Saving for Renos

 It feels like the bulk of my money focus has been on saving for the necessary upgrades that are needed at our new house and the old one. 

At the old house it is desperately in need of shingles. We installed the old ones in the fall of 2004 so they have made it not quite 20 years. The south side are a mess on both the house and the garage. I have the money saved for it. Now, the trick is just to find a weekend we can get enough people together to work fast and efficiently and get it done.

At the new house we had an electrician come to do an estimate on work in the downstairs garage. We have had to gut the ceiling due to water damage and squirrel damage. Once we get the electrical done again, then we can install the lights and the ceiling gyprock and get moving on getting it organized. A LOT Of memories in that space. My cousin was here last week and was quite overwhelmed with them all.

 At the new house we also to replace windows. They are the originals from when dad built the house in 1972. They are ridiculously NON energy efficient. We had a quote on that as well. To do the whole house (main level) will cost just under $14 000. I definitely cannot afford all of that so we shall do the picture window and the windows of the front two bedrooms this year. I will have to save up to do the rest. The install won't happen until November according to their schedule.

Ah the joys of home ownership.

New Little pots of planned expenses

 I have been following the 'jar philosophy' of weekly expense budgeting for ....(doing the math) holy, 13 years. Wow, that 's crazy when you think about it. 

It has, without a doubt, been my saviour. 

I have one real payday a month and I create three fake others to give myself that guidepost for weekly expenses: Gas, 'mad money' spending, groceries/household. It has evolved over the years but the basic idea remains the same.

I still do  cash withdrawls. I know many of you who do this are very successful with debit/credit card versions of this. I have found that I am my most successful when I stick to cash. That became a bit more challenging when many places were not taking cash during the height of Covid times.

When, if I have any leftover money, it often goes into a holding jar. (yes there are real little jars). I use it for one thing or another as new planned expenses evolve.

Right now I have a few little side missions I am planning for.

 Any money leftover from the gas budget goes away and is used for the more costly gas expenses when I have to go to the city for my infusions. I am also tucking that away to use for my oil changes

I have two other little jars I started now. Both are for things that aren't concrete plans, but fingers crossed, will be. DS1's wedding. No, he hasn't proposed yet. They have been together for 7 years and frankly I am tired of waiting, but apparently that's not my decision :-)

The first jar is for the mother of the groom attire. Not sure what kind of wedding it will be but it will be nice to have $ set aside for when the time comes. I don't own many fancy clothes and I will want something special for that day.

The second little jar is for her veil. I don't have daughters and won't get to do the shopping for the bridal gown etc. I wanted to put some money aside for her for a veil, or her shoes, or jewelry....whatever she ends up deciding on. Just a small gift from me to her.

The amounts are huge and the additions to the jar don't go in regularly, but a little bit here and a little bit here will be a nice way to start things off when it's time.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Murphy listens

You know that urban legend gossip that Facebook listens to your conversations and the 'ads' that pop up reflect your conversations???  (I totally agree with this by the way).

Know what else listens to your conversations? Murphy.

No sooner had the garage sale money been applied to the college loc, than my washing machine, my 23 year old machine, gives it up.  We have done little fixes to it over the years. a pump. a hose clamp.

This one was the final straw. It ended with the machine barfing out 2 inches of water across the floor of my laundry room. It was done.

Luckily I have been tucking little bits of money away over the past few years for the moment when I would need a new pair. We went down to our local furniture store and within 15 min the old units were gone and the new ones were installed and a load of towels was going.

This unexpected expense wiped out my emergency appliance replacement fund. It would have been nice to have the garage sale money to offset it.

I will have to begin the little bits of cash here and there to restock it in case something else decides to go. It was sure nice having that money there, ready to go, though.

Summer To Do List

Summer is definitely a time to rest and relax.

It's also a time to do all the things that have been pushed off all school year and need to get done.

Here's my list. Only a little has to do with money to be honest.

• Rest
• Read
• Walk
• Weight Watchers (hoping for 12 pounds over the summer)
• Spend  a LOT of time with dad
• $400 snowflakes
• Passport - my passport expires in Oct but who has time in October to do that? So I will do it over the summer. Which meant I needed to do my pics and documents at the end of June so that my witnesses/references were actually around
• Infusion x 3 (regularly scheduled)
• Specialist appointment in the city
• Get DS to the accountant to figure out what we will need to do for Tax season for 2018 year when he moves /is employed in Europe
• Get DS to bank to decide what to do with his account here and get advice for Credit Card and Banking in  Europe
• Book DS's flight
• Dentist - cleaning
• Mammogram - weird things happening and I want to find out if there is anything to worry about
• Mole excision - That's how mom's cancer started. I want my two guys gone (and checked)
• Garage Sale
• Meet at Bank to do this year's RRSP contribution
• Meet at Bank to add this year's TSFA contribution
• Call cemetery to be sure the spots we have for mom's ashes (and dad's when it's time) is still there
• Do mom's memorial for the newspaper since no one else stepped up
• Monitor the price of Euros (I think we're screwed)
• Come up with a new budget. Our district is moving to pay twice a month after 24 years of once a month. I am not thrilled. I have a great rhythm going with once a month
• Find a new binge on Netflix for my down moments
• Clean out mom's things when dad is ready
• At least 20 large garbage bags out of my house (donate/garage sale/recycle/toss)
• Head to toe house cleaning
• 'spring' clean mom's house. She would be twitching at the dust and windows
• Lunch with High School friends
• Bake, bake, bake. I seem to have taken over mom's role there for the family. I am nowhere near as good as she was
• Gather mom's recipes together in a word document to share with the family. 
• Decide on a tattoo. One of my friends at work had something in her grandmother's writing tattoed on her arm and I think that's what I am going for. Now to see what I have in mom's writing.
• Pedicure x 2 (I have 2 gift certificates so why not)
• Perm - yeah I'm one of those who needs that for her sad sad flat hair.
• Skin Care Routine - colleagues gave me a 3 month supply of a lovely smelling product line. Might as well use it.
• Memory book - I haven't ever done one of those online photo albums. I want to do one for DS for all his college hockey time as a gift for him. Not sure how to get newspaper articles in there. I don't have any fancy software programs
• Cancel DS1's vehicle package policy since the vehicle will be parked while he is gone.

I will undoubtedly add to this list as things come to me. Nothing thus far is school related. woo hoo.

First week back

was EXHAUSTING

It's always tough going back to work after the break. Tougher when you are trying to get kids back into a routine after so long without. Tougher yet when you have kids you know have dicey home lives and it takes a few days to get them to trust again.

Along with work mom had four trips into the city that included one radiation mask prep, three sessions of radiation, one liver biopsy and two meetings with oncologists.

Keeping those trips and their drivers organized as well as taking care of dad and making sure he eats and is taking care of his health issues...well that wears a girl out.

Along with that I did some baking, a run to the recycling depot, a trip to the bank and watched some world junior hockey.

I made my first snowflake originated bonus payment on the LOC this week. $100 of my $1500 goal of bonus payments. The snowflakes came from lotto scratchers $10, recycled bottles $15, and $75 hoarded from my first week of jar money. It felt good to get that started.

The weekend seems full of a basket full of to dos but honestly I spent most of today in bed. I  ran out earlier to get the things mom needed at the drug store. I took my vehicle in for an oil change, and then I took dad as he wanted to go grocery shopping. But the rest....in bed either dozing or watching Netflix. I feel.. 'off'. Maybe the flu coming. Maybe just exhaustion and my brain needed to pause.

Hopefully I am more productive tomorrow with the to dos and getting some marking done at school.

5 day week ahead along with 2 nights of extra curricular with school teams.  Mom has two more radiation trips to the city as well as some sort of endoscopy that they are going to try to do here.

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

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 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)

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!

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

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.

February Change

Well after a January of 'not a whole roll to roll', it was good to see what February brought.  It met my mini goal of $100 snowflaked. It also helped me to get my first planned savings goal met purely on snowflaked change and cash.   Happy to say that my 'back to school' goal of $500 is met.

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

total of $100

Now I need to figure out what goal I want to use as a target for my next snowflakes. I think I have an idea.

February mini goals

Alright so my mini goals for January were successful. It gave me little things to focus on instead of just being overwhelmed by all the things for the year. 

• Snowflake - $100. This money I will put towards my Back to School goal of $500
• track my WW
• Maintain previous loss and lose 3 more lbs
• Treadmill 5 out of 7 days per week
• Read 1 fiction and 1 non fiction book
• File taxes for all four of us.
•  Make an appointment to get my hair permed (yes I still do a loose perm) and a cut
• Do one outside the box thing this month, maybe during our Feb break from school
• Try 1 new recipe
• Send one snail mail letter

I also need to decide if I am going to fly down to see DS1. I'd go the first weekend of March, so I need to decide PDQ. It would be the best weekend to see him but I just don't know if I can swing the $.

January mini goal wrap up

Following the inspiring leads of many others, I decided to set myself a few mini goals for January to get the ball rolling and make that New Year's momentum keep rolling.

Let's see how I did:

Snowflake - $100. Either from change or skimming off leftover weekly jar money. This money I will put towards my Back to School goal of $500

So I flaked $62 from my Christmas lottery scratchers. That gave me a  healthy start to my goal. It was added to my 'back to school goal' earlier this month. I did four noon hour supervisions. deductions take about half of the 'earnings' but that brought me in about $40.  thank goodness for these two since rolled change was zip this month.

track my points

I would say I was 90% successful with this. Being away with the curling team for a couple weekends threw things off a bit. Rink food is hard to resist even with a few healthy snacks. I also learned my old phone won't take the new upgrade for WW

Lose 3 lbs

Success. Wheeee

Treadmill 6 out of 7 days per week

This was 95% successful. The weekends I was up at 6 AM and didn't get home til 10 PM threw this off a bit. Add to that a couple migraine days where breathing made me cry.

Read 1 fiction and 1 non fiction book

I read my fiction book. My non fiction was on recipes for colitis.

Do one outside the box thing this month

Well originally I planned to go see Gail Vaz Oxlade in Saskatoon. That would have been awesome. It ended up that we had to take our curling team out of town that Tuesday, so it was a no go. I did end up going to a presentation by the Muslim community. I hadn't been to anything like this before.


I would have to say that overall, my mini goals were successful and it gave me a different way of framing things as I looked ahead for the month.

First snowflakes

Literally, Wednesday night and Thursday, we had one of our bigger snowfalls this winter. It looked pretty falling down yesterday morning against the lights of the school as I trudged into work at 7:45 AM.

I finally had time after school while the banks were still open, to take in my first snowflakes. They came in from the lottery scratchers I got over Christmas. I had a decent set. Not a $10 000 set, but I will take the $62 I won, and appreciate them  I put the toonie in my money jar, and put the $60 towards my first 'snowflake' goal, which is my Back to School Jar. That jar balance is now at $230.

I am trying something different and seeing if the cash snowflakes can take care of that planned spending goal, before it becomes to my next target on the budget. (First Target is Summer 2016).

January mini goals

I see a lot of  you have great success breaking down your goals by month, so I thought I'd give that a whirl this year. Anything to keep up motivation and momentum!


So here are my January mini goals:

• Snowflake - $100. Either from change or skimming off leftover weekly jar money. This money I will put towards my Back to School goal of $500
• track my WW
• Lose 3 lbs
• Treadmill 6 out of 7 days per week
• Read 1 fiction and 1 non fiction book
• Do one outside the box thing this month

$21 week challenge

Ok with the costs for DS2's vehicle and the extra international long distance we've accrued this seemed like a good week to try this challenge that I see all kinds of folk trying.

I saw the idea on NDChic's Cents, who saw it on Finally Acting our Wage.

I usually allocate $180 a week (Canadian, for those lucky folk in cheaper grocery land) and this is for groceries as well as household things like shampoo, conditioner, household supplies, prescriptions etc.

If I can keep this week at the $21 limit then that gives me $159 to put towards those nagging debts.  What a sweet little snowflake.

Not really any rules: just keeping track.

I started it on Sunday, with Thanksgiving at mama's. Monday was leftovers and it was just me.

So I thought I'd give it a shot. My week will be up Saturday night....which is the end of my weekly 'allowance' for jar money.

What might I need? milk, bread, Toilet paper.   I have another volley ball tourney this weekend so I will have to think and plan.

I snack far too often and those cost....and I always drink chug milk with it so I can go through milk quick. time to focus on water, which is free. or Wine which is not, but I have some.

What have I done to motivate myself? I am cooking up some dobbles of ground beef that were in the freezer for sloppy joes for Wednesdsay. We have buns from my mom's. I also am baking a spaghetti squash, which will give me something to nosh on for my lunch at school that is filling.

Here we go!