I don't have a formal coat to wear with formal dresses. So I have been keeping a look out for one, for those special occasions that just happen to be held on cold, windy evenings. Given my built, just shy of 5ft, any extra material, especially on a thick wool coat, would make me look like a kid playing dress up in adult clothing. Unfortunately, since I couldn't find one that fits and that I also like, I have pretty much given up on it and didn't have a budget for it.

But today I saw it; a cute one, size XSP (do you realize how rare this size is?) that fits me like a glove, from the length of the body to the length of the sleeves. Simply perfect! It was the only one that size too. I tried on several of the size S and SP and they were too big, so my choice is limited to just that one. While I was on cloud nine and practically drooled on the thing, I glanced at the tag and saw a whooping $89.99.

The problem, no budget equal $0 and on top of that, for an item that get use maybe once a year at most. Furthermore, it's the beginning of the winter season, which translates to higher price with no sale. And if I wait for a sale, I end up with no coat. Dilemma, dilemma.

I managed to get a coupon for $5 of every $50 purchase before I left. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow, eye it for a few hours and see if I want to dip into my saving for it.

All that talk about time is money and the power of compounding. How a person investing in their 20's would have so much more than a person investing in their 30's, etc.... Well, the power of compounding won't work very well if the market is doing poorly. As of today, my IRA is giving me a yield of $200, which might go away, depending on whether interest rate will be cut or not, while my saving is yielding $237. Gagh!!! I want my anticipated annual 10% return from stock of $600 instead of tethering on a big fat ZERO.

Well, not directly to the owner since my parents refused to charge or accept rent. So the money will go into a rent account to be given to them sometime in the future. I figure it's about time for me to account for that expense.

Speaking of living expenses, last month, our electric bill went up to $80. Since it coincided with the electric meter change, we though the old meter wasn't functioning properly. This month, our electric bill was $24, which was slightly less than our average of $30, so it couldn't possibly because of the meter. We decided to check last month bill and noticed that the bill for last month was calculated using the last read number on the old meter, which was at the end of the month before last, of 99760 and the number of the new meter of 290 for a total of 550KW. But this month bill showed that we used less than half of that. We didn't remember when they changed the meter, but that looked like they didn't account for 250KW between the old and the new meter. I wanted to dispute the charge but my dad refused, saying it's too much hassles. I couldn't believe it but he had always been like that, paying rather than having to deal with putting time and effort to get the money back.

On to other news, my saving had dropped back to less than $7k after an all time high of $9k. Tuition does a lot of damage on my saving.