Waiting...

I expected unemployment to hit me much harder than it actually has. That's not to say I'm comfortable, I'm not at ease with the situation at all. If my recent posts are any indication, it's on my mind 24/7. It's been the first thing on my mind every morning I've woken up since then. The whole prospect of being unemployed makes me all creepy crawly. *itch itch* To quote a text from my best friend yesterday:

"Rawr. Get a job. Youre happier when you work."

Yes sir.

All things considered though I've been having a surprisingly decent time since I lost my job. I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that I've been getting enough sleep and spending lots of time with The Boy.

Eh, maybe I'll just chalk it all up to spending time with The Boy ;)

My financial frittering has come to an absolute standstill. I'm not in class anymore, so I don't have the temptation of the University coffee shoppes. If my stomach gets growly at 3pm, I go to the kitchen and make something to eat. Heck, even the Starbucks I had on Thursday was free because the girl at the till felt that the other barista was being snarly and therefore I needed a free drink (score!)

Oh yeah, little heads up from the barista, Starbucks is coming out with coconut syrup this summer. I need a job, because I'm going to be ALL over that sucker. Possibly vanilla bean frappuccinos with hits of coconut. Mmmmm.....

It'll be like a vacation in a cup.

I could go for some vacation in a cup.

What would the drink version of Om Nom Nom be?

Urp Slurp Slurp?

Yeah, I'm waiting for that.

Anyway, I'm off to get a massage before my benefits run out. Have a good day everyone :)

Tracking Coinage

Okay, a little legend for the calendars below:

Green = No Spend Day

Yellow = Spend Day

Red = Used Credit Card

Here's how it went for the month of February:

February - All Spending
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$75.00	$1.25	$0.00	$1.25	$24.00
$0.00	$2.09	$0.00	$2.85	$3.16	$117.15	$13.13
$0.00	$27.37	$199.59	$2.85	$15.24	$1.60	$0.00
$0.00	$3.57	$4.20	$0.00	$1.60	$31.66	$1.25
$0.00	$1.25

*fritter fritter*

*fritter*

*fritter fritter fritter*

You hear that? That's the sound of me frittering away money on a near daily basis buying tea and breakfast items at the university. It occurred to me about half way through the month that I was doing this, so I decided to see what my spending would look like if I took the morning treats out of there. This was the result:

February - Spending, Without Morning Snacks
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$75.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$24.00
$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$115.00	$13.13
$0.00	$25.27	$195.39	$0.00	$12.90	$0.00	$0.00
$0.00	$3.57	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$31.66	$1.25
$0.00	$0.00

Considerably more no spend days!

However, when I totalled it up, my morning breakfasts out added up to about $30.79 over the course of the month. That's just over a dollar a day. I expected it to be much higher than that once I realized how often I was doing it.

Now I'm trying to decide whether this is something I want to stem for the sake of saving a little extra money, or just let slide for the sake of sanity? I know that the *right* answer is to bring my tea and scones from home and put the savings towards my emergency fund; but right now I am feeling a bit of frugal fatigue.

It sucks. Hard.

The savings grace of having this habit at the university is where I can go to get my snack attack breakfast fix. If I was getting a venti chai latte and scone at Starbucks, it would set me back about $8. Grabbing an extra large chai tea and scone at Cram Dunk? Closer to $2.50, $2 if they have day old baking. The tea itself is $1.25.

I have a month and a half until class is done. To be completely honest, I'm probably going to let myself fritter on this in the morning.

Frugal? No.

Sane? Yes.

I'm already crazy enough as it is, I don't need money driving me further down the rabbit hole.

Going A Little Far Don't You Think?

Don't get me wrong, I love my Starbucks, but don't you think you're going a little too far?

http://www.everydaymoney.ca/2011/01/starbucks-adds-whopping-drink-size.html

A 31 fluid ounces of sweetened beverage? 3 ounces shy of 1 liter? Is this really necessary? No, it's not. It's enabling gluttony. Why not just make the people walk out the door with 2 grandes or 4 shorts? They're the same thing!

I've always been a bit miffed by the fact that Starbucks doesn't list it's short beverage prices on the menu. I was right ticked off when I heard they were planning to take the talls off the menu as well. Marketers know full well that people order what they can see, do most people even know that they have a short option?

The problem here is twofold. Larger sizes come at larger prices. Only show people the larger sizes, and more often than not that's what they'll buy. Waistlines get larger and wallets get smaller.

I like the small coffee shop concept of Starbucks. Yes, the charm has taken a considerable hit during it's global hyper-expansion, but it's still there. Competing with McDonalds and 7-11? Come on Starbucks, I'm disappointed in you.

Used

I'm conflicted at the moment.

I had an absolutely great time last night. I went for dinner with a friend at Mongoli Grill (a build your own stir fry place), then went to the season opening Oilers game (hockey for you not in the know. Battle of Alberta - Edmonton vs. Calgary, freaking awesome game). Bought a jersey, had a Starbucks & Baileys, cheered on my team to a fantastic 4-0 win and had a general good time.

... and I feel guilty.

Why? My friend makes loads more money than I do, and he paid for all of it. Well, almost. I paid for my coffee, but he probably would have paid for that too if he had been ordering at the same time. Dinner (business expense, we discussed work), game tickets (family has season tickets) and jersey (he swears it's an early Christmas gift). That's a couple hundred dollars. I know he's SUPER generous with his friends and family, has all of his debts paid off, makes 6+ figures and year and has nothing to do with it but spend it or save it... but I feel guilty accepting it. It's too much, and I don't feel like I can reciprocate. He's seeing someone, and not that kind of guy, so don't even let your mind go down that route. And please don't roll your eyes about "oh, what a terrible problem to have...". It doesn't feel good. Unless I can reciprocate it, I feel like I'm using him. I'm so much more comfortable with our usual Starbucks and farmer's market wandering.

Advice? Anyone?