December Debt

I'm sitting at the Calgary airport waiting for my connecting flight on Christmas eve for the next 2 hours so I figured this was an opportune time to write me a blog posting. Yes, I am writing this entire post on my iPhone so please keep all your snotty comments about bad grammar and boring entries to yourselves! Christmas is a great time to get into more debt, but sometimes if we're lucky we get to receive some sweet-a$$ Christmas cash! In my last post I mentioned how I've been able to keep my costs to a minimum by doing a $25 gift card exchange which upon reflecting seems like a pretty stupid idea. Mainly because there is no love or thought going into the gift and I'm just going to end up with basically the same thing I gave. 

I hate to say it, but by cutting out the shopping, it just doesn't feel like Christmas to me. Odd isn't it? I'm starting to believe the consumer whore side of me may have finally won me over! However once I look back at the amazing month I've had, I'm sort of proud of how well I did getting so much debt paid off and how much money I've saved on half my usual salary - in 2 months!! I'm not going to sugarcoat it though; Gail, I've let you down this month. 

I've definitely gone over my budget each and every single week, but it was with good intention. I went to many holiday parties and birthday celebrations, but I did pay all my bills (less on my MasterCard than I had hoped) and I managed to only spend $150 on presents this year (which is a really big deal for me). Not to mention I have yet to touch my savings and that feels as good as sunlight feels to a cat warming its a$$ by the window. 

So now it's time for me to strategize; I'm about to go without 2 weeks worth of pay while on vacation, and I'm not going to get my next paycheck until February. The good news is that I've already paid my rent for January, but I've only got $900 to live on until Februscary. I'm expected to go half on Santa's happy funtime elixir (aka alcohol) and pay $100 for a hotel room in small town Alberta (that's the cost for two nights - jealous?) for a wedding this New Years, and I'm on vacation for 12 days which usually translates into eating out every day (not that kind of eating out - get your mind out of the gutter) which really drains the bank account in a hurry. Holy moley guacamole, what am I going to do? 

Well, here's my plan: I'm going to learn to live with less this Christmas, cut back on the booze, and steal all the leftovers from every Christmas/holiday dinner I attend. I may end up looking like a fat butterball at the end of this vacation, but dammit I will leave my savings alone for as long as is humanly possible. I mean, why go two steps forward and one step back? Who the fox am I, Paula Abdul? 

Merry Christmas loyal readers. I hope that this post finds you in good spirits over the holiday season. 

Love always, 

John