We were able to come up with an extra $731 to put towards our LOC this month. We could have stuck that in our Emergency Fund, but hubby and I discussed it, and decided to apply it to the LOC instead. This way, we are paying down our LOC a little bit faster, but it's still there if we need to use it (which hopefully we won't have to).
I'm also happy to say that our pantry is getting very bare - this is a good thing, as it's making us use what we already have and helps us save on our monthly food budget. Some of our meals - have been creative - but that's part of the fun of it.
In my quest to start decluttering the basement, I came across some jigsaw puzzles, so I've chosen one for us to start tonight, that has a fall theme. Since we have no money to go out, this will have to contribute to our free entertainment. Maybe we'll settle down with a coffee laced with bailey's and some popcorn to round off the evening.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Decluttering
I just can't seem to get into the blogging mood. I'm still reading many blogs every day, and finding continuous inspiration to keep on plugging along with doing our best to be financially responsible.
My goal from now until Christmas is to DECLUTTER - I'm great at not buying or lusting over the newest gizmos and knick knacks of today - but I'm terrible at getting rid of stuff that I have kept from the past (like 5, 10 and 15+ years past). Now this stuff I have, sitting in boxes from years gone by, have made many moves and I honestly couldn't have told you what was in those boxes - and there are alot of boxes. We are talking approximately 3 closets full and they occupy a good portion of our basement. So, after getting motivation from other blogs, I'm saying no more of holding onto these "things" that I will not wear again, and things that I feel I should keep because they were important to my parents - mainly mother - and out of guilt have kept them. Now my parents are still very much alive, but as I was setting up the piles of 'tossing' and 'donating' I could just imagine my mother's displeasure at me 'getting rid' of this stuff. But I'm to the point that I just don't care anymore. This is my new life and geesh I'm in my early 40's I shouldn't still feel guilty like a little kid. I was able to go through 6 boxes last night - 4 boxes are headed to the donation center today and 2 have ended up in the garbage - I feel a great sense of relief that I'm not holding onto this stuff just because...
I still have a lot more to do, but I've started, and that is a step in the right direction.
If we do end up moving, I definitely do not want to be moving these boxes again.
My goal from now until Christmas is to DECLUTTER - I'm great at not buying or lusting over the newest gizmos and knick knacks of today - but I'm terrible at getting rid of stuff that I have kept from the past (like 5, 10 and 15+ years past). Now this stuff I have, sitting in boxes from years gone by, have made many moves and I honestly couldn't have told you what was in those boxes - and there are alot of boxes. We are talking approximately 3 closets full and they occupy a good portion of our basement. So, after getting motivation from other blogs, I'm saying no more of holding onto these "things" that I will not wear again, and things that I feel I should keep because they were important to my parents - mainly mother - and out of guilt have kept them. Now my parents are still very much alive, but as I was setting up the piles of 'tossing' and 'donating' I could just imagine my mother's displeasure at me 'getting rid' of this stuff. But I'm to the point that I just don't care anymore. This is my new life and geesh I'm in my early 40's I shouldn't still feel guilty like a little kid. I was able to go through 6 boxes last night - 4 boxes are headed to the donation center today and 2 have ended up in the garbage - I feel a great sense of relief that I'm not holding onto this stuff just because...
I still have a lot more to do, but I've started, and that is a step in the right direction.
If we do end up moving, I definitely do not want to be moving these boxes again.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Financially Poor?
Do you consider yourself financially poor? I do not perceive myself as "financially poor" though I'm sure everyone has their own definition. Each year our income has been dropping for the past 3 years, since hubby's pay has been decreasing with cuts in pay and hours from his job. I'm sure some of our acquaintances might think we are "financially poor", as hubby and I turn down all invitations to go out to the movies, concerts, dinner, lunch, etc with the excuse that it's just not something that we can afford right now. In actuality - can we afford it? - short answer is Yes - do we chose to make the choice of saving our money instead - Yes. Priority for us, is making sure all our bills are paid in full each month, whether it be the mortgage, insurance, electric or credit card.
We have monthly contributions to our Retirement Plans and Emergency Funds automatically deposited. We treat these as bills. Then whatever is left over, can be for the expenses of life. We contribute to the local SPCA/Animal Shelter each month and when we are flush with cash in a month, we try to make an additional contribution to the SPCA/Animal Shelter, above and beyond what we already do.
Do we have lavish amounts of extra cash left over each month - No. But we are secure in knowing our bills are paid and we have savings building up. In fact, most months, we don't have any extra cash for even an extra loaf of bread at the grocery store, but that's okay, our priorities are taken care of. We are definitely not contributing to Consumerism. There are many things we would like to buy, but they are merely wants. So we will not be buying them.
Hubby and I sat down the other day and talked (fantasized) what we would do if we had extra money each month going forward and we were both on the same page, our frugal ways have now become habit and we would just put more into savings for retirement. We wouldn't be out buying the latest fancy gadgets or vehicles. Our minds have made the switch of successfully determining "Needs" vs "Wants".
We have a very simple, yet balanced life, and we are happy together. We have everything we "need". We have made great memories together and will continue to do so in the future.
We probably don't make as much as our peers on an annual basis, but we do have our priorities taken care off and in the end, and that is what matters.
As some financial experts like to say "It's not how much you make, it's what you do with it"
We have monthly contributions to our Retirement Plans and Emergency Funds automatically deposited. We treat these as bills. Then whatever is left over, can be for the expenses of life. We contribute to the local SPCA/Animal Shelter each month and when we are flush with cash in a month, we try to make an additional contribution to the SPCA/Animal Shelter, above and beyond what we already do.
Do we have lavish amounts of extra cash left over each month - No. But we are secure in knowing our bills are paid and we have savings building up. In fact, most months, we don't have any extra cash for even an extra loaf of bread at the grocery store, but that's okay, our priorities are taken care of. We are definitely not contributing to Consumerism. There are many things we would like to buy, but they are merely wants. So we will not be buying them.
Hubby and I sat down the other day and talked (fantasized) what we would do if we had extra money each month going forward and we were both on the same page, our frugal ways have now become habit and we would just put more into savings for retirement. We wouldn't be out buying the latest fancy gadgets or vehicles. Our minds have made the switch of successfully determining "Needs" vs "Wants".
We have a very simple, yet balanced life, and we are happy together. We have everything we "need". We have made great memories together and will continue to do so in the future.
We probably don't make as much as our peers on an annual basis, but we do have our priorities taken care off and in the end, and that is what matters.
As some financial experts like to say "It's not how much you make, it's what you do with it"
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Bills are going up and pay is coming down
I hate inflation!!! Every year our bills go up a little bit and our pay comes down a little bit. If you've been reading this blog, then you know hubby's job, hence pay has become on uncertain entity. Yes, we are fortunate to have the money to pay these extras on the bills - now - but for how long. The more we have to pay on these bills, means less that we have, to put into savings. I remember when I was hired by my boss 11 years ago, he said that I would always get at least the cost of inflation in the form of a raise each January. That was true until the last 3 years.
We just received notice that our internet bill will be going up by almost $2 a month and we don't even have the fancy high speed internet. Our home and auto insurance renewal just arrived today and it's going up by $7 a month.
I feel blessed that we have the money for these increases, so for now, we can keep our internet and well, our auto and home insurance is a necessity. We have high deductibles to keep the cost as low as possible on that.
We just received notice that our internet bill will be going up by almost $2 a month and we don't even have the fancy high speed internet. Our home and auto insurance renewal just arrived today and it's going up by $7 a month.
I feel blessed that we have the money for these increases, so for now, we can keep our internet and well, our auto and home insurance is a necessity. We have high deductibles to keep the cost as low as possible on that.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
An option to consider? or scratch?
Hubby has survived another Friday of layoffs. Each day of work for him is one more day of pay, that we are thankful for. An option I'm leaning towards - not sure if hubby is on board 100% (more like 50%) (heck, I'm not even sure I'm on board 100%!) I'm thinking we could make a drastic change and sell our house, probably in the Spring/Summer time frame. We move to the Southern Okanagon, which is where we want to retire in 23+ years anyways - the weather is warm and hardly ever has any snow. The (2) towns we would likely rent in, does not have a lot of employment opportunities, but the major city about 25 mins away does, so we could both find work there and just commute, right now in the City we live in, we are both commuting 25-45 mins one way, for each of us, so the commute would not be an issue for us, plus the new commute in the Okanagan would be mostly on a highway,with beautiful views.
- I asked hubby to find out what the early payment penalty on the mortgage would be, and so he did phone on the weekend and found out, it would be $21,000. Realtor fees on top of that would be 7% on the first $100,000 + 3% on the remaining balance and than we would have to pay GST on the total commissions.
We bought our house in Dec of 2007 for $365,000, We had put 20% down for a down payment of $73,000, which left us with a mortgage of $292,000. Our mortgage is currently sitting at $282,896.31. Our interes rate on the mortgage is 5.15%.
With the down turn in the housing market, we figure we could currently list for $349,900 (have not consulted with a real estate agent yet, but this price is based on what a house across the street from us, listed for, just last week and they sold their house on Saturday, so just about a week on the market, it was listed for $349,900 and it's smaller than our house and doesn't have an extra bedroom and bathroom and hardwood floors, like ours does). So assuming we list for $349,900 and get $339,000, then we would be looking at a charge of approx $14,879 in commissions. Which means we would walk away with approx $20,224. Of course I would like to not pay any penalty fees on paying off the mortgage sooner, but it's an option.
We would not move unless, we were sure of work. If it doesn't work out, we move back to Alberta and move into our condo, that we currently rent out as part of our investment portfolio.
I don't know...I like to always have a plan of just in case, for whatever in life, so this is no different. Tomorrow is another day.
- I asked hubby to find out what the early payment penalty on the mortgage would be, and so he did phone on the weekend and found out, it would be $21,000. Realtor fees on top of that would be 7% on the first $100,000 + 3% on the remaining balance and than we would have to pay GST on the total commissions.
We bought our house in Dec of 2007 for $365,000, We had put 20% down for a down payment of $73,000, which left us with a mortgage of $292,000. Our mortgage is currently sitting at $282,896.31. Our interes rate on the mortgage is 5.15%.
With the down turn in the housing market, we figure we could currently list for $349,900 (have not consulted with a real estate agent yet, but this price is based on what a house across the street from us, listed for, just last week and they sold their house on Saturday, so just about a week on the market, it was listed for $349,900 and it's smaller than our house and doesn't have an extra bedroom and bathroom and hardwood floors, like ours does). So assuming we list for $349,900 and get $339,000, then we would be looking at a charge of approx $14,879 in commissions. Which means we would walk away with approx $20,224. Of course I would like to not pay any penalty fees on paying off the mortgage sooner, but it's an option.
We would not move unless, we were sure of work. If it doesn't work out, we move back to Alberta and move into our condo, that we currently rent out as part of our investment portfolio.
I don't know...I like to always have a plan of just in case, for whatever in life, so this is no different. Tomorrow is another day.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Week In Review
Another week has gone by and 2 more people have been laid off at Hubby's work. We are still watching our pennies closely and trying to stock pile groceries and house hold essentials, like Toilet Paper, Laundry Detergent, in the event of a lay off. We are continuing to save as much as we can.
This weekend, we went out of our "regular routine/comfort zone" and began "really" reading ALL the flyer's, not just the ones where we regularly shop. We took advantage of different sales at 5 different places, a little more work and perhaps a little more driving around, but I feel we were able to save a reasonable amount, to justify the time and driving to different stores.
We also stocked up on some block cheese (mozza lite and Cheddar lite) that was on sale, and this morning I shredded it up and put it into medium sized Ziploc bags. In the past I would have just bought the cheese already shredded, so a little step in saving some money.
I also have a bunch of pampered chef stone ware items, that have been given to me over the past years, which are still in their original boxes, so I'm going to try to use one tonight, when I make a baked pasta dish - with no name pasta, and a different spaghetti sauce, in a can, that I was able to pick up for a fraction of the cost of the jar spaghetti sauce, I usually use. So I'll add that with some of my shredded cheese and hopefully it will be tasty.
It is very cold in our house, but I've put on warm socks and have an extra sweater on and when I'm sitting down, a nice big blanket to cover up with, so that we won't have to turn on the heat. Once I put the oven on for the pasta bake, the house should heat up a little.
Bye for now...
This weekend, we went out of our "regular routine/comfort zone" and began "really" reading ALL the flyer's, not just the ones where we regularly shop. We took advantage of different sales at 5 different places, a little more work and perhaps a little more driving around, but I feel we were able to save a reasonable amount, to justify the time and driving to different stores.
We also stocked up on some block cheese (mozza lite and Cheddar lite) that was on sale, and this morning I shredded it up and put it into medium sized Ziploc bags. In the past I would have just bought the cheese already shredded, so a little step in saving some money.
I also have a bunch of pampered chef stone ware items, that have been given to me over the past years, which are still in their original boxes, so I'm going to try to use one tonight, when I make a baked pasta dish - with no name pasta, and a different spaghetti sauce, in a can, that I was able to pick up for a fraction of the cost of the jar spaghetti sauce, I usually use. So I'll add that with some of my shredded cheese and hopefully it will be tasty.
It is very cold in our house, but I've put on warm socks and have an extra sweater on and when I'm sitting down, a nice big blanket to cover up with, so that we won't have to turn on the heat. Once I put the oven on for the pasta bake, the house should heat up a little.
Bye for now...
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