Guess who just bought an absolute ton of makeup? Me! I’d been looking for awhile now for a palette of eyeshadow colours to indulge my feminine side and start copying things that I see on reddit. Mix together a massive sale, some online coupon finding and a boyfriend looking for a Christmas gift to buy me and I just scored a bunch of lipsticks, three giant eyeshadow palettes and some make-up brushes for a bit over the cost of shipping.
In other news, Calgary got hit by a blizzard this past week and it made commuting a delightful adventure.
Income and expenses
November income: $1635.64 from work, $3621.60 from other
November expenses: $1323.96
Total savings: +3933.28
I spent a good half of the month on night shifts which mean that I was fed two free meals a day and slept while the stores were open. Night shift for the #PFWin! My food and transportation expenses were a tad high this month because I went to Toronto and Banff and was a bit too swipe-happy with my credit card. Oh, and I bought a waffle maker and it’s probably my favourite purchase ever.
Exciting place I’ve traveled to this month
Toronto! Banff! Oh, isn’t my life exciting? I’ve already covered the details and circumstances behind my trip to Toronto, but I haven’t mentioned a thing about Banff. I unexpectedly got three days off one week and we decided to take advantage of Bon Apetit Banff. OH. MY. GOD. I got SO. MANY. RIBS., a prime rib steak, more ribs, a baked potato, a banana split and access to the salad bar for $25. Mmmmm.
An interesting side note: I’m going to estimate that a full 70% of Banff is staffed by Quebecois.
Fun quote of the month
Me: So, have you stayed at our hotel before?
Woman: Uhhhh, no, I don’t think so
Man: *pointed stare* We got married here
Woman: Oh yeah.
Fun picture of the month
Ummm, I like banking…
Books I’ve read this month
Mad About the Boy (Bridget Jones): Sigh. This book starts off five years after Mark Darcy died. Right there, after page 1, I was ready to put the book down because, seriously, Mark was just as central to the books as Bridget is. Oh and Daniel and Mark became friends in the years between the 2nd and 3rd book and now he babysits for Bridget? No. No.
Casual Vacancy: I started reading this the other day and I’m hooked! Hopefully I’ll finish it by the time my December update comes about.
And now, time for the links!
The Asian Pear echoes my sentiments about the PF world exactly. It’s so easy to try and compare yourself to other bloggers but it’s important to remember that everyone’s circumstances are different.
A new airline is coming to Canada!
My favourite blogs of the month: Priceonomics and Getting a Rich Life. Go and scour their archives for some good reading.
It’s apparently cheaper to commute from Barcelona than to live in London.
An excellent article about socioeconomic differences at Yale that really hit close to home.
One of my newest reads is Urban Departures, a blog started by Daniel and Emily the day before Daniel attended CPFC13 (what!). A post I really liked this month is why Emily won’t be shopping sales anymore.
This tweet from Cory that makes you want to question your financial advisors a bit more
An interactive visual of the top 50 billionaires in the world — only one of which is Canadian 
Hey! Let’s talk about Rob Ford’s financials!
Janine had a guest blogger talk about something that I have thought for years — don’t complain about only having two weeks off a year; just take some unpaid time off (if your employer is cool with it, obviously).
Terrible article of the month
Mack lives in a paid-for trailer, works full-time at McDonald’s and has two teenaged children. Somehow, the family’s monthly income of ~$1800 (not including $345 in food stamps) is being eaten up by insurance/gas “for her 1990 Honda Accord, the phone bill [...] some spending money for the kids, electricity, and everything else the family needs. The kids are on Medicaid.” Yes, one could argue that the money is being spent on college savings, extra tutoring, car repairs, food not covered by food stamps etc. but HOLY COW — it doesn’t mention ANY of this. This article is literally a bleeding-hearts liberal call-out against the evil McDonald’s corporation. It is so terribly biased and pretends that this poor lady has no money leftover after she pays her car insurance/gas, electricity and children’s allowances. THAT ISN’T EVEN REALISTIC. This article is the terrible article of the month not because of its overly left-leaning views but because the entire argument of it can be smashed apart by a simply examination of her income vs. expenses.