Reflections on 2019 money

To be honest, the intensive focus on debt reduction was much less for me in 2019. Just too many other things going on.  I probably could have done a lot better at attacking this if all this with dad and the new house hadn't been a part of the year. But it was and so I take it at what it is.... small progress.


Here is a peek at the past years' numbers that now, are just the mortgage:

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)
December 2018 - $6969.94 (down $4085.94)

The two debts, including the College LOC past were:

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 


Debt 2018 

Mortgage - $6969.94

College LOC - $14 700

Total Debt - $21 669.94

Debt 2019
Mortgage - $2756.00
College LOC - $6800.00

Total Debt - $9 556.00

My goal last year was to get the LOC down to between $7000 and 8000 so I consider that a win.

The mortgage should be paid off in 2020. I will have to remind my husband that we need to set aside $ for property tax as it has been included in the mortgage payment.

There is no mortgage on the new house. So if we end up selling the old house that money can be used to wipe out all debt and put money towards our retirement.


I don't want to get too happy about things as Murphy tends to hear those sorts of thoughts and starts his own plan.

A year of change

While my blogging has taken a hit this year, I did keep up with my change. I think it was a normalizing constant.

The banks are getting pickier about the prerolled $ though. Often they open up the roll of toonies and loonies as apparently people try to 'steal' by putting quarters in here and there. I don't care if they open it up. They also are pushing their money counting machine, which is all well and good. It is the actual gathering and rolling, though, that is the familiar appeal to me.

As I went through my blog to see when I had recorded it, I was surprised by how few entries I had. I feel like I deposited more than I actually have in the blog.



February - $100
June - $100
August - $100
September - $200
December - $100

For a total of $600

I could have left it alone, but I wanted to know if I only did it that often or if I had just neglected to write about it. The account I put it in has only a few movements each month so it would be easy to track.

I found 
January $100
April - $100

so I guess that brings the total to $800

I definitely need to keep better track, for my own mind

Here are my previous years' change amounts:



2012 -$549.50
2013 - $980
2014 - $512
2015 - $642
2016 - $825
2017 - $970
2018 - $840

I will continue to gather my change. I always put the first $500 towards back to school and the rest towards my TFSA.

Christmas

A quiet Christmas and I think that was ok. There were a lot of emotions to process.

Christmas eve it was just the two of us here at home. We put the Christmas tree downstairs and lit a fire in the fireplace (definitely a novelty) and watched a movie.

This morning instead of kids waking us up it was the cats, who were waiting for their breakfast.

It has snowed throughout the night and looked pretty with that new blanket covering everything. DH went and shoveled our driveway and the two neighbours (who were my neighbours growing up) then went back to the old house and shoveled there and our driveway neighbor.

He came home and we went downstairs to do our one gift exchange. Even better was watching the boys (the cats) open their first Christmas presents ever. It made me smile.

DH got me a new kitchen aide mixer, as both mine and my mom's were old generic ones who were tired from years of cookie making.

We had brunch here, just like we have had many times over the years, except that it was just the two of us. Good news though, the new smoke detector works and is ridiculously sensitive. Ahhh bacon.


We went to DH's sister's house for an early Christmas supper. Very quiet over there too. Just the two of them and my brother in law's brother from Calgary. It always bothered me how they just....sat for Christmas, even when the kids were young. Our family Christmas's were always busy doing things together. Her cats saved me though.

I did a quick stop at my oldest sister's house and visited with her grandkids for about 30 minutes and then headed home.

DH and I are curled up again downstairs to watch a movie. So very different from every Christmas we have spent.

Surfacing

I am writing to you from our new house - my childhood house.

Not gonna lie. It was a tough fall.

Going straight from dad's passing to the funeral to will issues to work to a severe case of tendonitis to hubby's torn ligaments to 5 weeks and 2 rounds of pneumonia for me - all the while trying to clean and paint and steam clean carpets at the new house....it's taken its toll.

I am still fighting depression. Still sick and coughing and weak. Money has gotten a bit out of hand.

I am appreciating this couple weeks of downtime to just breathe.

Half the new house is still unpacked and sorted. Most of our stuff is still at the old house where DS2 is holding down the fort.

I finished work Friday last week and came home and just sat. Sure there's lots to do but the hump and grind of the past 2 and a half years has eased and it was super odd to just...have...time.

I didn't quite know what to do with myself.

So for those of you still peeking to see if I am alive, thank you.

I am trying to get back to normal. or new normal. 

Where the money stands

wow I just realized I haven't done one of these since July. This life change has definitely affected me in more ways than I can count.

Debt

Mortgage - $3 461.92

College LOC - $9 000.00

Total Debt - $12 461.92

Planned Savings

TFSA - $9400

RRSP - $14 262

TFSA 2019 - $600

Back to School - $200 (used $300

Summer 2019 - $300

Christmas 2019 - $500

The mortgage will be done in a few months and by then we will be out of the house and probably know if we are keeping it  for the short term future or preparing to sell. If we keep it then we have to start saving monthly for the property tax, which we've never had to pay before as they were included in the mortgage.

The college line of credit is now below 10 000 so that is good. Hopefully there are no murphy events and I can work to eliminate this in the next 18 months