Last Day

Well this has been a bittersweet week, knowing that summer is over today for me, and work begins on Monday. I am so appreciative of the time I had to rest and work on getting better. It did go really fast though.

This week was a flurry of appointments for the Moneytree family. Both boys had their eye appointments. I realized this is the last one DS1 receives gratus under the provincial health program. He will be 18 in November and will have graduated to the  'pay for it' club. They both got haircuts, a huge feat for DS2 who is usually traumatized by them. He did well this time.  I had an appt yesterday to get my hair permed and cut, so that is all done for the fall. I would have loved a pedicure but there is only so much money to go around.

We did the school shopping. Less items are required as they get older, though the graphing calculator about killed me.  DS2 got new shoes, which he also hates doing. I did that AND his hair appt the same day and just kept breathing to relax. He is painfully slow when shopping.

A week of birthdays too for us. My great nephew turned 2, my nephew turned 22, his fiance turned 21, a niece in law turned 24 and my father turned 76. We had a picnic/weiner roast at the farm and as many who could came, did. It was nice to gather together and relax and see each other. My dad is building a one room cabin out there so he got to show it off to us. Our gifts to him were cards for the flooring he will be putting in. He appreciated that as it was something he needed rather than something else to 'take up space'.  It was a much smaller and simpler event than last year.

I hit the library to return the books I had out. Next week will be busy enough and if I didn't return them today, I'd probably forget and get hit with late fees.
Today I did a boatload of banking as we got paid and it's off to the school for the rest of the day to get cracking.

Happy Friday everyone :-)

Sunday this'n'that

It's been a busy few days in the Money Tree House hold. Time for a bit of an update.

Friday I headed into the city for my specialist appointment. She was pleased to see that I am still doing relatively well. She agreed to let me stay status quo for now. We will know by the end of September if being back to work (busyness and stress) will affect me or not.  I will have to have another colonoscopy in November. Since this one will be done in the city I am going to have to stay in a hotel near the hospital. No driving far with that special prep drink inside you :-)

I gave myself $40 for the trip into the city. I used $16.50 to top up my tank. $3 went to the parking at the hospital. I felt like celebrating my good news ( the status quo, not the future poke and prod aka colonoscopy) so I treated myself to a $5.99 hardcover in the discount part of Indigo books. It is called the Postmistress and is set in WW2. Haven't started it yet.  Since I was in and out of the hospital so quickly I was making good time. I was debating going straight home or stopping for lunch. There is a DQ in the city that is only open in the summer and only serves ice cream things not the food part. I hadn't been there in years and it just felt right. I stopped for a cone instead of lunch and headed to a park a couple blocks away to just sit and relax and enjoy the moment. I don't do that quite enough I think. So  my day into the city cost me just under $30

DS2 is home from his canoe trip. I was anxious as he is out of contact for the whole time and, well, he's only 15 and a mother worries. He had a great time. Altogether in the 6 days they canoed and portaged 128 miles. This was through lakes, rivers, marshy area and rapids. They tented on the shores at night. It rained part of one day, and during one night while they were up there so that wasn't too bad. One of the leaders of this group, who is 22 now, did this trip when he was 15. That year, they came across a family who had hit the rapids badly, lost their canoe and were floundering on rocks in the middle of the river. That scout group rescued the family and ended up receiving medals of honour.

DS1 is at a pick up tourney for hockey up north this weekend. He is having a blast. First time he's been on skates since April and he was beyond excited to go. It's a fun tourney, co-ed, all ages. They played a tough team yesterday. They lost, but not by too much. I have never seen DS lose so happily before.  You see, on this team was none other than Stanley Cup 2012 LA Kings, Dwight King, and his brother, Washington Capitols, DJ King. DS skated by Dwight then went over to his dad and whispered 'holy cow he's big!!"  For a hockey kid to play against an NHL'er is a pretty big deal in their world :-). I wanted to get a picture of them together but no one else is doing that and DS said "please don't be THAT mom, mom"

I am enjoying my last weekend before school starts. Really am appreciating all the little moments.

Happy Sunday all

Back at it

Well this is the week before the week before school starts and things are getting back into gear. July is infinitely long and wonderful. August 1 comes and things absolutely fly. I came yesterday to the school to get some work done. About half the staff was here for at least  half the day getting started on work. There are things to put back after the cleaning was done.  New things to put up. Different furniture arrangements based on how many kids are coming into the class. And, of course, the prep. With the SK gov't continually changing /updating the curriculum there is never a year where everything taught is the same as last year. so there is always something new to be done.

Yesterday I moved things around, but not a lot. I spent a lot of time arranging my room last year and then in the last day before school I got a infusion of new students. With all the desks that  had to be moved into my room I had to rearrrange again and get rid of a ton of furniture or there wouldn't be room. I swore if they moved one more kid in we were going to have to start layering them like a London double decker bus.

I arrived to find one  new student added to my list. We shall see how much that changes before day 1. We used to have a fairly stable clientelle, but not so much anymore.

I ran into one of the mom's from our school yest while I was at the bank. She said she had driven by the school and had seen my vehicle there along with about a dozen more. She was surprised as she didn't know why we would be there before the 1st day of work. Unless you are in the system, I guess folks don't really understand the prep work. She is a lawyer so it isn't as though she is out of touch with hard work. I laughed and said "I suspect when you have a big case you don't just show up at the courtroom on the first day and start working then. Someone, you and /or your assistants have a boatload of prep work to do. She laughed too and I could tell she understood. Thank goodness I have a good rapport with many of our parents, or I wouldn't be able to say something like that without someone getting offended.

I also ran into one of our moms who is a childcare provider and she had a whole flock of her little charges at the library. I watched in awe as she had them all park their bikes, lock them and proceed in while she got the littlest one of out the bike stroller. I don't know how she does it - that organized with that many tiny ones.

I guess we truly don't  know the worklife of another unless we have worked that job ourselves.

I have been quite good and did not buy much for my classroom this year. I am trying hard to pare down. I bought some whiteboard markers. The school supplies black and blue. If we wish different colours that comes out of pocket. I also bought a bottle of whiteboard cleaner. We get one bottle a year out of supplies, which does not last the year. Supplies don't often come in until the second or third week of school and I am out, so I picked one up.

Last year they installed at projector in my room so I could hook up my computer and show digitally whatever I needed to. They will not provide audio though, so if I want to show anything with sound, I need to buy speakers (again, out of my own pocket). If anyone has any suggestions on brands/kinds of speakers, I would greatly appreciate it. I am naive in this area. I would need ones I could temporarily mount on the front boards, but take down easily should I be moved next year.  And ones that don't cost a boatload of cash. If the kids wreck them, there is no magical fund to replace them or reimburse me :-)

ok coffee break over. time to get my butt into gear

RRSP update

I got a statement in the mail yesterday with my new balance, which is odd, because I got one in June as well. I am pretty sure I only asked to get them twice a year so I am unsure why they are coming more frequently.

I am down from $4200 to $4137 in these couple of months. If I did my math correctly I am down about 1.5% in this time frame.


I wish I understood more about this stuff. I should look and see if there is an RRSP for dummies clas offered this winter :P

Not spending money - self talk

It would be fun to record my conversations with my self sometimes. They can be quite rational and encouraging or they can be hard, tough love. I bet it would sound interesting to outsiders LOL

Yesterday was a money self talk day. I am trying to project if I can get my savings goals and my LOC actually all taken care of by Dec 31.

I go through spurts of great attention to money detail, to those of little attention besides the $ balance at the end of the month. Right now I am on the great attention phase.

So at home yesterday was just  DS1 and myself. DH and DS2 were gone a scout camping. Technically it was just me home most of the day. DS1 had gone to a........gathering...the night before and they tented there on the friend's farm, so they didn't have to drive home. a smart option.

When it came time for lunch, DS1 was out like a light so it was just me. and oh my, but I wanted to go get something for lunch. Not healthy. Fast food. A Mc D burger was calling me. and then, the self talk began!

Did I have enough WW points to make this work? yup it was doable.

Did I have money in my grocery jar? yup I did.

But it would be about $10. And gas to get over and back - about $2.50 to $3 depending on traffic.

I had food in the house. I just didn't want it. I hemmed and hawed for what felt like forever. I had my keys in hand at one point, a frying pan on the stove at another. You would think I was deciding something important.

What did it for me was that $10. All I kept thinking was I could tuck that $10 (if any was left at the end of the week in the jar) into my snowflake and throw it down on a savings goal.

So what? $10. big whoop. treat yourself, the little shoulder devil said.

So you treat yourself, said the shoulder angel. And then next week? cuz like you won't have this fight again? $10 a week saved would net you 22 x $10 = $220. wouldn't it be nice to whap down $220 on a debt or savings goal?

But that's only if you actually did find $10 a week, said shoulder devil.

It was quite funny.

I ended up having a bowl of soup and a salad and I didn't die from not getting what I wanted. It took a bit for that urge to go to pass, but it passed.

For supper I vowed to do the same without the exhausting battle. I found a chicken breast in the freezer, cooked it up with a little olive oil and spices. I had fettucine noodles. I made laughing cow alfredo sauce. I had the urge for garlic bread. We had a couple of hamburger buns that were getting a little dry for burgers but would be great to make 4 pieces of garlic toast. I had one piece and DS had 3. And I survived, without spending money.

But wow, that is just one snapshot of one day. I don't win all the battles, but I win some of them :-)

TFSA question

Ok I know a lot of you fellow Canadians know more about this than I do so I am throwing the question out there to you.

DS1 turns 18 in November. He is going into Gr 12. If I understand correctly, you can open  a TFSA once you turn 18.

My question is this, do I /we need to open one up for him and pop, say, $1000 in it to keep the contribution room growing for him?  Or does he automatically get the $5000 a year contribution room even if he doesn't open one til he is an adult, working?




PS Don't forget to entery Jeremy's give away contest. Check out the details at Modest Money!

Car Insurance has gone up

I got my renewal in the mail yesterday,which is two weeks later than usual. In Saskatchewan, insurance is  a whole lot simpler than it seems to be elsewhere. No matter the insurance agency or who owns it, it has to be sanctioned by SGI (the provincial governing body). Rates for all vehicles are the same, no matter the agency. Coverage for my suv is the same as someone up north or someone down south. This provides basic insurance coverage for your vehicle and is fondly referred to as  your 'plates'. 

Folks can choose to get a package policy on top which extends coverage, has lower deductibles etc. Those vary and seem closer to what I see advertized on TV for other places.

We can auto pay monthly or we can pay for the year outright. I pay outright with DS for his plates but I pay monthly for mine. Since I started documenting and keeping my monthly budget in Sept 2009, my amount has been $86 and change.

I was surprised to see that my monthly rate has gone up approximately $10.  When I went in to sign my papers I asked about the increase and she pointed out the different insurance changes. Light vehicles like mine went up 1.5% Trucks went up. There was a whole big list. Snowmobile insurance went down. Hearses went down by 40%!!

Anyhoo, I guess I couldn't keep on paying the same rate forever, so I shouldnt have been excessively surprised. I came home and rejigged the budget, adding $10 to the insurance category and taking $10 away from the planned savings category.

It was interesting looking at my monthly jar money. I haven't changed it since Sep 2009. Interesting. Perhaps it is time to re-examine matters.

Belated Sunday Night Chit Chat - the Lake Version

Peek at Carla's for the original chit chatter.

What am I reading?

It was the lake so something light, like WW Monthly Magazine, from the library. I had to be  careful it didn't get anything spilled on it.

Ok I have to laugh at this. I just googled WW mag when I was picking a cover to put on here. I chose the one above because it had the word summer in it. I get off the computer and go grab my coffee cup from across the room. Sitting there are a pile of old WW mags from when I used to subscribe. I brought these out earlier last week but hadn't even looked at them yet. Which one is on the top of the pile? yup, the exact one I found online to put on here. too funny.
What am I watching??

A bit of impromptu archery from my brother in law, my nephew and my nephew in law. Scary looking bow!! The blue splotches are the targets. My nephew just needs a teeny one. My brother in law, one slightly larger LOL

I also got to watch DS2 playing in the water.

 What am I cooking/baking?
Well the actual cooking was done by others but I helped prep. I am afraid I didn't stay true to my WW points and that's going to come back to bite me on the ass this week. My niece did a menu schedule with who brought what for each night. Still way too much food. This was from Greek and BBQ ribs night. They also had a steak night, a chicken night and a few midnight fish frys over the campfire on cast iron frying pans which taste soooo good.

What am I listening to?

The sounds of the campfire. We have three little ones now so we had to put a gate around it as protection if they tripped. lots of stumps and roots sticking out.

What am I happy I accomplished?

I am glad I set money aside for the summer. It paid for gas for the 2 hour drive up, food, drinks...those kinds of things.  It all adds up and would have stressed my budget. This way, the boys had some great experiences.

What am I thankful for?

Two nurses in the family - my niece in law (who has one more year  left) and my nephew in law. DS1 was water gun attacked by two of his cousins and put on the chase. A stump got the better of his toe. They doctored him up. He was quite a sight as they bagged him and duct taped him so he could still go tubing. The first pic shows the damage. He has a huge chunk of skin they had to cut off and a big hole in his foot to bandage.  The second is a bit of theatric flair and MoneyTree Family humour for him to post on his twitter feed.

This was a hard trip for me in other ways. I realized I can no longer go hang out on the boat or on the island for hours at a time as there is no bathroom nearby. I missed out on a lot of family time while they were away. I was very sad and it made me feel very old and out of the loop.

Parting picture - the sunset over my brother in law's boat.

Where the money stands

as of August 6

Debts
Mortgage - $30 .04  $30 297.04
LOC - $3400

Total Debt - $33 697.04

Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $2000
RESP - $10 800
RRSP - $4200
Back to School - $1500

I removed Summer 2012 and Plates from my savings list as they were /are in the process of being used.  It's nice to see my debt go under the $34000 mark. I hope to see it below $30 000 by end of 2012.

July change

(loving the posts I can get ready and have auto published while I am gone :-)

A lot of my July bigger expenses went on the CC, to be paid off when I got home. When I buy exclusively in cash, all change goes into the jars and it adds up quite quickly.

I had a roll of loonies, 2 rolls of quarters and a roll of dimes, for $50 in change. This went to my savings goal for Back to School.

I thought I'd enclose a pic of my tomcat, who is a total mama's boy and was curled up on me, slowly making his way ONTO the laptop as his way of saying  he needed pets.

August long weekend

With July already a memory it's time to face August. Thank goodness August comes with a long weekend. For my family (the whole group) it means camping.  Same place up north I've shown you pics of before. This is a series of lakes but the particular place we stay has only a dozen sites, with some summer home cabins nearby. It's quite intimate and being invaded by the Moneytree clan this weekend. If I have done my  number count correctly, there will be about 30 of us there. A few got there yesterday to start getting set up. This includes my boys.  I have to tell you it was a very odd feeling to watch them pack up and head off, all on their own to join the rest of the group. I have hit 'that age' as a mother when they drive 2 and a half hours on their own I guess.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be going. My dad had a ministroke on Wed  morning. Since I was the only daughter still at home, I martyred up to stay home near them in case they need someone. My boys were leaving on their own and DH was heading out tonight after work.  Well my dad is a stubborn sort and will eventually die in the middle of doing something. I get a phone call from my mom this morning saying he's hooking up the 5th wheel and would I mind coming to help. ohhhh k dad you drive me nuts LOL

I msg'd the troops to tell them Grampa and Gram are en route and they had all better be there to help him set up.

I got a text from one of my nephews a bit ago to say that they had pulled in. Within 15 minutes the grandkids had the 5thwheel backed in, level, unhooked from truck. Awning was out, outdoor carpet (to keep dirt away) out, picnic table adorned, chairs up and a fire going in the firepit. My mom was gently pushed into  a chair with a baileys and my dad was surrounded by the dogs. Made my parents proud they had raised their kids/grandkids right.

Looks like I will head up tonight. Crossing fingers colitis isn't an evil bitch. See y'all on Monday!

August 2012 Goals

Since July was so successful I decided I will put up some goal for the final month of Summer. For me it technically ends Aug 26th as we start work on the 27th. Many are the same but tinkered with.

Walk 45 miles this month.
I did well in July so I would like to repeat this in August with a higher goal. I know once school starts I am going to have to change my schedule and I will have to see how much energy I have and how healthy I am.

Lose 8 lbs this month (and keep it off)

I will go with the WW guideline and hope for  2 lbs a week. If I work the program and walk and I don't achieve it I will be ok with that, because I know I am still on program.

Bake 4 times (on the cooler/rainier days)

 

Try 2 new recipes

Snowflake $200
This will come from bottle recycling, money saved from weekly jars and potentially, money left from summer 2012 or back to school.

Read 2 books just for ME

Read 5 books for school

Log 50 hours of quality prep work at school (before Aug 26)
It's time to kick it into gear and get things ready. I will ensure 'quality prep work time' by making a list of things I need to accomplish. That will save me from wandering about  and keep me focused. SO much to do.

Thank you thank you thank you!!

I just heard wonderful news and wanted to share.

Remember my friend Karen, who was in the Canadian Paralympics Super Fan contest???

Well close to the end of it, certain 'voting irregularities' were discovered regarding one of the other contestants. This forced the Committee to investigate. When they could not reach a decision on the legalities of it, they were forced to go to Plan B - all entries, even the ones with no votes, were put into a hat and one winner was randomly chosen. We were heartbroken when our Cheering Canuck was not picked.

Well today I heard from her and she told me that the Committee decided to award a duplicate prize to the top unofficial vote getter. Karen is off to the Olympics to cheer on her friend Joan on the Paralympic Rowing Team.

I am beyond happy for her. Thank you to all of you who clicked and voted and helped make this happen. You did a good thing!!!

July goals update and reflection

Well I have to say that despite it's quietness, July was a very good month for me. I wasn't at the lake like several of my coworkers, nor was a on a roadtrip touring Chicago and New York, like two others - I didn't get to the mountains like the lady in the room beside me nor did I do the summer games tour like two others, with their children.

July was quiet, but July was oh so healing for me. I am so appreciative of the month for giving me time to rest, time to start walking again, tentatively at first. Time to declutter and sort. Time to get out my WW books at start up. Time for a little road trip. Time to read and time to watch TV.

I did not go to the school other than about 3 hours to get it ready for summer cleaning and clean out lockers. THAT is a first for me. Not sure if it is good or bad but it is sure different to not be there working already. It means I have a lot of time to put in during August though.

I was appreciative every single day for the temporary remission I have. Said Thank God every day. Meant it literally and figuratively. I was holding on by my teeth to get to the end of June and so appreciate the schedule I have for work that lets me have this rest time.

So how did I do on my July goals? Well they weren't lofty but it gave me a bit of a focus and I think I did pretty darn well.

Walk 31 miles this month.

- I did great. 47.12 miles. Thank you Nike App for tracking for me! It felt amazing to be able to walk even though I am massively out of shape and was sweating like a pig and panting at a half mile. Baby steps I guess. Cost to me? $0 though I sure could use new shoes as mine are falling apart, but they don't give me blisters!!

• Lose 6 lbs this month (and keep it off)

Thanks to Weight Watchers and walking. I lost  13 lbs this month. I am using the old points program for those who follow WW. I am doing it on my own as I need to tailor the food to my colitis diet. 13 is a lot. WW says on average folks lose 1 to 2 lbs a week. I am big though so it comes off faster at the start. I have had great success with WW before but then at some point fell off the wagon and went back to my old habits. I haven't been able to stay on the program for a longer period of time, for a LONG while. I hope this is successful.

• Bake 4 times (on the cooler/rainier days)

Well three is better than nothing. I made cupcakes and cookies and banana bread. Just too hot to have the oven on. Will have to try a bbq baking recipe. would kill two birds with one stone :-)

• Try 2 new recipes

I made crock pot pulled pork which was great and made meatloaf on the BBQ the other day when DS1 was craving it. I need to get more recipes in my routine.

• Snowflake $150

I flaked $163 this month. Some from recycling. Some from change. A little bit from weekly jars but  not much. $20 went to pay for the balance of my new cabinets. A bit went for storage containers for my new cabinets as the old ones were the wrong dimensions and the rest went to savings goals.

• Read 4 books just for ME

Love love love that I had time to read. Such a gift.

- No Greater Love - Julie Ellis
- Dont You cry - Joy Fielding

- Blaze Wyndham - Bertrice Small
- One Fifth Avenue - Candace Bushnell

• Read 5 books for school

- Empty - Suzanne Weyn
- They Never Came Back - Caroline B. Cooney
- The Compound - S A Bodeen
- Drought - Pam Bachorz
- Code Talker - Joseph Bruchrac

• Not on the list but should have been. DECLUTTER

While I didn't get to the whole house, I did a couple of areas that had been bugging me for quite sometime. If I put it all into big black garbage bag equivalents, I would guestimate about 30 bags exited my home. Some to recycling. Some to the school. Some were books and clothes donated and the rest was trash. Feels good!


All in all it was a great month and I can look back and be happy I accomplished some good things.