March 2011 Recap

This year, I embarked on a Shopping Ban and allowed myself 3 exceptions.  To read more about my shopping ban, please refer to this post, and this post.  I will write a separate post on my first month of shopping ban, but for now, let’s move on to my spending re-cap.

Income: $3,334.00

Spending: $1,387.83

This month was over my $1,000 budget, and over my March budget!  The only reason it looks like I am just over, is because BF and I didn’t actually go on our weekend away ($300), so it’s actually worse than it looks. Definitely, no reward for thrift shopping 😦

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went:

On or under budget

Clothes: Success!  Although, I did buy a pot and some storage/organizing boxes (see Misc) below.  I am not doing a “No Spending” challenge, but I need to be careful that I don’t start substituting clothes with pots and pans!

Over budget

Eating Out: This is such a weakness for me, but and as I alluded to in my spending recap, this month, I have been spending a lot of time meeting up with friends, and family over yummy food.  I’m debating if I should increase my budget to $175 – $200, since that is more reasonable for me.

Electronics: Magic Bullet was a little more than I thought. No biggie.

Gifts: I decided to go out and buy a nice gift for my co-worker going on maternity leave.  She is super nice, and I just wanted to show her I appreciated her kind gestures.

Groceries: I did some stocking up this month on sauces and other non perishables.

Medical: I went for 2 massages this month, and I went to see my dermatologist and refilled my prescriptions.

Misc: I bought a dutch over and some clear shoe boxes for organizing my cupboards and closets.  I also renewed my allegiance to the office lottery pool.

Toiletries/Grooming: I re-filled my blotting powder, moisturizer and got myself a dry shampoo to try out.  Will do a review when I get a chance!

Entertainment and Recreation: I paid for my volleyball league fee’s (again).

Transportation: I spent a little extra getting to Hamilton for a weekend trip. About $25, so that would account for the discrepancy.  Must account for these things in my budget, next time!

Here is my net worth:

Spending Recap in Google Calender

When I first posted my spending recap, Investing Newbie commented

I can confidently say that there are no days that I don’t spend. I don’t know. I feel like in NYC, if you breathe, you spend about 10 bux. Maybe if I invested a bit of energy, I could actually not spend anything…

And after seeing my spending tracked on my calender, I agree completely.  There were only 5 days that I didn’t spend any money.  Usually those days, I’d go to work and come home.  Although there were days where I spent $0.80 and still counted that as a “spending day.”

Even though, I think I like looking at the bigger picture, but all these little spending add up!

Summary:

Overall, I am okay with this month’s outcome.  I went over budget, and over spent in almost every category (which is a little depressing), but I was able to stick to my shopping ban and I increased my net worth by 2%!

Note to self: budget better!

Will post a April budget and a goal recap, soon.

How was your spending in March?  Did you meet your budget and goals?

Cheers,

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Other Blogs

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This post is neither related to finance or frugal related.  So feel free to skip ahead if that’s what you’re after.  However, if you’re up for some nostalgic musing, this may be right for you.

Like many bloggers out there, this isn’t my first blog.  Nor will it be my last, I’m sure.  I write about the moment and different stages in my life.  Right now, being fabulously frugal has been weighing heavy on my mind, and I share those thoughts here.

Writing

Writing has always been an outlet for me.  It started in middle school, through letters and notes with friends.  Then, a diary in the harsh days of high school.  Then in the form of  a blog through college.  Then in various blogs while I went through various stages of my life after college.

Blogging is a creative outlet for me.  Instead of having all these thoughts in my head, I can sort through them using my writing.  And later, I get to look back on in it.  I haven’t been visited my old blogs in a while, and when I did last week, it was very nostalgic, and also heart warming.  It was very interesting seeing my writing mature and (mostly) get better.

A Special Post

One particular post struck a chord with me (again).

It was inspired by a drive down a road during a beautiful autumn day.  All the leaves seemed to sync to the perfect shades of gold and red.  It was like magic (despite knowing the chemistry behind it).

In my post, I wrote about believing in “magic” in a day and age where it seems that some sort of statistic can be calculated for everything – from divorce rates to getting hit by lightening.    Growing up, many of us  lose the sense of magic that we once believed it.  Whether it be our first heart break, a family hardship, or a dream that wasn’t quite meant to be – we get a taste of a (sometimes) bitter reality.

What I realized was instead of the “magic” of Prince Charming(s)  (there is more than one, right?), and fairy tales, I learned about the magic of friendship, of love, of forgiveness, of nature and of compassion, as I grew older.  I realized that I still believe in magic, only this time, I knew it was real.

Turning Point

I realize now this was a turning point in my young life.  It was approximately 2 years ago (prior to writing that post), that my heart was broken into approximately a million pieces.  The journey I embarked on – from crying in the laboratory washroom floor to my bff –  to believing in magic while driving down a freeway,  was a long one. Between indulging in too many sports, traveling to the other side of the world, eating too much ice cream, and spending time with my family and friends, I found magic, again.

The magic to move on, to forgive us both, and to be happy.

A month later, I went on my first date with BF and the rest is history.  I guess the universe knew when I was ready 🙂

Do you have old blogs?  How have you grown through your blogs?

Cheers,