Equalized, part deux

I wanted to thank everyone for their input on my last post regarding equalized payments. It is so important to hear from voices who have gone through this before and love it or do not, and why.

I debated long and hard about what path to take. If it were me personally paying this bill I would go with setting a monthly budget for the bill, calling in the actual readings, and setting aside any credits, to dip into during the heavier months. I know I could 'not touch' that set aside money to keep for later.

DH, however, would not do that. Any extra money would disappear and then the heavier months would be a surprise and he'd be short cash.

With his blessing and surprising approval, I have put both natural gas and electricity on equalized payments with July being our annual balancing month. To further this, my plan is to attempt to call in actual readings to both on the 15th of each month. The electricity one should be interesting in the deep of winter when I can barely get into our back yard, but I shall try. This will give us truly accurate month to month bills and we will know if we are ahead or behind the game.

As DH said, "I often hold my breath when I open that bill, scared of what the amount is going to be inside." That's a whole lotta stress.

So those are now set up. I am still amused/offended each time I call there and I have to practically give my DNA to get access to the account. Both our names are on it but originally, when we bought the house, DH was the one who went in to set up the account and is listed as the primary. He can phone in and doesn't have to answer any skill testing questions about who he is, but I have to answer about 5, every single time.

A male friend of mine said they had the same problem. The companies suggested that she (the wife) set up a verbal password when she called in. Her husband needed no password, but she did. He grabbed the phone from her and said her password would be 'bullshit'.  The startled agent asked why they would choose that. He  replied that it was bullshit that he didn't have to give ID and a password and she did when it was set up in both their names.  The agent laughed, apologized for the rules she has to follow and to this day, their password is bullshit.

Next, I am off to explore whether the town has equalized payments for the water/sewer bill.

And then, another call to Workman's Comp. It is now day 51 of them saying that  we are just caught up in a computer glitch from them switching computer systems.

Again, thank you everyone for your comments. They all really helped and made me think.

Where the money stands

as of August 7th

Debts

Mortgage - $23 651.93LOC - $0

Total Debt - $23 651.93

Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $5000
RESP - $18 100
RRSP - $8000 
DS2's trip -$1180
Plates 2014 - $1200
College Savings - $3050  ($2650ish)

Ok so first...wow that was a long month. It feels like forever ago that I put up the July numbers. Since then I have paid off the remaining bits of LOC for DS2's car.

I paid $1000 on DS2's trip, so I have a bit less of a balance there.

The College savings...I have morphed into a US$ account here in Canada. $3000 Canadian got me just a bit over $2650 US

I am not sure how or if I will be logging on here the College stuff. It will be a number very much in flux. I have to think on that.

Equalized payments...thoughts?

So after the massive Natural Gas bill last month, it is clear something needs to be done. Surpise high bills are not fun.

Here are the options I have come up with:
1) Calling in an actual reading each month. Usually there are four actual readings each year, and the rest are estimates.  For some reason, the actuals DH called in for January and April did not get into the system. He spoke to a person, not a machine and gave the numbers, but they never made it in. That contributed to the scary bill. The company has no explanation for why the numbers never got in the system.  So I could call in each month on the 17th and each bill would become an actual bill. This would eliminate surprises  every three months. The amount owing would always be different though as we would use a different amount each month. So each month would be a mini surprise.

2) Setting up equalized payments. When I talked to a rep this morning, we could start equalized payments immediately. Based on our yearly use, they suggested $75 which does not seem out of line with my spreadsheet. At the end of a year, if it was too low a payment, they would increase our monthly equalized. If it was too high...decrease. There would not a balloon payment at the end of the year if they estimate was way off.

I honestly am leaning towards equalized. It is a set amount each month and would force encourage DH to budget and make it ever so much easier. On the months the gas is low, say $35, he doesn't 'save' anything for the months he KNOWS are going to be higher. We have six months of winter here usually. Then those winter bills come and he is suddenly surprised, and doesn't have all the extra cash to pay it and struggles and stresses.

Anyone have experience with equalized and want to weigh in on my options here?

Up goes the vehicle insurance

My vehicle insurance starts a new cycle at the end of each July. I was watching for the letter in the mail and it arrived on July 30. That is really annoying given that the 30th is my renewal date. It usually comes a week or so earlier as the reminder.

I was dismayed to see, that like everything else, this bill has gone up. It was previously just under $94 a month and now it has gone up to just under $100 a month. A $6 monthly increase or $72 for the year. This is the basic policy required by all registered vehicles in SK. This doesn't include the extended package policy I get that has more comprehensive coverage and a smaller deductible.

Looking back to my 2012 entry, it jacked up almost $10 a month then.

I will have a lot of rejigging to do on the budget once I get DS down to college and I figure out the actual numbers for my monthly budget. It is causing me anticipatory stress to be sure.

August long

With the way the $ things are going I had wondered if we were going to be able to go on our annual August long family camping trip.  Not being able to spend time with the family would have been a big loss. The cabin was prepaid. The groceries were pretty much already bought. It really was a matter of just the gas getting there, so we pulled from here and there to make it happen..

I am glad we did. We have been doing this trip for a long while. I found it interesting to read my past entries for August long to see how our family has grown since then. Many of the nieces and nephews have a significant other now, and there are 5 little ones, with a surprise announcement that my niece is expecting twins in January.

32 of 34 of us were there for this August long.

DS2 had one of the little ones in awe because he is an expert in wood chopping and fire building. The little guy just sat on a chair and watched, then ran with the chopped  logs to the pile.

This was the first time our little family brought an extra. DS1 brought his girlfriend to meet the family. She had met a few of them before, but there were a lot of new faces for her. The little ones loved her. One of the nephews attached himself to DS1 and one of the nieces attached herself to his gf. It was amusing to watch them wander about with kids in tow most of the time. Good birth control :-)  She did very well and got to meet the cousins who are in the city at the same University she is going to.

It was a wonderful time of fresh air and sunshine, loons calling and waves moving against the shore, and campfires. The kids had a great time on their uncles' pontoon boats and hanging out together. We ate too much and had a great time playing Kaiser.

The more our family grows, the more I realize how challenging it is to get that many of us together, and I realize how lucky we are to have my parents still with us.

I am grateful for my sisters and their lake toys, which give my kids a chance to play. 

We will freezer and pantry eat this week and syphon the camping gas $ from this week's groceries.

Now onto the pile of campfire scented laundry.