Fort Mac

This is one of the most haunting photos I have seen of the hundreds posted online. I do not know who to give credit to as original source.

We are several hours from Fort Mac, but everyone I talk to has some connection with the city being devoured by flames right now.  Family living there. Friends working (or used to) and the camps north of the city.

The father of one of my students lives there. His house is gone.

We share stories in class or the staff room about developments we have read about and see the evac from so many different points of view.

People help in the ways that are meaningful to them. 

I read online yesterday of a list of places in Edmonton offering their help and it made me think of ways to help that I hadn't thought of before. There were the usual much needed offerings like food, shelter, water, and clothes. But I saw things like a pharmacy offering to fill prescriptions for families. Or optometrists offering glasses and contacts. Rec centers offering free admission to pools and gym and play centers. Pet stores offering food and toys.  Computer stores setting up stations in the larger shelters with free wifi.  Landlords offering houses and condos to stay in. 

So many ways people are helping.

Yesterday we had our first refuge come and register at our school. 

Word spread quickly and I heard students talking in the hall.

"I texted my mom. She said we can take him shopping for some clothes."

"I wonder if he longboards? I just got a new one and he can have my old one"

"I hope he gets put in my class. It sounds like the place he is staying is a couple blocks from me. He could use a friend"

A girl from one of the communities near ours has started a facebook page and is gathering grad dresses for the displaced class of 2016.

We had a BBQ  at work with all proceeds going to the Red Cross.

The disaster is far from being over. I can't even begin to imagine what all those people and first responders are feeling.

AWOL

It all started with report cards...that magical mystical time where I disappear to the school for hours marking things, most of which I had to beg to get handed in.  Then we had 2 nights of parent teacher interviews. Then I turtled for a whole weekend, exhausted and slept and slept with small doses of Netflix.

In the meantime.... my VISA was hacked.  I had been about to log in to check the balance. DH had taken my vehicle in to the shop for some very expensive repairs that had something to do with the spark plug kit and all it's wires. Honestly, my SUV had heard that my tax refund was in and thought it would spend a little of it. But I digress.... So I am about to log in when the house phone rings. It is one of those robot calls along the lines of "This is VISA's security department". I hung up before they finished. I get one of those a week from 'BMO'.

I log in and my balance is exactly what it should be. It isn't until I expand the details when I see that there is an interesting charge for $1.79 US at some service station in Barlow, Ohio. The change was made and then immediately voided. A test charge.

Well I'll be darned, that might have been an actual call from VISA. I phone and go through all the motions of getting the card cancelled. I had two charges that had been put on it and I wanted to be sure they would go through if I cancelled it.  I had also prepaid the vehicle repairs on it and wanted to be sure that payment would go through. They assured me they would.  That was on the 25th. I am still waiting for my new VISA to come. I assume that when it does and I activate it, I will see all those things go through when I check in online.

I use this VISA for very few things. The same things each month, pretty much. Netflix. WW when I was on it. Amazon if I shop there. The shop where I got my repairs done (not each month but a trusted source) They all get immediately paid off. It makes me wonder at what point it was compromised, if they were all known places.

I had to explain to my  husband what a test charge was. He thought that since it was refunded at the vendor that my card wasn't really hacked.

Where the money stands

as of April 4th

Debt
Mortgage - $17 575.37
College LOC - $12 694.91

Total Debt - $30 270.28



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $7100
RESP - $5 533
RRSP - $10 946
Summer 2016 - $1000
Back to School - $500
RRSP 2016 - $1000
XMAS 2016 - $60
TSFA 2016 - $506 (through snowflakes)

I pulled another $5000 out of the dwindling RESPs. Thus far I had taken 5 for DS1 back in January of 2015. I took a second 5 this past fall for DS2

This time is was DS1's turn again. He has spring session coming up and none of that is covered under his scholarship. That $5000 turned into $3800 US.

Ouch!

On the bright note, the college LOC is down a bit, and I met the $1000 goal thus far for RRSP.

Talk with kids about money

Hey there bloggy readers....our school is having a 'talk with our kids about  money' day coming up soon. Each of our class periods that day need to have a money theme. This is for middle school students.

Are there any things out there that you think should be included on a day like this?

Thanks
Jolie

Thank you Gail!

I was trying to write a post that sums up all the wonderful things that Gail Vaz Oxlade taught me, as a private little 'thank you' on her last day of blogging. I know everyone has their own financial guru, and much of what she said made her mine.  Everytime I started, it felt like I had said it before. So I wandered through my archives and found one that I wrote on my first blogaversary.  So much of what I said, I learned through her.

You can read the whole blog entry HERE but below I have pasted my favourite parts. (and yes, I still have a lot to learn)

(July 4, 2009)

What I have learned:

• Budgets are not set in stone. You really have to tinker with and live with the budget to see how it works for me, and what parts don't. I think that was my trouble before. It would never balance so I'd just give up. When you first start, you may have forgotten an item or two, such as a once a year membership like Costco or CAA (AAA). You learn that some months take more money in certain categories than others and you have to learn how to deal with that. I have changed mine about three times in the past year and while it is far from perfect, for now, it is working.
  
• You have to become educated on money. I don't care if the reading is online or books, through classes or information at the bank. If we were all born knowing this information naturally, there would be no financial difficulties. Learn. Ask questions. Experiment. Ask more questions.

• Find a documentation system that works for you. I tried the spreadsheet. Oh lord how I tried. It just doesn't fit what 'works' for me right now. I haven't tried software like Quicken. I tried writing every single thing down. I love lists so this should have been a no brainer, but it was a disaster for me. It was too much detail and probably the reason past attempts failed miserably. I use a basic spreadsheet for how much goes into each category, but the rest is pen and paper. Right now, it just works.

• Find a distribution method that works for you. Some do it all online. Some use CC exclusively. At the beginning I tried a couple different ways but honestly it wasn't until I started using Money Jars (a la Gail Vaz-Oxlade) at the end of December, that things really clicked into place for me. It was as though the heavens opened up and I heard my own personal chorus of Hallelujah. Bright lights and all *grins*

• Set up your accounts to make it as easy for you as possible. Whether it is several actual accounts or online accounts that allow you to subcategory, or maybe you just subcategory in your head and it all goes into one 'savings'. I have two chequing and two savings; one set of each at two different banks. One is my primary one and the other I use for the special savings and the money I use for the boys' activities. In both savings accounts I have 'mental' subcategories.

• Be organized! When I started using the jars, I learned that if I didn't have that money ready to go at the start of that week, things got all........floofy, and I lost track of where things went. I also spent more. For me, I just have to have all my ducks in a row or it all falls to hell in a handbasket. Whether you're using jars or envelopes, or transferring money here and there, know what you're doing and when to keep things moving.

• Be organized paperwise. Ok I am still learning this. I was terrible at keeping track of my bills and statements; paperwork in general. I had no clue where my previous CC statements were, loan documents, utilities etc. I did a good job of keeping my pay stubs so woo hoo score 1 for me LOL I got myself a lovely organizer box and some pretty file folders and made categories, labelled lovingly. Some organize by month. I go by category. It's so nice to be able to go back and say 'hmmmm how much WAS my electric bill last June because this seems so high' and actually be able to find the bill. I still get behind in filing them into the box but that is more a product of being insanely busy and not taking a few minutes of down time to use it.

• Bounce back when you have a bad month. They happen. I call it "June". LOL Life isn't going to sail smoothly so learn from mistakes and make changes for the better.

• Little things add up. Since I started using jars, holy wow the snowflakes can add up. Change, recycled bottles, bits of money leftover from the jars. It is absolutely amazing how that can add up. I am still floored by it.

• Make it fun for you. Do whatever makes you enjoy the experience more. Whether it is pretty ledgers, labels and folders, or a fun blog, or a software program that makes you go 'oooo', make it fun so you will stick with it.

• Fewer, smaller targets make ME more successful. Everyone has different comfort levels for this. I tried several targets and it just felt like I was never getting anywhere. So the extra money I have and any snowflakes I get, all go to one. I've changed targets midplan because it wasn't working and thus far I think I've made the right decisions. It has to be what works for you.

• Don't get too attached to the blogs you read. I have seen so many PFs go poof in the past year. Some are announced. Some just disappear. I guess everyone has their own reasons. The first one I read was Twiggers and then she just poofed. I often think of her and wonder how her world is.