Looking forward to 2009

As I mentioned previously, 2008 was a upgrading year in my world...home...body...mind. It was quasi successful. The most successful part was the upgrades at the home. I thought long and hard about what goals I wanted for 2009. I wanted them to be realistic and accomplishable. I wanted them to be enough of a push for me to grow and change. If they were things I'd accomplish already, then it is not so much a goal list as a to do list.

These are not completely financial related, but part of a whole to bettering my world and myself.

• Eliminate credit card debt and work the budget appropriately so I can use them, but NOT carry a balance.
  I do want to be able to use my Mastercard for my everyday purchses so that I can get the reward airmiles with it and perhaps GO somewhere with them. Assuming no surprises, the debt I aquired before Christmas should be paid in full by April 25th paycheck. I would like to see this paid off earlier and will throw all of my new snowflakes at it, to help along the way.

• Pay off the rest of my Bank of Mom loan.
  She bought a ton of things for us while we were doing renos and while she doesn't really care if I pay her back at all, I need to do this as part of my 'it's time to be as grownup' philosophy. If the Mastercard is paid off by end of April, the B o M loan will be paid off by end of May. woo hoo

• Increase Emergency Fund to $1500

I did well creating my first Efund starting in July and getting it to $1000 goal by Christmas. It's small, but a start. As soon as I get my Mastercard and my Bank of Mom loan paid off, I will redo my budget to allow for some to go to the Efund and the rest of the snowball to go towards my personal loan.

• Fully Fund $1000 Christmas 2009

I am excited about this goal. I've never had a savings account for Christmas before. Barring unforseen events, this fund will get $100 a month and be fully funded by end of October.

• Use the money jars faithfully for January, February and March

After this, I want to re-evaluate how this is working, practicality etc.

• Go to the gym 3 x a week

I am paying just under $50 a month for membership anyways and I KNOW how beneficial this is for me, mind, body and spirit, so this is a Must.

• Get back on Weight Watchers.

Face it, the program works when you DO the program.

• Get off the computer and spend more time with my children, my friends and taking care of myself and my home.

I 'think' that is it, in a nutshell.

Reflections on 2008

I am definitely one for reflection and sentimentality, particularly at the end of a year. 2008 was an interesting year for me...nothing monumental, but interesting nevertheless.

• I signed up for WW and did VERY well for half the year, then gained it all back the rest because I did not STICK WITH IT.
• I signed up for a circuit gym and was incredibly faithful for half a year, then let excuses pile up and not going often at all.
• Husband's debt load increased as he bought a 'new to him' truck and had a vehicle loan for about $20,000. Thanks to his father's gift, that truck was paid off in full yesterday. If not for the gift, husband would have been paying on that for something like 50 plus months.
• Husband's misuse of VISA once again brought him up over $4000 balance but that was cleared yesterday thanks to his father's gift. It will be interesting to see if he handles his 'extra' money now each month, now that he is debt free on that level. I doubt it. sad hey?
• I manged to get my first emergency fund set up. $1000 baby. Let's hope I don't have to use it and can build it up instead.
• I put a lot...a LOT on mr credit card this year. We did a huge amount of renos this year inside the house.

It was not a matter of 'hmm I don't like this carpet anymore'...or...'that paint colour is soooo passee'. It was more a matter of "the bathroom is literally falling apart and there is mold", "the carpet is worn beyond all help' etc. We ended up gutting the full bath, repairing the structure and putting in new walls, tub/shower, tub surround, vanity, toilet, ceramic tiles on floor etc. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate this bathroom.

We also gutted and redid the downstairs half bath. Same condition as the upstairs one. It's nice that the boys aren't embarrassed when their friends come over and have to go. The living room needed one wall replaced, we tore out the carpet and replaced it with laminate flooring and I bought the first new furniture we've had in 17 years.

The costs definitely added up. Part of it is the bank of mom loan. The rest went on my mastercard. A bit of that was paid off with my tax return. The hefty balance quickly was turned into a consolidation loan to clear off the Mastercard. The loan was combined with a pre-existing loan.

Beyond that, there were no fancy trips this year. There were no fancy gifts (at least for the adults).

Starting the blog in July was a good move for me. Reading OTHER blogs, was an even better move. I have gained so much information from other blogs; great ideas; other viewpoints on things.

2008 was a self, home and financial reno year.

2009 will be the year to finish things off and learn how to be ME.

The waning days of Christmas

Today begins settling things back into 'normal'. The tree will come down today, the decorations will be packed up and the furniture rearranged. Gifts will be put away instead of nestled under the tree. We have a very small house and I am trying to teach the boys that tidy = their mother's sanity.

The boys are very happy with their new Ipod nanos and have learned how to move music into itunes and onto their ipods. My younger one is ecstatic about his new fish tank and yesterday we picked up his three cold water fish and brought them home. The cats are very excited about the fish. The female mostly just likes watching them but the big orange tom has been caught on the top of the tank cover. I guess we will have to close his bedroom door while we are away or we'll come home to a wet, but full cat.

I got a lovely fuzzy blanket from my mom and dad...perfect to curl up with on these freezing winter days. I also got some much needed knives and glasses for the kitchen. Overall, I have become a huge fan of 'practical gifts rule'. I have little space to work with and I have zero room for knicknacks and things which take up space and need dusting.

I am a big fan of 'one in, one out'. When the boys get new clothes, we go through their drawers and closets and pack up things which are too small. We managed to get rid of many things in a spring garage sale and we will do the same thing again this coming spring. I almost feel like, the more extraneous things I can get rid of, the better. It will be interesting to see how long this phase lasts. Right now, eliminating clutter seems to be a huge psychological endorphin, and it also eases the cleaning burden.

I can tell, though, that the boys are getting older. This was the first year they did not put out the cookies and milk plate for Santa. This was the first year no shopping was done in the toy section of the stores, not counting the electronic toy section. They are definitely getting older. It's hard for mom to let go that way.

There is lovely snow falling this morning so I'm off to curl up with a cup of coffee and relax before the repacking of the day begins.

Jars locked and loaded

So on December 24th, after doing math about five times to be sure I had it right, I headed to the bank to withdraw 2 weeks worth of my jars' money. I spent some time yesterday getting the jars loaded and labelled. I was glad I had sat down to figure out how many 20s, how many 10s and how many 5s, so that I would have the right denominations for each jar.

• I admit I felt odd taking out that much money at once and seeing my account go zoooooooom down.
• I put one week of money in the jars and tucked the second week for all in an envelope.
• I also had to determine what I would call 'weeks' as only February is a true 4 x 7 month, so I set up dates of when each week started and stopped. That eliminates those grey days that don't quite fit into a perfect month.
• I will have to decide how to transport this when I want to go shopping, get gas etc so that I have it ready to go, but not ready to spend toooo easily.
• I have to decide where the leftover money each week/each month will go for each jar, knowing that some weeks/months are lighter and some are heavier.

I have more thinking to do on this. It is a work in progress, but I think it will be a fun and informative adventure.

My Christmas Expenditures

It's rather scary to pull all this together. It is necessary however, so I can better plan and better budget for next year. These really are guestimates so it is probably more. eep. I am pulling together receipts that I have to see how accurate I am so this will undoubtedly change.

Christmas wrapping, tags etc $15.00
Boys' teacher gifts $40
Gift exchange at work, student treat bags and contribution to class pot luck $100
Christmas mass offering $20
Christmas meal contribution $60
Gifts for spouse and boys and parents, including stockings $1400

Total: $1635

Too high? yup
Budgeted? nope
on Credit card? yup

do it this way again next year? Not a hope!!!

reality check....

• 1.5 x my mini emergency fund
• equal to about 3 of my personal loan payments

Some interesting Christmas news

My husband received interesting news for Christmas this year. His dad, who is elderly, sold his house in early summer to move into a senior's duplex facility. He has decided to divide the money into three between his children and he gifted it to them yesterday.

It is a hefty chunk of cash, enough to clear of his truck loan, his overburdened VISA, set some away for retirement and then some.

I am happy for him. truly. The thing is, our finances have been separate for the whole journey, at my behest, as I was in university when we first got together, and I NEEDED to know that the money for tuition, rent etc was going to be there. My husband is very poor with money management (yes I am too, but he is truly worse).

Not a penny of this will change my budget for bills. I truly doubt he will chip in any more. We also are at a point where we may split...and this would give him the financial safety to do so, which he lacked before.

It will be interesting indeed to see how this all comes out in the wash. At the very least, I will be able to make a fun update on my progress for January 1 and it will be down to just the mortgage and my personal debt. I have to admit I'm more than a little nervous.

An exciting goal reached

Today I ventured out in the bitter bitter -40C cold for a variety of errands, one of which being, going to the bank where I have my emergency savings account.

I had a cheque to cash of money that someone owed me, along with a refund cheque for Christmas gifts I had ordered which were backordered. I did not care for the replacement items so I had a refund come.

Together, those two lovely cheques brought me to my $1000 goal for a mini emergency fund. I'm so excited. I only started this quest in July and I am so pleased I was able to reach this goal......hell reach ANY goal and stick with it.

I now need to decide how to arrange my budget for Dec 25th pay cheque and decide on my goals for 2009.

I've never had a savings account before like this and I am excited about what I've done. It's only a wee drop in the bucket of what I should have, but it's a great mini goal done and accomplished. woo hoo me!

potential plan

I have mulled this over a great deal the past few days and did the math and scratch work I seem to need to make decisions.

I believe I am going to experiment with the money jars for Jan, Feb and March. I have been doing my own version of that with my account and invisible envelopes for online banking but I seem to lose momentum and don't stay true and honest in the last 10 days or so per month.

With the jars, perhaps this will keep me on track and give me honest readings of how much I spend per category per month.

I plan to have one for groceries, one for spending, one for household, one for fuel/gas and one for dining out.

I seem to do alright in the other categories through my money shifting. Those are the five whose lines and details get blurry.

I'll have to figure out how much $ I need to get out of the bank on payday. I rarely can get to the bank so I believe I will withdraw money every two weeks, tucking only one week's worth in each jar and the rest in a do not touch envelope which I believe I will be relatively successful in not touching. The jars will make it feel more like a game to me.

Here's hoping I last the whole three months without 'something' coming along to throw me off.

Whirling busy

It's been an absolutely insane month. It was mostly personal issues...my son's injury..things happening at his school etc but it keeps one's head so swirly that you can't stop to focus on other things.

Yesterday was the last day of school until January and I am so excited to just have a chance to sit back and regroup and breathe. My house needs tackling. My kids' clothes need to be gone through as they have grown, again. We give the clothes that are too small to a family of 6 kids who lives near my sister and have precious little money and a whole mess of hardships. They enjoy doing it.

I also need to get my butt back to the gym. I haven't been at all this month, nor have I been on my treadmill at home and aside from the wasted dollars going out the windows, I feel like crap.

We traditionally get paid on the 25th but are paid early at Christmas..the last day of work. I was a smart girl for a change and moved that all straight to my savings account UNTIL the 25th so I don't spend any of next month's budget early. It would be an even longer and harder wait to January 25th if I did not. Now I just have to remember to move it back into the chequing then or else my loan payment will not be able to go through LOL . That would be so something I would do.

I need to sit down and figure out how much I've spent on Christmas this year so I can set a reasonable budget for it for next year. I will have a bit of CC debt for it but this will be the last time Christmas does that to me. Next year, money will be set aside.

Time to go curl up with a cup of coffee and plan out the day and jot down what I've spent so far.

Envelopes/Jar Question

Ok I am mulling over using envelopes or jars for groceries, household, spending money etc. I would withdraw the month's money when I get paid and allocate. I know to document and to keep the receipts in whichever system I use.

My question is.... do you carry them with you?? do you leave them at home?? Most of my groceries or household items get purchased while I am out and about, after work or running at lunch so going home to get the $ isn't really feasible.

What do others who use this system do??

So I've learned...

...that in the 2009 budget starting the first month, I need to create a budget category for Christmas. I just can't do it otherwise. If I could go back in time, I would change how I celebrate Christmas gift-wise so that I wouldn't have wasted so much money on crap and I would have already had my boys trained that a couple gifts is WONDERFUL

I love Christmas but I hate the present part

Truly I do love it, from the decorations to the festivities...the baking to the liturgical services...and the music....especially the music.

I really intensely dislike the gift part of it. I never know what to get people. I always put things off to the end. The things they like and the things they'd actually use are beyond my reach. The number of things I've bought the boys over the years that I thought they would love I've been way off the mark on.

And then there's dent it puts in my bank account..........or rather the DEBT it puts. I have never saved up to pay for Christmas. Just haven't had myself organized enough to. While I started this blog in July, I had some serious CC debt that needing wiping out and that had to be the priority.

So here I sit three weeks before Christmas and I don't have an account where I can shop from. Maybe that would make me enjoy the gift giving part more? I am not sure.

I know that there will be accumulated debt over this that I will then have to work like a dog to pay off. again.

With the start of a new year I can definitely start tucking money away toute suite, but that will be for next year.

I guess I just have to get through this one. Boy don't I sound merry to be around. I;m really not that bad! honest LOL

Emergency Funds

For the first time EVER I have an emergency fund started. My first goal is $1000 and I am almost there. It is a very strange feeling to know it is there should a true emergency come along.

After six months of reading personal finance blogs, I can see that this is one thing that PFers agree on. One is needed! Beyond that, the amount, the method of collecting it and when one should start one up varies like snowflakes.

I know that $1000 is just a teaspoonful of what I really should need but I keep saying "It's a start!! and more than I've ever done".

I found a great article over at Gail's website. Gail is the host of "Til debt do us part", which is a great show on SLICE TV (in Canada). You can see archived shows on there if you're interested.

I just started reading her blog and found a great one on Emergency Funds.

Missing my clothesline

Ok I just have to stop and vent for a moment.

I MISS my clothesline. I loved going out there in the sunny warmth of a summer afternoon and hanging my stuff on the line. It just had incredible psychological values for me.

Now winter is here and it's dark when I go to work and dark when I come home and, while we do not yet have bitter temps or snow on the ground (which is rare for us at almost December), hanging them is just not feasible.

I still hang the 100% cottons around downstairs to keep them from shrinking and to save some energy but it is not the same.

Ok rant over. back to school work.

Where the debt stands

As of November 1st

Mortgage - $43 912.59
My Consolidated Loan - $13 866.04
His VISA -$ 3118.98
His Truck Payment - $17 050.70
Bank of Mom - $1000.00
My Mastercard - $0

Total Debt $78 948.31

Well at least the MC was paid off and the number went down :-)

AWOL

It's been a month, for sure. I felt so guilty being away from here, and with the being away, undoubtedly comes the absence of accurate money accountability.

It was whirly.....away for hockey for an expensive four day weekend....then report cards...then getting monstrously sick with a cold....then parent teacher interviews....then my son was injured in hockey.

I need to get back on track here and what is more important, I WANT to. I am not sure how successful budget reduction will be but the accoutability of it is necessary.

I need to get my 'Debt as of Nov 1' on here and by mid next week I should have the invoices to do my as of Dec 1.

Sorry to any of those who came and saw it unchanged and that 'well there goes another blog into the dust'

Hope it was a great Thanksgiving for any US readers out there.

Happy Turn Back the Clock

These times changes certainly do affect us here in Saskatchewan, mostly because we are one of the places who stays the same time all year round.

What does that mean for us???

• our TV shows come on earlier now
• I have to stay up later to chat with friends West of me
• My computer clock, up until yesterday, every now and again would randomly reset my clock back an hour. When you set your clock on the computer there is CST, GMT, EST etc but no "just leave it as I set it all year round pretty please.

That's about it. LOL

Are you in a 'stay the way you are all year long' region???

Do you like it? or wish your state/province/region would just be a lemming and conform?

Anyhoo, off to hockey. Happy Day all.

Never been so excited to get gas!

We were driving home from school today and I glanced at the sign of the station where we always turn and did a BIG double whammy. It was reading 99.9 cents/Liter. It hasnt' been under a dollar in.........lordy a long time. In the summer it was mostly 1.199 and early in the fall it shot up to $1.499.

Naturally I wheeled in and was glad the tank was almost empty and we filled up. There are probably 20 stations in our smallish community and this is the only one this low, I discovered. Yeah for us.

Of course my almost 14 year old had to remind me how angry I'd been when it jumped from 79.9cents/L to the 90 cent range.

It was a good lesson in relativity for all of us.

Help

Just a shout out to any readers out there who are far more blog familiar than I am. I am wanting to add the lil bars on the side to show how far debt is paid off, as I see many of you do on your pages. What the heck is that tool called for blogger??? LOL

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Ch-ch-change

I spent a few minutes tonight happily rolling change. Not sure when I did last but it was in the summer. I haven't acquired much but every little bit helps. With the $41 I rolled, I am close to $100. I think when I get to $100 I shall drop it into my mini EF or else put it towards my bank of mom loan.

I can't wait until those are both done so I can put anything extra towards my personal loan.

I do love rolling change LOL

Must be the kid in me.

A beautiful sight

It is, truly, a beautiful sight, to see a Credit Card balance with that beautiful image "O Balance"

Now let's keep it that way and whatever goes on during the month, goes off by the end.

wheeeeeeeeee

Flowing like water out of a cracked dam

Thank goodness it is PayDay Friday and thank goodness I have a bit of extra cash coming my way due to being maxed out on some of the federal contributions. I need an extra $500 for the hockey team fees, I have a bit of Halloween Candy to buy and the fundraising exchange has begun so some money will go out there.

On the bright note, as mentioned yesterday, if there are no hidden surprises, the Mastercard will be paid off so I can focus on my other two big goals of the year:

• building the mini emergency fund of $1000
• working to pay off the Bank of Mom loan

The mini emergency is do-able before end of 2008 but with no money saved towards Christmas and extra hockey expenses due to away over night games and hotel/gas/food costs, it is doubtful I will have the Bank of Mom one paid off.

I need to redo my budget to allow more room, if possible for the potential hockey expenses each month. If it is not used then all of it, or the unused portion, can slide into the mini or BoM goals.

It's been an interesting ride to say the least.

Mastercard almost taken care of!

With payday fast approaching I am excited to see that the outstanding balance on the Mastercard will be Paid In Full this Friday!! I am so excited to get this back down to zero, where it was before July. I am glad I worked hard on this to get rid of the debt instead of carrying a balance on it, as I have in the past.

Hopefully nothing *knocks on wood* unexpected comes along that will force a debt that can't be repaid each month.

Yeah me!

with the activity comes ...the fundraiser

I haven't written lately as it's been crazy as per usual in October. School's in full swing, the boys' activities are going full strength and I am pooped.

I want my boys in activities... I do. They give them exercise..socialization...team building etc. I pay the fees they need to join, and I pay for the equipment. I believe in having them busy as I see, as a teacher, the results of children who are not busy with activities whether they be sports, music, dance, church or community.

The hardest part, I think, is the obligatory fundraising that goes with the activites. They take many forms: cookies, flowers, magazines, popcorn, chocolates, hams, turkeys, christmas trees, coupon books, bingos....the list goes on.

This basically becomes a trade between fellow parents....I'll buy a ham if you buy four boxes of chocolates. Non parents or your family members understand, to an extent...but others start to avoid you and I cant blame them lol

We have a small staff at work so we are very subtle about it. A message on the board, info on the coffee table and either people buy or not.

I feel for those who are in these activities and haven't anyone to trade purchases with. Buying all your own...feels onerous.

Where is twiggers?

Just wondering if anyone knows what happened to "In Debt because I like nice things" ? Her link says that the blog has been removed.

I'm sad as I enjoyed reading hers every day.

Anyone???

Where the Debt Stands - October

As of October 1st, 2008

Mortgage - $44 068.16
Consolidated Loan - $14 319.51
His VISA -$ 3190.62
His Truck Payment - $17 303.06
Bank of Mom - $1000.00
My Mastercard - $400.00

Total Debt $80 281.35


So while it is not yet below $80 000, it is down just over 3 thousand from last month. I have made progress on my MC but sadly the spouse has increased his VISA.

I keep hoping 'one day' things will pull together.

Irony and Costco

On Friday I had posted a comment on a great blog entry (whose addy I can't remember). The author had commented on how important it was not to forget the once a year fees that come up such as AAA(CAA in Canada), insurance etc. I had added Costco to the list as one I set aside.

I went there Sunday when I was away for conference and was surprised to find the man at the register tell me that my yearly fee needed to be paid. I KNOW I paid this in July when I was in the city and stopped there. Sadly with no way to prove that at this juncture, I sucked up the $55 and had it added to my bill.

It bugged me the whole way home. I can distinctly recall going in and heading to the customer service line up to renew, telling my boys I'd be right there. I remember the door person saying "oh you can just have that added on at the till now so no need to stand in this line", and I can remember them adding that to my bill when I checked out.

When I got home I checked my bank accounts records (thank god I keep these now) and sure enough there was Costco on my account for the date in July but just a number that included the fee and the groceries I bought. NO way to prove from that, that I paid for membership.

sigh

I am pretty sure I did not keep the receipt though I will look when I go home today. It probably never occurred to me to keep it when the bulk of it was for peanut butter, cheese, cereal etc.

I will try phoning there this week and give them the date I was there and ask them to check their records to see if my account was paid up that day, but I have a sinking feeling about it.

Sigh

So a powerful lesson has been learned. When visiting places where the yearly fee is not a separate paper and is just added on to all the stuff you are buying, KEEP the stupid receipt, even if it is for just groceries and Toilet paper.

Update on Expensive being a woman

Back in July I had hypothesized on how much it costs to keep a girl in basic beauty (LOL) each month. Through a series of generalizations, I decided that it costs me $64 a month to be me. I spent some time this week at Walmart, which offers the least expensive options for purchasing around here and came up with a table to reflect the realities. Let me tell you, they are scary!! I determined the cost per item, and then decided how many units I used of each, per month. Some items I used half, some I used one, and some I use 1.5 times or 2 items of each per month. It was a very interesting experience.

It showed me that just 'being' costs a lot. It shows me that cutting back a bit each month will save little bits. It gave me a base price so I can comparison shop when I get the flyers.

So here it is, before our lovely taxes of 10%.

Cost per month
Bodywash - $2.46
Shampoo - $4.40
Conditioner - $4.40
Blush - $2.41
Eye Shadow - $2.98
Lipstick - $4.23
Toothpaste - $2.08
Fem. Products - $8.96
Deodorant - $5.94
Contact Solution - $8.88
Gel - $9.92
Razors - $5.99
Facewash - $7.11
Foundation - $11.47
Moisturizer - $19.97
Mascara - $7.47
MONTH TOTAL - $98.59

I also realized that I have no clue how to import a chart to this blog as it did not recognize any of the ways I tried. Interesting. And it was all prettily laid out too LOL

And this list doesn't cover all of the expenses. I thought of another 10 while I was typing. terrible. LOL

Willy Nilly

Ok So payday was on the 25th and I dutifully put down the money on the phone, satellite, cell, loans, MC, Visa etc and bought a few groceries. All good. All prompt and proactive. And then somewhere along the journey it was as though everything went to hell in a handbasket. Money was coming out of spots it shouldn't have...spending money was spent on groceries when the store's debit was down and everything got all muddled up and bringing take out home two nights in a row when unexpected evening changes messed up the plan.

I have to admit I was avoiding my blog because it's hard to accept or admit things have gotten all wonky. I need to take time this weekend to just breathe and accept that things may not be all in the right column etc when the month is over. There is just something about my Type A personality that goes "ohh things got all messy.......screw it for the month and start over again at the end of October" lol

Things won't get better soon in some ways as I am gone tomorrow for a conference which I had to put the fee down on my MC as things went wonky at the main office and the cheque didn't go through. I'll get reimbursed, but that will take a couple weeks. Then, I am off again this coming Thursday through Sat for another conference, and while hotel and gas money will be reimbursed, the initial output comes from me. Food is my expense and of course that will be higher than it would be at home.

It's so hard to stay focused when things go all whirly like this. I appear to need too much control, but often in the wrong ways LOL

On the bright note, I avoided again all the checkout trash magazines that were calling me. I stopped myself a couple times from just buying some things, just because but that really is a 'one thing at a time' challenge.

I started back to Weight Watchers last Friday after 4 months and far too many pounds gained back. This will add an almost $17/week fee, but I have that budgeted in for this month already (just in case I went back LOL) as getting to a more healthy weight is essential for me not going crazy or depresssed. It was join for free so at least I didn't have to pay a resigning fee as most months have that varies between $35 and $50, so woo hoo that I picked the free month to bite the bullet and go LOL

Fighting that Urge

It was horrible yesterday, let me tell you. Not in a long agonizing sort of way. It hits you rather in that out of the blue impulsivity sort of way.

It's that feeling of "ooooo let's buy/let's get" that hits me in the darndest places. Like at the checkout when I see the little crack US and Star Magazines and I have to fight my urge to pick them up and put them in my pile. It's like going to the drugstore and just WANTING something...that need to walk out of there with something you didn't plan on getting...something pretty or scented. It's the "ohhhh what to have for supper. Hey let's order pizza! I HAVE money set aside for dining out/take out"

What it is, my friends, is a habit. A habit of just buying things without even thinking. Granted it isn't as expensive a habit as some people out there. It could be alcohol or cigarettes...VLTs or expensive clothes. It's small stuff but then again, it's often and I am living on a smaller amount than some (more than others)

I truly could hear the 'awww come on!!' inside me as I fought off the urges.

This probably would be easier if I did everything out of money envelopes/jars but I don't. Only my spending money goes that route.

I did say no. Yeah me. But that is just one day of about 10 out of the blue temptations, and it is only the beginning of the month.

eeep

October Goals

Looking back I did so so on my September Goals. I am getting into the groove of both being back at work and keeping at this debt project of mine so hopefully things go better for October. A couple are absolutely reruns as I didn't do a complete job last time.

Here is my plan for October:

• Completely pay off balance on Mastercard
• Plan out how long (given nothing OMG happens in my life) it will take to max out the small emergency fund and paying off Bank of Mom
• Document expenditures in detail for the following categories: my allowance, groceries, household and dining out.
• Investigate comparative costs for 10 frequently purchased grocery items to see where they should be purchased.
• Preplan menus to allow for larger, more infrequent shopping trips and reduce impulse grocery buying.
• Track how many no spend days I can achieve. (particularily effective for groceries)

Bring on October!!

Unplanned Expenses this Month

There always are. I mean if one had a less rigid criteria list for emergency fund, that account would be sucked dryer than the sahara. I look forward to the day when I have money set aside for the non emergency yet still unplanned expenses that pop up, and they don't throw the whole budget into whack.

For this past month we had:

• a new power cord for my laptop $75
• a referee course for my son which has father was going to pay for then didn't $90
• a new piece of equipment for my son as he hit yet another growth spurt $74.90
• an evil laundry mishap ruined two pieces of my work clothes which needed to be replaced as they were essential staples $120

Total for this month of things which popped out to say BOO - $359.90

OUCH

Where did the money for this come from....the fuel category, the household category, a bit from my spending money.

Pay Day

Part of me wishes on pay day we could get the actual cheque, as they did not so far away in the past. At least then one could feel and touch and hold that cash before it goes into the land of electronic existence.

The best I could do was check my online account and see it there for a bit before I start parcelling it out to the various agencies in my life.

I had written out my plan of attack last night, even then, not totally sure of the amount of my cheque. I have maxed out on a couple of the gov't required deductions so from now until the end of the calendar year, that is bonus money..."merit pay" as the inside joke goes. Also, we have a 4% raise in effect but to figure out the actual 'take home' difference is hard as often it bumps you up into a higher rate of deductions. In January I'll know LOL Things are normal then until the end of June.

So I visited the bank and took out my spending money for the month to dutifully put in the envelopes at home. I paid my satellite bill and the VISA, which does not carry a balance...paid off in full each month (I use it for groceries, to get the reward points).

In the next couple of days I will pay Mastercard, utilities, consolidated loan, phone and cell etc.

Every play solitare online and win....remember the dancing of the cards once you win? Wouldn't it be great if we could have our money do that....just for a few moments...when we get paid?

It would be fun at any rate.

Here's to another month and making the best choices I can.

Subscribing/Feeding

As Per a request, I have attempted to add a 'subscribe to this' at the bottom of my blog. I have NO clue if I've done this correctly LOL

Isn't it great there are always new things to learn?

Cutting a fine line

With Payday tomorrow I have $58 dollars left. $50 for gas later tonight as my tank is near fumes and the other $8....well that is cutting closer to comfort than I like.

Hurry tomorrow!!

The day before payday

It's been a long month. There is that great excitement at the beginning of the month when that one paycheck comes in and you go online and have visitation rights with that number for a few moments.

Then the sorting begins: transferring to this account and that account; taking out the cash for spending and putting it in the little envelopes; paying off a few of the bills.

By the end of Week 1, all bills have arrived and are paid and you're left with three weeks of 'this amount in my account is allll I have left for THREE MORE WEEKS. It's rather depressing but encourages the frugality for 2 of the weeks.

By the last week, and I noted this in particular this month, you have x dollars left for the week and I don't seem to spend as carefully as I should. Money is borrowed from budget line 'fuel' to go towards overbudget groceries, unexpected expenses pop up and make one go 'ohhhhhhhhhhhhh where am I getting the money for THIS?'

Then pay day comes and it goes all over again.

I need to spend some time tonight tinkering with the budget lines and shifting things around to reflect what I learned this month. I also need to write out my plan of attack to make sure everything gets done.

It certainly would be more fun if I had this amount to play with 2 times a month LOL

getting back on track

Monica: (Picking up a card from Chandler’s wallet.) My God! Is this a gym card?
Chandler: Oh yeah, gym member. I try to go four times a week, but I’ve missed the last 1200 times.
Ross: So why don’t you quit?
Chandler: You don’t think I’ve tried? You think I like having 50 dollars taken out of my bank account every month? No, they make you go all the way down there! Then they use all of these phrases and peppiness to try and confuse you! Then they bring out Maria.
Ross: Who is Maria?
Chandler: Oh Maria. You can’t say no to her, she’s like this lycra spandex covered gym…treat.



Last January I joined a circuit gym. I was a good little girl going every morning before work and sometimes after work or on Saturday. Then May came and I got sick and then it was the end of the school year and then summer came.......sigh

Each month like clockwork, $48 comes out of my account. It's a one year contract.

I really dont' mind going. The getting up in the morning bites but once I'm there, it's not that big of a deal and I'm glad I went. It is just a matter of making myself go.

So off I went this morning to make the most of my money. Lordy I hope I can keep it up. Moneywise I just hate watching money go out the window....and fitness wise, my body needs it very very badly.

I wonder how many people out there are like Chandler, and never ever go?

September Goals Update

With payday fast approaching (finally, thank god) this week, I thought I'd peek back at my September goals to see how well I did for a first time goal setter.

• Put every spare penny down on that Mastercard to get it as low as possible for October 1 statement. I managed to reduce my debt from $2792.31 to just over $400. This will be killed off when I get paid this week. yeah.
• Document expenditures in detail for the following categories: my allowance, groceries, household and dining out. Ok I give myself a C here. Maybe a C+. I started to, lordy knows I did but I just didn't stick with it. I can track what I have spent thanks to online banking, but I didn't do the detailed pen/paper list that I wanted to so badly.
• Investigate comparative costs for 10 frequently purchased grocery items to see where they should be purchased. Nope. What with back to work and boys back at school and in their activities, I didn't get this done. bad me. I do want to though as I am most curious about it. It will go back on the list for next month.
• Change paycheck deductions to shift towards an RRSP deduction. The request was made to payroll. Hopefully it comes properly off my cheque.
• Preplan menus to allow for larger, more infrequent shopping trips and reduce impulse grocery buying. Fail. I didn't do it and I probably could have shaved $100 off groceries had I done so.
  

Laptop update

It was the powercord. One has to be ordered in and the cost is somewhere between $50 and $100. The store was supposed to get back to me Friday but they didn't. tsk tsk

I have noticed that I am on the computer FAR less with the laptopdown and only the desktop open for four of us. In many ways that is a gift of time as I KNOW I waste far too much time online just wandering LOL

Every cloud has a silver lining and this powercord death allowed me to learn that I need to use my time better.

laptop almost dead

well this isn't fun one bit. My toshiba laptop just had it's 2nd bday and apparently it feels old. The power cord had been antsy for a few days, plugged in but only reading that it was attached at certain angles. Last night no matter what you did, it would not read that the cord was attached and the battery drained to zero.

I've googled a bit and the results do not sound pretty. Most coments read that the problem is not the power cord but the piece inside the laptop where it attaches. All reports are that it is nearly impossible to fix or a couple hundred dollars.

Not happiness in my world. It did make me realize that I almost never use the desktop downstairs even though it's new. The boys are mostly on it.

I am crossing my fingers it is not a wallet buster.

venting about spam snail mail

I know..I could just shred them and forget them, but I can't seem to let things like this home.

I mean how does a bank I've never heard of before get my address and what is the point of sending me spam snailmail? Peole must respond to them or they wouldnt bother to continue to send out.

So I phone the bank, long distance, in the province next door for a quick chat with their customer service rep. It took a bit to figure out that their spam mail comes from Maryland, which is a heck of a long way from the prairies of Canada. They get names from a list bought from magazine subscription companies.

Incredibly annoying and what a waste of trees. Supposedly, I am off the list, which will require 6 to 8 weeks to get me out of their system.

One snail mail spam down, dozens to go :-)

The cost of kids

I'd like to think that we are middle, middle class in the socioeconomic scale of things. Our home is small and not paid for. Our vehicles are one semi new (not paid for) and one 9 years old and limping. We have had one big 'vacation' as a family. Our kids have an Xbox and games but not 3 different systems, fancy bikes, trampolines etc as most of their friends/classmates do.

We pay our bills and they are dressed nicely but certainly not high name brand.

The older is an athlete. He plays hockey, soccer and school sports, the former at a higher level which has extra cost. The younger is a scholar. He sometimes plays soccer and he curls but he is not an athlete by any means. He plays in school concert band. They both are in Scouts.

They do not suffer by any stretch of the means but they do see quantative differences between themselves and others they know, both above and below financially.

We pay a good chunk of cash for their activities. We don't do a lot in the 'entertainment' budget as a couple/family so this replaces it in many ways.

It is absolutely frightening when I add up costs for them. Fees, rentals , equipment, travel, hotel (for the overnight tournaments), 1 week each of camp in the summer etc. They have activities after school but they are not overly scheduled and still have time to hang out at home or with friends and be kids.

A couple years ago I started a separate account for funding part of their activities. I just got tired of dreading sign up times or fees as there never was anything spare in my regular budget. This account is purely for their activities and covers about 50 to 60% of them in the year, depending on the year. Each month on payday I write myself a cheque to 'the boys' account, which is in a different bank and in goes $300. I don't touch it for household or groceries or gas. It is just money I've trained myself not to access except for these things.

I may not be very financially smart, but for our situation, this is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I know how much is there and during the down months, I can build up the balance for those big pay out times such as the August to October fee times.

I am very fortunate I can do this though it does mean scrimping in many other areas. I see enough kids on the streets causing havoc to know that there is an even higher cost to parents/families who aren't able to put their kids in activities/community centers/church groups/quality family time. These forgotten children, at least around here, end up in trouble with the law.

Fuel...perhaps I spoke too soon!

Today while I was at work, gas prices shot up. We were sitting at $1.329 a liter and now it's at $1.469 per liter.

If I've done my metric conversion to gallons properly, that puts my gas at $5.55 per gallon.

Lordy

They are blaming it on Hurricane Ike.

It just shows the negative effects a hurricane by Texas can have on gas prices in Saskatchewan Canada.

Budgeting for Fuel

Ok I had tentatively entitled this 'budgeting for gas' but it just made me giggle so I'll be more grown up in my titling :-)

In my newly fledged budget I have allotted $280 for fuel for the month. Actually I've been using this amount for about a year and most of the time it appears to work. This is only for my vehicle fuel, not the husband's which comes out of his own account.

With gas prices at about $5 a gallon ($1.39 L here in Canada) a basic day costs me about $3 for fuel. That is if I only go to work and then come home. Any errands or extra trips taking and picking up kids from activities can double or triple this. Using this theory, a base level week would cost me a minimum of $15 assuming no extra trips during the week and no driving during the weekend. The reality is I do about 15 trips a week around and about which puts me at $45/week or $180 per month.

This amount goes higher when we have out of town trips, which come up a few times a month. It also will go higher when winter comes and the van needs to be running for at least 10 minutes to make that engine less objective to the 30 or 40 below zero temps.

The $280 amount hasn't ever gone over unless we have a lot of weekend hockey/soccer trips away or a big long drive away. Anything leftover from that budget line I usually tuck away and it can go towards paying my package policy on vehicle insurance, which is about $300 per year due in March, going towards regular license insurance, which is $800 per year, or saving it for those rarer occasions where there is a long trip away.

Usually I tuck the $280 aside in my savings, paying for my fuel with Mastercard (for the airmiles) and then paying it off at the end of the month.

As I currently have a balance on my MC, I am paying cash this month as I do not want to add more to the balance and have to pay interest.

It has been most interesting reading the fuel budget line on other blogs to see the differences people allot. I feel for those commuting longer distances from home to work and the extra costs they incur just to get where they are going to earn the money to live. I don't know how they do it.

Giving myself an allowance

For awhile I have done this, but only sporadically and never consistently. I read on blogs where people give themselves no money for 'extra' or where there is a set amount given each month. I find it so interesting to read how people feel about this topic and whether there should be any allowance/spending money allotted if the ultimate goal is debt reducing.

I can remember a few years ago when I tried the allowance thing with envelopes for each week, I was giving myself a ridiculous amount of money...I believe it was $140 a week, which is craziness.

The biggest difficulty was deciding what I was going to use my allowance for. I've changed the list many times. At first I had my salon (perm/colour/cut) as part of it, but this never worked out the way I wanted it to so I created a main budget line for it. If I use it, it's there. If I don't, I hold it over in my savings, mentally marked 'salon' for when I do go.

I've plotted out my trial budget and have allotted myself $40 per week for this. The kinds of things I would use this for are personal grooming products, the latte factor if I go grab a coffee for work, magazines if I let myself buy them or if I go out for lunch without the family...on my own during the work week or with a friend.

One of my goals this month was to keep a running tally of how much I used, where and how much I had left. Wow it sure can go fast.

The first week back to work had staff eat out lunches 3 of 5 days so there went a good chunk, even with making frugal choices. I also hit take out coffee a few too many times so the $2 here and there added up too.

Sure I could have not allowed this sort of expenditure but then it honestly would have just got sucked out of the household, groceries or dining out budget lines.

My hope that at least this way, I would be honest about what I was using it for and THINK before I used it, which is one of the main goals of becoming more money aware.

IF there is any left at the end of the month (that's a big if) then I will tuck it aside in an envelope for a month, just in case. Some months run higher depending on when your hair care, contact solution, make up etc run out. The leftover money will sit in the envelope for a month and if it is not used, then it will go towards debt and the new month of 'leftovers' will go in.

I'll try it and see. It makes it more like a game for me and that will keep my attention longer.

I probably sound crazy. lol

Bank Of Mom

In Feb and in April of this year we did some horridly needed renovations in our home. The bathroom was gutted to the joists and redone with new drywall, tub and surround, ceramic tile, vanity etc. The living room had horrid carpet from the 70s removed and redid with laminate..walls painted etc. Everything was done spending the least possible with the nicest finishings we could afford.

My parents were kind enough to pick up a few things when they were in the city and mom did the 'don't worry about it right now' thing. The bills came to $1500 and are on the debt owing summary as "Bank of Mom". Over the years mom and dad have bought lots of little things for me and never wanted to be paid back.

It is important to me that this gets paid back. Sure I'd love a cash fairy to wave away my debts, but I think it is more important for me and my esteem and my financial responsibility to take care of this.

Today after about 2 months of gentle nagging to get those receipts I finally have them. We both knew what the total was and I had already started repaying things, but just having those in my hands makes this REAL this time instead of a 'don't worry about it' sort of feeling.

Yeah me!!

September Goals

With a semblance of normalcy returning to our lives I am excited at the opportunity to get a firm grip on a functional budget that allows for living yet also allows for maximum debt repayment. The more I do this, the more I learn how much there IS to learn about finances. I want to make my goals realistic yet with enough push to me to grow and learn and save money.

• Put every spare penny down on that Mastercard to get it as low as possible for October 1 statement.
• Document expenditures in detail for the following categories: my allowance, groceries, household and dining out.
• Investigate comparative costs for 10 most purchased grocery items to see where they should be purchased.
• Change paycheck deductions to shift towards an RRSP deduction.
• Preplan menus to allow for larger, more infrequent shopping trips and reduce impulse grocery buying.

Where the debt stands

As of September 1st, 2008
Mortgage - $44 229.78
Consolidated Loan - $14 748.09
His VISA -$ 2845.30
His Truck Payment - $17 545.97
Bank of Mom - $1200.00
My Mastercard - $2 792.31

Total Debt - $ 83,361.45

I know it's higher this month than before. The Mastercard took a huge hit this summer at the week in the city with hotel costs and fuel costs and food costs and camp costs and equipment costs. The good news is that it is half paid off already and what is not paid off by the next paycheck at the end of September, will be paid off with that September check....barring unforseen unplanned expenses.

procrastinating doesn't pay

Just before the labour day weekend, gas prices here were $1.29/liter, which is high but down some from spring. I knew I needed gas but just really didn't feel like getting it and did the ole 'I'll do it tomorrow.' Sure enough, the next morning on the way to work, prices had jumped ten cents to $1.39 a liter! This was where it had been in early June and it wasn't pleasant then. On Wed this week they dropped it by 1 cent. I had been hoping that the Long weekend attack would come back down, but it hasn't.

Now that I am back to work and driving every day, you can really feel the difference. I hope it goes down before winter comes, as my budget shoots up then, given that we have to warm up the vehicles far more when it is 40 below.

mower

The good news about the lawnmower, is that my dad was able to repair it. It required a new crankshaft $200 and a new blade $20 and that was a far better cry than the $500 it would cost to replace the mower with one of the same quality. We have a large chunk of grass both front and back so having it fixed is great news.

Thanks DAD for being so great and being able to work your way through motors and setting timings and aligning tricky things. I appreciate you!!

neglectful

I had high plans and hopes for writing things down and organizing them when I got paid on Monday but I have to confess that being back to work and the boys back to school everything got all set aside on a 'round to it'. So today I have to get my journal out and write down what I've spent and the categories they came out of. I am really wanting to track my groceries, household and eating out this month and see how accurate my guestimate budget will bring me.

I've been surfing other blogs to find comparables to see what other people with 2 adults, 2 teens spend per month on food. There's quite a range out there to say the least.

Ok so off to write and organize!!
Happy Sunday

Double Day

Well today two things happen: One is I get paid so woo hoo!!! The second is I start back to work in............55 minutes. I can't believe summer is gone already. The bright part of this is that we hit the 'normal' phase of our lives, which is anything but normal and regular, but I can now start to track groceries and household expenses etc and I am looking forward to seeing how much I spend/how little I can spend in a month. I've never done this before. It will definitely be interesting.

when it rains it pours

sigh
so tonight my older son and I were mowing my sister's lawn. It's an older home and there is an old water pipe that sticks out in the middle of the lawn about six inches high. I had just nicely said be careful of it and he was and suddenly wham it was under the mower. It chopped the flat iron head off the pipe but what was worse, it bent the blade and the crankshaft of the motor. the motor case is cracked which pretty much means the mower is DOA. This was a nice new power motor my husband had just finished paying for it a few months ago.

It looks as though the CC will take a $600ish hit to replace it if we buy the same mower again.

blech

thoughts to ponder

With payday rapidly approaching and the bank account almost depleted I sit and think about the insane spending of August, with some still to come as I sign the boys up for their school and activities.

I have been waffling over how to tackle the emergency savings, the bank of mom debt and the CC debt and have ran through options and variations over and over. I think I have it straight how I want to tackle things and then I see it in a different light and run in that direction.

What I've decided to do is the most money saving wise I suspect. I will put a temporary hold on building the Emergency savings, which is currently at $500 ( I wanted to get it to $1000) and I will, with mom's approval, put the bank of mom loan on hold and divert all those funds towards the CC Debt. I should know better by end September cheque, how long this hiatus will be as my cheques are different in September as there is a pay increase and a few other things happening.

My hope is that by Christmas, the CC is paid off, the Emergency fund hits the first goal of $1000, and the Bank of mom loan is 1/3 paid off.

lil things

Today was a little things kind of morning. Time to get newly arrived paperwork paid and filed. Time to shred. Time to roll coins. Time to take in bottles and cans. My mom and sister contributed to the latter.

I like it when I am able to get things like this down as it is often the little things that bog my world down, piling up until they become big things.

I had $13.00 in coins all rolled up. I will do that again at end of September.

I took in the bags of cans and bottles and netted a lovely $49.70. Together that makes almost $63 of 'found money' this morning. That will go to the bank this afternoon and go towards the debt. wheeeeeeeee

That puts fewer bottles and cans into the landfill and a bit of jingle in my pocket

If only every day could be 'found money' day.

The scariest part of back to school/start of season

• Back to school supplies $100
• School Fees $200ish
• My staff dues $75
• Band sign up $150
• Instrument Rental $285
• Back to school clothes $200ish
• Classroom supplies and resources for new curricula $250
• School lunches ??
• Milk Card $15
• Hockey start up fee $550
• Hockey team fee $400 + fundraising

that's all my fuzzy brain can think of right now

My gift bag from Staples

Well there was no coffee or treats. I shopped for a few things there and got some duotangs for 19cents and new desk stapler. My ink for my printer was 'sort of' on sale but it kills me that to fill that thing costs more than buying a new printer often. It's insane how many people will buy a new printer rather than ink for their old one but it's cheaper. The printer companies have gotten around this by only putting 1/4 of a cartridge of ink in. I wonder if this will cut down on old printers laying sad and lonely in the landfill.

But I digress. What did I get in my gift bag??

• 1008 cutsey stickers for assignments (I teach middle years so the effects of stickers aren't quite as powerful as at the lower primary.
• a teeny white glue bottle
• a simple pleasure oatmeal cranberry bar from Dare
• some red pencil from a company with a 6 page promo on their product
• a Five senses poster I'll give to a colleague in Gr 2
• a coupon book for Staples

That's it.

Was it worth going to just for that? heck no.

I did use my 10% to get a few of the things I needed that were reasonably priced, but I will buy my childrens' school supplies at Walmart.

There is another T day next Thursday and if I have all my ducks in a row I may buy my new computer (not laptop) for downstairs. 10% off would definitely help there.

the beginning of back to school

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day at Staples! Actually there is one next Thursday too but I'll go today. Now from what I hear in some bigger centers, this is a pretty fancy event. There's coffee and juice, muffins and donuts and a lovely gift bag. I went last year here to our sort of new Staples outlet and the smell of freshly brewed java was conspicuously absent. No scent of yeasty creamy filled cellulite WITH icing in the air. My treat bag was tiny: a highlighter, some stickers and some coupons for further visits, some other little thing which escapes my memory at the moment, and an easy button. I was going to give that bag to my intern (student teacher) along with a few other treats as a welcome to the school for 4 months, but that seemed insufficient. I ended up hitting the dollar store to find some great things: paperclips, highlighters, teacher pencils, notepads, thingies to hold her stuff on her desk...but I digress.

I wanted that easy button. I coveted that easy button. I didn't have one. I always wanted one. In the end I exchanged her easy button for a lil floral bouquet for her desk which probably cost more than the button. Sometime I am so silly.

So off I go today to see what things are in there. There is high doubts there will be any coffee or pastry but go I shall. I also get 10% off on any purchases I make. Will I get the boys' school supplies there? Probably not as they are more expensive there at 10% than Walmart at it's regular price. But I shall go and pick up new ink for my home printer which you can't get at Walmart, maybe a few other little things (I'll have to check the flyer) and get my treat bag and my 10% off.

I may be almost 40 but the August display of school supplies does something to me. I get antsy and my eyes glaze over. New pens and notebooks! New fresh crisp looseleaf. New sticky note thingies. A giant rainbow pack of coloured sharpies!!! *drool* and this is for me, not my kids LOL

I spent probably $1000 a year out of my own pocket on my classroom. Some consumables, some books and decorations...some were good choices, some were not.

Any deal I get is great!!

Well off I go to brush my teeth and get out of my jammies to be there when the stores are open. After all, free gift bag supplies are limited LOL

How does one truly begin?

Ok the short answer to this question is to travel back in time to when I first started working and smack myself til I have a far more advanced financial awareness. Or travel back to 1991ish to when I was introduced to the world of credit and smack myself there. Between you and me, the first choice makes more sense.

So now I am in a position where we have a mortgage, a truck loan, 2 CCs with money on them, one consolidated loan, a bank of mom loan, no savings, no retirement fund, no emergency fund and no educational funds for the kids.

I certainly have learned more about money in the past three or so years, but I don't know if I am any smarter.

I've read a plethora of financial pages and books, all with varying advice that does seem to make sense, but where does one begin?

I want to get $1000 in an emergency fund. I want to get my new CCdebt (less than $2000) off the 'to owe' list. I want to get the debt of $1500 paid back to bank of Mom before she just says 'ohh don't worry about it' yet again and I hate feeling that way. (There's more I want to do but I'm focusing on these three right now)

Taking care of the emergency savings would help as we always seem to have emergencies we are not financially prepared for and that gets tossed on the credit card.

Taking care of Bank of Mom would give me that peace of mind that maybe, just maybe, I'm a grownup for once and don't owe my mom for this loan.

Taking care of the CC would make money interest wise, but would it give the best peace of mind and feeling of security.


Sometimes the frantic 'too much to do too little time' gets to be overwhelming.

ooo found a great article...

...speaking of my clothesline post from the other day. It shows the struggles of those who want to hang up in planned communities where such practices are forbidden and comments about property value plummetting as your bloomers go up on the line. It also comments on how such people perhaps need to realize the positive effects it would have on the energy crisis and our wallets.

A good read though the article is a bit dated. I shall continue to search for more currect articles.

clotheslines

Flapping in the Wind

I've had an old clothesline in my backyard since we moved to this house in 1996. I live in an older neighbourhood in a small prairie town so I didn't think the line was that unusual, though we didn't have one at my parent's house growing up (10 blocks away) nor at my grandparent's house (across the street). Ok maybe it was less common that I thought.

Anyways, when we moved here my husband wanted to tear it out as it goes across the backyard, but I resisted, mostly for odd feelings of nostalgia, I suspect.

Over the years it's been used rarely, mostly to air out sleeping bags or hose off outdoor carpets etc. Last summer I started using it for things like towels, which seem to take forever to dry in the dryer.

This spring I noticed a series of 'clotheslines are back' commercials on TV, mostly off the Ontario channels, with the preface "clotheslines are cool. " I was intrigued at the thought of using my clothesline for more than the occasional set of towels.

Off I went to the dollar store to make my frugal purchase of two bags of clothespins and home I went to begin this endeavour. Everything goes on the line with the exception of undies, socks and tea towels.

What I've noticed is that on the hot days, things like my boys' tshirts or shorts dry in no time at all. Other longer drying items like towels or bunnyhugs (hoodies to everyone but parts of Saskatchewan :-) take a bit longer.

Most of our cotton items I'd hang from whatever spots I could find in the basement so they would not shrink. I was not saving energy by using the clothesline for these but I definitely was cutting the time back from a day or two of drying inside to a couple hours at most outside. Speeding up laundry???? How exciting.

I learned along the way that I need to add softener to the wash though or things come out a bit crisper than one would want. I learned that I need to watch the rainclouds and get things off the line. (This works now that I am home in the summer but come fall, a different strategy will have to be sought out). I learned that I get this weird suzy homemaker kind of feel as I skip out there with my basket, holding pins in my mouth as I fasten items to the line. It's a good feeling, which is odd as I am the farthest thing on the planet from a proper homemaker. I learned that my one neighbour comments a bit if she is out there when I am, but I have decided it is more of a 'holy two kids and two adults make a ton of laundry' rather than a judgment call.

It has made me venture down back alleys in some of the older neighbourhoods to see who has lines and who uses them. They are rarer than I thought, but I do see some out in use.

I don't really have any way of calculating how much energy/money this saves me but at a minimum of 10 loads of regular wash a week going out there, that must be a rather significant savings.

We were camping last week and came home with everything smelling of campfire so wash it we must. We are a two pillow per kind of family so just for the four of us, there were eight pillows. In the dryer, those things take at least an hour of drying so simple math means that just the pillows alone going on the line saved 8 hours of energy. Amazing how things add up.

I suspect more don't use them because new houses don't have lines, condos, townhouses and apartments are too close perhaps? or maybe it just is out of fashion. There are movements in some complexes in Canada and the US who are fighting for their right to have a clothesline when other neighbours think it is an eyesore. It is called the 'right to dry' movement. I will definitely be reading more on this.

I found a great list of reasons to use clotheslines at http://www.laundrylist.org/.

If you can do it, flapping in the wind is a great way to save energy, time and money.

Do you let it all hang out?

Where the debt stands

As of August 1st, 2008

Mortgage - $44 383.85

Consolidated Loan - $15 190.91

His VISA -$2845.02

His Truck Payment - $17795.22

Bank of Mom - $1200.00

Total Debt $81 415.00

For September 1st, there will be a new addition to the debt list as the MC took a huge hit during the traditional horrid August expenses.

This van may be the financial death of me

The night before I left for the week away with my son my power steering line decided it was tired and did not want to work anymore. It was leaking everywhere! The timing was so not in my favour as I was leaving right after noon the next day. We managed to pull in a favour and get my van into the shop early the next morning.

Shortly before noon the damage was complete. $142.52. I certainly hadn't budgeted for that but breaking down 4 hours from home wouldn't have been a picnic either. It went on the MC, which was only the first of many expenses to go on there from our week away.

I broke down and sent a small vase of flowers to the lady who squeezed us in at the autobody shop. This is the second 'squeezing in' she's done for me since start of summer and I believe it was necessary to show my gratitude. Another $23.75 goes down on MC.

I have reached a point where this van is really starting to cost me. Between necessary new tires, the two trips to the autobody shop and repair of rack and pinion it has cost me over $1000. That is about the same amount the car lot would give me on a trade in.

I don't have the money for a new vehicle payment yet continuing to pay for repairs is foolish too.

accounts and envelopes and wallets OH MY

I love pay day. It's my chance to move the cash around into each lil spot I put it. Perhaps in a subconscious way it makes me feel wealthy for a moment.

I have four accounts at two banks. There is a primary chequing and savings at one bank and another chequing and savings and bank 2. Bank 1 is the main account. That's where the money comes in, the bills get paid, groceries are bought etc. There is precious little in the savings at that account. I pay for gas on CC to get the airmiles so I temporarily 'store' the gas portion of my budget there so it is intact when it comes to pay the CC. I do this with a couple other categories as well.

The second bank accounts I started about three years ago. I was having great trouble saving and when big bills would come in for the boys school fees, their sports fees, music fees etc, that money was never there and I'd go in the hole. I started this chequing account and made it a point to deposit a set amount into this accout the day after payday, each month. Then the money is there and kept quite separate from the others. The savings account at Bank 2 I just opened. I needed an account I don't regularily access so I could begin this much needed Emergency Savings Fund. My initial goal for that fund is $1000. I currently have $400 in it thanks to a bit of frugality last month. I don't anticipate things growing too quickly here as I am focusing on debt repayment.

All of these accounts are in my name only. I appreciate knowing that there won't be any surprises when I go to pay for something and find myself short of funds, as I was before when we shared an account. He has no objection to these accounts. We have had separate ones since Day 1.

I have a fifth account which is joint, but really his. I have access to it, I can go to the bank and deposit or withdraw, I can write cheques on it, but not a debit card. Since I don't contribute to it, I never use it.

Sometimes I wonder if my many accounts helps or hinders. I sure appreciate the 'hockey account' as I call it, though the boys are in more than that LOL

I have also taken out my own 'allowance' and have 4 weeks of envelopes ready to go for that.

It' s complicated but it seems to work for the most part.

Finally Pay Day

I can't believe a month has gone by already since I started with this 'beginning budget' and my plan to get my spending under control and get myself on the right track to get out of debt.

As the bills for the month start to come in I can see where the money went and how well I did.

This next month will be a big expense as my son and I have a trip to a city with food and hotel costs coming in close to $1500. My MC will take a hit but my goal is to have the balance of that paid off by end of October. The downfall of starting budget in July is that there isn't money set aside for this big of an expense this soon. The positive to starting in July is that I have a year to get ready for a similar expense for next summer and I can start to save.

My salary is actually over 10 months. I don't get paid for the summer 'off'. We have a lovely option with our workplace though that allows us to take smaller cheques in the main 10 months so that we can have a 'regular' cheque over July and August. I'd never be able to set aside the money to do so otherwise and then the bills would not get paid. I am so thankful for that 12 month option. The bonus of the July and Aug cheques is that the regular year long deductions are not taken off so these cheques are actually higher by about $500ish. This money I will put towards some of the city costs. That will definitely help.

I will get a pay raise for September but until the pay stub comes, it mostly is guesswork on how much my net pay will go up.

I always have a ton of enthusiasmfor budgetting on pay day as there is money and I can see the light. By the third week into the month with the main bills all paid off, there is little to do but try not to spend. Once a month paydays feels like forever til the next one.

coincidence

Right after I published the blog about Gas I went to CNN to see the primary article on gas prices :-)

It is rather scary to think that there are stations which charge different prices based on whether you pay in cash or credit card. This is news to me. We don't have such things in my lil prairie province. They may well in the larger centers in Canada. I don't know.

Now that my CC is paid off, I use it to pay for gas, pay it off in full at the end of the month, and collect air miles for the purchases. If this type of tiered system came here, I'd have to think about which is more beneficial....the miles or the money saved.

Seems like the more technology there is, the more complicated our choices become. Ironic

I also investigated the map which shows gas prices across the US. The highest was in the $4 range so I guess our prices up here of over $5 a US gallon are higher. That answers my question below then.

I've got gas :-)

My summer "let's drive to...." has been drastically cut this season. Before I head out anywhere I am constantly thinking of how much this will cost. In many ways I envy my children's friends who are a part of the 'we're driving to x lake' or 'we're heading out to the coast'. I feel bad for my kids because they don't get holidays like that but we can't even afford the gas to GET to such places, let alone stay there for a week or two. It really just doesn't seem fair sometimes.

Playing with my conversion chart, 1 US Gallon is 3.79 L. Currently our gas price here is $1.33 a L, which is down from $1.39 of about 10 days ago. That works out to $5.04/gallon. I'm not sure how that competes with any US readers out there and the price of their gas.

We live in a small twin community of a town and a small city. Total population of them both is about 25 000. Before school let out, I filled up my tank and did a loop..... from home over to drop the boys off at school, to my work, then picking them up and home again. That round trip cost $3, which isn't that bad, but often during the course of our day, we're doing similar trips over and back 2 or 3 times a day which means 14-21 of those a week. That comes to between $42 and $63 a week. That's warm weather driving. In the winter when the van needs to be warmed up in the AM and again after school before going somewhere, those costs are almost double.

I know there are people out there commuting to work and have a much higher gas bill than I.

I have budgeted $280 per month for gas. (I've actually been doing a gas budget for about a year). Anything not spent during these warmer months goes into a separate category saved aside for longer road trips or winter months. It's worked rather well except when you have several longer road trips recently which have eaten up the 'extra'.

It's made me think a lot about how much I drive, how much my car idles (say in Drive Thru), how to combine and preplan errands to cut down on the number of trips I make. That part has been a good thing. Paying the extra money per litre sure hasn't.