Odds and Sods

Ugg, so far behind. I just counted. I am 8 posts behind. Well, here's hoping I can bang a couple out tonight!!

So, this post will be devoted to the smaller list items that don't really need their own posts, which are numbers 1, 6, 26 and 28. Here they are, with a brief description of what I did to complete them.

1. Become Financially Mature; This one was tricky, but it was really important to me. My

finances are much better than they were this time last year, but it's something I want to keep working at. I have a budget, but I still need to work on sticking to it better. My savings aren't substantial, but here is why I felt I had done enough to cross this item off. In January I went to the bank and had them consolidate my credit card balance and my loan. I got the loan 2 years ago to buy my car and pay for my laser eye surgery (yes, it was totally worth it). Since I had no collateral and had never had a loan before, my mother had to co-sign. Now, my credit card was a whole other story. I got it in my 4th year of university to help pay tuition, and it originally had a balance of $1200. Without my knowledge or consent, they kept raising my credit limit, and I, stupidly, kept spending it. Eventually it was drastically out of my comfort zone, was constantly at the top of my limit and caused me a great deal of stress. So I consolidated the two, (and all on my own, with no co-signer too!) which actually cost me less per month than I had been paying for the two, and in 3 years (two and a half now!) they will both be paid off in full. I still have the credit card, but the credit limit is a third of what it was. It has never been maxed out and the payments are reasonable. I (for the most part) only use it when I need to. In addition to this, I have opted to keep living with my parents (thanks Mom and Dad!) for a while longer, so my rent is a lot cheaper. I also adjusted my phone bill so I pay almost half what I used to pay. It's a work in progress, but I'm miles ahead of where I was. 

6. See Every Movie I Want to See in Theatres; This one could have cost me a fortune, but luckily, it didn't. Things worked out well for me on this one, because one of the girls I work with started a movie club, and we go almost every Tuesday, which is cheap night! There came a time though where I had to differentiate between the movies I wanted to see and the movies I wanted to see IN THEATRE. I think the goal of this one was to get back to doing the things I loved to do, but had gotten away from while with my ex. He didn't really like going to the movies and was pretty fussy about any movie he watched. I always had a movie in mind to go to with him if he ever agreed to it, but he rarely did, so I missed out on a lot of movies that I really wanted to see. And so I, who used to go to the movies several times a month, rarely went at all. I love going to the movies. It's one of my favourite things. So it was really important to me that I get back into the routine of going to the movies when I want to see something. Luckily, I have lots of friends who love the movies, and 29 does too, so I'm in luck. Success!!

26. Dance More; This one was a lot of fun, and I had a lot of help accomplishing it! Several of my friends had bachelorette parties and wedding receptions where I could shake my groove thing, and I also bought a couple of dance games for my X-Box, and my family and I had countless dance parties. It makes me happy and is great exercise. I'm definitely going to keep going with this!

28. Drink More Water; I love water. It's so refreshing, especially when it's ice cold. So this one wasn't TOO hard, but it did require me to change a few of my habits. I've started taking water to work with me so I'm not tempted to buy pop from the canteen when I get thirsty. I rarely buy juice now, mostly just for smoothies and I almost never drink pop. It's water at restaurants, which also saves money (yay!). My skin has looked much better recently too, which could be due to the increase in my water consumption or to my better skin care regime. Either way, I'm going to keep up with the water. Mmmm...










And that's that!! Only 7 more posts to go now!