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.
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