No more spending :(

April is going to be my first Buy Nothing Month, and I'm not looking forward to it. My roommate is going to join me, so at least I'm not going to be in it alone. It'll still be hard though. I've been trying to come up with rules, since every buy-nothing month is personal there isn't really a set of rules out there for me to follow. So far I have come up with the following rules:

1) Fixed costs are OK (rent, phone, transit, etc., the costs that don't change every month)

2) Groceries do not have a price limit, but what I spend my money on is going to be limited instead. I'm not allowed to buy junk food or pre-made meals, and I have to make a list before I go grocery shopping and stick to that as much as possible. If I actually need something like eggs and forgot to put them on the list, I'm not going to forbid myself from buying them. I'm also going to try to buy the most cost-effective item. This doesn't mean buying everything in bulk, because that makes the individual items cheaper. It means finding the best price for the quantity I need.

3) Discretionary spending is going to be limited. Here is where I have the problem. I don't want to completely cut out discretionary spending, because there are things that I have committed to for April that I will need to pay for, and can't really cancel now. So I am trying to come up with a reasonable 'free money' amount for each week and haven't decided on one yet. Anything that is not a fixed cost or groceries is going to fall into discretionary, so I am trying to figure out what a reasonable amount will be.

4) No buying clothes, shoes, or eating out for lunch. Exception #1: I'm getting together with a bunch of old friends for lunch and suggested pot luck, but got outvoted so we are going to a restaurant. That will come out of discretionary spending. Exception #2: If I am getting reimbursed for a meal by my work, then I can eat out. This happens a lot during tax season, if we stay late they pay for our dinners, to a limit. As long as I stay within that limit, it is OK, because it will be repaid.

From looking at what other people have done with buy-nothing months, a lot of them cut out discretionary spending completely. There is a very good reason that I did not. I do not want to feel resentment towards the activity. The whole reason why I'm doing it is to curb my spending, and to make myself wait until I buy something expensive. If I see something that I want, that is more than I am allowed to spend, I have to wait until the end of the month to get it. Then I find out if it is something that I do really want, or if it was just a passing fancy.

I'm also trying to get out of the habit of being too lazy to make my lunch. I'm hoping that by forcing myself to make a list I can also get in the habit of planning my meals for the week. I've done it a few times in the past, and it really is a time saver. By taking some time to plan out what to buy and what meals I am going to make when, I save myself so much time during the week. I am anticipating a lot of late nights at work in April, so this will come in extra handy. For some reason it never became a habit though. Maybe doing it for a month will fix that.

I'm also considering tracking my food for the month. I figure that if I'm making most of it at home, it will be easier to do since I know exactly what goes into everything. I'm just not looking forward to seeing what my bad habits are. I have a feeling that I don't want to change them!

Climb on!

I went rock climbing last weekend, for the first time in a loooong time. It was a lot of fun, I went with some friends to Rock Oasis. They have a lot of walls, I was sad that my arms gave out so soon. I was definitely feeling it the next day. And quite a few days after that. I actually still feel it in one spot on my back, and the bruises on my knees are just starting to fade. I never notice it when I'm climbing, but I must bump my knees on the wall and the rocks a lot. I do notice when I scrape my hands, I look like I was punching stuff because all my knuckles are scraped. Doesn't help that I keep adding to my hand injuries. Today I sliced my finger on the metal file binding, it was rather unpleasant. The cut didn't really bleed, but it slit the skin from my first knuckle to my nail. That got hidden under a bandaid for the rest of the day.

Last weekend was very productive for me. I made a massive to do list, and got almost all of it done. I can't seem to stop myself from making unrealistic to do lists, there are always a few things on there that I know I won't get to. But I cleaned, did lots of laundry, re-potted a plant (I made sure to do that before cleaning), fixed my shoe, got groceries, and other general small things that I'd been putting off for no good reason. I even got to the library, although I had to wait until Monday for that. Apparently it wasn't really open, I just saw them getting ready to be open. But now that it is back up and running, I plan on taking advantage of it. I just have to plan my time so that I am home early enough to make it there before it closes. Most days that doesn't happen.

I've been really good at some goals, and really crappy at others. I need to start working on some of the ones that I've been slacking on. Like the whole going into work early during tax seasons; that hasn't happened yet. I'm still barely making it on time, and the whole point of that goal is to get me to stop being late for work. Same with the no-snooze one. I hit snooze too many times, which results in me rushing in the mornings and being late for work. I'd better start going in early, or else I won't have enough days left! Some goals are just easier than others, and some are more fun to get done. I am still progressing though, and haven't given up on it. I've even made plans to go to the ROM this weekend for the bat thing, I bought my ticket and everything!

Surprise concert

I got to go to the Muse concert tonight! My lovely big sister had a friend get sick, so I got to swoop the extra ticket. It was a wicked show, they are great to see live. Awesome effects too. It's nice to see a band that combines great music with great stage presence. The only thing I would change would be the audience, as the guy in front of me decided he couldn't make it through the show without smoking. Without going outside to do it. But other than that it was awesome, and a nice surprise on a slow Monday at work.

Work has been slow in general lately. Which means that I am bored alllllll day every day. It also means that I may have to revise my goal about the work bonus. They haven't confirmed, but I'm assuming that the bonus this year will be the same as in prior years, and that's based on our chargeable hours for January through April. But since I barely have enough work to keep me busy during regular hours and haven't yet had to do any overtime, I doubt I'm going to even get the minimum hours to be eligible for the bonus. Which sucks because not only do I not reach my goal, I don't get paid any extra :( Right now I'm just trying for as many hours as possible. We're more than halfway through the time period I have to accumulate hours, and I think I only have about a third of the minimum so far. Things aren't looking good for me! I'm hopeful, but not expecting to reach it. Not the way things are going now. If things pick up, then maybe. I'll figure out if I need to adjust the goal or not after March is over. They keep promising that these big jobs are going to come in, but so far it's all talk.

I also have to adjust another goal. I can't send letters or packages to E, because she is now back in Toronto! Her work sent her back here for a special project. Just R gets packages now. I'm also now only visiting R when I go out. That trip is already booked for the end of May, I'll be ready for a vacation by then!

I'm going to try to go to the library this weekend. I'm almost out of books to read, and won't be going home for a few weeks. I usually borrow from the library that I call my sister's house. The library that is a block away from my house was actually closed for awhile for renovations, but they just reopened so I'm going to take advantage of it. I just have to wait for the weekend, because they aren't open late enough during the week for me to go. I think they are open late one night, so I might get a chance to go earlier, but it depends on what time I get home.