Anyway, I will do a full book review once I am done, but they had an interesting exercise that I wanted to share with you.

The idea is to close your eyes, imagine it’s a Friday morning a few years from now (2 to 5 years from now).  Now think about exactly how you’d want to spend the day, keeping in mind that it is a weekday.  The idea is to plan your perfect day, using the following questions…

(I will show you a glimpse of what my perfect day would be 5 years from now, my answers are in italics)

1. What time do you wake up, and how are you feeling as you greet the day?

I would wake up between 5:30-6am.  Giving myself enough time to get myself ready and start breakfast, before I wake up my husband and kids.

2. Where are you?  If you’re at home, what does it look like?

I am at home.  In an older, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home.  With my parents living either in the garage that they have converted into a home, or in a separate living space on our property.

3. Who is with you?

H is with me, at least 2 kids and foster children.

4. What kind of work are you doing? (if you have no idea what kind of work you’ll be doing or want to be doing, list the qualities you want to find in the work you do and the kind of work environment you want.)

I would be a stay-at-home-mom, foster parent and photographer.  This specific Friday, I would be staying at home, being a mom.

5. As you head out to face the day, how do you look?  What are you wearing?

I look put together.  Clean.  Happy.  Wearing something comfortable.

6. How do you get to work?

Well, since I stay at home, I won’t be going anywhere.  But I will probably drive a mini-van.  Better on gas than an SUV but can still fit everyone comfortably.

7. When you’re done with work, how will you spend you spare time and with whom?  What activities do you enjoy?

I would spend my time with my family.  Activities?  Photography, volunteering at my children’s school or somewhere in the community.  I will love to cook, bake, garden and read.

8. When is your evening like?

I would love to have a tradition that occurs every Friday.  Like we eat homemade pizza together, and then have a family movie night in the living room.  Curling up with blankets and popcorn.  Something that everyone can look forward to throughout the week.

9. When you go to bed that night, how are you feeling after spending the day doing exactly what you love?

I feel happy, content and truly blessed.

10. What are you most grateful for and what are you looking forward to as you go to sleep?

Most grateful that it’s the end of the week and that I get to sleep in because tomorrow, it’s SATURDAY!  Oh, and also grateful for a loving and supportive husband, my beautiful children and the fact I am so close, that I can care for my parents!

The point of this exercise was to get a snapshot of what you want your future to look like. I answered the questions myself first and then I asked them to H.  It really got him thinking of what he wants and what his dreams are.  You know men, sometimes they need a jump start!  Having a clear picture of what your perfect day would include allows you to think about some long-term goals that you want to achieve.  It helps you remember that sometimes going without now will help you reach those goals and really create your perfect day.

I would love to hear your perfect day! Feel free to answer the same questions in the comment section!!

1. What time do you wake up, and how are you feeling as you greet the day?
2. Where are you?  If you’re at home, what does it look like?
3. Who is with you?
4. What kind of work are you doing? (if you have no idea what kind of work you’ll be doing or want to be doing, list the qualities you want to find in the work you do and the kind of work environment you want.)
5. As you head out to face the day, how do you look?  What are you wearing?
6. How do you get to work?
7. When you’re done with work, how will you spend you spare time and with whom?  What activities do you enjoy?
8. When is your evening like?
9. When you go to bed that night, how are you feeling after spending the day doing exactly what you love?
10. What are you most grateful for and what are you looking forward to as you go to sleep?

It seems like every other day they are telling him that he doesn’t have to work the following day.  This week for example, they told him yesterday that they didn’t need him today.  Wednesday is a holiday, so he doesn’t work that day.   And Thursday he might be off as well, but they really didn’t know yet.

How frustrating!!

I am SO thankful for the paper route, which is currently saving us.  But the other people that H works with, who don’t have a second income are barely surviving.  I will be happy if we are able to save any money towards the wedding this month!

Speaking of the paper route, we received our first paycheque on Saturday for our new route.  It came to $1,250!  Which is about $450 more than our old route!  Until the end of the month, the money will be in our bank account, to cover his lost hours.  With whatever I have left over, I will be transferring to the wedding fund.

In the meantime, H is looking for a new (stable) job. But there’s not much out there!

Whenever my parents arrive we end up going out for dinner together and spending the day out of the house.  My parents NEVER let me pay for anything when they are here either.  I always take them out for at least one meal and explain before hand that I am paying.  It’s usually a “oh no, I got it, dear” conversation, until I talk them into allowing me to pay.  And this weekend was no different.

I ended up spending $24 to get my tire repaired (it had a slow leak).  And $32 when H and I took my dad out for breakfast on Saturday.

My dad paid for one dinner out, a couple of coffee’s for us and he pitched in $20 for gas.  He is always so generous!

We had a lot of conversations about money.  Plans about his retirement (he turns 60 this year), how much H and I spend/save each month and how much the wedding is going to cost.  It’s always great to hear his point of view about money, because he is a walking success story!

As we were driving to the airport he leans over and asks…

Dad: “Have you ever watched that show about money, you know the one, where people get themselves into such a deep hole?”

Me: “Uhh… Til Debt Do Us Part?”

Dad: “Yeah, yeah, that’s the one. Man, people are nuts. They just want it all. Never satisfied. Just a slave to their debt”

Me: “I know what you mean! I love that show!” * thinking to myself: maybe I should tell him about the blog * “And you’re right, people ARE nuts!”

It was quite funny.  I never did tell him about the blog.  Not yet anyway!

I will know later today if it’s a sure thing my mom will be coming, they have to ensure they will have no foster children this weekend before she can book the flight.  Otherwise, my dad arrives tomorrow afternoon and then leaves on Saturday.  It’s a short visit, but it will still be great to see him.

They will be staying with H and I in our small apartment; thankfully it’s only a couple of days!

Here are a couple things I need to get done today:

• Vacuum/clean living room
• Return H’s video game
• Make a trip to their condo to clean the bathroom. (the water is shut off, but someone used the toilet during one of the showings!!!! Gross.)
• Pull out air-mattress and bedding from storage
• Develop picture as a gift for my parents

Can’t wait to see them tomorrow.  If I am MIA for a couple of days, you’ll know why!

Weekend Spending:

$16 at Rogers Video. H rented a video game (Forza 3, which he has waited all year for!) and we had $6  in overdue fees from 2 years ago!  Oops.

$3.95 at Tim Horton’s.  Mmm.. French Vanilla’s!

$40 at the grocery store, food (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) for the entire weekend.  When H is home all day throughout the weekend, more food gets consumed.

Monday: $99 at Superstore.  Grocery shopping, which will probably last us until mid next week.

And, that’s all!

We didn’t leave the house all weekend and we haven’t done any eating out.  Which I am very pleased about.  Remember how I mentioned tracking our spending was tedious.  Why is it that when I am not TRYING as hard, it becomes easier?  Silly.

There the condo sat. And kept sitting, until yesterday! 2 years on the market, with only a handful of showings, it finally sold! My parents lowered the asking price to $172,000 a few months back, and accepted the offer yesterday of $165,000.

F.I.N.A.L.L.Y!

Thankfully the condo was paid off in 2005 (when they sold another piece of property), so it’s been sitting empty for the last 2 years and their only payment was the condo building fees.

So the $165,000 is purely profit. What a great feeling that must be!

So, I decided to talk to my mom. My parents  have always done very well, so I knew that whatever they were doing, was working for them. We are going to incorporate their system this month and see how we do.

Here is our budget:

Basically we are going to take out $760 for our variable spending. We are going to divide the amounts between food, gas and everything else into envelopes or jars. The $200 in the ‘everything else’ category will be used for entertainment, clothing/gifts or any other miscellaneous purchases. I think having the 3 categories keeps it simple and will be easier for us. I am not going to write down every single purchase, but once the money is gone, the money is gone.

You will also notice instead of the usual $1,000 towards the wedding fund, we have only budgeted $500 this month. H has been off work a total of 4 days; we are going to see the results of that on his paycheque.

Good luck this month! I sure hope November is much better than October!!

We carved pumpkins.  Mine is on the left, H’s on the right.

And of course baked the pumpkin seeds – mmmm…

We curled up on the couch with some popcorn and watched two movies.  Untraceable and The Dark Knight.  Both we have seen many times, but they’re both really good!

Daily spending: $40 at the grocery store.  I made lasagna for dinner, so I picked up a few ingredients for that and a few things for the rest of our weekend.

Hope your Halloween was a fun and safe one!

So it’s Halloween this weekend.  I’m not big into Halloween and will probably be spending the evening at home with H.  I may rent some scary movies for the occasion and H and I are going to carve some pumpkins on Friday night.  That’s about all the plans we have!

What are you doing for Halloween?