Just this past week I found myself starting to do this cycle of waiting all over again to re-start something.  It started out simple enough: I missed 3 days of work outs and when you add this to the 3 days I had missed the previous week, I really wanted to just say “I’ll wait for…”. But thankfully I recognized the cycle and on Sunday, I got my butt out of bed early and went for a run.  Granted it was a slow jog and I didn’t feel nearly as great as I normally would have but I at least did something.  And yes, on Monday, I was a little bit sore as I re-started Insanity week 3 (missed all but 2 days of this workout the previous week) but I feel better already!

With finances, I try very hard to stay in my routine.  If not, I’m afraid I’ll go back to the old ways.  So yes, I might check accounts every day or look at my budget, but I want to stay on top of things.   And last year, I finally started repaying my debt but I started in September.  It at least got me some momentum going and I was able to come up with a loose plan of attack. The “scariest” part was a few months into following my budget and I didn’t write it down to carry with me.  I hadn’t memorized it yet so didn’t realize how much money was for what category-but we spent anyways.  Thankfully we managed to switch some savings around and stay in budget but I did have a moment where I wanted to say I would start again next month.

The point to all of this is I had no real reason to wait.  There is no time like the present to implement a change.  Waiting to start it a few days probably won’t help you out-it might even hinder you farther.

                                                                -Oliver Goldsmith

I love this quote and have some real life experience in knowing that it’s true.

Way back when I was younger, I believe around 10, a family friend took my two brothers and I down to a local swimming hole.  Of course, it being local, a lot of high schoolers were hanging around and doing front flips and back flips…well, a lot of cool flips and twists and dives.  My brothers, both being more coordinated than I am, were able to copy these moves and were diving in no time.  I, on the other hand, stunk.  But I really wanted to do one cool thing-a shallow front dive.   Our family friend showed me how to do it numerous times.

We were there for 5 hours.  I know this because for four and a half hours, I did belly flop after belly flop.   My stomach was bright red from the sheer amount of belly flops.  I was sore and my muscles were aching.  Yet, after every single belly flop, I’d pull myself back up onto the rock and go over in my head one more time what I needed to do. I’d ask the family friend what I needed to correct and watch one of the high school kids do another fancy back twist or whatever.  And I’d try it again.

My brothers kept asking me if I just wanted to quit and go home-they were tired after being in the water for so long but I told them I just really wanted to try “one more time” and I think the family friend recognized my stubbornness-I wasn’t leaving until I did one.  Part of it was stubbornness and part of it was the fact that my younger brothers could do it but I couldn’t.   And then, the stars and moons aligned or my body was just sick of getting hurt or I positioned myself just right or something because after all my times of belly flops, I did a perfect shallow dive.  I came up to everyone cheering for me—apparently I’d been watched after so many times of trying this out.  I was so excited and proud (and sore, don’t forget that!) and knew that I was awesome.

How does this apply to other areas of my life? I’ve “failed” budgeting many times but I seem to be on a roll right now and am glad that I tried it “one more time”.  I’ve failed at my finances but have picked myself back up (for the last time I hope!) and seem to be doing fine.

I try to keep in mind that it doesn’t matter that I failed before-yes it sucks but I’m going to fix it.  The stars and moon will align and I’ll have that moment.

I’ve got some thoughts though and hopefully things will be back to normal! I’ve even got one or two posts in the works—which is a big improvement for me as I was normally typing up something a few hours before I went to sleep.  So a nice little step forward there right?

Weekend reading because I haven’t done one of these in a LONG time:

Average Joe writes about what keeps him inspired.

Over at Enemy of Debt, Travis is interviewed about getting out of debt marathon style.  I loved this post and I wanted to say congrats again to Travis for running a marathon!

Over at Debts and Taxes, a camper loan was paid off! Congrats again-another step to being debt free!

T at Budget and the Beach wants to know what your success looks like.  Go share with her!

Daisy gives some advice on how to save some money when shopping for Christmas.

Jana wants people to write what you know.  I agree-most of the blogs I read are filled with stories of personal instances.  (And as she says, some people who either research extremely well or are trained for it have that exception clause!)

Have a great weekend!

Could I have returned the movie? Yes but honestly, I went in there thinking it was full price.  It was a pleasant surprise to see it marked $5 cheaper and I had the money anyways.  It was more the fact that this is the 3^rd time this has happened to me in the last 3 months.  The first was my Brita Faucet Filter-the advanced models were under the tag for the basic model and were $10 cheaper because of this.   I couldn’t find anything that said “advanced” or whatever on the tag and compared the other tag (with the basic models under that tag) to the cheaper one.  Couldn’t find a difference and as all the models matched, we thought it was a special sale.  It took 15 minutes for the CSM to answer that call and another 5 minutes for her to bring us the “correct” model.  So I took the basic model as I didn’t really care about the differences and mainly just did not want to pay an extra $10.  She even stated that everything was tagged incorrectly but she was fixing it now.  If I hadn’t spent 20 minutes in the store waiting on a response, I might have argued it farther about the fact that the entire shelf was marked and I wanted it for the lesser price.

On the next trip, I found a bag of charcoal for $6.48 which was $2 less than it normally was.  We bought two bags (we go through a lot of charcoal in the summer) and got out to the car before I looked at the receipt.  It was rung up as $8.48 for both bags.  We went back in and the lady was changing the signs to $8.48 and was mentioning to another worker that too many people had caught it and this was the last one.  Remembering the fuss from the last time, I decided to take my $4 loss and go away.

Sadly, out of the four grocery stores in the town that I live in, Wal-Mart is the lowest priced and most convenient for us.  And it’s only most convenient in the fact that it has everything we want in it so I don’t have to make multiple trips.  And I do know that mistakes happen and things get mistagged/priced but I also know that when I was working retail I had to honor certain things.  Entire shelf labeled as one price? Signs hung up wrong? Both of these things were to be honored if a customer brought it up and we could clearly see what they were talking about.  (If I would have found only the advanced model I was holding under the cheaper tag and everything else was the basic model? I’d have assumed a customer put it in the wrong spot and picked up the basic to begin with. Same with the movie.) It doesn’t exactly matter as I’ll still be there shopping this next weekend but I will still be peeved about it.

Car-after buying the stuff to get our oil changed, we need to put money in here again.  I’d like to get this up to $90. (Darn you oil change and antifreeze!)

Efund-I’d like to get this to $375.

Personal-lose 3 pounds and finish Insanity strong. I also have another 5k to run in November so I’m looking forward to that.

Blogging-set up a blogging schedule so that I when I get busy at work, I still have posts done.

After how little I got done in September, I’m looking forward to rocking out October’s goals.   You can see that I don’t have a house fund anymore.  I’m putting aside a little each pay check but it’s no longer as high of a priority as it was.  Mainly due to the fact that we are staying here for another week.

How are  your goals going? I’m only a week late in posting mine

Insanity Update

Week 2 of month 2 is down. I missed 2 workouts near the end because I was feeling run down-but that’s better than getting sick.  I feel much better after some sleep and a stern talking to myself to not let work get to me so much.  Looking forward to these last few weeks and will be starting the week strong.

Medical-Get this fund to $85 and schedule him an appointment. Fail.  This would have been partially done but had to buy cat flea meds.  And yeah, an appointment…..

Car: $90. Pass. Just barely but passed!

Efund: I’m going to hope to get it to $400 but I think it’s more going to be only increasing by $10. Failish? I did increase it by $10 though.

House fund: I’d like to get this to $250. Pass.  Even though I stopped this midway through the month.

Personal: lose another 3 pounds. Fail! But I did lose 1 pound. However, my clothes are fitting much better and I need a belt for my pants now.

I don’t want to talk about it.  Okay I will.  I need the fiancé to be onboard for getting his teeth cleaned and he really hates the dentist.  I’m trying hard to not push this issue but eventually he’ll get it done.  Maybe if I stop making it a goal?  The efund is hard as we had so little extra money but I’m at least contributing to it and it will get there, eventually.  The struggle will be worth it!

Has the house fund turned into our mini efund? Yes and no.  We aren’t going to touch it for as long as we can and maybe eventually it will be incorporated into our efund but for right now, it’s staying where it is.

As for the weight loss? I don’t know what’s going on.  I can’t get under 150.  I’ve cut calories, cut a lot of junk out of my diet and have been working out like mad—but I’m stuck.  As stated though, clothes are fitting nicer and I’m looking a lot more toned.  Maybe next month.

As for October’s goals? I haven’t thought of them yet-too busy and have a lot on my mind at this moment.   But I’ll have them for you on Monday! (I know, extremely fascinating stuff and you can’t wait J )

*Editor’s note: Thanks to Cat for helping me out! And uh….that’s my recomendation for being run down.  Take guest posts But seriously, make sure to go visit her site!*

Ever since Labour day, folks seem to be run down – fatigue, cold, flu, sinus infections – you name it. I don’t know if it’s the realization that summer is over, or the change in weather, or just back to school, but it seems like everyone is getting sick.

I haven’t been too bad, but I have had the odd sore throat and the sniffles (don’t know if it’s a cold or allergies). Here are some ways to deal with being sick without breaking the bank.

1. Stay hydrated. Yup. Just drink water. Doesn’t need to be bottled water, coconut water, vitamin water, or any of that other fancy stuff. Just drink lots of water – I always feel better when I’m hydrated.
2. For a sore throat – gargle with salt water.   I find it helps cut down on infection and it really does the trick when my throat feels raw. I try to do it in the morning and before I go to bed.
3. Tea is also great for a sore throat – or some lemon juice and honey. Even just plain hot water can sometimes do the trick if that’s all you have. To save on costs, stock up on tea bags, or hope that your workplace is nice like mine, and supplies options like honey lemon tea!
4. Pick up Kleenex when it’s on sale.  I tend to buy Kleenex in bulk. For work, I buy just plain Kleenex, as I also use it a napkin, for cleaning my desk,  etc.  For home, sometimes I splurge and get the stuff with the lotion, cause when my nose is red and raw, I really want that extra bit of comfort.
5. Vaseline, or just the generic stuff – petroleum jelly.  I keep a container of it on my desk at work – it’s great for chapped lips. I also apply it under my nose if it gets raw from blowing it.

And a bonus tip – rest! It costs you nothing, and it’s the best thing to do when you’re run down.

What are some cheap and easy tricks you use for dealing with being run down?

Apartment hunting is a pain in the ass. Checking the classifieds daily, weeding out the undesirables, and when I finally find a place that’s in my target neighbourhood at my target price – the place turns out to be a dump. As fun as it is searching for an apartment, the inevitable let down upon viewing ruins everything.

Apartment hunting doesn’t have to be that bad. I’ve learned over the past few years that the main reason I was having a hard time apartment hunting is because I wasn’t going about it in the right way. I was making key mistakes that not only made the whole project more difficult, it made it take longer to execute.

Here are my top tips for apartment hunting:

Check the Season

If you’re a young person living in a university town, looking for a one or two bedroom place, a lot of one year leases are going to end in May or September. This protects the landlords, who don’t want to get caught with an empty apartment for the summer. While the leases may end in May or September, they will be advertised as available long before that. In one particular city that I lived in, May leases started to be advertised in January. To make the best of your options, start looking early.

Make a Short Wish List

Another mistake I was making was that my wish list was way too long and specific. I needed good lighting, an open kitchen, laundry that wasn’t too far away, good sized bedrooms, my own thermostat, etc, etc. How could I possibly expect an apartment to hold up to that? These days, with two pets, my wish list is pretty simple: Good location, access to green space, pet friendly, good landlord, quiet neighbours This is a pretty basic list, because these are things I can’t live without. Everything else is pretty much doable, at least for a short period of time.

Figure Out the Landlord

Probably the single most important thing that will define your renting experience is your landlord. I’ve had bad ones (entering the apartment without notice, without even knocking) and awesome ones (actively helped me hide the fact that I had a cat from the building owners for two years) and I’ve gotta say, I’m a lot more willing to put up with the weird quirks a place has, if the landlord is good. The easiest way to get the truth about a landlord (because he/she will seem awesome while showing the place, the true personality not emerging until the lease is signed) is to interview the tenants.

Interview the Current Tenants

I’m not saying you need to sit down and have an hour long conversation with them, but if they happen to be in the apartment, ask for their email or phone number so that you can start up a dialogue without the land lord present. If they say no, oh well. But if they say yes, they’ll be able to give you the little known facts that may make or break your renting experience. Plus, since they’re leaving, they’ll probably be candid. Are the neighbours super scary or loud in the middle of the night? Does the garbage truck come at six in the morning on Sundays? Is the land lord really evil incarnate? The current tenants will know.

Know Your Rights

Every province has a Tenants Act or some equivalent, detailing the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. Read yours. Knowledge is power after all, and by knowing the ins and outs of your rights as a tenant will help you make sure that you get what you want with minimal fuss. Think the place needs some repairs or a fresh coat of paint before you move in? Your Tenant’s Act will probably stipulate that things like that need to be included in writing, on the lease, before it’s signed.

Following tips like these has allowed me to vastly improve my renting experience over the past few years, to the point where I have no interest in buying a house for awhile. Renting can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience, if you go about it properly.

Everyone has their renting horror stories. I want to hear yours!

Jordann is a part time runner, yogi, local foodie and personal finance aficionado, and a full time marketing professional living and working in Atlantic Canada. She writes about her life at her blog, My Alternate Life.

A little over a year ago, this led to some issues with my health and thankfully it was nothing major-only an ulcer.  First, I was doing a workout program on top of riding a bike to work (no car at the time) and making a quarter above minimum wage at a place with no regular hours-both in shifts and in the amount of hours per week.  Second, we had no real budget or plan-we paid bills to our roommate and made sure we had some food but that was pretty much it, the rest was gone.  So there I am, getting up early to do a workout with poor nutrition and very little sleep and wondering why instead of feeling stronger, I’m getting weaker.  But I’m also a stubborn person and persevered through it, plus the workouts helped relieve the stress of being broke. Not my brightest decision.

Due to the way my body was aching and me skipping lunches at work (I needed as much time as possible and would rather not eat if it meant getting an extra half hour.  These added up as this place would start to send people home if it wasn’t busy so I needed all the hours I could get.), I started to take ibuprofen to counteract the headaches and soreness.  Funny thing-I couldn’t take them with milk as my stomach would get upset.  So I took them with water on an empty stomach and kept it up for a few weeks.  Woops.

Sure enough, I started to have really bad stomach pains-these blinding, ripping, stabbing pains.  I went to the ER and finally to a clinic (they worked with people with no medical insurance) where they finally got me on medicine and calmed down the raging stomach issue.  The bad part? It took 2 and a half weeks to get this figured out so I ended up missing a lot of work-or rather, was sent home from work a lot and add the small paychecks to the medical bills and my normal bills? Ugh.  That did not help my stomach issues out as the more stressed I became, the worse the pain ended up being. I did get financial assistance for those medical bills though so that’s a plus.

That was one of the reasons I wanted to be out of debt and wanted to have a budget.  I didn’t want the stress of “OH MY GOD!  The electricity is due…but we have no money! How could we forget!?!?!” that I’d been having.  Instead, I like it much better when I get an outrageous bill and can say “hmm, I think that is a mistake and I’ll be calling but if not? It’s budgeted for.”  It’s partially why I tend to overestimate things.   Now that I have that budget and my plan, my ulcer has stopped flaring up and I sleep a lot better.  Oh, I still worry but I can open my computer and look at the pretty budget.  My insomnia, while not going away, is much better than it was previously.

What did having an ulcer due in the long-term? I can’t take anything with an NSAID in it without my stomach cramping in pain, I cannot eat as much of the spicy food that I love as I used to or have it as hot as I liked and I have to make sure that I have medicine on hand in case it flares up.  Not fun at all.  But it was also that nice kick to the butt to get a budget in place.  While I would never wish an ulcer on someone, at least *some* good came out of it. And thankfully, I didn’t need surgery!