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!!