A whirly week and a money day

You've all had those weeks where your usual chaos of busyness is compounded by chaos's cousin frenzy.

It's one of those weeks were the to do list grows exponentially. As fast as you cross an item off the list, four more appear at the bottom of the list.

It's a combo pack between work and home. Several big things happening at school which I happen to be in charge of, plus the boys running six ways from sunday and flogging away at homework.

So in the midst of that today two money things crossed my plate today. The first is that FINALLY husband's insurance sent the cheque for DS2's glasses. Their policy covers 68% of the bill. So I quicky whapped that money into the account that covered the Mastercard payment for said glasses. It's been about 6 weeks and I refused to allow that charge to stay on my MC. I do so love that 'paid in full' feeling.

I quickly mailed off the statement to my insurance and ran it to the mail. It will be slower getting there with the upcoming stat holiday but it will get there and my insurance is generally quick to refund.

Secondly our chit chat over lunch at school I heard the news I had not yet had the opportunity to hear. Bank interest rates are going up. and soon.  toute suite.  that becomes more important as my mortgage is due for renegotiation July 1.

I quickly phoned over to the local branch of my bank and was able to renegotiate over the phone. Our current rate is 5.95%. I locked in for five years at 3.75%. Bare in mind I really have little knowledge of mortgage negotiation, but my math skills tell me 3 is lower than 5. I ensured I had the same good terms as before and also checked on how much of  a lump sum I can make on the principal without penalty, and what the penalty would be should we get a windfall and could pay a larger chunk.  The seven year fixed term was 5.79% which is only slightly better than I currently have.

I kept the amount of payment the same per month. It technically could have gone down about $100 ish, but if we can make the current payment, then there is no reason to stop paying that amount. By doing so, I knocked 16 months off the life of my mortgage.

I have no clue if I did well or not. It was a fast decision, a bit in the dark. Right now I feel good about it though. Let's hope that continues to be the way I feel as time passes.

That's it???????????

You know it's coming. It's not written anywhere. You won't find it in any literature. But you know, once a month, without fail, it happens. Not just for one day. But every day......for five ...........sometimes six days.

No matter what you say it never seems to go away. It's uncomfortable. It's inconvenient. It's irritating.

You know what I'm talking about!!

It seems like every month there is this week that comes, when my nights are filled with those phonecalls. Surveys, telemarketers, and financial institutions.

I will be honest. I don't know the answer. Do we have a do not call registry in Canada? Does it apply to all kinds of phone calls or just telemarketers/surveys etc?

The ones from my primary bank, BMO are the most annoying because...well....it's like family. Just seems like they should know better.

I've been nice and said no thank you.

I've been nice and said 'I am not interested in these kinds of calls. no more please"

I've been irritated and said "is there a problem with my account or my Mastercard?" to which they say no

I've been honest and said "honestly, your number does not show up with a name and there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I would tell you any banking information as you can't prove you are who you say you are.

Tonight I d used all of them. SHE sounded irritated with me. sigh

So after I hung up, I called their help number and dutifully waited for the muzak to stop and a real voice to come on the line. I was very soft spoken and very polite and said that I appreciated knowing they would call if there was a problem, but after five phone calls in five days this week, I wanted to be removed from the run of the mill customer service phoning list.

He asked to verify my phone number and first name. He maden a few clickity clicks and voila. It was done.

Amazing. simply amazing.

glorious sunday - this n that

Well considering we had a blizzard here last Tuesday and Wednesday, today was pretty much remarkable. 19C and nary a breeze in the air. I have to say that 19 or 20 C would be my idea of a perfect summer :-) I am not much of a heat heat person.

I did a variety of things today. I hit the store and got a nice round of fruit and veggies, along with some meat for the week. I did up a menu plan til Good Friday.

I curled up and filed paperwork, tidying up that 'for now' bill area. I spent a wonderful half hour outside with my cats. Give them nice weather and someone sitting on the step with them and they are in heaven. The tabby thoroughly loves sitting on the top of the back seat of the SUV with one of the doors open. Here he is outside but not and he thinks he's pretty cool doing it. He was so happy when I began to clean some things out of my vehicle, and hopped right in.

Speaking of tidying, I found $3.75 in change under the seats in there as well as a can of OFF that traveled the cold Canadian winter in there. Is frozen, then thawed OFF any good? LOL

I packed up a whole vehicle full of paper, plastic and carboard and headed down the street to the neighbourhood recycling depot. Based on how full all the bins are, I wasn't the only one who had this idea.

DS1 is away at a hockey camp so he's keeping me up to date with texts. I do love that we can be connected this way.

I stopped over at mom and dad's and loaded up facebook and showed them the first pic of their first Great grandchild............to be. My niece put her ultrasound up there.

I was lazy and watched Iron Chef America. I would have loved to have gone for a walk but my left knee is messed up after all the hours of walking last night at the fundraiser. It was swollen when I came home. Being old, arthritic and overweight sucks. Only one of those is fixable.

I found an episode of Til Debt Do Us Part on slice.ca that I hadn't seen before so I watched that too. Nothing like  a Gail fix to get a girl through the day.

Now it's time to get supper for DS2 and myself. Just pasta and cheese, and a salad and that's ok by me.

I would love a month of Sundays like this.

Hope you all had a great day.

Last Fundaiser done...for now

*inhales deeeeeeply and breathes a sigh of relief*

After seven long months and dozens of different activities, the fundraising is finally finished. The boys are in a few different activities; some sports, Scouts and Band. It just seems to be the nature of the beast that with these activities come the parental duty of selling this, delivering that and working the other to offset the activity costs.

I get that without the fundraising, many programs can't run. I also get that if people had to pay full (without fundraising supplements) price, many would not be able to afford to put their children in the activities, which is a shame.

We had many different items we had to sell. We can canteens we had to work. We had bingos we had to work. Each on it's own isn't too bad but when it all snowballs together, you get fatigue. You get parents who don't show up to do their share and leave the rest scrambling.

It reaches a point where if you are not careful, people will start to avoid you for fear the only reason you are approaching them, is to buy something :P

In the same way we have to be careful at school what kinds of activities we do, how we fundraise and how much we ask of families. The amount of 'please join our fundraiser' mail our school gets in a year is phenomenal. All of them are great causes but one simply cannot do everything.

 We meet at the beginning of each year to try to decide what we'd like to support in the coming year. Try to spread the love out a bit. Does one particular charity have special meaning to any of our school families? Does it support local, national or international? Is it something our students can DO rather than something they can buy/eat/consume. Our student leaders get choice too as we think that's an important part of being a part of the community and making choices.

I decided

not to today. I really want to however I don't want to set myself up with a lack of cash for the month. I have to cover the $200 for RESP out of my annual expenses account as it won't be a regular part of the budget til April 25th. I also am still waiting for the reimbursements for the $279 glasses. No clue how long that is going to take.

I will hold tight and see what next week brings. Regardless of which way I go, I am very close to being done. Excellent feeling.

I am tempted!!!!

Lookie that sidebar folks. Regard the awe and beauty that is my consolidated /personal loan bar. It stands at a glowing 95%. It's so exciting for me.

Today the regular payment came out. It usually hovers around $540 of the $579 that came out, but today a lovely $567 came off. I am guessing the combo of the lump sums I put in and the fact that so little is left did it.

I only have $870.29 left on the loan.

Where was I?

Oh yes,  I am tempted. My income tax return is $762 and should be here in about two weeks.

$870 - 762= $ 108

I want very badly to go in today after work and pay the rest out of my account. The tax money would be here soon and the remaining $108...well I had $80 targetted for lump sum out of my budget and I just happen to have $30 sitting in my drawer leftover from last week's groceries.

I could do it.

Of course I would have to be careful with my money til the tax money came back so I don't fall short.

I am taking a risk that the refund comes in a timely fashion.

But then I'd be done. No next payment. No running to bank in a couple weeks to do it.

No accrued interest.

Should I be IMpatient and just go do it today?

Or

Should I just wait the two ish weeks and pay it then?

jars locked and loaded

Happy Pay day to me

I have plans for money

My loan will soon be do ...one

Happy Pay day to me.

I am heading off to the ATM today to withdraw my week's worth of money. I have to confess I have not used the magic jars as Gail intended....as I did when I first started with this Plan with a capital P. I used a combo of withdrawing cash or keeping track of debit transactions. I also haven't distinguished between the jars for a long while also. Instead of $x for a jar it really was I have $x for the week altogether.

I need to switch things up now and again so I don't lose oomph for this budgety life. So I am back to old school. Money in the jar. Info in the budget binder. Ideally I'd like to give this a shot til the end of June to see if I learn anything different about my spending habits.

Happy Budget Day everyone!

Second Last Lump Sum Payment!

I went to the bank today and put down $220 on my  loan, which I saved out of budget this month thus far. It really is the beginning of the end of it. I will have a payment come out this Friday and then I will just have to wait for my tax return and find a bit more to make my final lump sum.

It's rather exciting to see my sidebars at 92% paid off. Getting sooooo close. It's a really really good feeling and a great sense of accomplishment to pay this off ahead of time.

Annual Expenses

As I tinker with the changing budget I am checking to be sure I haven't forgotten anything as I prepare. Currently, I am taking $50 a month and tucking it into a savings account to manage the annual expenses as they come up. I am hoping to add to this the vehicle plates of $1000 as I spoke about the other day. Here is how it looks so far.

Annual Expenses

CAA -  $110.00

Costco -  $60.00

Taxes -  $85.00

Driver’s Licence  -  - $25.00

Vehicle Plates (General Insurance)  - $1000.00 est

Vehicle Package Policy -  $320.00

Total Expenses $1600.00

Amount to set aside per month $135.00

This amount is quite do-able. Once the monthly committment to the plates is done in August and I pay for the full year in advance, I will simply take $85 of the current $87 that comes out now for the plates, and move them to the annual expenses account. Sounds simple. Things never work out that way, but right now, it sounds simple :-)

Taxes are in

We went last night to get them done as it was the first night we had free time together. The cost for mine alone was $81. I vow next year I will face my fears,  bite the bullet and buy a kit to do my taxes!!!

I was disappointed in my return, by about $300 to $400 dollars. I honestly was expecting something in the $1000 to $1100 range. Not because I have a sniff about deductions and refunds! Everything seemed pretty much the way it was last year plus I had the RRSPs  and more charitable donations this year. And since last year I got just under $1000......well...my 'cross my fingers' math skills had a different number in mind.

I had more in income this past year so that went against me. There was also some income tax breaks they had last year that boosted my return.

My refund came to $762. Which isn't awful at all, but it's not the number I had economic fantasies about. With MY number, I would have my loan paid off  in two weeks, between the refund and my next loan payment. With MY number, my Dr evil fun, but diabolical plans to move forward, were happening very soon.

Alas, I am not all poweful and my number did not come through. So I will  have to sit down and figure out how soon I can make this personal loan go away so I can move on to the next phase of my financial life. It will still be before the end of the school year as it was only a few hundred dollars difference. Just not on the happy fantasy time line I had hoped for.

What's that raquet????

Well good news on the broken raquet dilemna.

They took it back today with the receipt. They were prepared to exchange it for one just like it, though we weren't sure if we wanted the same one (in case it had the same problems). Unfortunately they did not have one just like it in stock.

Along comes the assistant manager of the sports section, who just happened to be DS1's assistant coach for hockey this year. He happily exchanged it for a raquet worth $40 more than the one I had bought him, and with a better case.

Needless to say, DS1 is excited beyond all belief.

Lessons learned: it pays to keep receipts, to be polite when wanting to exchange broken products, and to be nice to your assistant coach during the season. :P

Now we just have to figure out how to go about exchanging his Bauer hockey sticks, which they announced nationwide yesterday have dangerous amounts of lead in them.

snowflakes!!!!

nope, not the fun kind. not the money kind. not the kind that makes you feel like you've accomplished something by saving and accomplished even more by whapping them onto debt or in a target account.

the real kind.

the wet kind

the white kind

le sigh.

We had a week of glorious melty weather. My front lawn lost all it's snow. My back lawn lost almost all of it. heck one day it was even 15C. People were out walking. Laughing. Smiling. Celebrating.

I told the students this is wayyyyy too early for spring...that something was going to happen. No I wasn't being a pessimist. I was being a lifelong resident of SK who has hit that 'certain age' and has seen it happen before.

I should have known yesterday when it was grey and -3 and windier than all heck. It even rained a bit. That bitter cold, right to your bones rain.

And this morning, as  a wee gift for our overindulgence, my vehicle and lawn are covered with mother nature's white stuff. Honestly, I think, as a woman, I get enough gifts from mother nature LOL

So for all those east of me, who have had glorious weather, whose forecast was ominous....it probably wasn't lying. Snowflakes, too,  shall come your way.

I need a Timmys!!!! Happy Friday

Thank You!! "office in a box"

Really, really,

Thank you!

At Christmas, one of the gifts I got DS1 was a badminton raquet. He really wanted to try out for the school team this year as it's his first year eligible for it. To add to that, the badminton season doesn't interfere with his hockey / soccer season. That means a lot to a boy who loves sports but has to choose between his beloved hockey and school teams.

So buy him one I did. Heck buying him a gift that gets him UP and moving instead of Xbox really makes a mama happy.

Season started a week ago. He had two practices and one day I took him to my school and he played there with his cousin.

He comes home tonight with it in two pieces. Just whapping at the birdie, in the air, the head detaches from the arm and goes flying across the room. Lovely.  He happens to be off school tomorrow so I suggested he and his father go to where we bought it and see if there is anything that can be done to remedy this without costing mama more money.

"But mom, we need the receipt. I don't suppose you have the receipt from Christmas do you?"

Mom has never been one to keep papers and receipts, until recently.

"Could it be in that box you have in the bedroom where you put papers mom?? You know...the one the cat sits on to look out the window??"

*big smile*

That's my boy!!

There it was tucked neatly under Christmas receipts. While it wasn't a hugely top of the line raquet, it wasn't plain jane either. $70 is $70.

Here's hoping the store will help a girl out.

Post Loan Plans

Well I think I've narrowed it down on how I want to allocate my $579 of loan money  I will have when this bad boy is paid off. I've changed it's allocation more than a few times and I may well want to again. That's the beauty of a budget: knowing it is flexible to change.

Here is the breakdown of $579:

• $200 to RESPs
• $50 added to jars for clothing and gifts
• $50 added to what I put in the boys' expense account each month
• $279 goes as a lump sum on my vehicle loan.

Looks fairly simple and straightforward, right?

Well not quite.

Before I start on this, I want to set aside $1000 for my vehicle plates (basic insurance). Currently I have $87 a month taken off each and every month, because, well, who has $1000 to pay it all at once for a year? In SK, the prices are set by the provinical government for this, so there is no shopping about to get a better deal. It is what it is. I'd really like to break the /month cycle if I could. It costs more when you pay per month instead of all at once, and I'd just like to know I have the security and personal fortitude to make this happen.

Now honestly I don't know that it is exactly $1000. Prices go up every year and they send you  a statement the month it is due (Aug for me). I called to see if they knew about how much it would be and was told it was far too soon to know that information. I tried looking for my notice from last year which has the price if you pay all at once, by month etc. but do you think I can find that one??? nope. le sigh. bad paperkeeper jolie!

By my reasoning if I currently pay $87 a month x 12 months then this route is costing me $1044. Since paying all at once is cheaper, it stands to reason that even with a yearly increase, I should be pretty close with my $1000

So as soon as the consolidated/personal loan is paid off, I will put  $279 plus the $50 I plan to put in the boys account, all towards this new goal...tucked safely away in my savings account. I currently have $80 in my budget line, so I will add that too, plus any snowflakes I get. That gives me a minimum of $409 going in there per month. With a few snowflakes tossed in, my hope is to have this $1000 by end of May. Then I can start the full above plan by end of June.

Insurance update update

He talked to HR this morning. Apparently the office staff and the general staff are on different plans. The HR gave him the office staff forms with the office staff numbers through a different insuring company. I think it's sweet that the office staff gets twice the coverage on their policy than the regular workers *rolls her eyes*

So we shall try again today through the peasant below the salt worker's insurer and see how fast they come back :-)

What a mix up. Thanks for the happy thoughts and commiserations.

Insurance Update

Well the envelope finally came in the mail, after three long weeks, but it was not the contents I was hoping for. Instead of a cheque there was a notice saying 'your company does not have vision care through our company'. oh goodie. lovely. given that husband's company GAVE him the insurance form and policy numbers, that seems a bit odd.

So I called the insurance company prepared for a fight because a) I am not the policiy holder (but he's not allowed to make calls during work and his work time = insurer's business hours) and b) just because there is often that cranky, hard to understand person on the other end of the line (in my past experiences).

I was pleasantly surprised with the service I got, though it did not resolve anything. I began with giving the policy number and member ID followed by "and yes it is my husband's policy and I know you probably can't tell me anything but I'm going to tell you my sad story anyways". She laughed.

They have him in the system...they have a claim he made before XMAS for workman's comp when he injured his back at work. Neither of the policy numbers match though and eerily, there is not a policy number on the one claim they have. Aside from his phone number on there and address, there is no listing of me or the boys, which there should be.

Hubby's company has been taken over and absorbed multiple times and each time their policies have changed so I honestly suspect the error is on the work end of the deal.

So now he has to go to his HR officer at work, explain our sad sad story, get them to check what policies the company has, what the ID numbers are and then have the HR person contact Their contact for insurance and do whatever red tape they have to update the policy and get the info correct. Then when I have THOSE documents, I have to refile again with their insurer to get that percentage, wait and then send that form in with mine.

good lord!!

Clothing/Gifts Allocation

I'm thinking of tinkering with my jars when I redo my budget when the loan is done.  One of the areas I struggle with is clothing....or clothing/gifts if you structure your jars a la Gail Vaz Oxlade. It's never been really a solid  part of my budget line to be honest. I think I was in denial. And then they would grow and need  new jeans/shoes/coats and I'd be scrambling.

I have two growing boys in early and mid teens. I think the older one is hitting another spurt as he's been eating even more than usual lately. sigh. He's already  6 foot 2 at 15. I told him if he reaches the point where he has to duck to walk under the archway leading out of the kitchen to the livingroom, he has to go live with his grandmother and she can pay to feed him :P

For those with kids who are willing.....how much a month do you set aside for clothing???

A glorious Sunday

Really, how can one complain? It's a bright sunshiny Sunday, and while the temps are only supposed to get to 2 C, it's ABOVE zero and that's always a good thing. The house is quiet with DS2 and his father at Scout camp, and DS1 still unconscious and drooling on his pillow.

It's very exciting to see how much snow melted yesterday. I think it hit 8C here. My front lawn is probably 80% exposed now and a good chunk of it will probably go today. The back yard faces north, so I am guessing there is still 80% covered with snow. Still, if it stays above zero, and if I shovel a bit from what's against the house out into the sunshine, there may be a chance I can get to the clothesline soon. Very exciting!!

The sunshine has warmed my heart and makes the prospect of cleaning bathrooms, laundry and report cards...less evil.

Wishing all of my readers a wonderful Sunday doing something you love with people you love.

******************UPDATE************************

It's 7 C. So gorgeous. People are out walking everywhere. Did 3 hours at the school. Still have final report card comments to write. Blech! I hope you parents read them because it takes forever!

Future Plans

Ok I have to admit this isn't a new plan. I've been plotting this and hoping for this since sometime in October or November. I was hesitant to say it outloud as karma can be a bitch and when she overhears you have good plans, she likes to twirl her long, tapered nailed fingers into the pot and laugh hysterically.

Soon, I will be done with my consolidated loan. Very soon if fates are kind; a little longer if fates are not.

I then reach the point where I have $579 a month to reassign to another part of my budget line. I spent many an enjoyable cup of coffee or tea scribbling on one of my many notepads, trying to determine the possible ways to allocate such money. It's great fun to imagine and the more I planned, the more possible ways I could arrange it.

Practicality reins supreme though. In early January, the opportunity of beginning RESPs opened itself up. I had enough 'extra' money to hold that $200 a month for a few months, on the self promise that I would allocate $200 of the $579 to the dedicated RESP line as soon as it became available. I am very happy to see the money go in that direction.

I could pay off the balance of my 20 month computer loan. That would be about $700ish

I could pay the whole amount of my plates (basic vehicle insurance) in one lump in August, instead of  choosing the per month option which costs more.

I could add on  to my EF.

I can whap as much as possible down on my Vehicle Loan.

I played out the scenarios a few different ways and I think I have a couple viable plans. Now I just have to wait until my Income Tax is finished to see what kind of refund I get back, and which plan I will choose.

Insurance Refunds

This is a wee shout out to those of you with medical insurance that covers things like dental, vision and medical.

How quickly does your insurer get your cheque back to you when you file?

DS2 ended up needing glasses a few weeks ago. I paid in full on my MCard. Dutifully I came home and filled in the forms. My husband has some coverage through his work and I have decent through mine. According to the  rules when filing for children, it must be filed first through the policy of whichever parent's bday fall first in the calendar year. That is husband's.  His will cover only a fraction of it. I will then send the forms from husband's insurer on to MY company for the remainder of what is covered.

We sent the forms in first thing a couple Fridays ago. That same day, I sent in forms to My insurer for the contact lens I got for myself the same day as I bought DS2's glasses. My refund for my contacts came in the following Tuesday. That's a whole 3 business days of mail going, being processed and cheque returning. I think that's pretty fantastic.

We are still waiting on the cheque from my husband's insurer. It seems like forever. Meanwhile the MC statement came and went. I covered it out of emergency savings. It' is a real pain in the hiney though knowing I have to file, wait, and file again to get all the parts.

Still, I am glad I have insurance...and emergency savings!!

Left behind

I have to admit it. I peeked. I mean it was right there in front of me, on top of three others. I really try not to peek but when people leave them right where I am, it's hard to resist the urge.

Ohhhh don't worry, I was very subtle about it. I didn't touch it. I tried not to gawk.............but it was right there.............so................big. In comparison, really, because above all things, size...is....relative.

I really don't get why people leave their ATM withdrawl receipts right there at the vestible. I mean you have choices...you can NOT take a receipt and just look at your balance online. You can take a receipt and then tuck it in your pocket/purse to take home and file or toss. You can even toss it in the waste slot of the vestible where it is not littering AND it is out of sight.

Maybe that's just a local thing but there are receipts in there anytime I go. When I 'happen to notice them' most are a sad tale of financial woe. Money in overdraft, ones that say insufficient funds, ones that have buta  few dollars to them.

While there are a  mess of xxxxxxx's across the account info, can someone really hack your account based on the info they find on your receipt? Am curious (and perhaps naive, I guess).

I use my online banking to reconcile so most of the time I don't take a receipt. I do if I deposit something though, until it clears through and I know all is well. Otherwise I just don't bother.

The receipt I was gawking at..................had a balance............. of $22 000. I laughed and thought hmmmmm I wonder whose this could be????

Where is your refund going???

Just nosy mostly LOL

In the past my refunds have mostly been frittered away to the land of 'no clue where it went'. While I have not yet done my taxes (waiting on one more form), I am 'assuming' there will be a refund of sorts.

For those of you who do get refunds, where will it go?

Debt?
Long Term Savings?
Preplanned Spending?
Mad money???

Farewell Ticker

I was hoping mine was just a wee glitch and would get better soon, but alas, my ticker ticked it's last tock.

I tried adding one of the blogger 'real time counter' gadgets this morning and it hijacked my blog with a weird spammy message.

anyone have any good, safe, easy to add html tickers they would suggest??

One minute

I found this link as I followed from a blog I read to a blog they read to a blog they read :-)

I haven't been to this blog before but I LOVED the post I was led to.

For a proctrastinator like me, it hits home!


31 things you can do in one minute

A wee bit of shopping

 So I did go out yesterday and get a few groceries so I felt ready for the week ahead. I havent' ever done a grocery post so it makes me respect more those who do this on a regular basis. I wanted to do a picture but my kitchen was taken over by DS2 and his father working on his scout truck so that was out of luck.

I stopped at three different places and spent a total on $108.00. This doesn't include the pet food or the hair jel I got.


I bought
Meat - 1 large roast and 1 warehousepack of stewing beef.

Dairy
- 2 x 4L of milk
- 1- 8 pack of activia

Fruit and Veggies
- 1 bunch of bananas
- 2 medium pineapple
- 8 mac apples and 5 granny smith
- 1 bunch of celery
- 3 heads of lettuce
- 1 long english cucumber
- 1bunch of  broccoli
- 3 bell peppers
- 5 kiwi
- 2 lbs grapes
- 4 grapefruit
- 5 lbs of navel oranges
- 1 canteloupe
- 2.5 kg box of clementines

Misc
- family box of cheerios
- 2 frozen healthy choice steamer dinners
- 2 L apple juice
- 1 box almond granola bars
- 1 box of waffles

I think that's all.

Gorgeous Spring day

I love spring in northern canada. It is scorching out there at a whopping 2 C. It may not be much above zero, but every little bit makes the snow slowly melt, wee puddles form and teeny lil patches of grass showing at the edge of my lawn. After a winter of shoveling snow OFF my sidewalk and driveway, it seems incredibly ironic to run out there with a shovel and toss a dozen or so shovelfuls of snow ONTO the sidewalk and driveway. I  know but I do so enjoy watching it melt and helping those lil green patches expand.

I may just do it again later LOL

with that lovely spring breeze out there and the bright sunshine it's time to go for a grocery run and perhaps squeeze in a walk before  I head back to the land of report cards.

Enjoy your sunday!

Where the money stands

I know I know I've been horribly delinquent of late. It's not that I have been horribly swamped. I mean I have had tons of things on my to do list, however I haven't been doing many of them. I've been incredibly unmotivated. The four letter L word comes to mind.

But the work piles up and no little fairies have come round to give me a hand or even a nudge with their wand, and the urgent cries of 'get er done!!!' echo through my mind. Add to that the looming presence of report cards and I know it is time to get up off my keister and get down to business.

In many ways I love report card time. Things in my house get clean then, as I procrastinate. My fridge is all pretty and shiny and organized this morning after last night's procrastination.

I ran to the bank yesterday after work with $160 in snowflakes. It felt good to apply that to my loan. I have a little tiny slip of orange paper in my wallet with the loan account number on it. When I in to lump sum, I hand them that for easy reference. It's getting quite ragged and the teller, whom I've known for years, laughs and says 'good thing you're close to the end on this. I don't think your paper is going to make it'

Debt
Mortgage - $37 600.36
Consolidated Loan - $1658.34
Vehicle Loan - $25 865.86

Total Debt - $65 124.56

Regular Savings
EF - $1300
RRSP 2010 - $325
Summer 2010 - $1000
Xmas 2010 - 360

Total Regular Savings - $2895

Special Savings
RESPs - $400
RRSP portfolio - $1000

My debt this month was reduced by $1784.40