Change of seasons and preparations

It's been a good 12 days since my last check-in. I finally got a small tax refund :) it's a small amount (about US$30 odd dollars) but nevertheless it's nice to have a refund after all. 

The past 12 days had been hectic and frankly the protest news had got me mentally fatigued and I wasn't in the mood to do anything really. I'll catch up with the blog posts I missed and the comments to make. Nowadays I prefer the TV off, it annoys me and upsets me when my mom switches it on. I can't remain calm when I watch the news, and I feel very sorry for the cops who are literally fighting a battle each and every day/night. I care (about what's going on, but every time I watch the news I got upset and terrified by what's going on. Those people are really nuts, and I can't stand to live in such a place anymore. When I have the money, I'll leave. One more reason to save $!

The temperatures have dropped a bit and it was definitely getting cooler. I've made a to-do list to prep for winter and there is just so much to do. Bear in mind that we don't have snow here so it might not be "cold" by each person's standard. Without further ado, here's the list:

1) Reshuffle wardrobe and put the winter pile at the front, summer pile to the back

2) Dig out the winter shoes, booties and tights (for some reason my tights always go "missing" in the mornings, or the wrong ones keep popping up)

3) Purge old clothes, winter coat and donate

4) Clean room with bleach once again (repeat every 3 months)

5) Hang up the curtains in room

6) Stock up on shampoo

Regarding item (3), I had a younger cousin who I gave my old/purged clothes to for the past few years, she's always taken it for "granted" and was reluctant to come to a train station near my home, the pile was heavy each time. She insisted that I meet her up at the train station near HER home, and she was also the one who had a student discount on train fare, and I don't! I got fed up by her attitude and laziness, it seemed to me that she doesn't really "care" for the free clothes, mind you some of them are brand new. I would call her up and asked her to pick up the clothes on a holiday weekend and she would reply reluctantly and keep telling me she's busy (hello she's a student). I don't want to go through this nuisance and suck up her attitude. I would rather bin the pile or donate it, it takes less time and less effort and at least I don't have to deal with her bat-shit. There has been lots of family troubles going on which bothered me personally lately. 

I have a coat in mind which I'll trash it because it got a bit small for me now, and the buttons keep falling off after I stitched them back for a few times during the past several years. Maybe I"ll take it with me next time I travel, and bin it upon return to shed some of the luggage weight. I always do that with the torn and worn undergarments. I've also set my eyes on a few nice coats but I don't think I'll get them (not at full price anyway), there's just too much in my wardrobe already! I'll go through the coats one by one and see which one can stay / go, then we'll see if there's a chance for some new additions.

The current blanket I'm using is not enough for winter and I should really just get a nice warm duvet/quilt but a nice one filled with down will be really, really expensive. Plus there's the storage issue and I"m not sure if I can use it during summer too, will sleep on this and come back to it later? It won't fit in my current budget anytime soon...hmm...

Budget-wise, an overspent have been recorded(!!!). I think I've done pretty good so far up to mid October, spending less than half of the amount for food (up to today) and I did not make unnecessary trips to the supermarket. But I screwed up majorly in the clothes and beauty section. Remember the GAP gym bottoms I mentioned last time? They were not budgeted but it was a 30% off total. The real blow came when I ordered a mini tote with 25% off in an FF sale! Then I snagged 3 shorts on clearance, because when is a better time to buy summer items for next year? Now! I should put a stop to the spending on clothes.

The beauty department was where the major overspent appeared. I came across the rarely-in-stock cotton puffs and stocked up majorly, then I got a nice coffret by paying less than half (thanks to cash coupons). The cotton puffs I'll use up eventually but the coffret is NOT a "need" but a "want" obviously. Then there's the shampoo stock-up. I made an order last minute because the house is running out of shampoo and the order (which has a nice surprise 10% off) will bring 9-10 bottles of them for all of us in the house. That shall last for about a year or more. I'm very pleased with the deal, but I need to budget for this time and again.

Our office will see a colleague departing who is really close with me. This week and the next will be full of social lunch occasions, we're talking about 5-6 of those with different parties but the same colleague!! GAHHH, there's really no way to get away with it but to chip in and pay for her share. So I'll do so. I've re-purposed an item which will be gifted to her, which I'm very proud of, lol. Last week I treated two of my relatives to dinner and it was a good one, albeit it's came around a bit more than I budgeted for - but I'll gladly pay for the time spent together any day.

Next month we'll see a weekend getaway trip with a bunch of friends, and the long overdue haircut shall also happen next month, my hair resembles a stack of dry hay as of late. I hope I can make a bit more from the side-hustles next month, as October has been a bit sluggish in that area. A formal budget review shall come next month too, as the current one is a pilot one made in July which needs some adjustment and tweaking.

Hope everyone has had a good month so far!