Friday was my work Christmas Party and it was a blast - gorgeous venue, good food and a great band. Hubby and I stayed a lot longer that we had anticipated we would. It was good to relax and unwind a bit from the past 4 months.
We are both on vacation from work this week, so we've been catching up on our errands - such as taking my SUV in to get the "up" volume control fixed on the steering wheel, as it's still on warranty for 3 more months - they have had to order the part from the States, so it will have to go back in, once the part arrives. A pair of my glasses broke - so I ordered a new pair and can't wait to receive them, they look pretty cool, if I do say so, my self. We also took our bottles/milk jugs to the bottle depot and received $16 for them, which went to washing both vehicles, with $5 and change to spare, that went into a saving jar. We also fixed some things around the house.
I received my bonus, which after taxes, came to $630.50, so $620 went into our Savings account and $10.50 I left in our chequing account.
Hubby has been told that he will be getting his remaining holiday/sick time paid out at the end of December - as the new company officially takes over the new payment schedule as of Jan 1st. The paid out days work out to being 19 days they told him, so that extra money will also go into savings, once received.
As of January the new company pays weekly, every Friday. Since I pay the bills and do the budget, I think it will take a few months for me to become accostumed to Hubby's new pay, as the old owner paid 1x a month at the end of each month, but there was a small advance given to everyone on 15th of each month. Just a bit of a learning curve for me.
Our Christmas shopping is all done and except for a few grocery items to get on Friday or Saturday, we are set for Christmas, my favorite time of the year. Last night we drove around looking at Christmas lights, as I had even budgeted this gas money into the Christmas budget.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Liebster Blog
"Liebster" german for FRIEND :)
Thanks so much to B-Kat at http://slaythemonster.blogspot.com/! Please check out this fellow Canadian's blog. I'm not very computer savvy, so I'm doing this as best as I can. I don't know how to link the blogs properly, but here it goes: There are rules to receiving and accepting this award.
The Rules:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and Paste the Award to your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the word and love to other bloggers.
5. Have Fun!!
My 5 picks of PF Bloggers that have less than 200 followers...
http://homeownerby30.blogspot.com/ - LBC Teacher - her blogging inspired me to start to my own blog journey
http://bigcitybeerbudget.blogspot.com/ - a 20-something Canadian living in Ottawa.
http://countingallmystarsandsavingit.blogspot.com/ - young mother of 4
http://wemaybepoorbutwearehappy.blogspot.com/ - a very honest and heart warming account of a wonderful family
http://jessiesmoney.blogspot.com/ - a young, newly married couple's financially journey
Thursday, December 15, 2011
An Oprah Life Class Question: Do you respect money?
It seems like such an obvious question with an obvious answer, and one I never actually thought about, before I saw this question posted on Oprah's Life Class show. She was saying that a sure sign of disrespect for money can be seen with how someone keeps their money in their wallet/purse. If it's all bunched up and strewn all over the place, then the money is not respected, also if you just keep paper money haphazardly in your pockets all scrunched up. I thought about this and realized my money is kept neatly in my wallet, inside of my purse. I also arrange them from smallest denomination to largest and my change is all securely kept inside a zippered portion of my wallet, so the bottom of my purse is not swimming in change. I also realized that I became more organized with my money, once I really started to watch and become more careful with my spending habits. Do you respect money?
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Update on life around here
Christmas is just around the corner and I'm all set. We've scaled back a bit this Christmas because of Hubby's work situation, but all is good for now (Dec) and I'm hoping we are will have a wonderful, relaxing Christmas. We both have next week off, so I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with hubby.
Hubby's work situation - every day there seems to be different developments. Last night the NEW OWNER finally showed up in our City and had a dinner meet and greet with all the remaining staff at a local downtown restaurant. Hubby was offered a titled position and the pay - good and not so good - a raise of $2.50 an hour - however, his work schedule is only "x" amount of hours, which will be less than what he is currently working now and the new company has stated that they do not approve and pay for overtime or bonuses, so in the end, even with the $2.50 an hour raise - he'll be making less. Yes, we are thankful he has a job and I'm glad we've been living a mindfully frugal lifestyle for the past few years, so I think we are better prepared than some of is fellow workers, but it's still going to hurt.
I will be receiving a Christmas Bonus from my job this Christmas, so I will put that amount into Savings once it's received, which I believe will be this coming pay day on the 14th. It is $1,000, but once taxes are taken off, I figured the actual amount I'll be receiving will be about $620.
My parents came to visit last week for 3 days, so we had a good time and they and my in laws get along really well, so we all spent some quality time together visiting and laughing - it was a good time and felt almost like a mini Christmas. We also did a nice "free" thing - we went to one of the local Garden/Nursery Centers that decorate about 25 Christmas trees, all in different styles.
My work Christmas party is this Friday evening, so we'll be going to that and then on Sunday we have another event to go to. Next Monday, we have an appointment scheduled for my SUV to go in, as one of the volume controls is not working properly and since we only have 3 more months of warranty left on it, we want to get it fixed (hopefully it's covered by warranty).
With all the over time hubby worked in Nov, we've been able to put aside a good chunk of change aside, to cover the shortfalls that his new pay cheques starting in Jan will have. We should be good for at least 3 months and then after 3 months, my SUV vehicle payments will be done. So all in all, we will be fine, it will be tight still, but we'll just have to do what we have to do, to make it work.
Hubby's work situation - every day there seems to be different developments. Last night the NEW OWNER finally showed up in our City and had a dinner meet and greet with all the remaining staff at a local downtown restaurant. Hubby was offered a titled position and the pay - good and not so good - a raise of $2.50 an hour - however, his work schedule is only "x" amount of hours, which will be less than what he is currently working now and the new company has stated that they do not approve and pay for overtime or bonuses, so in the end, even with the $2.50 an hour raise - he'll be making less. Yes, we are thankful he has a job and I'm glad we've been living a mindfully frugal lifestyle for the past few years, so I think we are better prepared than some of is fellow workers, but it's still going to hurt.
I will be receiving a Christmas Bonus from my job this Christmas, so I will put that amount into Savings once it's received, which I believe will be this coming pay day on the 14th. It is $1,000, but once taxes are taken off, I figured the actual amount I'll be receiving will be about $620.
My parents came to visit last week for 3 days, so we had a good time and they and my in laws get along really well, so we all spent some quality time together visiting and laughing - it was a good time and felt almost like a mini Christmas. We also did a nice "free" thing - we went to one of the local Garden/Nursery Centers that decorate about 25 Christmas trees, all in different styles.
My work Christmas party is this Friday evening, so we'll be going to that and then on Sunday we have another event to go to. Next Monday, we have an appointment scheduled for my SUV to go in, as one of the volume controls is not working properly and since we only have 3 more months of warranty left on it, we want to get it fixed (hopefully it's covered by warranty).
With all the over time hubby worked in Nov, we've been able to put aside a good chunk of change aside, to cover the shortfalls that his new pay cheques starting in Jan will have. We should be good for at least 3 months and then after 3 months, my SUV vehicle payments will be done. So all in all, we will be fine, it will be tight still, but we'll just have to do what we have to do, to make it work.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Productive Weekend
Hubby has been working all the over time he can get, but the "conditions" at the new warehouse are not safe at all, and the new company does not want to hear about it - they just want the job done. Moral is not good - the way the new "rep" from the new company treats and talks to the guys is very demoralizing. A few have quit due to the verbal abuse so far. Hubby is sticking it out for at least another month - to try to make as much money as possible. He worked at the new warehouse location all weekend 9 hours on Saturday and 8.5 hours on Sunday and is now back at the "old" warehouse as of Monday, as they are wrapping things up there.
I worked on some decluttering of the basement, on the weekend, and sent 4 more boxes to Goodwill and threw out a bunch more stuff. So progress is being made in that department.
I also did the usual cleaning around the house and did some Christmas shopping. My parents and brother and sister-in-law will each get $25 gift cards, my 3 nieces will get $20 each and for hubby, he will just be getting Christmas Stocking Stuff this year. I'm trying to convince my parents to come for Christmas, but my Mom doesn't like going anywhere in the snow - so this could be a hard sell, as they would have an 8 hour drive to get here - in the snow. They did invite us to their house, but this year, with Hubby's work up in the air, we are just sticking close to home.
Sunday night, we did splurge, and get a medium pizza from Pizza Hut - it came to $18.89 with coupon. It was enough for 2 meals each for both of us, for Sunday night supper and Monday night supper. The only reason we splurged, is because I had $20 from gift money, from ages ago, still in my wallet.
I was also able to use (2) Gas Coupons for $20 each from Shell - both redeemed from Airmiles to put gas in my SUV, so now the tank is full.
Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I'm really looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree and decorations at the end of November. I love sitting in the dark with all the Christmas lights on, it's such a peaceful feeling for me and since we are trying not to keep our heat on much, we'll keep the fire going in our fireplace as much as possible. I've requested some Christmas CD's from the library, so we will be all set.
I worked on some decluttering of the basement, on the weekend, and sent 4 more boxes to Goodwill and threw out a bunch more stuff. So progress is being made in that department.
I also did the usual cleaning around the house and did some Christmas shopping. My parents and brother and sister-in-law will each get $25 gift cards, my 3 nieces will get $20 each and for hubby, he will just be getting Christmas Stocking Stuff this year. I'm trying to convince my parents to come for Christmas, but my Mom doesn't like going anywhere in the snow - so this could be a hard sell, as they would have an 8 hour drive to get here - in the snow. They did invite us to their house, but this year, with Hubby's work up in the air, we are just sticking close to home.
Sunday night, we did splurge, and get a medium pizza from Pizza Hut - it came to $18.89 with coupon. It was enough for 2 meals each for both of us, for Sunday night supper and Monday night supper. The only reason we splurged, is because I had $20 from gift money, from ages ago, still in my wallet.
I was also able to use (2) Gas Coupons for $20 each from Shell - both redeemed from Airmiles to put gas in my SUV, so now the tank is full.
Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I'm really looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree and decorations at the end of November. I love sitting in the dark with all the Christmas lights on, it's such a peaceful feeling for me and since we are trying not to keep our heat on much, we'll keep the fire going in our fireplace as much as possible. I've requested some Christmas CD's from the library, so we will be all set.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
When to dip into the Emergecy Fund?
When is an emergency, really an emergency? I'm talking about when is it justifiable to use money inside of an Emergency Fund. I feel so darn guilty even thinking of having to use it in the New Year that I guess that's a good thing, at least I don't dip into it mindlessly - but still, when is it okay to do so? I know this will vary from person to person based on different situations, but what have been your experiences? I'm afraid that once we touch ours, we will never be able to rebuild it. I think this is why I really want to get our Line of Credit paid down as much as possible. It's not been a priority for us, because we keep current with our payments on it, the interest rate is really low and it's life and disability insured. By paying down the Line of Credit faster than we had previously expected, we will then free up extra money through the monthly budget. We still have a ways to go in paying it off, but the balance owing is decreasing, and that is always a good thing, because come the New Year and depending on hubby's work situation, we might not be able to throw extra onto it, so it's best to do whatever we can now.
Hubby has been able to get some overtime hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and hoping for some more tonight, as the merge between the 2 warehouses are now taking place. The new company is allowing over time for the next 2 weeks only. We are taking advantage of this, to make as much money as possible, so that we can bank the money.
Hubby has been able to get some overtime hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and hoping for some more tonight, as the merge between the 2 warehouses are now taking place. The new company is allowing over time for the next 2 weeks only. We are taking advantage of this, to make as much money as possible, so that we can bank the money.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Pity Party...
It just seems like I am spinning our wheels and not getting anywhere. All our costs are going up and I'm stressing on where we will be able to find the money. I do want to move away from the snow and unstable weather, I want to find a different line of work and I want hubby to just quit his job, where the new owners treat him and the other workers like they are sh*t. I'm just not in a good frame of mind right now. We probably won't move, I'll probably have to stay at my job - because lets face it - I've been there for almost 12 years and for right now it's secure, but most importantly it allows me to bring home a paycheque but I'm still going to hold out hope, that hubby finds another job. My pity party is happening right now and could very well last until the New Year. To top this off, I'm sure I've gained 20 lbs at least. I have to get a grip, I just can't seem to stop stressing about the money.
I know I will snap out of it. I need to be strong and just persevere - and I know I will, but for today and maybe a few tomorrows I'm going to allow my self to have a pity party. After all the bills have been paid, we had $3.40 left over from our paycheques, so I sent it towards our LOC (Line of Credit) this morning. it's not much, but it's something, and in a small way it did make me feel a little better to see that balance come down a little.
I will try to focus on some positive things in our life right now - "try" being the operative word.
I know I will snap out of it. I need to be strong and just persevere - and I know I will, but for today and maybe a few tomorrows I'm going to allow my self to have a pity party. After all the bills have been paid, we had $3.40 left over from our paycheques, so I sent it towards our LOC (Line of Credit) this morning. it's not much, but it's something, and in a small way it did make me feel a little better to see that balance come down a little.
I will try to focus on some positive things in our life right now - "try" being the operative word.
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