Crunching the numbers

So here we are...16th of February!

A quick trip to the budget number reveals that I've spent 78.5% (!!!) of the monthly budget. The remaining days in the month will see me teetering over the edge, and I'll be clutching my wallet very, very tight. There will be a trip to the health practitioner tomorrow and it'll send me right over the budget. 

Previously I made it clear that there won't be any stockpiling purchases this month, but I've made a few slips here and there. I caught the oat biscuits (cheap and tasty) back on shelves again and got two boxes without thought. (Hey they last until December...) With the coming week is major Public Holidays (PH) I should have no problem with 3 NSDs in a row. Next week there will be a banquet (saved for), and an official lunch treat (shared with peers, also saved for) so those won't hurt my monthly budget numbers. But there's another trip to the doc next week, but we shall see.

I'm going to spill the beans about an awesome deal we had on V Day, since me and DB don't want to succumb to paying triple or double prices for poor quality set dinner and such. In the past we've deployed our twisted logic, had our mouths fed in a fast food chain and we can't be happier! Here's why:

(1) no crowds next to us

(2) no need advance booking via phone, no head-wringing moment of "OMG where should we eat at?"

(3) we never like "V Day set menu" prescribed by the restaurant and have the same food as everyone else *BORING*

(4) not dining in a restaurant means we won't be extorted $ (mind you the quality usually goes downhill on fully booked occasions like this, and Xmas)

(5) no pressure to "do what everyone else does", aka a bouquet of flowers and all that sh**

So, what did we have? *cues drumroll*

Our dinner for that night (1 big pizza + 1 baked rice) only costs HK$108, for 2! We could have gone to a fast food chain cheaper than HK$54 per person, sure. But HK$108 for 2 is a major win considering that it's not a fast food chain quality food! (Pizzas do not belong to fast food "menu" where I live.) I had a coupon for a big pizza at $69 versus the usual $149, and since we're *kind of* big eaters, we added a baked rice, it was $45 but the cashier told me the set (same size) is $39 and comes with soup/soda, that's even better! The only downside was that I had to go to the place to order (the place is far away from everywhere else) and self-deliver it home by transit instead of the motorman buzzing it to our doorstep. Sure it took quite a bit of walk and strong arm muscles but hey it's a win-win for everyone! We got our fab deal pizza dinner and can't be happier.

I also booked tickets for DB and I for a short trip somewhere in Easter - it wasn't the prime time for fab travel deals but this period is easiest to allow taking day-offs to make it into a trip. So I guess that'll have to do. Location-wise, it's not where I felt 100% attracted to go but DB really wants to go there so no problems with that. Any travel related costs shall not come under the monthly budget and shall be taken out of another pocket - which I hope will be adequate to fund it...