It's not even the middle of the month, but August has been very expensive all and all what with sky high vet bills and what not. Hopefully I will get a considerable amount back from pet health insurance. I know some people do not believe in health insurance for pets, but the way I look at it, it all balances out in the end. I don't feel comfortable getting rid of it now - after having it for so long. Although seriously for the most part I think this business is a racket.

So it doesn't look like I will be making much progress on savings this month sadly. My electricity bill was also ridiculously high for this month. It has been a very hot summer. Still. I did not use that much more air conditioning than I did last year, but the % increase on the bill is way high. From what I understand it's not even the actual usage that they measure to send you the bill - it's an estimate. I wonder if I can challenge that.

Yesterday I went food shopping and bought some in-season fruits and veggies. I should make it a point to visit the farmer's market for next week. I am a semi vegetarian and am finding that fresh vegetables/fruits are much more expensive to buy than non-vegetarian food. Couldn't help that I am making myself a fresh fruit smoothie every morning as breakfast. Yum.

Being rich to me means the following:

*To be able to afford a modest home in one of the major cities of the world
*Pay a decent amount of down payment
*Being able to make the monthly house payment without trouble
*Have a year+ worth of emergency fund while contributing to retirement
*Be able to travel twice a year
*Be able to help out family/friends without feeling the pinch too much
*Be able to find happiness in things that money can't buy

Goal: to be rich as a troll.