5th month's expenses

My total expense for the 5th month (1st to 28th February) is around CAD1,158, broken down as follow.

Amount (CAD) : Category

Once-off expenses

*  77 : Portable DVD player plus extended warranty.
         ***See below
*  25 : Credit card over limit fee. *See below

Yearly expenses

* NIL

Monthly expenses

* 500 : February room rental. **See below
*  46 : Mobile phone bill
*  61 : Medical Services Plan
* 110 : Transport - Monthly 2-Zone Farecard
* NIL : Transport - Others
* 147 : Food/groceries
*  63 : Clothings
*  51 : Household Items (including tioletries)
*  20 : Recreation/Entertainment/Restaurant
*  21 : Meals/Drinks
*  13 : Personal Grooming & Make-up
*   3 : Stationery/Postage (exclude once-off postage above)
*  21 : Others (Lottery, Souvenirs, etc)

February being a short month contributes to the lower than usual expenses. E.g. The short month, plus finding value-for-money food items from a DollarRama store, contributed to the significant drop in Food/groceries expenses.

*I was undeniably somewhat annoyed by the $25 credit card over-limit fee. I was over the limit by 10cents (a.k.a. "a dime") as a result of 2 transactions within the same day. I have no idea how the 2nd transaction was allowed to go through without any prompt for credit limit exceeded. In order to prevent such unnecessary fees, I have decided to only use my credit card for online payments and pre-planned big-ticket items. For all other purchases, I shall use cash instead.

**Several friends have informed me that the rental rates have dropped thanks to the reduction in the number of Japanese/Korean students, which in-turn may be due to the strengthened Canadian dollar making their studies more expensive. In fact, several has suggested that I re-locate to a better priced room and/or a location nearer downtown. E.g. One local friend even has a network of friends with available rooms priced from $375/month in Vancouver for my consideration. I shall keep the rental trend in-view as I would prefer to move only after getting a full-time job offer.

***I bought a DVD player so that I can start learning French from the CDs and training guides that I had shipped over from Singapore. Of course, playing music CDs on the portable DVD player gives a much better sound quality (read, "more enjoyment") than my old (but trusty) iBook. In addition, I can borrow nursing videos, movies and/or other CDs/DVDs from the public library for use now. Most importantly, this serves to distract me while I await longingly for some good news from the CRNBC. Yes, still no news regarding the IEN SEC yet.