Self Restraint

I was @ Old Navy yesterday & they have an amazing deal going on. 50% off already reduced items. The BF got 2 shirts @ $2.74 each! How amazing is that? The ladies section had sweaters for $10 & under with the deal. I was this close to getting one. So close that I had picked it out, gotten my size & even the colour I wanted. Then after thinking about it, realized I really don't need another generic sweater in my closet. I asked myself the question whether I'd want it had it been regular price. The answer was no. With that in mind, I got nothing. Yay me!

2008 American Express Gold Card Cashback

So I was one of the people that signed up for this card in December 2007. It was available to the public for a brief period of time. Maybe a few months? Word on the street is, it is no longer available to newbies.

It came at a perfect time for me. My primary card till then was the Citi Drivers Edge card which gives you 2% cash back towards the purchase of a car. I had just purchased a car & am planning on driving it till it can drive no more. As a result, racking up 2% towards another car didn't make sense for me since you can only carry over 5 years worth of cashback. I downgraded to the Citi Enrich mastercard that gives you 1% cashback but in the mean time was looking around for something else.

After lots of searching & reading reviews, I came across the Amex Gold Card on RedFalgDeals which has up to 2% cash back. Key word is up to. It's a tiered card where you get 0.5% on the first $2,500 spent, 1% back on the next $2,500 and 2% back on anything beyond $5000 spent! Sweet! When you work it out, you need to spend over $6250 for it to be better than a 1% cashback card. With Amex not being accepted every where, I was a little hesitant but I was sure I would spend the break even $6250 and decided to give it a go.

Well it's been a year since I've had the card & I've charged $11436 on the card! Almost double what I needed to break even with the Citi Enrich card. I do however maximize the Amex card in every way I can. I put every little thing on it, including bills. I also paid for trips, including somebody elses since we were purchasing it together. I was also pleasantly surprised that one of my misconceptions that Amex isn't accepted everywhere was incorrect. In my experience, about 90% of the places I visit accept Amex. Food Basics my local grocery store however was not one of them. If they did, I'd probably have easily put another $1000 on the card for the year.

The other good thing about the card, is they give you the cash via a credit to your bill as opposed to chq. I feel like when I get a chq, I have extra money that I hadn't budgeted for and should therefore spend it frivolously. My 2008 cashback via the Amex card *drumroll please* was a whopping $166! Almost $50 more than what I'd have gotten with the Citi Enrich card. For spending as normal, it's a great bonus.

Keeping up with the Jones

Or in my case, perhaps I should call it 'the Jackies'. There is a girl @ work, same age as me & same position yet we are worlds apart financially & I shouldn't but I am definitely a little envious. Her parents bought her a house and she practically wears designer everything. Almost every single day! & lots of it! Meaning she has a full wardrobe of this stuff as opposed to one or designer piece that she just wears often.

Me on the other hand would love a house but can't afford the down payment. I also have a few (very few) expensive pieces but no where near the level that she does. I know I shouldn't compare as we have totally different circumstances. I am paying for myself & she is not but it's hard sitting across the table looking @ her when you are the same age.

I am definitely happy where I am financially. No debt, having some savings & a steady income is something but I can't help but wonder what it'd be like in her shoes to not worry about saving & spending extravagantly.

Damn being human....

Earn Air Miles for searching

I found this deal via smartcanucks but air miles now offers points for doing searches using their toolbar. Their toolbar uses yahoo! for results. Uh hello, there are still people out there that don't use google? Well apparently but you get 5 points for 50 searches up to a max of 30 points per month. Considering how long it normally takes to rack up these points, I signed up for when I have time to kill & search using an inferior search engine.

I suspect Air Miles is doing this so they can track more consumer information. I for one don't have a problem with it, so the toolbar is now part of my browser.

Progress made...

Did my one hour workout for the week! huzzah! Let's see how long I can keep up. I also ate some bbq ruffle chips for a good 5 mins straight. Baby steps, baby steps.

This weekend, I was able to go through stacks of bills & receipts & whatnot & dwindle it down to things I need to keep. Things I am keeping are banking agreements, warranties & 1 year worth of pay stubs. I do online banking but for some reason citi still wants to send me bills. No point in me holding on to them so to the shredding pile they went. So in my room in the corner is a stack of bills for shredding. It's not a humongous pile but a pile none the less.

Even thought it's embarrassing, I took pictures of all my lotions & whatnot over the weekend. One of my challenges for this year is to only buy things once I am down to my last bottle. I think I have some sort of condition but I'd like to put the pictures up so I can look back & laugh @ what a crazy lunatic I once was.

In the mood for boots

I've been debating spending obese amounts of money on a pair of boots that will keep me warm. I have the stylish ones that I look good in but do nothing for my dainty toes when I am outside for hours. I have a couple in mind but can't justify spending ~$100 & don't want Uggs. I am not an Uggs girl. If I see a good sale on any of these, I am there....also almost half of my 2009 clothes & beauty budget will be blown but that's a different story.

Columbia Sportswear Women's Maci Tall Boot @ $105

North Face Women's Haily Boot @ $160

Timeberland Women's Hollace Tall Boot @ $100

Hey, where'd these guys come from? They look so hot that it almost makes freezing your toes worth it.

Reciepts, bills & pay stubs oh my

My rooms gotten messy. A little past messy. Clothes on the floor, bills scattered around. I find that when my rooms organized I feel better about myself. Maybe I have some sort of undiagnosed issue but it's true.

I have bills in my room from 2006! Do I still need to hold on to them? My dad would keep his bills for years & would always yell @ me when I threw things out. I used to toss bills once I saw that my payments were credited online. I never keep a balance so didn't see the need but perhaps my dads constant yelling got to me & now I have a bag full of bills.

Armed with a shredder in hand, here's what I am going to follow as I sort things out.

• Bills - 3 months of history (not sure why when I can see almost a year of history online. Always good to have a backup though in case of any glitches I suppose)
  
• Receipts - I toss once I see it on my statement unless off course it's a big purchase or something I might return. I check my credit card balances online @least once a week.
  
• Pay stubs - here's where I am confused. I am not sure how much history of this I am supposed to keep. I have not tossed a single one out since I started working...so have almost 2 years worth scattered here & there. When's a good time to toss these? Good old google has failed me & given me various answers.
• Agreements - I have little booklets for the credit card agreement, my banking account & things like that. Things I've never referenced since I got them but at the same time, documents I feel I should hold onto. I think I'll keep these guys around as annoying as they are.
• Warranties & how to use booklets - Another annoying thing that I hardly use but take up space & hard to find when you do need it. Similar to before, they don't see the light of day but I feel like I should keep for some reason.