Review of 2010 Goals

Financial Goals
a) Boost Emergency Fund to $2000
A+ I reached that goal by the end of August and it's now part of a TFSA.


b) RRSP 2010 of $1500
A+ - I reached that goal by the end of September. I went in November to the bank and had this added on to my wee RRSP portfolio.


c) Xmas 2010 $1000
A+ -> I had this saved by the end of June and it was wonderful to have that money in place.

d) Summer 2011 of $1000
B    I have just under $600 in this. It is first on my to tackle list for the new year. 

e) Pay off Consolidated Loan
A+++ --> this was done at the beginning of April and was now paid off a full year ahead of time. It was an incredible feeling of success.

f) Pay $1500 extra on my Vehicle Loan
A+++ --> Thanks to paying off my consolidated loan early I was able to stream $5400 extra towards my vehicle loan. I am almost, not quite, but almost a year ahead of schedule on payment.I will be excited to see this loan grow smaller.

Ahhh then we hit the sad sad failures.


Personal Goals
a) Go to the gym at least 101 times this year.
F --> holy fail batman. no excuses. bad jolie. very bad jolie. and a waste of money to boot.


b) Read 40 books 
C --> I read about 25 ish. I did not count the books I re-read as that doesn't seem quite fair. I guess I don't get to read as much as I used to. Darn work and kids LOL

c) Try 25 new recipes
D --> only about 10. sheer laziness.


d) Cook more with my children
C-->ish . didn't do enough of it.

e) Lose 40 lbs.
Epic F Fail . again. no excuses.

A year of snowflakes

(The title of this piece is 'Where snowflakes are born'. I thought it was lovely)

Well I have been diligent about keeping track of  the amount of my snowflakes each month throughout the year. I find it motivating to see how the little bits can add up and serve the greater good.


I will have to be honest. I think, often, that these little snowflakes give me more childlike excitement than the larger amounts that come with a paycheck.


Last year   I managed to watch $4295 of flakes fall. I honestly thought I'd have fewer this year as I had reallocated money. Reallocation means less left over.

but I did suprisingly well again this year. $5070. It's mind blowing when I stop to tabulate.

Where did this money come from? Well just under $1000 came from my income tax return. Other bits came from taking my bottles/cans in for recycling. A guestimation of $700 came from rolled changed. Loonies and toonies can add up. A good chunk (about $600) came from my garage sale this August.  The rest came from the bits left over in my jars each week.

Where did my snowflakes go? Debt. Almost all of it. A bit went to purchase the new sectional, but the rest went to pay of my personal loan a year early and the rest went to extra payments on my vehicle.

I guess my own personal growth lesson out of this is that little bits can add up. Long live the little bits!!

A grumpy day

DS1 got a phone upgrade (mom coupon) for christmas so we went over to change his up. After we pick out the phone he wants we know it comes with a $25 activation fee and then $50 plus a 3 year contract. I asked the lady helping us about four times what the bottom line would be on my bill. DS1 could see me twitching as she kept going through itemized numbers instead of the bottom line. We finally got that sorted out and we about to change up his phone. He is on my account and was on the 'add a phone' option for billing. It was very busy there and it took her a long time to get through to the activation folks on the phone. Then came the bad news that we could not continue the 'add a phone' option we were used to. Reason? DS1s new phone is a data phone and mine is not (it's older). Can't do add a phone with two different species of phones. So either I have to pay for a data phone package for me (even though I don't have one) or we have to split the bills apart. Either way it comes to the same amount. $50 extra a month. Ow. big ow.  The lady knew I was not pleased about this. I told her I knew she was just the messenger, but that I was still grumpy about how one gets trapped into decisions.


This took an hour. they were very busy in there.


We headed over to my mom's and discovered she had upgraded her 6 year old cell phone and got the same one DS2 got for Christmas (his first phone). Still with me?


DS2 looks at his phone and says "well I thought that seemed weird". His phone has a slide keyboard and the framework around the letters was all raised. He had thought it was supposed to be that way. what did he know? His phone is under his father's contract. Father and I separated our cell bills a few years ago after we had one too many fights about how much long distance and charges he was making on there, yet not paying any money towards the bill. It was just easier for peace of mind to split. So I phone the 1 800 number and sure enough they won't let ME go exchange DSs phone as it is under his father's bill. Father is out of town so that makes it harder. I finally get them to agree to phone husband and get his authorization for me to act on his behalf and off to the store we go again.


En route to the store, DS1 tells me that  only SOME of the letters on his keyboard work. others do not. I tell him to be sure before we go and tell him to get his brother to look at it first to be sure so we don't look like idiots. nope.


DS1s lady looked at me and probably thought  'oh hell what does she want? explained and they went off to see what was up with his phone.


DS2 and I stand in line and when it's finally our turn we explain to lady2 what the problem is and say we'd like to exchange the phone. She says she's never seen anything like that before and that it didnt' seem to affect texting except that you had to push harder. I said 'all that is true but this phone has to last for three years and if it's already starting to come apart, I don't know that it would last for the three years. She was grumpy about that. then she asked if i had the box that DS2s phone in. "well no," says I, "I actually didn't make it home from purchasing DS1's phone and it's not working'. nope they won't replace it without the box'. I did  understand that but  I was soooo tired of driving back and forth to home.


Home I went. Then back. again. DS2s lady has disappeared. "oh she's gone for her break' says lady 3, whom I actually taught a few years ago'. " or she doesn't want to talk to me again" says I. "Well' says lady 3, "she did say you were grumpy". 'And I AM" i say, 'for suchnsuch and such reasons. but I wasn't rude to her, I didn't swear, and I hope when she told you I was grumpy in private and not out front where others could hear'. I didnt' care much for the way lady 3 was snippy at me given that she knows me,but at this point I just let it all go"

End result: I think both phones work. I spent way too long fixing problems that were not my fault. I am paying more than I want to and I'm not even sure at this point what I'm paying for.

Time to curl up with a glass of wine and watch the Canadian Jr Team play hockey. DS1 actually played on the same line as one of them at a WHL camp he went to, so we are cheering, in particular, for that young man.

Update: I called Sk Tel thurs and spoke to an incredibly helpful woman who told me the lady was wrong yest about DS1's phone package. She said we were actually paying too much before too. She tinkered with things around, got us a ton more minutes, DS1 gets unlimited local evening calls and his data/online thingie. My bill will only be about $15 more, which I expected with the new phone he has, instead of the $50 to $60 the lady said yesterday. I thanked the lady today profusely for her help in explaining and fixing things. She laughed and said 'that's what we're here for'. I laughed and said 'perhaps you could tell that to the ladies yesterday who thought I was a biatch.

2010 A quick glance

I thought I'd do a quick glance to see how my year went.

For dates I am using the beginning Dec 2009 to beginning December 2010, for simplicity.

Debt December 2009 - $70 771.99
Debt December 2010 - $52 410.25

Total Debt Reduced over the year - $18 361.74

I think that's pretty darn good! I eliminated my consolidated loan, paid down a fair bit on my vehicle and the rest is the little bits of dilligent monthly mortgage payments.

Let's look at savings.

Savings December 2009 - $2225
Savings December 2010 - $10 640

Total Savings Increase - $8415

Again a woo hoo Jolie. In this category are the RRSPs, the RESPs and the TFSA (EF).

I like what I am seeing here. I hope I can have some wonderful additions for 2011.

Over Budget

Well it looks like the budget was busted again. I scrolled back in the blog to find last year's and I was over budget then too. Last year I was over budget by $350 This year is almost exactly the same. I was over by $400. Which means I spent $1400 on Christmas this year.

I know from reading many other blogs this is an atrociously high number. And in many ways it is. There were a couple surprises (read - I was not THINKING ahead).  It leaves me wondering what I will do next year.

First budget 'surprise' - a gift for my student teacher. He was with me for 4 months. He gave me a gift set and card from Tim Hortons worth $50. Unwritten rule that the teacher gives a bit more than the student so I gave him a gift card for $75 for a restaurant in the city he's from. I won't have this in my budget line next year so it shouldn't be a concern.

Second Budget 'surprise' - my new Great Nephew. He wasn't a twinkle when I made the budget in January and it's my mistake that I didn't make things work to include him within the budget. This was a big decision as he is the first of many great nephews and nieces to come. Precedence. There are four sisters in my family. Sister 1 has money. Or debt. or both. probably both. Her gifts are beyond extravagant and I am not in the same league and there is no point in trying to be. Sister 2 is the new grandmother. She fits different gift giving protocol. That left Sister 3 and I to decide how to set the precedence. We wanted the money to go the baby and it was my idea to give our niece something to start her son's Education Fund. Sister 3 was really excited about this. We gave her money in the form of a money order (with son's name on it) and wrote our note in our cards to say that we wanted the money to go to start his RESP fund. They don't have a lot of money and I think this is the most valuable gift to give that will last. Of course Sister 3 and I had to decide how much. We threw around a lot of numbers. Understood was that the baby's first Christmas would be a larger amount, with each following Christmas (or birthday) to be a smaller amount. We decided each of our gifts would be $100 and the following years it would be $50 each.  I don't buy for any of my nieces and nephews so this seems more do-able. Our niece was very touched at our generosity and said her father had also given  her money but she didn't know how to set up an RESP. Sister 3 will take care of her tutorial on that and get her started. It was a very good thing Sister 3 and I set up some rules and guidelines for ourselves as my nephew, who just got married in August, announced that he and his new bride are expecting in June. This would be Sister 1's first grandchild. I had already used my auntie intuition to determine she was pregnant at Thanksgiving. She had lost one at 6 weeks, a year or so ago, so I didn't want to say anything until she felt comfortable announcing it.

The rest of the money??? Well at work I had secret santa, I paid for a good part of my class's potluck, and I bought them all treat bags. I can't give them nothing, when many of them give me very thoughtful gifts, so it is my way of giving back. I spent about $130 ish there at work.

Tree misc. - I bought the tree from a fellow staff member's son, who has to sell them for his hockey team. I bought the big honking turkey for our gathering of 25 at mom's. That came from another of my former students who had to sell them for hockey. I bought some stamps and a bit of wrapping paper. I bought veggies and fruit to make trays for Christmas eve at my sister's. We had the offering for Christmas eve service and we had the basket we got for the adopt a family for Christmas at the Food bank.

The rest went for gifts. The boys didn't get a lot of items but the things they got cost a fair bit. They were very appreciative of what they got.

Where did the over budget money come from? you may ask? It came out of grocery money and entertainment money. No debt was incurred.

So what does that mean in terms of budget? I suspect it means that my budget is going to be $1400 for next year. I will have that money saved ahead of time, as I have done before, which means no debt.  I will watch more carefully the price on little things. I know that can save me a fortune.

Money Tree Family Traditions

Everyone has their traditions. Some were handed down from your parents. If you have a significant other, perhaps you blended them as you came together as a couple. Some are new and fit a new way of living or new things that are important.


I jotted mine down here. Some are yearly. Some depend on where we celebrate Christmas. Some depend on the weather/temps/amount of snow.


As you celebrate with your family I hope you enjoy many traditions, old and new.

• Christmas Music: There are some local singers that have in house CDs. Nothing makes me feel more  in the season than listening to them. Beyond that, Jim Reeves is a favourite. I know I know, I'm not THAT old. but mom used to play it all the time on our old big box 8 Track. He has such a wonderful deep voice. Don't worry. there are lots of newer artists I like too LOL. Some of my favourites are Trisha Yearwood's 'Sweet little jesus child' and "it wasn't his child', Bon Ami's 'Mary's Boy child' and different artists renditions of Silent Night, O Holy Night etc

• We always try to tour about and see what other houses have done with their lights. We put up our own and that's really all I want to put up. Others are very excited to decorate and we appreciate them; small lights and big fancy designs.
• Christmas Eve Service. No matter where we are, we do try to go. There is just something so wonderfully spiritual about the night. The music. The people. The prayers. The candles. We went last night. It my was my great nephew's first Christmas. It was so good to have 20 of us there.         
• Opening Gifts: When we are in town for Christmas, the four of us always open our gifts up together first thing in the morning. Well, six of us actually. The cats love hanging out and jumping from box to box, claiming it as their own. When we are out of town, we take along a couple gifts but leave the rest to open when we return. When we go over to mom's, she likes to take us one 'family' at a time (there are four of us sisters). After a couple of mass opening fiascoes, my mother put her foot down. Families go one at a time downstairs to  open them by the fire and anyone else who is home stays upstairs to give mom and dad that special time with each group.
• Christmas brunch. Around 11 AM, whoever is home heads to mom and dad's for Christmas brunch. She loves having everyone there for meals and this is a special time for her. The one year we had to go to DH's sister's house in town instead. My boys were devastated to miss this tradition with my parents.

• Get moving activities: It really depends on the weather. Could be ice fishing or snowmobiling (borrowing my dad's). could be skating indoors or out. Hockey. Could be going to the school gym (mine or my sister's if we're up there) and playing volleyball or watching Sister 2 and Sister 3 go head to head in basketball 21. One of the best years was when we rented the curling rink and had a family bonspiel there on Boxing Day.
• Sleigh Rides: We don't always get to but oh my it's magic when we do. Sometimes it is with the Scouts. Sometimes it is at my school. Sometimes the family arranged it and twice one of my friend's from work did it. Always such a wonderful time.

• We are quite a simple family. We gather together for food, laughter, drinks and good times. We do not do the 'dressed to the nines' Christmas supper. None of us has the room or a formal dining room for that.  Our meals are not traditional served at the table kind. See above 'no room' statement. It's buffet styled and then we find seats where we can and enjoy the wonderful meal.  Somewhere in that time together is games time. It takes a variety of forms: Kaiser, Cribbage,  Crokinole (man that hurts my fingers), or different board games: Taboo, Balderdash, Cranium. Last year it was 'catch phrase'. We had a great time with that and tons of laughter. DS2 is actually really good at those sorts of games and that is ALWAYS his best memory of Christmas. DS1's involves food usually.

Probably our best Christmas tradition is sponsoring a family through the Food Bank. We were in that position once...12 years ago to be precise...and we will never forget how that felt.

I hope that whatever your traditions are, you have a wonderful holiday.

Some favourite 'money tree' Christmas memories

Having celebrated twoscore (how's that for vague, ancient mathspeak? heh) I have definitely acquired a ton of memories. I am using the prerogative of age to dust  under the carpet the less than happy memories of Christmas. But I thought that since I have readers from all parts of Canada, US and around the world, it would be fun to share some of the good ones that stand out. 


They are in no particular order as that would require me to be more organized.


We did several 'northern Christmas' celebrations before I had kids and twice since. All the following memories come from those Christmas times in the north. She lives about three hours north of me in a wee town where you are right in the middle of nature. We all would cram into her little house. There were bodies everywhere. Lots of laughter and music and perhaps, just perhaps, a drop or two of alcohol

•  Fondue party. We did this for Christmas eve. It felt like we ate for hours. Wonderful meats, breads and tons of fruit at the end. Every 15 minutes we would rotate spots so you got to chat with everyone.
• Skating on the outdoor pond. They live by a lake and a wonderful wind had blown in, cleaning off  the newly fallen snow. We skated on the lake and it had frozen clear, not cloudy. It was rather eerie to skate, being able to see the plants and the bottom of the lake in the shallower spots. DS1 was really freaked out and loves it to this day.
• Skating in the rink. My sister rented their natural ice rink for Christmas afternoon. We had a great game of hockey with the Christmas carols playing in the background. Even my dad got out there. He was about 60 at the time. He wore a pair of skates he's had since the 50s I am sure. We were positive one of us was going to be driving him to the hospital for a broken hip.
• Sleigh rides. We did this one Christmas eve. Sister had rented a long wagon and horse team. The driver was a widower whose children were grown and all away for the holidays that year. He was all alone and said the two hours he spent driving us around town and the lake was one of the best memories we had. My sister and her husband both play guitar so we had some great caroling going on that night. They have a joint seniors home and critical care center and we all piled off there and went through the halls, singing for them. We made sure to do that early in the evening before the Christmas cheer had affected the quality of our singing.
• They have a wee church up there. Well several churches but this is a United Church of Canada, we went to. It holds maybe 50 ppl if they are all squished. We took up about 25 of the spots. When the offering plate was passed around, DS2 tried to make change in it for $5. I almost died. LOL
• Snowmobiling and ice fishing are popular pastimes when we head up there. DS2 said it was the best fishing memory he had, going out with all his uncles and older cousins.
• With four sisters in my family, the only men for prechildren Christmas were my father, and the four husbands/brothers in law. One Christmas eve, one of them thought that it would be  a great idea to tie into the home made crabapple wine while they played Kaiser. Their eyes were such slits the next morning that we could have blindfolded them with dental floss.
• When we sleep up there we usually cram one family in per room. My sisters thought that since I had no children then, I could use some practice. When I went to bed, it was just me and my husband. When I woke up Christmas morning I discovered they had slipped 6 of the grandkids in to share our room. There were bodies everywhere.

I guess the recurring theme is, the memories are made through family and experiences. Not one of these includes gifts.

Big Exhale

Whew. I did it. It is now officially Christmas break.

It sure is a mad rush to the finish. Last week was insane. This week was slightly better in the evenings, but the days were crazy. The kids (by kids I mean my students)  had  a presentation due, an assembly where they danced and played drums, we had our class potluck and celebration to say goodbye to my student teacher. The last day we had a movie morning and ran the canteen. Then we finished off with carols in the gym.

My Secret Santa had some lovely gifts for me. She gave me some differents kinds of chocolates. She gave me a magnet for my whiteboard that says 'Hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt'. I got some great oven mitts and a Christmas apron as well as a cloth scrunchie that you store plastic bags in.

I spent about $25 on my Secret Santa which was a bit above the limit. I got her some teeny tiny christmas oranges, a brushed nickel candle holder and then the candle the next day. The fourth was a burned CD with her favourite Christmas songs and the last was a bottle of Copper Moon Chardonay.

One of the gifts had to be an unused regift. The oven mitts and Christmas apron was mine, and I gave the brushed nickel and candle to her.

It was fun. Mine suspected me fairly soon after another staff member suggested me. Not thrilled the other staff did that, but it's not worth a stink over. I did not suspect mine at all.

My top 5 list of Christmas movies

There are all sorts of them out there....Classics and Contemporary....Animated and ...err..... real people....funny and sentimental.


Some movies I watch pieces of. Some I really don't care for at all. Others are simply a MUST to complete the holiday season.


In no particular order, is my top 5 list of Christmas 'must sees'.


1) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

2) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animated one!!)

3) Die Hard II

4) Muppets Christmas Carol

5) Elf

you can tell I am just a big kid at heart.


There is a huge list here on wikipedia. What are your favourite Christmas movies???

At the end of a shopping Saturday

I felt awful this morning. And last night. A wonderful massive cold is hitting me and thus begins my illicit winter romance with Nyquil, Vicks and NeoCitrain.


I let myself sleep in this morning. til 11 AM. It's been a long long time since I did that. Obviously I must have needed that. As I curled up with my coffee, I went over my list of things I still had to purchase. Added to my list I started last week were things for my student teacher, 4 gifts for our big game exchange Christmas Eve and  the items for my husband.


I came up with the Stop 1, Stop 2, Stop 3 plan of attack so I knew where I was going, in what order, and what I needed at each stop.


I knew it was going to be busy. There are not a lot of places to shop at in this small town of ours, but they are busy, nevertheless. It is also cold, snowy and blowy. Add to that, difficulty parking and long lines at the cash register.


I approached it all with a very zen like attitude. I vowed I would be calm, relaxed and not frustrated at all of those elements and it wouldn 't be too awful.


Yanno what? it actually worked.  I didn't let the slow lines bother me. I didn't let the traffic in the narrow store lanes bother me. I parked at the far end of lines, not circling frantically, as some sharks, hoping that elusive spot by the doors would appear.


At home I dumped everything in my bedroom. Things have to be wrapped pretty much immediately as there isn't much for hiding places in my wee home. I had DS1 help me wrap the ones for his father. I wrapped the Santa gifts, on behalf of the white bearded man himself.


I sorted out the 2 prize gifts for a big game I am playing with my students on Tuesday morning.  I was actually very disappointed when I went to Walmart at their selection of candy. There were NO candycanes. No little bags of kisses or the other generic Candy. I always give my students a treat bag as they head out on the last day and right now, the items in each bag are quite inadequate. Now I have to figure out a plan B and see who has something at reasonable prices. It takes about an hour to pack those treat bags so I guess I need to figure it out by tomorrow.


I still need to cook up the food for our classroom potluck. That will have to go on tomorrow's list as well.


DS1 is playing hockey away in another city tomorrow and his father is going but I think, for peace of mind, I need to stay at home and get more of these items off my 'to do' list so I can feel on top of things.

And now, the dishes are done, my to do lists are finished, the pressies are wrapped, and I do believe, it's time for a glass of wine.

Holy what a week

Yup AWOL I have been.

On the first day of this week (Monday), my schedule gave to me: One Scouting Potluck Supper

On the second day of this week, my schedule gave to me: 2 studentwide activities and  a hockey game for DS1 and me

On the third day of this week my schedule gave to me:1 staff meeting, day 1 of secret santa, 1 DS1 hockey game and a three hour band concert for DS2 and me

On the fourth day of this week my schedule gave to me:one evening of winter festival at school. short concert, carols, sleigh rides, crafts, toffee in the snow, skating, and a bonfire built by little ole me.

On the fifth night of this week my schedule gave to me: one lunch for parents and the students hosted by the homeroom of little ole me.

On the first night of the weekend, my schedule gave to me: 1 pair of jammies, 1 scented candle, 1 tree a glowing and a glass of white wine ice cold for me.

Amazing house

I stumbled across this link last night and was quite amazed at the ingenuity of the design. This apartment in Hong Kong is only about 350 square feet, yet through some amazing walls, it transforms over and over again. It certainly puts the concept of McMansions to shame.

The first 45 seconds are scenes from the city and then it gets to the good stuff.

ahhh the joys of having kids :-)

So yesterday was a wonderfully lazy work day at home. On my ta done list:

• tree up with lights (no decorations yet)
• 12 presents wrapped
• 12 loads of laundry done
• cleaning bathrooms and floors
• moved in the boys' new boxspring and mattress their father bought thlem
• lists of things to do and buy
• roasted chicken supper
• messing with my boys' heads

So I decided to be a bit different in the labelling of the gifts. Like all kids, the boys like to look at the presents and do their guessing. I always put things in different boxes or weigh them down to make it harder to guess. I added to that, the following:

Oh yeah, that's right! I coded them by Alphabet, not by the name of the child. I kept track in a little book what each lettered gift was and who it goes to.

And what do my boys think?

DS1 (Age 16) "Oh mom!!! that's mean!!!! you're cruel! Are they colour coded??? Do the letters on the gifts refer to what's inside????"

DS2 (Age 13) "oh mom you're really messing with DS1's head. Love it!!!"

lol

Snowy Saturday

There are huge lovely flakes falling down outside. Nothing like our neighbours in Ontario and the states below, but still lovely. I have to admit that we prairie folk often see the amounts of snow the eastern folk get, and we're a bit envious. Even my students "ohhhh that would be so cool to get that much snow". I know I know there are all sorts of ramifications that surround that amount of snow, but we do often wish for that experience.

I have nowhere I really NEED to be today. It was absolutely delicious to wake up late, and savour my coffee while curled up in my jammies. I watched a bit of HGTV and felt wonderfully lazy.

On the list today

• a mess of laundry and cleaning.
• a wonderful home made supper which I haven't figured out yet
• tidying up the bill corner; filing what is finished; plans for those not yet
• going over my Christmas budget- what I've purchased and what is left
• making a list of what is left to buy, categorized by store to make for more efficient shopping
• bringing in the tree and letting the branches fall. decorate tonight or tomorrow
• 2 chapters of an Inquiry teacher reference book to read
• plot out my Secret Santa gifts and which days I will give them.
• sending DS1 with the baskets of paper to the recycling when he goes to ref hockey. the bin depot is next to the rink.

My buzzer is about to go. The house is wafting with the smell of fresh made cinnamon buns

Secret Santa ideas

We have drawn again on staff for Secret Santa. It's always a fun lil perk to those whirling days before Christmas. I have drawn a lady who is newer to staff. She joined us at the beginning of last year and works half time with us and half time with another school.

We have a $20 limit. You can give one larger item or you can give little things along the five days. I prefer the little gifts for each of the five days. More fun that way.chri

I have made arrangements with the secretary  of the other school to put the items in my Secret's mailbox on the 2 days she is with them. It will help her feel more connected  to it all.

I have found a great lil poem online with verses I can attach to each gift.

I am looking for ideas for the little gifts along the way.

Have you been a secret santa before??? or received???

Any suggestions???

A survey for the ladies

Gail Vaz-Oxlade has a survey out for ladies right now. If you wish to participate, please enter the following questions into an email to getgvo@gmail.com

If you are not a Gail follower and would like to include 'referred by jolie at shakingthmoneytree.blogspot.com' in the subject line of the email I would appreciate that as there is a lil competition of sorts.

The prize is a Gail book. If I win, I will buy another copy and run a contest for my readers and mail it to you.

Of course if you are a Gail follower I expect you'll pop your own name there.

1. Do you control the purse strings when it comes to making decisions about household spending?
2. Do you have the financial “last word” on spending in your family?
3. How often do you consult your partner before making fiscal decisions? (rank out of ten, ten being all the time, 1 being never)
4. Have you set a financial goal in the last year?
5. Do you have a financial plan to achieve your goal?
6. Are you in charge of your family’s financial education?
7. Have you actually taken steps to educate your kids?
8. Do you consistently encourage your children to save money?
9. How do you prefer to get your financial information?
Newspapers
TV
Online
Blogs
Other: (what?)

10. If you do not take advantage of “financial news” sources, why not?
Lack of interest in financial news
Not relevant to my life
Boring
Too theoretical
Other: (what?)

11. How confident are you in your financial know-how? (rank out of ten, ten being extremely confident, 1 being not at all confident)
12. How old are you:
Under 20
20-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
Over 60

13. Do you have an advisor that you trust?
14. How confident do you feel that you know who to turn to for financial advice? (rank out of ten, ten being extremely confident, 1 being not at all confident)
15. Where to you live?
Canada
U.S.
Other

Where the money stands

as of December 7th

Debts
Mortgage - $35 449.84
Vehicle Loan - $16 960.41

Total Debt - $52 410.25

Savings
Summer 2011 - $275
EF (TFSA)  - $2000

Total Savings - $2275

Planned Savings
RRSP Portfolio - $2500
RESP - $6140

A few changes then this month. Debt went down by $1300ish. I can't wait for it to go below $52 000. It will be nice to see a new and lower 'decade'.

The EF went into the TFSA. I am not sure if I will transfer money to it each month next year or if I will do it in chunks. New realm for me.

The RESP went up this month. I am guessing it is the government incentives that are going in. Tiny balance, but better than the $0 balance I started 2010 with.

The RRSP was added to this month as well. I took the  $1500 I had saved and put it in. I figured I might as well do it now rather than wait til after Christmas. The tax forms will be here sooner then and I will be ready to go when next tax season hits.

Sunday morning this and that

Yesterday was a busy day for me. After a week of neglect it felt like this were just piling up around me.

• Shopping - I went out (actually the husband came out too which is nearly a miracle) and I'd say 90% of my Christmas shopping is done. There are a couple more things on my list but the big stuff is done and just needs to be wrapped. I came home and tallied up the money. It goes so very very fast. I may have to reconsider my budget for xmas next year.
• Baking - I had some baking I needed to do for our staff party. Homemade butter tarts. mmmm addictive.
• Hockey - DS1 had hockey last night. I am working on curbing my concession spending at the games. It's just something in the air when you get to the rink that you just WANT to eat. The money goes fast though and let's be realistic, it's not all that good for you. I bought an herbal tea to sip. Hot, calorie free and $1
• Scouts - DS2 headed off to Service Scouter camp up north. Some outdoor fun. Some indoor fun. He's loving it. Absolutely loving it. He'll be home sometime today.
• Staff party - I have to say that I couldn't ask for better work colleague/friends. We get along so well. Work. play. teamwork. When you spend more waking hours in a day, in theory with your colleagues, than your family, a healthy relationship with them is so important. We had a progressive meal for our party. Cocktails at A's house, Appetizers at B, Entree at C, Dessert at D and ended up at house E. We rented a bus so that everyone could ride together and those who wanted to drink, could do so and know they had a safe ride.  Amazing group of people.
• Today my sister comes home home from Turkey. She spent a month there with a friend for her trip of a lifetime. She's been saving for this forever. I can't wait to hear all about it. My mom was sure she'd be killed travelling in such a different place. Mom's a bit of a  worrier LOL
• DS1 has another hockey game this afternoon and then we're off to mom's for supper.

AWOL - sorry

Sorry guys. The flu hit me shortly after my last post on Sunday and I've been down and out in a variety of ways since then. It's been going around so at least I wasn't alone in my misery.

Things are pulling up though and hopefully Monday will see me right as rain again. I hope the boys don't get it.

Thanks for all the good blog reading while I was down and out.

As a girl from Saskatchewan...I just gotta post this

Awwww the youtube video was removed. ah well. c'est la vie.

Spreading the link love

Time to spread the luv around a wee bit.

1) I will try not to hold it against Maureen that she is experiencing summer while I scrape my windows off each morning. On my bucket list is experiencing a warm Christmas so perhaps Maureen's Australia is a place to go? Towards Retirement With Debt

2) Like myself, Jane is a teacher, with some very special students. I doubt any one of her days is even close to being the same. Whenever I hear folks disparage the teaching profession in general, I think, come spend a week in our shoes (or those of Social workers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, police etc etc etc).  Life Begins at Retirement

3) I have found a kindrid spirit at Cash Only Living . I am a list maker by heart. Lists can be daunting and overwhelming, but they can also be organizationally beneficial and reassuring.

4) Debt Free by 30 is a new blog I found. I wish I had had smarts to make those choices before I hit 30.

for my US readers...

..wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving today. I hope the day finds you full of food, family, friends and fun.

Be safe in your travels. Cherish the little moments and the whirly chaos and have a great long weekend.

I will try not to blame you for the lack of original programming on TV last night :P~~~~~

I was actually home for a change and looking forward to Survivor, ANTM and Criminal Minds and was crushed to find recaps or reruns.

I guess TV was thinking of you and your travelling time.

So not only did I not get to watch TV...I had time on my hands to do.........HOUSEWORK lol .

Have a great day.

With privilege comes responsibility

Last week I commented on how nice it is that DS1 is driving as I can use him for a runner now and again.

I've been trying to impart driving wisdom/experience in timely chunks and it's good to see that he is learning.

He knows now what I meant when I would say 'no really......seriously slow down!!!! it's slippery'. I can say it all day but until he experiences it, it has no deep meaning for him.

He understands that there is far more car responsibility in winter. He needs to plug it in at night, and remember to unplug it in the morning. C'mon all you winter drivers...tell me you haven't forgotten once and dangled the cord for awhile LOL. He learned that it needs to warm up before he drives it.......and that..........burns...................gas!! "Man I seem to be filling up all the time now". It validates for him why he needs to referee and earn $$ to fill that hungry little tank of his.

He's learning why I said to keep boots and big gloves in the trunk, and the traction benefits of kitty litter.

He's learning that driving in the winter (other seasons too) isn't just about  what he's doing...but defensively watching what others are doing.

I have to say as I left the house behind him this morning and went by the gas station and watched he and his brother there....filling up............... no mama with them, it really hit me hard psychologically,  how they are growing up.  It's a very weird feeling.

I sure hope I did a few things right along their journey.

Stocking Stuffers

I'm just curious about what my readers happen to find when Santa stuffs the stockings on that magical night.

Some items that have been found in our home or those of my sisters are:
(keep in mind my children are not little anymore)

• personal care items (toothbrush, paste etc)
• mixed nuts
• chocolates
• fishhooks
• candles
• lottery tickets
• books
• magazines
• hand warmer hot packs
• golf balls and tees

What do you find?

Started the shopping

So this past week I took some time to start writing out what I'd like to give for gifts this year. I write out the possibilities for the boys, then do the math to see how much things cost and then begin the fine tuning process.

This year I also included the stocking and S gifts. I don't always include the stocking stuff when I am figuring things out and boy things really can add up. It was a good lesson for my husband, who just buys willynilly til he's out of money, and doesn't really think about WHAT he is buying. I don't know if he learned anything, but I did try.

We had parent teacher interviews last week and I had a bit of downtime on the second night between visitors. I started buying things at Amazon.ca last year and I have to say I love it. I am speaking primarily of electronic items. Our only option here in town for such things is Walmart. It's always such a zoo when I go there and there is no guarantee they will have the game/games I am looking for. Then comes the joy of waiting my turn for the blue vested key holder to have time to come to me and pull said items out of the locked case. Then the line to pay. I don't mind Walmart for the regular items but there is something about that electronic department that sends me a quiver.

Enter Amazon.ca. I go there via my airmiles account and pay with my BMO airmile card so win win there. I can see immediately what they have, or do not have. I choose the ones so I get the 'super saver free shipping'. clickity click and it's all done.

I even have it delivered to my school so I don't have to worry about getting to the post office before it closes.

It's only a small % of the shopping I do, and I think our local walmart will do just fine without my small purchases like that, so I don't feel guilty.

As soon as the amount shows on my CC, I will pay it off via online banking from the Christmas account.

I did not have to spend gas to get there. I did not have to brave the cold. I did not have to fight to find a place to park, wrestle through the aisles and wait at the register.

Well, for those purchases, that is. for the rest....see above chaos and plant me in it front and center.

What % of the shopping you do, is online?

A quiet weekend for a change

Usually our world is busy with DS1s hockey and DS2s scouts or band or curling but comparatively, it was a quiet weekend.

DS1 did some reffing for hockey so that earned him a bit of gas money for the upcoming month. I have him well trained. We have an envelope  where he puts his ref money and writes down the date and amount. Then if he takes some out for gas, he write that down as well. He has a habit of spending whatever is in his wallet so it's a start to teaching him how to save for upcoming expenses.

DS2 had a quick band workshop in the city. We got him to the bus by 7:30 AM yest and he was home by 2 PM.

With the day off on Friday, lots of the running around was already done before the weekend started. What a treat. I got some cooking and baking done. Today was couch day. I watched Elisabeth and then Elisabeth: the Golden Age on the History Channel. I have been wanting to watch those forever and this was the perfect day for it.

A bit of cleaning is next on the list to be followed by watching the Riders in hopes they win and earn their spot in the Grey Cup!

supper is at mom's. Delicious.

happy weekend y'all

A busy morning at the bank

I was fortunate enough to have the day off....and SMART enough (two weeks ago) to book time with two folks at the bank for appointments.  It's rare that both those things occur LOL

I accomplished four things today:

1) I took the $1500 I had saved over the past year and applied that to my RRSPs. That gives me a teeny lil amount of $2500 in there, but it's better than the $0 I had in there this time last year.

2) I filled in the paperwork to start a TFSA with our local credit union. The interest rate is 1.25%. That is not the 2% I know some online banks offer but I am just not familiar enough with things and confident enought o venture to a bank I cannot actually go to and see. I popped the $2000 I had in my savings for EF into this. One of the downsides of this is that if I need the money for a true Emergency, I have to go to the bank to fill in a paper to get it.

3) I finally changed over my basic savings to a High Interest Savings. I use the word "high" loosely as it is only at 1%.  But it is infinitely better than the 0.150% that the 'regular' savings was getting. I closed out the 'old' savings account


4) The bad news is that there is only the $1000 of my Christmas savings and the $275 of my summer 2011 savings in that account now after everything else was moved out.

Not bad for 37 minutes of actual 'in bank' time. LOL

now onward to my day off. wheeeee

I have to admit...........it's nice

It's cold out. not winter cold but 'I'm not ready for winter' cold. it's a long week ahead. DS2 and his father are gone to Scouts. DS1 is here and like the 16 year old walking stomach he is..............he guzzles the last of the milk.

I check the downstairs fridge and grrrr softly to see that there is zero milk left.

but I'm in my jammies as I bustle about doing laundry and dishes.

I don't WANT to get dressed and go to the store so there is milk for morning.

WAIT a minute!!! DS1 has a license!!!!!!

big smiles for mama

Off DS goes to the store to get milk for morning.

There are definitely perks to him having a license.

Planning for Christmas

There isn't snow on the ground..........yet...........but it's a coming. With report cards handed out and parent teacher interviews next week, it's clear that my Christmas clock is ticking.

I was over budget last year and I don't really want to do that again so planning is essential.

Now I know some of you bought your presents in March, but I have not yet started. I've been thinking about it, but not yet started. Right now I am just mulling over the list of things I will need to purchase over the coming month so I can proportion the money correctly. Here is what I have so far...

• Christmas tree
• Christmas offering at church
• Postage for Christmas cards
• Christmas cards (I have)
• Wrapping paper and tags (I have)
• Ingredients for Christmas baking
• Staff Christmas party

Gifts for:

• Husband
• DS1
• DS2
• My parents
• My new great nephew
• stocking stuffers for the cats
• Secret Santa at work
• something for my student 'teacher in training'

Anything I might be missing???

donator or purchaser

I don't get out a lot. I mean literally. Aside from hockey/scouts/band or school I really don't go out in the evenings. There are no fancy dinners. There is no night at a club. No trips here and there.

Last night there was a big fundraising event in town. I've heard a lot about it but honestly had no real clue how 'big' it was. My sister's business always buys a table of seats and this year she asked me to go.

The 'seat' was $40, which she picked up the tab for. The wine was $25 a bottle for the same bottle I'd buy at the LBS (Liquor Board Store) for $10. There were more expensive wines there but my palate and budget are limited. Sister also bought the wine.

There were a variety of ways a regular girl like me could donate to the organization. There were silent auctions of some very generous items. There was a live auction of some trips, some furniture and some sports packages. There were tickets you could purchase for different draws like golf packs, IPADs, the costly Arbonnne skin care products I love etc.

Each of those draws were separate unless you bought what was called the passport. It gave you entry into everything except for the silent auction or the live auction. The individual draws were quite costly but if you bought the passport, it gave you a lot of chances to win. It cost $50.

I mean the whole point of the evening is to socialize and enter draws. If one didn't want to give, there was little point in going. I had some money building up in my charity pot so a passport I bought.

It took forever for that portion of the evening to start but it was fun. Didn't win a darn thing though LOL

But I was drawn to the silent auction and the live auction items. Some were donated to the cause by business, but not all of them. Many were donated by individuals or families who truly believe in this organization and wanted to add something to help.

They went for fairly large amounts. Not Sotheby auction prices mind you :-) but more than I could certainly pay.

Which brings me to my question.....

Assuming you were not on a budget and so wonderfully money minded....and you had...say..... a $1000................
would you get more intrinsic joy out of DONATING a prize worth $1000 to be auctioned off..........................or would  you get more joy out of bidding on, and purchasing $1000 for an item?????

Where the money stands

as of November 8th

Debts

Mortgage - $35 700
Vehicle Loan - $18 046.68

Total Debt - $53 746.68

Savings
EF - $2000
RRSP - $1500

Total Savings - $3500

Planned Savings
RRSP Portfolio - $1000
RESP - $ 5335

I have removed XMAS 2010 from the savings list as I am plotting and planning it's use.

My debt is down by about $1900 this month. whee

Gorgeous Sunday

For November in Saskatchewan, it's a glorious day. The sun is shining. It's a gorgeous prospective 10 C today.

Sadly I don't think I am going to get outside much.

DS1 is down in the south of the province playing hockey. His father went down too and they won't be home until late tonight.

DS2 and I have schoolwork. He has a project to work on and I have report cards. Hours and hours of report card work to do. It used to take much longer when it was all done by hand so I am glad that there are computer programs to ease things. Still there are a lot of details to take care of.  I am sure as I head to school there will be several teachers there working away.

I have to fit in a run to the grocery store to stock up for the week and squeeze in some household chores.

Ahhhh no rest for the wicked, and this weekend, I must be particulary wicked :P

What I got for (almost) free

Last weekend was the point redeeming bonus weekend at Shoppers. Spent $75 worth of points and get $25 worth of product free.

The last one of these I did was at the beginning of July and that was the first time I had ever redeemed points.

I shop there carefully. Only on bonus points weekends like 20x points and usually only the items that are on sale. Otherwise it's not worth shopping there as the products are more expensive there than say, at Walmart.

I feel like I got more last time but perhaps that is just because there were more items on my table.

I am just finishing off with the hair care products and mascara that I bought in that July run.

So what did I buy this time?
Needs: girl stuff, mascara, foundation and deoderant for the boys.
Kinda needs: Halloween candy for the trick or treaters. Notice NO chocolate. If I bought it, I'd eat it. willpower is weak around it.

Wants: the cotton pads, the facial toner and the mark antony curl and shine.

yeah not nearly as fun as last time. I must make sure that I have more fun with it the next time I redeem.

$10 bills. I miss you.

I've probably said this before, but I MISS not getting $10 bills out of debit machines. A long time ago, perhaps too long, one of the banks I go to offered $10 and $20. As far as I know, that is a thing of the past. $20 is the standard.

It's not that I have anything against $20. They are lovely and green and if someone wanted to give me one, I sure would take it. But I miss the lovely royal purple of our Canadian $10 bill.

I use it for the different denominations in our jars.  I use it for the boys' allowance. I need it for different things at work when there is something we need to chip in for.

When I fill my jars I would really prefer to just go to the ATM and take out the money, but I am a girl who likes variety in her ....errr.....currency lol

I know....get off your lazy butt Jolie and head to the brick and mortar and take it out.  Trouble is that it's only open until 4 Mon through Thurs. Friday it's open until 5. I just can't get there after school most days. Which means running out at noon. I know..quit complaining and just do it LOL

I am just an equal opportunity currency kinda girl  :P

PS- I am officially an old woman today. DS1 turns 16 today. lordy!!

IRONIC ADDITION - I gave DS1 $20 to treat he and a friend for lunch today at school since I can't get away. He said "oh boy I can go grab a chocolate milk before school.Oh wait!! the lady in there will get mad at me cuz I have a $20 and that will use up her float." I traded him for a precious $10 and 2 $5 LOL

Allowance

Do you give yourself an allowance? Spending money? blow money ??(though I really dislike that term) 

I give my kids $10 a week to do with as they please. they are almost 16 and 13.  I considered giving them more and having them budget for things like clothes but I don't think we were ready for that.

I give myself $20 a week.  For whatever I please. It's kind of nice to have that little bit of money should I want to grab something for lunch during the week. I'm at the rink multiple times during the week and that money could go for a Timmy's en route to the rink or something from the concession.

I've saved the leftovers as well. Perhaps I might want to save for a higher priced skin care or hair care product. I have to admit though that it takes forever to save dibbles of allowance leftovers for something bigger.

Sometimes I spend the whole $20. Sometimes I spend next to none.

When I think of the larger, monthly sum, then I get squirmy. $80 a month!! That turns that lil $20 into something bigger and I think 'wow I could be using that elsewhere in the budget'

Still, I think a girl (or guy) needs a little something so that it isn't so tight that you start to hate the whole process. I want to stay healthy in terms of my budget lifespan and debt payoff.  Just my opinion.

A healthy chunk

51%

yup that's right .... 51%

I was paid on Monday. That fun day when there is cash in my account. Then I spend that day and the next two skipping about moving money from this account to that or beginning the bill paying process. It's a bit like an easter bunny hopping about and distributing fat free calorie free eggs.

The day I get paid I remove the money that goes to my debt and to my savings goals.
So out comes the vehicle payment.

Out comes the money for RRSP, EF, XMAS, Summer etc (I am currently done my goals for that for the year and using that for debt.

Out comes the money I put in an account each month to help pay for costs of the boys' activities and fees.

Out comes the extra money I have between now and Christmas as I've maxed out on CPP and EI contributions. That money is also going towards debt.

What's left behind is the money for the jars for the month, the boys' allowance, RESP money that comes out on the 1st, utilities, money set aside for annual fees/expenses (like Costco), gym membership etc.

When I take out all those first things, I am removing 51% of my cheque. I hadn't really thought about it in that way before, but that's what is happening. Now all the things that makes up the 51% are good. Well ok the vehicle debt is bad but I walked into that with my eyes wide open. and I am glad I have a bit of extra money right now to make an extra payment (or two) on the vehicle each month to get it finished faster.

It does really make me realize  how much is going towards that debt and I often wonder what wonderful things I could be doing with that money, did I not have debt.

However getting rid of my van was a good thing. I hear the engine's gone on it now. Could be the way the new owners drove it, but one never knows.

I know when I am done with this debt I will need to be saving for other big things.... washer and dryer and getting very old....the boys' will be going to university and I won't have enough saved.....they will be getting married one day....

It's frightening when you think of all those things.