Note to self: I’m a disgusting pig March 28, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : miscellaneous , add a commentI just inhaled a month’s worth of chocolate in about 14.6 seconds.
February-March Lunch Challenge: Week 6 March 28, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : monthly challenge , add a commentI’m posting this a day early – I’d better not get any replies to this until the 31st!!! :) I’m not sure when I’ll be back on Monday, and I doubt I’ll be able to secretly post to my blog while I’m in Calgary this weekend … so here it is.
Can you believe we made it through 6 weeks of this challenge!? WE’RE DONE!!!
For me personally, this challenge got easier and easier as each day passed. It became habit to pack my lunch the night before, and now that I’ve done it for 6 whole weeks, I’m going to keep doing it into the future. Sometimes it’s tempting when my co-workers come around and ask if I want anything from whatever restaurant they’re picking up food from … but it’s in the best interest of my wallet and my waistline if I bring my own food. Plus, most of the food they go to get is fast food … and some of them buy their lunches every day! How do they afford that!?
Anyway, please leave a comment and tell me how you did this week, and also maybe your thoughts of the whole challenge in general – did you find it easy or hard? Did you save a lot of money? Are you going to try to bring your lunch more in the future? I would love to hear your feedback!
And congrats to everyone who participated – I’m impressed and so proud of you all! :) Also, you still have until the end of Monday to sign up for the April Budget Challenge. So far, we have 42 participants.
- krystalatwork – packed my lunch all 5 days this week. Although I will admit, today was especially difficult because all I could think of is a delicious, hot lunch that they serve at the restaurant in the building next door. Especially on a snowy day like today.
- The BF – packed his lunch all 5 days as well. :)
- asgreen – “This was a great challenge. I loved it and plan on continuing next month. However I’m going to give myself a day off as a treat. Hopefully it will go well again!”
- Bouncing Back – “I slipped up and bought lunch on Thursday. I usually pack my lunch and snacks. My downfalls have been things like craving a soda at lunch or wanting something else to eat as mid-afternoon snack.”
- Slalom is not extinct – “This challenge was pretty easy for me, since I work part time (I’m a student) and am only at work two days during the week that involve a lunch break. I’ll probably continue the lunch challenge, as it will make my April challenge easier!”
- BeachGirl – “I didn’t get to participate since I was out of town due to a death in the family. But I’m looking forward to the April challenge.”
- J. Savings – “umm yeah … so about this challenge. I sucked. BUT at least now I have more room to grow on the next one! :)”
- Ellen – “This challenge was tough for me and I didn’t go anywhere close to 100% over the month, but it definitely made me more aware of where my money was going — I’ll definitely try to bring my lunch more in the future.”
- change is a good thing – “I made it! 100%!! I have brought my lunch so far everyday this year! Yeah!”
- JanePlain – “This was actually a very tough challenge for me – I did have a couple of hiccups, and although overall I did well, I know I can and SHOULD do better. I’ll definitely try and keep this trend going – saving on lunch even 3 days a week is better than no savings at all. :)”
- Natalie - “I did it this week! So I think for the month I only went out twice, once with the hubs and once with a friend who came in from out of town. I feel really good about myself.”
- Kate – “Only a few slip ups throughout the month and in the grand scheme, this was not that hard for me. I thought it would be harder but it really wasn’t. I am continuing this train of thought as long as I can!”
Job perk: free event tickets March 28, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : entertainment, job , add a commentOne of the perks of this job is that we’re very involved with media, entertainment & sports, since we are quite a reputable organization. Anyway, my boss gave me 2 free tickets for BF and I to go to a show out on Granville Island. I’ve never heard of this show before, but he swears that it’s hilarious as anything … so hopefully BF will want to go with me, as I don’t exactly know anyone else in the city and it would be a shame to waste comp tickets. Even if it does turn out to be a stupid show. I looked into it, and the only dates we can attend would be April 2nd or 3rd, because the show stops running on April 8th.
I know full well that I’m getting cast-off tickets that the senior managers don’t want, or can’t use … and I don’t mind. Free tickets to a few events are better than no tickets at all!
How do Alexa Rankings even work? March 28, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : blog , add a commentI don’t really get Alexa traffic rankings. I keep getting more and more visitors to my blog … yet my Alexa ranking keeps plummeting. It’s been nose diving for the past few months now. Not that I’m stat-obsessed with this blog (I totally am) … I just like understanding how and why things are happening. For example, my Google PR went up to a 4, and back down to a zero. I understand why that happened. But I don’t understand this.
And yeah, I’ve gone and read how Alexa rankings are calculated … but it still doesn’t make any sense. Given the steady increase in readership, my Alexa ranking should be getting better. At least, logically speaking it should. What gives?
Also something that bothers me about Alexa, why does my blog information say that this website is based in India? Is it where Google is registered? Since this Blogger and Gmail (the e-mail address that is attached to this website) is owned by Google? I’ve tried to edit the information, but apparently I can’t. I don’t even know how that info got there in the first place.
It should not be snowing this late into the year. Period. March 28, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : miscellaneous , add a commentIt’s snowing right now. Not just a few flakes here or there, but big fat stupid flakes of snow. What the hell?! It’s APRIL! Well … it’s practically April. It’s more April than March, really.
This is so wrong.
March Goals: My Review March 28, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : monthly goals , add a commentWell, it’s the end of the month, so here is my review of my monthly goals. I did surprisingly well … and it was mostly due to being able to make almost $300 in extra income.
Also, I watched the movie Juno for the first time the other night. I love love loved it!!
March Goals (end of month review):
- Successfully complete the February-March Lunch Challenge. Check! I’m really please to say that I was able to accomplish this! :) From February 19th to March 31st, I didn’t spend a single cent from 9-5pm during the work week! (I took a vacation day for the 31st, so today is technically my last day of the challenge).
- $100 into Travel Fund. Check! I was able to deposit $200. Going forward, I will be dumping in $150 bi-weekly.
- $400 into Condo Down Payment Fund. Check! I deposited $550.
- $300 into Emergency Fund. Check! I deposited $350.
- $150 grocery budget. Check! I spent $146.74 for the month.
- $200 for my sister’s birthday. Pending. We still have to figure out when she’s coming over, and what, exactly, we’re going to do for our spa day.
- Make an extra $150. Check! I made an additional $292.06. :)
April Monthly Goals March 27, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : monthly goals , 2commentsI have been so busy today at work. Literally, non-stop. It’s out of control, and I can’t wait until J and I leave tomorrow afternoon for Calgary. :)
Anyway, I decided to post my April Goals right now, since I probably won’t get a chance to update my blog on the weekend.
April 2008 Monthly Goals:
- $200 travel costs – which includes everything from transportation to entertainment.
- Make an extra $200 – I have 1, potentially 2 shifts at the arena that I can for sure make. Other than that, I could work anywhere from 4-8 more shifts, depending on what happens with the part-time job, and if I can schedule it to fit in with the FT job here in Vancouver.
- $200 into Travel Fund. I need to fund this fund ASAP.
- $150 into Emergency Fund.
- $250 into Condo Down Payment Fund. I wish I were a millionaire … no. A billionaire.
- $350 into RRSP Portfolio.
- $150 grocery budget. I did it in March, so I know I can do it again. Some PF bloggers I know spend less than $100 on groceries per month … and I thought I was doing well!!! I have no idea how to do that … I would assume I couldn’t buy organic produce anymore.
- Successfully complete the April Budget Challenge. I hope to only spend $50 dining out for all of April. This is going to be SUPER DUPER hard if I’m traveling home 3 of 4 weekends.
- Make firm plans to celebrate my sister’s birthday. I’m really excited! My sister is going to come over and we’re going to spend a day getting pampered at a spa downtown. I’m also going to bake her a strawberry-rhubarb pie and probably go out for dinner.
- Create a budget for my proposed vacation in September, and really be practical with my time and my money. Usually on road trips, I just like to drive and see where I end up … but this time, I’m going to have to be careful with my time. I want to price out airfare, rental cars, realistic travel times, and which cities I plan on overnighting in. An ambitious plan has me driving all the way down the coast to Key West … we shall see though. :)
Tomorrow I get paid, so I’ll recap my March Monthly Goals and update my Networth IQ then.
Travel, travel, travel: the summer months March 26, 2008
Posted by gmbmfb in : spending, travel , add a commentI talked to my boss, and he said that I’ll be able to go on vacation!!! :) So tentatively, I’ll be gone August 29 (evening) – September 10. It’s not the full 2 weeks I originally wanted to take, but I forgot I’ll need to use a vacation day this coming Monday 31st, as well as June 30th.
So here’s what I know so far about upcoming trips:
- March 28-31: Calgary. With BF.
- April 4-6: the island. Work at the arena.
- April 12-13: the island. Hockey tournament & potential work at the PT job.
- April 26-27: the island. Tentative. BF wants to go camping up-island.
- May 9-11: the island. Charity concert.
- May 17-19: Vancouver. Hockey tournament. I need to stay with my teammates in the hotel, b/c it’s easier logistically than for me to spend hours taking public transit to meet them at the fields. My hotel costs will only be around $30, otherwise I’d just suck it up.
- June 6-8: the island. Work & dad’s 60th birthday party.
- June 27-July 1: Seattle. Exploring the city & baseball games.
- August 1-4: Edmonton. Tentative. With my sister.
- August 29-September 10 14: Michigan/NC & East Coast of USA. Tentative. Solo road trip.
That is a lot of travel. The good thing is I’ve budgeted all my trips to the island into my regular monthly expenses, and work will pay for one of them … so that leaves Calgary, Seattle, Edmonton and my North Carolina vacation that are unaccounted for. Ugg.
I think I’ll have to choose between Seattle and Edmonton, because I don’t think I’ll have enough $$$ to do both. Although … it’s doable. Seattle will be relatively cheap b/c I’ll be staying at a hostel (I think), and I don’t have to go for that long either. Plus, ball games are super cheap. And Edmonton will be fairly inexpensive if we’re splitting the cost of renting a car & gas. We would probably only be able to stay 1 night there anyway.
***EDIT***
I decided to scrap the trip to Seattle, and just go down for a day trip … that leaves me an extra vacation day … meaning I need 1 more day in order to make it a full 2 weeks of travel. And I know I’ll have at least 2 days of banked hours earned during the summer … so I’ve decided to extend my vacation from September 10th to the 14th. Now, I will (almost) officially be gone from August 29-September 14th. I just need to get the days officially approved by Mr. Boss.
AND, as a bonus, BF said he might fly out with me at the beginning of my trip to spend the Labour Day long weekend with me in Florida … since round trip tickets right now are $384 CDN Seattle-Miami, all taxes and fees included. :)
