Channelling my Inner Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Now that I'm back to being a S.I.N.K. (Single Income No Kids) I want to make sure that I'm budgeting my money properly.

It's rather amazing how much less money I've been spending lately (partially brought on by the fact that I've only recently gotten the majority of my appetite back)... I realized that I was covering a lot of the monthly expenses for two, including the majority of the food purchases, entertainment costs, etc.

I absolutely love Gail Vaz-Ozlade, host of TV shows like 'Til Debt Do Us Part (every edition... the regular, the home and I'm sure the new baby edition that starts next week) and Princess.  She "tackles tough money problems" with signature sarcasm and wit - I really think I'd like her in real life.

I'm trying to channel my inner-Gail by making sure that I am allocating enough money to debt re-payment (which thankfully is down to only a smallish line of credit), and make sure that I have enough money for the day-to-day things that I really like doing.

I want to be able to drink Tim Horton's steeped teas whenever I want, and I like that I can see Canucks hockey games in town (albeit from the cheap seats - I really don't care if I can smell the players).  That means that I have to do without some of the "fluff" in my life.

Like wandering HomeSense and just buying stuff because it's cute.  Cute will be the end of me.

So, I am using mint.com to track my spending.  Because I have unlimited free banking, I plan on using my debit card for most everything.  I will have a set amount of cash that I can take out weekly (or maybe per paycheck) to buy little things, but for the most part I'm able to track my money better if I do everything through my bank card.

Trust me - I am in no way destitute... I make good money and don't have a lot of big expenses or a lot of debt.  But I want to be able to make sure that I can travel at least once a year, and I don't want to accumulate more debt.

It's just another way I can get healthy in my life...