Give Me Back My Five Bucks

Monday 10th $50.68 iStock credits Tuesday 11th No Spend Day! Wednesday 12th – Toronto No Spend Day! Thursday 13th – Toronto No Spend Day! Friday 14th – Toronto No Spend Day! Saturday 15th – Toronto No Spend Day! Sunday 16th – Toronto No Spend Day! TOTAL: $50.68 Please note that I did, of course, spend money while in Toronto. But since I didn’t spend money on anything other than food, transportation, and accommodation, everything will be reimbursed to me by my company. :) Friday night I went for dinner at East! Restaurant with my best friend from high school and … Continue reading →

Last night I met up with an old friend for dinner at Queen Mother Cafe here in Toronto. He used to live in my home town, and he knew me when I was in college – during a time where my personal finances were a nightmare. We haven’t been that great in keeping in touch; the last time we saw each other was 2 years ago, and we rarely talk outside of Facebook. But we get along well, so I ended up telling him about this blog and writing for Moneyville. Yesterday in my  meeting with my editor, I confessed … Continue reading →

Today I had a meeting with my Moneyville editor. It was the first time meeting him. He took me on a tour around the Toronto Star building. I met a few people, and then we went for lunch. I got some great article ideas, as well as feedback for my writing so far. Everything was positive, and I’m happy. Writing for a large audience like that still has me on edge, but I’m really enjoying it and I’m learning so much from everyone else there. I also really like the city of Toronto. It’s clean and friendly. I like the … Continue reading →

Okay, so I’ve mentioned this before: in about 6 weeks I’ll be headed down to New Orleans on a business trip. I am spending a total of 4 full days there as my work trip. Then I am adding 3 vacation days (1 day is travel though) to the end of the trip so that I will have enough time to explore and see the sights! New Orleans isn’t a destination I’d actively seek to travel to on my own, so I am really excited for this opportunity to take in the culture of such a wonderful city. My mom … Continue reading →

Monday 3rd + $330 freelance/side income $19.95 web hosting renewal Tuesday 4th + $208.58 work expense reimbursement $36.01 gas Wednesday 5th No Spend Day! Thursday 6th $12 Chinese food Friday 7th No Spend Day! Saturday 8th No Spend Day! Sunday 9th $33.65 groceries $5.40 groceries $43.21 pet store (needed to buy a new lid & light system for my fish tank) TOTAL: + $388.36 Please note that these costs are only my portion of the expenses. We obviously spend more than around $40/week on groceries for the two of us … but because we split groceries a certain way, the … Continue reading →