On Friday I picked up my new iPhone. Oh my goodness. I cannot even begin to explain how amazing it is! I love it so much! And to think that I was going to go with any other phone!
Before I got the new phone H and I had matching Krazr’s. He told me that he didn’t want a smart phone and that he was happy with his Krazr. That was until he experienced the iPhone. Saturday morning he made a few calls and by noon he had his very own! Haha. Unbelievable! So now, we both have matching iPhones. 
How much did they cost? On a 3-year contract with Telus we paid $99 each for an 8gb 3Gs. We went with Telus because they have overall better reception in our area. They have Canadian customer service reps and they were offering the best plan. Another selling point was they have coverage in Saskatchewan, where we might end up in the next 3 years.
We went with a cheap plan that includes “my 10”. Which means we are able to call any 10 numbers for free, nationwide! Because of this amazing plan, we are now going to cancel our landline. The only reason I was keeping the landline was because of the long distance package (for calling our parents).
It will be free for H and I to contact one another, unlimited text messaging (I text a lot) and free to call our parents and other friends we communicate with a lot. H will also be saving money because his boss is always calling him during the day while H is at the shop – so by adding his boss to his “my 10” it’s now free!
I have turned off the cellular data so I won’t go over my 500mg allowance.
This is the first time I have ever bought a cell phone. I usually just get the freebie phone that is offered when signing up for a new contract and then use it for the 3 years and repeat. But I am really happy with it! And happy I made the purchase.
I talked last week about how H and I often stop at 7-11 in the mornings before doing our paper route. My main problem was not only is this incredibly unhealthy, it’s also expensive.
Well this week we only stopped at 7-11 twice. One of those times was this morning. Hello, it’s Friday. Friday means we are extra tired. And we needed wanted some caffeine! And the other time was on Monday, because I forgot that I didn’t want to stop at 7-11 anymore and I wasn’t prepared. So I made sure I ran to the grocery store that day so we wouldn’t run into the same problem come Tuesday.
So 3 out of 5 days ain’t bad!
Next week I hope it’s 4 out of 5.
I also deposited $400 onto some debt! It’s not listed on my sidebar because I totally forgot about it! Between the wedding, the honeymoon and everything else. But we owed money to our strata for a condo levy. I think our strata is out to get us! So many repairs and upgrades done in the last two years! It’s crazy.
One last thing I want to touch on…. Renovation pictures. They’re coming. I promise. We have been crazy busy. Since H is the only manager left, he has tons more on his plate. So he has been working longer hours and more days. I have been having photo sessions like crazy!
With work being crazy it has left us no time to finish unpacking. We STILL have boxes waiting to be donated. And we still have tons of little things to finish. Thankfully we have a long weekend coming up and we will have time to finish everything!
I am totally a hypocrite. I posted a few weeks ago that I couldn’t foresee myself getting a smart phone and how I didn’t want to be connected all the time. And how I enjoyed my simple, old, Krzr.
Well, I am getting a smart phone. Ha! 
Not because I want to be connected for personal reasons. But being connected for business reasons. Right now I have a day planner where I book appointments. I started off using Google Calendar, which I loved. But when I am out and about, I want to have access to my daily schedule. So that’s where my daily planner comes into play. It works, but it doesn’t have all the information I may need.
Yesterday for example, I arrived at a photo session at 2:00pm. And there I sat, until 2:30pm because the family never arrived. I had to call H at work and have him log into my e-mail and find the original e-mail, so he could double check the time and grab her phone number for me. They were late, but of course I thought for some reason I had the wrong time. I usually write down a client’s phone number in my daily planner, but this particular time, I just forgot. Thankfully H was able to check for me and I was able to call her and find out that she was running late and that I wasn’t crazy and I was actually on time. Talk about a bunch of hoops to go through!
At the end of the day, I think a smart phone would be very useful for me. And will help me keep things more organized.
Right now we are pretty much certain on the iPhone. I was going to go with an Andriod phone, because, well, Google. Hello. But my cell phone provider doesn’t have any Andriod phones available.
Today we are going to contact my cell phone provider and see what kind of deal (if any) we can get!
Saturday:
H went into work for some overtime. H comes home from work the only manager left. The day was pretty crazy, but long story short, the other two managers ended up getting fired or quitting, one or the other. All we know is they are no longer employed there. This means H could potentially be the only manager they have or they may hire a replacement. I guess only time will tell. Being the only manager would mean a wage increase for H. But at the same time, a lot more responsibility. But he could hack it! 
I purchased some more camera equipment on Saturday! I got a new lens. I got the 50mm 1.4 for anyone who was wondering. My dream lens is the 70-200 2.8. Hello! $2500! This is the baby I am currently saving up for.
Sunday:
Sunday started off HORRIBLY. My BlueHost account was hacked! Unbelievable hey? One thing I will say, BlueHost customer service is AMAZING. They got me back in and my account locked within an hour. On a Sunday.
I cannot believe I fell for one of those masked hacker e-mails. It was even sent from support {at} bluehost – how crazy is that!? But I am back up and running, so that is good.
In the afternoon H and I went to his work to empty 900 water bottles. I don’t know if you have ever emptied 900 bottles, but my goodness. I actually have 2 blisters! Pretty hardcore! We were able to cash them in and did get $45! Not sure if it was worth it, but it needed to be done. I don’t know how homeless people do it!
It was a good weekend! Now it’s Monday. I am back to answering e-mails, booking photo sessions and waiting for a delivery.
Hope you have a great week!
June was an insane month for me. I was so crazy busy! I took on more photo sessions than I should have. And on top of that, we renovated our condo!
This past weekend I spent hours editing photo sessions and getting myself caught up. I am not where I want to be, so Monday is also going to be a day for me to catch up.
Thankfully this week I only have 1 photo session scheduled. So I can focus on getting my life back in order. I do not do well in chaos!
I ended up picking up a flash on the weekend! I spent $259. Thankfully it was on sale ($30 off). The money came out of some money earned from photo sessions. Now I am ready for the wedding in August!
Do you ever do things you know you shouldn’t? I mean, money wise. We all know that if you buy a coffee regularly it’s going to add up in the long run. It’s been written a million times before, the latte factor. Or whatever you want to call it.
Mindless purchases soon become part of your (sometimes daily) routine. You notice you are stopping every day to get that latte because “you could never survive the entire day without it.”
H and I are guilty of this.
When we wake up in the morning to deliver the paper we want to get every extra minute of sleep we can. The thought of waking up at 2:30am to make breakfast and then leaving at 3am is not appealing at all. I would rather sleep until 2:50am and rush like a mad woman out the door. Which is exactly what we do. But then by the time we drive to the pick up location and pick up the newspapers, it’s now 3:20am. By this time we are awake and realize that we are not going to be done the paper route until around 6am. FOOD. Must get FOOD.
So what is open at 3:20am? I wish Subway were the answer. But it’s not. 7-11 is open, that’s what.
So our nightly tradition is stopping at 7-11 for drinks (usually an energy drink) and a snack. We have had purchased $3.00 yogurt from 7-11 people. For the littlest cup! It’s ridiculous.
This has to stop! It’s unhealthy, it’s expensive and it’s REALLY expensive to do every night.
We started buying our own yogurt cups from the grocery store and bringing those with us – which lasted a week or so. But I think we need more of a variety, like different kinds of snacks.
My goal for the rest of this week is to come up with some snack ideas that we can bring with us in the mornings. Because really, this is just ridiculous!
Now that those renovations are done and over with we can move into July with some new focus. And some new goals!
Our main focus for the rest of 2010 is going to be our credit card debt.
July Goals:
- Put $500 towards our credit card debt
- Purchase equipment (new flash) for the wedding I am photographing in August. I’m not a fan of flash photography and would rather shoot using natural lighting. But, the flash will be necessary for the wedding reception.
- Start blogging again! Now that the wedding is done, the honeymoon is over and the renovations are done. I will have time again to start blogging. I do miss it! And I do notice that I was much more accountable when blogging.
I think that’s a good start. I cannot wait to say goodbye to that credit card debt for good!
Renovations are done. H’s dad is gone and we are slowly putting everything back in its place. What a job that is!
H’s dad arrived last Thursday and worked until last Monday night. All day. Every day. He needed to be back home (which is 10 hours away from us) by Tuesday morning for an important meeting. So, Monday night came and none of the doors were painted. Dust from cutting flooring/doors was everywhere. And garbage was thrown all over the place.
Monday night I just looked around and became very overwhelmed. The mess! The clutter! And so much more work to be done!
Last week I had 4 photo sessions and a bunch of work to catch up on. I didn’t have time to paint! Let alone put the contents of my apartment back in order.
So we did what was necessary to function and left the rest to do in our spare time.
This past weekend we have our bedroom, laundry room and bathroom done. The kitchen, dining room and living room is another story. I hope to get a lot more done this week!
Remember how I said H’s dad quoted around $1,700 for the renovations?
When everything was said and done it cost us over $3,000! Flooring alone was $1,300. I didn’t know what to say or do when things kept adding up. I couldn’t get mad at his dad, because he did all of the labour for free. And really, that is just H’s dad. He is unorganized and is really a last minute kind of guy. But I am thankful that this was not taken out of our budget, but rather the wedding money we received from our parents. I am also very thankful that we saved tons of money on labour costs.
But I think anyone can understand where I am coming from. $3,000 is a huge difference from the $1,700 I thought I was spending!
Pictures coming soon!
Really. Life is just absolutely crazy right now. I am sitting in the corner of my living room, surrounded by boxes and piled furniture as I write this post. The renovations are done, but our apartment is a mess! Thankfully H has tomorrow off and we are going to get everything back in order and everything put back in its place.
Besides my apartment being upside-down. I have no place to work, which means I am behind. I hate being behind. But that will soon change.
I have been horrible at blogging lately. But I have big plans for this blog. A total overhaul is coming very soon! Hopefully I still have readers out there? If I do, thank you for sticking by me as I get through this busy time!
H’s dad will be arriving tomorrow night to start the renovations! We have gone through every room and examined every object in our home. We had to determine what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to donate.
We ended up donating quite a bit. 3 different carloads worth! But it feels good! When it really came down to it – we had a lot of stuff. Such temporary comforts! And temporary comforts we could definitely go without.
Anything we did decide on keeping that was taking up too much room (elliptical machine, book case, books, etc) and we put it all into storage. It’s just temporary until our condo sells, it just makes our space look much bigger and clutter free.
Thursday I plan on spending the majority of the day cooking. I am going to make some food and throw it in the freezer. I know with renovations going on cooking is going to be next to impossible and eating out for that many days in a row does not sound appealing at all.
I cannot wait until the renovations are done! Our condo is going to look so great and modern! Can’t wait to share some before and after pictures with you.
