Lost and Found

Whoo! Saskatoon!

My past 2 weeks of vacation in Saskatoon were phenomenal. Finally I think I can say that I was able to almost completely remove myself from thinking about work and really taking some much deserved time for myself. While I was away, I think I ate (with the exception of Christmas dinners) all of my meals in restaurants and the bills averaged out to around $50 per meal (adding in the booze and everything else). What really blew me away was the generosity of my family and friends during the holiday season. I think that almost all of my meals were paid for, in fact I went to one restaurant 4 times and only paid once after insisting on covering the bill for my friends. In the end I spent on average what I normally would in a week on expenses. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got home and had over ¾ of my paycheck still in my bank account AND today was payday which is always an added bonus.

When I was back in Saskatoon, I got to be reminded of the way that I used to spend every day. It really woke me up again and lit a new fire under my a$$ to get back in financial shape. Not only does it serve as a reminder of how I used to spend, it gives me something to look forward to when I am debt free. It’s not going to be hard to get by once I have no debt to pay for and I’m really looking forward to being liberal with my money again.  It’s incredible how much simply removing yourself from temptation can affect your spending. Being back here in my apartment typing this entry I can’t help but feel incredibly optimistic about my upcoming year. In a month from now I will have completely paid off my MasterCard and that feels incredible. Not only that, my other debt balances have each dropped by more than $1,000.

I love me some Gail time!

This month will be just what I need to get me back on track again. As of now, I am on full-time French training (yes I am procrastinating on my “devoirs”) so I am back into a manageable routine. Believe me, routines are the best thing for staying on a budget because it reduces the amount of surprise expenses such as meals with colleagues and I don’t have to always worry about bringing a lunch. Now I am able to leave school for lunch at the same time every day and the school is really close to where I work which means that I can eat all of my meals at home and catch a few minutes of Gail time! Today I got to eat delicious leftover lasagna and tomorrow I am going to make myself a scrumptious sandwich. What makes me even happier is that I finally have some time to go to yoga classes again. I’m telling you, all this wonderful routine time has definitely got my gears going toward having a schedule like this in the future. If I can manage to get my French levels for work and not have to do anymore after work classes, I am going to be so very happy.

Now for some random, but exciting news! While I was away, I received a package from Canada Post with a letter attached that reads as follows:

Dear Customer:

The enclosed item containing your identification was found loose in the mail stream. It may not have been intended for the mail, but merely dropped in a street mail box without a wrapper or postage.

As a courtesy, Canada Post Corporation is returning this item to you free of charge.

Found! So amazing!

The attached item was my lost wallet! How lovely is that? Thank you to the person who took the time to drop my wallet off for me. I never imagined that I would see this thing again since it has been several months since someone stole it from me. The best part is that the person who took my wallet only took the cash and my MasterCard, leaving me with all of my ID cards so I can rest a little better knowing that someone isn’t out there trying to steal my identity. The $hitty part is that my wallet is a little, well, disgusting and looks like it has been run over by a car. But that’s not what the focus is on here, it’s the fact that someone, somewhere decided to be kind and return something to its rightful owner, me. I feel great starting a new year with a feeling of hope in my fellow man and I can’t wait to yet another fantastic learning experience.

Happy New Year everyone!

xoxo