Reflections on 2017

It's tough to reflect on a year when the events of the past couple weeks have definitely shaped my view on things.

Family

We had some great milestones with our immediate family this year.

DS2 graduated from his college and had his diploma in environmental law. He spent the summer exploring law enforcement and did a great job, but he's not sure if it is for him.  He is currently figuring things out.

DS1 's highlight was heading to the National Finals for his hockey. We played in an amazing championship game, saw a gorgeous city for the first time and looked on proudly as he played in front of about 20,000 people. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Travel

We dabbled our toes in a new city with our April trip to Chicago. We did well maneuvering a new airport, new city, new methods of transportation. We had lovely weather and some great dining experiences. In October we did our last family weekend at my son's college. Each time we go to his city we see new things and I am sad that our time in that beautiful place is only months away from ending.

Money

Money held steady for the most part. Mortgage went down. LOC went up. I stayed CC debt free. I met most of my goals but not quite all of them. My good habits are deeply ingrained.  I hope to continue to grow those good habits next year, but moreso, I hope that they can help plan for some life experience

Health

My colitis continued to wreak havoc on my world. Limiting my outings. Exhausting me body and soul. Often coming close to breaking my spirit. I am now on monthly infusions instead of bimonthly. For the first time I was given a receipt for this and each one rings it at $3478. I think it is helping but I am not sure yet. I still have to be very careful and preplan any outings around my food intake and my bathroom needs.


Ancestry

I had a great time on ancestry.ca this summer. I found new family connections, some closely related and some farther away. We met one of my first cousins for the first time. It made my mom's summer to meet a long lost nephew.

Weight

I believe last year was one of the first in a long time where I did not set a weight goal. Ironically, I woke up one day in August and said 'this is it' and started on a journey of weight loss that is still continuing. I have blogged about it at Jolie - a year from now . It's not a very exciting blog by any means, but it  helps keep me on track to some extent. I am so lucky to have some great readers who encourage me on. You mean a lot to me. Thank you.

PS - I lost 31 lbs in 2017

Reading

I tried an alphabet game to make my reading more interesting, but it didn't do all that well to be honest. I need to bring more reading into my world again.


To sum things up, it was a year with some highs and some lows and a lot of flat in between.

I know 2018 is going to bring in some serious sadness. I hope I can find lots of good moments in between those to help get me through.

2017 - A Quick Glance

Peeking purely at the numbers, it would show that 2017 was not  a year of progress for my bottom line.  The mortgage has gone  down, predictably.




December 2009 - $70 771.99
December 2010 - $52 410.25 (down $18 361.74)
December 2011 - $40 055.29 (down $12 354.96)
December 2012 - $35 921.04 (down $4 134.25)
December 2013 - $25 925.49 (down $9 995.55)
December 2014 - $22 494.06 (down $3431.43)
December 2015 - $18 837.12 (down $3656.94)
December 2016 - $15 009.96 (down $3827.16)
December 2017 - $11 055.48 (down $3954.48)

That of course started as all debt and now just reflects mortgage.

However anyone following my blog knows I have a LOC serving as funding for DS1's college fees. I purposely did not choose to include that when it first was activated as that number has moved up and down within each year.



Debt 2016
Mortgage - $15 009.96
College LOC - $13 245.16

Total Debt - $28 255.12



Debt 2017
Mortgage - $11 055.48
College LOC - $21 343.00

Total Debt - $32 398.48

I added to the LOC a couple times during the year and I am slowly working on paying that down.  Side by side comparisons, however, show that the overall debt is up.

This is DS1's last year of college so barring anything unforeseen, this should slowly whittle down.

A year of snowflakes

I love keeping track of the little ways money can add up. For me, there is no side hustle. During the school year there isn't enough energy to make it happen and during the summer I am recharging. I suppose I could find something in the summer if I REALLY wanted to.

Most of the money came from Tax returns. I was able to claim both boys this past year. For 2017 tax year I will just have the one, as DS2's tuition was all paid before the turn of the year.

The rest of the money came from my change jar, and the bits of money I was able to tuck away from jar money to repurpose for savings or debt goals.


In the past, this is how the snowflakes built up:

In 2016 the snowflakes were $5872
In 2015 the snowflakes were $8064
In 2014 the snowflakes were $3112
In 2013 the snowflakes were $3671
In 2012 the snowflakes were $3136
In 2011 the snowflakes were $4350
In 2010 the snowflakes were $5070
In 2009 the snowflakes were $4295

For 2017, my total was not the largest ever, nor was it the smallest. It floated in the middle.  $4770

My change jar for 2017

I do love my change jar.

Actually I have two of them. One is a piggy that used to sing when you put coins in. The toonies and loonies live in them. They other is a carafe of some sort. No clue where I got that from. All the other change lives in there.

I love putting my spending change in the jar and then counting it up at the end of the year. I still do it old school - hand roll and take into the bank. Love doing it that way.

For 6 months this year the change went towards the back to school planned spending. It seemed like an innocent and non threatening way to build up to that $500. After that, I put the jar money towards my 2018 TFSA, since I didn't make that goal this year.

Here are my ghosts of change jars past:

2012 -$549.50
2013 - $980
2014 - $512
2015 - $642
2016 - $825

Each year I think, hmmm I don't have that much. Especially when there are $0 months. then I do a tally and surprise myself.

January - $100
February  - $90
March - $0
April - $0
May - $100
June - $100
July - $50
August - $100
September - $100
October - $100
November - $100
December - $100

Actually this is spookily similar to last year's. Interesting.

For a grand total of $940

Not my highest ever but definitely up there.

I do recognize that if I spent less there would be less opportunity for change :-)

I plan to keep the same targets for next year - First $500 for Back to School and then TFSA.

If I were to have $100 per month (which I never do, then I would have a surplus of $100 to do go a third goal. We shall see.

Thank you change rolling for all those fun little memories.

First trip to the Cancer Clinic

(this is purely about mom's cancer so please feel free to scroll on if it's not the topic for you. I understand)


In the dark of -40C temps, we drove in the early dark hours to the city to take mom to the Cancer Clinic. I had blankies for the back seat so they would be warm enough. Mom was sick to her stomach for quite a bit of the journey.

It was an overwhelming day. The people there are very good at what they do. We had our initial greeting and the nurse went over the clinic, basic info and gave us resources of who to contact.

Next was a visit to drug review where that nurse went over all the meds mom is currently on.

We headed next to phlebotomy and that nurse was very good at what she did.

Off next for a longer wait to see the oncologist. The nurse for this doctor was incredibly detail oriented and worked hard to read mom's body language as she answered questions.

The oncologist was also very good, but less people oriented. Her sole focus was mom and she seemed annoyed my sister and I were in the room and gave dark looks anytime we spoke. If she's good for mom, I can get over that.  The results of the  tests are Stage 4 cancer. We are waiting for the results of the biopsy from the 20th to determine the proper course of treatment, if any. These tests have to be sent out of province and should be back about the  9th ish.

We were  sent next to the radiologist for oncology. He was incredibly good with mom, with explaining things and with my sister and I. His focus was to treat the cancer in the eye. He repeated a few times that he can't cure her, but he can improve the quality of her life if the tumor behind her eye responds to the radiation. Mom agreed to this treatment.

Next we were off to the main part of the hospital for an xray of mom's hip, to find out what is bothering it, and if it's cancer. They were incredibly quick and efficient.

Back we went to the Clinic (the buildings are attached). The first meeting in radiation is to create a mask/form that will hold mom's head and neck in the same position each time. We were unable to do this as mom has a deep cough and wouldn't be able to hold still for the 20 min it takes to create this.

So off we headed home. All of us exhausted. Mom was so tired and needed her bed badly. She didn't cry once throughout this today, so I had to step away to do my own tears.

We left them in the hands of another sister and I came home to crash. I doubt I will be awake much longer. I haven't slept properly in days.

Merry Christmas

There were some familiar elements to Christmas along with a few new ones.

We woke up to a quiet house this Christmas morning.

DS1 had left at 2 AM to head into the city to the airport. His flight was supposed to leave at 6 AM but his flight was delayed an hour due to extreme cold temps. He had a huge layover in Minneapolis anyways so we weren't concerned. He got to his home city about 5 PM and was exhausted and tired. One of the local moms invited him over for a Christmas supper, but I am not sure if he went.

DS2 got home from driving DS1 to the city, about 5:30 AM. He slept until 4 PM and stayed home instead of joining us for supper.

The GF was up and left to go home to her family about 8 AM. I was glad to get a text from her mom when she got home safely in this weather.

So really it was  a quiet morning of DH, the cat and myself, sitting watching TV. The little tree lights were on but the presents were gone as we opened them yesterday. A little coffee with baileys and some CSI reruns started my day.

DH and I went over to my parents' house and we had our usual Christmas brunch with them. It was different this year. Just the four of us. DH and I cooking it all. Mom is so weak and dad isnt' far behind. We managed to get them both to eat something so that was good. DH and I cleaned up and they both went to have naps.

Back at home I cleaned and did laundry. The basement looks normal again now that DS1 has gone. I took time honoured pleasure in beginning my annual Christmas break of going through drawers and tidying and sorting.

My oldest sister was hosting turkey here for those here in town. We went over and helped them get ready and I visited with my 3 great nieces. Ok one is a little standoffish, but she LOVES DS1's gf so that gives me some street cred.

We went and picked up mom and dad and brought them over for a little while. They both ate again so that was wonderful.

I got a moment alone with niece in law #1 and mouthed "is niece in law #2 expecting??"  The look of surprise on her face was something. My sister doesn't even know yet and it's very very early. She asked how I knew.... DS1 had noticed at supper on the 23rd that something felt dif about her. Good eye :-)   Hopefully she will tell my mom if things go south faster than she is prepared to tell everyone.

It was an early night as we took mom and dad home and got them settled for the night.

I am beyond exhausted and it will be early bed for me.

Everything today screamed 'THE LAST..."  I am grateful to HAVE 'the last' moments as I know many people do not, but it's hard as well.

Christmas Eve

I am all about appreciating the little moments these days. Even the tiniest of little moments.

Today was going to be 'our Christmas'.

DH and I headed over to my parents and I made them breakfast. They both look absolutely awful and exhausted and I do not know how much longer my dad has either to be honest. Taking care of them is all I can do at this point.

Then DH and I braved the crowds at Walmart to go pick up the dog food they need for their dog. I am always amazed by people who are in the store during a time like this and get upset about the crowds. It kind of goes with the 'day before Christmas' idea. We went prepared and it was a lot less stressful, knowing it would be a zoo.

We got home to our house and all of the kids were there. It was wonderful to spend some relaxing time with them opening gifts. My kids finally heard me when I answered the 'what do you want for Christmas' question. DS1 and GF got me a gorgeous picture of the two of them from when they were in Banff last summer. DS1 and DS2 got me a wonderful picture of the two of them when we were down in the US. I was a happy mama.

Apparently I don't need to buy DS1 anything. His favourite part of Christmas was taking the ribbon that wrapped a wonderfully soft blanket I was given. He played with the cat with that for a long time. Both kids were given camping type options. DS1 got two sturdy Coleman chairs and a queen air mattress. DS2 got  a camping French press and a lifestraw water purifier for his river trips.

They went off for brunch with friends and I had fun vacuuming and cleaning the living room. Now it's just the tiny tree and the décor around it.

One of my nephews sent over $ to buy Chinese for my parents. The five of us went over and picked up Chinese and spent supper over at my parents. Dad ate a bit of soup and mom had a wee bit but neither of them ate like they should.

I left before the rest of them did. I couldn't watch my mom saying goodbye to DS1 for what is likely to be the last time. I would have been a hot mess.

The rest of the evening was spent in comfortable family time watching Harry Potter. At 2 AM, DS2 is taking DS1 into the city to go catch his flight (3 hour round trip). And with that, the holiday is kind of over.

It's bitter cold out tonight. -30C plus a wind chill. Glad I am not the one out driving on the highway, but I won't rest until DS2 is home.

my mom's happy place

Long before all this C news came about, my mom had been planning an appetizer meal on the 23rd. It was mostly for DS1 as he flies out Xmas morning, but it was also a chance for family to gather at Mom and Dad's if they had other plans for Christmas Day.

This year was absolutely bittersweet as it is pretty certain this will be mom's last family dinner she hosts.

We went to the oncologist surgeon in the City last on the 20th. They wanted to admit her to get some testing done. Mom was not happy about that as she might have missed her party. We had convinced her that it was the right thing to do though as tests were expedited when you are an inpatient rather than an outpatient.

The oncologist was extremely accommodating and squeezed in a biopsy and a second CT all in one afternoon so that she could go home.

The news continues to get worse. Final stage melanoma in her shoulder, lymph nodes and her eye.

It was a tough journey home and after we left mom and dad there were a lot of tears between them. I don't know that my dad will last very long either. His health is so poor.

So tonight we had the party. She used up all her energy directing how she wanted things laid out and cut up. We had wings and dry ribs, sweet and sour meatballs, deer sausage, taco salad, all kinds of veggies and dips and cheeseballs. In the immediate family, there were 26 of us. 5 others ( a cousin, 2 of my dad's sisters, his brother and wife)  joined us as well. We even had a four week old Akita, the newest addition to my nephew's family.

Mom wanted lots of pictures, even though they hurt her eye. At the end, everyone left and I cleaned up the house and put it back to rights and we left. Mom always joked that the second prettiest lights at Christmas were on the tree and the prettiest lights were the tail lights when everyone finally left :-)

We shall see how things go tomorrow and in the days to come. There were lots of closed door quick cries and then party faces put back on.

I am glad she got her party.

A bit of an update

Mom's news was escalated last Thursday with C in both her lungs, her liver and her spleen. She had a couple very bad days. Weak. hard to breathe. couldn't keep anything down. We go see an oncologist tomorrow.

I am off work for the remainder of this week. The stress of it all has taken my colitis into flare. It is giving me the gift of time to be there for them....cooking, cleaning, talking.... organizing. All those sorts of things. It is most appreciated. I work hard on keeping it together at the house and just taking breaths to go out to the garage to let the emotions flow.

I have had all 3 of my children (the boys and the gf) in my house for 4 days now. What a rare gift. Usually one or the other is gone. It gives DS2 a chance to get to know the gf more. He even went out and bought her a present for Christmas.

DS2 is still waiting to hear about a job doing power lines with the company his friend works with. He would be on the road 10 days ish and then home again for a few. He may opt to move out of our house and in with a friend. We shall take that one step at a time.

DS1 got to see a lot of his hockey buddies at 2 games over the weekend but he's really been HERE a lot, which is unusual for him. I love it.

I am grateful I had brought and wrapped most of my presents back at the end of November. They have been under my little tree since then and it's been nice to enjoy it when I actually get to be here at home. The cat definitely loves sitting under it and on the presents.

We plan to have a pre- Christmas, Christmas supper at mom and dad's with appetizers as the focus. This will give DS1 a chance to have his family meal and see some family before he flies back on Christmas Day.

a big Day, but a good one.

Today was the big day. The big shopping day before Xmas.

DS1 comes home later this week. It's time to get everything ready so I can enjoy his short visit home.

I have my Xmas money saved thanks to those planned savings goals. I also have been tucking $5 here and $10 there into a jar for the big grocery shop.

I made DH come with me. Someone to lift the heavy stuff, and since he isn't contributing, he can experience first hand how much it costs.

We headed to Walmart and got the cleaning supplies, a few last minute treats and all the food. Me and my list had a heck of a good time.

At one point DH says 'so where is all this money coming from?'  I respond and say "when you tuck $5 here and $10 there into a jar  all year long, the money is  here. Starting tomorrow I begin again for next year'. He gives me this look that is half skepticism and half processing the concept of planned savings.

We did a quick stop at Shoppers (again planned ) and got the 18 500 optimum points for the spend. Another quick stop at the LB (liquor board store) for a little wine and baileys, and then home to unpack it all.

I hadn't fully organized my cupboards before I left (I had done the fridge), so there was a lot of that while putting things away.

Sister 2 came for a visit and said that she had been over to mom and dad's and mom had started to share who gets what when she is gone. Those sorts of things are very important to her and that is one of the few things she can control, so that's the talk they had. I got a notebook out and showed Sister what it looked like and where I was going to put it at mom's so that we can start writing it down (we are their executors).

We have not told any of the kids yet. A couple still are in exam mode and there is no point disrupting that for them. Sister agreed that we would tell the kids before xmas regardless of whether we got the CT or not so they could make sure they took advantage of Christmas.

DH and I went over to their house and brought in Chinese at their request. Dad ate so much I am wondering how much he has been eating lately. I feel bad that I haven't been more on top of things.

We managed to get an HDMI cord hooked up to their TV which is bolted into their entertainment unit (it was made for a box tv and he got a flat screen but wouldn't get rid of the unit.) I managed to get the hockey feed  to load in their iffy wifi house and they got to see DS's game. It meant a lot to them.

The radio guy interviewed DS earlier in the week and played it after the first so they got to hear him being interviewed. My mom cried.  Then not long into the game DS scored (he is definitely not the highest scorer on the team).

It was a really good night.  I am going over tomorrow to take her for a bit of shopping if she is up to it and wrap up gifts for her. She only buys for the great grandkids now. There's just too many in the family otherwise.

and then this happened

It was a good day of work. I had enough energy created from yesterday's rest to have a decent day at work both in the classroom and in the bathroom.

I stopped at my mom's after school. Sister 2 was there and as I passed the two windows outside the kitchen, she gave me 'the look'.

I took a breath and braced myself for what was to come.

Mom's cancer is back and in her lungs. It is pretty significant in the xrays and the dr let it slip that it was indeed melanoma.  She is on the list for a rush scan to get more specific details.

She has been so sick with what seemed like the flu for the past 6 weeks. She was super weak but wouldn't go to the dr. What was worse was that her spirit was gone. Never seen her like this.

I received the news well. Didn't break down in front of  mom. We talked for a good hour about Christmas plans and we left it at that.

I got into her garage before I broke down.    This is not going to be easy.

a Day of Rest

I took a sick day today. My colitis issues are increasing and increasing.

I have now had this disease for 5 years. One gets a good feel for that part of body function and the imperceptible ups and downs. Mine is definitely heading towards full flare.

I suspect it's a combination of lack of fresh air an natural Vitamin D, the business of work and the stress of work.

I took today to rest and putter quietly about the house and give myself a few colitis treatments (you don't want to know :-)

It felt amazing to be at home. I really enjoyed the luxury of this and appreciated the energy recharge. I hope the treatments will help slow or, dare I hope, reverse, some of the inflammation.

I think I can get make the last 2 weeks until Christmas. I hope.

Where the money stands

as of December 6th

Debt
Mortgage - $11 055.48
College LOC - $21 343.00

Total Debt - $32 398.48



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200 
RRSP -$15 351
Back to School 2017 - $100
XMAS 2017 - spending in progress
TFSA 2018 $300

To be honest, I had hoped that I would be able to get the college  LOC under $20 before the end of the year but that just didn't quite happen.

I am still tucking $ away each month for college but in five months I hopefully am done with all of that and can channel it towards paying off the debt. Fingers crossed.

The mortgage will be under 11 by Jan 'where the money stands' . It will be interesting to see how low it can go.

November Change

It was a predictable month for change....not that I take this predictability for granted.

I certainly do not. I have used the change to meet many of my planned spending or savings goals.

It adds up and it's mostly a painfree way to just add a bit to the mix.

• 1 roll of toonies - $50
• 1 roll of loonies - $25
• 2 rolls of quarters - $20
• 1 roll of dimes - $5

For a grand total of $100

This money joins its friends in my savings as I work towards TFSA 2018. I now have $300 there to get me started for the new year.

thanks little coins ( and cash spending)

Flights booked

DS1 finally got his Christmas release and due back by dates from college.   He is home earlier than usual by a week. This is because he has to be back early. They fly to the East Coast to play one of the Ivy league schools before New Year's.

I booked his flight back to the US first as it was the first date I had. Christmas Day. Flights are super expensive that day and the itineraries are not fun. It cost $900 for a one way ticket back for him. This is with a 6 hour layover. One stop in the middle.

There was a flight that was $100 ish cheaper but it had 2 stops with two long layovers.  Would have taken him 16 hours to get home. Can almost drive it in that. DS also pointed out that they more flight changes, the more possibilities of flight delays and cancellations. good point.

The flight back here to Canada was listed at $547 (Same path. always cheaper flying this way than it is going down to the US).  There were a few options there too but the price was mostly the same.  When I clicked on expedia to book it, the cost came out at $267 with taxes and protection. I checked the info over and over to be sure it was the right flight on the right date going the right way.   It was. Not sure how it changed by $300 while I was clicking but I was happy to take the savings.  (As I typed this I checked again. I seem to have a paranoia that I am reading info wrong :-)

It will be wonderful to see him and have him home, even if my Christmas Day means getting up at 2 AM to get him to the city to catch his flight.

RRSP Update

When last we left off with my RRSP in July, it had taken a bit of a hit ($325) with the market and was down to $13 851.09.

Since then the dollar has gone up and then down down so I would expect the market to reflect that as well.

I added $1500 in August to the portfolio, so at base level it should be at $15 351.00

I found my statement in a pile of things I had set aside during the flurry of mail when we got back from the States. Bad me. Good thing there wasn't bills in there :-)

My portfolio is listed at $15 455.92

That means the whole $1500 managed to survive the market and I 'made back' an additional $104.92.

I certainly won't get rich soon, but at least it is slowly moving in the right direction.

Where the money stands

as of November 5th

Debt
Mortgage - $11 390.38
College LOC - $21 743.50

Total Debt - $33 133.88



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200 
RRSP -$15 351
Back to School 2017 - $200
XMAS 2017 - $1500
TFSA 2018 $200

Update on October goals

October felt like a super long month. It started with a whirlwind trip down to see DS. I came home immediately to  parent teacher interviews and then it was volleyball tournaments each weekend until the end.

It truly felt like it was about 8 weeks long.


Here were my goals for October and how I felt I did:

:

• tuck money away for DS's college

I continued to put money away for college. The dollar has been sliding a bit so its just in a savings account until the dollar improves, or I have no choice.

• track the US dollar everyday to see when it is high enough to buy 

It was close to 80 cents but is now hovering at 77 cents

• decide on a plan for xmas - gifts. holidays etc

Not a clue. DS plays hockey on the East coast before New Years and I waffled with the idea of no presents and using that money for the trip. It's his last year and it would be nice to see him play in person a few times before it's all over. 

• stay on WW

I was doing well until a week after we returned from the US and then it all just fell apart. Winter came. It was cold. I stopped walking. I stopped tracking. I avoided the WW group posts on Facebook. I am working on getting back on track before I blow all my progress.

• continue with the other jolie blog for my weight loss journey

The posts have been sparse but I think of those great folk often, who follow me and cheer me on. I need to give them something to cheer about.

• fingers crossed 4 lb loss

It was 5 lbs of loss before the wagon falling off fiasco. If we go by the calendar, I ended October with a 3 pound net loss

• squeeze in as many walks outside as I can before it's too cold

Done. I miss it already.

• buy a new winter coat 

I actually found 2. That I liked! That was rare. Usually its 'because I found one that fits'. I was in the city for my infusion at my plus size ladies store. I had a $100 gift card from my sister for my birthday along with a $25 reward card. I found 2 coats I liked and as I entered the store there was a flash sale. Everything 2 for the price of 1. I bought two new lovely winter coats ( one black and one a light grey) for the price of 1 and then deducted my $125. It was a great feeling.

• read one book for pleasure

Done. But barely. It's hard for my brain to focus on reading during the school year.

• don't go hog wild on spending when I head down to the US to see DS

It really was gas, hotels and dining out. I did find a lovely plus sized store down there with so many dif options than I have up here and spent some money there. Was also a sale on there so that helped.

• keep tracking steps on my fitbit

I have religiously been using my fitbit and daily I am between 10 and 20 000 steps

• try one new recipe

Fail. Really should get on that.

And........that was October.

October Change

Short and sweet

2 rolls of loonies = $100

Put in the bank for next year's TFSA savings goal

Look before you click

So while we were down in the US, DS2 bought a laptop. He is quite particular about what system he gets so he was excited to actually find what he was looking for.   He has $ in his account from his summer working so he popped it on his MasterCard with the intention of paying the MC as soon as we got home.

For some reason his MasterCard didn't work. He still has the piggyback card on my MC account but chose to leave it at home because 'why would I need that?" he said.

He was with his dad at the time (Yes...I was at the book store :-)  so his dad offered to put it on his Visa and DS would pay him back when he got home.

When we got home DH was all in a panic about getting that laptop money paid off.  DS was off helping a friend whose vehicle broke down on the highway so with his permission I moved the money for him ( I have him on my account still)

Seemed easy enough. Make a payment from DS's account to DH's visa.

click click

The next morning I am checking my online accounts as I always do and see that a payment has been made to MY Visa.

sigh

I clicked payment from DS's account to MY visa not DH's.

I called but they would not cancel it.

DH is  now in a panic thinking his visa is going to have a balance. DH has no grey area. He is either calm or .....NOT

So I make  a payment from my savings to DH's account.

I now have a credit on my Visa and a hole in my savings. Instead of taking out cash for my jar money I am carefully spending it on my visa and paying back the savings. It will take about a month to balance things out.

Slow down and look before you click :-)

Where the money stands

as of October 4th


Debt
Mortgage - $11 723.33
College LOC - $21 943.50

Total Debt - $33 666.83



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200 
RRSP -$15 351
Back to School 2017 - $200
XMAS 2017 - $1500
TFSA 2018 $100

ok so busy month

$1500 was added to my RRSP for the year.

Back to school - I slowly spent bits and pieces of things for my students

Xmas 2017 - goal has been met. I have zero ideas for gifts this year. zero!

TFSA - Since I didn't save for 2017, I started putting my change towards next year's to get myself started


My mortgage is less than half of my LOC debt. That's a real eye opener. From both sides of that coin.

October goals

September went super fast. October will probably do the same.

Here's a quick snapshot of my goals for the month:

• tuck money away for DS's college
• track the US dollar everyday to see when it is high enough to buy 
• decide on a plan for xmas - gifts. holidays etc
• stay on WW
• continue with the other jolie blog for my weight loss journey
• fingers crossed 4 lb loss
• squeeze in as many walks outside as I can before it's too cold
• buy a new winter coat
• read one book for pleasure
• don't go hog wild on spending when I head down to the US to see DS
• keep tracking steps on my fitbit
• try one new recipe

September change

My change for September was rather predictable but nevertheless, appreciated.

$100

• 1 roll of toonies - $50
• 1 roll of loonies - $25
• 2 rolls of quarters -$20
• 1 roll of dimes - $5

It goes towards my TFSA 2018 goal

Review of September goals

I am always taken aback at how intense the school year is.  Already feel so far behind.

Here is  a review of my September goals:

• continue with Weight Watchers and my new little blog documenting the journey. Sticking with the program, theoretically I could lose 4 lbs in the month ( 1 per week) so that would be nice to achieve (Super successful. I lost 8 lbs this month. I owe it to WW, walking, a lot of NOs and the wonderfully supportive folk who are following my weight loss blog and keep me going)

pack lunches for school. Means preplanning but it will ensure I stick with WW. It also will keep me from venturing to the school cafeteria and eating more than I need to. Great food there. (super successful. packed a lunch every day)

• Squeeze in at least 5 walks a week. Harder to do in the morning when I am at work before 7:30 and sunlight is getting less and less. Hard to do in the evening when I come home bagged from work. They make me feel so good so I had better find a way (success. miss my morning walks. soon it will be dark when I get home by 6. and cold. and snow. need a plan b)

Plan suppers. DS2 is home for some and with friends for others. I have asked him to give me a general idea so that I can plan for the bigger meals when he is here. We eat lighter when he is not. (success. having a plan makes me panic less when I get home and helps keep me from shoveling in food)

Read 1 book. Have to find my bliss (totally did not happen)

Try to use my evening time for more than collapse in bed early, exhausted and fall asleep watching Netlfix. (Success. losing weight and moving more has shockingly given me more energy. I know.....voodoo.  

Appreciate the outside time while it is nice enough to enjoy (I have appreciated every moment of this fall weather knowing what is coming)

woosh there goes the $

In the busyness of this past first week of school came a phone call from DS1 down the in US.

He came out to head to campus and one of his tires were slashed.  Hopefully just random and not because he has out of country plates on his vehicle.

Thankful for CAA membership that is compatible in the US.  He called. They came and towed him to a repair shop that has been very good to him during his year down there.  The tires on his vehicle are a pain to match and all four had to be replaced. We had figured this on our end so it didn't come as new info surprise to us.  DS2 has the same Jeep and I had to do this in the spring for him.

Insurance won't cover this. We made some initial calls and our insurance up here said no.

So DS1 now has four brand new tires that hopefully will be slash safe.


The cost to mama $657 US

Where the money stands

as of September 5th

Debt
Mortgage - $12 056.44
College LOC - $22 193.51

Total Debt - $34 249.95



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200 
RRSP -$13 851 + $1500 added
Back to School 2017 - $300
XMAS 2017 - $1100
Plates 2017 - $1200
Summer - $500 (being redirected to my trip to see DS1)

slowly like a turtle the debt goes down 

September Goals

It's a gorgeous September long weekend here and I am savouring every minute of it. DS2 headed off to go whitewater canoeing on the Churchill River. He's been going every year since he was 14...first with adults to teach and guide, and now he and his buddies go on their own. I love that this time with nature is such an important part of his life.

I had an amazing 3.5K walk this morning. Between the amped up colitis meds and a wee bit of other treatment, I felt safe...ish. Loved the birds and the fresh air and the smells of different breakfasts as you go by.

The dollar is up so I am headed to the bank with the college portion of my August paycheque to convert those to US dollars. Every little bit counts. I hadn't realized that if I converted and kept it in the US dollar account I got a better rate than if I went in and got the US money in cash.

I am not quite ready in my classroom so I am off to the school as well to put in about 3 hours just to finish putting things away and get the papers ready for the first week of school. Being preplanned and preorganized is critical to first week survival.

I was hoping for a nice little fire in my back yard last night but most of the province is under a fireban due to the incredibly dry conditions. Totally understandable.

My goals for September are fairly basic, as heading back to work is a big change.

• continue with Weight Watchers and my new little blog documenting the journey. Sticking with the program, theoretically I could lose 4 lbs in the month ( 1 per week) so that would be nice to achieve
• pack lunches for school. Means preplanning but it will ensure I stick with WW. It also will keep me from venturing to the school cafeteria and eating more than I need to. Great food there. 
• Squeeze in at least 5 walks a week. Harder to do in the morning when I am at work before 7:30 and sunlight is getting less and less. Hard to do in the evening when I come home bagged from work. They make me feel so good so I had better find a way
• Plan suppers. DS2 is home for some and with friends for others. I have asked him to give me a general idea so that I can plan for the bigger meals when he is here. We eat lighter when he is not.
• Read 1 book. Have to find my bliss
• Try to use my evening time for more than collapse in bed early, exhausted and fall asleep watching Netlfix.
• Appreciate the outside time while it is nice enough to enjoy

Have  a great day everyone!

August change

August change was pretty good. Most of it came from the change when I went grocery shopping with cash. Anytime I go to Walmart or the Coop they try to encourage me to use the self check line ups. My response is - I am paying with cash and you can't use cash at the self check.

As I walk away I hear one clerk mutter to another - Who pays with cash these days?

me

mostly

For groceries anyways.

1 roll of toonies - $50
1 roll of loonies - $25
2 rolls of quarters - $20
1 roll of dimes - $5

Total of $100

This will be the first $100 to go towards TFSA 2018

A good start.

Review of August Goals

August whipped by so incredibly fast. A teacher's brain starts to flicker to 'school starts soon' the moment the long weekend is over.

Let's see how I did:

• Continue on Ancestry. One more month subscription will help me continue the explorations I have started. It's been lots of fun and I have learned several new things. I made a connection with a descendant of a great uncle we never knew. He did not know his grandfather had had any other siblings. His brother came over to Canada (and then the US) a few years later than the rest of the family did. That's a bit of an I wonder. But the hometown is the same and the mother is the same so either it's a huge coincidence or we are indeed related. We exchanged a few pics and the similarities are quite amazing.

• Continue walking. It is beneficial in so many ways I started taking an imodium each morning and it gave me the safety to walk more than I did in July. I am sure there are physiological consequences for taking that though.

• Read - this month will mostly be novels my students can read. It's hard to recommend books when you don't have a stack of ones you have read Epic fail. Read a bit and re-read a few old favourites

• Appreciate outside. Whether it's walking or having coffee outside or reading.....once September hits I am going 7 days a week and suddenly the almost winter weather is here. Darker in the morning. Leaves changing. The cat and I had a great time enjoying morning coffee outside watching the squirrel and those lovely moments before dark as well. 

• Write my sanity list. It's a list of all the things I need to do in that last couple weeks before school starts so that I feel ready to go. A few tidy things at home. Going through clothes. Pantry stocked up. Menus made List done. Items ON said list, not quite

• Medical appointments. One with the specialist. The dentist. My general practitioner. Optometrist Pass, fail, pass, fail

• Weight. Lose another 3 pounds Pass. Thank you SO much to those brave folk who asked to join as viewers on my weight loss blog. Writing about this is super scary for me, but having you there really keeps me going. thank you thank you

• RRSP - Meet with my agent and add $1500 to my rrsp done

• Vehicles - Mine needs an oil change. DS1's (which is technically my vehicle needs a windshield replacement and an oil change before he goes back to the States done

RRSP and back to school

Yesterday was a super busy day, running around with last minute things to do before school starts today.

One of the stops was to the bank to sign papers for my RRSP. $1500 added to the tiny little pot.

The rest was buying groceries. I didn't realize how many things I was out of or super low on for back to school. TP, fruit, veggies.Cleaning products Bought new ice packs for my lunch bag. A few healthier choice snacks.

I made a stir fry for DS2 for supper and got ready for the work week.

Summer is over.

DS2 moves home

His summer as a park ranger is over and he is en route home with his father bringing the borrowed fifth wheel. We have a busy evening ahead of us cleaning it out so it can be returned.

DS is glad to be home. He's not sure if that is the career for him but he certainly learned a lot.

He paid $8 a night for his campsite so about  $240 per month. Far less than any place we could have rented for him, plus he didn't have to drive to and from the lake each day for work. Saved gas = saved money.

He needs to find something for the fall/winter now so hopefully he gets on that fairly quickly.

It's going to be very weird having him home all the time, after him being gone for 2 years.

Should prove to be interesting.

5 out and $70 in

As part of my procrastinatory - I can't believe I go back to work next week - momentum, I found a sports bag downstairs and wasn't sure of the contents. Inside I found DS1's hockey ref jersey and 2 pair of pants from when he was about 13 and was reffing for a bit of side income.

I posted it on our local facebook buy and sell and had a hit immediately. All 5 items, including the bag, went to a young man who will be doing his first year of reffing this winter.

$70 went into my snowflake for the month.

woo hoo

My favourite payday

.....is tomorrow.

I will be CPP and EI maxed out so that money is mine.

I will also have no teachery deductions as those only happen in Sept - June.

My cheque will be about $1000 more than usual.

It is always so exciting thinking of ways I can spend that money.

Reality is far more boring - most will go to convert to US dollars for college, a couple hundred will be tucked away for a new winter coat (it's been several years now and my pocket linings are holey and unrepairable. The last bit will go towards my fall trip to see DS play hockey.

It is fun to imagine but reality does speak loudly. Hopefully not loud enough for Murphy to hear.

My last solar eclipse

Picture it. February. 1976. A badly dressed in floral browns  grade 4 student attends class. She sits in the far right row, second from the back. Their classroom design is actually 3 classrooms together with only half walls and a high vaulted ceiling with, you guessed it, a large circular window at the stop.

Half the class isn't there. Parents kept their children at home, terrified that they would be sent out for morning recess and blinded for life.

At 10 something in the morning the teacher instructs us to put our heads down on our desks. She puts an 'audio book' on the record player and we are taken away to the magical life of the Lollypop Dragon.

We reach a point where the teacher says "no peeking" and we can hear her footsteps up and down the carpeted aisle, making sure.

We didn't burst into flames, but we definitely didn't look up, let alone, go outside for recess.

And that's what I remember from my first Solar Eclipse.

Well...he's 'home'

It was a tough week here as DS prepared to leave. Summer once again went far too fast, like life does.

He worked until Wednesday, then packed up at his mother in laws and came home.

Thursday we had a day of laundry and packing and final meals. He was grumpy with me most of the day, which is upsetting when I had so little time with him all summer. I think the leaving was  getting to him. Supper was at my parents. I made his favourite and took it over there.

When we got back to the house the GF said that he was really emotional on their drive back after he hugged them goodbye. He always knows that it could be the last time they see him.

We came home and we had a great evening together, like I had hoped.

He left Thursday and we had planned for him to drive the first 12 hours and then spend the night.

Customs was not a good experience for him. He had all his documents and answered their questions. They pulled him for a 'random' check. He was placed in a room down a long hallway, locked from the outside with his passport, keys and phone taken from him. His car was hauled in and gone through. They asked him all kinds of questions about drugs. He said to me after "when they asked if I did any drugs part of my inside wanted to say If I did my mother would kill me' but he figured that wasn't the moment for that kind of levity. They didn't believe that he was a hockey player so he gave them the webpage for the team where his pic and stats are listed so they could see for themselves.

He was finally released and on his way to the main lobby he ran into another guy he played with here, who is playing hockey in Wisconsin. It was a good moment to end a stressful time.


Between that and the road construction stops he lost 2 hours.

I was so glad he had planned to stop anyways.

He left this morning for the last leg and got to his destination about 2:30 our time.

Let the fall hockey season begin.

Really underselling it

for those scant few who may care, I have started a permission only blog in the vain hope that perhaps blogging about my umpteenth attempt at weight loss and healthy living.

It's dull. It's dry. There will be no pictures :-) There will be no starting weight numbers.

It may even disappear if I fail yet again.

I am just hoping. so hoping.


If you happen to be a long time follower/lurker and you're interested, pls email me at new (underscore) joliereves (at) yahoo (dot) com.

I will see if I can figure out how to add folks. never done that before.

This blog entry will disappear as I am nervous about opening up the other one and being........transparent.

I have deleted this entry four times already as I waffle about what to do LOL

EDIT - the main "Money Tree" blog is staying put. This new one is just for the weight loss part.

EDIT 2  - ok for people who have done an invite only blog....I went to settings and to 'add reader' and put in the emails of those who requested. I am assuming they would receive an email with a link to log in as their own usual self and read.

am I wrong?

thanks

EDIT 3 - I found this online. Is this telling me that only people with google accounts can read?

Private – Only these readers

• The Private-Only these readers option allows only a set of readers to use your blog. You have to send invitations through email for a set of readers that you choose.
• Click on “+Add Readers” to add readers to your private blog. You can add up to 100 readers for a private blog. The readers should be login to their Google account to use your blog.

Sending DS back to College....

...is not cheap.

Here is a list of a few things that he and I split the cost on to get him back to hockey country.

• $50 for windshield replacement. Big rock chip on his way here in the spring that cracked in all directions. Package policy pays for all but the deductible of $50
• $55 new wipers for the windshield. They were tattered and needed replacing
• $100 oil change. Synthetic oil will last him for most of his year down there. who knew synthetic was so costly?
• $85 suit cleaning. Now he is all freshly pressed for their 'must wear' suits. Grandma was super excited to iron his dress shirts.
• $7 car wash before he goes. DH insisted on it. I am thinking it's going to pick up a bug or two in the 17 hour drive
• $140 US  DS is breaking the drive up in two. He loses an hour due to time change en route and found himself beyond exhausted last year. Hotel we use at the break point was booked. And all the neighbouring hotels. Something exciting must be happening in that city tomorrow night. After 14 phone calls we gave up and took one that costs way too much.

and that doesn't factor in any of the actual COLLEGE costs :-)

One more year

5 a day challenge to be cont

Remember my 5 a day challenge?

It was my low effort attempt to get rid of clutter in my home by removing 5 things a day.

I have been pretty good about keeping up with it. Some days zero and then next 10.

Well DS1 knocked it out of the block tonight.

He is packing for his senior year and has SO many clothes. He brought pretty much everything home in the spring as someone was subletting his room in the house.

Tonight he says "Would you mind if I went through all my drawers and cleaned them out?"

My face lit up like a Christmas tree :-)

Heck ya! Let's do it

He ended up with 4 piles.

• Things he was taking back to the US
• Things he wanted but was leaving behind here
• Things that were garbage
• Things that he no longer wanted but was leaving for DS2 to go through to see if he wanted them

I know a good chunk of  pile 4 will be too big for DS2 or he won't care for, but we will try.

When all is said and done I will have over a month's worth of  '5 a day' just from tonight. 

None of it is visible clutter, but his drawers are breathing a sigh of relief.

College, LOC and TFSA, oh my!

So most of my money goals for the year have been met. Plates (insurance), RRSP, Christmas is almost done, Summer etc.

The only goal I haven't started yet is my TFSA savings of $1000. Interest on this is paltry. Super paltry.

Interest on my college LOC however, is not paltry.

I was putting $500 a month down on the LOC, and saving a comparable amount for College. My LOC is close to being maxed out. Yes they would give me more, but I really don't want it to come to that.

This is DS1's last year of college. It will cost. Money will be needed. Usually I am putting  a chunk on my LOC and a chunk into college savings, along with a chunk that goes to my rotating money goals (see First paragraph).

I really really really want to avoid putting more money on the LOC. I would rather jiggle the amounts around to put a base amount on the LOC and a larger amount into College (and the dreaded Canadian to US dollar conversion).

The dollar is at about 77 cents right now which is not great but better than the 71 cents it was earlier this year.

I think I will drop the worry about the $1000 TFSA goal and focus instead on the college/LOC for the rest of 2017.

My change jar $ was going towards my Back to School fund and that is now met. Thank goodness. I start in 2 weeks.

For the rest of 2017 I will put my change jar $ towards TFSA 2018. This is a pretty low stress way of slowly building it.

I know...It's a lot of thinking out loud. But that's my plan for now. for now. Til Murphy or someone finds me and whaps me upside the head.

She's making a list(s)...

As August moves towards a close (I can't believe the summer is almost over), my home is filled with lists. Things get busy with me heading back to work, DS1 heading back to the US and DS2 moving home for good (for now) after 2 years away while he figures out work for the winter season.

DS1's list  is important because he's a long ways away if he forgets, like last year when he forgot his beard trimmer and his CAA card. Life at border crossing would be very difficult without his I-20 document that lets him in.

For school I have a list of 'desk' items....things I use throughout my work day. Included: motrin, icy hot (for when my neck goes out..and it does. often), immodium (pretty much on daily use now), sugar free gum and candies, coffee for the Keurig.

For home my list has a cleaning list and a cook ahead list and a stock the cupboard list. I may need to buy a couple things for back to school clothes too.

Lists truly do help me bring order to the chaos. It makes me feel in control. Empowered :-)

A summer of connections

I allowed myself to play on Ancestry this summer and found quite a few new interesting details.

An uncle of my GG grandmother murdered his wife and was hung. A brother of a G grandmother had a suspicious death after the govt claimed they had mineral rights on his oil rich land in Nebraska. I can trace my ancestors on my dad's side to Bern, Switzerland to the late 1200s.  Things like that.

More personal though, were the connections.

• Several distant relatives returned my messages on ancestry and we filled gaps in the tree for each other.
• The granddaughter of my dad's first cousin popped up from the US to visit the old family stomping grounds. We had never met her. 
• I discovered that my mom had a half brother who died at two. Didn't know he had existed. His grave is unmarked (died in 1924) but we wer ea
• My mom's nephew (from her oldest half brother) came for a visit. I had found him on Facebook about 2 years ago and we have messaged now and again. He knows very little about this side of the family and it was so good to have the chance to sit down and answer his questions. He looks so much like my uncle. My mom cried when she met him and hugged him
• On DH's side, we had a family reunion for his mom's sisters. Some of the cousins we haven't seen since my inlaws died several years ago. One, my husband hadn't seen since he was about 8. I was the youngest there, with the exception of the brief pit stop DS1 and GF did on their way to HER family reunion.

On my bucket list I definitely have a trip to upstate NY and the region below Ottawa to see more of where one of my branches lived.  I would love to do the Bern trip too but I am not sure that my health will permit it. (and my wallet :-)

Where the money stands

as of August 5th

Debt
Mortgage - $12 387.55
College LOC - $22 443.51

Total Debt - $34 831.06



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200 
RRSP -$13 851
Back to School 2017 - $500
XMAS 2017 - $700
Plates 2017 - $1000
Summer - $500

I still have not taken the $1500 in to add to the RRSP. My advisor has been on holiday. I have not used any summer money. Go nowhere = spend nothing = dull = economical = still dull

August Goals

While July might be the ahhhhhhh relaxation month, August is the appreciation of summer month. It always goes lightning fast and the whole 'school starts soon' pops up as soon as the calendar flips.

• Continue on Ancestry. One more month subscription will help me continue the explorations I have started. It's been lots of fun and I have learned several new things.
• Continue walking. It is beneficial in so many ways
• Read - this month will mostly be novels my students can read. It's hard to recommend books when you don't have a stack of ones you have read
• Appreciate outside. Whether it's walking or having coffee outside or reading.....once September hits I am going 7 days a week and suddenly the almost winter weather is here. Darker in the morning. Leaves changing. 
• Write my sanity list. It's a list of all the things I need to do in that last couple weeks before school starts so that I feel ready to go. A few tidy things at home. Going through clothes. Pantry stocked up. Menus made 
• Medical appointments. One with the specialist. The dentist. My general practitioner. Optometrist
• Weight. Lose another 3 pounds
• RRSP - Meet with my agent and add $1500 to my rrsp
• Vehicles - Mine needs an oil change. DS1's (which is technically my vehicle needs a windshield replacement and an oil change before he goes back to the States

Review of July goals

I will be the first to admit that in essence, my July was boring.

I got to relax and read, walk and tidy, but if someone were to ask me what fun things I did in July, I would have zippo for an answer. I recognize that my health limits a lot but I don't want this to be the rest of my life. Not sure how much power I have to change it.

So as for my goals.....I did ok ish. I had great zip and zoom for the first two weeks of July, as usual. After that the unrelenting heat here really affects my mood and  health. I know our heat is nothing compared to what many folk are getting. It's just more than my body can handle. On the couple cooler days we had, I felt SO much more alive and productive.

Goals:
1) clean out 'the paperwork' bin.   A
It felt good to get the excess out and to know where everything I need, is

2) Read Read Read Read.  B minus
I always could have done more, but I enjoyed curling up to escape in a book.

3) Walk Walk Walk. B
Super strong the first two weeks then as the heat cont I got lazier. Still everyday, but not multiple times.

4) Fitbit 10, 000 Steps. B
I misplaced it for a week. Harder to count when it was awol.

5) My computer room. F
I started but then DH shoved a bunch of things in there as he was looking for things for his family reunion. Until he clears them out again it's just wall to wall debris.

6) Make a tentative money plan for the rest of 2017.  A
I have made a couple versions of things depending on how things go. Of  course Murphy may have other plans. He usually does :-)

7) Lose 6 lbs. B
I lost 4. I wish I could keep the momentum going when I start something.

8) Delve into Ancestry. A found some great pictures and artifacts that I only could access with  the international  plan. We have one of our branches back to the late 1200s in Switzerland. Pretty cool. DS2 spent a few hours exploring with me. I have a first cousin coming to visit tomorrow that I have never met. My mom is so excited to meet this nephew of hers.


And, that was July. Not spectacular. Not too shabby either.

July change

When  you don't really go anywhere or spend a ton of money, you tend to not get a bunch of change.

This month is small: 1 roll of toonies or $50

I took that to the bank earlier this week and added that to my 'Back to School' fund.

That  $500 goal is now met using only the random change I get when I spend my jar money.

I love that I didn't even have to budget for it.

Not sure what I will target the change jar # for, for the remaining 6 months of 2017. There does have to be a focus or it will just get frittered away. Based on my trends, this could be anywhere from $300 to $600 dollars.

I have some pondering to do.

RRSP takes a hit

Well the Canadian and world market certainly hasn't been kind to my ethical bonds and dividends.


My last RRSP statement left me with a small gain and a balance of $14 176.55.

My statement arrived today and it is now sitting at $13 851.09

Ouch

That is a hit of $325.46... more than my small gain the quarter before.

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get :-)

July snowflakes

Ahh sweet payday was yesterday. A chance for me to reset my jars, start on a fresh month spreadsheet and update my goals and plans.

I managed to snowflake $170 of my jar money this month. Mostly from groceries. I credit a good part of it from it being too hot to really want to eat much.

I managed this even with my voraciously appetited (have I made a new word?) children coming home to visit.

I saved $100 of this and set it aside for my trip to Costco yesterday when I was in the city for my medical appt. Nothing exciting. Toilet paper, laundry soap and a massive bag of chocolate chips that will do for baking for a long time. It also got several pouches ( I miss the super large cans) of Goodhost ice tea mix that DS takes back to the US  with him, and a big box of Tim Hortons Kcups for DS's roommate. A little gift from his Canadian mom. It was nice to have that set aside to buy those things without worry or guilt.

The $70 I have tucked aside. When I get a hundred dollars, I go to the bank and swap it for a $100 bill. Not sure of my plans for the few of those I have tucked in the home safe, but it's nice to have it ready if something comes up.

I will also have the change yet to be taken to the bank to add to that.

Every little bit...

Please hold

Both of my credit cards expire at the start of August. The new ones finally arrived and thus begins the activation sequence and updating billing info.

A necessary evil since I choose to have CCs...since I choose to use them for some of my automatic billing. yes it gets paid off immediately. Balance free since 2009 baby!!

So to activate them there was an online feature for that. Slick. Usually you have to call. Except the webpage kept freezing and then it got grumpy saying I had too many wrong answers. So I had to call.


I was on hold with BMO FOR 47 minutes before I got to the poorly named 'customer service'.
I then had to go through a lengthy process of proving who I was. This included a series of 'So what was your last purchase and how much...ok and then before that, how much, and then before that'. I had to log in to my account to get the exact dollars and cents. Finally my MC was activated.

Then I consulted my list of preauthorized transactions to set about changing that info so that the billing cycle was not interrupted.

Netflix was easy. Log in, change info and boom. done

Next was my landline and cell phone provider (same company). Again I got to sit on hold forever until I got a lady who was doing her 'first time' change of info. I told her I had two cell phones and a landline to update info. After I gave her my info for my cell and we did the 'prove who you are' dance, apparently she closed all the windows so then to do my landline, we had to do the verification all over again. awesome.

The last one I did was my satellite provider. On hold again. The man answering ...... asked a lot of really stupid questions. We did the verification dance. Then he asked why I wanted to change my billing info. I said that my CC expired and I needed to provide the new info on it. Why would you want to do that??? he asked. I blinked. Seriously? says jolie.... because as of August my number is no longer valid and I would like to continue service.  You should have done this online, he says. I point out the spot online where it says 'to update your credit card info you must call...'   No gold star for him.

So let's tally up the time:


Online activation attempt time - 20 minutes
BMO on hold - 47 minutes
BMO verification process - 11 minutes
Netflix  - 2 minutes
Phones  on hold 37 minutes
Phones verification - 16 minutes
Satellite on hold 32 minutes
Satellite verification 9 minutes.

total time invested ... 2 hours 54 minutes

That's a lot of time.

When you get paid once a month

I am always fascinated by how people with different pay cycles arrange their budget and paying bills.  Even within a household with 2 people, there may be different cycles.

Ex - DS2 works for the provincial government. He gets paid every other Friday

Ex - 2 DS1  works for a municipal government. He gets paid a small amount in the middle of the month (about $300), and gets the balance of his money at the end of the month. No clue on the logic of this one.

Ex - DH works for a municipal government and his pay period mirrors DS2's

As for me, I work for a provincial government and get paid once a month. Technically, I am only paid for 10 months of work. That would give me bigger paychecks during the school year, but leave me two months where there are NO paychecks. That scares the crap out of me.

As a full time employee, I can request they pay once a month x 12 months. This gives me smaller monthly cheques during the school year, but I still get 2 full pay cheques  in the summer ( I just noticed I have used both pay check and pay cheque in the same blog entry)

This works for me and gives me psychological peace of mind for the routine.

Getting paid once a month takes a bit of organizing to make sure you don't run out of money before you run out of month.

Somewhere back in the first year of my blogging, I decided to create 'mini paydays' within the month for my variable expenses (jar money). This would refresh my grocery, spending, gas and entertainment money each week.

The trouble is, that months are not 4 perfectly even 7 day groupings.

Below are pics of two pay cycles and how I create 'mini paydays' to mimic a weeky reset of my variable expenses.


So you can see that my actual monthly payday is the 25th of each month. In June, that fell on a weekend, so the money entered my account on the 23rd. I literally moved it temporarily into my savings until the 25th.

On my actual payday I withdraw my $280 from my checking account and that is my variable spending for the week.

(This will NOT let me left justify my text between pictures for love or money. Super annoying)

So you can see that I have created three additional 'paydays' to simulate a weekly payday. If I had simply gone one week to one week to one week my jar refill would have been sunday to sunday to sunday which would have left my month 'done' on the 23rd of July. That leaves unaccounted days. Survivable, but it did not feel comfortable to me. I tried.

So instead I 'added' a day to each weekly pay. June 25 to midnight of July 2 is 8 days. Then I added a day to the next weekly pay. June 3 to midnight of July 10. Another 8 days. I am now in line to have Tuesday pretend paydays on the 11th and 18th until my next real payday on the Tuesday the 25th.

This only added a day to each of 2 weeks. Not even noticeable.

Real payday on July 25th and everything resets.

Pretend weekly payday is August 2 (so another 8 day week). etc

As I said before I tried the Friday to Friday to Friday to Friday and just had to live with the extra days at the end of the month. I tried this for about 6 months. I always felt stressed about those extra days.

Then I came up with this plan and now, 7 + years later, I still use it.

I get my calendar at Christmas and spend a half hour  over coffee putting little stars on my actual payday and the following three pretend paydays, for the whole year.  Now my whole year is mapped out and ready to go.

I do actually think of those pretend paydays as paydays for my variable expenses. While my husband isn't on board, he does accept that when I say I have no grocery money left this week, he knows there is more money in the account for the next week, but that I am not willing to part with it until I hit my star day. He sees that it is working.

I no longer dread the last week of a pay month where most people have spend everything and have next to nothing in their account. I know that I have the same amount of money for groceries, or gas each week and I don't have to panic.

It may sound complicated but it is ridiculously easy to set up and was super easy to get used to. It is predictable and I know that I have $ coming to me every 7 or 8 days to refill the money jars.


I credit this system as one of the reasons I have remained mostly successful on this budget for 7 plus years.

Did that make sense? any questions??

Too hot to cook

I am not one who does well in heat. The past 10 days it has been 27C plus here. Not blistering by any standard, but it overwhelms me, gives me a headache, lethargic. all that fun stuff.

I may be home for the summer but DH is not. When he gets home, naturally he is hungry but neither of us want to cook anything in the house and heat up my poor lil non AC house.

It's just the two of us most of the time. We certainly don't need big meals and we aren't really punching a 'have to eat at ____ clock' schedule. Sometimes we just pick and graze.

We have been using the BBQ a fair bit - burgers, chops, the occasional steak or kabob.

I pulled out my beloved crockpot and enlisted it to help us through this heat.

Our garage is attached and is basically an extended storage facility. I have our two small freezers in there and they make a perfect makeshift counter top.

The crockpot has saved us a few times this summer. Crockpot lasagna. Crockpot shredded salsa chicken for tortillas. Yesterday I put a roast in there and made a Beef Dip (French Dip)

You definitely can feel the heat it adds when I got out into the garage so I am glad it is not in the house. You get the benefit of the delicious food, the great smells without the heat.

Pair this with fresh fruit or a salad and we are good to go.

Off the bookshelf

I grabbed this book last week when I was at the library. Never read anything by this author before. Not completely sure what made me grab it. Let's compare it to 'an impulse buy next to the register'.

While it didn't leave me gripping the edge of the pages, it was a pleasant summer read to enjoy, curled up, on my patio. I rated it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads....that's about a B for me.

My Italian Bulldozer