Yakezie Challenge

Following my daily reading of fellow PF blogs, I decided to look into the Yakezie network.  What is the Yakezie Network?  And what is this challenge that I've read about on other PF blogs?  I read up on the challenge and am very excited to announce that I have joined the Yakezie Challenge!

I now need to focus on writing consistently throughout the week.  I also need to add more details to my blog and really focus on my journey to becoming debt-free.  I have been making some progress on decluttering my closet and making some extra income, although that income isn't getting applied to my debt.

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to join in on a community garage sale.  This garage sale is a yearly event and attracts hundred of people looking for a good garage sale deal.  I loaded up my car with bins of the kids clothing, toys and things around the house that were simply taking up space.  In the 4 hours that I was there, I made $80. 

My sister was selling tickets for a friend's wedding social, so $20 of the earnings went towards the ticket payment.  The remaining $60 sat in my wallet.  We ran errands on Sunday and by the end of the weekend the $60 was now $40.  Then yesterday I picked up some crayons for the kids and my wallet now has $35 left.  I should take that $35 and put it towards my debt.  That is something that I will do today.  That will be the first step in paying extra towards my debt.  Yay!

I am making a commitment today to be more focused on tracking my expenses and income.  I will become more involved in the PF blog community and I will do my best to succeed in the Yakezie Challenge.

A year older... need to be a year wiser ..

I've been MIA the last week or so.  There were a few times I tried to start a post, but I'd sit in front of a blank post, and nothing would come out.  I turned a year older yesterday and this past weekend, we decided to celebrate with a small BBQ.  The costs for the BBQ wasn't in our budget but I don't think we spent a huge amount.  In the end, I got a handful of gift certificates, which works out perfectly as I am in need of new shoes and work clothes.  It will be fun to go on a mini shopping spree and having the gift cards to pay for the purchases.  I just need to make sure that I'm being smart with my purchases and making good decisions.

Another negative for me the past week was going to the casino yesterday with the hopes that I'd have a bit of birthday luck on my side.  Turns out being the birthday girl doesn't make you a winner.  Looking back, I know that I pretty much flushed my money down the drain.  And yet earlier in the day,  I was on Beyond the Rack and there was a Marc Jacobs wallet that I really wanted to purchase, but I managed to talk myself out of it.  And yet, later in the day, I gave my money away to the casino.  Even worse, I gave away a cash advance from my credit card to the casino.  Double negative!

I guess sometimes a bad decision has to be made to put one back on track.  I haven't made any extra payments to our credit cards but I'm selling a few baby items this week, so I will make sure that money goes towards a credit card.

My next paycheque will be a couple hundred dollars more, since I've now maxed out the yearly max for CPP and EI contributions.  I will need to be extra careful to make sure this money is either put into savings or put towards debt.  First thing I will do on pay day is transfer the extra money into our savings account.  This ensures that it is not sitting in our joint chequing account waiting to be spent.  Once in our savings account, I can figure out what to do with the money.

I would love to end this year strong and focused.  I would like to buy all Christmas gifts with cash only.  I need to put my Christmas list together to see exactly how many kids I'm shopping for.  In past years I would purchase gifts throughout the year.  I'm a little behind this year but will do my best to get a majority of the shopping done by end of October.

I'm feeling so much better, now that I've posted.  It's a reminder to stay focused and motivated.

Is it so bad to expect what's advertised?

In the past year (possibly longer), the Real Canadian Superstore started offering a "Deal of the Day" at checkout.  Once your groceries are scanned, the cashier will offer the deal of the day.  As per the advertisement sign, if the cashier does not mention the deal of the day, you get one for free.

Well this past Sunday, the cashier did not mention the deal of the day.  And so once I finished paying, I pointed to the sign and nicely mentioned to the cashier "You didn't mention the deal of the day"

She pauses a moment and I can hear her let out a sigh.  Then she turns to the cashier in the lane behind her and although I didn't hear what she said exactly, I heard her mention the deal of the day.  She then gets on her phone and after a minute, hangs up and instructs me to go to customer service.

I get to customer service and am there for over 5 minutes while I wait for the customer service cashier to fill out some paperwork and ring in my free item.  I sort of felt bad, because I could see that the paperwork was specific to tracking cashier that missed mentioning the deal of the day.

In the end I got a free bottle of body wash.  Retail value: $2.99.  Although I got the free item, I felt bad for asking the cashier.  But this could have been avoided if she had done her job right?