Kicking off December with 2 No Spend Days

Traditionally, December is a busy time. Winter solstice, Christmas and my birthday. This year, I'll take it easy and slow. Christmas is probably my favorite season of the year but I'll look at it differently this year. This is not to say I'm anti-Xmas, not at all. I merely made a decision not to have a "fancy" time.

The main activities would be family winter solstice dinner, another family lunch (broken into small groups after the nasty rows we had, we won't be seeing each other in a big group this year), a relaxing birthday meal, and turning a blind eye on the sales frenzy. Oh and maybe a meal with some uni friends, but that'd just be an one-off thing and no major revelry. They're the bunch I went to the weekend getaway with, I have decided that I won't join their weekend getaway (traveling) anymore but a meal somewhere for a few hours locally is OK and still fun to do.

Most families here don't really celebrate Christmas, so you'd notice there's nothing Christmas-themed in the above; instead they are related to winter solstice. I'd like to point out that this has more to do with culture and history and the older generation. 

A lot of thinking has been going on with regards to 2015 goals, am still considering how to categorize and lay them out nicely here. But the keyword is: SAVE. Not buy. I'd be putting up a progress bar on the blog shortly, I will be track my spending, while saving towards a down payment. It won't happen next year, but it'll happen eventually so we're talking about saving for 2-3 years. The figure I'm after may look quite high but when you factor in the home decor, furniture, brokerage and closing fees, relocation fees etc, a larger picture will emerge. In fact coming to think of it, I might be underestimating the current figure...*palm slaps forehead*

Notice I said saving for down payment, not wedding banquet. That's because we both believe in a simple, beautiful but no-frills wedding.

To help me stay on track and make real progress, I'd also be posting the monthly / weekly goals from now on, now a revisit of last week's goals:

- Return merchandise to 2 retailers Done. Already had 1 reimbursed but waiting for the other.

- Visit to the doc  Done, but another visit to doc is needed, I think the cold still haven't left me

- Call up the clinic where I had blood test last week to see if the results came yet Yes, the results said negative. Need to look for another doctor.

- Track recent purchases with cashback site Done.

- Cash out amount from cashback site Done. 

- Donate purged clothing items during weekend Done. Although not donated, but sold. For a penny.

- Fix dinner dates with a school friend who lives nearby Will be rescheduled until later. I talked her into trying a restaurant that has a BOGOF offer, looking forward to it! This place is near where we both live so I did my best to make dining-out frugal!
- Go for a walk at the park I think this is a Yes. I didn't walk in the park but I walked 2+ hours (8 subway stops) on weekend...

- Fix brunch date with a uni friend (Yes) fix a tea session with a guy friend on the same day (No, will leave this idea for now), possibly dinner same night with one close relative (Will forget about this one)

- Check with a uni friend to see how her house moving is going No.

- Contact a childhood friend to see how her leg is healing Yes.

- Consolidate a group order (list of items with specifics) for friends and arrange the money transfer Will be done in the coming week.

- Fix a day out with friend to go clothes shopping (I will abstain from this)  Yes. And I managed to squeeze this in after the brunch date with uni friend! So I don't have to spend extra day out and extra commute costs! Win-win!

- Apply hand cream before bed every night Yes

- Apply body lotion/oil after shower every night Mostly Yes.
- Top-up transport stored-value card for December's commute An obvious yes.

Coming week's goals:
- Tidy up room (clothes and shoes)
- Clean the summer shoes and put them away
- Pick up birthday perks/gifts from various stores and cinemas (No spending will be involved)
- Scheduling a farewell lunch for a retiring colleague

- Replacement of new glasses (this one will take a while...still searching for the right pair and it's not easy)

I've had 2 No Spend Days in the first week of December, it requires active consciousness for the most part. Today I'll be visiting a store selling teas with a colleague, I love me some good Pu'er tea! Pu'er tea bags are just miles away from the real thing. I'm not sure how much is a good tea worth, but it's not a necessary. This will be my first venture to a tea store and I have no idea about the prices. If it's worth it I will get a tea cake /biscuit and savor it for a few months, if it costs more than what I had in mind, I'll forgo it. Actually, we had been doing swapping - part of his Pu'er tea for my chocolate drinks/snacks/Earl Grey teas. It'll be fun to visit a tea store in person to sniff at the real leaves! I've never entered a tea store on my own as I'm afraid of getting scammed because all I can read is the labels on the jars (how many years the tea is), but no real knowledge of teas. I can tell by sniffing and drinking it though, if that's any helpful at all.

Hope everyone's getting a good start of December!