Change for May

I happily rolled up my change yesterday and came out with 2 rolls of quarters, a roll of dimes, a roll of nickles and 6 rolls of pennies. The pennies had been building up for awhile. That is $30 to go towards my next goal of plates for DS1's car.

I appreciate how the little bits add up.

Bonjour Murphy!!!

I was beginning to think you had defriended me, it's been so long.

It was so lovely that you stopped by on one of my days home from work :-)

And you brought something with you, as any good guest should. thanks so much for that.

On Monday night, our water heater died. It was 10 years or 12 years old. I honestly don't remember. DH will. He called Tuesday to arrange for a new one and installation. Since today was my home day, he had the plumber come in today.  I have to admit, I never 'thought' about the water being off and my needing to go to the bathroom. Mom's is only 4 min away though so I relaxed knowing I could go there if need be. While I am on waving terms or idle chit chat over the lawnmower with my neighbours, I haven't been in their houses and would be extremely uncomfortable asking to use their bathroom.

Since we drained the heater last night (by we, I mean DS2 and DH) it only took the guy about 90 min to remove the old one and install the new one.

The cost? heck if I know...we will get the bill. DH says he will take care of it out of his money so that is good. It reminds me again that we really really need to build a 'chit happens' account/ budget line.

Here's to the simple luxury of having running water WITH heat!!

Au Revoir Murphy!! Don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

thankful for copays

Yesterday I popped over to renew my prescriptions and was crossing my fingers that DH's insurance for his new job is finally validated by mine. It takes a long time for paperwork from one company to get to the other so they are all on board. I was pleased that it was all  done.

I am currently on two dif meds for my colitis. Together, without insurance, the meds would have come to $223.78 for about 3 weeks worth of pills. I was happy to only have to pay a grand total of $10.01 for them both.

I have to admit that when none of us was on meds, I kind of took that insurance plan for granted. Now that three of the four of us are on something, it resonates home on how lucky we are to have this boost.

When I was redoing my budget, I forgot to put $ aside for this so I need to do that so it's ready to go for my end of June paycheque.

Drizzly Tuesday

Today is an at home day for me. Time to rest and do a few things around the house between rests.

It was a chilly night and now it's drizzling rain and windy. It would be a good day to have a fire going, if I had one. I will have to settle for turning on the furnace a bit and put something in the oven to give off warmth and a good smell.

I have laundry going and have pried the cats off me to quickly type this and do some marking. Time flies far too fast on days at home, when compared to a day at work.  Hardly seems fair LOL

bonus Monday

I love love love the fact that it is a long weekend. Just having that extra day is so sweet and luxurious. It makes me feel like I have so much more time (to waste LOL)

15 years ago this weekend I was camping in a tent with a 6 week newborn baby and a 2.5 year old. I kept thinking "I'm nuts" but it was such a good time. Now 15 years later, my boy is up north at his camp with his buddies getting it ready for summer. Support from Scouts Canada for this camp is dwindling and they have not responded to a series of year long requests to fill the role of director. Our current director has been with the group for ages and let head office know we needed a replacement for this summer. No such luck. So DH and one of the other group member's mom headed up to be the legal adults there, but the kids are doing all the work on their own. It's quite amazing to see them take on this responsibility.

I rested a good part of Saturday and didn't do a whole lot with my time. Yesterday DS1 and I headed to the city to get his golf clubs. He received a few gift cards from different members of the family. I don't golf and about had a heart attack at some of the prices in there. Some of those drivers were $800!!!!! and I thought hockey was expensive. Needless to say DS did not get THAT driver :P

The drive in and out of the city drained my energy so I couched out last night. Today it hit home I have a mess of work to do. I have a sub in tomorrow so I have to go to the school to get ready for her. I have a ton of marking to bring home and attack.

The lawn had to be cut today. I made a deal with DS1 to each do half of the hour long procedure. He is allergic and has to med up to do it. Half the lawn means half  the meds. I have a couple loads of laundry out on the line and need to get at my house to do before I head to the school.

I wish I were the 15 year younger and healthier version of me and off camping. I miss that.

When Mama ain't' healthy....

...ain't nothing in the house that's healthy.

I must say that being down like this is really messing up all parts of my world. I have been off one day or two days each week, depending on sub availability. On my days off I have all these grandiose plans to get things caught up, but it never happens. I sleep. and I sleep, and I sleep. I'm like the cats and just move from surface to surface to nap. Quite sad.  On the days I work, I come  home so exhausted I collapse and sleep til morning. I have to say, it's getting old real fast.

So what else isn't healthy?

• finances. I haven't been keeping track like I do. There are no snowflakes to speak of. I don't have the energy to get groceries. More than once I have sent the boys with $ to go pick up a sub or pita for their supper. Their dad has been working late and it just isn't in me to shop and cook and clean up. bye bye grocery money.
• body. no walking. no exercise. no truly healthy eating. I am tired but laying around and sleeping makes me feel like crap
• house. lordy there are piles of laundry to do and tidying. dishes always around. rooms that need cleaning. blarg
• blogging. I've had zero motivation to blog and hardly even to read other blogs. THAT is when I know things are definitely off kilter.

I feel like I am missing out on so much. I guess I never really realized how sick I was or that this really was going to be with me for the rest of my life.

I am so thankful for this long weekend. DS2 and DH are gone up north camping. DS1 and I are at home and I'm not sure what his plans are. 

I hope I use my time as well as I can and feel like I have done some things and have rested over this weekend. 

Have a great weekend everyone. May it bring you lots and lots of pleasure.

Upcoming New Budget

With the loan almost paid off and some extra cash about to be floating around, I need to do some tinkering with the budget. If I don't, that money will pull an awesome magic trick and disappear. I haven't really tinkered with the budget since I bought the here were lots of possibilities, but the result was rather a simple one.

warning: if you were expecting something really exciting, this is not the post for you :P

Combining my vehicle payment with the money I previously had going towards savings goals and paying down my LOC, I now have $1350 /month to redistribute. While I would have loved to add money to the clothing budget or given myself a little shopping cash, the voice of reason came through. I have savings goals that need to be met and a line of credit that needs to be paid off. DS2 will be driving soon so we need to think about transportation. He also will get a school trip to Europe but not for 2 years. I will need time to save.

My first plan is to go meet with the bank and up the boys' RESP (education) savings amount. I currently am putting $100 for each of them in the plan, each month. I want to up this to $250 each. I don't really have a lot of time to save for either of them, but every little bit helps.

That leaves me with $1050 to put towards debt repayment and savings goals. Since I sacrificed putting money towards my savings to speed up the finale of the loan, I need to refocus on the savings for a few months to balance things all out.

The distribution
$1350

• $300 more to RESP
• $50 to LOC
• $1000 to Savings goals.

I plan to tackle the following savings goals in the following order:

• $800 for plates (insurance) for DS1's car. He saved $300
• $1500 Back to School
• $1400 for Xmas

After these I will still have the RRSP and TFSA goals to meet. I guess we shall see how fast I can meet the first three goals above.

This budget will take effect at the end of June with that cheque.

Where the money stands

as of May 6th

Debts
Mortgage - $31 089.92
Vehicle Loan - $491.43
Line of Credit - $3550.00
Total Debt - $35 131.35

Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $2000
RESP - $10 100.00
RRSP - $4000
Summer 2012 - $1000

First off, I am excited to see that the boys' RESP is now just over $10 000. I realize that won't go far in the big picture for their post secondary education, but it is 10 grand more than I had for them just a couple years ago. I have never saved $10 000 for anything before so this is pretty exciting for me.

The second big news is the vehicle loan. I know, I know, I talk about it more than anything. But it's at $491 now. A hundred dollars less than a regular payment. I am very pleased I was able to find the money over the years to bring the time of this loan down down down.  I will enjoy seeing this teeny amount for the next 30 days and then, it will be gone.

Sunday Catch up

It's been an eventful week. Not a lot of huge things, but many many little things.

First off, this colitis is kicking my ass. My health sucks. The colitis itself is still not regulated. The side effects of the meds are strong - joint pain like nobody's business. I can barely walk or bend my knees sometimes. The final side effect is the absolute exhaustion. I talked to the specialist this week and she said this is mostly due to my body working so hard to try to fight this for the last 6 months. Between the physical problems and the changing of the meds and the dehydration, I'm just tired. I am a very very lucky girl. My admin is giving me a couple days each week to stay at home and rest. I still have to prepare for the sub teacher, but the days off will hopefully give me time to get my health balance back. I truly do realize how fortunate I am to be given this time. I didn't want to take full leave and abandon my babies for two months.

I have now completed my second week of WW. I am doing it at home, with my old materials. My first goal is to lose the 20 lbs I gained on the steroids. Then I can continue on the 'normal' weight loss journey. I thought long and hard about signing up again, either for meetings or for WW online. Both of course, cost $ and I would be forced to work with the new Points Plus program, which I haven't really had any success with. I figured there was no point wasting money right now on a program that I didn't have success with, when I have all the tools needed for the old program at home, for free. The catch is, will I stick with it. So far so good. I have lost 10 of the 20 steroid pounds in my 2 weeks and I really really want to have success with this. My mantra, this time, is quite blunt. Lose weight or die. Yup, that's where it is for me right now.

DS2 got his learner's licence this week so mother is back in the passenger seat teaching another child to drive. I don't know if my nerves can handle it. I thought DS1 was bad when we first started but oh lordy, DS2 needs a LOT of work. Good thing we have the summer coming soon so we can practice. His learner's cost me $25 for the year. He won't be eligible to take his driver's until April of next year when he turns 16.

My brother in law's brother passed away this week. A very quick heart attack. I didn't know him terribly well but seeing the sadness in my brother in law's soul, is hard. It was a reminder that life is very very fragile, and quite finite.

Our local MS walk was today. There were 20 of my family there walking for the cause. My parents didn't walk, nor did my sister. I wasn't able to and I hated that I was too weak and sore to walk. I have simply GOT to get better.

April Summary

While April wasn't the best health month for me, it had some greate things happen financially.

DS did a great job of not overspending on his Europe trip. As promised, I let him keep half of what he came home with. He now has his $300 for his vehicle plates (insurance) which is due Mid July. Now mom needs to get her part done.

I didn't add anything to savings, but I did kick debt's butt quite well, IMHO. My loan was at $2842 at start of April and I brought it down to $1372. It was great to see it fall so wonderfully and know that the end of that was near.

I read a bit but not tons. I need to curl up and figure out my new plan of action and my budget for when the loan is paid off on June 5th. Kind of exciting to be able to :-)

change for the month

Earlier this month I rolled the change I had accumulated in my special piggy. He's the one who holds the loonies and toonies. I hadn't checked for awhile and was pleased to find there was enough for one roll each. A happy $75 to take to the bank.I took it in as part of a lump sum I was putting down on my loan. I love the dents change can make :-)