Bored w/ Your Jeans Like I Was?

After going through part of my closet yesterday, I decided to try revamping an old pair of jeans by aging a hole into them - à la Megan Fox at left. I'm not so much into some ripped jeans being worn that look like they were attacked by Freddy, but I do like an aged look and a hole or two is stylish if done correctly.




Tools:

- one pair of old jeans
- one grater
- one pair of scissors

Bascially I just started grating mid-thigh and gradually all the blue fabric came out in fuzz until I was left with a worn white area. Then I stretched it out with my hands and clipped a few threads to open up the hole and show a little skin. The final step was throwing them into the washing machine and once dry, I decided to try folding an ankle cuff like Megan's. I have to say, BIG IMPROVEMENT! I love them but feel like somehow I cheated my no spend day since I ended it with a "new" pair of jeans (even though I didn't spend a dime).

Settling into September

This morning the clouds are hovering in the sky and it looks like it's trying to decide whether or not it's going to rain. After weeks of beautiful summer sunshine, Autumn seems to finally be blowing in.

This is a cozy time of year that makes me crave a warm sweater, scarves and a mug of mushroom soup. It's also time to re-evaluate my wardrobe and see what's going to stay in my closet, be packed away for next summer or be donated to charity. This year, I'm reviewing with an extra watchful eye because I'm on a budget and I can't spend much money on new pieces.

Does anyone ever use About.com? It seems to have an answer for everything... I was on there this morning doing research for a separate subject but came across an article called '10 Ways to Revamp your Clothes for Fall'. Perfect! I thought... better to revamp then repurchase. After reading the article, I don't know if I'm quite crafty enough to sew new life into my old clothes but if I don't get a full time job soon, maybe I'll start experimenting.

Tuesday = no spend day today!

Blew My No Spend Day

Boourns. I blew my no spend day today. Even though I forgot my lunch this morning - ok, rushed out of the house in a late panic is a better description - I ended up being treated by a business associate and internally was thrilled that I didn't have to buy food (my pet peeve!).

However, the $14.00 that I did end up spending later this evening was sooooo worth it. I'm totally lonely right now because S is in Europe for two weeks for some lectures for his MBA. He's doing it by correspondence but he is required to take one trip to the university during his program and that time is now. Wow, it's only been a week but it feels like FOREVER and I miss him constantly. I consider myself a pretty independent woman but this sucks. This really sucks. This really, really sucks. Did I mention that this sucks? Anyway, the $14 that I spent was on some Skype credit since I missed his calls earlier. It was so good to speak to him, I love that man!

Skype, btw, is something I'm going to start using more of. Right now I have a long distance plan that gives me unlimited calls in Canada for $6.77/month (Comwave). It costs just under 3 cents/minute to call within Canada on Skype so that's equivalent to 225 minutes on Comwave or 3.76 hours per month. I'm not a big phone talker to be honest so I'd probably save money if I switched to Skype. The Comwave fee is automatically charged to my Visa every month and that irritates me anyway since I'm trying hard to pay it off.

Lower Prime Rate

All those who are fiscally responsible with investments were probably not too pleased to see that the Bank of Canada had dropped it's prime rate by another .25%, bringing it to 2.25%. However, for those like me with a negative net worth, this announcement last week made our day.

All of my debts are floating and so a lower prime rate, means lower interest payments. In my case, .25% is marginal but every penny counts!

Here are my new and improved interest rates -

Visa #2, Prime + 6.9% = 9.15%

Line of Credit, Prime + 5.75% = 8%

Student Loan, Prime + 2.5% = 4.75%

Some banks are increasing interest rates on lines of credit but (knock on wood), this hasn't happenned to me yet. It seems pretty unethical to raise interest rates on lines of credit but I guess ethics isn't the strong point of the banks these days. If you haven't had a chance yet, listen to Juan Enriquez the chair and CEO of Biotechonomy, a research and investment firm helping to fund new genomics firms, speak about the economy and our economic & technological future. Really Citibank? You loaned 47x the amount of cash you had? They say payback is a bitch but in this case, it was obviously leverage.

IT'S PAY DAY TOMORROW!!

Just wanted to throw that out there :)

Today's bank account balance: $59.26

Tonight (if S has a new work laptop he brings home) I'm going to sit down and figure out what a no spend pay period would look like. Lately I've been reading Carrie on the Cheap and came across Carrie's 10 Baby Step to Financial Freedom which I found very helpful, especially Baby Step #1 Write It Down which is about doing a budget for the whole year.

Although I haven't done this in it's entirety yet, I do plan to. I've got some big bills coming up this year including another plane ticket back to BC for one of my best friends wedding and one to Scotland for my brother's wedding. I had not even considered starting saving for my next plane ticket to BC since it's not until August but that's only 7 pay periods away! Thanks to Carrie from Kansas City, I'm on it.

Officially Frugal

What a hectic week, I've barely had time to update my blog.

This morning I did something for the first time that in my opinion, was the final confirmation of my new frugal status. What was such a milestone?

I hand-washed a zip lock bag.

Yup, that's it! In one thrifty move, my zippy was washed and back in the drawer. Sticking it to the man, frugal styles.

Thankfully, I got my transit expenses back this week and now they're safely in my savings account so I don't short myself next month. Other than that, my budget is in excellent shape this period.

This weekend S and I were talking about going canoeing & camping in Algonquin park. We were thinking it might be a little chilly but I was going to rent a super warm sleeping bag. Anyway, S calls to rent the canoe and the guy says that sure we can rent a canoe! Except for one small problem - there's 6 inches of ice on the lake. So, S & Allie from Vancouver potentially could have been sitting in a canoe trying to paddle on a frozen lake this weekend. Hmmm, Veto!

Happy long weekend everyone :)

An Apple A Day...

Today I called my cell phone provider and substantially discounted my plan. My cell phone battery is more or less dead and has to be plugged in in order to work anyway and so I never carry it with me.  I could just get a new battery but the new frugal me doesn't want to bother since my contract runs out in a few months. I also have a work Blackberry so it's not like I'm cell phoneless. 

On the topic of saving money on phone bills, I am loving the new *Google Directory Assistance* service. Doesn't the typical $1.50 charge drive you bonkers? But sometimes you get stuck and need to look up a number. Thanks to Google, the monthly frustration when you get your bill is gone because Google directory assistance is FREE!

Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 for directory info from Google (GOOG = 4664). You can also text a name, city and prov/state to GOOGL (46645) and get the digits back via text - which is bonus if you have an unlimited texting plan.

Woot, Woot!