February Wrap Up

I did pretty darn good this month! I managed to save a lot of money. It was a tight month - with very little left over but that's OK. I wanted a hair cut and color but I didn't have the money. It usually costs me almost 150$ to cut and color my hair. (hair cuts are pricey in a big city). So hopefully I can do this in March, if not I will get a hair cut but pass on the color.

This month I also lowered my Internet\Home phone bill.Saving an additional 30$ a month. Not too shabby.

Goals for March:
Splurge on a hair cut (color?)
Continue to hit the gym 2-3 x per week
Update my resume ( I never did it in February)
Meet all my savings goals.
Do my taxes (I've settled on ufile)
Find creative, affordable but meaningful birthday gifts (3 this month alone!)
I won't buy any coffee\drinks this month (!)
...

more to come..

Tax Software and other stuff

I am going to do my own taxes this year. I've always had other people to my taxes for me. I have a friend who does them professionally and always offers to do them. I pay for their servics - although it's never very much. I've never been comfortable with this because I don't like the idea of them knowing everything about my finances. So this year I am going to do them myself. I'm a little weary but I think I'll be OK. I do need to start researching different tax software programs. Luckily I've come across a couple blogs that are covering this subject - so today will be a reading day to try to figure it out.

I've been doing pretty good on the spending front this month so far with one exception. Due to poor planning we ended up spending a lot more than we needed to on Vday. We had non-related plans on Vday but we decided at the last minute to squeeze in a dinner. We ended up a restaurant and we both chose the "winterlicious" special. 3 courses for 25$. Of course they charged us for the extra side of bread and refill on our drinks. We ended up spending 80$ for a meal that we rushed through because we had to rush off to another appointment. It wasn't very enjoyable and we both regretted it immediately.

Plus I was saving some of that money for a hair cut and color this month. Oh well it wouldn't have been so bad if you we could have actually sat back and enjoyed the food. Lesson learned.

On another note my pattern of saying i'll do things, planning on doing things and NOT actually doing them has reared it's ugly head. So today I will DO the following:

research and choose a tax software program
Gather all my tax papers and see what I am missing.
Do 45 minutes of Yoga
Plan my meals for this week, go grocery shopping and do some cooking. I will eat out once this week but it will be for a colleague's going away lunch. I will bring a lot of snacks that day so I don't overspend. (That reminds me I spent 8$ of lattes this month) Starbucks has a tea latte special that I took advantage of - or rather it ook advantage of my pocket book -