This & Thats...

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!

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

This and That...

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.

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.

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"

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.

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.

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...

Every Little Bit Helps

In our quest to use up what we have in the pantry and freezer, we are still amazed at our grocery bill, and seeing how expensive fruit, vegetables and basics like milk, butter, etc are. Even though we are trying to watch our pennies, we still want to eat somewhat healthy. We do eat 5-7 fruits and/or vegetables servings at least 5 days of the week and we make sure to have at least 1 good source of protein a day, along with getting in our minerals and vitamins on a daily basis. Plus, we try to drink 2.5 litres of water a day, we are pretty good at this, for at least 5 days a week. We have to work on it, all coming together for 7 days a week, but for now, we'll do what we can.

I'm amazed at what we have in the back of our pantry and frustrated with myself, for letting some things, sit there, unused, that have expired years ago. However, I have still used them all, within the past weeks, with the exception of a bottle of lemon juice,and we haven't gotten sick, so I feel better by using them up, but, I will definately make more of an effort in not letting things just sit around and not be used up.

Saturday's are always our "errand" day, this way we can cut down on the gas used in the vehicle - I think it is mucher higher here in Canada than the States to fill up your tank, so we are trying to be conscious of our driving routes and cluster everywhere we have to go. I use the odd coupon here and there, on stuff that we usually buy. I ended up with an amazing deal this weekend, Walmart had Gilette Gel underarm deoderant on sale for $1.97, reg price is $3.48 here, I had a manufactors coupon for $5 off if you bought any 3 Gillette products. So since, Hubby would be needing more deoderant in the next couple of weeks, I bought him 3 at $1.97, used the coupon and all in all, paid only 91 cents for all 3. That is the best deal I've ever had. In the future, I'm going to try to pair up any coupons I receive when the stores have extreme deals on that particular product. I plan on going through our flyers more diligently from now on, and maybe this extra time, will result in more savings in our pocket.

Work Saga Continues...

Hubby came home last night, and said 2 more people received their lay off notices yesterday. So far, we have been lucky, but we feel terrible for the people who have been laid off, as not only are/were co-workers, they were friends. There were only about 25 employees in total before with the company, and now with the previous layoffs last month plus these two of yesterday, the staff are slowly dwindling. Hubby is feeling quite under the weather this morning, and he's a guy who hardly, if ever, gets sick. I know the stress I feel, he must be feeling the stress 10x more. He's already been working on his resume and cover letter and checking out job opportunities in his field. The previous owner, had pulled him aside a few weeks ago and said his department will have jobs with the new owners - but can the previous owner be trusted? What if it's just a ploy to keep Hubby's dept around until the Jan 2nd deadline - as they do all the shipping and receiving for the company? So many questions - so little answers.

I'm Back...

I've been missing in action - alot has happened.

To start off, we were having a really hard time trying to rent out our condo (investment property) and between the months we had to pay for it sitting empty - the mortgage, the condo fees, advertising - we've had to really dip into our Line of Credit and isn't pretty. Right before our scheduled vacation, we finally had a renter - but only for 3 months and a reduced rate, but hey, at this point who cares. We still have to subsidize the monthly payments as the rent we are currently getting, will only pay for approx 1/3 of the costs, but that is okay. It's way better than NOTHING!!!. We just hope that our renter's work contract extends past October, otherwise, come November, he will head back to Ontario we will be looking for a new renter.

Vacation Time - we had a wonderful time and came in under budget by about about $1,000. We always save up for our vacation ahead of time, so the extra $1,000 will be/was distributed as follows - $751.25 went to finishing off our fence work, $190 is set aside to pay for the "annual fees" for our reward points credit cards that will be due this Fall and the remainder went to cover our little fur baby's vet bill - annual check up and shots.

Hubby's Job - 3 days after returning from vacation, his boss announced that the company had been sold to a competitor company, from another province (area of the country). This came as a shock to everyone, as this has been a family owned business for the past 38 years. Hubby has worked for them for 15 years. So of course, everyone's main question is - Does everybody have a job going forward? - not sure - so far, 4 people of been laid off. No one "higher up" is committing that jobs will remain the same. The "rumor" is the new company will be relocating, one of their warehouses to our city, but if they do, it will not be at the current location. The only thing that is for sure - so it is said, is that the matching RSPs will stop, effective Jan 1st. The new owners are saying that Jan 2nd is when people will know if they have a job and if so, at what pay. Now, hubby has been making a pretty good wage - but $8,000 net of that is through bonuses and overtime - if the new company does not "do overtime" then we are Royally Messed Up! So it's been quite stressful in our household. This has been a company where 98% of the employees have been there 10+ years. To say that it was a shock, is an understatement.

- We are fortunate, that as part of our financial planning, we have always updated, what our "Emergency Budget" Vs our "Normal Every Month Budget" would be, and we have always kept it current. We also have money that has been set aside for Emergencies - though I hope, we will not have to tap into it - it has taken a lot of work to build it up and over time it has become approx $20,000 of liquid monies that we could access immediately if need be. We also have our Retirement Savings that we could access if worst comes to worst. We currently also pay extra on our mortgage each month, to try to pay it off faster, so we could always stop the "extra" we are putting towards the mortgage, if we had to.

- At the abosolute extreme, we would sell our house and move into the condo that is our investment property.

- I am so glad that we don't have any credit card debt and that Hubby and I are on the same page. I'm hoping that by being prepared, that everything will work out, come Jan2nd. If it doesn't at least we have a plan.

- Right now, our plan is to try live below our "Normal Monthly Budget" and save as much as we can. Hubby is picking up as much overtime as he can get between now and the end of the year. Hubby will continue to participate in the work's matching RSP to the max, up until the end of December - when it's finished. We have decided to continue paying the extra each month on the mortgage until we know for sure what his paycheques will be in the New Year - assuming he will have a job.
The areas we are cutting back on are - groceries - I've had to become even more creative with what is currently in our pantry and freezer, no eating out at all and extending the times between our personal grooming - hair cuts and our dog's grooming. We didn't buy any firewood yet, we have been picking up stray pieces from business that use wood crates, pallets, etc. so right now, in 2 weeks, we already have( 2) 4 ft boxes filled. Hubby is having to take out all the nails and cut the wood down, but I'm impressed and appreciative of his efforts.

So there is our story for now...

The next 5 years...

Where do you see yourselves financially on 5 years? There is a bank commercial that plays on our local station that asks that this question, so it got me thinking. In 5years our mortgage will be a bit lower, our Registered Retirement Savings Account will hopefully be higher in value and both our vehicle loans will be paid off by them. We'll have more travel experiences under our belt, but other than that, I don't see too much different from where we are today, to where we will be in 5 years time.

Looking back on 5 years ago, alot has changed as in, I'm married now to my best friend, have a lovely detached bungalow (along with this comes a not so lovely mortgage), have an adorable little dog and have more in my retirement account and savings than before. We have a rental property (that really is more headache than I could have ever imagined).

What do your next 5 years look like?

The $682.50 weekend...

I know this is not being that frugal, but Hubby and I decided that for our Wedding Anniversary, which is in August, we would buy a season pass to the Mayfield Dinner Theatre, here in our City. We really enjoy their productions and the atmosphere is very relaxing, but elegant and the food is great. There are 5 shows for this season and they play out between September 2011 to August 2012. We've been talking about doing this for a few years now, but finally bit the bullet and did it. We purchased one of the cheaper packages, for $682.50, this is for Sunday Brunch with show (The evening dinners with show was quite a bit more). Hubby and I currently each have about $1,000 each, in each of our gift savings accounts, so we split the cost and are each contributing $341.25. Surprisingly, I'm not feeling guilty about spending this money. It's part of my living more in the now.

May Recap

The latter part of May has been busy, both at work and at home.

Our tenant in our rental condo, left the place in a terrible state, so we've been cleaning it up and repairing some of the damage.

Pay came and went and all the bills have been paid and a few dollars saved. We were able to put an extra $50 into our Retirement Savings this week, this is on top of our regular automatic contributions, and put an additional $80 into Savings and $200 towards Vacation.


I've been focusing on "living in the moment" and enjoying the here and now. This has led to some extra money having been spent, but all in all, a good month. We were fortunate enough to receive tickets to two different events, without any cost (only had to pay for parking which came to $5).

I think I focus too much on the future, so am trying to keep a balance of still focusing on the future, but also "living in the moment" and enjoying what today has to offer.

Here's to a very Happy June for everyone!

Chugging Along...

It doesn't seem like I have much to write about lately. Day by day is going at a steady pace, bills are getting paid and savings are growing a little each month. I am looking forward to our vacation which we have planned in August for a week and the nice thing is that we have all the money saved already for the hotel, gas, food and spending already. Actually the hotel is already paid for, as we were originally going to go for just 4 nights as that is we could afford, but they had a special on for 6 nights that worked out to being less than the 4 nights would have been, the only catch was that it had to be paid in full at the time we booked it, which we did.

Our rental property will be up for rent again in June. The current tenant has only been there for about 4 months, and she had signed a 15 month lease, but she ended up getting sick and now needs to move in with her daughter until she can get in a nurse assisted living environment. I'm trying not to stress (so much easier said than done) about finding another tenant. We have listed it on Kijji about a week and a half ago, but so far, we've only had one inquiry. This means that we will probably have to cover the cost of June's rent, etc if we don't have a renter. We have the money to cover it, but I really hope we have someone for sure by July.

Bonus

Yay, my boss called me in and said that he was giving me a $1,000 bonus. That was a nice surprise, so I haven't actually received it, but he filled out the paper work and sent it off to our Head Office, so that it can be added to my pay cheque. I'm not quite sure when I'll receive it, if not in the middle of the month pay cheque, then it should show up on the month end pay cheque. I'm not sure how much I will actually receive, after taxes, so I worked out a budget for the $500, $600 or $700 that I might receive net. Definates are: $100 will go into Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) as an extra contribution, $60 I will put into my own Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA), $60 will go into hubby's Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA), $100 will go towards our Cruise Vacation Money Market Fund (for 2014), $130 will pay for my Chi Flat Iron that I had to replace on the weekend and $50 will go towards flowers for our backyard.

April Recap

April turned out to be fairly decent, financially wise for us.

We were able to put an extra $75 into Registered Retirement Savings, had enough money to also fill up our SUV and F150 Truck, was able to put some money aside for some annual fees (that will be coming due in the next couple of months) and we were able to put $170 towards finishing off our back yard, Hubby figured we would need $185 to finish it, so we are only $15 short. That $15 will come from any extra we have at the end of May.

All in all, a great month - financially. I am definitely struggling in the mind set of staying on weight watchers though. I seem to be dedicated more to saving and budgeting money, than I am to sticking with a diet (or new way of eating). I really must get on track. I've noticed that when I'm really focused with a diet, I'm not so good in staying within budget and on the flip side, when I'm really focused on the finances, I'm not so good with the diet.

Met with our Financial Advisor...

We met with our Financial Advisor last week and some of the recommendations he made were: we should try to be as even in our Registered Retirement Savings Plan Balances as possible - hubby currently has about $15,000 more in his RSPs, so we are gong to be opening up a Spousal RSP in my name, with hubby as the contributor. He will continue his RSP savings and matching savings with his group work plan, but will now contribute monthly to the Spousal RSP Plan instead of his individual plan, that he has separate from his work. The other suggestion was to reduce how many credit cards we have. We have 3 that we use on a continuous basis (but ALWAYS pay off the balances each month) and some cards that we have for " Just in case... scenerios" that we haven't used in ages, so our advisor suggested that we should cancel the cards we don't use.

So yesterday, we opened up a Spousal RSP Plan and we cancelled the extra credit cards that we never use. I have to admit that I was little apprehensive about cancelling the cards (even though we haven't used them for years), because I always worry about what if one day we need it..though in reality we wouldn't need it - at least that's what I keep telling myself.

All in all, he said that we were on the right track and he liked the idea that we were paying extra on our mortgage each month.

"Downsized" The TV Show

This show just started airing in Canada, where we live, a few weeks ago. I know it's been on in the US for some time now, so just wondering if anyone else has seen this, and if so, what you think of it. In my opinion, I don't think they "get it" especially the wife/mother. They must make something for doing the show and I would like to see that in their "budget" - they are on food stamps, yet she felt entitled to have her "specialty frozen coffee drinks everyday" come on! I was really glad to see the financial planner they went to see, actually tell them that they need to wake up and realize that they are in dire straits and they really need to see the reality of their situation. I also wonder if her children are receiving any financial support from their biological father. I was little taken aback also, when she said that she is a teacher and her cheque might as well be invisible (or something like that, since she makes so little. At least she has a job and I'm sure many people out of work, would love to have her teaching job along with her pay cheque.

Gift Card Purchase

The above necklace and earring set, I picked up yesterday at a shop in the Mall, that I had a gift card for, from Christmas. I love fashion/costume jewelery. This set was regularly $24, but it was 30% off yesterday, so I purchased it with a gift card I had. The total came to $17 and change and the gift card was for $100, so I still have approx $82 left to indulge in. I saw many things I liked, I just couldn't bring myself to spend more of the gift card. I really do find it harder and harder to spend. I guess this is a good thing.

P&G Brand Samplers now available

For those of you who like free stuff - the P&G Brand Sampler is now available for Spring. Just log onto their site, sign in, and then they have some sample packs they will send you. This time they also have a P&G Brand Sampler for Men, but you have to sign in two separate times (still using your same login and password, though). I can't wait to receive the packages in 6-8 weeks, they estimate. I will try to remember to take a picture when it arrives and post it. Maybe I'll keep my husbands stuff when it arrives, for his Christmas stocking, since he doesn't know anything about it, and he rarely reads this blog. Last year, some of the samples I received were: Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner little bottles, Hand Cream, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and Dish Tabs.

Tax Refund...

In checking our bank balance online, I noticed that our tax refund was electronically deposited into our bank account yesterday. It took just over a week to get the refund, as we filed electronically. That $1,415 will sit in there until we have our Property Tax Bill, which should come in next month. I feel relieved that we have the money for this, I'm sure some people are dreading the annual property tax bill. I know I used to. Our tax refund won't cover all of it, as I'm estimating that this year it will be about $2,300, but we put money aside into a Money Market Account, on a monthly basis, specifically designated for Property Taxes, and there is more than enough in there to cover the shortfall. Part of why I want to contribute more to RSPs (Registered Retirement Savings), is for the tax break also, the more we put into our RSPs, the more we will get back and the more we will have in the future (hopefully the markets co-operate).

Saving Sidebars...

I wish I knew how to do the sidebars, that so many other great blogs have, along with some images, but ... I'm not very computer savvy. If I could figure out the whole sidebar thing, I would put up one for our "fabulous Cruise Vacation in 2014", the "additional RSP contribution", "Christmas Savings" to name a few.

I keep track for my own records, on Excel Spread Sheets. I find that visually seeing each category grow, makes me strive even harder to continue on the saving path.

Happy Savings Everyone!

House Maintenance Fund

Do you have a house maintenance fund? We don't. We pay for house maintenance as it happens, through our Grocery/Misc Budget allowance. Gail Vaz-Oxlade, the host of 'Til Debt Do Us Part, says that everyone should have a house maintenance fund in addition to an Emergency Savings. I'm feeling stretched to the limit with all that "we are supposed to be saving" according to the experts. Life needs to be about balance and I feel really strongly on this point. I wonder how many people out there in the general public, even have an emergency fund that could sustain them through 6-8 months of unemployment (factoring in unemployment insurance), let alone a house maintenance fund. I think it's a good thing to have, but I know for us, if we need to repair something, we just adjust our grocery budget to account for it, so that we still remain within our over all budget.

'Til Debt Do Us Part - Home Editon

I am so excited that Gail Vaz-Oxlade's new show on HGTV canada starts tonight. Her new series is called 'Til Debt Do Us Part - Home Editon. This new series is about the realistic life of home ownership. I went to hear her speak a few years ago, and she definitely has a large presence. She tells it like it is, whether on camera or not.

Ahh, the 1st of the Month...

I love the 1st of the month, because I'm weird, and I love the thrill of paying the bills. Paying off our credit cards in full each month, assures me that our budget planning is working and I know that with each payment, our mortgage is one step closer to getting paid off, our vehicle loans are one step closer to being paid off and our Savings are growing each month. We had $45 extra left over this month from our budget so I put $20 towards liquid savings and $25 towards my RSP.

I feel very optimistic going into April, how about you?

Hello Spring!

Spring is in the air and the sun is finally out, over our fair city. Spring is my favorite time of the year - to me it's like a new beginning, so I will be refocusing on my weight loss and spending on only essential items. I also want to put together a "goal board", with pictures, sayings and action plans to keep us visually focused on our goals.

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake." Francis Bacon

Tax Time

We did our taxes this past weekend. We ended up buying Turbo Tax, and it was actually fairly easy to understand. We always us our refund to go towards our Property Taxes which are due on our primary residence by the end of June. This year we are getting back $1,416 between the two of us. Our Property Taxes are estimated to be around $2,300 so our short fall is approximately $900. We have a separate Money Market Account, designated as a Property Tax shortfall account, that we contribute to autotmatically each month, just for this reason. In a previous post, I mentioned that I would like to up my RSP monthly contributions, so by do that, hopefully it will reduce how much we have to take from that Money Market Account, in the years to follow. My goal "one day" is to put an extra $200 into my RSP per month or $2,400 a year - it's pretty lofty, so for now I'm just concentrating on putting any "extras" left over from our monthly budget into my RSP. I definately feel relieved that the taxes are done.

Our Registered Retirement Savings...

I really feel like we should be putting another $200 a month into RSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) in order to secure a better financial future, for ourselves. Currently, between hubby and myself and our employer contributions, we have $650 going in a month. I would really love to see that number increased to $850 a month, but for now we just don't have the extra funds to do it. I've decided that any "extra" money left over from our budget will now be going into the RSPs, as every little bit helps. So we had an extra $20 left over from the budget from last month, so I put it into my RSP, as hubby currently has more in RSPs than I do. I would like us to try to be as even in our Retirement Savings, in retirement, as possible.

In order to keep track of how much extra, over the course of a year we can put towards my RSP, I have made up a spread sheet. I am looking forward at seeing what all these actual little contributions add up to, by the end of the year.

Emergency Budget...

Have any of you figured out the cost, if one of you, were to be laid off. I decided it was time I researched the numbers and worked out an "Emergency Budget" in case one of us lost our jobs. Unemployment insurance would be 55% of current salary, so I figured out what that would be for me, added that number with hubby's wages and compared it to the "Emergency Budget". It turns out, we would be $426.42 short. My SUV payments will be done in April of 2012, the finance was with 0% interest and the payments are $600.21 a month. So, we wouldn't have a short fall if one of us got laid off a year from now. If I were to get laid off tomorrow, the $426.42 x 8 months equals $3411.36, plus I believe Unemployment Insurance payments don't start to arrive until roughly 6 weeks, from last day worked, so that means an extra $3,085 (6 weeks of income) the grand total min needed inside of our emergency fund /accessible funds needs to be: $6,496.36. I'm relieved to know that we already have that amount, should we ever need it.

Hubby's truck payment is $210 a month and that will be finished in 4 years. I don't expect too many people know when they will be laid off, that far in advance, so I'm glad I took the time to research it out now. I hope we are fortunate enough to never lose our jobs, but by being prepared, we definately lessen the stress, I'm sure that would come with the loss of a job.

An Unexpected Propostion...

While shopping at Costco on Saturday, while I was standing in line, the lady behind me started chatting about this and that, and during the course of the conversation she mentioned how much she liked my leather jacket, that I had on. She inquired as to where I had bought it and when, so I told her. After some more random conversation she came back to how much she liked my coat, then she asked if I would sell it to her. I was totally shocked, I mean, I like my coat, but it's nothing that spectacular. So I politely declined her offer to buy my coat, but for a few seconds, I have to admit, I thought, wow, some unexpected money could go towards savings. If I really needed the money, I probably would have sold it to her.

Financial book from library

I've started reading one of the financial books I got from the library. It's called "Miserly Moms - Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy" by Jonni McCoy. I had never heard of this book before, but thought I would check it out, even though I am not a mom. So far I'm really enjoying the book, it's easy to read and understand and you can take away from it, what pertains to your own situation. She works on the concept of 'Eleven Miserly Guidelines' some of them that resonate with me are:

1. Don't Confuse frugality with depriving yourself.
2. Remove little wasters of your money.
3. Cut back on meats.
4. Cook several meals at once and freeze them.

I like to think that I already do these things, but it's always a good reminder and motivator to keep on track. I need to keep telling myself that in order to retire comfortably in 22 years, I need to make these changes now.

March is a long month...

In more ways than one. I can't wait until Spring and to see some off our heaps of snow start to melt. I wrote out our budget, and because of the extra week this month seems to have, we must be extra diligent, with watching where our money is being spent. On top of the tight budget, I had to end up going to the Dr's as the back pain returned but it just didn't feel right and sure enough, after some tests it's come back that I have an infection in the area of the back pain (Dr said that it's either bladder or kidney) so I'm on some antibiotics - which of course cost some money that will now have to be worked into the budget.

But all in all, I am so pleased with Hubby and myself for sticking to our reduced spending over the past year. I really love seeing our savings grow and becoming more aware of where and how we spend our money. Over the past year, some of things we are proud off is: cutting our gas bill down by being more efficient when we are out running errands; using the library resources for books, music and movies which has allowed us to cut down on our entertainment budget; not buying "precut" vegetables and salads - I used to be guilty of this, but have since changed my ways; reduced the amount of meat we eat in a week; there are more, but that is all I can think of right now. Sometimes I think we all need to stop and reflect on what positive changes we have acoomplished and in return that will help keeps us on the right track with our financial journies. Due to the changes we've been able to establish, March may be tight, but it's doable and we won't be going into any debt or getting stressed out, by bills.

Friday is here, Yahoo!!!

I'm glad Friday is here - but...lately I'm finding it very hard to resist spending a little extra here and there on the weekends in the form of hubby and I going out for a coffee at Tim Hortons or getting take out. I can usually "save" in other areas of our monthly budget, so in the end it seems to work out, but I don't know what's gotten over me - the last month. Work has been really busy and my usual routine has been disrupted with my back pain from last week, but still...I should have more discipline. This journey is such a balancing act, that I guess it is something that I will always have to be mindful of.

Back Pain Equals Spending?

I threw my back out last week so I was basically out of commission most of the week. It happened when I lifted the vacuum cleaner - no joking. I must have twisted the wrong way. The pain was extreme which is unusual for me and it lasted a week - a very long time for me as well. The last time I had thrown my back out was back in 2006 and so I still had 2 pills that were prescription muscle relaxants - again they were from 2006 so probably not very effective in 2011 but I took them anyways. I also had some T3's that I had left over from a fall (yes, I'm very clumsy!!!) back in 2008, again it's now 2011 and not exactly sure how effective they were in the pain department as I still had major pain, but I thought I would try them. I also found some Robaxisil (not sure on the spelling)they too had expired in 2008 but I took them anyways.

Yesterday was a much better day and my movements are almost back to normal and without pain. Since, I obviously didn't spend money on medication, LOL - Now how does this lead to spending? Well, I sure didn't feel like cooking and I didn't want poor hubby to have to do it when he came home from a long day at work, so it became very easy over the week to just tell him to pick something up on the way home. It wasn't expensive stuff, but it was more than we would have spent if I hadn't have been hurt. I missed 2 days of work, but I fortunately still get paid for those days. Surprising, we still came in right on budget for February, even with all the "extra" eating out over the last week of February. I'm not sure how we did it, but I did like always and tracked every expenditure down to the last penny and voila! Still came in on budget.

Birthday Money...

Last week was my birthday and I received some money along with gift cards from different family members. I deposited some of the money into my own money market (this fund is to cover gifts for family, oil changes, etc)and then the rest, I deposited into our Vacation money market fund. I realized, that I now find it hard to spend any of the money I get - I would much rather save it and the same goes with the gift cards. I received (2) gift cards for Chapters/Indigo Book stores, but since I'm now using the library to read "free" books and watch DVDs, I had a really hard time using any of the gift card money. After about an hour, I ended up using about $26 of the gift cards on a box set of music and one of those lap desk/tray thingys that you can put on your lap to put stuff on while your watching TV or in bed. I still have $49 left on the gift cards - I had looked at some financial books, but I just kept thinking that I could read them for free from the library. I still have a $100 gift card from Christmas to another store, that I haven't used yet either. I'm very appreciative of the gifts but, I'm also happily surprised that my "spending" habits have changed for the better. Who would have thought...

Sold My Silver Yesterday

I've been missing in action, as this is my work's busy time. I had mentioned before that my boss in 2009 had given me as a Christmas present of 1kg of Silver. He follows the markets regularly, so he said that this week, he thought would be a good time to sell it as it's made a nice gain. So yesterday, Silver was up, so I sold it. After the all the fees associated with it, I ended up with $889.07. It would have been tempting to buy a snowblower with it - but I didn't - I put $440 into my TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) and $440 into hubby's TFSA account. The remaining $9.07 will go towards the parking I had to pay in acting on this transaction. I love seeing our accounts grow - it may not be by leaps and bounds, but at least it's moving in the right direction.

Employer Benefits...

How many of you actually take advantage of your employer benefits?

I use my medical coverage benefit for the odd presciption I might have and it pays for itself, as I get migraines, so my company plan covers 90%, which is great, since the migraine medication I take is around $125 I think for 6 tablets. I also use it for the vision and when I'm brave enough the dentist. We also have Long Term Disability Insurance (60% of salary) and $25,000 in life insurance as part of our benefit plan. I have to pay for Disability Insurance and Life Insurance premiums, and my boss splits 1/2 the cost of the medical, dental and vision premium.

Hubby has the same coverage except no Disability Coverage or Life Insurance, but he also doesn't have to pay any monthly premiums.

Both our employers match RSP (Retirement Saving Plan) contributions - for me up to $2,000 and for hubby up to $1,200 so we take advantage of that to the max.

I work downtown and I'm fortunate enough that my boss, covers my monthly parking in our work building.

Credit Card Cheques...

It seems almost every day I get our mail, there is an envelope from our credit card companies (2) that keep sending us cheques, trying to lure us into using them for the low interest rate of whatever. When you use them, the amount of the cheque is added to your credit card, as a purchase. It's the same companies sending them, we've never used them and now it's getting annoying. I remember maybe in the past 6 years, getting them in the mail, but not every 3 days more like once every 3 years. It really makes me mad that Credit Card companies are encouraging people to spend. I know they hope we will use them and rack up charges and not pay the balances off, but shoving it in someone's face is a little too much, in my opinion. The money they could also be saving on the paper, printing and postage alone should be enough to deter them. I'm sure there are people out there who use them responsibly, but I'm also sure that these "cheques" also enable people to further dig their debt grave. I'm just saying...

Produce Savings

Produce was on sale at the grocery store we frequent. We bought the same things we usually buy and I had budgeted $115 as per usual, it came to only $92. We usually buy a fair amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in my quest to eat healthier and lose weight, so the $23 in savings was great. Hubby and I were high-fiving it on the savings - yes, these little things really make our day. There was a time say - before 2008, that we would buy groceries and other things,without much thought to what we were buying, it's price, etc and not even pay attention the final bill total, we would just pay the bill and be on our merry way. Boy, how times have changed in the thinking in our household.

Do you ever feel like life is passing you by?

Do you ever feel like all you're doing is saving and paying bills and that while all this is happening, you wake up one day to realize a good chunk of life has passed you by? Hubby and I have our moments on this train of thought, but I try to be positive for the both of us and say we are very lucky. We have everything we need, just not everything we want.

I know there are people who are better off financially than us, but I also know there are many who are not as financially secure as us. I try to think of that and reassure hubby that even though we budget down to the penny and all expenditures are talked about together before any decisions are made, we are "rich" in peace of mind.

Do you ever feel this way?

Summer Vacation...

We've been saving and working on a budget for our Summer Vacation. I'm the type of person that is very goal orientated, so by deciding and planning our Summer Vacation, it will help me keep on track with our savings/budget and hopefully keep my weight loss goals on track. We will be able to save about $3,400, so hubby and I brainstormed and researched where we could go and stay within budget, yet still enjoy our selves and feel like we've had a great vacation. We decided on Osoyoos, BC. It's been hailed as the Arizona of Canada. There is a condo resort there that has some decent rates and it comes with a fully functional kitchen, which will help on keeping our food/eating out expenditures down. It's called Spirit Ridge Resort and there are supposed to be alot of wineries around it to go and visit.

We eventually want to retire in Osoyoos/Oliver region, so this will be a nice trial basis to see how we like it in the Summer. Even though retirement is many years away for us, it will at least give us an idea. My grandparents used to live in Oliver, and as a little girl my family would always visit them each Summer, so it will be nice to go now as an adult.

We usually spend much more on our vacations - it's the one area that we definitely splurge in, but we are planning on doing another big cruise in 2014, so we have already started saving for that trip, so the trips between now and 2014 will be scaled down for us.

According to Google Maps, Osoyoos is 13+ hours from our home. Should be fun.

Ugh...Leaking Roof...

Our roof is leaking and not in just one spot but in at least 2 different spots and in our bedroom we could hear a constant drip behind the wall - enough to drive me batty!!! So hubby spent 2+ hours on the roof last night in the dark, shovelling once again, all the snow off our roof and chipping away at the ice up there. We have had record snow falls here in Edmonton. Why oh why is it always something! There is some minor (at least I think it's minor) damage to the wall, that I'm sure hubby can fix. There are companies here in Edmonton that will clean off your roof for you. who Knew. There was an article in our daily newspaper saying that with these record snow falls, roof snow removal companies are backlogged and have long waiting lists. They said residential homes start at $350 (Yikes!) and $750 for businesses. So on the plus side for a little inconvenience on hubby's part, we were able to save
$350. Hubby can hardly move his arms today though, poor guy.

I am happy to report thought that I could actually get to sleep last night as the "dripping" behind our wall has subsided.

Mortgage Refinancing...

We refinanced our mortgage just before Christmas, so it is supposed to take affect with today's payment. We were paying semi-monthly $775.14, as of today the actual required payment should be $716.33. We were able to do this over the phone with our TD Bank. After this payment goes through - we are going to call and have them start taking the old amount out of $775.14 as of our next payment schedule, that way for each payment approx $58 or approx $116 a month extra will be going towards the principal on our mortgage each month. The bank said that we had to wait for the 1st revised lower payment to go through, before we could up our payment. This was relatively painless to do, there were no fees that we had to pay, and without adjusting our budget, we are now able to pay down our mortgage a little bit faster.

We also refinanced our investment property at the same time, which brings that payment down also.

Started Weight Watchers Online...

So I bit the bullet and started Weight Watchers Online, as of Tuesday, Jan 4th. The online version is cheaper than attending actual meetings here in the city so I've paid for the 3 month trial, which came to just under $85 (this includes the registration fee). After the 3 months is up, my credit card will be charged just under $25 a month. I definitely want to lose 20 lbs and my lofty goal for the year is 50 lbs. I think because I'm paying out money for this program, I'll stick with it or at least I have high hopes to. I've worked this expense into the budget, by cutting back on how much I spend in other areas. My Weigh In days will be Saturday mornings on my home scale. As of the January 8th, I had lost 3.2 lbs. I'm hoping I can be as diligent with this as I've become at saving, time will tell...

Starting Pantry Clean Out...

I've started the pantry clean out and trying to use up all the groceries and "stuff" that we have stockpiled for the coming next couple of months, as Hubby's pay cheque is usually the lowest for Jan and Feb.

Now if only the price of fresh vegetables and fruit would go down - I'd be in heaven - last week alone we spent almost $65 on a head of lettuce, 2 bundles of read leaf lettuce, bananas, grapes and oranges. I'm not sure what the price situation is like for these things in the United States, but here in Edmonton, Canada they are very expensive. This really irks me, as everywhere you read how childhood obesity is on the rise, a part of it, I believe is that many families can not afford to buy the "healthier stuff". Some families only have $50 or $65 to spend on groceries for a week, and that has to encompass a lot more than fruits and vegetables and my heart goes out to them.

House Valuation/Property Tax Assessment

We received our annual Property Tax Assessment on Friday. Over the last couple of years the assessment has shown our house value consistently going down, but I was so happy to see that for 2011 it's starting to work its way back up. It is now sitting at an assessed value of $326,500. We have no plans on moving in the near future, but I definitely like to see that number go up rather than down, even if it is on paper. It also made our net worth jump nicely. I hope this is a sign that the economy everywhere is picking up.

Paying it Forward Recap...

In answer to a reader's comment, they wanted to know what I had done with the $100 my company had given us to "Pay It Forward", so I'm happy to say that I was able to do something for 4 different people.

There was a lady behind me in the grocery line with a bunch of baking goods, I paid for her stuff. She was thankful and said that she was having her 2 little grand children over for the day and they were going to make gingerbread men.

In the dollar store there was a lady in front of me with her teenage son, buying stuff for Christmas for their place, so I paid for her stuff. She was also very appreciative.

I Paid for some one's gas at the gas station.

I Paid for an elderly person's groceries at the grocery store.

All 4 recipients were very shocked and appreciative, when they all asked why, all I said was that, I was just sharing some Christmas spirit.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to one and all! This is the year I am going to be extra mindful of where we spend our money. It feels so good to arrive into January without any bills to pay from Christmas - we are starting the year with a clean slate. My simple goal is to really evaluate how we can save spending in January and February - the worst pay cheques for us, in the year. We have food and supplies in the pantry stockpiled and I'm going to try to go to a different hairdresser to cut down on my hair costs. It's a start. Here's hoping everyone has a positive and meaningful 2011.