Weekly Review: May 20 – 26

This week was really successful for reducing the amount of money I spent in a week. This week, I only spent $85.00 of my $100 entertainment budget which is huge for me! A couple weeks ago, I was able to limit my entertainment budget spending to $55.00. The week in between was higher at $130.00 due to both me being off on vacation and spending $30.00 on groceries for food to carry in my car (emergency lunch supplies).

Weekly Review: The Good

Consistently I tend to overspend in this area of my life, largely due to lack of planning and foresight for what I actually need to do in a week.  Here’s how I am changing that:

• I am learning my patterns so I know where my spending triggers are, like being in a hurry or being disorganized. At these times, I tend to go through a drive-thru for lunch because I’m hungry, tired, and have no other option.
• I am implementing a plan of action: I bought emergency lunch supplies for those days when I can’t get up in the morning have a slower start. I am able dip into my lunch supplies for those days so I can still have a healthy lunch and avoid spending extra money on fast food crap.
• I am reviewing my new strategies: I start doing something new and then review if it’s working for me on a weekly basis. By comparing my weekly results with my goals, I can make sure everything is in line. That way, I can tweak, alter, or throw out a plan that’s not working for me.

The “personal money borrowed” was money I owed to a friend for concert tickets she had bought for both of us – I gave her the $40.00 and bought her lunch at a restaurant we both liked. I also spent about $60.00 on things for our basement suite downstairs to get it ready for a renter. The cash I pulled out is $20 emergency cash I want to have in my wallet for things like parking downtown. This way, I can avoid using my credit card for those “little” purchases that really start adding up.

Weekly Review: The Bad

I have a confession to make about this week’s spending though and it’s not good. I missed my physical therapist appoint this week which is bad for a couple of different reasons. For one, it’s not doing my health any favours by missing an appointment that’s supposed to help me feel better. For two, I will now have to pay for her time because I didn’t call ahead which is $65.00 out of pocket. Not cool. I just forgot. Completely forgot.  I wasn’t saving orphans from a burning building or curing cancer – I totally forgot. I’ll have to budget that in to my next week’s spending. Le sigh.

Weekly Revew: The Ugly

Now, I have a really shameful confession. I had a few parking tickets and speeding tickets piled up from six months ago a while ago and now I owe a shocking $540 in fines (I just checked into this recently). These fines date back before the blog and my decision to slow down. As I go through this process, I’m starting to discover just how much it cost me to keep going at the pace I was going. And not just financially – even though that’s a big wallop – but my health as well. You can read more about my health problem awakening here.

I’ll have to put together a budget for repayment for this, as well. Double le sigh.

My Weekly Update: Life Under Construction

• Save

I want to try different hobbies because the only things I seem to do outside the house are go to restaurants and go to movies. While these are fine, I am starting to go to parks around the city and enjoy being outside. I want to retrain my brain to enjoy stuff that’s not just food and/or a television screen – to broaden my horizons.

Finding hobbies that get me outside and moving around will help my moods, health, and my pocket book. I’ll keep working at it into next week!

What about you? How are you enjoying the nice weather?

Link Love

Making Sense of Cents Negotiate a Raise or Work on Side Income?

Blonde on a Budget The Only Motivational Post I’ll Ever Write *This one was posted awhile ago but I loved it!

Mom and Dad Money The Simple, Effective Approach to Investing *Part 3 to a crash course in investing – a good read!

Budget and the Beach Gratitude *A fabulous article that will make you smile