Zoffix Znet

Studies have shown that people are more likely to stick to their goals, beliefs, and ideas if they write them down, as opposed to just keeping them in their heads. The effect is intensified if other people can read what was written down. Then, I suppose, a good way to get a boost to the chances of achieving a goal is to post it for the whole world to see. This is what this page is all about.

Some of you might recall my earlier article with a similar title. I tried to live on a very limited income and miserably failed. This time it's different. I have more money, for a shorter period, and with a greater prize at the end. I want to buy a keyboard piano and learn how to play it. I wanted one for some time, but never had a chance to get one and a will to learn to play one properly.

Those who personally know me might also know that I've been taking a few pay-day loans recently. Along with getting my piano, if I survive through August without getting any more loans, I'll end this vicious loan cycle, and will stop throwing my money down the drain (the loan costs 20% of the borrowed amount).

So I've counted all my money... including the cents (as the title of the page suggests), and I'm on this great mission. The toughest part will be the first two weeks, actually. I have only $135 for that period, the rest of the money will come on August 15; but the way I see it, past that date, it will be all downhill.

Now, all my bills are paid off. The money is just for gas, food, and unforseen expenses. Doesn't sound too bad, but I drive a lot, and my gas tank is almost empty right now.

Oh well, on with the fun :)

Not much to say, it's a long weekend, and I have lots of things to do at home. Didn't have to drive anywhere, which is great.

Food For The Day

• Fried potatoes with some smoked sausages
• Pancakes

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $0^.00; 0% of total) Time progress: 3%.

Well, here comes a heavy blow. Today, I filled up my car to the max, and realized I didn't have any picture frames left for a gift drawing I'm making, so I bought a frame as well. Definitely large damage to the fund, but the good news is that I should be able to drive on this gas until my pay day (the day when I get my $200-something; the rest of my allocated fund). Wish me luck ;)

Food For The Day

• Leftover Pancakes
• Pasta with eggs
• Freshly baked bread with butter

Spent today: $71^.83 (Total spent: $71^.83; 18% of total) Time progress: 6%.

It's August! :) Not a bad day at all. It's Monday, and I'm off work. My neighbour was "twitching" in the morning again... he spent all his money on booze and cigarettes instead of food, and had muscle spasms all over his body due to calcium (and other mineral) depletion. It's the third time this is happening, you'd think he would learn by now ~_~. Anyway, he asked me to drive to the store to get him some juice (using his money, of course). I did that, and gave him some multivitamin and calcium supplement tablets... checked on him a few hours later, he said he was fine. So it's all good.

I also cleaned my place today, and found... *drumroll*... 27 cents on the floor! I'll save them for a rainy (drizzly?) day, I guess; don't want to mess up the meticulously calculated budget numbers :)

I finally finished my drawing too! Baked some bread again, and had to buy more eggs.

Food For The Day

• Fried bread soaked in eggs
• Freshly baked bread with butter and tea (what can I say... the bread I bake is addictive :))
• Made some rice, but didn't feel like eating it. I guess I'll leave it for tomorrow.

Spent today: $3^.49 (Total spent: $75^.32; 18.9% of total) Time progress: 9%.

Today's a fairly regular day, though I woke up an hour and a half too soon... I found a computer program that is a virtual piano, and already learned a couple of simple tunes! Went to the mall and played around with a keyboard I might buy when my "challenge" is over. It's not the greatest keyboard around, but the regular stores have very limited selections, plus I figure I'm still learning, and might as well buy something in the mid-range, learn to play it well, and only then expend on something more professional.

The other good thing coming out of all this is that I'm being forced to cook for myself again, which is great (health-wise)... well, at least better than the crap I used to eat :)

Food For The Day

• Rice fried with eggs
• Fried potatoes with ground beef
• Some watermelon

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $75^.32; 18.9% of total) Time progress: 12%.

A nice day today. Still didn't spend any money, which is great, because in just two days my time progress will be greater than my money progress. Actually, close to the end of the day I spent $8.22 to buy some cardstock paper for my new hobby, making cards :)

Made some strides with learning to read sheet music, can pretty much figure out the "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica sheet music I got over here. Can't play it using my virtual keyboard (it doesn't span through enough octaves), so will find something simpler tomorrow :)

Food For The Day

• Fried potatoes with ground beef with eggs
• Rice
• Bread soaked in egg and soy milk, and smoked sausages; all fried together

Spent today: $8^.22 (Total spent: $83^.54; 20.9% of total) Time progress: 15%.

Just a regular day. My blood test results came in: all "perfect", so I decided to make myself pigs in a blanket for a treat... well, actually I had chicken sausages, more like chicks in a blanket (and is it me, or is that a much sexier-sounding dinner ^_^)

My time progress percents are catching up to the money percents, and that makes me quite happy.

Food For The Day

• Fried potatoes with ground beef with eggs
• Bread soaked in egg and soy milk, and smoked sausages; all fried together
• Pigs in a blanket

Spent today: $7^.15 (Total spent: $90^.69; 22.8% of total) Time progress: 18%.

Happy Friday! I've made it through the week :) However, it now appears I'll have to spend about $10 extra on gas before the 15^th :/ Well, hopefully everything works out. Today, I bought another picture frame for a drawing, and I some eggs as well.

Food For The Day

• Pigs in a blanket
• Fried pasta with smoked sausages and eggs

Spent today: $6^.87 (Total spent: $97^.56; 24.5% of total) Time progress: 21%.

Today, I registered a domain name for my new project (a free card template website), and my spenditures pasted over the first hundred-dollar mark. I have a bit less than $30 left until the 15^th, which somewhat worries me. However, I'm doing rather well, if you compare the time and money progress percentages.

All this daily logging of my foods gives me a stark picture of just how horrible my diet is!

Food For The Day

• Fried pasta with smoked sausages and eggs
• Fried eggs with chicken sausages

Spent today: $10^.00 (Total spent: $107^.56; 27% of total) Time progress: 24%.

Just a busy day at home. Didn't even spend any money! And my time percentage finally caught up to the financial percentage. Hooray! :)

Food For The Day

• Bread soaked in egg and fried
• Pasta fried with ground beef

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $107^.56; 27% of total) Time progress: 27%.

I'm finally in the double-digit region... Day 10 in the books! :)

I wanted to buy some potatoes today, but was too sleepy and tired to do so. Just a regular day; trying to finish my new project (the card template site).

Food For The Day

• Pasta fried with ground beef
• Pancakes

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $107^.56; 27% of total) Time progress: 30%.

I'm a third of the way through!!! Yupie :) Pretty good day: went for to the doctor's to check my heart, they ran a stress test and found no problems. I'm healthy as a baby ^_^ Went to a music instrument store to check out the keyboards they got. They didn't seem to have a mid-price-range category, only cheap crap and stuff that is too expensive for me to buy right now (I want to learn to play on a semi-crappy keyboard, so that when I buy the expensive one I would already know how to use it properly). There was one interesting piece, but it was marked as "used" and I want mine new.

Bought some potatoes, eggs, and chicken sausages today. I'm down to my last $20 before the 15^th :/

Food For The Day

• Instant oat meal packets that are loaded with sugar.
• Leftover pancakes fried with egg and cheese (turned out yummy)
• Fried potatoes with chicken sausages

Spent today: $7^.36 (Total spent: $114^.92; 28.9% of total) Time progress: 33.3%.

I'm keeping myself busy and the days are flying by. Almost finished with my card website, and also wrote an article about how to think of time in a way that enables you to value your time more. Being productive, and didn't spend any money!

Food For The Day

• Fried potatoes with chicken sausages
• Fried rice with eggs and chicken sausages

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $114^.92; 28.9% of total) Time progress: 36%.

Just a regular day... went by fast though :)

Food For The Day

• My yummy bread
• Fried rice with eggs and chicken sausages

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $114^.92; 28.9% of total) Time progress: 39%.

So, today, I found out that my paycheck will be lower than I expected, but only about $10, so I'll do the exact math when I get the pay, and will write it off just as an unexpected expense :)

Today, I also spent $10 on gas and bought some food stuffs.

Happy Friday!

Food For The Day

• BBQ hot dogs, salads, and even a couple of vegetables :)
• Fried rice with eggs and chicken sausages
• Oatmeal with beef (someone told me this sounds weird, but it's delicious if you use a lot of beef)

Spent today: $23^.41 (Total spent: $138^.33; 34.8% of total) Time progress: 42.4%.

Today, I had to get some medicine, so the budget dipped down again. Not to worry though,

Food For The Day

• Chicks in a blanket (aka pigs in a blanket with chicken sausages)
• Oatmeal with beef

Spent today: $22^.78 (Total spent: $161^.11; 40.4% of total) Time progress: 45.5%.

Got my pay, and spent lots and lots of money. However, all I really need now is a haircut, and I could last until the end of the month on the supplies that I have.

Spent $137.07 on gas, food, TP and toothpaste. I figured out amount by which my benefits were affected: $4.13; I wrote that off as unexpected expense, and it's hardly an impediment to my goal :)

However, my counts do not match! I may have missed a bill or miscalculated when I came up with my $398.03 figure. I have only $76.64 on hand right now - $4.73 is the balance in the bank (which will stay there). Counting the bank's monthly charge, my finance tracker matches up; so what I'll do is add an "unknown" charge to the count on this page, just to make sure my "live on" percentages match up :)

Great, I'll catch up to my spendings only on the 27th day :/ Oh well, suck it up. The good news is that tonight I'm moving over the 50% mark with time progress. Yupiee; half way there :)

Food For The Day

• Chicks in a blanket (aka pigs in a blanket with chicken sausages)
• Home-made bread with chicken

Spent today: $141^.20 + 19^{.08 unknown} (Total spent: $321^.39; 80.7% of total) Time progress: 48.5%.

Just a busy Monday... And I'm past the half-time mark! *Yawn* Need sleep now :)

Food For The Day

• Oatmeal with beef
• Chicken, broth and bread
• Bread with chicken broth fried with eggs

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $321^.39; 80.7% of total) Time progress: 51.5%.

Very busy at work, but very enjoyable too. Not much to report - baked bread, didn't spend any money :)

Food For The Day

• Pasta with ground beef
• Fresh bread with butter

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $321^.39; 80.7% of total) Time progress: 54.5%.

I really really REALLY want the keyboard!! Watched Pachelbel - Canon in D (piano) video a few times :) That's me in several months! And then Requiem for a Dream in a few more months :) I'm psyched, and this page is the only thing keeping me from borrowing money from MoneyMart and getting my keyboard NOW!

Didn't spend any money :)

Food For The Day

• Bread + cheese + sausages
• Pasta + ground beef + eggs
• Fresh bread with butter

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $321^.39; 80.7% of total) Time progress: 57.6%.

Yes! Day 20. Third decade :) I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the sound of my playing the thing :P~. Bought some cheese and eggs today.

Food For The Day

• Pasta + ground beef + eggs
• Fresh bread with cheese

Spent today: $8^.52 (Total spent: $329^.91; 82.9% of total) Time progress: 60.6%.

Just a regular Friday. No money was harmed :)

Food For The Day

• It's all bad - OK? :)

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $329^.91; 82.9% of total) Time progress: 63.6%.

It's day 22!!! Not only it's my lucky/favorite number, it's also 2/3 of the way through the time line. I can see the finish line appearing far in the horizon! :)

A friend told me my hair doesn't need to be cut yet, which means I can save $20 for now - good.

Learned to play the Bridal March on my virtual piano. It (the piano) totally sucks, as you are playing with the computer keyboard using 4 rows of keys (on top of each other) that all look the same. The real point of this exercise was actually to learn to read sheet music a bit. One thing's clear: reading it is easy, but to play it properly, I need a proper instrument.

Guess what! I bought a watermelon! And even ate some :) That should calm some of the growing concerns of my not eating good food :)

Food For The Day

• Crepes filled with rice + ground beef
• Fresh bread with cheese
• Watermelon

Spent today: $5^.79 (Total spent: $335^.70; 84.3% of total) Time progress: 66.7%.

Just a lazy Sunday. Got some library books about reading sheet music, as well as put some "Learn to play piano" books on request for transfer.

Food For The Day

• Don't remember

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $335^.70; 84.3% of total) Time progress: 69.7%.

Awesome day! I went to the music store again, and found out the price for the keyboard I really liked last time (it didn't have a price tag). What I assumed was a $700-something keyboard, actually costs only $250. I tentatively planning to buy this keyboard. The price is a bit suspicious, considering all the features it offers, and especially how good it sounds; so I'm planning to inquire more about that. My guess is that it doesn't have a MIDI output, which isn't really a deal breaker for me right now.

The keyboard in question is a Yamaha PSRE423. Comparing to the other keyboard I also like, this one is of the color that I actually like.

Still didn't spend any money, but I will definitely need to spend more money on gas (and I hope just a $20 will suffice).

Food For The Day

• Bread with cheese
• Crepes fried with egg and sausages
• More bread (didn't have time to cook anything)

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $335^.70; 84.3% of total) Time progress: 72.7%.

Slow day today. I'm tired. I filled up $20 and got some cheese. Went to the store to play around with my future piano: every time I touch it, I like it more and more :) :) :). Tomorrow will be the start of the final week, which is fantastic!

Food For The Day

• Bad food and watermelon :) :) :)

Spent today: $25^.14 (Total spent: $360^.84; 90.7% of total) Time progress: 75.8%.

In exactly a week, I'll be unpacking my brand new keyboard at this time... Only 7 days, or 168 hours, or... you know what, I'm gonna add a timer right here, right now :) It shows how much time is left until my goal is fullfilled:

Food For The Day

• Bad food and watermelon :) :) :)

Spent today: $0^.0 (Total spent: $360^.84; 90.7% of total) Time progress: 78.8%.

The day flew by, and I bought some groceries (buttermilk powder, eggs, etc). Nothing special to report, I'm counting the hours! Only 141 left ^_^

I actually just experienced a double-happy moment. Forgetting that I copy/pasted the entry from two days ago (I needed the website code), I at first wrote it as if it was the 26^th day; imagine the feeling when I realized it was already the 27^th day! :)

Food For The Day

• Bad food and watermelon... and eggs :) :) :)

Spent today: $14^.02 (Total spent: $374^.86; 94.2% of total) Time progress: 81.8%.

Today, I witnessed a NoFrills (store with HORRIBLE design which is filled with poor-quality products) cashier virtually rip a man's arm off because of ONE PENNY! The customer wanted an extra bag for his stuff, and handed the cashier 5 cents. She told him the bag costs 6 CENTS. He was an elderly guy, and looked puzzled. Then, she proceeds to give him the bag, he gives her 5 cents, and grabs the bag. She sees it's just five and not six, and starts TUGGING on the bag with TWO FREAKING HANDS while almost yelling that the bag costs 6 cents and not 5!

That was truly unbelievable, not just because of the amounts involved, but I'd never expect a cashier to behave that way, regardless of the missing amount.

It's Friday! Next week is when I'm getting the keyboard - yey! Today, bought some sausages and more eggs (last night, I "damaged" a few that I had, so I had to buy more)

Food For The Day

• Bad food :) :) :)

Spent today: $5^.66 (Total spent: $380^.52; 95.6% of total) Time progress: 84.8%.

Just a relaxing Saturday. Took a mid-day nap. Trying to finish the book I'm supposed to finish. Cleaned stuff up. I'll be doing thorough clean up in the next few days in the anticipation of the arrival of my keyboard home :) :) :)

The hour counter has reached two-digit numbers today, which makes me feel even closer to the goal :)

Food For The Day

• Pancakes! :) :) :)

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $380^.52; 95.6% of total) Time progress: 87.9%.

It's day 30! I stepped into the fourth decade with the days, and the last decade with the percentages. The final stretch; Yupie!

Today, I bought some cheese, and that was pretty much the last of my money. I still have $12^.55 left, but I'm leaving $10 for gas, because it looks like I'm going to need some, and I'm not even sure what I could buy for the remaining $2^.55 :) Not to worry, though, I have everything I need to survive the last three days! (well, two days really, I get paid on the 33^rd day, and that's when I'm buying the keyboard; can't wait!!!)

Food For The Day

• Moar Pancakes and fresh bread with cheese! Hey, the doctor said I'm perfectly healthy! :) :) :)

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $385^.49; 96.8% of total) Time progress: 90.9%.

Today was a fast day, hardly noticed it. Came home late, and even forgot to post the update!

Well, it's just 24 hours left until I wake up on the day when I get the keyboard. How exiting is that? I just hope I'll be able to sleep tonight ^_^

Food For The Day

• Bad food :) :) :)

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $385^.49; 96.8% of total) Time progress: 93.9%.

Today is the last full day before I complete my challenge. The time is dragging its feet today, but I do have this feeling of accomplishment, or pre-accomplishment. As if I'm going through the open door. Leaving something behind, and starting a new era of existence... It feels wonderful!

I spent $10 for gas today, and bought a tea and a muffin for someone... That was pretty much the last of my money.

Now, I need to get some really good sleep, so I could stay up very late tomorrow! Yupie!

Food For The Day

• McDonalds nuggets! (it was a treat from someone)... oh, and bad food :) :) :)

Spent today: $11^.53 (Total spent: $397^.02; 99.8% of total) Time progress: 97%.

It was the final day today, I finished my challenge and bought the keyboard.

I'm posting only now (September 3rd) because I was busy playing with my keyboard :)

Not much is left to say. I feel great sense of accomplishment, holding through for 33 days and not wasting any money. There were definitely moments where having posted on this page was the only thing holding me from borrowing money (with high interest) to buy something that I need.

Spent today: $0^.00 (Total spent: $397^.02; 99.8% of total) Time progress: 100%.

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