Yesterday was payday. What did I do? I paid a bunch of bills. First, I paid the tab I run at the cafe in the building where I work, then I paid the bottled water company, MasterCard and the cable company for my internet. That last one was a biggie, 3 months worth of service.
As I wrote yesterday, my account had gotten kicked off the pre-authorized payment plan and then I didn't get a bill until a couple of weeks ago (immediately followed by a second bill). Now it's taken care of and I have it listed as a bill on my credit union account so I can pay it easily. I think I'll leave it like this for a while rather than getting back onto PAP on my "new" account. (Yes, I know I've had this credit union account for about 6 months now but it's still pretty new to me!)
I paid $40 yesterday for 3 tunics, 2 long-sleeved shirts, a gym skort and 2 sweatshirts (with school logo)! That was a killer deal. Buying used is good! Today after school I took Dear Child to the official uniform store (45 minutes drive from the school) and bought 2 short-sleeved shirts for hot weather, a gym tshirt (with logo), 5 pairs of knee socks (4 navy, 1 white) and 4 pair of navy tights. I got 10% off the purchase price of everything this week (why I bought them now) and still paid just over $100!
Just think if I'd had to buy everything there! It would have cost close to $300, but I spent less than 1/2 that.
I brought DC home to her father and went grocery shopping at the deli and Superstore. I spent about $100 on food and had a bit of a disaster in the store. I was buying my Bolthouse Protein Drink that I have for breakfast and it was at a really good price. I took 2 bottles and the next 2 bottles behind them just kind of jumped off the shelf (which I think must have been slanted), hit the floor and exploded all over me! I was wearing flip flops and a long denim skirt and I was a mess. I was squishing protein drink between my toes and was sticky wet with the drink up to my knees and all inside my skirt. Yuck! They let me go in the back where they keep the produce and wash up at a sink with paper towels. Then I got to the checkout and couldn't find my cell phone with all my debit cards tucked into the case! Luckily it had fallen out of my purse in the car rather than somewhere in the store, but it was a pain and I was verging on a panic attack. I was just terrified that I'd lost it when I got doused.
Anyway, I'm off to bed. It's Sports Day at school tomorrow and I have to make sure DC is ready for it with a bunch of extra things, including sunscreen.
Showing posts with label clothes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clothes. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Getting Ready for Payday
Well, I'm still having problems with Blogger but I'm still fighting through it so I can post.
Tomorrow is payday and Wednesday, so my plan is to take care of a bunch of bills and then see how much money is left! Somehow my internet account (which was on pre-authorized payments) got messed up a couple of months ago and I finally got, not one but two, bills in the past week or 10 days so I've got to get that straightened out. I'm just debating whether to try to get the pre-authorized stuff switched over to my credit union account or whether I should just add them as a bill on the system and pay them manually.
To compound my financial issues, I seem to have misplaced my chequebook for the credit union account! I had it in my wallet (with the chequebooks for the other 2 accounts) but it's not there now. It's also not in my purse or in a stack of things I had taken out of my purse. I have another chequebook somewhere (they sent 2) but I think it's packed away in one of the boxes of paper I put away at Passover. Sigh.
It's also time to buy uniforms for Dear Child for school this fall but I'm getting at least some of them second-hand. The school resells used uniforms at a very low price and I'll see what the ones they have in her size are like tomorrow. I'll still have to buy a few other items, including socks and tights. She needs 2 new pair of shoes too, one for inside wear and the other for outside wear, but I'll definitely wait until some time in August to get those to make sure they fit properly. I'll also need to buy her at least a couple of new skirts for after school and Sunday because her current ones are starting to get short. Most of her tops are still fine though.
All told, her school stuff should cost a lot less this year than it did last year and that makes me happy. Uniforms rule! Even if I bought new uniforms they'd cost a little less than I spent last year on regular clothes. By buying used I'll save a lot. And she's not at an age yet where wearing a used uniform will be the end of the world.
Tomorrow is payday and Wednesday, so my plan is to take care of a bunch of bills and then see how much money is left! Somehow my internet account (which was on pre-authorized payments) got messed up a couple of months ago and I finally got, not one but two, bills in the past week or 10 days so I've got to get that straightened out. I'm just debating whether to try to get the pre-authorized stuff switched over to my credit union account or whether I should just add them as a bill on the system and pay them manually.
To compound my financial issues, I seem to have misplaced my chequebook for the credit union account! I had it in my wallet (with the chequebooks for the other 2 accounts) but it's not there now. It's also not in my purse or in a stack of things I had taken out of my purse. I have another chequebook somewhere (they sent 2) but I think it's packed away in one of the boxes of paper I put away at Passover. Sigh.
It's also time to buy uniforms for Dear Child for school this fall but I'm getting at least some of them second-hand. The school resells used uniforms at a very low price and I'll see what the ones they have in her size are like tomorrow. I'll still have to buy a few other items, including socks and tights. She needs 2 new pair of shoes too, one for inside wear and the other for outside wear, but I'll definitely wait until some time in August to get those to make sure they fit properly. I'll also need to buy her at least a couple of new skirts for after school and Sunday because her current ones are starting to get short. Most of her tops are still fine though.
All told, her school stuff should cost a lot less this year than it did last year and that makes me happy. Uniforms rule! Even if I bought new uniforms they'd cost a little less than I spent last year on regular clothes. By buying used I'll save a lot. And she's not at an age yet where wearing a used uniform will be the end of the world.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Lots O' Progress and a No Spend Day
Wow. I was really busy today.
I donated 6 boxes of books (about 1/2 of them hard cover) to charity (and still have 2 more small boxes, 1 of non-English books to give to the nursing home and 1 of Jewish books in English to give to the Jewish library).
I took 3 boxes of household items to Value Village.
I donated 2 bags of clothes (one was a bag Eldest Daughter packed but it was mostly things I'd passed along to her to take what she wanted first).
The front foyer is not tiled but it is basically empty and it's clean for Pesach! All that remains in it are 2 boxes containing an IKEA wardrobe (to be built as soon as the tiling is done), a small stack of the floor tiles I'm putting down there, the bags of thinset and grout, the 5 gallon bucket for mixing the thinset and the trowels.
I also cleaned out my clothes from the master bedroom closet and went through all the boxes on the closet floor!
And I washed, dried and put away 2 loads of laundry. I'm exhausted, but I feel like I did a lot. I'm still disappointed that I didn't get the tiling done. I really want to do it before Pesach so I can get the bathroom finished. It would really be nice to have a sink back in there and to be able to use the new tub. I just don't know when I can do it though. It will take me the better part of a day to tile, the next day is for grouting and then things can go back into place. A Sunday is clearly the best time for the actual tiling but next Sunday is when I'm supposed to turn the kitchen over, which is pretty much an all day thing in and of itself. I don't want to put myself in the position of turning the kitchen over late and not leaving myself enough time to cook for the seders and Shabbos (which follow each other 1, 2, 3 this year so I really need to have cooking done in advance).
At least all of this work today has freed up enough good boxes (along with some I'd already accumulated) that I can start boxing up the kitchen now. Well, not right now. Maybe tomorrow.
Right now I'm planning on going to bed and to sleep. I slept a lot on Shabbos but I'm still on the mend from what turned out to be strep throat and I need more rest. But today was a very successful day and I didn't spend a cent!
I donated 6 boxes of books (about 1/2 of them hard cover) to charity (and still have 2 more small boxes, 1 of non-English books to give to the nursing home and 1 of Jewish books in English to give to the Jewish library).
I took 3 boxes of household items to Value Village.
I donated 2 bags of clothes (one was a bag Eldest Daughter packed but it was mostly things I'd passed along to her to take what she wanted first).
The front foyer is not tiled but it is basically empty and it's clean for Pesach! All that remains in it are 2 boxes containing an IKEA wardrobe (to be built as soon as the tiling is done), a small stack of the floor tiles I'm putting down there, the bags of thinset and grout, the 5 gallon bucket for mixing the thinset and the trowels.
I also cleaned out my clothes from the master bedroom closet and went through all the boxes on the closet floor!
And I washed, dried and put away 2 loads of laundry. I'm exhausted, but I feel like I did a lot. I'm still disappointed that I didn't get the tiling done. I really want to do it before Pesach so I can get the bathroom finished. It would really be nice to have a sink back in there and to be able to use the new tub. I just don't know when I can do it though. It will take me the better part of a day to tile, the next day is for grouting and then things can go back into place. A Sunday is clearly the best time for the actual tiling but next Sunday is when I'm supposed to turn the kitchen over, which is pretty much an all day thing in and of itself. I don't want to put myself in the position of turning the kitchen over late and not leaving myself enough time to cook for the seders and Shabbos (which follow each other 1, 2, 3 this year so I really need to have cooking done in advance).
At least all of this work today has freed up enough good boxes (along with some I'd already accumulated) that I can start boxing up the kitchen now. Well, not right now. Maybe tomorrow.
Right now I'm planning on going to bed and to sleep. I slept a lot on Shabbos but I'm still on the mend from what turned out to be strep throat and I need more rest. But today was a very successful day and I didn't spend a cent!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
How Can it be Wednesday Again?
I feel like everything around me is going faster than normal and I'm in slow motion. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. The good news is, Son-in-Law's dad is due to arrive on Sunday for a week to do our bathroom reno. The bad news is, I am so not ready.
I made a beautiful Pesach cleaning plan that even took the bathroom reno into consideration. The thing with the plan is that you actually have to do all the things you write down in order for it to work. Amazing but true.
Today should have been the first day of my 3rd week of cleaning, beginning to work on the part of the kitchen that is right by the bathroom door, clearing the foyer, etc. I have a number of things to do in order to be able to lay tile in these areas. Instead, I'm still somewhere in the middle of week one, going through boxes of clothes that were stacked in Dear Child's room. I keep washing, folding, putting away, bagging for donation, etc. but I'm not finished with all the clothes in her room yet. It's not that there are so many (5 or 6 boxes), it's that I'm only getting through maybe one load per day. And I'm not doing something every day.
Well, I'm doing plenty, but just not plenty of cleaning and organizing. Today I drove DC to school, worked for 4.5 hours, went to the bank, came home, washed a load, had maybe 20 minutes to myself, got the little girls, drove with them to pick up DC, went to gymnastics for an hour, drove with everybody to pick up Eldest Daughter and stopped at Safeway on the way home. I had dinner and some computer time (less than an hour), went back to work and came home after 10:30 pm. The clean load is sitting in a basket at the foot of my bed.
This past week was supposed to be the master bedroom. It. Didn't. Get. Touched. I'm not making things easy for myself by putting things off. It still all has to get done and I'm getting a little too old and a lot too tired to be pulling a series of all-nighters.
The problem is that I need at least 2 or 3 hours of cleaning and organizing time per day and I can't do it. I often don't have the time because I really can't get much done with the 2 little girls down here and I'm also very tired. I can't work for an hour or 2 or 3 straight just because I don't have other committments for that period of time. When my big kids were little I used to do an amazing amount, plus they were expected to pitch in. I remember scrubbing ceilings and the window tracks. I don't have the strength for that sort of thing now. Luckily, I don't have anybody currently at home who feels the need to put greasy hand prints on the ceiling in their bedroom!
So, what am I going to do? Well, I have to get ready for the bathroom reno. I have to start on my week 3 list tomorrow. The reno starts Monday. I have until then to clear out the bathroom, clear the area in the kitchen around the bathroom and clear the foyer. I just have no clue where most of the things that are currently in those areas are going to go. I'll have one day where I'll be laying floor tile and the next day where I have to grout it, maybe Wednesday and Thursday, depending on how the guys progress. Then I have a wardrobe to assemble and place in the foyer, the secretary desk to move in from the playroom and some other furniture to move. Once the bathroom is done there are 3 boxes of stuff to go into the medicine cabinet and the drawers of the vanity. Or not. Most of it isn't kosher for Passover and therefore has to be boxed up and sold for the duration of the holiday. If I put it all in the drawers I'd have to tape them shut and sell the contents. I'll have to think about that. I also need to go through those boxes and decide how much of the contents to keep when you consider that they've been boxed since we moved in last year at this time.
I made a beautiful Pesach cleaning plan that even took the bathroom reno into consideration. The thing with the plan is that you actually have to do all the things you write down in order for it to work. Amazing but true.
Today should have been the first day of my 3rd week of cleaning, beginning to work on the part of the kitchen that is right by the bathroom door, clearing the foyer, etc. I have a number of things to do in order to be able to lay tile in these areas. Instead, I'm still somewhere in the middle of week one, going through boxes of clothes that were stacked in Dear Child's room. I keep washing, folding, putting away, bagging for donation, etc. but I'm not finished with all the clothes in her room yet. It's not that there are so many (5 or 6 boxes), it's that I'm only getting through maybe one load per day. And I'm not doing something every day.
Well, I'm doing plenty, but just not plenty of cleaning and organizing. Today I drove DC to school, worked for 4.5 hours, went to the bank, came home, washed a load, had maybe 20 minutes to myself, got the little girls, drove with them to pick up DC, went to gymnastics for an hour, drove with everybody to pick up Eldest Daughter and stopped at Safeway on the way home. I had dinner and some computer time (less than an hour), went back to work and came home after 10:30 pm. The clean load is sitting in a basket at the foot of my bed.
This past week was supposed to be the master bedroom. It. Didn't. Get. Touched. I'm not making things easy for myself by putting things off. It still all has to get done and I'm getting a little too old and a lot too tired to be pulling a series of all-nighters.
The problem is that I need at least 2 or 3 hours of cleaning and organizing time per day and I can't do it. I often don't have the time because I really can't get much done with the 2 little girls down here and I'm also very tired. I can't work for an hour or 2 or 3 straight just because I don't have other committments for that period of time. When my big kids were little I used to do an amazing amount, plus they were expected to pitch in. I remember scrubbing ceilings and the window tracks. I don't have the strength for that sort of thing now. Luckily, I don't have anybody currently at home who feels the need to put greasy hand prints on the ceiling in their bedroom!
So, what am I going to do? Well, I have to get ready for the bathroom reno. I have to start on my week 3 list tomorrow. The reno starts Monday. I have until then to clear out the bathroom, clear the area in the kitchen around the bathroom and clear the foyer. I just have no clue where most of the things that are currently in those areas are going to go. I'll have one day where I'll be laying floor tile and the next day where I have to grout it, maybe Wednesday and Thursday, depending on how the guys progress. Then I have a wardrobe to assemble and place in the foyer, the secretary desk to move in from the playroom and some other furniture to move. Once the bathroom is done there are 3 boxes of stuff to go into the medicine cabinet and the drawers of the vanity. Or not. Most of it isn't kosher for Passover and therefore has to be boxed up and sold for the duration of the holiday. If I put it all in the drawers I'd have to tape them shut and sell the contents. I'll have to think about that. I also need to go through those boxes and decide how much of the contents to keep when you consider that they've been boxed since we moved in last year at this time.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Shopping for School Clothes
This post could be subtitled: It's only money (or plastic).
I worked all day, picked up Eldest Daughter from work and then we went home to switch cars and take 2/3 of the girls shopping for school clothes. The baby isn't going to school so she didn't get to come. We went to a big mall (Metrotown) and spent about 3 hours hitting Old Navy, Baby Gap, The Disney Store and The Children's Place. My ED got plenty of clothes for her daughter and I got more than enough for DC.
The biggest problem is that DC is very petite and it's hard to get skirts or dresses that fit her and still cover her knees. One denim skirt she tried on that fit lengthwise was about 3 or 4 inches too big in the waist! It basically just fell off her.
We hit the stores in the order I listed them in and there was really very little that fit her at Old Navy so I bought some things that I wasn't overly crazy about, just because they fit. I got a couple of nicer dresses at Baby Gap. Then we got to The Disney Store, where they were having a 50% off sale on a lot of items. I bought a couple of tops, an overall dress and a beautiful jumper type dress (okay, that one was full price). But the Children's Place was the prize!
They had 6x/7 skirts that were long enough and yet had easily adjustable waists. We got 3 in corduroy and one denim. Four long sleeved tops in mix and match colours. Four pairs of co-ordinating tights. Next time we go to The Children's Place first!
Now, my biggest problem is that I want to take some of the other stuff back and DC is freaking out. But really, some of it just doesn't measure up or it doesn't match colourwise with her other stuff. I think 2 dresses and one skirt will go back at an absolute minimum.
All in all, I'm really pleased with the things I found and DC is set for the fall and most of the winter too (though she'll need boots and a couple of warmer tops or sweaters later).
I worked all day, picked up Eldest Daughter from work and then we went home to switch cars and take 2/3 of the girls shopping for school clothes. The baby isn't going to school so she didn't get to come. We went to a big mall (Metrotown) and spent about 3 hours hitting Old Navy, Baby Gap, The Disney Store and The Children's Place. My ED got plenty of clothes for her daughter and I got more than enough for DC.
The biggest problem is that DC is very petite and it's hard to get skirts or dresses that fit her and still cover her knees. One denim skirt she tried on that fit lengthwise was about 3 or 4 inches too big in the waist! It basically just fell off her.
We hit the stores in the order I listed them in and there was really very little that fit her at Old Navy so I bought some things that I wasn't overly crazy about, just because they fit. I got a couple of nicer dresses at Baby Gap. Then we got to The Disney Store, where they were having a 50% off sale on a lot of items. I bought a couple of tops, an overall dress and a beautiful jumper type dress (okay, that one was full price). But the Children's Place was the prize!
They had 6x/7 skirts that were long enough and yet had easily adjustable waists. We got 3 in corduroy and one denim. Four long sleeved tops in mix and match colours. Four pairs of co-ordinating tights. Next time we go to The Children's Place first!
Now, my biggest problem is that I want to take some of the other stuff back and DC is freaking out. But really, some of it just doesn't measure up or it doesn't match colourwise with her other stuff. I think 2 dresses and one skirt will go back at an absolute minimum.
All in all, I'm really pleased with the things I found and DC is set for the fall and most of the winter too (though she'll need boots and a couple of warmer tops or sweaters later).
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