Okay I will confess to slightly cheating........

As mentioned here, I am going to take part in Carla's January No/Low Spend Challenge.  So I have been stocking up on food items, granted they were on sale.  Bought a few books from Bookcloseouts, again they were on sale, and bought material, once again on sale.  

This material is for a baby quilt; I don't know the sex of the baby, and the mother is not finding out, so figured this was pretty neutral.  There are five flannel fabrics altogether:

Not sure if you remember the stool I bought the other week that needs to be recovered?  I picked up a metre of this material for $6 to recover it with:

It's a heavy weight tapestry and the lady was saying she also uses that material to make bags.

Now I do have a couple of bids in at the charity shop which I guess is spending that doesn't have to be done; but the money does go to a good cause.  Are my excuses making any sense yet?  I am sure I am not the only one who is doing this, am I?

I have been good though in putting my silver change in my sealed pot.  I have also started saving up toonies and loonies in my other pot; I use that money for when gardening season starts.  I am putting $20 away each week in both my Christmas and Birthday pots; and putting $50 away in my other pot, not sure what I am doing with that money just yet.  I know I generally pay for the wood for the fire with that (nearly $900) and any other big things that come up.

I promise though to be good through January and although it won't be a no spend January, it will be a low spend January!!!

My poor hand, and more Christmas shopping...

My right hand is still giving me heck and is sore at the moment, as on Saturday and Monday I painted doors, and door and window trim down the basement.  I need to do another coat of paint on them, so took Tuesday off and will do the final coat today.

Dh mentioned the other day that I need to take the car out every few days otherwise it will seize up.  So decided on Tuesday morning to drive into the big town of Orangeville to do some shopping.  I had to call into the dollar store to pick up a few things.  Then I popped into From the Kitchen to the Table and picked up some Christmas presents, including the pizza stone and paddle which is for "R" & "M" for Christmas.

The book I bought on Bookcloseouts for $11.99 on Amazon it was just over $20.  So that is them finished.

I then discovered a new to me store called Acheson's in Orangeville.  What a feast for the eyes that store was.  It's decorated for Christmas and everywhere you look there is something new to see.  I did get something in there, but can't share with you what I got until next week.  I was very impressed with the customer service in there.  I need to go back with my camera, as you would also enough looking at the things in there.

I decided I would also call in at an independent book store called "Book Lore."  For anyone who reads books this is a book lovers paradise.  I was just browsing on Tuesday but managed to walk out with a cooking magazine and a little book for the new baby.  Their children's section was wonderful and I can see me popping in there on a more regular basis.

The funny thing is I have been past these stores many times but never have been in them.

Talking about books, I am have just started the book called, "A Year of Biblical Womanhood," by Rachel Held Evans.  I will do a post about it when I get it read, so far so good though.

Book Review, and a good deal.....

I got a "good freebie" on Tuesday.  It arrived by Purolator.  It's 96 Keurig cups of coffee.  48 of some Pumpkin Flavour and 48 of  decaffeinated.  One tiny little problem I don't have a Keurig coffee maker.  However dd does and it's at our house along with her other wedding presents!!  So I called her about my predicament and she said I could use her coffee maker.  Isn't dd a trooper!!!

"7 Money Rules for Life," by Mary Hunt

In her warm and encouraging style, financial expert Mary Hunt shows you how to master the essentials to get your money under control and prepare financially for the rest of your life. She shows you how to apply each of the 7 Rules, starting today, as well as how to recover from past financial mistakes. With Mary on your side, you'll learn how to



Spend less than you earn


Save for the future


Give some away


Anticipate your irregular expenses


Tell your money where to go


Manage your credit


Borrow only what you know you can repay


Money mastery isn't hard when you know the rules. Let 7 Money Rules for Life change your future from uncertain to rock-solid--no matter what your income level.


I have to say I am a fan of Mary Hunt's work, so was looking forward to reading and reviewing this book.  In my humble opinion this book is good for those of you who are just realizing you have to do something about the way you spend your money and deal with your debt.

For those of us who have been there and done that and have sort of figured it out, this book would be a refresher of what information you already know and maybe what you have stored in the back of your mind to pull out and use one day.

I do prefer her other books especially "The Cheap-Skate Monthly Money Makeover" by Mary Hunt as that features more personalized stories and situations.

Stars out of 5 : 4 not a bad book, very helpful and worth while buying or borrowing, as even if we think we know it all, we always have room to learn something new.


"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

There is a great deal on at Groupon, $15 for $30 worth of books at BookCloseOuts.com

Great site use it a lot. Good for both Canada and the States, it does bill in US Dollars and for us in Canada, it's shipped out of Southern Ontario and comes really fast.  Not sure if you can use the following with the Groupon, but I do have TWO $7 off codes when you buy $35 worth of books.  Just let me know if you would like one, by leaving me a separate comment with your email address in it, I won't publish it.  First come first served basis.

Bad news, good news..........

Went to get my snow tires put on and an oil change and ended up having to have other things done, which ended up with a bill for $400......what the heck............I am clueless when it comes to anything mechanical.  Made the mechanic talk to dh to explain what he was doing and dh gave him the go ahead.  Could have done without this bill though.

Good news, gas/petrol prices have dropped to $1.149 a litre.  Good news, picked up my dress I wore for the wedding and it only cost me $20 to get it shortened.  Good news my total for grocery shopping this week was $56.18, only used $2 in coupons though.  There wasn't much on sale this week, though I did stock up on cheese.

There was a good sale at the end of November at Book Close Outs, and I bought 12 books for around $35, you can't beat that.  I will of course donate them to the library when I have read them.  Dropped off another couple of books there today.