PF Confession: Eating Out Budget Fail

The above is the only meal that BF and I cooked the past weekend. It’s a clam and mussel linguini. (Recipe coming up because it was super delicious).

Let’s recap the eating out disaster shall we?

• Friday night – Sushi dinner and drinks $35
• Saturday – Brunch $20, drinks at bar $20
• Sunday – Brunch $20, Dinner $20

OMG! That’s $115 alone on eating out in ONE weekend. And that is only my cost, BF spent at least that amount. Yowzers.

Needless to say, I am way over budget in eating out this month. 😦

I’ve tried to make up for this in some other categories, such pushing back my haircut and massages, but the damage was done. Will be sharing my June spending recap soon.

Do you ever blow you budget in one weekend? What is your weakness?

Cheers,

Call me Ancient

My friends make fun of me that I may be that last person in a developed nation to get a smart phone. That might be true.

As you know, BF got me an iPod Touch for my birthday and I have been addicted to it. I love how I have a mini computer with me. I can read all my favorite blogs :), And check my email in bed. What more could a girl want?

But onto some of the things that get me weird looks:

• I don’t check Facebook often. Maybe once a month(?). Aside from being a great stalking tool, and collecting all sorts of personal information – I don’t see the appeal.

• I just signed up for Twitter last weekend. Some of you may have seen me follow you within that last week. I have no idea what I am doing. I tried re-tweeting today. I hope I did it right.

• I still prefer calling and meeting up in person as opposed to emailing and texting. I have a sarcastic sense of humor and it doesn’t really work with texting, much less e-mailing.

• I still prefer real books over e-books. I like turning the pages and flipping back and forth. That being said, I may change my mind after this next vacation.

I’m hoping the lovely tech forward ladies I will be meeting up with can teach me how to use the elusive Twitter :).

Are you tech savvy? Is there anything that you think you’re behind the times on?

Cheers,

P.S. This entire post was written up on my iPod Touch. WordPress needs to make their app better so I can edit text and add pictures.

Busy Bee

Things have been a bit hectic lately, and even though I have money on my mind, I haven’t had too much time to write down my thoughts.

Posting here will be a bit more sporadic, as I want to spend more of my extra time outdoors and soaking the sunshine.  In the City, we really have 2 seasons – winter and construction.  I am going to try to squeeze out the little summer there is out there, and enjoy it.

I hope you understand.  I will be back in a few weeks.  And I promise I will post vacation budgets and maybe some photographs 🙂

Cheers,

I just went out in my pajamas to get gas…

…because 680 news said that gas prices are jumping 2.6 cents at midnight in the City.

How are the gas prices where you’re at?  Do you go out in your jammies like me to fill up?

Cheers,

Soaking in Summer

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Living in the City, I love summers.  I feel the City just comes alive after our too-long winters and rainy spring.

I love people watching and seeing how we all react to summer.  People in their summer clothes, and sunglasses.  Ballers driving with the top down on their convertible.  Ice cream trucks.  People flocking the patios and enjoying dinner or drinks.

One of my goals this summer is to just enjoy it and soak it all in.  After a weekend of soaking in the sun and playing hard, I feel rested and ready for the work week (okay, who am I kidding – the next weekend!).

The past weekend was spent visiting my parents in the Suburbs on Saturday and then hitting the City Beach with my friends for a day of volleyball.  Playing with my old team mates, I realize how far we have all come and improved from when we first started playing together 3 years ago.  Time flies!

Then after our day out in the sun, my friends and I caught a free concert at a park in the City.  It was beautiful!

Hope everyone is enjoying their favourite season and seasonal activities! 🙂

Cheers,

Does you see the Scratches on the glass or the Million Dollar View?

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I know that this is just another way of saying, “Is the glass half full or half empty?”, but I thought it was an interesting story to share.

This last week, I was over at an acquaintance’s home.  They lived on the 24th floor of a beautiful condo overlooking the City.  Both the view from the master bedroom and the living area was breath taking, and understandably – a million dollar(s) view.  Unlike many condo’s in the City, it wasn’t blocked by highrises or office building – just a beautiful view.

Unfortunately, this acquaintance, didn’t seem to have the same perspective as me, because all over their beautiful glass, they scrawled and marked up where all the scratches and imperfections were.  There must have been at least 10 – 15 circles/boxes drawn around scratches and they scrawled notes onto the glass of what the imperfections were.  (My face was about 3 inches away from the glass before I could see some of the scratches that she was talking about.)

I understand that they did this so that when they complained to the condo Board, they can find these locations at a quick glance and to fix them.  But they have lived like this for almost an entire year.

I understand that if they paid a lot of money for their home (I’m guess at least a million bucks), they would want it to be perfect.  But the reality is that nothing is perfect.  And what I find really sad is that instead of seeing the beautiful view they had, all they see are all the little scratches and imperfection.

Even though I don’t plan on plunking down a $1 million on a condo – no matter how great the view, I hope that if I were to do that, I would be someone who would be enjoying the view.

Are you someone who enjoys the view?  Or would want the glass to be perfect before you can really enjoy the view? 

Cheers,

Link Love

Some of my favourite posts  🙂

Career

• How to Interview your Prospective Employer by Ms Career Girl
• 8 Resume Pet Peeves by Jen on She Bloggs.  I need to keep these in mind when I update my resume.

Personal Finance

• Are Gold Plated Pensions a Blessing or a Curse?  Shared by Young and Thrifty.  I’m going to write a post about my thoughts on this.
• Cost of a month in Paris by Bridget at Hi That’s my Bike.  I am insanely jealous that she got to spend such a long time in one of my favourite cities in the world.  And on a budget, too!

Fashion

• Inspired by Milly.  Shared by Look4Less.  I love all versions of this dress, but my favourite is still the original.

Food

• Strawberry Freezer Jam by The Frugal Girl

PS. And if you haven’t heard Fefe Dobson’s new song Can’t Breathe – you should really check it out.  This is such a catchy song and I LOVE it!

PS.2 My new favourite show is Being Erica.  It’s produced by CBC and filmed in the City!  BF and I have been watching the first season together, but I think I’m going to lose him to the second season.  It’s really good and has elements of time travel and life lessons in it.  Check it out!

Frugal Dinners: Butter Chicken

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One of my big time and money saving tips for food is batch cooking ahead of time.  I usually cook a big, huge meal once a week for the rest of the weekdays.   Then I package them in tupperware (freeze the extra’s, if any), and eat the portions through out the week for lunch and dinners.  This works if you don’t mind eating the same thing the entire week.  If not, then try freezing some portions for next time.

In my last post, I talked about all my crazy concoctions :).  This is my story of how I got a bit of “spa” and dinner from my little container of sour cream.

When I got my little container of 14% sour cream for my lactic acid mask, I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to use all my sour cream on my face before it went bad.  I didn’t want my sour cream to go to waste, so I dug around for some recipes.

My go-to butter chicken recipe used yogurt, but I tried substituted sour cream and crossed my fingers.  It turned out creamier than the yogurt version, but still yummy.

I used drumsticks because they were on sale, and I grabbed a bunch of tomatoes off the clearance rack, so this was a really cheap and yummy dinner 🙂

Total cost of ingredients: $7
Total servings: 7
Cost per serving: $1.08

I just serve my curry over a bed of rice and voila~ I am not a huge fan of basmati rice and would rather have my Jasmine rice, anyway.  Feel free to substitute rice with any grain of your choosing.

• 7 chicken drumsticks
• 8 Roma tomatoes (chopped)
• 3 medium onions (chopped)
• 5 tablespoons of sour cream
• 3 cloves of garlic (diced)
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp of tomatoes paste
• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp of chili powder

1. Wash the drumsticks and set aside.
2. Add half the oil in a dutch over (or put) and sear drumsticks, and remove.
3. Add in onions and cook until softened.
4. Add in garlic and spices and cook together for a few minutes.
5. Add in tomatoes and tomato paste and cover.
6. Add in chicken and cook covered for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
7. Mix a bit of cooked sauce with the sour cream in a separate bowl.
8. Turn off heat and slowly incorporate sour cream into pot of curry.
9. Spoon over rice and enjoy!

If you want to be really efficient, you can apply the sour cream and honey mask and then make the butter chicken 😉

Cheers,

My Home-made Toiletries

These are some of the concoctions that I have tried and worked for me.   They are usually things that I  already have around the house, or they are pretty cheap to purchase.

Castor oil for blackheads ($5)

I first read this on J$ blog, and thought to myself, this guy must be nuts! 😛

Turns out it worked out great for me.

I just apply the castor oil with a Q-tip to the areas on my face with blackheads.  Wait about 10 minutes, and then I lightly rub the areas.  I can feel the blackheads between my fingers!  Then, I wash my face with my cleanser and I’m done.

I can’t believe I wasted all those years (and money) on Biore strips and squeezing them.

Sour cream and honey mask ($2)

I was told by my esthetician that lactic acid was very good for my face.  Unfortunately, I did not want to spend $50+tax on the lactic acid at the spa.

So, I turned to my friend Mr. Google, and found that sour cream has a very high lactic acid content and mixed with honey is a great mask.  I have done this about 4 times so far.

I prefer to use sour cream over yogurt since it’s a little thicker and doesn’t slide off as easily.  I’m sure either is fine. It smells funny and it can be a bit messy, but my skin looks great afterwards.

I do this about twice a week. LOVE. IT.

Vaseline as lip balm and eye cream ($4)

I know that some of you will balk at me for using Vaseline on my eyes.  It’s a great eye make-up remover and I put on a bit afterwards for moisturizing.  I haven’t gotten any clogged pores or anything, and my skin is pretty oily.

I always go back to Vaseline despite all the different lip balms and glosses out there.

Baking soda to remove oil build up ($1)

The oil in my hair can build up after a few washes and days without shampooing.  The easiest way for me to remove the build up is to mix about a teaspoon of baking soda with a bit of water, and massage that into my hair after I shampoo (before rinsing).  I let that sit in my hair for a few minutes and then rinse out.

The build up is removed every time and my hair is soft and fluffy.   I do this about once every other week.

Baby oil and baby shampoo make-up remover ($9?)

I was tired of paying through the nose for make-up remover and couldn’t find one that I really liked.  Many of the make-up removers I’ve tried were super oily (Neutrogena eye make-up remover) and I wanted something that was more gentle.  I don’t wear a lot of make-up, but have since learned that I need to remove it all every night with a “proper” make-up remover and not just use my cleanser.

So I did some research and found some home-made recipes.  I use 1 squirt of baby oil, 2 squirts of baby shampoo and fill a 100mL container with water.  Shake, and voila!  If you use more make-up, try adjusting the quantities to find something that suits you.

A bottle of 100mL usually lasts me a month or 2.  So the bottle of baby oil and shampoo should last a very long time!

Normal shampoo to wash brushes ($2)

I used to buy normal shampoo on sale and I didn’t want to throw them out even though I didn’t use them to wash my hair anymore.  Now, I use it to wash my boar bristled brush and make-up brushes. Easy peasy 🙂 I have no idea what they have in those over priced “brush shampoo”.

So those are my cheap hacks that I use at home.  Feel free to take what I say with a grain of salt.  My skin is very oily and I have struggled with it for most of my life.  I am finally trying to embrace it and work with it, instead of against it.

What are some of your home-made concoctions?

Cheers,

Link Love

Some of my favourite posts  🙂

Life

• 6 Months.  Creature Gorgeous’s little one turned 6 months and he’s so adorable!  Love those chubby cheeks and legs 🙂
• Why are we always Rushing?  I’m with Fabulously Broke.  I try to always leave lots of time to drive.  I hate driving around rushed and late.  It’s so stressful and can also be dangerous.

Personal Finance

• Debt Free!  Cents of a Country Girl is debt free!  Congrats to her for such an amazing achievement 🙂
• You’re Richer than you Think.  Really?  Gail asks the question that is Scotiabank’s logo.
• A Spender trapped in a Saver’s Body by Well-heeled.  I can so relate to this!  I eat out way too much (as seen in my spending recaps)…

Food

• Cilantro Lime and chick pea salad by Oh She Glows looks so delicious!

Fashion

• Repeat offender.  I love Kendi’s outfit here.
• Burberry crocket sweater. Love it.