Back to the full time job today

I'm back to my full time job today for 2.5 days then off for New Year's Day and then back to work on the 2nd.

This new job has turned out to be horribly boring where I truly have absolutely no work and I don't really think it has to do with it being the time of year that it currently is. I know that things usually slow down around Xmas but I work for the CFO and our year-end is right around the corner so it is the busiest time of year for the finance department with the budget, business plan and impending audit yet I have absolutely no work. I sit there for eight hours and do nothing. It's horrible and I am regretting accepting this job. I can't even read blogs or do anything on the internet to pass a little time as our office is a cube farm and everyone can see my computer screen.

The NHL team told me before Xmas that they would be making their decision and contacting candidates after the Xmas break. I really don't feel that that is going to be good news. Who knows what is going on with them internally right now but I really think they would have offered it to me by now if they were going to.

With regard to my Tim Horton's RAOK from Saturday morning, the car behind me in the drive-thru had an order of just over $5 so I paid for their order and I hope they Paid it Forward but have no way to know. My boss at my part time job gave me a $15 Tim's GC for Xmas so this really didn't cost me anything and I hope it brightened someone's day.

RAOK/Pay it Forward

Today I plan to a Random Act of Kindness (RAOK). It is very rare that I go through a Timmie's Drive-thru as I really do not like their coffee at all but today on my way to work I think I will go though and get a tea and pay for the person behind me. I love the idea of doing this and adding a little bright spot to someone else's day. Now, if they've ordered much more than a few dollars worth of stuff I don't think I'll be picking up their tab (I know of someone who did this and the car behind them ordered $17 worth of stuff) but a few dollars worth and I'll get it for them.

Who knows, maybe I'll start a chain and they'll Pay it Forward.

Boxing Day Shopping

I wasn't about to venture into an actual mall today but there is a little strip mall with a Reitman's, Payless, etc, in it right by my house so I did a little bit of Boxing Day shopping today and came home with:

- pair of jeans regular $69.99 30% off @ $48.99 (only had one wearable pair before)
- twin set shell regular $29.99 50% off @ $14.99
- twin set cardigan regular $44.99 50% off @ $22.99
- sweater $19.97

Oy Am I Stuffed!

Christmas Eve was lovely. I hosted and had some family over last night for finger food and presents and it was great. I ended up with a migraine though, which I still had this morning when I woke up so that was not so good.

Today was spent out of town at my cousin's and that was really nice as well. She had a house full and it was very enjoyable. Why I ate dinner tonight at 6:30 I have no idea as I was still full from lunch at 1:30. I guess it was just too good to resist and the saskatoon pie simply was calling my name.

Today was also a successful NSD bringing my total so far to 6 so I'm not sure that I am going to make my goal of 10 but I am going to try.

I think now that I'm back home I am going to change into some comfy clothes, plug in the tree, pop in a DVD and snuggle up on the couch with the cats.

Total NSD: 6

'Tis the Season!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Extra Pay Periods

Given the way the pay periods fall this month and next, there is an extra pay period. So, today it felt really good to put an extra $1,200 onto the LOC.

I used the debt calculator on GVO's website and depending on how prime fluctuates (I am locked in at prime), I will be able to have that LOC paid off in 24 months by making monthly payments of $850. Actually, it could probably be paid off a bit sooner as 2009 is a year with 27 pay periods. This is an anomaly that happens every 11 years and there will be three months (rather than two) this coming year where I will get three pay cheques, January being the first. That is, if I remain at this job where I am on this pay schedule (*still* waiting to hear from the NHL team).

I was making payments of $1,200 but feel good with the $850 figure as it won't leave me strapped for cash due to the pay cut I have now taken and the debt will still be gone in no more than 24 months.

A Significant Pay Cut

So I now have received my second pay cheque for the month from my new job and have a good idea of how much I will be bringing home each month and it is almost $1,000 less than the job I just left. That is pretty significant and I am really going to feel it.

I am going to sit down at Christmas and figure out how much I can realistically put towards my travel fund, emergency fund and retirement savings while still maximizing my debt repayment. I had been putting $1,200 toward my LOC (consumer debt) every month and I am afraid now that that may no longer be possible.

Still have a migraine

Ugh. I still have this darn migraine. I've been getting them a lot again lately - usually have one again now 2 - 3 days each week. It's horrible.

So today I went to the doctor after work and he changed the preventative medication I was on to a new one that has shown great success for migraine sufferers.

Today I spent:

$61.04 on Rx (my 20%)

$28.93 Boston Pizza
This definitely was not essential but because of feeling awful from this migraine and not having slept much all week due to it and also because I got home after 7pm tonight and did not feel like cooking, I got take out. It's enough for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.

Successful NSD

This will be a very short post as I have a migraine and do not feel well at all.

I just wanted to report that today has been a successful NSD.

Total NSDs: 5/10

I Love Free Stuff - printable coupons for free food!!

Some of you may be staying away from Maple Leaf products but I don't feel that there is any real reason to do so. Food is made with batch numbers and different types of food made by one company are not all made at the same place. As such, I have been eating Maple Leaf products for the past few weeks and I'm still kickin'!

Maple Leaf emailed out printable coupons for free food so on the way home from work tonight I stopped and got the following for free:

- Olivieri pasta (spinach and cheese)
- Olivieri sauce (Rose)
- Fresh Entree - Mediterranean chicken somethingorother
- Fresh Entree - chicken & mushroom somethingorother

I think I am going to print more of these coupons and stock up on some more Olivieri pasta and sauce since they freeze well.

They also had coupons for weiners and bread but I don't eat either one (well, bread on the rare occassion but I rarely buy it).

I love free stuff.