Sunday Night Chit Chat

Thanks again to Carla, our sunday night muse.

What am I....

Reading?
I finished Life A la Mode  by Linda Lenhoff last night. It was.........................meh. I felt like it never really got going.

Today I started reading Invisible Lives, by Anjali Banerjee. The main character is an Indian woman, living with her mother in Seattle, struggling between her culture and tradition, and a love interest who is not from her culture.

Watching?
An NCIS rerun. I love me my NCIS!!

Listening to?
 A wee bit of Etta James today.

Cooking/Baking?

I made a roast chicken for supper with mashed potatoes and gravy etc. The chicken parts are now simmering in a pot to get ready for home made chicken noodle soup. It's one of my favourites!!

Happy you accomplished this week?
I used my time well this week. I went twice to the school in the evenings. DS2 had Hunter Safety and I forced myself  to go to the school for two hours of work each night. I got to tidy and photocopy and prep. It was good use of my time. Hopefully I can do the same again this week.

Looking forward to next week?
Well I am not sure if I am looking forward to it but I have to go into the city for my initial visit with the gastro intenstinal specialist. Will be interesting to see what she has to say. Guess one of those two nights at the school will be used to prep for the sub while I am gone.

Thankful for today?
Beautiful weather.  Sunshine. A calm and mostly positive attitude.

The Beautifulness of Friday

Fridays are great. Or whatever day your off days come into play. Today though, it just feels REALLY good for it to be Friday. Not one of those 'lord what a week...I am so exhausted I don't know if I can make it to the end of the day". A more bright one. I must have gleefully said "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee It's Friday" to my son about 10 times on the way home from school.

I have no special plans. I haven't a massive list of things to do that I am anxious to get at. It just feels good to have a Friday.

Here are some reasons why I am so thankful today.

• it's +3C. so bright and sunny. fresh and soft and melty. It just can't help but put you in a good mood
• I didn't spend money today. Or yesterday
• I have 2 whole days to clean and tidy and do laundry and feel 'ahead'. It's starting TONIGHT. why waste hours? my house needs it
• we're going to go to my sister's tomorrow and I will see all the kitties (who are now cats) I haven't been out there since October and it will be good to see them all. Cats bring limitless joy to me. Multiple cats = multiple joygasms
• My supper is already cooking. I love having the menu picked up. Just takes that whole 'mannnn what are we going to eat' negative vibe out of the picture. Remind me of this when I fall off the menu wagon, please
• My niece got engaged last night. Another family wedding!!
• My sister received her date for her liberation surgery for MS. She goes at the end of this month to California. BEYOND excited about this. I so hope it works for her.
• I used my time well for school this week and went 2 nights to my class to work instead of crashing on the couch.
• I am watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and CRAVING different food. I need to try new recipes!!
• I got my appointment with  a gastrointestinal specialist for next week. Just a consult, but a start.
• I have 2 new magazines to read that I paid for with airmiles, not cash
• I stopped at the library and have lovely free books to read this weekend.

Hope you are having a great Friday!!!

Which one did she choose?

She choose...

Focus on Paying off the Vehicle Loan!

As it stands, this loan is at $5500ish dollars. A regularly scheduled payment comes out on February 6th, which will put me around $4850 ish remaining.

My plan is to put all extra money (snowflakes) as well as all my savings target $ towards this from now until Mid May. I may not wipe this debt out by then, but my hope is that I will make some serious damage to it.

Wheeeeeee damage.

Why Mid May??? Well, the $800 Plates goal and the $1500 are due in Mid and End July so I need to leave myself some leeway to meet these goals. That will give me the money from my May and June paycheques to put towards those bills.

How will I meet this goal? excellent question.

Before payday last week, I owed about $6600. My statement came and along with the balance said I had 11 regular payments left plus a final payment of $400something . That would have put me at being finished January 5th of 2013 were I to proceed with just regular payments.

So let's work backwards here. Last week I paid extra $. That killed off 'final payment $400 something' as well as payment #11. My regular payment comes out Feb 5 so that would kill off payment #10, leaving me with 8 regular payments and most of payment 9.

Already that moved me to being done November 5th if I did nothing extra.

I want to do extra.

Honestly, I wanted to be done this loan Dec of 2011. I played out a bunch of different scenarios and I honestly feel if I had applied myself better last year, it might have been achievable. Then again things came up like the Europe trip and DS1's trip to WHL camp.

but honestly, I could have made some inroads. I only made a few extra payments last year. I could have done better.

So my hope is to finish it before July 5th, 2012. If I can. If I can't then I will be very close.

Barring unforseen events happening (or me changing my mind :-), here is what I will do:

a) Regular payments on the 5th of each month, whose interest amount is going down each month

b) I have at least $600 each month that was going to savings, that I will redirect towards the debt

c) I will snowflake my *ss off, syphoning off my other budget lines and putting that towards my loan.

d) All loose change each month will go towards this loan too.

e) My income tax return will go against this loan (unless we use both my return and hubby's to take care of the basement window replacement that is BADLY needed. Windows are cracked or broke, casings are rotted etc.)

So there you have it. My plan. (cue Phoebe's evil laugh above)

Next Goal

I've been ruminating over where to go next for my goals. In the  nights were the meds don't let me sleep, I go over different scenarios in my mind to see what is achievable and which one speaks to me the most. I am pleased I was able to get two goals out of the way during January. I know my goals are ambitious and I know they are not all achievable without some serious money management, huge self control and a whole bunch of fingers and toes crossed that nothing goes wrong.

My next savings goal would be to save, along with my son, for his vehicle plates (insurance) due the middle of July. That amount is $800 on my part, $300 on his. He is only able to work one night a week right now so there is only so much earning money in the pot. It gnaws at my stomach that I need to make sure I save enough for this.

Or I could choose to get the $1500 for Back to School. With school fees, staff fees, a few new clothes for ever growing boys, a few things for the classroom, school supplies, replacement hockey gear and such, it adds up quickly. Having that money in place is a huge relief off my mind. I'd need that money by the end of July. It's not like this needed money is a surprise....I know the bills are inevitable.

OR I could focus on that pesky LOC I didn't want to use but used. I dislike owing money. I dislike paying interest each month. It would be  great to be able to say "I have access to a $15000 LOC but Zippity Doo Dah Owing.

OR, I could focus on my Vehicle Loan. It's within sight to be done this calendar year if I just run the course naturally with monthly payments. But stepping things up and redirecting 'savings' money to that could finish it off much sooner and wouldn't that be nice?

Or I could save for a trip. Take the boys. Go somewhere. LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH with them before they are gone. I want (need) time away. somewhere. anywhere. Doesn't have to be fancy. I am not a fancy person.

So as they say on House Hunters........................................... so which one did she choose?

stay tuned til tomorrow to find out :-)

January wrap up

January is traditionally a long month. It's cold. It's dark when I go to work. It is dark when I head home. It is a long way from December Christmas expenses to the end of January when I get paid.

It's also a bright month. It's a new year. A fresh calendar. New optimisim. New energy.

I looked back on my previous January blogs and they all share that energy. It never used to be that way to be honest, and I am grateful for the changes within me.

I had a good month moneywise. I snowflaked over $300. I menu planned. I watched where I drove and how much.  I didn't go clothes shopping or buy anything for the house or my classroom.  My week at honme saved me money on gas. Trust me, during the coldest week of the winter, it was a lot. All that warming the vehicle up when it's 40 below burns gas like crazy. The week the boys had finals I didn't have to worry about buying things for their lunch. They came home between exams. It all adds up.

I met two of my big goals this month (of the many goals on the list). I have the  spending $ saved up for DS's trip at Easter. I also have my summer 2012 money set aside and ready to go.

I also did well paying down $ on my vehicle loan.

It was important that I capitalized on the energy of January. There is never any guarantee it will last. Energy fades. Things pop up. Only takes one big kink in the wheel before it has the potential to fall off the bus.

I have updated information on my Goals 2012 page if you want to see that.

January, I appreciate how well we worked together!!!