Oops!

Whoops! Somehow I've managed to spend my $200 limit for this month already. That sucks, and since I wasn't working with a budget, I don't know where all of it went. It will be tough to outlast the month without spending more cash, but I'm sure I can.

Meanwhile, I booked my London hotel!! Yay!! Fortunately it won't cost me anything until I get there, which is nice. The hotel I booked is the Luna and Simone hotel in London. It's near Victoria station, which is a very central station - nice, even though I'll most likely be taking a cab from the airport to the hotel. Much more expensive, yes, but the idea of hauling all my worldly possessions around the London Underground aren't that appealing. Hah.

Either way, I'm pleased that all this is starting to come together. I still have yet to book my flights, but I'm hoping the Airlines will have a sale or something. We'll see. I'v,e budgeted just over $1,300 for both my flight to Toronto, and the flight from Toronto to London. I should be able to do that. I might end up comming $100 or so overbudget, but I'm going to try not to.

I have also decided that for now, I'm going to keep the pre-trip savings in a cash format. That way, when I need them, they will be there. I won't have to worry about transferring funds or anything. It'll just be cash. As well, that helps me spend as I see things I need, rather than wait to acheive the $2,000 goal before buying anything. I'm keeping this money seperate from my other money in my wallet by putting it in a little paper enveloppe. I think it's cute.

So, for any of you who would like to know, I'll be in London at the hotel from the 24th of September to the 1 of October. I'll be looking for an apartment to rent as of the 1st of October, so if anyone has any suggestions, then please feel free to share! I've been mainly looking through facebook as well as Gumtree.com, which was recommended to me many many times.

I gotta run - gotta get my nice shirts out of the washer before they wrinkle!!

Savings Goal Accomplished!

So, more than 2 months ahead of shedule, I have accomplished yet another savings goal. It's very exciting! This time it's the $5,000 London 'Fun Fund'!. Yesterday my final payment went through, and the account is now happily sitting at $5,157.91, $157.91 over my goal. This translates to £2652.82. Yay!

So, for all of you visual people, here's the chart ING Direct provides me with:
So, as you can see, this is way ahead of shedule, which is totally cool. I'd rather have extra time to accomplish something than not enough time.

So, now what I think I'll do, is I'll start contributing towards my pre-trip cash. I don't know if I will open yet another savings account, which I'm hesitant to do. Maybe for now, I'll just keep it as a cash fund for now.

Actually, hold that. I think I'll add it to my 'Plane Fund' account. I'll be buying a place ticket soon enough, and it suits the whole concept of the fund, anyways.

Either way, YAY!!!

*exhasperated exhale*

Oh. Em. Gee. What a week. I still haven't made a budget, and I just spend the last half an hour figuring out what exactly I'm doing with my money. Yikes.

Okay, let's recap. It's been a while since I last posted. Okay, so, I picked up my VISA (yay!), everything is correct (yay!), and it's really pretty looking (double yay!). In fact, I will upload the scan I took of it yesterday to show you just how pretty it is. It's like British money - it's so colorful and antique-looking.

See? This is what it looks like: Not too bad, hey? It's a pretty good picture, too. Hah. Too funny. But seriously, it is very pretty. And it's just in there, as a sticker in my passport. Good times.

In other news, I packed many of my worldly goods into my newly-purchased luggage and carted it around the living room for a while. It's damn heavy (around 44 lbs), but it all fits. I would prefer to have a little more wiggle room in the luggage, but again, I don't think i'll be packing as much as I put in there. Plus I had added my tripod, which takes up a lot of space. Unfortunately my umbrella doesn't fit in the suitcase, although it was close! I am thinking about leaving it behind, now. I did give some thought to bringing it in a seperate box or something, but I think it's just becomming more of a pain than it's worth. So I think I'll leave it here and just suck it up and buy another one there.

The new girl started here at the office on Monday, too. She's not here right now, since she had a doctor's appointment today. She's working out good. I enjoy her company, which is nice. I can come off as bitchy when people first meet me, and that's really because I don't want to make a fool of myself, so I tend to shut down. Either way, she's very sweet, and very eager to learn. The only problem I'm having is that given that she's so eager to learn, every 15 minutes I hear "Okay, what can I do now??", which is both nice and annoying. Sometimes, there's really nothing to do here. Sometimes all I want to say is "Okay, now you can sit down and be quiet while I relax for 30 minutes". But again, I'd rather have someone too eager to learn than someone who didn't care. Hopefully in the next 3 weeks I can get her all trained up.

Speaking of that, I'm thinking that I will give my notice here at office job for July 15th, 2008. This will give me all of June to earn more money, as well as July. But then I will have accomplished my $10,000 savings goal. That will also give me 6 weeks or so to get ready and relax before I leave in September. I also have my aunt, uncle, their 2 kids, and my grandparents comming out from Ontario to visit, so it will be a very full household. Either way it'll be fun to take day trips and be a tourist with them. Working through the beginning of July will also give me a break from Stampede. It gets pretty crazy here during Stampede, so it's better to be in an office rather than navigating the streets.

After that I'll continue to work at Subway, but probably only 2 shifts a week or so. That'll give me about $600 a month for wiggle room, as well as the chance to keep midly busy and keep in touch with people there.

So, when my boss comes in this morning I'm going to chat with her about it and see how she feels about it. I'm pretty sure the new girl should be able to handle the office by herself with 2 months of working. We'll see.

I'm busy moving some money around right now, so when that gets settled I will update some figures!!

No Budget?!

So, so far this month, I'm running blind. I haven't written down a budget, I haven't checked my bank balances, and I haven't even deposited a cheque that I've had in my possession for a week now!


You would think it would give me freedom to buy and spend spen spend... but actually...


It sucks.

A lot. I'm actually a bit surprised. I didn't think it would stress me out as much as it is. I really need to sit down tonight and make one, so here goes.

Currently in my TD Bank Account I have a balance of $2,114.43. This seems like a big number, but I'll explain why it isn't in a minute.

Currently in my ING Accounts I have a grand total of $10,012.20. This is, of course, seperated into several categories:

Some of these values are a litlle lower than usual. Technically, I owe $1,400 to Savings from last month as well as $1375 to the fun fund. I have $400 in cash that I need to deposit, as well as a $70 cheque from my mom. This still doesn't include the $1,400 I need to deposit for this month. So, thinking about the deposits from last month alone, I am sitting at a deficit of -$260. Yeeesh.

The good news is, is that I am making $2,356 this month, so I will have more than enough money to pay for all my, "bills". After I pay everything, I will still have $695 left this month. But no, I'm not going to spend it!


I've set myself a budget for $200 this month. The $400 I'll have left over is either going to act as a cushion for my future budgets, or to put towards my pre-trip savings. Yay!

The good news is, is that, if all goes well, I should have all my goals accomplished by the end of June!! Yay!!


Now, something I have pondered for a while, is, do I lessen the hours I'm working at my jobs to give myself a breather and take some extra time off to relax, or should I push through and continue to work my ass off to save all the extra dollah for London. I'm not sure...

We'll see. We will be hiring a new girl here at the office this comming Monday, so i've got to spend 2 weeks training her. We'll see how she turns out. If we don't get super-along, then I might consider leaving this job a little earlier than August 1st.


I'll be spending some time thinking about that.


The good news is, is that I get to go pick up my PASSPORT and VISA today at the Post Office!!

Wheee!!

So. Much. Planning.

I seriously cannot believe that everything is comming together. omg. omgomgomgomg. It's a little bit surreal.

Either way, I finally feel like I can go ahead and start planning! Everything was kind of on hold for a while because I didn't want to go and pack everything up and book a flight before I heard back, but now, I can do just that!

It's probably good timing, too, since Air Canada and some of the other jets have started increasing their prices because of the rediculous cost of fuel. So, hopefully by the end of next week I will have a flight booked.

I just have something I want to think over, first. My original thought was to fly or take a greyhound bus to Toronto, spend a couple weeks visiting extended family there, then fly to London from Toronto, which would be cheaper. On the other hand, that does mean that I have to get everything packed and sorted before I go, then cart it around while I'm in Ontario - something I'm not so keen about anymore. I'm thinking I will book a ticket from Calgary, and then decide later if i'd like to visit family for a week or so before I leave.

Now the question is, when do I want to fly out? Ideally I'd like to have an apartment and be settled by October... but how much time should I give myself to find an apartment? That I'm not sure. I doubt i'd need more than 2 weeks to find an apartment - but i'd hate to book a hotel for 2 weeks only to find something the first day. Maybe I'll book something for 5 days or a week and see what happens.

I'll also need either a place with Wi-Fi or be in proximity to a cafe or something that gets Wi-Fi. This will be important in my search for an apartment.

The only problem I can forsee is a phone. I'm not sure if places like Virgin Mobile allow you to buy prepaid cell phones if you are a tourist. If they did, this will be ideal. That way people can contact me as well.

Omg. I am so happy. And overwhelmed, but mainly with happiness. Here we go!

I GOT MY VISA!!!

(omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg).

Ahhhhhh!!!!!

Sleep

I currently have a much better outlook on life than I did 3 days ago. And it turns out sleep was all I needed! I've been a big ball of stress these last few weeks, and as such, everything has kind of fallen apart. I wasn't eating properly, wasn't sleeping properly, wasn't keeping on top of anything (work, money, relationships), and all I wanted to do was sleep.

Well, I did sleep. And it was awesome. In fact, I'm actually working nights this week (usually I work 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., which, while it's nice to leave so early, I hate mornings), and the nights are from noon to 8 p.m. Muuuuuch better.

I also got the e-notice from Canada Post and the VISA people saying that they have received my application. Yay! We'll see what the decision is.

Yesterday we went out as a family to celebrate my mother's birthday. It was Chinese food. Yum yum. It was actually nice to spend some time as a family, seeing as generally we are all so busy that we can't get a night out together to save our lives.

Mother's Day is Sunday and I have to find something nice to buy my mom. I can't think of anything, so we'll see what I come up with.

Today's Goals include:

• Staying on top of of workload.
• Making a new budget for this month.
• Take a full 1 hour lunch and spend at least 15 minutes out on the balcony enjoying the weather and the view.
• Do laundry tonight and make room at least 'walkable'.
• Wrap S's bday gift.

I am feeling 100% better, and it feels awesome. I hate what stress does to me. I need to learn better ways of dealing with it.

Looking back on April

Alright, here it is, my glorious monthly summary. Now, usually I would show you all my budget categories and how much I went over/under each. But I can't do that. Mainly beacuse I stopped keeping track sometime last week. I don't think I could put it all together, even if I wanted too.

However, I do have a networth increase:

My networth is now $12,570. It was previously $10,407. Not too shabby. I accomplished all my savings goals, sort of. I haven't actually depositied the cash from my chequing account over to my ING Direct accounts, because I had previously used up all my free debits for the month. I will be doing that today, and therefore the charts will be a bit more realistic. But, in the meantime, here they are:

This it the balance of my savings account. I still owe that account $1,400 from my chequing account, so it really should be on part with the chart. But, it looks like I'm well on my way to acheiving this goal. This is the balance of my "Fun Fund". I'm actually progressing faster than expected on this one. I still owe this account $785 from last month. So, by the end of this month, I should have accomplished my goal! I'll most likely be extending this goal, I'm thinking to around $7,000. We'll see how it comes together.

And finally, my Plane/VISA Fund:

The little dip is, of course, the $446 I had to take out to pay for my VISA. I should've taken out some more money to cover a couple other costs, like the costs of getting to Edmonton, as well as the passport photos I took, but I had the money to cover them, so I didn't.

Overall, while it wasn't the best end to the month, what with me being so stressed and all, I'm impressed that I accomplished all my savings goals, even if I did overspend.

I'm tweaking my budget for May. I'm planning on spending $200, and that's it. This is for food, stuff, toiletries (which I don't need and am not going to buy unless it's toothpaste or something), and clothing. I don't need more things. I have a lot of things.

Some of my goals for May include:

• To not spend more than $200 on non-essentials.
• To pack up 5 boxes worth of goods that are staying here.
• To get 75% of the stuff I need together for the garage sale.
• Don't stress myself over the VISA.

Whoof. Sounds possible. I gotta get some sleep first. Thank god I'm working nights at office job next week so I can at least sleep in. Yes.

Catch up!

Oh. My. God. What a week. Yikes. This week has got to be one of the most stressful weeks I've had. Ever. Okay, maybe not while I was in college, but that's a different stress. Research paper deadline stress is one thing, but this week has been anxiety attack, panic-ridden life stress. Thank god I'm not a high-strung person (usually), because I sure as hell can't do this all the time.

Okay, so, when was the last time I updated? Looks like the last time I really wrote was Sunday. Sunday was a nice day. I think. I can't really remember what I did. Monday I was at work, looking at the pile of shat I had to do. I've been leaving things in the office because I've been so focused on getting my VISA paperwork ready for Edmonton on Tuesday. I checked and checked and re-checked all night and all morning to make sure I had all my paperwork with me. I'm a little neurotic it seems. We got into Edmonton with about an hour to spare (I like being super early for things like this) and found the building and got me into the office about 1/2 before my appointment.

Turns out that appointments really aren't necesary, since I was let in pretty much right away. Whatever, worked for me. The guy wasn't very helpful, but he wasn't allowed to be, which sucked. They are basically the middle men. They are there to take your photo, your fingerprints, all your paperwork, and put them into a 'tamper proof' envelope and give it back to you. Yep, give it back to me. Sigh. I was then responsible to mailing it to Ottawa. I didn't really want it back, since having it with me made me just as anxious. I was worried I was going to lose it or bend the 'tamper proof' envelope and then I'd be in trouble.

The rest of the day in Edmonton was kinda fun. I ate and shopped with my sister and dad. Good times. The ride home was fun, too. I should've brought my camera, but I didn't necesarily want to worry about it and all my paperwork.

Wednesday I went back to work here in the office and just sat. I was tired and emotional and exhausted. I pretty much sat most of yesterday, too. Didn't help that I had this asshole call yesterday and I had to argue with him for, like, 1/2 an hour. Guys like him make me hate an ordinarily good job. (He called back again today... douchebag).

Overall, it's been a bad week. I want so bad for this VISA to happen, and I just worry deep down that it won't. I know it probably will, but I still worry. I also found out that when I'm this stressed, I shop. A lot. Well, not a lot, but more than I have been. I bought a couple things while in Edmonton, as well as some things on Wednesday when I was out with K. Stuff I really didn't need, but I wanted. It's been a rough end-of-the-month, budget-wise. I can't even tell you how good/bad I did, since I stopped keeping track. Yep, that's bad.

On a good note, I did buy an external hard-drive last night. It's 320 gigs and I think it should be plenty for storing photos and movies and music. Nothing too impressive. It's nice and tiny, and it doesn't require being plugged into an outlet, which will help when I am in London.

I wish I didn't work every day this weekend, because all I really need is one day off to sit in my jammies and recoup. And sleep. And eat.

My monthly summary and goals for May to follow.

I'm so sorry. It's been an absolutely crazy-stressful couple of days and I want so bad to update you all, but all I want to do is sleep my life away. I need to go to bed and get some crap sorted out. I promise I will update soon. Right now, though, I need to get sleep before work tomorrow.

ZZZZzzZzzzzzZZzzzzZZzzZZZzzzZZ...