Closing up shop

So I am going on vacation for the rest of April. I wish I was organized enough to have scheduled some posts while I am away cuz lordy but I have a lot of stuff I would like to write about. However, I can procrastinate with the best of them and am still scrambling to pack for a flight that's a few hours away.

March Spending Recap

I was determined when this month started to come in under budget but I sucked again. While I went slight over in most categories, it was mostly purchasing makeup online that killed me.

• Clothes & Beauty: Budgeted: $100, Actual Spend: $220. So I upped this category from last month allowing myself to splurge this month. Well I splurged & then some. I also was silly & didn't factor in US Can conversion or duty when ordering online.
• Eating out: Budgeted: $110, Actual Spend: $121. Slightly over. Treated BF to a nice dinner @ a semi fancy place that we've both wanted to check out for a while. We also found that you can bring your own bottle of wine & pay a small corking fee. The restaurant was a nice find & we'll definitely go back once in the future.
  
• Entertainment: Budgeted: $50, Actual Spend: $18. Woo! I am actually under!
• Gas: Budgeted: $100, Actual Spend: $116. Slightly over & pumped gas on the last day of March.
  
• Groceries: Budgeted: $100, Actual Spend: $115.79. Pretty close to budget and I was adventurous this month & tried out two new recipes!
  
• Misc: Budgeted: $20, Actual Spend: $13. Bought some crafting supplies to convert my palletes into a magnetic pallete.
  
• Total Budgeted: $480, Actual Spend: $606.
  

Over by $126. Had I actually met my $100 beauty budget, I'd pretty much be on par.

I don't plan on keeping my budget bars updated for April as I will be away for most of the month & won't have online access most of the time.

Cheap Haircut: Check

So I was looking to get my haircut cheap last week. Well I got it but it was not at Aveda. Aveda is great but it's also downtown & I really didn't want to make the trek downtown just for a haircut & then head back uptown. So I googled hair schools in Toronto & found the International Hair Design Academy located at Yonge & Sheppard. Score, since it's fairly close to work & I just went straight there after work.

I can happily say I had good results. First off, the place is a little ghetto looking, especially if you compare to The Aveda Institute. But hey, I care about the haircut & not the atmosphere. So there I was, didn't have to wait a single minute & was able to get my hair cut right away. The lady cutting my hair spent a good amount of time and did exactly what I wanted & offered her input along the way on what would work best. Score!

The total cost was $13 & I am a happy camper. Would I go there again? If I was looking for a cheap haircut then yes. If I ever find my dream stylist, I would happily pay the extra money. I mean I was happy with my hair cut but at the end of the day if you go to a hairschool, you have to accept that your stylist will eventually graduate and you have to try & find somebody that cuts your hair the way you like it all over again.