportunity. And I really don't want to pass it up.

BUT I don't know if I'll be happier there or here.

What is up with Q?

I'm glad you asked. :)

-I'm working now, at a chocolate shop, which is exactly where I wanted to be right now, so I'm very very pleased with that. My boss is crazy, but it's okay, I'm pretty sure I won't even have to see her in like a week.

-I HAVEN'T USED SHAMPOO IN OVER A YEAR! Awesome. My hair feels AMAZING. And I used some henna dye a few weeks ago, it's all washed out now, but it did a GREAT job. I loved it.

-I quit taking birth control. I'm now using the billings ovulation method. I'm not FULLLLLLY using it yet because of my system being all messed up from taking the pill before, but it's starting to come around. :) I feel more in control of my emotions now which is nice.

-The only "personal hygiene" product I use is moisturizer, and only because I already owned them, once I'm out I'm going to be making my own.

-I'm still continuing to be awesome.