It pays to read the fine print

I was away this weekend in the deep south of the province with one of my sons. It necessitated far too much gas being spent on the to and from, and  sitting wayyyy too long inside a vehicle on such a lovely day.

I did an overnight in a hotel in the city and the check out was quite interesting. The young lady who checked me out was just the girl manning the post. She did not take my reservation, nor did she check me in so I will lay none of the blame on her. I was very polite and calm with her, but did grow firm as our conversation progressed.

First the lady printed off a form and asked me to be sure my name was spelled correctly. It was not. She said "oh you should have told them when you called to reserve." I informed her that I spelled it twice for the lady when I called to reserve. I always avoid the 1 800 number and call instead the number that goes to the actual place I am staying. I prefer knowing I am talking to someone who works in the building I am going to be in. The lady said I should have corrected my spelling when I checked in. I told her I had indeed corrected it by writing it myself on the form. She found that form.  I wrote it once again on the new final bill.

I found it interesting that she didn't ask me to verify the amount. I was checking it to be sure that the discount I was quoted was on there. I get a small discount with my gov't ID, or with CAA (AAA). That amount was there. As were the annoying 'tourist levys' I grumble about.

What caught my eye was the total, which seemed to be too much so I glanced again and saw that there was a "pet fee" on my bill.

 What is a pet fee???? I ask the lady.

Oh, that is the charge because you travelled with a pet. I blink. I have never travelled with a pet in my life.

No I didn't bring a pet, I say.

Yes, you did. It's right here on the bill.

Yes I can see that but I didn't travel with a pet, nor have I ever in my life. You can go check my room and check my vehicle while I wait here if you like, but I can assure you there is no pet.

She declined the offer. I asked her to remove that charge from the bill. It was $18!!!

She typed away at the computer then printed off a new statement (with my name not yet fixed) and gave me the new one. The amount was exactly the same.  The fee was still there.

I take a calming breath and say "the statement is still the same final total and the pet fee is on there. Perhaps what you clicked on did not work?'

Hmmm she says and types away for another five minutes. I give an apologetic look to the folks behind me waiting to check out.

I ask how the charge ended up on my bill. She said that there was a note  in the file that I wished to accomodate my pet and that I must have told the lady that over the phone.  I start to say something but she quickly replies "There must be an error in communication". Yes. there must.

She finally says that she cannot get that charge off the bill as it has already been processed (on computer, not on my CC). She says she isn't sure what to click on to  make it go away permanently. That would need the  manager's assistance, who is not yet in at 10 AM. Would I be fine with simply deducting the error from my bill and paying that?

I agree to that providing that the manager email me an invoice with the charge removed so I would have that for my record. She gives me the new total and I ask to see the statement again. We have a gentle but short math lesson as I am still being charged tax on the pet fee I am no longer paying. It isn't much ($1.80) but still. I explain and write the math out for her, still being pretty darn polite and positive to be honest.

She doesn't get it. She doesn't understand how to correctly tabulate the tax by hand. She is near tears at this point. I give up and let the $1.80 go.

When I finally made it home sweet home there was an email with the invoice. No note. Just the invoice.

My name was still, spelled wrong :-)

Reaping the rewards for Planned Spending

I have to admit that the $40 I tuck each week into my entertainment jar isn't always used for entertainment. More often than not, it gets sucked into the grocery budget and gets used for ordering pizza. So when school started this fall I had a plan and a purpose and low and behold, the money started growing in the jar.

Amazing what happens when you have a purpose and focus!!

What am I saving for?

The boys and I are off to the Blackhawks vs Oilers exhibition game. The tickets were long ago bought and even the non hockey kid is looking forward to the energy and experience of a live game. It will be my first NHL game.

Now we can enjoy a ridiculously priced drink or snack without it cutting into my budget. I'd bring in something but they frisk and check at the gate apparently. They did at the Jays game too.

Losing my son (the self pity edition)

It was bound to happen. I mean really, he is almost 17, so it is surprising it took this long. Still, I was not prepared in the least.

A girlfriend has entered the picture. The jury is out on whether I like her or not. Doesn't matter really, my opinion is rather moot.

I have lost my son. Whether this lasts a month or a year, I have lost him. I am no longer the most important woman in his life. Of course it would be rather concerning if this had never happened.

I feel very old today and I feel like I lost a piece of my motherhood innocence.

Kindle

Well another 'set the cake on fire with candles' has come and gone. My but they do come fast and furious these days :-)

I was surprised, and I DO mean surprised, to receive a kindle for my birthday. It was a joint gift from several of my family members. They all know that I don't need a bunch of 'stuff'  in my house to clutter things up. I appreciate that they went in together, because I  don't really wany any one person spending too much for a gift. There are just too many folk in my family. No one can afford that and no one should have to.

I really was hoping that niece #1 would have her baby. I told her it would be a great gift that she didn't have to wrap and she didn't have to worry I'd want to return it.  No such luck though.

I had some former students show up towards the end of school the other day with a bday cake for me. I was very surprised at the thoughtfulness of them. So blessed.

Birthday supper was the best kind. Family based and home made. We went to my mom and dad's. She had delicious roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing...fresh garden veggies, home made buns (highly coveted), and a home made angel food cake with ice cream and raspberries from the farm. Cost was negligible really. Value of time together with family and good food = priceless. Not many could make it. People are busy with their own lives. harvest. trying to give birth. two are out of the country. one had football in the city. Lots of texts  and calls and facebooks certainly made up for it.

I am at odds with this kindle. I  finally had time to set it up last night and registered it then went 'shopping'. I was amazed at how expensive some of the books are. I have been very good the past few years and almost completely stopping my purchase of books, and embracing the library instead. As I kept browsing I couldn't help but feel that while book x might 'only' be $6.99, it is FREE at the library.

very conflicted.

There is absolutely no room in the budget line for a kindle category. If I did that I might as well open up a 'candle', 'cheesecake', or 'skin care product' category.

I came to a bit of peace when I made my decision. Whatever I buy for my kindle has to come out of the already allocoated spending money budget line. That will help me I think because the clicking of 'buy me' is far to easy LOL

For those who have a kindle, what was the first book you bought?

seriously? brrrrrrrr

Ok last week we broke heat records from the 1880s with our 35 C in September in Northern SK. Classrooms were stifling and the poor kidlets were just wiped out from the temps. We were moving a classroom and all that lifting and packing was sweat building to be sure. At night, with no AC, we had all the windows open, hoping for a breeze. Windows and blinds were closed all day long.

This week it went below zero.  I am wearing a jacket. I had to scrape FROST off my car windows!!!! I don't even know where my scraper is.

Gotta love the prairies LOL

Remembering

It was my first full week in a new classroom in a new school.  I had been online at cnn.com before I left for work and heard the first of the confused, chaotic news, but the implications never really registered.

Classes began and news continued to come in. None of my students had cell phones. No smart boards. The only computer in the room was mine, but news continued to come in. It was the first time I realized that as a classroom teacher, I was also a co-parent.

The first hour was spent comforting a few of my 13 year old girls who wanted desperately to call  home. Even here, thousands of miles and a whole country away, phone lines were overwhelmed with usage. It was spent reassuring a few of the boys, who kept looking at the skies, that we were surely safe here.

Not wanting to give more information than I felt the parents would wish, I had to explain (and who really knew much of anything at that point), and reassure and comfort. Lessons went out the window. Maps came out. Quick geography lessons. Lots of reassurance.

Even as far away as we were, we were touched, in our own way. One of our teaching colleagues (from a different school) had a grown son who was in NY for meetings in one of the towers.  His meeting was postponed for some reason, and he was across the city, safe. A hockey scout from near here,  was on one of the flights.

In no way can we understand what it was like, is like, for those who were at the heart of that day. Who saw things. Heard things. Lost people.

But even here, we remember.

Where the money stands

as of September 7th

Debts
Mortgage - $33 173.29
Vehicle Loan - $9960.73
Total Debt - $43 134.02

Savings
Xmas 2011 - $1200
EF (TFSA) - $2015
RESP - $7968.74
RRSP - $2673


The highlights of this month are fully funding xmas 2011 and going under 10 grand for the vehicle loan. Onwards towards saving $1000 for RRSP

Under 10 grand

As Makky's Mom so succinctly pointed out last month, I am now under 10 grand on my vehicle loan!! It's so exciting to see it under that amount.

To be precise, my vehicle loan is currently at $9 960.73. I am on month 27 of a 60 month loan, but thanks to extra payments (which I haven't been able to do for awhile) I am technically on Month 43!

That means if I make only the regular payments I would be done on February of 2013. My obvious goal  is to finish paying off this loan by the end of 2012. That would require only 2 extra payments between now and Dec 2012.

The fun will be to see how much earlier I am able to pay it down while still meeting all my other goals.

Adding some link love

I realized I haven't done this for a very long time. There are many blogs I read that I just haven't gotten around to adding to my blogroll. If they are new to you, please feel free to take a peek.

Some for now, some for Later. I have been reading this blog for quite awhile. She is the wife of an Army Reserve Captain and raising their two daughters, often on her own, while DH is training and serving. I have been impressed with her ability to pay down debt and save.

North  Georgia Gal is another I've been reading for awhile. She has come so far in her journey to balance money and life. When I first started reading her, she was behind in her payments and more than once, had had service cut. She has gone through her share of trial and tribulation and still comes out, feistier than ever.

Many of you already read Mysti at Digging out from Our Mess. I love her spunk and tenacity.

Krystin is a replanted Canadian, which is what I think drew me to her. Her most recent post shows what a great job she is doing. A whole list of credit cards with balances now at ZERO. Check out  Misery of Money.

Sweet Sunday

As I curl up with a morning coffee, I can hear the birds outside and Jiminy, the cricket, who lives under our window. I have Til Debt Do Us Part on TV.

I feel good about what I accomplished yesterday. Lots of errands - picking up dry cleaning, a run to the bottle recycling (forgot two bags in the shed the last time), a run to the Teacher's store to pick up something I had ordered.

At home, Mr. Laundry Line got a good workout. I never know how many sunshiney weekends we will have left. I did DS2's bed linen including his pillows and comforter. Mine is on the list today and DS1s if I can squeeze it in.

I baked yesterday. Some banana muffins and cookies. I had to hide most of them in the freezer as everyone pounced on them. There would have been none left for lunches if I hadn't.

I was also bad yesterday. Naughty bad. I watched Extreme couponers. Several episodes. We don't have the coupon redemption system the US has and it honestly fascinates me how it all works. I certainly wouldn't have the time or the brain energy to figure out the combinations to get all those deals. I watched more than one person walk out with thousands of dollars in groceries for zero dollars, or very close to zero dollars. Makes my sad little handful of coupons look quite laughable.

DH bought a bbq yesterday. I have no idea if he can afford it. I guess that is one of the upsides of separate finances. I don't have to worry about it (unless something massive happens and I become responsible for both of us) He spent most of last night assembling it in the garage. Our old one was burned out and we could no longer get parts for it. I am anticipating some sort of bbq'd food for supper tonight.

Upcoming money needed was on my mind a lot last night. I curled up and wrote out what $ I need for debt or savings goals until Xmas to see how I could go about acheiving them. The goals of 2012 came up as well. I put them in the order they need attacking and calculated to see if I had enough money to acheive these goals. It certainly adds up. Still unknown is my salary. I have no idea when our contract will be settled and what it will mean for net amounts each month. I guess there is no point worrying about that until it happens.

One thing I have learned is that the more  you start to truly think about money, the more situations that seem to come up where money is needed. Those situations always existed, but I think I just used to block them out and then get surprised when those bills come in.

Weekend wind down

Well the first week of school started with a bang and I went from a slow paced to do list to a frantic get it done list!!!!  Ahhh I have forgotten how well time useage needs to be structured to get it all done LOL Crash relearning course.

School went well. I have a very large group of students and a lot of subjects where the curriculum is new, so there is a steep learning curve.  The boys started and things are semi smooth. DS2 discovered his band has been moved to the same night as  his scouts. band has been that night for years. He has to choose now and he is not a happy camper. DS1 is not happy either.  He was injured in his camp in bc and that has not gotten better. We have him going to physio. He was not able to try out for the junior a team this weekend. We go to a sports dr next week to get an mri to see if he needs knee surgery. I am crossing my fingers.

Since this is an activity free weekend I have a great opportunity to get things off my lists. School list. home list. mom list.

It's a beautiful sunny day out there. Gorgeous for September. I am just taking a bit of time with my morning coffee to catch up on reading  fellow bloggers. I miss you guys!