January Change

I wasn't one of the ones who got in on the Sealed Pot Challenge. Not to say that I couldn't have, but I just..........didn't. I don't think I have it in me to wait a whole year to find out  :P  I am one who uses their rolled change regularly for different savings or debt goals. I look forward to those moments a lot. The sound of the change as it slides out of the jar and onto the bed. The methodical and soothing sorting of the coins. The smell of the crisp preformed little coin roller. The smile as one is full and the end all squished down. The site of it in the bottom of my drawer as it hibernates until it's time to go with his rolled friends to the bank.

So instead I will tally up what I have for rolled change at the end of each month and talk about where it is going.

Here is my change for January:


I have $50 lovely dollars to go to the bank.
1 roll of loonies - $25
2 rolls of quarters - $20
1 roll of dimes - $10


I won 't get to the bank today but I am hoping to go tomorrow. Where is it going? Why to my next goal, of course :-)

Really????

Ok so I have been trying hard to be so good. Plan menu. shop wisely. use what we have etc.

So last night I dutifully pack up what was left of my Chinese food into a microwavable container to take for lunch today. Hubby notices the take out container in the trash last night while I was doing dishes and I mention that I have packed it for lunch.

Fast foward to this morning and I go to the fridge and my container is gone. I check again. nope

I call DH's cell as ask if he took my lunch.

Oh it wasn't my lunch it was his (uhm it was my food while he was away ice fishing)
Oh he didn't know (uhm we talked about it last night)
How was he to know? (uhm it was transferred out of the take out container to a container for work)

Did I get a sorry? no
Did I get a whoops my bad? no

I got a 'too bad! take something else'!!

And for an observer, it speaks loud as to his character and general philiosophy in life.

grrrrrr

Monday Menu Plan

It worked well for me last week and helped me feel more organized and less stressed. Looking at your menus, mine feels very very peasant class and plain, but then, I am very plain :-)

Monday - chicken quesadillas
Tueday - sloppy joes and garden salad
Wednesday - Soup and grill cheese for a night with a very short supper window
Thursday - Moose Sausage and roasted vegggies (that we ended up not having last week)
Friday - Herbed Pork Chops with pasta

Sunday Night Chit Chat

Thanks to Carla again for a lovely way to sum up a weekend.

Reading - A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Bradford Taylor.

Watching - I watched The Hangover last night. Hadn't seen it before. Actually watched the whole thing which surprised me as these kinds of movies aren't always my cup of tea.

Listening to - Tales of DS2's weekend with his friends

Cooking/Baking - Nothing this weekend. Bad jolie

Happy you accomplished this week - Met another goal! nuff said.

Looking forward to next week - Seeing if I can maintain a good use of my time. It made me much calmer.

Thankful for today - I was healthy enough to go on a 90 min (each way) road trip and not have to panic overly at where I could stop for a bathroom emergency. I haven't been out of town since before Halloween because it quite simply wasn't safe for me to do so.

Sensational Sunday (and another goal met)

What another wonderfully quiet Sunday morning. I have to admit it is very odd not having children in the house. If this is what it is going to be like when they are done high school, I need to get me a life so that I have things of my OWN to do.

I had a very mellow Saturday. I went for my oil change to a quickie place. They DO charge more. $53 instead of the $42 it costs at the dealership where I got my vehicle. While I was in and out in under 10 minutes, I had the unfortunate luck to be 'served' by a former parent from our school who ..........who.............. who in the past needed escort out of the building by people of authority.  It was nothing against me, but I won't go to that place again to avoid the awkwardness.

I then proceded to have a heated argument with myself over going to the school to work. I had absolutely NO reason not to go. I NEEDED to go. I just didn 't really want to. I wanted to go home and read and watch TV. So I forced myself to go, pausing in my arguments at red lights where vehicles beside me might grow concerned to see me heated talking to myself :-)

I am glad I went. Did I get everything done? Hell no. It's never done. But I got surfaces tidied and I got things put away and got some things ready for the week to come. I spent 5 hours there and I self talked a lot. I seem to do that a lot LOL  Teaching the same kids a lot of different subjects means there are piles of things everywhere and unless I force myself, things never get put away properly.

I came home to read TWO 'beach read' fun books. No deep and heavy thoughts. Just fun. I haven't done that in awhile and it felt very good and incredibly decadent.  I was alone for supper and remembered a gift certificate from a great family for a chinese food combo so I ordered  it. Free supper!!

Today I have to head off to pick up DS2 from his weekend. It's about a 90 min drive to get there. I may hit a couple stores with a couple of my christmas gift cards. We shall see. DS and his friend took a lot of stuff for this weekend and I don't think I have a whole lot of free vehicle space for shopping bags.

Now on to my goal accomplished........................

Between snowflakes and a bit set aside from my January paycheque, I have now met my goal of $1000 for Summer 2012!!!! It will feel so good to post this blog entry then go make my progress bar all happy green to show it is completed. Two goals done in the first month is very good. I have to take advantage of January as it's traditionally one of my most motivating and successful months.

What goal is next you ask? I've been ruminating on this for quite some time, changed my mind a few times, did some math calculations and what ifs and..................I'll let ya know Tuesday :P next week sometime

Saturday this n that

It's very quiet in the Moneytree house at just after 8 in the morning as I type this. Girlcat is curled up beside me on the lazyboy as I type, annoyed beyond belief I need TWO hands to type when one of them could be holding her  and petting her.

Just me and the cats this morning. Fliip this House is on. First load of laundry is in the machine. A nice black cherry tealight is flickering. A fresh cup of coffee from my Keurig is beside me and life is good.

DH headed off just after 7 in the morning (it is still DARK) for a day of ice fishing with his sister and brother in law. A long day of sitting but it makes him happy and relaxes him.

DS2 is gone for a weekend of Youth group activities combined with a gaming weekend. He's off with a friend of his and the leader of their summer bible camp. He was excited beyond all to go. He left yesterday and I will drive to the city tomorrow to pick him up.

I just dropped DS1 off at the rink (along with a couple of his billet buddies). They have a road trip this weekend so I won't see him until tomorrow night. Sure he could drive on his own but I  don't like leaving his car parked at the rink for two days unattended. Easier to drop him off and then pick him up tomorrow.  Peace of mind. He had a great week in hockey. Got called up to play with the Junior Team (big deal) and scored as well. He was on cloud 9. This is the scholarship team so it bodes well for him for next year that they are tentatively interested.  Absolutely nothing is locked in stone so I won't count my imaginary chickens hatching yet. If nothing else, it was just a really good experience for him and we appreciated the opportunity.
As for me, well an oil change is on my list of things to do this morning. I was hoping one of those quickie places was open at 8 and I could just go after I dropped the boys off, but no such luck. Will have to head over around 10 and hope to get in.  I usually go to my dealer where I bought the vehicle but was unable to get in. I wonder if those quickie places are cheaper? I guess we shall find out.

I hit the library last night after work and picked up a couple of 'fun reads' for my downtime this weekend. I also hit the banks and skipped merrily here and there, moving my dollars around to their target spots. When I went to get my jar money the teller was a bit bemused by my list of so many $10, so many $5, so many $20.  She asked if she could just give me $20s. I just laughed and said that I lived off cash and needed those denominations to divide things up. She looked at me as though living on cash were a very strange concept. Probably is for many folk. (My inside voice was saying 'ok if I wanted all 20s then I would have just gone to the ATM) LOL ah well. she was new.

I really need to get to the school as well today. Get things tidied up, do some marking, get things ready for the week to come. Will take the stress off things greatly if I can get a good chunk of things done. I had my students working on resumes this week. What to put on them. How to arrange them. How to phrase them. etc. I love the bits of career guidance I get to teach. Such important life skills. Next week we will talk about how to go in and ask if a place is hiring...what to wear...what to take...how to talk. Even if it is just at a fast food place, there are things they should know.

Breakfast is calling. Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday.

pay day

I have been waiting for this pay day for a long time. Two years actually :-)  We were without a contract for a year and a bit so waiting and wondering if I got a raise and what that would look like....was difficult. Our contract was settled in the fall, but those months are not normal paycheques.  Normal paycheques for me are January through June. Barring unforseen events, the cheques are exactly the same gross, exactly the same net with the same deductions. In July and August some of the deductions do not come off. They operate under the 10 month contract that we actually have.

If we are full time, permanent, we have the option to request to be paid over a 12 month period. They just rejig the numbers so that you have 12 semi even cheques. I spent too many years in part time or temp contracts and it was a LONG time from end of June pay to end of Sept pay. I vowed I would never force myself to experience that feeling again as long as it was in my power.

In August, or sometimes September, I max out on CPP and EI deductions so when that happens, the cheques are more, for the balance of the year. In October and November, association dues come off, so those are different too.

I really do love the extra money in the last months of the year, but there is something infinitely comforting about the known of those first six months of the year.

Our raise was just over 2% gross for each of those two years. I was hoping for a net of about $50 a month (x 2 years of contracts) so about $100  a month. It was tricky to calculate on my own because deductions were going up too and I didn't have access to those charts. A couple times I tried and found myself netting less than I was two years ago. Scary. Possible. Uncertain.

confusing stuff hey? lol

Yesterday was payday and it was with baited breath that I checked my balance online to see how much was direct deposited. I went and found my January pay stub from 2010 and 2011 to compare. Happily, I found that my net was $150 a month more than it was 2 years ago before my last increase. So approximately $75 a month net more than before.

I have been running imaginary raises in my head off and on for months wondering what I could do with it. Where should it go? what  effects would I have if I put it on x budget line.....or y budget line.

In the end, I am pretty boring. Very predictable. you all know where it is going :-)

I am anxious beyond all to get my vehicle loan paid off. The $ will go towards extra payments on my loan to accelerate that as fast as possible.

I'm so glad things worked out with this. Perhaps the power of positive thinking is helping.

Menu planning Monday

Being at home last week gave me time to see what I had in the house (pantry, freezer, fridge). It also made me realize how good it felt (again) to know what was on plans for the supper table. Granted I was AT home to make that supper happen, but that doesn't mean working outside of home negates good meals.

So I curled up tonight and looked at the calendar for the boys' schedules and mine, took a gander through the freezer and made a few decisions. 

Monday - Homemade bbq (on the foreman grill) burgers and fries

Tuesday - My mom is making salisbury moose steak in the crockpot for us to pick up. It's a busy night for us and this will help greatly. Thanks mama.

Wednesday - Porkchops, roasted potatoes and veggies.

Thursday - Spaghtetti and meatballs

Friday - Sausage and perogies

Payday is Wed so tonight I picked up some fries and buns, some fruit, some yogurt and milk. hopefully that will get us through til I refill the jars Wed sometime.

Sunday Night Chit Chat

(joining Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat)

Reading

Epitaph Road by David Patneaude

This one is for school. One of the many apocolyptic books coming out after the great success of the Hunger Games Trilogy.

2) Watching - Law and Order SVU

3) Listening to - my tomcat purr on DS2's lap as DS2 talks about earning their badge by hiking out from the maincamp with all their gear to a spot 2K from the leader, cooking their supper and breakfast over the fire , spending the night outside and hiking back.

4) Cooking/Baking - Jackfish (Northern Pike) that DH caught his last trip icefishing a couple weekends ago. The boys don't care for fish so they had leftovers. Food cost for supper - $0

5) Happy I accomplished this week?

Getting caught up on my housework and laundry while I was at home. Also happy I put some thought into menu planning.

6) Looking forward to next week?

Seeing if I can survive a full week of work and not be exhausted.

7) Thankful for today?

Being at DS1's game and watching him score a minutes in against a tough tough team.

Thanks Carla

It all comes down to...

I am pretty good at giving myself a hard time for not doing enough, for not using my time well, for not getting my butt off the couch and just 'get it done!'

I have had some reflection time this past week and it's been very beneficial to me.

There's a lot I would change about my life were I to have magic powers and some hindsight. Reality is I can't change a blessed thing  in the past.

All of my good intentions and wishes and plotting and planning really can't come down to fruition unless I am in good health. I realize now how absolutely exhausted I have been the past few months, almost since the start of the school year. My condition must have been beginning then and starting to such the life energy out of me, bit by bit.   It's really hard to get things done or even to be motivated to start to get things done when you are out of juice bodily and mentally. Not only was I collapsing on the couch exhausted, I was too tired to even make a clear thought, let alone a decision.

It all comes down to good health.

Period.
simple.

So that is, and has been my focus for the past month. Get better. Whatever it takes. Take care of the condition and then see what the nutritionist says about how to incorporate healthy foods without causing another inflammation. Get moving. Make your eyes sparkle.

The rest of the 'get 'er' done' will follow, if the health is there.

A snowy Saturday

Well the temps are not as low as they were the past week. We're at -15C with a growing wind which takes us to -28C right now. Snow is falling for the first time in awhile and it looks like it's here for the weekend.

DS2, crazy kid that he is, is gone up north for the weekend for a winter camp. He is BEYOND excited to sleep outside in his new 40 below sleeping bag and his bivy sac that goes around it. Picture that blue thing in army green and the whole thing surrounded by a foot of snow. They will stay oustide and cook over a fire and hike. This place where they go to camp is his happy place.

DS1 has the day off from hockey so I am not sure what he will do when he wakes up (or mother wakes him up) Finals are next week so I suspect there will be some studying going on today. He has several but the ones he is worried about are Law 30 and Calculus C30.

I am curled up watching the snow blow down (getting stronger as I write this) and watching Flip This House, featuring my favourite of the series, Armando. There is something quite personable about this man and his wife. His self made business has blossomed into guest speaking, a book and a lucrative business. Not bad for a guy who started his flipping business literally on his last tank of gas and his last dollars. 

I need to head to the school to work and catch up on my marking from a missed week. That might have to be tomorrow before hockey.  Perhaps I will make cinnamon buns today. It feels like a 'bake something that smells great' kind of day.

The simple things

I am really apprecating the simple things today. My first day back was good. The kids seemed happy to see me. One of them said "we missed you!!! and we really mean it this time". I laughed so hard. I missed them.

After school I stopped to visit mom and dad and play with their puppy. We need some warm weather so he can go out and run run run.

Week three gave me $40 left in the jars so I ran that to the bank and put it in my savings account, bringing me up to $900 for the needed $1000 for summer 2012.

My house is clean thanks to the time I was home this week. Laundry is mostly caught up.

I came home to change into something more comfortable (not THAT kind of more comfortable :-) I sliced up some chicken breasts and have them simmering to make quesidillas for supper. I lit a candle. There is just something so luxurious for me about a lit candle. I fired up the Keurig and made a cup of coffee and I am really just at peace today and feeling good. A little tired, but good.

days at home

It is rare indeed that I am at home and my boys are not. School is school so when they go, I go. When it is holidays, it is for all of us. There are rare days when I have meeting days set up by the Ministry of Ed when classes are closed so I go and they stay home.

I've been home a few times sick without them but those are rare flu days or the wonderful times I had  pneumonia. I was far too sick to appreciate being here without them.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending me get better vibes. I have seen some good changes with the new meds though they interfere with my sleep at night. Insomnia is so much easier to take when I know I don't have to be 'on' all day at work. For a couple of days the meds made me so 'high' I was vibrating with energy I haven't seen in a very long time. I appreciated being no more than 15 steps from my bathroom as I have been spending a ridiculous amount of time in there....but oh.....BETWEEN those bathroom visits............I am getting things done. Laundry, tidying, organizing, cooking, baking. School work marking and prep. That part is heaven. There's no way I could teach running to my bathroom every 10 min. Thank you so much understanding administration and my banked sick days. I will go back to work Fri.

The plummeting frigid temps have such made me appreciate not having to be out and about driving. This morning the temps are low -30s and with the wind we're into the -50s. I felt sorry for my boys as they headed out this morning all bundled up.

Groceries have been cheap this week. There has been time for me to cook from the freezer. Home made beef barley soup Monday, stew yesterday. Tonight will be moose sausage and some pasta. The bread machine came out for the first time in a long time and made the house smell delicious when the boys came home. The borderline veggies got chopped up and used in the soup and stew. It's given me the ability to spend less on groceries and use my weekly jar money to stock up on the household things that were running low.  Simple simple food but warm on these frigid days. (as I typed this my mom texted to say there are sweet and sour meatballs and fresh buns to pick up at her place for supper tonight so we will have the sausage tomorrow now. Wheeee one more night of 'free' food)

DS1 was a good boy last night and after hockey practice ran a couple errands for me. I sent him first to Canadian Tire. I had a $50 gift card so he picked up some cleaning supplies that were on sale and one of those big plastic wrap enviro refills that goes under the cupboards. I was close to being out.  It was nice to have the card and save that money.  He then hit Walmart as we were out of milk, rice and a few other things. He had a list and $40 and came in $6 under budget.  I gave him that to put towards gas for his car as thanks for running.

Time to go shower and plot out my potential to do list for the day and see if I can get any of it done.

So where did the gym money go?

So at the end of November I finally cancelled my gym membership. My payment at the start of December was the very last one. I never did get there for any final hurrah being sick.

When my end December cheque came, I realized I had an extra $48 a month that needed a new home. There are lots of places I could have put it, but I didn't really play too much 'what if'.

My satellite bill has inched up a wee bit so $3 of the gym money went to pay the increase on that bill.

The other $45 went into the budget line that feeds the savings/planned spending target goals.

Not very exciting destinations but I do appreciate the help it gives towards meeting those goals.

jars and snowflakes

While the snow is falling for real outside and the temperature nasty, there is much to be said for the snowflakes of the $ variety.

After the end of last week's jar money, I was able to siphon off $20 from gas, $20 from grocery and my unused $20 in spending money. A lovely $60 from the jars.

I also curled up and scratched my gift pack of lotto scratchers and found myself $23 richer on Saturday.

Finally, I got around to cleaning out my mailbox at school on Saturday and remembered I had won $10 in the Survivor pool which finished before Christmas. I will slip down to the bank as soon as I can and deposit the lovely grand total of $93 snowflakes into my savings account. This will go towards my Summer 2012 goal of $1000, which is close to completion, mostly in thanks to little bits here and there.

Sunday this'n'that

Well winter finally made it here. We went from bare and 0C to heading below -20C with wicked winds and a big snow dump last night. As much as we want to, I guess we can't really complain since it's been such an abnormally mild winter.

My condition isn't better yet so I am on new meds. I am taking a few sick days to stay close to the bathroom and hoping things start to improve toute suite. I am being referred to a specialist.

Since DH left his previous job for a new one, he is currently without medical insurance. We are working with just mine. After 90 days DH will be done his probation period and will have coverage again.  Went to get my new prescription and it cost $7 instead of $0 and DS2's cost $14 (with just my insurance) instead of $0 with both.  So that was $21 in unplanned, but necessary expenses.

I spent 5 hours yest and about 3 hours today tidying up my class and getting everything ready for the sub. So much of what I do, I just do and writing it all out to 'explain it' takes forEVER. I am glad I have sick days so I can take this time and not lose pay.

DS2 and I are working on his Science presentation. It's on the Space Race and one of my favourite topics.  He's doing very well on his own and I am working hard to refrain from 'helping' too much LOL. It's hard to keep that line between a mother overseeing her son's homework and a teacher wanting to help. It helps that he has to do it all in French and he is much more fluent than I am :-)

I am happily (yes really!) catching up on laundry now that I have my dryer back. I still hang most of the shirts since they are cotton but towels go crunchy when they don't go in the dryer LOL

I hope to do some baking tonight so we have some things for lunches for the upcoming week. I am making some to do lists of things to try to accomplish while I am at home instead of just lying on the couch watching abnormal amounts of HGTV

Have a great day.

A wee bit of Murphy

I probably shot myself in the foot by crossing my fingers the other day that nothing bad goes wrong. Karma is a alert woman and she was listening.

My dryer stopped working. Wouldn't even turn on. DH opened up the back, vacuumed it out and poked about but couldn't even find where the belt etc was hidden. He brought up that we may need a new set. I sent him to the repair shop to ask the nice folks their thoughts and how to find the elusive belt. They were happy to comply and said if it's not the belt then we probably needed someone to come out and look at it. He came home and opened it up again and the belt was in fine condition.

We set up an appt with a repair guy to come out and have a look at it. He was less than 15 minutues and determined it was one of the four fuses. Fixed and voila! No new washer and dryer for me.

Cost - $88

I have to admit part of me was disappointed to not get a shiny new front loading washer and dryer, but the other part of me was saying 'so where did we plan to get a couple thousand for this shiny new toy set?'

This is the first time I have had to repair my dryer. The washer - twice. Once a repairman came for a bill just under $100 and once DH did it.

Pretty darn good for a set that is 17 years old this month.

First goal met

As I said yesterday, my first goal for the year has been met, happily. DS and I started saving last year bit by bit and thanks to some great snowflakes, we now have his spending money from his Europe trip. It feels really good to get one of the 12 done before the first month of the year is over.

I hope the momentum continues for me to get a few more knocked off as well as pay that debt down.

Now it's either the summer 2012 goal or the vehicle plates. decisions, decisions.

Where the money stands

as of January 6th

Debts
Mortgage - $32 140.65
Vehicle Loan - $6612.71
Line of Credit (new...sigh) - $3800

Total Debt - $42 553.36

So I was soooooo close to being under $40 000 on my total debt for this month. I would have been there actually. But the addition of that LOC money negated that. I was back up to $43 855. I added that extra $3800 to the  'additional debt' portion of my debt status in case you were wondering. I am $2500 away from that magical 'under 40 000'. It will happen soon :-)

Savings (Planned Spending)
RESP - $9025
RRSP - $4000
EF (TFSA) - $2000
DS's trip (spending money) - $1200

I added $1500 to my RRSP since my laste update.  I also have achieved the first of my many goals for 2012. The spending money is all saved for. Granted I started saving a bit before the start of  2012, but it looks great to have one completed this quickly :-)

A trip to the bank

I was online reading over my LOC statement since I had gotten it. I haven't had a line of credit before so the process is new to me. I have had consolidated loans and a vehicle loan and was used to how the interest/principal worked on those.

The statement was BAFFLING. The interest being charged monthly came out of the chequing account it was tied to. Sometimes when I made a payment it said 'regular payment' and there was the interest/principal proportion of money distribution. Sometimes when I made a payment it said 'principal receipt'. One of the most recent payments was for $100. It showed up as 4 different transactions on the statement. Payment in, interest off, some to the principal then the payment went off and then in again. etc etc.


I tried to backtrack to see if everything balanced and the convoluted statement made me so confused I felt like an idiot.

I stopped by the bank today and was able to speak with a representative. She saw me without an appointment and together we dissected everything together. She was confused as well and made a couple internal calls to the higher ups.

So we learned that my loan  is an interest only loan. There is no set payment that is applied/comes out each month. There is monthly interest that comes out of the tied chequing account based on the balance. I can go in as often as I like and make whatever payment I like. I am to use the words "I would like to make a payment on the principal of my LOC'. This gives me a pure payment and no interest comes off. Otherwise the teller will think it is a regular payment, enter it as such and the 'interest/principal' portion goes into effect.

I did know this with my vehicle loan but for some reason never thought to ask if I needed to say this with the LOC too. I need to make sure the teller does it correctly. Not all of them understand the difference. I know with my vehicle loan I had to educate the tellers as well.

I was refunded the interest that was 'accidentally' taken off through teller error. The balance owing is all balanced now.

I also learned that when I try to pay online, the computer doesn't have an option for 'principal payment' and it thinks it is a regular payment, and thus interest comes off.

I really appreciated how well the lady was able to explain it to me. I was worried that I would either a) feel stupid for not knowing things or b) have her explain them and I STILL didn't understand it and I would feel stupider.

I am glad I ventured into my online statement. While I had a head whirling afternoon and a sleepless night trying to figure it out, I got the answers to my questions.

So many of these things, LOC, loans, CC's etc are all so much a part of our lives and there are infinite details that have to be figured out and learned by those of us who are not naturally familiar with banking, interest borrowing.

Little bits add up

Ok I do something weird with my phone, cell and satellite bills. I round up when I pay. I have a set budget for them. Nice even round numbers. My phone/internet budget is $85. This covers basic phone with call display and my internet. I leave a little wiggle room on that bill on the off chance I have made a long distance call. That rarely happens. As such, when I pay the $85 each month, the amount owing the next month goes a bit less and a bit less. About twice a year, the difference between my $85 and the actual amount is significant enough I can roll a snowflake out of it.

My end December phone bill showed a $30 difference. I pay $85 and owed $55. It was time to roll a snowflake out of it.  This time I paid the $55 and withdrew the balance, from my chequing account and immediately took the snowflaked $30 and put it in my high interest account towards a savings goal. 

weird? yes, probably, but a wee thing that amuses me and makes bills a little more psychologically fun.  I am close to meeting athe first of many savings (planned spending) goals for the year.

siphoning from the jars

Something good comes from being sick during the whole Christmas break - I had a whole week of No Spend. Never happened before and undoubtedly will never happen again.

My tank was full and I drove nowhere, so full it stayed. We ate several times at mom and dad's and ate out of the freezer and pantry. No money spent for food. Jars just sat there, untouched. I went yesterday and took out week 2's money and debated.....and debated....and slept on it, and debated again.

I decided to take some out of the jars to create snowflakes. Week 2's money was not touched and went straight into their jars.

I did not spend my $20 allowance (didn't go anywhere - didn't need any make up or girlie stuff) so I took that $20.

I had $50 in my gas jar so I left $30 in there and took $20 of that. Longer drives will come up and that gives me a bit of spare money.

I had $40 in my entertainment jar, but did not touch any of it. Entertainments don't happen often and I'd like it to build.

I had $170 in my grocery jar. I left $70 in there so I can have a bit extra to stock up for back to school and lunches, and took $100 of it.

That gives me $140 of repurposed (found) money. I took it to the bank and put it in my High Savings account to put towards one of my Savings goals.

I know a week like this probably won't come around again so I will celebrate it and hope it inspires me to wiser spending and savings for 2012.

Goals for 2012

I am hoping 2012 is a year of focus and determination for me. I am aching for good health. I desperately want to use my time to it's most efficient level. I want to be out more and move more. I want to be more active about living in 2012, rather than passive.

Most of my goals are financial. It's where I have had the most success and control. (most of the time)

Goal 1 - Pay off Line of Credit - $3800
I know, I know, you're thinking 'line of credit?? since when do you have that debt?'  sadly this was added in mid December of this year. The rest of DS's Europe trip was due earlier than I thought. I confess I did a rotten job of saving for it. I just didn't pull things together. I put it on my til now untouched line of credit. This WILL be paid off before the end of 2012 with as little interest as possible, I hope.

Goal 2 - Pay off my Vehicle Loan  - Just over $7000 remaining.
As it stands, if I pay the loan payment each month, I will be done in December of 2012. Anything extra I put down will get that paid off earlier in the year. June would be lovely but that would require a full extra payment each month from now til June. It will be interesting to see how this one works out.

Goal 3 - Save for DS's vehicle plates. $800 for me, $400 for him but more from him if he works more. Target date - Mid July when renewal is due.

Goal 4 - Save $1200 for DS's trip.
The EF program suggests $100 per day of travel for spending money. There will be some meals he must pay for on his own. There will be some local tours that will not be included in the overall fee. This money I have to convert to Euros and set up an account where he can use a debit card from Italy as suggested by the teacher supervising. DS and I have been saving together for this and we're close to meeting this goal. Target date, end of February, so there is time to set up the account and order the money.

Goal 5 - Save $1000 for Summer 2012
It was really nice to once again have that money for impromptu summer activities and not have to worry 'can I afford this?'  It's preplanned entertainment money. Target date - June 2012.

Goal 6 - Save $1500 for Back to School
School fees and sports fees and band fees, school supplies and a few new clothes. It all adds up as every parent knows. Having this in place will not make me tense up and dread the start of school.

Goal 7 - Save $1400 for Christmas
This one is necessary if I do not tackle Wish 2 below.

Goal 8 - Save $1000 for TFSA - EF
I didn't put anything towards this at all last year and I am stuck at $2000. I need to reactive this drive again.

Goal 9 - Save $1500 for RRSP
I'd like to do more but given what I have listed above, I know that it is unlikely. I will be more than happy if I 'merely' acheive the goal.

Goal 10 - Lose 20 lbs.
It is do able, if I just make it a priority and DO it.

Goal 11 - Read 25 books this year.
Reading makes me happy. I like happy.

Goal 12- Do a better job of keeping up with my boys' expenses journal.
I started this in April of last year and kept track of how much I am spending on them in a given month. Part of this honestly was so that when DH did another of his 'you don't pay that much for them' meltdowns, I could show him. The other was to keep for the boys and myself so we would understand better where the money is going.

Wish 1 - Take DS2 on a wee trip while DS1 is gone to Italy over Easter.
I just want to spend some bonding time with him. I'd like to do Toronto and take him to the ROM. New York would be awesome but I would be scared to death to go on my own. He's really bummed that he didnt' get to go to Wicked with me. It's playing in Colorado over the Easter break. Could I swing a quick trip down there and give him one heck of a Birthday? Money needed - unknown.

Wish 2 - Take the boys on a family tropical holiday for Christmas in 2012.
I thought a lot about this while I was on the couch sick over Christmas. DS1 will be graduating in a year and this would be our first/last/only chance at a family holiday before he leaves me. While I am not a fan of hot or sand or, god forbid, bathing suits, I think they would enjoy Mexico and it's probably the cheapest destination option. It would be a surprise for them. I have no clue how much this would cost. I'd have to ask some folk at work who have done this.


I know this is a big list. A costly list. I don't know how much is achievable. I do know, however, that little bits sure do add up. Snowflakes are a good start and I do have to start somewhere.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all made it safely through New Year's Eve, celebrating in your own special ways.  I love reading different blogs and seeing all the unique ways this has happened for my blogging friends.

DH spent New Year's Eve day out ice fishing with his sister and brother in law. He loves it, but the appeal of sitting in a little shack on the ice for hours and hours doesn't register for me. lol Different strokes for different folks.

DS1 had hockey practice with the junior A team then went off to work at the restaurant for the night. To quote him "this suck, having to work the last new year's eve EVER'. Always eloquent, his mother replied with 'WTF??' Apparently he subscribes to the 'world is ending in 2012' theory. lol

DS2 and I went over to my parents' house for Chinese Food, for supper. We came home and I watched the Canada/US Jr hockey game.

DS2 had a friend over and they watched a good part of the first season of LOST, which he got for Christmas.

Today is my last leisure/rest and hope I get better day. I am hoping I will be well enough to work starting Wed. If not, I am going to have to take a leave for a month or so while I get my strength back. We will meet some of my family over at mom and dad's for a prime rib supper. DS1 has hockey practice and will join us for supper. DS2 has been hankering to play Monopoly with my sister 'his whole life' apparently. I don't know why. When we were little and played she always won and I always cried :-) With the philosophical elegance of a parent, I told DS2 if he wanted to start 2012 crying then have at it LOL.

I am hoping to get some tidying done today and some laundry. I life feeling semi organized before school starts up again.

Hope your day is fantastic!