$117231 (+ 2.3%)

This month, my major purchase was the $530 for the flight to Hawaii. I did splurge at a local clothing store during their summer clearance and spent $200 on two pairs of jeans (actually-one pair of jeans and one pair of jeggings lol) , one pair of jean shorts, one skirt, one tank, and one silk top.  Everything was about 70% off and I only do this about twice a year or less.  I’d say $200 is not too shabby for six items of clothing.

I was quite pleased with my net worth calculation this month- almost thought I was over $100,000 (albeit by $10) but realized I forgot to include my mastercard balance.  Without the pension and with the mastercard and amex balances, I’m at $99,677… almost over $100,000.  Even closer this  month! Hopefully by next month (I should be able to save $323 next month lol) I’ll be hitting 100K.  Then after that I’ll set my new target to 1,000,000 (haha yeah right- maybe realistically the next target I’ll aim at is 150k).

Okay, so here’s the breakdown:

ASSETS:

CASH: $34287 (+5.7%)

• I added up my chequing and savings account (High Interest Savings Account).
• I have a new ING automatic savings account where I put away $100 a month in lieu of giving $32 a month to the pet insurance company- when they keep on denying my poor doggy’s claims.  ING gave $100 just for opening up an automatic savings account and funding it with $100 a month until March 2011.
• I automatically deduct money from my chequing account and have it siphoned to the HISA account (paying yourself first)

STOCKS: $22368 (+2.5%)

• I socked away an extra $750 I had to buy some more ECA.TO with Questrade during that huge dip in the market last month.  Not only am I paying myself first, I’m paying myself last lol
• This month was b-l-o-o-d-y in the markets with many new 52 week lows being set
• Hopefully September will pick up- it seems to have had, so far.  Let more good times roll.
• These are stocks that captures the “moment in time”, including unrealized gains or losses in my BMO Investorline and Questrade accounts. I added up USD and CAD stocks as “Canadian” money to be simplistic (which is about a 5% difference right now)

RRSP: $22595 (+1.6%)

• This includes some emerging market mutual funds (BRIC), the monthly deduction from my HISA into my TD E-Series account (primarily bonds), a GIC in my ING Direct Account and my new Questrade RRSP account.
• I hope to max out the $25,000 and withdraw for my first home purchase with this amount saved with the RRSP home buyers plan
• I funded my Questrade RRSP account with some cash (making sure not to go over my allowed amount for this year’s RRSP contribution), but when I set up the electronic fund transfer from my main bank, I accidentally paid the wrong account number! So am waiting a few weeks am still waiting to clear that up before I make purchases in my new RRSP account.. My money is missing!! I’ve been trying to contact Questrade and BMO and its been a pain in the butt to say the least.. hopefully this will be fixed before next month.
• I haven’t bought anything with the extra money I funded this year yet, but plan to get some bond ETF’s.
• I still have $400 to contribute before the end of the year for my RRSP contributions which I plan to do after they find the $300 that I deposited first (insert eye roll).

PENSION: $17554 (+2.1%)

• How I calculated it: I took my pension statement and added my monthly contributions from my pay cheque to reflect this month’s pension amount. I’m not including my employer’s contributions in my pension calculation.

OTHER: $10629 (-1.2%)

• If you’re wondering what I hold in my Other investments- check out my post long story
• I have some investments that were poor choices (I signed up for them before I became self “edumacated”) that are losing money big time. In order to receive a tax credit, I got persuaded into buying some flow through shares, Venture investments that gave out a tax credit, and some more mutual funds about four or five years ago.
• These guys haven’t been moving much, unlike the rest of the market. Once I break even with one of the venture funds, I’m gonna get the heck out. Yuck!  These other investments stick out like a sore thumb. =(

TFSA: $11379(+0.8%)

• $5250 Principal protected through an HSBC fund investment (+6%) from inception (TFSA of 2009)
• $6038 For my 2010 TFSA, I signed up for a Tax Free Trading Account with Questrade and I bought lots of income trusts and am having some yummy monthly distributions roll in until they incorporate the income trusts in 2011.
• My 2010 TFSA is up over 20.1% ROI this year (including distributions)–awesome!
• I looked up which ones are incorporating and which ones aren’t

CAR:

• I’m not going to bother counting the car as an asset. It’s 10 years old and I’m planning to drive it to the ground.

LIABILITIES:
CREDIT CARD: $1581

• I pay off my full amount every month (and folks, it’s VERY important you do so otherwise you’re losing out on a 19% return!) but include it in my net worth update so I have an accurate picture of my actual net worth. I sort of think “If I were to sell everything right now, what would my net worth be?”
• I basically charge everything to my card to reap the benefits (free flights and hotel stays here I come!)
• I got the SPG AMEX card for a few months already and have been using it as often as I can (compared to the MBNA travel elite card) but American Express isn’t accepted everywhere here in Canada…I’ve been getting used to the “Oh, sorry, we don’t take American Express”.

First off, we booked on a seat sale with Westjet for $169 to $199 one way (plus taxes) which ended up costing us $530.  I think we could have gotten it for cheaper, had we booked earlier (maybe around $430 return) but the seats were filling up fast anyways.

Then, I scoped out what we could do with our SPG points.  We wanted to get use up his points because he didn’t get the Amex SPG like I did, and his SPG points would then expire in February.  I got an extra 11,000 bonus SPG points thanks for the AMEX SPG Mastercard promotion so I wanted to put that to good use too.  We ended up using cash and points (which means you pay a deeply discounted X amount of dollars and trade in X amount of points) for Sheraton Waikiki and Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, and used two full free nights at the Westin Moana Surfrider.  To stay at these hotels without using hotels.com or Expedia,  it would cost us about $950 each.  To stay at these hotels using the SPG points, it would cost us each $320…which is about $35 a night.  Quite the steal- you can’t even stay in a motel on Waikiki beach for that amount…!

I know that you can transfer your SPG points to an airlines, and in transferring over 20000 points, they will throw in an extra 5000 points.  I did some calculations and if we went through an airlines (got a free flight instead) we would still be paying about $200 in taxes.  Then we would have to find a decent hotel that doesn’t cost more than an arm and a leg on the Waikiki strip.  Three star hotels run at about $120 a night, so with that option, it will run us about $740 each.  But we always wanted to stay at the Westin so we decided with this route instead.  Besides, the Sweet Sleeper beds at the Sheratons are amazing!

Finally, I had about 17000 Delta SkyMiles that I accumulated a few years back.  The problem with them is that not only do they expire every year if you don’t have any activity in your account, you can’t transfer them to other reward programs.  You can’t even get a flight for that amount of miles.  Because of that, I think I will use them towards a two day compact car rental in Honolulu, which would save us about $110.

Enough about me and my excitement.  Onto some great personal finance reads this week.

PF Blog Love:

• KNS Financial asks whether you really need that emergency fund?
• Canadian Finance Blog asks you if you learned to fail fast
• Money Reasons talks about the pitfalls of being rich and famous
• The Financial Blogger gives us tips on how to get a raise after a raise (nice!)
• 20 Something Finance preps us on couch surfing 101- the do’s and don’ts of couch surfing
• Boomer and Echo talks about the sexiness of dividend growth investing
• Million Dollar Journey discusses why the long term growth of the economy is irrelevant to investing
• Well Heeled Blog says there’s a thin line between minimalist and moocher (I hate moochers!)
• Invest it Wisely has a great thought-provoking post on consumer ethics- where do you draw the line?
• Krystal at Work is lookin’ for a new travel rewards Visa card
• Dual Income No Kids explains what born again DINKS are
• Money Smarts Blog has HUGE news! Mr. Cheap is leaving and Mike wrote a book!
• Girl with the Red Balloon shares with us something that is hard to admit for any of us

Oh, and TalentEgg interviewed me for their Career Incubator article: Getting Into “Good” Debt: part 1- Why education pays but BMW’s don’t. Talent Egg is Canada’s online career resource for students and new grands, so please check it out!

Have a great weekend.  My to-do list this weekend is to do my net worth calculation (sad to say, but I actually relish in doing this now!)

Organic foods taste better and are better for your health.  Organic groceries don’t have chemicals sprayed on them to make them last longer.  Organic meat is free of growth hormones and antibiotics (no wonder there are these things called “superbugs” in our hospitals that can’t be killed by antibiotics- we’re all eating antibiotics without even knowing it).   A few years ago, King of the Hill even did an episode where Hank fell in love with the organic steaks and joined a local Co-Op.  Organic is tastes better, is better for you, but is not necessarily better for your budget.

More often than not, buying organic can mean paying double the price for something that isn’t organic.  There are certain things that you should buy organic, and things that you don’t need to fuss too much about (like organic bananas).

Here are a few tips that can help you save some money when buying organic.

1. Shop at your local Farmers Market- A lot of farmers markets are cropping up here in Vancouver.  By going to a farmer’s market, you skip the middleman (the grocery store) and you can ask questions about how the product you are buying was grown.  Also, it helps stimulate the local community and economy.  Money Reasons also buys local. Shopping at your Farmer’s Market is a win-win situation.  Besides, Farmer’s Markets always makes me think of fresh romance and love at first site (maybe you’ll meet mr. or ms. right while shopping for strawberries- as you look up with your basket of fruit, you meet his eyes and smile– lol maybe I should be a Harlequin romance novel writer instead of a personal finance blogger).
2. Go to your local Farm- Instead of heading to a Farmer’s Market, you can hit up the local farm.  We have blueberry farms about 15km from the city centre and because you do the labour, it’s cheaper.  It would make for a fun family outing, anyhow.
3. Freeze It- You can buy big during the summer months when crop is in season and freeze the produce for later (like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries you name it!).  This is on the assumption that you have big enough freezer space. =)
4. Check your local Grocery Chain- For example, Shoppers Drug Mart and Safeway have their own “house” brand of organic produce and products.  When they go on sale, it’s a pretty good deal.  For example, I got a large box of organic cereal for $2.50 the other day at Shoppers Drug mart (which is even cheaper than non-organic cereal!)
5. Only buy Organic When it Matters- The EWG (Environmental Working Group) has this list called the “Dirty Dozen”- naming the foods that are laced with the most pesticides- these are: peaches, strawberries, apples, domestic blueberries, nectarines, cherries and imported grapes (in the order of most to least).  For veggies, the EWG quotes: Sweet Bell Peppers, Celery, Lettuce, Spinach, Potatoes, Carrots, Green Beans, Hot Peppers, Cucumbers, Cauliflower, Mushrooms, Winter Squash, Tomatoes, Sweet Potatoes.  Basically- these are fruits which have thin skins and fruits in which we consume the skin. Thicker skinned fruits and vegetables like avocados, bananas, and pineapples aren’t as pesticide-ridden, so you don’t need to be wasting your money and buying these organic.  The EWG calls these the “Clean Fifteen”:  onions, sweet corn, sweet peas, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant and sweet potatoes. For fruits: avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit and honeydew
6. Print/Clip Coupons: Lastly, can’t forget coupons- a lot of online coupons can be had nowadays if you’re too lazy to clip coupons from your weekly flier.  Saving money on organic yogurt and milk can really add up, considering yogurt costs $4.50 to $5.oo for a small bucket (I go through yogurt like water).

Hope that helps!  If you still have a Nalgene bottle kickin’ around- get rid of it!  I can’t believe I used the Nalgene bottle I had for 6+ years.  Now I use it to water my plants.  Hopefully my plants don’t get cancer or have fertility problems.

Do you have any other tips for buying organic foods on the cheap?  Are you a fan of organic foods too?

A look into Y&T's closet

I guess this post is dedicated to the shopaholics out there.  That feeling you get when you buy a new pair of shoes or a new pair of pants is sort of addictive.  Something different to your wardrobe, something new, something to shake things up a bit.  You think about when you can wear your new clothing out.  Things are exciting for a while, and then you get the credit card bill.

Your internal voice screams: “What? I paid $150 for these pair of pants? I don’t even wear them that often!”

Then you get the guilt.  When you see that item of clothing in your closet, it calls at you, telling you “Hey! Remember when you thought I was all that and a bag of chips? What happened?”  The wave of guilt courses through your veins again and you close the closet door in remorse.

Aside from the talking clothing, I’m sure that scenario rings a bell.

One way to alleviate this is to organize or attend a clothing swap.  Free clothes, you get rid of your old junky clothes you don’t want, and you get that feeling of euphoria of wearing something new.  AND you save the environment by recycling and re-using clothes.  Everyone knows that green is the new black.

Win-win-win situation, if you ask me.

A clothing swap is an organized get-together of people who want to get rid of their clothes, shoes, accessories.  You can attend one or create one.  It’s best if you have at least twenty people coming so there’s more variety.  If you spread the word through an event created on Facebook, I’m sure tons of people will come, eager to get rid of the stuff collecting dust in their closet.  During the event, you can socialize, there can be food and drink (and maybe some booze), and you can try on and find some treasure and go home happy.

I went to a clothing swap about two years ago organized by my friend.  It was held at a yoga studio (no yogis were harmed, don’t worry) and there was food and drink and it was great.  I picked up two pair of black capris, a pair of green cargo pants, and two black tops.  And for some reason, I wear these clothes so often its not even funny!  The reason I wear them isn’t because they were free (though that thought crosses my mind every time I don these clothes and it puts a smile on my face), it’s because they fit well.

Clothing swaps are great for your budget because they are absolutely free.  You still get that temporary euphoria when you have new clothes (new to you, anyways) but you don’t have to hurt your budget for this.  Getting rid of junk is one of my financial cleanse recommendations.  I would highly recommend this especially for college students, when you have zero income but don’t want to deprive yourself of shopping.

Here are some links to get you started:

• Clothing Swap- These guys have gathered up 175+ clothing swaps.
• Posh Swaps- an online clothing swap company
• Swap Style- another online clothing swap
• Meetup.com- check out if there are meet up groups near you
• Get Crafty has a “how to” on how to host a clothing swap (but they call it a NLP-Naked Lady Party)

Have you ever been to or created a clothing swap?  Do you find them as awesome as I do?

I used a promo code (yes, I heart promo codes) I found online and saved us $5 each for admission (usually $20- prices have gone way up!), though if we got our butts together and left early in the morning, there was free admission from 9-12pm. But alas, that didn’t happen.  We decided against spending the extra cash to go on the rides this year- the extra long line ups aren’t worth it, IMO.

We checked out a pig race, some cows, a marketplace (which ended up being every infomercial you can imagine- but LIVE), and the carnival games.  Oh the carnival games.  They are so so good at suckering you in to plunk your money down and try again to no avail.  BF was so intent on winning something with the basketball hoop game and he tried a few times with no luck.  Then I stumbled on this post by John Chow.  Guess we weren’t the only ones who thought that game was ridiculously impossible.

Carnival games are like casinos, but instead of money, you get an ugly stuffed animal that you would likely never use.  They get them young.  Now I realize how much money I spent when I was a kid, trying so desperately to get those prizes.  I suppose there are some very good lessons parents can teach their children whilst letting them gamble at the carnival games.  Like: know your limit, stay within it.

PF Blog Love:

• Invest It Wisely gives a few tips on healthy living, eating, and exercise
• Boomer and Echo has 10 tips on saving money on auto insurance
• Tiny Potato has great tips on what NOT to do when opening a discount brokerage
• The Passive Income Earner asks what is a real estate bubble and how is it defined?
• Financial Samurai talks about how small business owners are encouraged to sack their employees before tax hikes
• Bucksome Boomer wonders whether we should be eating our eggs, given all the contamination scare
• Money Reasons shares with us how he supports his local community
• Monevator asks whether you consider yourself richer than  your kids, or poorer than your grandchildren
• My Journey to Millions asks whether Gen Y’ers follow stereotypes (I think we do)
• Canadian Finance Blog talks about my dream- retiring abroad

Readers, did you ever get suckered into playing the carnival games? Did you ever win something really good?

Let’s first explain what antivirus software and firewalls are.

Antivirus software hunts and detects crap in your computer and kills it.  Kind of like what the white blood cells do for you (remember biology class?).  You need antivirus software to help you get rid of spyware, trojans, viruses and the sort.

Firewalls work by filtering the internet and blocking things so that the network can be protected.  Firewalls are especially important for larger companies with huge networks of computers (some people can’t access Facebook or certain websites from their work computer, and that’s why).  How Stuff Works (love that show!) explains in an easy to read format what firewalls are.

I would say that the key to using firewalls and antivirus software is to find something that is easy to use (if you’re just like me, and not computer savvy), because if you screw up, it can cause a breach in your computer’s security and it can be a pain to fix (not to mention cost you an arm and a leg).  Or worst case scenario, your computer will crash and your photos and memories will be gone…forever.

You definitely don’t want that worst case scenario happening to you.  So to protect your computer, you can buy the antivirus software or firewall protection at your local computer/ electronics shop, which can cost anywhere between $20 to $60.  To save money, you can also download basic versions of them for free too.

Here are some free basic antivirus software downloads:

• AVG - this is the most common one, I would say
• BitDefender
• Bullguard Free Antivirus

Here are some cheap (or free) firewall downloads:

• Zone Alarm- this is the one that my boyfriend has on his PC
• Comodo

Of course, if you want added protection against malware, it will cost you.  Also, you would want something that doesn’t ask you whether you would like to download the “non-free” version of the software every five minutes.  It’s a pain in the butt to have to click “remind me later” while you’re busy surfing the net.  Not having to click “remind me the next day” was one of the primary reasons that drove me to switch to a Mac (sorry PC!).  I heart my Macbook Pro.

I hope that helps save you some money (and not to mention a headache) with protecting your PC computer from the crazy crazy internet world out there.

Have you had an experience where you’ve had to deal with a virus on your computer?  Any PC die-hards or Mac die-hards out there?

Because of this hot heat, and possibly because I was rendered delirious from the heat, it got me wondering, which one IS cheaper for fuel economy? Air conditioning or having the windows down?  Which one will help that tank of gas (running at $1.18/L again here in Vancouver) go that extra mile for you?

There are two camps to this often heated and long drawn debate, probably not dissimilar to the pronouncement of tomato.  To-MAY-to or To-MAH-to. =)  That is the question.

Camp A/C is pro Air Conditioning (I guess that was self explanatory) and believe that using air conditioning will help you with your fuel economy because drag occurs when your windows are rolled down.  This drag (aka wind resistance) slows down the car, and causes the engine to have to work that much harder, hence lowering the fuel economy.  It’s all about the aerodynamics, baby.

Camp windows down is all for leaving the windows down and letting that wind caress the face and give to them that beautiful wind-tousled hair. They feel that because the car has to work extra hard to cool the heated air coming from the outside, this will affect fuel economy to a large extent (anywhere from 3-20%, it is at the higher end for a really hot day).

Mythbusters (this awesome show on the Discovery Channel that experiments- very scientifically, I might add- the most common myths and either approves or disproves them) did a segment on whether using air conditioning or rolling the windows down is cheaper.  They even re-tested this myth again just to make sure in a later episode.  They subjected this myth to much rigorous testing, and the conclusion was…. (drum roll, please)

Leave the windows down for city driving (anywhere from under 50MPH, which is about 80km/h), but once you drive faster and you’re on the highway, you should roll the windows up and turn on the air conditioning.

How Stuff Works (another great show I love) also wrote about this hot topic, and came to the same conclusion (but with a varied “cut off” speed, they said 40MPH, not 50MPH).

Here are some tips that might also help you save a few bucks on your fuel economy and also help the environment too:

• make sure you change the air filter regularly (a clogged air filter makes the car work that much harder to cool the air in your car)
• clump up your errands to locations that are close to each other (I love doing this, either I’m lazy, or I’m eco-friendly, you be the judge)
• drive when it’s cooler out (perhaps do your grocery shopping in the early evening, when it’s not so hot)
• If you can, cycle or take transit or get a scooter (much cheaper and eco-friendly options compared running a 1 tonne car when it’s only just little ol’ you sitting in it)
• Once you do get the AC on, try to keep the air circulating (there’s that button that recirculates the air in your car, press it), instead of having your car cool down air each time

Of course, you can make your own decisions as to whether you would like to keep the windows down or roll them up and turn on the AC.  Sometimes turning on the AC on is necessary to keep everyone happy, cool, and non-irritable, and can be invaluable on those long road trips (especially with fussy children- though I cannot speak on my own behalf as I have never had children yet).

I personally am still (and always will be) a windows down person, I do like the wind in my hair, even on the highway sometimes, but will keep in mind to turn on the AC next time I’m going on a road trip.

Readers, are you a windows down or an AC driver?  Have you found any difference between the fuel economy of the two yourself?

After getting more and more frazzled with seemingly more and more wrongly allocated posts with the new wordpress edition (and frantic copying and pasting and getting booted off comment luv for too much copying and pasting), I thought, “okay, enough is enough!”  So I took the plunge with elance and after a few days, the problem was fixed!  Turns out I have too many plug ins that are making each other confused, hence making my blog confused.  It was like taking my blog to the doctor, lol.

I thought I would celebrate with some Bob Marley- I can see clearly now!  It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshin-y day!

In other EXCITING news this week, I watched Eat Pray Love and loved it.  It made me have wanderlust again, when I thought I had quelched this feeling from the recent interest in buying a place (home buying update too- waiting for the prices to come down down down…).

But MOST exciting, is the launch of the official site, Yakezie.com.  It’s very exciting- it’s going to be huge (and viral, just like that Old Spice commercial)

Onto some great reads for the weekend.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

PF Blog Love:

• Early Retirement Extreme asks what is happening to the middle class?
• Canadian Finance Blog has five frugal tips on reducing your food bill.
• Eliminate the Muda has some tips on how to set up a garage sale (this was on my personal to do list for the past four weeks. FAIL.)
• Money Beagle gives us five ways to save at the beach
• Couple Money shares with you how to graduate with money in your pocket
• Little House has these really fun personal finance quizzes (reminiscent of my YM and Seventeen magazine days)
• The Financial Blogger has a very interesting post on how schools show you how to be poor
• Million Dollar Journey pits ING Direct with PC Financial (who gets KO’d?)
• Len Penzo shares a simple trick to get your credit card interest waived
• Invest it Wisely shows you how to own your own restaurant (and pack it with you)
• 27 and Frugal talks about how one goes about managing a savings account
• Coupon Sherpa shares with us how to make sure you’re not getting scammed by coupons (yes there’s such a thing!)
• Boomer and Echo tells you how you can save money by meal planning
• Jenn @Paying Myself speaking of escapism and travel, Jenn shares pictures from her Mexico trip and tallies up how much she spent on it.

However, there are a few things stopping me from signing up for this.

One of them is that I really don’t like the idea of paying monthly for something that I might not be motivated enough to use.  I would say that perhaps 80% of my friends who have a gym membership (and they are paying at least $30-$50 a month for one) have not gone in the past six months.  Everyone knows that this is ideally how gyms “get you” and how they make money.  You pay for a monthly rate, get locked in, and don’t go to the gym.

$30-$50 of unused gym utilization is anywhere from $360 to $600 a year. That might not seem like too much, but you have to keep in mind that this is after tax income, and it is another monthly expense to add to the other monthly expenses (like your cell phone bill, land line bill, electricity, cable etc.).  This extra money could be going into your 401K or your RRSP.

The lack of motivation could stem from a number of factors, including the aforementioned cost per month.  Another reason is that if the gym is too far from where you live (if you need to find parking, or it’s at least 20 minutes away), then the benefits of staying home and not going to the gym (tend to feel like they outweigh the pros (exercise), especially after a long day at work.

Another factor is time.  Time is really important. If you don’t have the time to go to the gym a few times a week, then you should forget about signing up for a membership.  For me, I have a full time job, a blog to work on (this blog is a time sucker, but a very gratifying time sucker), friends to hang out with, a dog to take care of etc. etc.  I can’t really justifying paying $30-50 a month to work out a few times a week for an hour or two at a time.

One last reason why signing up for a gym membership is not for me at this present time is because you often need to “look good” or “dress up” to go the gym.  People have nothing to do other than check other people out, they can’t help it, staring at the wall is boring.  This concern could be negated by going to a “all ladies” gym though.

For me, I would rather be outside. Walking the dog (free), going hiking (free), jogging (free), cycling(free once you get the bicycle).  I’m also kind of solitary at times, and would rather be doing exercise in the privacy of my own home.  I have a few yoga and pilates DVDs that I like.  They cost me about $10-$15 upfront, but I have used them so much I lost count. Also, the local community centres have drop ins that you can take advantage of.  You can often buy a book of ten “visits” and it costs about $2.50 each.  That way, you won’t have to feel obliged to go X number of times a week.  Then you won’t feel guilty.  Then  you won’t smother that guilt with cupcakes, donuts and a bag of Kettle chips.

Who knows though, when the weather isn’t so beautiful and our dreary winter rainy weather comes around, I might change my mind.  Then again, I might get that pass to the local mountain instead and get my exercise snowboarding down the mountain.

Readers, do you have a gym membership?  Do you find it worthwhile, or is it a source of distress (like “ackk, haven’t gone to the gym again this month!”) when you see the charge on your bank account or credit card?

Both of us have really high metabolism and added together, we only amount to a bit over 250lbs (yeah, we’re like stick people!) so I would think buffet owners cringe when the see the amount we order or take to our tables.

Here are some (tongue-in-cheek) tips I came up with (some of them are my boyfriend’s suggestions, since he’s the one who requested we go to an all-you-can-eat this last time).

• Don’t starve yourself before hand. Contrary to popular belief, starving yourself (e.g. not eating lunch) will not only to cause you to be in pain from the stomach acids digesting away your stomach lining, but it will shrink  your stomach, and you will fill it up more quickly when the stomach is smaller.  Eat a light lunch to get those juices flowing, and not digesting your stomach lining.
• Wear some loose fitting clothes. Don’t wear that dress that is two sizes two small to look cute.  No one goes to buffets trying to look cute.  They’re all trying to get in as much as they can, and don’t care about how you look.  Make sure you wear some pants with elastic, or at least some low rise pants.  I made that mistake the other day and wore jeans to that buffet, and ended up having to unbutton my pants.  That’s definitely not sexy.
• Pee before you start. Just like you would give yourself a bathroom break before a big test, or before a big event, you should evacuate your bladder before you start devouring everything in sight.  A full bladder will push against your other organs, causing you to feel full faster when there is food inside your stomach/ intestines.
• Skip the carbs. Carbs like pasta, bread, and rice will only fill you up quickly.  Once you feel like you’ve got your fair share of the more expensive stuff like prime rib etc, then you can foray into the carb section again.
• Head for the $$$ stuff. Get the meat that is carved for you, or anything that is full service (they had a Mongolian grill type station at this last buffet I went to) because you’re getting more bang for your buck, technically.  Meat is expensive.
• Try not to eat the fatty foods too soon into your buffet adventure. Fat causes the body to release more of this hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK for short) which makes you feel full faster.  It tells your body “hey, I’m full, I’m good.. you can stop now”.  You don’t want that.
• Try a little bit of everything. I feel most satisfied when I get to try a little bit of everything.  I remember the buffet in Vegas (Spice Market at Planet Hollywood) was a world cuisine-buffet, you get to try a little bit from every region of the world. Yum!
• Skip the fizzy stuff. When the waiter asks you want you want to drink, the last thing you want to say is anything carbonated.  Don’t you think buffets offer all you can drink for a reason?  So you will feel full faster.  You can ask for ice tea or juice, but don’t drink glasses and glasses of the stuff.  Liquid sits in the stomach too and makes you feel fuller, faster.
• Drink warm liquids. Warm liquids can help aid digestion, your body doesn’t have to work twice as hard to warm the liquid up before it starts digesting it.  It helps for me anyway.
• Consider a lunch buffet instead of a dinner buffet. Lunch buffets are usually half the cost of dinner buffets, and you have the rest of the day to digest your meal (instead of a dinner buffet where you would feel too bloated and full to even sleep or feel romantic).  This is by far the best way to get more bang for your buck.  Most lunch buffets serve the same foods as dinner buffets, especially the delicious All You Can Eat Japanese places here in Vancouver.
• Don’t do this regularly. If you want to gain ten pounds or more and acquire heart disease, by all means go ahead.  But I would caution against this if you care about your health and well-being.  Like all things in life, buffets are best enjoyed in moderation and occasionally.

Well, hope these tips help you the next time you decide to gorge yourself and engage in gluttony.

Any other tips I might have missed?