Parent's/In-Laws Gifts

This coming weekend will be baking cookies to send to my parents in BC. I always make these soft ginger cookies and send them to my parents and give them to my in-laws and they are always a hit. I am also making/sending a different type this year, to go with the ginger cookies, they are orange cranberry and white chocolate soft cookies. I really hope they like them - plus the great part is that I always make an extra batch of each kind for us also.

We add a gift card to a restaurant and voila, there are their christmas presents. We put the cookies in festive decorative tins. We get the Tins at the dollar store.

I'm amazed and pleased to see, how many nice Christmas tins, wrap, bags and decorations you can get at the dollar store - our favorite is the Dollarama chain, not sure if it's in the US or not.

Paying It Forward...

The office I work in, is doing a really fantastic thing - they gave everyone $100 yesterday to "pay it forward" as in one of the Oprah shows - meaning, this money is to help someone or people, we don't know, total strangers - it can be used in one lump sum for someone or it can be spread out over different people. The only thing is - it can't be given to a charity. The money/gesture is meant to do something nice, so that in turn, that person can "pay it forward" to someone else. We have until Dec 12th to do something and whoever still has money left over, needs to return it to the Management Dept.

Our Christmas Tree

Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees is this weekend, we are going to go on Saturday afternoon. Admission for both of us will be $6 each. There is also a special farmer's market downtown - supposedly in heated tents - sure hope so!!! We might check this out also.

The last time I was at the Festival of Trees, was probably 6 years ago and hubby has never been, so it will be fun. They usually have a gingerbread competition also, along with entertainment. I have budgeted $40 for this outing, this will have to cover admission, parking and anything we buy.

Pier 1 Imports

We don't usually shop at Pier 1 Imports - well we used to - quite a bit - but in trying to be more frugal savvy - this store does not usually fit the bill - but they do have amazing room sprays for $10.00 each. They have an enormous amount of different scents and they smell wonderful and last a lot longer than the "less expensive" room sprays out there - in my opinion. So after 2 years of not stepping foot into a Pier 1 store we finally made a visit - as I wanted to purchase 2 more room sprays (which should last another 2 years). My favorite scent is Ember and it's chrismassy smelling - hints of cinnamon, ginger,vanilla, orange and nutmeg. As we wondered around the store we found 2 end tables for our bedroom - but the price, is of course way more than we would ever spend, but as mentioned in an earlier post, my boss always gets me something in the range of $500 for Christmas and usually asks me what I want - so if he asks, I'm going to let him know about these end tables. They are the right size, height and they have 2 drawers each and a spacious nook underneath the drawers. They are $249 each. Our budget we allotted for end tables - if we were purchasing - is $70 each - so big difference! We've been looking for about a year now, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

No Frills Grocery Store

A No Frills Grocery Store opened up this past week, so far, it's the only one is our city and it's by our house, so we went and checked it out. It really does have some great prices (especially the flyer sales). We purchased $47 worth of stuff and that equalled 5 grocery bags, so a pretty good deal. The purchases coupled with some manufacture coupons, turned out to be quite a savings for us, compared to where we usually shop. The place was very busy and actually had a nice selection of things. The produce was amazing also. We didn't' get to check everything out, as the place was packed with shoppers, but it is a place, we'll definitely be shopping at again.

Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree on the weekend. We haven't put out any other Christmas decorations yet around the house, but I love our tree. I love Christmas - I'm like a little kid, when it comes to Christmas. This is the earliest we have ever put it up, but I just felt like I needed that "joyous" feeling a little earlier this year. The Christmas season always puts me in a good mood and so I figured it could start a little earlier in our household this year. Hubby and I shared laughs and stories as we decorated the tree, sipped hot chocolate and snuggled in front of the fireplace, eating homemade cookies.

I will try to post a picture of our tree in the next few days.

What the recession taught us...

I heard on the radio yesterday morning that many companies are now reinstating Christmas bonus' and Christmas Parties due to the "better" economy.

Hubby's company has reinstated their Christmas party this year, on a smaller scale, than in past years, but still it's something.

I'm not sure if the economy is back to being as great as some people believe, but I am thankful that the recession happened. We are fortunate enough to have kept our jobs. I believe it really made us, speaking strictly for myself and hubby, to appreciate the simpler things in life and to really look at our wants and needs and measure the value for money concept in more detail. I really believe that any of the major purchases we made in the last year or two were thought out and the best value - for the money we paid for them. Yes, we do spend frivolously sometimes on smaller things (as in on our days off - see last post) but all our bills are still paid - just some months have less going into our vacation fund, when we do frivolous spending.

I've been reading some stories where people have been out of work for over a year and that scares me. I can only imagine what the emotional stress that would be for someone, coupled with financial stress. I am very thankful for my life and my wonderful husband. Here's raising a glass to having an Emergency Fund - may we never have to tap into it.

Going forward, I know that we will continue to live within our means - for the sheer fact that I'm too darned apprehensive of what the alternative is or could be. How about you?

Some days off and a revelation...

Days off are always nice and I was lucky that hubby and I were able to have a few extra days off to make for a really nice long weekend - the only problem being - is that I have made the shameful observation that when we are not working - we are spending - me so more than hubby, but I'm going to lump him into this also. I find we spend more on groceries and gasp - eating out and grabbing the odd coffee here or there. This pattern is either going to have to change or I'm going to have to budget more diligently for our "off times" - heaven forbid what will happen in the
23+ years when we are ready to retire, and we are home all the time - Yikes!!!

I have a new appreciation for "work" days now and so does our budget.

Some of my picks, for the week...

I recently signed up on the kashi.ca in hopes of getting a free sample or coupons. Yesterday in the mail, was a coupon for 1 free box of Chewy Kashi bars. I can't wait to pick up my box at the grocers on the weekend and try it. I LOVE free stuff and it's a whole box free, Wow!

I also stumbled upon a website called delongfarms.com that sell/ship Christmas Wreaths and trees throughout Canada and the US (I think). Many years ago, a lady at work had told me about them and that their stuff was beautiful and smelled heavenly. So I had purchased a wreath for my parents for Christmas and they loved it and I loved it because the company was able to deliver it to them in BC. So I thought I would see if they were still around, since, it's been years since I dealt with them. They are, and they have a contest on their website, for a free wreath. I entered. I would love to win a wreath and not have to purchase one this year.

Laundry - Oberservation

Over time I've consciously noticed that I was doing approximately 3-4 loads of laundry a week and decided, that in reality, all these loads of clothes were not "full" loads and that I was wasting water, etc doing my laundry this way. So I decided to do only 2 loads on the weekend. This helps on water consumption, electricity and laundry detergent.
BUT - I've also noticed, that it basically forces my hubby and I to actually wear our clothes in our closets and drawers, this is because, when I was doing laundry more frequently, we were always wearing the same outfits over and over again - it was so easy, they had just been washed, they were now first in our drawers or better yet, once dried, we could just wear them again without having to put them away.

This new regime, is making us mix and match more and making us realize what exactly we have for clothes. All our items are in good condition, so I'm glad we are making ourselves more aware of exactly what we have and actually getting use of them.

Annual Fees...Budgeting

I've noticed on other PF blogs that some people are saving separately into an account for annual fees such as AAA/CAA, Costco, Credit Card Annual Fees, etc. I usually know what months these are all due, and budget that particular month accordingly, but I like the idea of saving a pool of money throughout the year to cover these annual charges.

I will look into seeing if I have the money and willpower to start doing this, in the New Year. I wonder how many other bloggers actually do this and how it works for them.

Christmas Gifts from Boss

Every year my boss does something special for me, for Christmas. Which is extremely nice of him. I am blessed with a great boss. He is very easy going, jovial and down to earth. He is one of the top guys in the office that I work in, and I work exclusively for him, as his Executive Assistant.

Each year he does something special for me at Christmas. He sometimes will ask what I would like and other years he'll just surprise me. I have been with him for over 10 years and in that time, some of my Christmas gifts from him have been: a TV I wanted, the Treadmill I wanted, a Chaise Lounge I wanted, some of his surprises has been a trip to Mexico to an all inclusive resort, a trip out to a cabin in the Rockie Mountains and last year 1 kg of Silver (which has already appreciated in value).

I wonder what this year holds. This is about the time, if he's asking me I want, that he usually asks, so, I was figuring if he asked, I think I will ask for either some firewood (as we are having a lot more fires, now that we are trying to keep our Heat Thermostat down) and firewood here is quite expensive or 2 side tables (with draws) for beside our bed. We currently have side tables, but they don't have drawers and try as we might, we seem to accumulate "stuff" on top of them. I would like all our "stuff" kept neatly in a drawer. So those are options, if he asks.


For him and his wife, for Christmas we are taking them with us to the nicest dinner theatre place in our city. The shows are top notch and the food is excellent. We have it booked for Tuesday, December 21st. By going on a Tuesday evening, we were able to save $100 off the total of the tickets, (which were still just under $400) for the 4 of us, but it will be an enjoyable evening with good company.

Wishing our 2010 finances had been more positive

Our Savings Funds are still stagnant. Oh how I wish that they would grow in leaps and bounds each month, I guess only in my dreams, for now, I will have to be content with it growing by $50 a month.

This year has been a tough one - it seems this was the year for our investment property to do poorly - we've had some renters, but we've also had a few "empty" months, with has meant that we had to cover that condo's mortgage and condo fees during those times, on top of our own mortgage. The crunch wouldn't have been so bad, if hubby's pay hadn't been cut, yet again, for the second year in a row. Please don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful that we both have full time jobs to go to in these trying economic times.

It also seemed that some essentials around the house finally gave up their will to survive and work, so we had to purchase replacements. Luckily, we were fortunate to be able to replace these items, without going into any debt.

We also had to purchase a "new to us" truck that we needed to get Hubby after his ancient car finally gave out. At least we were able to put a sizeable down payment on it, but we did have to finance it at $210 a month - in the scheme of things it's not too bad. It's an excellent truck in great condition and had low kms/miles and we did our research and came out with a great purchase price on it.

I'm looking forward to what 2011 has to offer. It will be interesting to see what we actually made in total for the year. I'm on salary, but hubby is on hourly wage.

Interesting Trend...

I'm seeing an interesting trend when I'm out shopping. Perhaps I'm just being more observant of other people's spending habits, but I'm noticing more and more people are paying with cash or debit cards. I think this must mean that more people are being money conscious and living within their means - in the fact that they are not paying by credit card and then neglecting to pay the credit card bill off in full. Hubby and I are the complete opposite of the cash system. We will pay with our credit cards for everything - in order to get the Air Mile rewards - and we do pay off all our credit card bills each month. As I've stated before, we redeem the Air Miles here in Canada for Shell Gas Certificates - I haven't had to pay for gas for my SUV for almost 2 years now and we've redeemed Air Miles for a large portion of our Renovation Supplies.

Christmas Spending

I am on track with my Christmas budget. I'm not buying my family "things". They will be getting gift cards to places they like to eat and my nieces will be getting $20 in cash each, to do with it as they like, they can buy a toy, do something fun or save it. My family always used to love to eat out and in fact, every Friday since I can remember, was always a restaurant night. Unfortunately, I decided to keep this habit when I left home and so did my brother - which we then converted our spouses into enjoying. For that, we were a bad influence. So I know the "restaurant" gift cards will be enjoyed by my parents and my brother and sister-in-law. Since we have cut our "restaurant" budget drastically - and we hardly eat out anymore, I'm thinking maybe I should purchase one also for hubby's stocking...

Bundling Services ...

Our Internet provider is Shaw and our Satellite company - when we first purchased it, was through a company called Star Choice - which was then bought over by Shaw a year ago. Okay, so we have the services directly billed to a credit card each month (which is paid off each month in full). There are always 2 charges - one that says Shaw Cable - for the Internet and another charge that says Shaw Direct - so same company is billing and quite gleefully taking our payments each month. Can you see where there is going? I call up the billing dept to see if they could just do their "bundle" thing that they do and maybe save $5 or so a month - every bit counts right? I guess wrong, because according to the customer service rep at Shaw, they are considered 2 different companies - so they can't bundle the services. Like What!?! "Shaw" is the main provider, but because they bought Star Choice, they are allowed to operate as a separate entity. I guess it was worth a try.

Simple Living

Living more simply - seems to be a lot more in my vocabulary and thoughts lately. I'm not drawn to all the "stuff" that I used to be - in my spend first, think twice (or never) afterwards. I tend to look at value for money items or things, and this can only be a good thing. We love to travel and yesterday I found myself thinking back to what I was doing a year at that exact time. I had a cup of tea and just let my memories take over and it put a smile on my face - it was our last day in Boston and we were just embarking on a cruise ship in the Boston Harbor. It was hubby's first time on a cruise ship and being able to experience his "first time" on it, through his eyes, was magical. These memories are the things that are important to me, so much more than stuff. That is why travel is so important to us. I would much rather save and take a trip somewhere, then buy new clothes or knick knacks for the house. I know everyone is different, and some might think travel is an extreme waste of hard earned money - but it's our "thing" and we do put money aside for retirement each month and we have an emergency fund and our bills are always paid in full and on time - so yeah, travel is our splurge - but all our trips are paid for BEFORE we leave on the trip. I wonder what everyone else's "thing" is. I'm sure we all have one.

Wills and other important documents...

Do you have a Will, Power of Attorney (POA) and Personal Directive? We do. We have no children, but still thought it would be prudent, since we own rental property and wanted to make sure our pet was taken care of, and our nieces would inherit something. All this in case something should happen to both of us at the same time. The paper work all works well for now and was drawn up by a lawyer. As we get older and retire, we may look at changing some things, like perhaps giving more to charity. Our goal is to enjoy life and different experiences, and since we don't have children, we will probably use most of our assets in the future to ensure that we do live life to the fullest.

Some Words For Pondering...

'A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn' (Anon)

I saw this quote and it got me thinking...it really is so true, and applies to so many different aspects of one's life.

In Pain...

So being my clumsy self, I had just finished working out on the treadmill - had even increased the incline and the speed, last night and then I ended up falling down the stairs, backwards. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get up and my husband wasn't home from work yet, but I eventually made it up through the help of stairs and the rail. I'm looking forward to October being over, as it seems to be full of bad luck. But on a positive note, I did not break anything, but I am definitely one sore lass. My left knee and down to my ankle, is quite painful and stiff and as weird as it seems, the right side of my butt is painful also, and that is just this morning. Last night after the fall, I hurt just about everywhere - my shoulder, neck, left knee, right ankle and my butt. I've always been clumsy, ever since I can remember. I remember one time when we were in California, a few years ago, I was pointing excitedly to my husband that the store I wanted to go to, had a 70% sale sign in the window and next thing I know I'm face down in the parking lot because I had tripped over the "big" Cement parking dividers. I mean really, these are not easy things to "not see" I was so excited about saving some money that I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and to make it worse, there was a DMV place packed full of people, watching me through the window. I do believe I even amazed myself with how fast I could get right back up - oh, what embarrassing situations can make you do. It's actually funny now, when I look back at it.

Oh well, on wards to another day and today is Friday so I can at least recuperate on the weekend.

P&G Brand Sampler...

The P&Gbrandsampler (from Proctor & Gamble) offer is now available. I signed up last month and received sample sizes (fairly nice size too) of Pantene shampoo and one of Pantene conditioner.

This month's selection, I chose the following (3) free samples (1) Mr Clean Magic Eraser (1) Trial Pack of Cascade Dishwasher Tabs and (1) Shower Body Wash

I love getting free things and the variety of them. I had stumbled upon them, on a living well website.

check it out www.pgbrandsampler.ca

The cost of having a wallet stolen...

The cost of having a wallet stolen, is not only the stress it causes. We adhere to a strict budget, so the cash that was inside hubby's wallet was his gas money for the next 2 weeks, until next payday. He also had to pay $22 for a replacement Drivers Licence. All the extra gas in running around to all the different places to get new bank cards, store cards, motor vehicles, etc, but also he needed a new wallet now. He didn't want to pay $50 for one, so he finally found one that seems pretty nice for $13. Plus, he lost a day of work pay, as Friday he had to take off work to phone all the Credit Card Companies and go get a new Driver's Licence, Health Care Card, Bank Cards, etc.

Nerves were strained out our house hold this weekend and tempers on short fuses - as we were both stressing and not getting much sleep at all.

We'll just feel a lot better, once we see that the fraudulent charges are reversed, then we can concentrate on getting a new tenant into our investment property.

We have an add on kijiji, for our rental condo, and in the past we've had quite a bit of luck with this site. Here's keeping our fingers crossed.

Our tenant, said that she is putting a stop payment on her post-dated cheques. So we have given her the option of staying until the end of Nov (paying Nov rent) and then she can get her damage deposit back at the beginning of Dec, if all is well the apartment - or she can leave at the end of Oct, but she forfeits her damage deposit. She is supposed to get back to us. Technically she is responsible for the full year lease, but the cost to legally make her accountable is just not worth it.

The Thursday From Hell...

Last week was certainly not the best - we received notice on Thursday evening that our tenant who signed a year's lease back in April mailed us a letter saying that she loves the condo, but after taking a University Course this past Summer (she is 88 years old - yes you read that correctly) she now realizes that her "Spiritual Needs" are not being met. Whatever the heck that means... So not only is she not honoring the year contract she signed, but she's only giving us 2 weeks notice to find another renter. This is not an easy time to rent in the year and we turned down other people, because she agreed to a year's lease. Oh - and she wants her damage deposit back. Also Thursday night, hubby was working overtime, so he calls after 9:00 pm and says he'll be home even later, because he's just realizing that he doesn't have his wallet, he had it in the morning, because he put a cheque into the bank, so he's going to look around his work place again and check the parking lot where he works. He gets home and no wallet. He remembers putting his wallet in his coat pocket at the bank and is thinking that maybe it fell out. So it's now after 11:00 pm and the bank closes at 8:00 pm, so thinking someone might have found it and turned it into Customer Service, we call the 1-800 # to see if there are any notes on our accounts that the wallet was found - they check and say no, but to check with the bank branch in the morning. I told him he should phone the credit card companies, but he wants to wait until the morning to avoid all the hassle if his wallet just at the bank. So against, my better judgement, he waits. The next morning, hubby calls the bank and no, noone turned in a wallet. So he proceeds calling all the credit card companies to let them know - seems some one must have it - because it seems on Thursday all his cards were charged up - fast food places, cabs, liquor stores, convenience stores, etc and the biggest was at a camera store for almost $600. This is definitely a stressful situation. The Credit Card Companies, say that we won't be responsible - but, they have to send him forms and he has to complete them and then send them back and then the Fraud Dept at the Card Companies start dealing with it. In the mean time, as luck would have it, the credit card statements are all starting their new billing cycle, so all the charges that happened on the day it went missing is on the statement that is due in 2 weeks. We always pay all of our bills in full and on time and I doubt that the "fraud' dept will have time to reverse all the charges before our balance is due. So now, I'm super stressed, because I pay the bills and the fraudulent charges amount to approx $1,000. Oh, and of course all the cash that was in the wallet is gone also.

I'm not feeling very positive ...

Free entertainment last night

We took advantage of a free comedy act show last, courtesy of my company. The only thing we needed to pay for was parking, and that came to $5. There were 3 comedian's and we went with friends, as we had 4 tickets in total. It was a nice evening out and it was basically free. It was great to get out of the house, have some laughs, visit and not have to break the budget. In the past I haven't always taken advantage of the "freebies" provided by work, but going forward into the future, it is something we will probably do. The reason I haven't always jumped at these "freebies" in the past, is that they usually start around 7 or 8 and go until 10 or 11 and I need to be up for work by 5:00 am, so I'm usually heading to bed at 9:00 pm. I'm tired, but I'm here at work - thank goodness it's Friday, and it's the Thanksgiving long weekend, here in Canada.

Feeling Guilty...

I've been missing in action, because I've been feeling guilty. I've been toying with the idea of getting a wig for some time - like 6 years! I have hair - but it's very thin and I don't have a lot of it, which means that I can't do the cute styles that I like. It also seems, in the last year - my hair is becoming more unpredictable in what it will do and it's just blah. So anyways, over the last couple of weeks, I've been to a place that specializes in just wigs - and tried some on and in different styles and colors. I narrowed it down to 2 that I really like and that look good on me. I went back on the weekend and bought 1 wig (at $300 they are not cheap!) but this is money that I had saved, so no going into debt over. The Hair kit I also bought, which includes the stand, wig shampoo, wig conditioner and wig hair spray and special brush, was an extra $45.

- I only plan on wearing the wig for now, on the weekends and vacation - not ready to wear it to work - as I don't want my co-workers to think I'm crazy.

- I love the color and style and feel great when I'm wearing it, but I'm feeling really guilty about spending the money, not only that, I want to get the other one also, down the road, as it's a different style and color to the one I just got and it will be nice to have the options of what I want to wear. I know it's frivolous spending and that is why I'm feeling super guilty.

Renovation Budget

This weekend Hubby re-insulated the front and back door and put new weather stripping around both doors, in hopes that it will help our heating costs going forward. The budget for this $150 - hopefully it works as even that, was a stretch for our budget. In true Murphy's fashion the drill's recharger also died - replacement cost - approx $80. That will have to wait until next month.

On the bright side, we didn't do anything else this long weekend, so we saved money by not going anywhere or eating out.

Fall is in the air..

Fall is in the air, and I'm determined to not turn on the heat - In August (even if it is the last day of August). We have been unseasonably cool this year in our part of the world. Last night was very cool - was great while I was on the treadmill - but not so great later in the evening. So we lit a fire and watched TV wrapped in blankets. I was really hoping on not turning on the heat until at least the middle of September - but that might be wishful thinking. I am toughing it out for now - this from someone who is usually cold at the best of times and loves warmth. I really want to keep the heat budget to a minimum right now, as our Alberta winters are dreadful and the heating cost will likely triple (at a minimum) from Nov - March.

On a happier note - Christmas is not too far away and I love Christmas!!!!

Staying the course - but frustated

It seems that we aren't getting into debt, but we aren't getting any further ahead with our savings either - We seem to be just rolling along on a straight course and it's frustrating. Does anyone else ever feel like this? Maybe I'm just having one of those days (or weeks, months, etc). I often wonder about people around us who say they are buying this, going there, doing this, blah, blah and secretly wonder what their financial situation is really like. Do they have Credit Card debt? Do they have any Retirement Savings? Do they have any type of Emergency Fund?

Scruffles - Our Little Dog

This is Scruffles, our adorable little 4 year old dog.

Wedding To Attend On The Weekend

We have a wedding to attend, on Saturday. We've decided to set the budget at $50 for a gift. It seems years will go by and no one we know is getting married and now in the past few months, we have been invited to 3 weddings. One wedding is in October and the other wedding is next August in Jasper, AB. We haven't decided whether we will be giving cash or a purchased gift on Saturday. I like that the option is open, we once went to a wedding and the invitation clearly stated that in lieu of gifts, they would like cash. Maybe I'm old fashioned, and I'm sure cash would be what most people would like, but I personally would never state that, I would be appreciative with whatever I received as a gift.

Monday Ramblings...

Our "Time Off" has come to an end and today we were back to work. When hubby arrived at work today, he was informed that his workplace ended up having a meeting on Friday and bonus' were given out - Yay!!, so he received his this morning. He called me at work to let me know and what do you know - it will just cover the cost of the lawn mower we needed to buy. We are thankful for this bonus. So even though we are not able to split it between the Vacation Fund and the Emergency Fund, we don't need to use vacation money to cover the cost of the lawn mower.

Our BBQ is on it's last legs - we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will last as long as possible. The starter switch no longer works and it has to be lit with a lighter once the propane is on.

We also have a pressure washer, that is not working now either, so Hubby ended up washing the vehicles with the hose.

Some good news from our time off, was that the fact that we went to 2 different Farmers' Markets in our city and did not spend $122 - that before, we probably would have spent, without a second thought. So I'm really proud of ourselves for resisting the urge to purchase - just because - none of this stuff we really needed - sure it would have been nice to have these things, but there was no way we needed them. So a pat on the back to us.

We were also fortunate, in the fact that Hubby's parents brought over some vegetables from their garden for us - beans, potatoes, carrots and onions, when they came over for a BBQ on Thursday night.

The Week So Far

So, this was supposed to be our "staycation" week off from work, which it has been - though I did have to attend an 8 hour work course (which was insanely boring) yesterday, on the opposite side of the city. We knew staying home and not going on "vacation" would save us some money. But... I ended up going shopping (to the tune of $270) as I needed to get some clothes, as a lot of my stuff no longer fits as it's too big (I've lost approx 80 lbs) so I've been rotating what I have had in my closet. Hubby did not get the bonus that was promised - at the end of July - no one at his work got one, though his boss didn't even give an excuse or reason, he did provide a BBQ lunch for the workers, so at least they got a free lunch, but moral is not the greatest at his work right now.

Hubby went to mow the lawn today - and the lawn mower has finally died - it is about 20 years old, I believe, as we've had it for 8 years and it was my parents before that, and I believe they had it for a long time. So it is something we knew we would have to replace - but of course, we were wanting it to be, at least next year. So we bought a 3-in-1 cordless, battery operated mulching lawn mower. This cost us $660.

Just when we think we are getting ahead of the game - there's a wrench thrown in to our plans to try to derail us - but we are staying the course - trying to remain positive (that's what we'll keep telling ourselves anyway)

Preparing for our week off

So yesterday I posted that our August budget would be not the norm, as we had planned on doing a staycation and probably eating out a lot of the week. Hubby and I sat down last night and started talking about the budget and what August would probably look like. We agreed to yes - still treat ourselves to eating out and going to Tim Horton's, etc, but we would also buy extra groceries this week and make some of our favorite meals that we haven't had for awhile or that we are craving. So we made a list of what we needed and it will actually be fun cooking together again and spending time with each other. Yes, the extra groceries will cost more than other months, but I'm sure by halving the times we go out to eat on our week splurge, will save us money in the long run and probably be healthier, as there will definitely be less sodium in what we prepare.

I want to research today, to see what are some free things that we can do around the city for next week. The mosquitoes all of a sudden were terrible this morning, as we discovered on our morning walk - and many bites later. So we will definitely have to see if we have an mosquito repellent at home and if not, then add it to our grocery list - so that we can do things outside next week.

August Budget - Out The Window

So, August is just around the corner and I have a feeling (know) the budget will not be so good - and we're okay with that. As I stated before, our Anniversary is on the 2nd and then we have a wedding to attend, on the 14th. Usually we would go out of town for a week, but this year, we are staying home - much to our disappointment - but we are trying to save on not going on vacation, but instead, do somewhat of a staycation. We have the next week off from work, though I have to attend a course for work on Wednesday, which is a full day 8:30-4:30, on the other side of our city. We will definitely save on gas and hotel rooms for not going away, but we are going to be eating out a lot over this next week. It's going to be our splurge - we might even do take out one day and go to a park or something. We do have some money set aside, specifically for eating out this month and we already have the $50 set aside for the wedding gift. But I am positive we will spend more on eating out than we currently have set aside. Since we are off this week, hubby is hoping to finish our backyard retaining wall and work on some other things around the house, that need fixing. This could lead to money being spent, in order to get things fixed.

Some Nice Surprises...

Our Anniversary is on August 2nd and we received from my parents a card in the mail yesterday along with a $100 cheque. That was a wonderful surprise. We must be on a lucky streak as our elderly neighbour, who has a backyard that consists of a vegetable garden, came over last night and gave us 4 huge heads of lettuce. Once again, that was a nice surprise. Our stars must be aligning, because on our morning walk with our little dog we found a quarter this morning. What nice surprises.

Picking up change

If you see a lone penny, nickel, dime, quarter - do you pick it up? We have started to. We take our little dog for a walk and each day, so we have started looking for loose change on the sidewalk or road - we put it into our at home savings jar. Sure a penny or nickel, etc is not that much, but it does add up over a year,to perhaps buy milk, bread, etc. We never really picked up change before, so it's just one of the ways in which we are attempting to be save money at every chance we get. It won't make us money rich, but it's funny how excited we got when we found a quarter last week. Here's to looking down in parking lots and along walks...

O Magazine Article

I read yesterday an article by Martha Beck in O magazine that reinforced our thinking and helped us explore our relationship/correlation between our goals and saving/spending. The "LOVE" factor of how we allocate our money and the wants vs needs was interesting. I would say hubby and I do this somewhat already, but it was a great article that makes one "think" of course preferrably before you purchase or engage in something, but it also helps to re-evaluate a person's past spending. Everyone has there own lists/ideas of what is important to spend money on and each person's pleasure rating is different for what is important to them. It got my husband and I and talking last night as to what our pleasure "LOVE" ratings were for different things and I'm happy to say we are pretty evenly on board on most things.

New TV

We currently have a TV (not our main one) that is on the verge of bye bye land. It's held out for 10+ years but now it's showing signs of dying. It's located in our bedroom and we are hoping we can get at least 3 more years out of it, this goes along with an earlier post that "before" we probably would have already replaced this bulky TV with a nice flat screen - but we didn't - hooray for us - and now, we are praying that it will last as long as it can. When it does finally die, we are fortunate enough that we have already set aside some money inside of a separate TV Money Market Fund to cover the cost - so the money is already saved and sitting there, but hopefully we won't have to touch it for a long time.

Grocery Shopping

We are heading to Walmart, Safeway and Costco this weekend. It's our 1x to get the majority of stuff we need for the month - It's crazy how much everything is and it's not even technically "Groceries", as it's laundry detergent, garbage bags, toilet paper, deodorant, etc. these we tend to get at Walmart. Usually the actual food part is quite minimal. This is when I wish we lived in the States, as we have found on our travels, that groceries are less in the States and you can get some great coupon savings.

One thing very nice happened the other day,one of our neighbours, who grows a vegetable garden in his back yard gave all his neighbours a big bag of lettuce and green onions from his garden. He recently lost his wife to cancer, so tending the garden he said, gives him great joy, but he has too much for just himself, so he happily disperses it amongst the neighbours.

Aha Moment...

It's funny how a mindset can change, when looking at the bigger picture. When we moved into our house a few years ago, we wanted to get stainless steel appliance (like in our last home) for the kitchen, as our new house came with white appliances, the fridge seemed pretty new, but the stove was older and the dishwasher was even more aged - now thinking in a frugalistic mode - to heck with the stainless steel appliances - I'm hoping our white (older) appliances last 10+ years.

No Bonus

So, hubby didn't get a bonus at the end of June, as promised. An email went out to all the employees about 15 mins before they were to recieve their cheques, telling them that the bonuses would not be given out until the end of July now. I feel sorry for the employees who were counting on that bonus at the end of June. We were simply saving the bonus money between our vacation fund and our emergency fund, so it didn't impact us, but still disappointing. Here's keeping our fingers crossed for the end of July.

Our Jobs

Being Thankful - In reading a lot of PF blogs, one thing that we are taking away from them, during the past couple of years, is how thankful we are, in having our jobs. Hubby's 2009 income ended up being about an 8% cut from his 2008 income and mine fortunately went up a bit - we have both been with our current employers for 10+ years each, so we are glad and fortunate that, that loyalty and hard work has allowed us to remain employed. We never want to take our employment for granted, so that is why we feel we have implemented ways to live within our means. We definitely put a lot more thought process in our purchases, than we would have before, which is a good habit for us to carry forward with, in our future. We adhere to a strict budget - which is key I believe, in never over extending ourselves. So we never take our jobs for granted. The lessons and resources we have learned and adapted to, with the recent economy, has actually been a good thing for us. I feel we have always been responsible, but even more so now and definitely weighing in on value for money - before we spend our hard earned dollars.

Outdoor Plants

We have not bought any plants for our outside planters this year, nor any hanging baskets - in an effort to save money this Summer. Every time I look at the empty pots, I almost cave - and suggest we go shopping... but so far, I'm able to resist.

Canadian Coupons

One great Canadian coupon site is save.ca, I don't know about you, but I find it very frustrating that many coupon sites only allow American residents to sign up, but this site, save.ca is good for Canadians. Check it out if you like, sometimes there are no coupons that I need, other times, there's quite a few. You sign in and then they mail them to you and I usually receive mine in about a week.

Water & Electrical Consumption

Our Water/Electricity bill is less, which is always a nice thing. We are trying to turn the water off when brushing our teeth, taking only 5 minute showers and using natural light as much as possible before turning on any lights. We know many other people already do these things, but for us, this is a big improvement. We even have a rain barrel (which was free - as it was kindly given to us), that we are using to water all our outdoor plants. Little changes on our part, are helping the environment and helping us save on our bills, gotta love that.

Work Bonus

Bonus time at work, for 1 of us will be at the end of June - as promised from an employer. Can't wait to see how much it is - it will be divided between Emergency Fund savings and Vacation Fund savings.

Travel - Our Splurge

"Don’t ever assume you can go later, Go now as you never know what life's future brings"

memories of our travels mean more to us than we can express. It just reinforces that now is the time to do it - we are not waiting until we retire or when the mortgage is paid off - life is about balance - our balance.

- We've known people who have passed away, far too early in their lives and never got the chance to do the things they really wanted to do, because it was always - "I'll do it in the future" or people we know have become ill and can't do the things they had always planned on doing, because physically, they can't anymore.

Grasp the special moments & opportunities when you can - as one day - they won't be within your grasp anymore.

We really want a stand up freezer - we currently have a small chest freezer - but we could certainly use another freezer and the stand up ones seem really appealing. We have priced them out - and they are more reasonable than we had originally thought.

Since we prepare our own lunches for work, etc and would like to take advantage of some bulk buying, it would be ideal to have more freezer space. When we cook, we try to make enough for dinner (plus enough to pre-portion about 4-6 lunches) as this really helps cut down on buying frozen pre-packaged foods and eating out - though we do like to eat out - but guess what - it's not in the budget! and have limited eating out time for special occasions only.

Sorry, we can't afford it...

We find ourselves saying, "sorry, we can't afford it...", but in reality we could afford it - but's it's not in our budget. Saying we can't afford it, is not really the truth, but what can we say? In reading some other PF blogs, it seems, this is a common topic and one suggestion was to just say, "sorry, it's not in our monthly budget" and leave it at that. - we like that and we are using that now. What is frustrating though, are the people who keep on harping about and don't just let us leave it at that, "what do you mean you can't do it or you must have money or have to live a little or you have to have some fun sometime..." Most of the times the people who are saying this to us, are the ones who are financially strapped - Hmm, they should think about this. Yes, we live on a strict monthly budget - but we are not deprived - we have our priorities and we do have a ton of fun and experiences - we just save up for it and plan accordingly.

- We budget charity into our monthly contributions, in the form of direct monthly contributions to the organization (s) so any requests for charity beyond what we have already set up, unfortunately we can not participate in.

Emergency Fund

Emergency Fund - We are slowly try to build our emergency fund, our goal is $25,800 - to date, we have $5,000 saved (not counting our TFSA Account). We know it won't be an overnight occurance and will more than likely take us years to accumulate - but at least we are on the right track and have something - should an emergency arise.

Annual Property Taxes Due

Property Taxes are due at the end of June. We've already made our payment last week, through interent banking payment - which is so handy, we've been doing this for the last 3 years. We use the money from our tax refunds + any bonus money we get, to pay this each year. Going forward, though, in this economy, bonus money seems to be becoming of thing of the past, so we are putting $50 aside into a Money Market Fund to account for any shortfall we might have for next year, from the tax refunds.

Things we've given up/changed

What have we given up/done with out so that we can redirect those monies elsewhere

(such as into, Retirement, Travel and Emergency funds)

No more concerts

No more buying CDs/DVDs

No going to the movies

No more French Manicures/Pedicures

Longer time between hair appointments

No more buying books

Limiting eating out in restaurants and getting take out to a minimum

Random Rambling...

It's been awhile and a lot has happened. The 30 year old car needed to be traded in, so a 2006 Ford Truck was bought in it's place. This came 2 years earlier that we had hoped, but what can you do. We went back to our monthly budget, made the necessary adjustments and life goes on.

We also had a fabulous family vacation with our parents and it was just as memorable as we had hoped.

Did I mention I love gift cards - to me they are perfect gift to give and to receive.

We have our next 4 years worth of vacations planned out and now the saving has begun - we have itemized what our approximate expenditures should be on a spread sheet.

I finally got a new library card - $12 for the year, but the lady waived the annual fee for this year - so that was a nice unexpected savings. The value of having a library card is very worthwhile - when trying to be financially responsible - BUT - if anyone really knows me, they know I don't like germs - as in touching/reading messy books that have pages smeared with who knows what...but I'm not letting the reading stop - my solution - a bottle of hand sanitizer next to where I read - Hey, I'm doing what I can to make the most of "the situation".

What is your definition of frugality?

Our frugality definition. We find being frugal does not equate to being cheap, in our eyes anyways. We simply watch our money and try to be responsible with it. We live within our means and make informed choices, when we do spend. Being "frugal" within our definition, affords us the pleasure and opportunities of our goals, it makes us mindful of our money and how we spend it and it keeps us focused on long term retirement savings and any emergencies that might arise in between.

What is frugality to you?

Check Credit Card Bills for mistakes

We always make it a habit of checking our credit card bill charges, on line, every couple of days, to make sure that no extra charges show up, that shouldn't be there. By doing this, over the last couple of years, we have caught approximately $400 in charges at various times that shouldn't have been charged to us and out of this $400, about $200 were things we had legitimately bought - but were accidently charged twice for the same thing. So it pays to double check.

Looking in your pantry

The last couple of months, we have tried to make a conscious effort to really look at what we need before we go shopping. It's hard to resist great sales, but we've been able to cut back on our spending, by not allowing ourselves to become caught up in buying something, just because it is on sale. We have also become creative with what we have in our pantry. A tasty & filling casserole that we concocted is:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 Cup of Basmati Rice - uncooked, prepare as per the directions, try adding black pepper, garlic powder and chili powder and margarine to the rice as the water is boiling.

1 Can of Red Kidney Beans - drained

2 Cups of Pace Chunky Med Salsa

1 Lg Can of Sliced Black Olives - drained

Grated Cheese - we used Shredded Tex Mex

Once the cooked rice has sat for 15 mins, combine in a large casserole dish all the above ingredients, except for the grated cheese. Mix the ingredients in the dish. Add the grated cheese evenly over the top of the mixture and bake at 375 degrees until the cheese starts to melt and brown. Remove from oven.

Let stand for 2 minutes and then serve.

Another tip, is to use any boxed cakes mixes in your pantry, follow the directions, but instead of making a cake, pour the batter into muffin tins and bake accordingly and there you have muffins to take in your lunch for the week.

To make canned cream of mushroom soup a little different, we add cooked peas and corn to the soup as it's heating up (along with the milk to the canned soup) add some Basil, Oregano and black pepper and once the soup is completely heated and we pour it into soup bowls, add some croutons and some shredded cheese to the top and there you have a new twist to plain old mushroom soup.

To add some zing to your mashed potatoes, as you are mashing the potatoes, if you have any creamy dressing (such as Creamy Ranch or Creamy Caesar), that is about to expire soon, add some to the mashed potatoes and voila - some great tasting mashed potatoes.

Goals

Set Goals - and watch the money grow and your goals become a reality. We are big goal setters. We write it down, research it and visualize it - constantly! This, in our minds, makes it become a reality. We use Money Market Accounts to save for each goal and have money each month automatically go into each of these Money Markets.

Everyone's goals are different so we will share what are ours are. We love to travel, so that is our reward for cutting back in other areas. To see and experience different places and people and for us, as a couple to share those memories, means so much. So we put money aside every month into a Money Market for that - we treat it as a bill payment, to remain consistant.

- We currently have 2 vehicles, Our SUV is great and reliable. Reliable, being the key word. The other vehicle is 30 years old at this point and has been good also, but lately it's shifting on the reliable part, so we have started another Money Market Account, with monthly contributions going into it, specifically for a 2nd hand truck purchase - we are hoping the older vehicle still has 2 years left in it (without us having to put a bunch of money into it), by then, we should be able to pay cash for a used truck.

- We have some Emergency Savings established, so this again is another Money Market Fund, as the more we can add to this account, the better.

At the moment, these are our goals, and we truly believe we will acheive them all, because we have the willpower and the determination to stick with it. We know what we want and we know how to achieve it so we will make them a reality.

Taking Advantage of Reward Programs

Take Advantage of Reward Programs! The 2 we use on a regular basis are Shoppers Optimum Points and Airmiles. Airmiles being our favorite. We have our HBC points automatically set up to convert to Airmiles and we have an Airmiles American Express and an Airmiles Master Card. We are able to accumulate many airmiles each month. We try to put as much as we can on these 2 credit cards, including such things things as pre-authorized payments of our cell phone, satellite, internet, etc and we put our groceries and anything else possible on them as well. We pay off our credit card balances each month, so we never incur any late fees and interest charges.

By accumulating and redeeming our Airmiles we have been able to fund approximately 70% of our backyard retaining wall renovation (by redeeming the airmiles for Rona gift certicates) and gas for both our vehicles is paid for, in large part, by redeeming the airmiles for Shell fuel gift certficates. The money we save for not having to pay for gas, goes into Savings accounts, or goes towards making an extra payment towards the principal on our mortgage.

Living on a budget

In these economic times, a budget is more necessary now than ever. As a couple, we make a reasonable combined household income, but we strictly adhere to a monthly budget. This means itemizing everything we spend (down to the penny) on a spread sheet. Even though it is a bit of work, you would be surprised at how beneficial it can be. We have set goals, that we diligently budget for each month. This usually means we are the couple that stays home every weekend and that hasn't gone to an actual movie - in who knows how long - but we are happy and when we can experience our goals (which we will elaborate on, at a later date) we realize it was worth the scrimping, saving and discipline.