Love, Love, Loving the Library

Well I have to say that a big source of my pleasure this summer has been rediscovering my local library.  The school year gets pretty busy and for the most part, if I take out books during the year, I inevitably find myself not getting them back on time and accruing that lovely debt called Late Fees.

But with summer I have had the time to go and wander and explore. I have had the time to read and enjoy the wealth of having a library full of things I have not yet read.

I will admit I am a book addict. I have purchased far far too many books over the years, many of which I garage saled at a pittance. If I had the money in my savings that I had spent on books, I'd have a very healthy account.

I have really cut back the past two years. I buy rarely, and it's out of my savings. I will buy if they are a favourite author, or if I know it's likely to be one I will want to read and reread. I still have to give myself a talking to if we go to the book store in the city, or even wander by the book section in Walmart. The self talk works almost 99% of the time. It goes something like  "really?? really? you want to spend $10 -$12 of your savings on a book that you will read in a day and probably never read again????"

Now that my boys are old enough, I can take them there and they can wander alone without being high maintenance. Or better yet, I leave them alone at home and can take alllll the time I want to wander about and read.

I have found that if I choose a new book from the 'just released - 1 week borrowing only' as one of my choices, I am more likely to get them back there on time. 2-3 weeks...I lose track of time.

I also love exploring the magazines there. It gives me a chance to look at ones I would never buy, or read the ones I want to buy but won't spend the $ for. I mean really, an US or Star magazine is almost $6 with tax now!!! That's crazy.

I have rented a few movies from there but mostly when the boys are away and it's a chick flick or a historical movie that I know they won't enjoy. I loved The Other Boleyn Sister, but the chances of them sitting through it, is slim to none LOL. It makes the rare alone night nice....a glass of wine..a movie...maybe I'll cross stitch a bit....solitary luxury.

They also have movie showings at the library in the theater, but I'll be honest... there are a lot of kids there (ones I know) and it's really hard for the teacher in me to stand them yaking all the way through the show, while their parents let them...or worse...their parents are texting and the lights flashing ruin it.

Well reading that affirms it for me. I am getting old :P

One of the best parts of going there is that it is Air Conditioned. For a girl whose non AC'd house hit 85F last night..... AC is a wonderful incentive to read.

Do you make use of your public library?? After all, it's free (unless you pull a Jolie and forget to return them on time :-)

RRSP Update

As many of you know, I did my first RRSP contribution in February 2010. I had saved a whole $1000 to put towards this (That should keep me for my retirement years LOL)

I couldnt' remember how often I had asked for my statements to come. Turns out I checked 'twice a year' as it came in the mail yesterday.

I had divided the money up between NEI Canadian Bonds and Ethical Dividends. I will be the first to admit I really don't know a lot about the whole things.

So after 6 long months of waiting.............the Bonds gained...the Dividends lost..........and my $1000 is now worth............................................$1000.89

I about died laughing. I am not sure what I was expecting but this did make me giggle. lots

2010 EF goal met

As it was payday on Sunday, I happily skipped with my baskets of money to plop them in the various targets. It goes quickly so I try to savour the experience.

Seeing as I was close to finishing my EF goal of $2000 this year, I decided to take my savings money and allocate it all to the EF. It now stands happily complete at $2000, for this year.

Next month I will take the money that was to go to the complete EF and Xmas 2010, and combine it with my RRSP money and put it all on my RRSP goal. Barring any unforseen events, I will have my RRSP goal complete by the end of September.

It's lovely to see some green on those bars. Such a festive colour.

Happy Wednesday.

Statements I LIKE to get

It was almost like a wee Christmas present in July. I love mail that makes me smile.

I got my monthly bank statement where my vehicle loan is held. It said last month I had 45 payments left plus a final one of $168 ish.

Since I made both the regular and one extra payment last month, it should logically read 43 payments plus some on a final one.

Much to my happiness, it reads 42 payments plus a final one. That means that in three months of extra payments, I managed to knock off a whole extra month.  In three months!

I had to go to my  journal where I've dutifully written out each of the 60 months of the loan and dutifully crossed out each regular payment and each extra payment. I counted what was left...42 plus one final one. Yup! there was one month that could be crossed off. It's very exciting.

So now instead of the loan being finished in (makes me cringe to write it) June of 2014, it is now finished in February of 2014. Still a scary number but it's going to keep changing as I whap on extra money.

It was a very good feeling and this simple journal gives me great motivation! Love it.

PS - I tried to take a pic of it and it just kept coming out white. will have to work on that and I will add it if I can

DS2 home from camp

This is his fouth (or fifth???) time there and he absolutely loves it. DS1 usually goes too but didn't this year. Whole different story.

We 'found' this camp through friends of the boys..brothers who went there too. They suggested we send the boys there and am I ever glad we did.

It's a fantastic Bible camp. Interdenomination. It's about 90 minutes from home so not terribly far, but far enough that it's not someplace we would go regularly. Feels like a holiday for them, as it is.

The cost this year was $250 plus an optional $3 a day for the tuck shop (ice cream, treats etc). The kids are limited on what they can spend there each day and at what times they can go. I love that idea. $250 isn't bad for 5 nights, 6 days and 17 meals plus snacks.

It's a co-ed camp so there are a dozen or so boy cabins and a dozen or so girl cabins. Each cabin has one adult leader and one junior leader (think 16/17) and both sleep in. There is a wonderful chapel where they gather a couple times each day. speakers come in. lots of music, often done by some very talented junior leaders. There is a huge mess hall they just finished a couple years ago. High up on a hill with a view of the lake.

The kids get to pick three activities to explore while they are there. Each day they rotate through each of their three activities. There are things like crafts, outdoor cooking, drama, skateboard, BMX, horseback riding, wall climbing, paintball, water pursuits (wakeboard, kneeboard), swimming lessons,  caneing, soccer, choir, bible studies, campfire building, archery, floor hockey, basketball, volleyball and riflery (for those old enough). There are 'wide' games in the evening where the whole camp gets together and plays things like survivor or amazing race.

It's not a fancy schmancy camp. The cabins are not insulated so hot hot when it's hot and some leak when it rains. adds to the fun, the boys say. Each cabin is required to help out once each day with either food set up, clean up or dishes.  There are competitions for clean cabin...cabin theme each day. Each cabin has to come up with entertainment once during the week. Air guitar, a skit, improv.

I am so glad my kids had this opportunity. I never got to go to camp and wish that I had. Well worth the money when I see the exhausted smiles on their faces at the end of the week and their eyes light up with the stories of what they did.

Financial Scams

So we are still trying to get rid of my late father in law's car. It's a older vehicle but well cared for. It's not worth more than a couple thousand but boy the fights between my husband's sister and his brother over this vehicle have been trying. It isn't over the value of the car, but more  representative of their battles with each other over little things. We had thought about buying the car for DS1 but it really does scream 'senior citizen' lol and we decided that it was only going to open the window to more spats if someone in the family bought it.

anyhoooooooo we are having a heck of a time getting rid of this car. My husband has been living on kijiji for the past year as we search for DS1's new car so he wanted to post his dad's car on there. He has no clue how to do such things so I dutifully popped it on there with info and pics.

We had an email from someone asking if we still had the car and our price so I replied back. Yesterday morning I get the oddest email ever. I'll post some of it.

Hello,
Thanks for the prompt reply.Well am okay with the asking price ($3000.00) for the ( vehicle ) and i Don't want you to worry abt the shipping because i have a shipping company that will be coming for the Pick up of the Advert at you residence as soon as payment has been made,The shipper will come for the immediate pick-up and make sure everything is clean up ok.

I also want you to know that i will be paying via Money Order and it will contain both your asking price and the shipping fees via my shipping company and no pick up will be made until Money order is received and cashed by you i also want you to be serious about this so we can both finished this transaction in one mind, and here are the details needed so that i can mail the Money order without any delay,i lookup concluding the sale sooner.Thanks


FULL NAME: (jolie's note: address phone etc)
As soon as this is received the payment will be mailed out with no further delay,Once the datas are provided to me,i can send payment immediately.I will be expecting your reply asap.? Kindly reply back with the requested question so the purchase can be completed.
Best Regard,
Stay Blessed With Your Family.

I had red flags going up all over so I texted hubby to say call home when you can.  He really thought it was just someone who struggled with english and it was a sincere offer. I am like NOOOOO who ships a car? who buys one without seeing it first? who pays by a weird COD plus shipping????? I said no this is a scam dear. I will reply in email back saying 'we will not sell to someone who cannot pick it up themselves. thank you' etc

After I sent it, i rummaged around kijiji and found their 'keep yourself safe' section and there were exemplars of scams and a couple sounded suspiciously like the one I received :-)

I went back to my email and found that the reply I sent to this person was 'returned undeliverable as the email has been disabled'

I think sites like kijiji are great mediums for buying and selling products. As with anything, you  need to be smart about the people you come in contact with and keep asking yourself 'does this sound right? does this make sense?"


And that was my big excitement for yesterday.

In and out of School in the Summertime

When the fall session of school starts it gets busy ...fast. We have two days of paid work before the students arrive. One and a half of those days are filled with meetings so I have about a half day of official time to get my room set up and prep and timetable.

In some ways the way this summer has gone, has benefited me. DS1 has been given a free gym pass by his potential team. He goes there each weekday for one hour to work out with someone.  It won't guarantee that he makes the team, but if he does not take advantage of what the team offers then it is a certainty that he will not make it.

So in the hour he's there, instead of wasting gas to drive home and then drive back and pick him up and drive home again ($4 fuel..yes I actually tested it lol) I just slip to the school to get a few things done off my set up/prep list.

It's given me a chance to put all the furniture back in position after the floors were waxed. Put up posters. Go through resources and toss the garbage or put on a 'give me a home' table outside my classroom door'. I got my school blog ready for fall with all the upcoming dates and arranged our fall field trips. I've typed out my Welcome Back!! Notes and made the empty template of the wall schedule so it's ready to be filled in when schedules are worked out.

All these little chores really add up in time, just like little expenditures can lead to debt.

It may not be the 'spent the whole month at the lake' that several of my coworkers do, or the 'we went away to toronto/vancouver/calgary for two weeks' as three others have done.  I just don't have their kind of money or their willingness to charge it to a CC..whichever the case may be.

I do long for something DIFFERENT in the summer but it rarely happens.

Ah well, it is what it is and I am grateful for this time to feel like, even temporarily, I am ahead.

Awwwwwwww

I see logging on this morning that I get a message in the top left corner saying "your blog design will disappear this Friday. Please choose another one" from The Cutest Little Blog on the Block.

I wonder if they are dropping old designs, or if they are limiting the time one can use them now??

Well D*mn LOL

Did anyone else with templates from this host get that message?

UpDate:
I spent time off and on today trying to get to their webpage, which is overwhelmed with traffic right now. I finally got to the right page and changed the script. Hopefully by Friday or Saturday it will show the background again. If not, well I'll just try again :-)

Week 15 on the jars

Well this was an absolutely '0' kind of week...in terms of money left in the jars :-)

It happens. Not every week has money leftover.

Groceries and House - I used the weekly budget here to stock up on some meats and a ton of fresh veggies and fruit. I used the $100 I had set aside for a Costco trip for..........a Costco trip. It was good to get some of those items stocked up as well.

Entertainment - I used all that money this week...part here at home and part in the city.

Gas - I used $40 for gas and I used the remaining money for car wash and a liter of oil.

Clothing and Gifts - still sitting at the $100. That will get spent  quickly as we head towards my nephew's wedding, my niece's upcoming baby etc.

Saturday Spending

We made an impromptu run into the city today as we continue our hunt for DS1's first car. It's hard to find something that isn't going to cost the earth, but which also isn't going to cost the earth in repairs shortly down the road.

I used up the surplus grocery money at Costco just as it was intended for. Doesn't take long to spend it when you are buying big *ss containers of laundry soap, fabric softener, cleaners etc. I also picked up my new Mom's Calendar.  They have giant spaces for each day and I would be absolutely lost without it!

We had a lovely meal together. Lots of laughs. This came out of the summer 2010 budget.

Will have to do the budget balance today and update this past week on jars.

Between times DS1 has two soccer games and DS2 needs to finish packing for, and be delivered to, his camp for the week.

The boys' fishing trip

Here are just a few pictures of the scenery the boys took when they went fishing Canada Day Long weekend. They went up to the Churchill River, which is wayyy up north should  you happen to google map it. It's quite isoloated. Wild, wooshing water. Precambrian Rock. They had not been there before. Might give some of you who think SK is flat and dry, a different perspective :P

What I got for free

When I was doing some of my 'woo hoo school's out' cleaning last week, I found an envelope of Canadian Tire Money (Paper rewards dividends for those who are not from Canada).  It was quite a hefty lil envelope so I curled up to count the mounds of 5 cents, 10 cents etc

It added up to quite a lot. I had over $30. I checked in my vehicle and in my drawers and found myself with $40 of the colourful paper not money.

I had been wanting to find a floating  shelf for my son's room. I've seen them on design shows and they just seem so slick and so  nice without the brackets below, all exposed.

Fortunately for me, they are $34.99 plus tax so I had just enough money. I felt a bit weird handing over this big pile of fake money. It took her forever to count it. But in the end, I got a lovely shelf. For free.

It wasn't horribly hard to put up. Looks great in his room.

Hump Day this'n ' that

Happy Wednesday everyone. I can't believe we're almost halfway through July already. It goes so quickly.

Yesterday was a rainy morning, gloomy cold cold  windy afternoon. It was 11C here and went down to 5C last night. Craziness.

I took advantage of the weather and headed off to the school to do some work. It's kind of eerie there in the summer some days when there is no one around. I'm never scared to be there but when the wind is blowing, boy do you hear a lot of sounds LOL

Fortunately the caretakers were there busy cleaning and waxing. Unfortunately my room was one of them. I was able to grab some stuff from where they dragged my room contents into the hall and curled up in the library to plan.

I wasn't alone. Two other teachers made there way as well to pass the gloomy afternoon. It's only been two weeks but it was good to catch up. It is great to get things done ahead of time. There is never enough time when school starts.

Earlier, I went to the bank. I had saved up $400 in snowflakes and I had $200 in rolled change. My vehicle payments are $592, so I round up to $600 and call it a lump sum payment. I am either getting better tellers or I am training the ones who didn't know but I had no trouble explaining this was an ADDITIONAL payment on my principal. I then went home to the log book where I have all the payments for the vehicle and flipped to the end and happily crossed off another payment at the end of the loan.

Tonight we go decorate the parade float for our Scouting group. My husband is a leader and DS2 is in Scouts. DS1 was as well until he hit High School.

I am starting to see school supplies ads on TV. Once again I find myself envious that  I am not closer to the US. Their prices are amazing. I wonder why the same product here in Canada is so much more??? I will watch the sales to get the best deals possible.

When cleaning DS2's room, I gathered up all the school supplies that are Elementary based...notebooks, duotangs etc. They don't use these in High School. I took them to the school and plopped them in a bin so that when we get students at school with no supplies, we can just grab something from here.

Happy Day Everyone!!

My New couch

So I've been wanting a new couch for downstairs for quite awhile now. Yes, that was 'want'. I am not sure what the definition of 'need' is really. There NEEDS to be a place to sit.. no question. There is a couch set downstairs....my old one from upstairs. It was purchased in July of 1991 so that couch is officially 19 years old now. It was the first set we bought as a couple right after we got married. Went through a lot of moves and a lot of memories.  It's seen better days. It isnt' tattered. We've kept good care of it. When you sit on it you sink down practically to the floor. The springs are gone. On the back there are a few spots where the frame is starting to come through and in two spots on the back, there are tears.

Again it's on the back so it's not like no one can see. So is the new couch a need or a want? At what point in the lifespan of furniture does it become a need?

I've been keeping my eye out for a decent priced sectional for quite some time. It's a very small space down there. Narrow in width and there really isn't room for the puffy sided 3 piece set as we have now. An L shaped sectional would fit in the space perfectly and give enough seating.

Now DS1 says Ohh mom can we get a sectional like Aunty has with cupholders????? I laugh. I say 'hon aunty's sectional is about $4000. We do NOT have that kind of money'. He scoffs in disbelief that something with  cups costs that much and can't make the leap to name brand, style, cost  etc.

So on July 1 Long weekend, the Brick is advertizing a sectional that is in the shape I want and the colours I want. Win win. I text hubby to get his thoughts (though I will be the one paying for it) and he says we will go look at it.

So we do. Now we are just small town Brick here not big city. There was ONE guy working that Sunday afternoon and we were kept waiting 25 minutes while he dealt with another pair of customers. During that time we decided that two sectionals fit my price range and the needs of our space. Problem is, the first sectional I look at has the L jut out on the wrong side. The fabric feels weird, to be honest, and the back cushions are velcroed to the back frame of the couch. ewww.  The second one that fits is going the right way but it's in light cream. No way I am putting a couch in light cream down in an area where two teens hang out.

Still we wait patiently for the salesman. When he finally comes I am down to two questions . "Does this sectional have a reverse profile that juts out the other way?" No. "ok does THAT sectional come in any other colour but cream?" No. so we walked out. He didn't offer to look anything up. He didn't try any other couches. Not much 'sales' in the man LOL

So I came home disappointed. Hubby suggested we go to the two independently owned (and often more pricey) furniture stores. I say again, my budget is X and I can't see finding anything in those stores for that price.

Tuesday he comes home from work and says " Let's go to store A". eh might as well. was raining and I wasn't doing anything. It's where we got our upstairs set, which cost a fair bit (by my definition LOL). There I saw lots of leather sectionals. I do not want leather. There I saw sectionals with cupholders like my sister has. I actually went home and got DS1 so he could see the price tags attached to those and know I wasn't lying LOL

Hubby found a couch/loveseat in the colours I like. The fabric I like. In my price range. We're limited in choice. The bigger cities might deliver if we found something there but it would cost the earth for the 95 minute one way trip. I said to hubby 'yanno if this couch set were available in a sectional that was the right shape, I'd get it'.

It does :-) And it was in the right price range! The only catch was that they are still in a cargo holding in whatever country they come from...China I think...and they won't be over here until September. Done!!

That gives me time to clean out the rec room. To plan a good garage sale. To get the rest of the money together.

The total cost of the sectional with all the taxes is $1099.99. I got to sit on it's couch version and liked the feel of the fabric and the support. I got to see inside the back to see the springs and supports. I hate buying things without seeing them first.

I paid a $275 deposit down and I owe $824.99 when it comes in.

I did stop and think "wow that's almost 2 extra months of lump sum payments on my vehicle. maybe I should put the money towards that???" The reality is that I won't be done paying off my vehicle for 2 years at least (which is still about 2 years earlier than it's 60 month loan period'. That would put DS1 almost gone from the house. Be nice if he got to sit on the new furniture LOL. I am not stealing from any other pot to pay for this. I have / will have the money when it comes in , in September.

I know. That's a whole lot of blabbering about a new couch.  The thing is, I've never saved up ahead of time (or had the plans to have the cash) before I've bought a piece of furniture. I've always just bought and 'we'll figure out how to reallllly pay for it later'.

I see that as a good thing. Here is a pic of the exact piece I bought.

Something odd but cool

When I went to the ATM to get my $ for the week for the jars, I noticed something odd and different. The money was very crisp and clean and smooth so it hadn't toured the coffee shops and teenagers wallets at all. I flipped them over and found that they were all in order. The serial numbers I mean. From ...3276 to ...3288.

I know, it just means it came from the mint to the bank to the machine without interruption, but I'd never experienced that before.

Just thought it was neat.

Week 14 on the jars

I think, right now, the amounts I have put in the grocery/household jar fits the needs we currently have. Or better, the needs we have during regular months. The summer always changes things up a bit. Routines are blown. Schedules are non existant. Sometimes we have more players around the table. Sometimes we don't have a full house.

Say this weekend, for example...it's just me while the other three are experiencing 'adventures with aunty' at the lake. My mom packed more than enough food, as that is her happy place, and I only needed to send up some beverages and some chips for the downtime.

That means I have spent less on groceeries so perhaps this is a week to stock up on things like toilet paper, cleaners etc. Or, if I have enough of those items, then it is the week I have money leftover in the jars.

I took some of the unused jar money and bought some wicker baskets for DS2's room and for the living room. I have no furniture with storage space in the living room so a few pretty wicker baskets with lids give a place to put things like the 'other' remotes, my tealights and candles etc. Psychologically, it's amazing what a few lil baskets did for my mood and how I feel about the room. Uncluttered room = uncluttered mind maybe? lol

In my first two weeks on this new budget, I have had $50 left each week in the food/household jar. I have taken that money and tucked it away in what I like to call the 'back to school Costco' run. I will go somewhere in the last week of August before school starts and do a big grocery /house run. Things for the boys lunches, for my lunches, ziplock baggies, cleaners...all kinds of stuff that we will need (and I have used up over the summer) to start the school year off right.

It feels good to know that even if I don't have an extra cent left over in the jars for the rest of the summer, I already have $100 to put towards this big shopping event. Anything I can do to ease the inevitable and costly back to school expenses, helps me very much.

As for the rest of the jars?

 I spent $40 on gas, so that was another $10 leftover to tuck aside for maintenance /repair or gas for a longer road trip.

I spent all my spending money this week. I went out for lunch with a friend.

I have not yet touched the monthly clothing/gifts money.

I spent $20 out of the $40 for entertainment. I gave the boys $10 each for icecream for the lake, though grandpa usually likes to buy that for them.

I think the biggest trick in having the combined food/household jar (which is new to me)  is to really think about all the different items that come out of that jar. It isn't just the money to feed my two teen walking stomachs. It's the household items and the personal care items. I keep a little list each week. 5 things I should buy to stay one ahead on the non food items, just so I don't forget that they are also coming out of the same jar.  I also hate running out of an item when I need it. For example this week I had on the list " TP, toiletbowl cleaner, plastic wrap (for my EZ Wrap dispenser), shampoo for DS2 and soap. I rank them in order of how quick I will need to replace them. Then I can keep them in mind when the flyers come out to see if they are on sale. I might only be able to get one or two of them, depending on their cost and my expenses for the week. Those that I can't get, move to the top of the list for the following week.

And that was my week :-)

Today I am getting some cleaning off the list before the campers come home. Grass to cut. I want to go spend an hour at the school doing some copying for fall. I need two more baskets for under the sink storage and I will curl up and read for awhile.  DS1 just texted to say they are quadding right now. Aunty is making them learn the names of 10 new plants/grasses/birds while they are out. She's a science teacher. When they come up next time, she'll quiz them. DS2 was frantically looking up one name the night before he left because he wanted to show her he remembered all of last visit's plants :-)

Half way point through the year

I updated my Goals 2010 page (see tab at top of page) to see how things were going.

I would have to say that financially, I am doing most excellent. I paid my loan off early. I am putting money down on the vehicle. I am staying on budget. That part deserves an A.

Personally I am one massive F. I haven't been to the gym. I haven't lost weight. I haven't explored new recipes. I totally need to fix that. It affects my mind, body and spirit.

Friday This n that

Well my first full week of holidays has come to an end and I think I have finally stopped vibrating and can allow myself to relax. It takes awhile to 'come down' from that last 6 week push of school.

It was a quiet week. DS1 went to the gym every morning and went fishing with a couple friends yesterday afternoon. He had soccer a couple times in the evenings.

DS2 had fun vegging out and  hanging with some friends.

I didn't accomplish much but managed to accumulate lots of down time and laziness. I need to plan out some gentle to do lists so I at least get a few things done.

The boys and their father leave this afternoon for a weekend at the lake. They will join up with my parents, my sister and her husband, and whatever of her kids are around. There will be lots of good food, laughs, campfires, fishing, boating and tubing. I need to remember to send along a little bit of cash to give my brother in law. Boat gas isn't cheap and I want them to know I appreciate the experiences they are giving the boys.

DS2 has been asked to apply to be a Service Scouter. If accepted he will be gone the month of August to work at a scout camp about 3 hours north of here. He's really excited about it. Mother, however, isn't sure how she feels about losing her baby for four weeks (plus the week before when he goes to bible camp). Letting go is hard.

I did purchase a  sectional couch as I mentioned last week but that's a whole other story for a different day.

Husband said "man July and August are going to cost a lot of money" meaning all the summer activities the boys do, back to school costs and signing up for their fall sports/music. I wanted to say "why the h*ll do you think I get stressed and very broke this time every year!!", but I did not. I merely said "yes, I know. We should sit down and plan some of this out" He nodded but he will never actually sit down to go over such things. He is rather an ostrich in the sand on such matters.

Happy Friday All.

Where the money stands

as of July 5th

Debts
Mortgage - $36 628.83
Vehicle Loan - $ 23 304.45

Total Debts - $59 933.28

Savings
EF - $1625
XMAS 2010 -$1000
RRSP = $700

Total Savings - $3325

Planned Savings
RRSP Portfolio - $1000
RESP - $1260

Well it's good to see my debt in a new decade. About time!! LOL

Top Referrals for June

Just a shout out of thanks to the following blogs, and their fabulous readers, for stopping by the Money Tree and peeking into my lil nook of the blogosphere. Thought I'd do a top 10 this month. Just for fun :-)

1) Saving for Later

2) Ostrich named Sam

3) Jessie's Money

4) Frugal Dreamer

5) Always the Planner

6) No More Spending

7) MidLife Mom Musings

8) Debt Marathon (Grass is Greener)

9) Girl Makes Cents

10) Asian Pear

Thanks Guys!!

Happy 2nd Blog-0-versary to me

In some ways it feels like I have had this blog forever and in others it feels like two years have just went whipping by.



I curled up yesterday to read my first anniversary blog. I have to admit I was impressed with what I had written. I actually sounded like I knew a little bit about what I was talking about LOL. Seriously though, each of the points I brought up there really fit well with someone just starting out on this journey of personal finance awareness.Finding a documentation system, getting organized, sticking with the idea of a budget is absolutely key. You really have to go in being realistic about what you have for income, what your debts and expenses are and what your goals are.



The most frequent complaint I hear about budgets, is that they are limiting. I used to feel that way myself before I was Gail vaz oxladized. I now find budgets very freeing...very permissive. It is by having a budget that I am ALLOWED to pay off debt and save for goals. What a radical thought. Sure it took me a few tries to get a budget that worked for my own life but I kept at it until I found one. It’s an absolutely fantastic feeling to know that one is setting goals and they are being achieved. I spent far too many years saying ‘we can’t afford to pay off x, or we can’t afford to save for y’ . Oh how I wish I could go back in time.


Here is a list of some of the things I learned/experienced this past year:
• Paying off a debt is a H$LL of a rush. I paid off my consolidated loan a year early. It was absolutely intoxicating to do it and know that “I” had accomplished it. “I” had taken control and made it happen. Absolutely glorious feeling. Almost wish I had more creditors so I could have experienced this more times. Ok maybe not. 


• When you have a working budget, let it do it’s job! I spent sooo much time last summer working and reworking numbers...hypothesizing about how things would look if I did such and such. The budget was consuming my every thought and it was incredibly unhealthy. I had to step back and let go...let what I had created do it’s job. Sure it’s ok to play with numbers now and again but limit the control it has over you.


• Recognizing that once you have a debt, it truly does control you and consume your thoughts (unless you are in debt denial). I reached a point where I had gotten a bit obsessive, perhaps even totally OCD about paying my vehicle loan off early. Every $ I found all I could think about was “ohh there’s another dollar to put towards that vehicle’. Or Don’t spend that for the boys (usually something they needed) and put it on the loan instead. Now I am all for finding extra money to pay down debt early, but it was taking over my every thought and that was very unhealthy. Again, I need to control my money, and not have it control me.


• Keep exploring new resources and ideas. I loved Gail’s book Debt Free Forever, and saved my spending money to buy it. I know most of her resources are on her webpage, but there is just something about curling up with a book away from a computer, that speaks to my literary soul. I found a site called dough.com which allowed me to see when I will be able to pay off my vehicle loan.


• Saving can be just as fun as paying down debt. Through purposefully saving, I had a Christmas budget put aside for the very first time. What a relief to know that money was there. Ditto for Summer. I was able to start an RESP FINALLY this year and I put aside my first RRSP. It’s nice to be proactive for a change.


• I credit having this blog as critical to my successes thus far. It gives me the forum to express myself, it gives me a specific place to record data and information. Knowing that people are reading it, is an amazing feeling.


• Read Read Read. Everything I have learned and incorporated into my financial life has come from a blog I have read. That lovely list of blogs on the side can each take credit in my successes. Thank you to all of you.

And the fisherman return

I just got a text saying they were en route home. Rained most of yesterday there and is slated to rain tomorrow as well. At the risk of sounding very Carol Burnetty, I am so glad they had that time together. DS1 is almost 16 and it will be harder for him to have free time for holidays when he is working.

I have enjoyed my three days alone. Very much so. I got a ton of cleaning done. I relaxed. I walked. I read. It was great.

I added 2 books to my books read page and I am on a third one.

I put up a floating shelf in DS2's room for some of his trophies. I also gutted and cleaned his room from top to bottom. SIX large garbage bags of stuff out of there. some trash. some clothing for donation. some toys for donation. some items of school supplies he's outgrown to go to my school. A whack of stuff on dinosaurs he no longer wanted to go to the Gr 2 teacher who does a unit on dinosaurs. It was fantastic to see such a lovely clean room. We shall see how long it lasts.

I also did a boat load of laundry. cleaned the livingroom and organized the linen closet.

I have no doubts I will have a boatload more of laundry as most of what they took will be damp and/or smell like campsmoke.

I convinced hubby through texts to have a garage sale this week. Best of all, the sectional I wanted for downstairs is on sale. AND I have the money set aside for it. I should get a couple hundred at the garage sale to go towards it and I have the rest. The couch set downstairs is 20 years old. It was what we had upstairs til 2 years ago. When you sit on it, you sink wayyy down, almost to the floor. Hopefully someone will take it off our hands who may need it for a cabin/cottage. It will be fantastic to have less furniture downstsairs with just the one large piece instead of 3 bulky pieces.

I love summer cleaning and purging. I can't wait to do more. Feels very empowering.

Week 13 on the jars

This was one of my more successful weeks on the jars. Not in terms of money in /out, but in terms of tracking and sticking exclusively to cash (and not borrowing from the debit and paying it back after)

It really was a low expense week. We had two different bbqs at school that were already paid for.
We had supper and mom and dad's the one night, and now the boys have been gone camping.

I used all my entertainment budget. I gave the $40 to the boys and their father for the trip.

I spent $40 on gas so I have $10 to spare. I will need an Oil Change in July so saving up some money is important.

I spent $10 of my $20 for spending money on a lunch out with some of the staff last week.

I spent $120 of the $170 for house and groceries. I sent some of that money with the boys when they went shopping for their fishing trip. $20 went for pizza for the boys the night we had our staff party. The remaining $50 will stay in the jars for another week or maybe to help out on a costco run later this summer.

Nothing was spent from the clothing and gifts jar.

My Freebies from Shoppers

So last weekend was 'redeem your points' at Shoppers DrugMart. If you redeemed 40 000 points (worth $75) then you could have $25 free. I had 50 000ish points and I've never renewed any before so I thought it would be a great way to kick in the summer.

It was kind of exciting to know I could just buy whatever my lil heart wanted within that money range.

I thought 'ohhh I could buy some perfume. I NEVER buy perfume because it's too expensive. Here's my chance!" Then I thought " well I never wear it that much. It is banned at work and I honestly don't know what kind I would  want to spend that much money on. Some make me sneeze and I really  need to experiment with a few". So I nixed that idea but compromised by starting  my shopping journey squirting a free sample of J'adore on.

I wandered for awhile, really unsure. I was laughing thinking 'how ridiculous. It' s money spending!! you do it all the time'. I thought perhaps I could try some new products I never try.

I ended up mixing and matching. I bought a lot of things that were on sale. They were things I needed, but not necessarily the brands I used.

I got a new swiffer wet. My old one had died and I kept putting it off as it was just under $30. So in the cart it went. I got hair products ( on sale), some cat food and treats. Bubble bath for DS2. I tried a new pear scented body scrub Life Brand I hadn't seen before. I bought some foundation and tried a new mascara (that I probably won't unpackage until it's time to go back to school.


Then I splurged and bought THREE magazines. I never ever ever buy magazines anymore so this was great fun. I tucked them away so I wouldn't read them all before school was even out LOL

Here is a pic of my shopping choices. It was a LOT of fun.

Canada Day Plans

First off Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadian readers out there.

We have lovely weather here today. It got up to 29C yesterday and that is wayyyy too hot for this girl.  Today is a far more respectable 20C High and that sounds fantastic.

My boys and their father and getting ready to head out for their first ever all boys fishing trip. Mine  are excited about that. They are going wayyyy up north to the Churchill River. My boys haven't been there before but their father was, years ago. It should be a good time for them. The truck is packed brim full and they are heading out as soon as DS1 is done with his trainer.

So that leaves lil ole me, all alone for FOUR Days! How exciting. This is the the time of year when I am absolutely exhausted from work and the idea of just being able to puter about on my own: to relax, to clean a bit and to read lotssssss.

So to that end, I went to the library yesterday to get some light 'no thinking' reading for the first days of summer. I went there knowing there was DEBT over my shoulder. DS1 and I had fines from sometime in March I think. Relatively hefly ones. We just didn't get those books back. So there went $15 of our household money to pay off our joint debt. It was good to get it gone. It had been looming in the back of my mind for quite sometime. I picked up some light reading and helped them pack up to go.

I am going to go over to my mom and dad's for a bbq tonight. Can't have Canada Day without putting flame to something.

Enjoy and have a great day!!