Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Budget blown, but for a good cause
Well, I said that I'd exclude family items, so I'll shrug this off. Since I'm expected to be part of the family while I'm sharing a place with them, family expenses aren't always avoidable. This one though was. I went along with my brother to go check out a place for a possible location for his wedding. It was a pretty nice formal place, good food. I probably wouldn't go there again for no reason. Just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Dollar Store deals
I suppose the little stuff first. As the day nears, I don't feel quite as eager to tell my brother that I don't want to see him any more. Also, I was recently told that in the USA, if you negotiate down credit card debts, you have to pay tax on the portion that the credit card company writes off. That sounds a little scary to me. Also, 119 days worked this year and 6/20 night shifts down.
As for the slightly larger item on today's post, I recently ran across two things to do with dollar store items, so I thought I'd do my own. They tend to be fairly low quality in general. Looking though my spending log, I pulled out a couple items that I thought were of particularly good value.
Going backwards, the most recent one was the maple creme cookies, $1/325g, off hand, I don't know what they usually cost, but next time I'm at the grocery store, I'll find out. I'm pretty sure that the unit price is higher though.
Next item is a stapleless stapler. These things are hard enough to find let alone finding a good deal on one. I still find myself using a regular stapler more often, and it's taken me a while to warm up to this one. Also, I seldom find myself stapling things, so maybe it wasn't such a good deal. Though if you only find yourself stapling a few pages every now and then, your stapler doesn't need to be heavy duty and you can get by with a cheap one.
Following that, there's a tuna sauce meal. Very delicious and good shelf life too. Wonderful standby, however it's a discontinued item. I felt that offered good value and deliciousness that I went back to get more before they were all gone.
Last item on my list is a keychain sized 1AA battery to usb/cell phone charger and flash light. The flashlight is actually a tiny LED, not a regular bulb. It's a handy size and the light is not good, but reasonable and I've used it to give my mp3 player a boost every now and then. I'm not really a heavy cell user though so it might be a while till I try that. Also, should I ever get into robotics again, I could see myself testing these out to provide a mobile source of 5V power for my little machines. I wonder how stable they are.
That seems to sum it up. I also got a couple things that I felt really weren't that nice. A couple of containers that were labelled as leak proof but actually leak considerably. I've been tempted to try putting jello in them, but haven't gotten around to it yet. They're still good for storing paper clips, candy and other small items.
Headphones are also a perpetual disappointment, I've been through a lot of those. There's also a number of items that I didn't think were good that I haven't tried and probably won't.
As for the slightly larger item on today's post, I recently ran across two things to do with dollar store items, so I thought I'd do my own. They tend to be fairly low quality in general. Looking though my spending log, I pulled out a couple items that I thought were of particularly good value.
Going backwards, the most recent one was the maple creme cookies, $1/325g, off hand, I don't know what they usually cost, but next time I'm at the grocery store, I'll find out. I'm pretty sure that the unit price is higher though.
Next item is a stapleless stapler. These things are hard enough to find let alone finding a good deal on one. I still find myself using a regular stapler more often, and it's taken me a while to warm up to this one. Also, I seldom find myself stapling things, so maybe it wasn't such a good deal. Though if you only find yourself stapling a few pages every now and then, your stapler doesn't need to be heavy duty and you can get by with a cheap one.
Following that, there's a tuna sauce meal. Very delicious and good shelf life too. Wonderful standby, however it's a discontinued item. I felt that offered good value and deliciousness that I went back to get more before they were all gone.
Last item on my list is a keychain sized 1AA battery to usb/cell phone charger and flash light. The flashlight is actually a tiny LED, not a regular bulb. It's a handy size and the light is not good, but reasonable and I've used it to give my mp3 player a boost every now and then. I'm not really a heavy cell user though so it might be a while till I try that. Also, should I ever get into robotics again, I could see myself testing these out to provide a mobile source of 5V power for my little machines. I wonder how stable they are.
That seems to sum it up. I also got a couple things that I felt really weren't that nice. A couple of containers that were labelled as leak proof but actually leak considerably. I've been tempted to try putting jello in them, but haven't gotten around to it yet. They're still good for storing paper clips, candy and other small items.
Headphones are also a perpetual disappointment, I've been through a lot of those. There's also a number of items that I didn't think were good that I haven't tried and probably won't.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Toys
All week, I've been trying to decide on whether or not I want to get a Celestron Firstscope telescope. Right now, it's on sale at London Drugs for $50 (no, that's not the regular price, the regular is $50USD and I'm in Canada). While I'm familiar with all the deficiencies, it remains the best choice of something I might want to carry out somewhere. It's also gotten some good reviews. I think I might.
Also, reading the reviews pointed me toward something else interesting, the Galileoscope. I wouldn't call it a replica, but it's based on the original design, right down to having an erect eye-piece that's like staring through a straw. There's also a more conventional eye-piece with it. Maybe I'll get one of those too, but I don't think it's worth ordering online. The shipping costs are more than the thing itself.
Also, reading the reviews pointed me toward something else interesting, the Galileoscope. I wouldn't call it a replica, but it's based on the original design, right down to having an erect eye-piece that's like staring through a straw. There's also a more conventional eye-piece with it. Maybe I'll get one of those too, but I don't think it's worth ordering online. The shipping costs are more than the thing itself.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Of Need and Want
My binder of old credit card bills, investment statements and pay stubs is getting pretty full now. There's probably no reason for me to keep saving most of that stuff. I want to get a scanner for it. That'll probably save a lot of hunting around at tax time too. Granted I'll still need the physical copies to actually mail in.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Picking A Computer to Last A Decade
Ten years is a long time for a computer these days. I think most of them get replaced every two to three years or more. I'm wondering if I can pick one that I'll be happy with for ten years or more. This question is largely prompted by the slow death of my computer monitor and the rise of the netbook. Apparently, they pack about as much processing power as my current desktop computer, and I'd probably have to say that I want faster sometimes. Granted, they have a lot more ram than I do on my desktop and probably better video too. Without a good idea of just what limits my computer's performance, it's hard to say.
Most of the time though, I'm just humming away on my current laptop, which is a 12 year old Pentium MMX running at 166MHz with 64MB of ram. I've owned it for 7 years and it's still going strong. I don't particularly want to replace it, but again, more speed would be nice and there's a fan that grinds in there. Fortunately, that fan only powers up when it gets hot and if the noises are any indication, I'm not a particularly heavy user.
Anyway, I've heard good rumors about the new atom, and arm's possible entry into the market. Also, I hear windows 7 is supposed to be less of a resource hog than Vista or XP. Maybe when I finally get around to it, I can find something that I'll be happy with for a decade or so that'll also hold me down when my monitor finally does break.
Most of the time though, I'm just humming away on my current laptop, which is a 12 year old Pentium MMX running at 166MHz with 64MB of ram. I've owned it for 7 years and it's still going strong. I don't particularly want to replace it, but again, more speed would be nice and there's a fan that grinds in there. Fortunately, that fan only powers up when it gets hot and if the noises are any indication, I'm not a particularly heavy user.
Anyway, I've heard good rumors about the new atom, and arm's possible entry into the market. Also, I hear windows 7 is supposed to be less of a resource hog than Vista or XP. Maybe when I finally get around to it, I can find something that I'll be happy with for a decade or so that'll also hold me down when my monitor finally does break.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Small Wish List
47 days down. Somehow that's moved to the top of my mind. Anyway, end of month three, and the end of 2009Q1. I'm trying something new next month, volunteering. More of a hanging out with a bunch of fun folk, taking pictures and having fun. At least that's my impression of what's going to happen. Maybe I'll be wrong. I've got a goal of taking 200 pictures at that event. Also contemplating a new camera. There's a kids IR spy cam on clearance at walmart that I'm thinking about. Maybe if it gets marked down further. There's still quite a few. Part of me feels saddened that it's probably a sign that there'll be fewer non-main stream goods attempted.
Other than that, I'm hoping to get another good deal on my investments, positioning for another purchase next month. How well that goes weighs in on my spending as well.
Also on my shopping list, I feel the need for a pencil case. Pens and pencils are organized easily enough, though I'd also like to keep staplers and eventually a three-hole punch there and I also have paper clips to store. Strangely for something this cheap and simple, I don't simply go out and get a pencil case. Maybe that's taking things too far, but I like to survey my options before I get something. It brings me joy. I also don't have my own three-hole punch yet.
Other than that, I'm hoping to get another good deal on my investments, positioning for another purchase next month. How well that goes weighs in on my spending as well.
Also on my shopping list, I feel the need for a pencil case. Pens and pencils are organized easily enough, though I'd also like to keep staplers and eventually a three-hole punch there and I also have paper clips to store. Strangely for something this cheap and simple, I don't simply go out and get a pencil case. Maybe that's taking things too far, but I like to survey my options before I get something. It brings me joy. I also don't have my own three-hole punch yet.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Another month down
Finally got to the end of the month. I'll guess about 30 to 40 to go. I'm not about to start guessing. A brief summary about the month:
Gross pay: 2873.92
Deductions: 585.22
Net pay: 2288.70
Spending: 91.45
Sales tax: 0.85
Loan payments: 225.91
Savings this month: 1970.49
Total taxes paid: 560.49
% of gross pay going to taxes: 19.5%
% of income going towards loan payments: 7.86% gross, 9.87% net
% of income going towards savings: 68.56% gross, 86.10% net
days worked: 16
Maybe I should do a pie graph next time. My living expenses are artificially depressed, that's just the way my life is right now. I still need to go out and get a bus pass but as of right now that's how this month falls. That changes my spending figures quite a bit, it doesn't change that I'm saving fairly substantial amounts of my net income. Anyway, wow I pay a lot of taxes. I knew it was big, but it's different when it's staring me in the face. My marginal tax rate is roughly 30% last I checked, though I always thought that basic exemptions made more of an impact. Student loan payments are very low and manageable, I am not loosing any sleep over them.
Well, big thing in my life right now, I'm bitter, depressed and angry. Goal for February is to find a new property manager for the shopping plaza. I don't have a personal goal. The search for personal happiness is probably one of the most destructive things that one can take up. It feels like something I need to do though. I'm not sure what I'll find, but I'm not sure I can really move on without it.
Gross pay: 2873.92
Deductions: 585.22
Net pay: 2288.70
Spending: 91.45
Sales tax: 0.85
Loan payments: 225.91
Savings this month: 1970.49
Total taxes paid: 560.49
% of gross pay going to taxes: 19.5%
% of income going towards loan payments: 7.86% gross, 9.87% net
% of income going towards savings: 68.56% gross, 86.10% net
days worked: 16
Maybe I should do a pie graph next time. My living expenses are artificially depressed, that's just the way my life is right now. I still need to go out and get a bus pass but as of right now that's how this month falls. That changes my spending figures quite a bit, it doesn't change that I'm saving fairly substantial amounts of my net income. Anyway, wow I pay a lot of taxes. I knew it was big, but it's different when it's staring me in the face. My marginal tax rate is roughly 30% last I checked, though I always thought that basic exemptions made more of an impact. Student loan payments are very low and manageable, I am not loosing any sleep over them.
Well, big thing in my life right now, I'm bitter, depressed and angry. Goal for February is to find a new property manager for the shopping plaza. I don't have a personal goal. The search for personal happiness is probably one of the most destructive things that one can take up. It feels like something I need to do though. I'm not sure what I'll find, but I'm not sure I can really move on without it.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Things I'm putting off
I'm putting off spending money on a lot of things, some of them more important than others.
New sweat pants
A cloak or parts to make one
Auxiliary camera
Shoes
Steel toed boots
New monitor
Not sure what else I want. For now, I have sweat pants. The waist is worn on one pair and there's a few rips around the ankles of another pair and I have one good pair. I'm expecting that I might want to wear a pair under my other pants when it gets colder.
When it gets colder is what I want a cloak for too. In a moment of eccentricity it dawned on me that I only need my arms out for locking the door and pulling out my bus pass in the winter. I also want to keep my arms closer to my body and preferable under an insulating layer with everything else. Why not shelter my arms from the wind. I haven't quite figured out how to hold it shut yet, or what sort of design to use. Right now I'm thinking of a simple rectangular pattern with a throw blanket, a utility blanket, polytarp and some outer layer for the sake of I don't really want to be going around looking like I'm wearing a tarp.
I'll skip to shoes since it's simple. I've been wearing the same shoes for a long time. They're worn, but still working.
Steel-toed boots simply need to be kept in good condition to be safe. There's a bit of steel showing in mine now. I'm not going to gamble with it, but I'll keep running with them for now, wait till they get a bit more worn.
My monitor is also breaking. From time to time the image will flicker. The image also dies from time to time. Probably going to switch to LCD when it breaks. There's plenty of computers around here anyway so loosing that one isn't much of a burden for me. I can wait a while to get it going again.
I'd like a camera that I can carry around anywhere without worry. Right now, I don't really want to damage my camera. Probably something cheap, a toy camera. There've been two things that I've been looking at, key chain cameras and a wonky waterproof vga camera. Off hand, I'm leaning towards the waterproof. It'll survive where I take it, such as into the dusty factory that I work at. There's no preview screen on it though. Keychain sized cameras have a certain appeal to them too. There's a plethora of other things to choose from too. I suppose ideally, I'd go for something that feels hardened, has a preview screen, and external memory. The last one is the hard one to find. It used to be that preview screens were hard to find on very-low-end cameras but external memory wasn't that scarce. I know I'm not going to find something with everything that I'm looking for. Maybe I'll actually decide to buy something and try it out sometime. Wanted something like this for quite some time now.
New sweat pants
A cloak or parts to make one
Auxiliary camera
Shoes
Steel toed boots
New monitor
Not sure what else I want. For now, I have sweat pants. The waist is worn on one pair and there's a few rips around the ankles of another pair and I have one good pair. I'm expecting that I might want to wear a pair under my other pants when it gets colder.
When it gets colder is what I want a cloak for too. In a moment of eccentricity it dawned on me that I only need my arms out for locking the door and pulling out my bus pass in the winter. I also want to keep my arms closer to my body and preferable under an insulating layer with everything else. Why not shelter my arms from the wind. I haven't quite figured out how to hold it shut yet, or what sort of design to use. Right now I'm thinking of a simple rectangular pattern with a throw blanket, a utility blanket, polytarp and some outer layer for the sake of I don't really want to be going around looking like I'm wearing a tarp.
I'll skip to shoes since it's simple. I've been wearing the same shoes for a long time. They're worn, but still working.
Steel-toed boots simply need to be kept in good condition to be safe. There's a bit of steel showing in mine now. I'm not going to gamble with it, but I'll keep running with them for now, wait till they get a bit more worn.
My monitor is also breaking. From time to time the image will flicker. The image also dies from time to time. Probably going to switch to LCD when it breaks. There's plenty of computers around here anyway so loosing that one isn't much of a burden for me. I can wait a while to get it going again.
I'd like a camera that I can carry around anywhere without worry. Right now, I don't really want to damage my camera. Probably something cheap, a toy camera. There've been two things that I've been looking at, key chain cameras and a wonky waterproof vga camera. Off hand, I'm leaning towards the waterproof. It'll survive where I take it, such as into the dusty factory that I work at. There's no preview screen on it though. Keychain sized cameras have a certain appeal to them too. There's a plethora of other things to choose from too. I suppose ideally, I'd go for something that feels hardened, has a preview screen, and external memory. The last one is the hard one to find. It used to be that preview screens were hard to find on very-low-end cameras but external memory wasn't that scarce. I know I'm not going to find something with everything that I'm looking for. Maybe I'll actually decide to buy something and try it out sometime. Wanted something like this for quite some time now.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Mismerized
Usually, I don't spend money on silly things, but right now a set of gold plated ratchets has my eye. There's actually very little gold on them, so they're not expensive but they still look so pretty. My dad had one, a limited edition one and I thought it was pretty cool. Very tempted to go get a set. $9 for a 1/4, $10 for 3/8 and $13 for 1/2. I want a full set. Heh, at those prices I kind of question their quality, though I don't intend to actually use them. I guess I'll just see if there's anything left by the time I get there since I don't really see myself going to the far ends of the city when I'm working.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Finally Spent Something
Five days into the month and I finally buy something. Well, I bought two things, a slice of pizza and a cup. All together, $3.02. Tomorrow, I have to get groceries so that'll be more spending. I still wonder how often people buy things. Well, I've gone shopping once this month, and I guess I'll just keep counting. It's logged in my pda, but it's not in my computer yet. Oh and to continue with things, today's random number is 1326. I think I've biased the experiment already since I'm directly involved and I've largely bounded my responses already. I could be off completely and not know it.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Starting Two Things This Month
I started two things at the start of this month. One is counting work days. I have now completed two. Also, I just heard a strange study done that suggests taking an average of several guesses done over time is for some reason more accurate than the first guess. So, umm, today I happen to like 995 days till freedom, previous guesses were 1000, and 1500.
The other thing is recording all my transactions. While I haven't done anything yet, I can claim to have met my previous goal of starting at the beginning of this month since I haven't spent any money yet. Might go out and spend some money this weekend. Eyeing a deal on an mp3 player. Mine is from when DRM was marketed as a feature so it has annoying delays while converting whatever proprietary non-sense goes on in there to prevent copying stuff off. I also listen to a lot of audio books and being able to swap out my book so that I can listen to music is a plus and the one that I'm looking at supports external media. Granted, I could just simply carry both players and put music on one and books on the other.
Also, having trouble deciding what to put in my investment portfolio next. There are so many things I want to add, but it has to be spread out till I have enough to justify selling things during rebalancing rather than simply buying other things. Going to start a few scenarios of play money just to help me figure out what I want to get next.
The other thing is recording all my transactions. While I haven't done anything yet, I can claim to have met my previous goal of starting at the beginning of this month since I haven't spent any money yet. Might go out and spend some money this weekend. Eyeing a deal on an mp3 player. Mine is from when DRM was marketed as a feature so it has annoying delays while converting whatever proprietary non-sense goes on in there to prevent copying stuff off. I also listen to a lot of audio books and being able to swap out my book so that I can listen to music is a plus and the one that I'm looking at supports external media. Granted, I could just simply carry both players and put music on one and books on the other.
Also, having trouble deciding what to put in my investment portfolio next. There are so many things I want to add, but it has to be spread out till I have enough to justify selling things during rebalancing rather than simply buying other things. Going to start a few scenarios of play money just to help me figure out what I want to get next.
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