Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Aw yeah. Happy anniversary C&M! I loved your wedding.

I noticed that the low-flow showerhead we just bought went on sale this week, so I popped out on lunch for a quick walk to get the difference back. $5 back in my pocket. I’m gonna add that to the total of free money on the sidebar because we were prepared to pay full price but didn’t due to coupon-fu. Also it makes me feel awesome.

This is obvious to most I’m sure but I was reading a book about frugal living and the author pointed out that if you save money on a purchase with a sale or a coupon, you haven’t saved anything until you’ve actually put the extra $$ in the bank. I never thought of it that way before, so if we saved money on a grocery shop, we’d feel free to buy some dessert or whatever. So, no money saved at all. Now, when we get a deal we are trying to mentally add it to the savings goals for the month rather than considering it a license to waste money beyond out budget, which already includes more than adequate allowances and entertainment room.

Also, we now have an envelope system to complement our newly stabilized budget. It lives in the car and each envelope represents a part of our variable spending (oh Gail Vaz-Oxlade, I crush on you). Usually when we buy stuff we’re in or near the car. The receipt goes into the corresponding envelope and the total cost is tallied on the envelope. We stop buying when we hit the limit. Extra goes into savings or is shifted to another envelope. Each month we’ll empty out the receipts, keep the keepers and ditch the ones we don’t need. This is also very helpful for us because we use receipts a lot to return stuff we don’t need or to get the better price when stuff goes on sale, a la low-flow shower head. We used to have a pile of receipts on the floor of the car to kind of keep them around. Rob and I require very clear and very easy systems with very defined boundaries…it’s gotta be obvious where everything goes to both of us or we’ll each try to fake it till we make it, resulting in a hodge-podge. This envelope system fits snugly under the passenger visor. [Aside: does anyone else want to yell “peanut butter sandwiches!” when someone starts out with “a la”?]

We’re on our bikes. We washed the car yesterday and we plan to paint it yellow over the next few days, so we have to keep it parked. Of course this is Rob’s project because I don’t care what colour our car is, but whatever. We’re in it together I guess. But! Awesome side effect is the car is grounded! We got groceries earlier in the week and we are riding to and from work. I love love love the ride to work. It’s beautiful scenery-wise, easy as anything and we save gas money. We use $20/week in gas money when we drive together including occasional extra trips into town for groceries, CDN Tire etc. It’s in no way difficult for us to be on bikes, and it makes us think more efficiently about making trips etc. The less I rely on supermarkets and infrastructure the more empowered I feel. I don’t want to ditch it, just know I’m not destitute if/when service is ever interrupted.


On another note for once:

Oh it’s high 20’s, sunny with a warm breeze today. It’s the kind of weather that I actually thought it was Friday a couple times, since this is what Fridays are supposed to feel like. I got to take a really nice ride around parts of outer Whitehorse that I’ve never seen before, including nice little subdivisions and some really nice views. Some of the nicest vistas overlooking the river valley and mountains are occupied by trailer parks which, from a land developer point of view, could have been used to build expensive condos? Not to say that the trailers aren’t expensive, good lord. There are lots of condos in Whitehorse, and more coming every day. Not sure why. Who are buying all these houses/trailers/condos? My workmate has a theory that it’s a wave of newly divorced. One hopes not!

Otherwise all is well. We both still really enjoy our jobs and we both still really enjoy this town. On our way home around the airport yesterday we both had the same thought that we’ll be sad to go the next time we leave Whitehorse for a visit or whatever. We wish you would all just come to us! Also, I pointed out that in the winter we will probably be very excited to get out, excepting we are very aware of the runway conditions. I take a lot of joy knowing that when we fly we can stroll over across the Alaska Highway and show up 5 minutes later. It’s not a feature I’d look for in a home, but having it is kind of cool. It reassures me that this isn’t a huge town. Incidentally we had the bedroom window open last night and we didn’t notice the planes. Quieter than the bus.

It is now light at 11:30 pm. We still get tired but have to watch the clock because we can forget and think it’s 7pm for like 3 or 4 hours. I believe adjusting the other way will be much more difficult. I guess that’s why there’s SAD lamps, vitamin D pills and discount WestJet flights to Hawaii, right?


Our little community garden plot is coming along well, sort if. Maybe. Some of the seeds are sprouting but not like out neighbour’s plot is. We used older seeds maybe? We forgot to water a few days and burned up our pepper plants. The pepper plants on the balcony are healthy but don’t get as much direct light. Ah well, it’s experimental this season to see what’s what. I hope stuff grows! Rob waters it every day because he’s right there. I still like to check on it though after work. Having the garden and the car parked means we or I will bike into town once a day every day of the week. I really feel that commute will tip the balance and allow me to get fitter faster. My eating is good, (very good generally with occasional very bad = good). So I’m looking forward to that routine too.

Also my cool sister is researching an alternative to laundry detergent (and other soaps in the house)…natural, awesome…I will report back when she’s got an opinion. I’m stuck with homemade for a while, which really is no problem but I’m always on the lookout for improvements.

Much love!