Money Updates

I started my first mutual fund. Probably not the best timing, but I put $500 in an ING MF. So far it has gone DOWN $7 ugh.

I added $750 to my TFSA. Which put me way over the $5000 limit of this year, but because I hadn't maxed out my TFSA in previous years I am still in the clear. This ALSO makes me proud to say that I have completely maxed out my TFSA! I've been able to contribute $15000 to it since the end of 2009. I think it will be used in the spring to buy a new-to-me car.

I added $300 to the Travel Fund. D and I were talking this weekend about taking a road trip to BC sometime. I would love to drive through Canada and then back through the States. We have a couple of friends and family members that live in BC. I also really want to see the mountains, and he wants to do some snowboarding!

I added $500 to what was my "Computer Fund." Now that I have a new computer it's not really necessary so I think it may turn into a camera fund. Or a start to a fund to be able to help me add more to a TFSA next year. Maybe even a furniture fund. I'm thinking once I buy a car that the TFSA will become a Down Payment Fund.

D and I are still looking for apartments. The pickings are really slim in this area. I went to view and apartment about two weeks ago and it was really nice. In town for $925 plus utitlities. But it had laundry in the apartment, it had a dishwasher and two bedrooms. But it's been rented. There is another place which is 5 minutes from where D works, but an additional 25 minutes out of the way of any of the schools I would teach at. It's an entire house, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and it's being rented from mid-October to May for $700 plus utilities. It's an option we may look at.

Got Burned

Literally.

Today at work the "opener" didn't show up. So I ended up being the first server in which was at the time the restaurant opened. So I started to make the coffee. I put in the grinds and then pressed start but the machine was not heated up enough so I waited and did other jobs. I came back about 10 minutes later and noticed that someone had already made a pot with those grinds. Perfect!

So I look to see if whoever was in before me had grinded up more coffee beans so I could make another pot. We typically have 3 pots going. I looked in the machine and there were coffee grinds in the bowl. Perfect. So I put it in the machine and do some other tasks in the servery.

I then notice that the pot of coffee is overflowing! I pull it out and coffee grinds and hot water start spilling all over my hand. Apparently the person who made the grinds did not put a filter in the bowl. I did not notice this when I put it in the machine.

So I pour out the coffee pot, rinse out all the grinds, I ended up spilling a bunch all over the floor and counter so I clean that up too and then my hand starts to burn like crazy. I put cool water and submerse it for a bit.

I serve a table and think it's manageable. But everytime I go outside in the sun or in the kitchen where it's warm my hand just burns. I continue to serve my table and every once in a while put cool water or a cool cloth on my hand. I also tell my manager, he tells me to be more careful and looks in the first aid kit for burn medication. There wasn't any left so he gets me some neosporin. I continue to work for another half an hour until I had tears in my eyes from the pain and a girl asked me if I was okay.

She got the manager and he told me to take the day off. I gave my table to another girl and went to the clinic in town. He said it was a 1st to 2nd degree burn and there is nothing to do for it just put cool water on it. It took an hour and 45 minutes of waiting for him to tell me that.

Frustrating day. I'm mad at myself for not noticing that someone didn't put a filter in. I am embarrassed I burned myself in the first place. It's a constant pain and I only get a bit of relief when I have something cool on it. Ouch! Kinda glad I have the next two days off.

First Class!!

Went to my first ASL class last night. There were about 10 people in the class, and they all knew one another! They had all taken the previous two courses together but they welcomed me kindly. It seems like a really nice diverse group.

The nicest part is that the teacher (who is Deaf) knew my grandpa. They were friends. She even called my family (using TTY) when she heard about his passing in April. She knows all about my family so it was really nice when she was telling me stories (through sign) about him.

It is three hours every Monday and will continue until December 5th. I'm already looking forward to the next class! I'm really glad I am taking this course.

Taking Time Off

In a couple of weeks D and I are going to take a couple of days off to spend some time together. Our summer schedules didn't mesh well and it feels like we didn't get to spend a ton of time together. I do see him everyday because he lives less than 5 minutes from me but not real quality time.

I was really excited that he suggested this. But.....what to do?

Should we just take some time off to stay in town and have some relaxing time? Or should we actually plan a little staycation? I saw some good deals online for a cheap hotel and dinners in Niagara Falls, or we could go to the city and visit his sister and a couple of my friends. Hmmm.

What do you like to do with your time off?

New Class! Long Weekend Activities

I signed up for a new class. It's American Sign Language 103. It's right in my hometown too! It's actually about a one minute WALK from my house. It's going to be amazing and I'm so excited for it.

It starts on Monday!!
I haven't told the restaurant about this class yet but I can't see them having a big problem with it since it's only going to take up Monday evenings.

This long weekend was just that, LONG! On Friday I took out one of the kids I worked with this summer for a fun day. I took him to the park, and we had lunch at the restaurant I work at, we went to the batting cages, played some mini-putt, and some arcade games where he was able to save up enough coupons to earn two prizes. Then we went out for ice cream and I took him home. It was a bit of an expensive day on my part but it was nice to hang out with him in a different environment. His family is going through a lot at home right now so it was a nice break for him too.

Then Saturday, Sunday and Monday I worked long hours at the restaurant. I was always starving afterward and bought supper for D and I on my way home each night. I need to stop doing that. Tips were pretty good this weekend though so I don't think it's going to be too hard to entirely max out my TFSA now. Woo!

August Spending

August was a pretty busy month! It went by incredibly fast. I worked long weeks, doing two jobs sometimes full-time hours at both. D and I went camping with 3 other couples too. Here's how I did:

Car and Gas (15%) ACTUAL: 7% Had an oil change too
Phone (4%) ACTUAL: 2%
Food (4%) ACTUAL: 1%
Restaurant (4%) ACTUAL: 4% Could have done way better here. Ate out a lot this month.
Personal/Medical (6%) ACTUAL 3% Pills and some teen packs
Clothing (5%) ACTUAL: 5% Bought a couple shirts, a dress for prom, and birkenstock sandals
Gifts (2%) ACTUAL 2% Bought my dad a t-shirt and my mom a zip-up hoodie
Education (2%) ACTUAL 0%
Entertainment (4%) ACTUAL 1% Beer
Everything Else (3%) ACTUAL: 17% EEEK!! This was due to the computer though which I had completely saved up for. Also includes a couple camping items.
TOTAL (48%) ACTUAL 42%!! Not too bad! With a computer purchase in there it's pretty good

TFSA (35%) ACTUAL: 54% Woo!! I'm so happy with this one!
Christmas (5%) ACTUAL: 0% Done with this category now
Computer (3%) 0% I actually removed $500 to pay for a computer. It might become a camera or furniture fund now
RRSP (6%) ACTUAL: 0%
Travel Fund (3%) ACTUAL: 6%

TOTAL (52%) ACTUAL 61% Woo!