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.