I got my yearly increment on my paycheque today. My cheque was for 22 dollars more then normal. I've set up automatic transfers to put 20 dollars every cheque into our mini-holiday fund. We are planning to get away in The second week of February so that will add $140 dollars to the fund! Currently I am transferring $7 a week into this newly created fund and my pinecone cheques are going into that account (usually $10 a month) and any profits I make from my crafty business are going into that account. Right now the balance is $115.94!

I have never saved for a vacation or a night away before. In the past everything has gone onto a credit card or LOC and then we've never dealt with paying it off. It feels so good to anticipate the trip by saving and seeing the funds grow and picking where we want to go by seeing how much money we have and figuring out other ways to get money into the account (ie. deposting pinecone cheques as well).

After the holiday that account is going to become the general saving account for things like christmas, birthdays, house repairs, car repairs, that kind of thing. By February I hope to be putting about $40 dollars a week into that account which would equal $2,080 dollars in a year. Not bad at all I say!

In other work related news it seems that my union might have finally settled our contract. It has to be ratified by the members but I'm pleased with it. Heck it involves a raise and no strike. What more could a girl ask for? By the time it goes through we will be getting nearly 2 years worth of back pay. That is pretty sweet as well. SWEET! I'm guessing it will be the Spring before I see any of that money, but it's also nice to anticipate.

Cheers!

PS. The Spell checker tells me that paycheque is not paycheque but rather paycheck. However, I'm sticking with my Canadian Guns on this one and leaving it QUE instead of CK.