Stupid Rogers

I hate rogers! What I hate even more is their customer service. They basically called me a liar because some moron documented something that he had not told me on my account & basically said that well it's documented so they have no obligations.

Well there's an easy solution and that is that I go back to my old plan. That would make logical sense but apparently the plan I was on no longer exists so once again there's nothing they can do.

Why in the world would I switch to a plan where I pay more than I do right now? Why?

To make things worse, when I said I wanted to cancel they basically said well you renewed your contract when you moved to the new plan and somehow have to pay $400 as an early cancellation fee! I can't wait for more low cost alternatives like Koodo to start entering the space. I have no loyalty to rogers whatsoever & will jump ship as soon as I see something cheaper.

Rogers if you read this....bite me!

Jan Spending Recap

My budget, spending & sad explanations of why things went the way they did.

• Clothes & Beauty: Budgeted $30, Net Spend: $2. I actually spent around $22 but returned a top I bought on boxing day for about $20 canceling out most of the purchases made here.
  
• Eating out: Budgeted $100, Spent $111. I knew this would be hard to maintain & sure enough, I spent $111 for Jan. I didn't have anything out of the ordinary, it was a normal month of eating out w/ friends.
  
• Entertainment: Budgeted $50, Spent: $16. I originally had more here but the bf paid for a show I went to earlier & so I removed that. Even though it cost $35 for my ticket, I didn't pay for it. How do you & your significant other pay? We have a laissez-faire approach where I pay once & he pays the next kinda hoping that it evens out at the end of the day.
  
• Gas: Budgeted $150, Spent $109. Wohoo!
  
• Groceries: Budgeted $100, Spent $104. Pretty close to what I had budgeted so no complaints despite going slightly over.
• Misc: Budgeted: $50, Spent: $10. I originally put in a gift I had purchased, in this category for $56. After lots of thinking I decided that gifts should be something separate and not part of the monthly budget. My reasoning is that gifts are something I don't expect to buy every month. Also I have my brothers wedding to attend to and I plan on spending a few hundred on that. I don't want to limit myself or try to stick w/ a budget for that one. It's my brother and I want to get him something thoughtful with butterflies & rainbows & don't want oh, you're blowing your budget thoughts in the back of my mind.
• Total Budgeted: $480, Total Spent: $352
  

Overall under budget but over budget in the food area. I guess I am a girl that loves her food as the two areas I went over in was eating out and groceries.

For February, the budgets the same but I am going to up my Eating Out bucket to $130 and bring my Misc down to $20.

PC Financial Lowers Interest Rates!

I can't believe that PC Financial has lowered it's interest rate on its savings account all the way down to 2.25%! Sucks balls if you ask me. When I first signed up several years ago, it was 4%. Now it's withered down to 2.25% & what's even worse is that their TFSA which I signed up for in Jan was 3%. Now it's gone down in less than a month to 2.55%. Sounds a little like bait & switch if you ask me. & I am sure going lower is only a matter of months.

What really bothers me is not that they're lowering their interest rates. All banks are. It's that their interest rate is almost the same as other major banks. Those banks that have actual physical locations & offer other perks. By banking with PC who are a no frills banking service, I thought I'd enjoy some benefits in the way of higher interest rates for giving up access to tellers and such.

I might have to look at other options.

Things I am looking forward to this weekend

I think me & the bf may try to check out one of the Oscar nominated movies this weekend. I've hardly seen anything that's been nominated. I definately want to see slumdog but the bf has already seen it so I need to find somebody else or play it solo.

Woot! I am going to check out Monsoon this weekend as part of the Winterlicious. Can't wait to eat!

want

I still haven't invested in a good pair of boots since I am not outside enough to justify ~$100 on boots just yet. But water proof is a good idea for when I am shovelling snow & cleaning my car. Yesterday my socks got wet & my toes were almost numb by the time I got in the car.

The tetron boots to the right are more like rain boots without the shinyness & I think semi stylish. Bonus: only $40! Now if only I knew somebody going to the states to purchase this bad boys for me.

Work Life Balace?

I have so much to get done @ work, I am feeling overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that I've been bringing home work to do which I don't like very much. I like that work stays @ work & once I leave it, I do my own thing & try to live life. Lately I feel like all I do is eat, sleep & dream work. Ok maybe that's a little extreme but I certainly think about work in my personal time & how I am going to finish everything on schedule.

Do you guys have a good work life balance? I clearly don't at the moment.

Winterlicious 2009

So I am debating joining my friends for some winterlicious action next week. It's great to be able to eat a 3 course meal for $35 but at the same time, it's still $35. I have to remind myself that scrimping & saving sometimes leads to having no fun. It's hard finding that balance in between.

The months almost over & I didn't go over budget as much as I thought I would in the eating out dept. I am still definately going over but it could've been worse. I think I might up the budget for the next month. Maybe by $20 or $50.

Also I pumped another tank of gas & it came to around $26. The most a tank of gas has cost me this month is $32! I would love for the prices to continue at this rate. I remember easily paying over $50 just a few months ago.