What a Day!
Busy, tiring. :-)
My paycheque went into the bank--that is, my balance showed the paycheque amount, but the deposit didn't show up. I'm not sure why the account balance indicated that nice amount (included our retro pay), but when I looked on line I'm in overdraft. Well, it'll all come out right on Monday, which is the next business day anyway.
So, given that the pay was in my account...sort of...I took the 6:45AM bus up to Chapters/Starbucks, got an Earl Grey chai (wouldn't have one again) and an oatmeal raisin cookie. Then caught the next bus, 15 minutes later, up to Wal-Mart.
Yeah, okay, I know it's holiday shopping time. But I still wasn't expecting so many cars in the parking lot at 7:35AM. Good grief! The store didn't seem overly crowded, though. Mind you, it's a mega Wal-Mart, so it's a pretty darned big store. No need to go into detail about all my purchases--it was time to stock up on a number of items, so I left the store $225 poorer.
I had to bus home and drop off all the purchases before heading out for the second time, catching the 10:15 bus. Then it was out to--ugh--Costco (busy!), Global Pet Foods (not busy, but boy, did I drop a lot of money there), Pet Valu for yet more cat food and the pharmacy (for my December bus pass). Last stop was Loblaws, just to stock up on some heavy items (club soda, mostly).
It doesn't sound like much, and of course I could have done it all via car in half the time or less. But for me, it was six hours of busing around the city and lugging very heavy bags. (Great arm and shoulder workout, though.) I ended up having to take a taxi from Loblaws and oh, I had to wait 25 minutes before one showed up. Sigh. Good thing it was such a lovely day. Sunny, though cool and windy.
So now I am $565 lighter and we haven't even begun December. And no, I wasn't out buying expensive Christmas gifts for anyone. There isn't money for that. I'm trying hard not to think of Annie's $105 blood work next week, plus Derry's annual check-up/blood work/possible UA. That'll be about $300 on the credit card too. *Sigh again* LOL. Oh, I know, most of us are in the same boat, or even far worse off, and I'm lucky--very lucky. I know it and I am grateful. That doesn't mean I don't get discouraged, though. By the time I finish with the cats' medical needs, I will have spent about $1800 I don't have. What fun! It's absolutely impossible to get ahead, to build up any savings at all for emergencies. Yep, that's discouraging.
But hey, any day above ground is a good day. :-)
My paycheque went into the bank--that is, my balance showed the paycheque amount, but the deposit didn't show up. I'm not sure why the account balance indicated that nice amount (included our retro pay), but when I looked on line I'm in overdraft. Well, it'll all come out right on Monday, which is the next business day anyway.
So, given that the pay was in my account...sort of...I took the 6:45AM bus up to Chapters/Starbucks, got an Earl Grey chai (wouldn't have one again) and an oatmeal raisin cookie. Then caught the next bus, 15 minutes later, up to Wal-Mart.
Yeah, okay, I know it's holiday shopping time. But I still wasn't expecting so many cars in the parking lot at 7:35AM. Good grief! The store didn't seem overly crowded, though. Mind you, it's a mega Wal-Mart, so it's a pretty darned big store. No need to go into detail about all my purchases--it was time to stock up on a number of items, so I left the store $225 poorer.
I had to bus home and drop off all the purchases before heading out for the second time, catching the 10:15 bus. Then it was out to--ugh--Costco (busy!), Global Pet Foods (not busy, but boy, did I drop a lot of money there), Pet Valu for yet more cat food and the pharmacy (for my December bus pass). Last stop was Loblaws, just to stock up on some heavy items (club soda, mostly).
It doesn't sound like much, and of course I could have done it all via car in half the time or less. But for me, it was six hours of busing around the city and lugging very heavy bags. (Great arm and shoulder workout, though.) I ended up having to take a taxi from Loblaws and oh, I had to wait 25 minutes before one showed up. Sigh. Good thing it was such a lovely day. Sunny, though cool and windy.
So now I am $565 lighter and we haven't even begun December. And no, I wasn't out buying expensive Christmas gifts for anyone. There isn't money for that. I'm trying hard not to think of Annie's $105 blood work next week, plus Derry's annual check-up/blood work/possible UA. That'll be about $300 on the credit card too. *Sigh again* LOL. Oh, I know, most of us are in the same boat, or even far worse off, and I'm lucky--very lucky. I know it and I am grateful. That doesn't mean I don't get discouraged, though. By the time I finish with the cats' medical needs, I will have spent about $1800 I don't have. What fun! It's absolutely impossible to get ahead, to build up any savings at all for emergencies. Yep, that's discouraging.
But hey, any day above ground is a good day. :-)
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