Change for January

I didn't spend a ton so there wasn't a whole lotta change to get.   Are there still accounts out there where your debit purchases round up to the nearest dollar and put those bits in an automatic savings account? I remember seeing those ads on TV a few years ago and I realized that is what I am doing, just ...the old fashioned way.

1 roll of loonies $25
1 roll quarters $10
1 roll of dimes $5
2 rolls of nickels $4
2 rolls of stray pennies found here and there $1

Total for the month - $45

This money went into my savings and was ear marked for the first $1000 of my $2000 TFSA goal for the year.

Sunday Night Chit Chat

What am I reading?  The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

What am I listening to? The wind blowing. and blowing. and blowing.

What am I watching? a show on History TV about the Oak Island Money Pit mystery. I have always been fascinated by this story. Hope the movie turns out to be great.

What am I cooking/baking? Lots of chicken. I need to find more quick recipes that are WW friendly but also colitis friendly. Their two worlds clash sometimes.

What am I looking forward to this week? I go this week to my colitis specialist in the city. I am hoping she is happy with my remission. I haven't had a colonoscopy since Dec 2012 so I suspect my yearly one is late, but still a coming. (just to set the record straight, I am NOT looking forward to a colonoscopy LOL)

What am I happy accomplished? DS and I went through college classes this week. He really IS focused on the upcoming hockey and needs a lot of nudging to pick the classes as he really doesn't know what he would like to be. He had best figure it out soon. That's a lot of cash for I am not sure. We've put some on the no list and some on the maybe list. It's hard to pick when we are not sure of their practice schedule. When he goes down in May the admissions will make any changes he needs. We ran into a snag when we had to check of 'US residency status'. Whole lotta alien choices but we weren't sure which one. A quick call to their international admissions office helped out. Great people there.

Sunday Night Chit Chat

What am I reading?
 I am reading one of my favourite author's : Jeffrey Archer  - Only Time Will Tell

What am I listening to?
The washing machine and the dryer. Busy night tonight for that happy duo.

What am I watching? 
 a rerun of The Good Wife. I was hoping it was a new one, but sadly. No. Definitely one of my favourite shows to watch.

What am I cooking/baking?
 I baked cookies this week as well as muffins. Tonight was a pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy and home made baking powder biscuits.

Happy I accomplished this week?
I restarted WW this week. Just ......decided Sunday afternoon/evening that it was time. I found it funny that Jan 1 I didn't feel the same way. Usually it is so easy to start something on that day.

Looking forward to next week?
I have been using my time well. That gives me much peace of mind. I hope that momentum will continue.

Thankful for today?
The time that weekends give. To rest. To catch up. To spend time with my kids. To go places. To plan the week ahead. To see the Stanley Cup. To read. such gifts of time.


What colours do I tend to gravitate towards?
Blacks and whites. Shades of blue.


Please head over to 1/2 Dozen Daily to see Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat

Delayed Savings

It's a bit of a mind game I play with myself. Rather like those of you who set your alarm clock ahead a few minutes to 'trick' yourself into getting a few extra , moments of rest in the mornings. I never did understand that one, but if it works, hey? why not.

I do much the same thing with 3 of my monthly bills: my landline, my cell phone bill and my satellite bill.

I know, I know, there are many of you who have gotten rid of your landline, or your satellite/cable. I would be game for the former - jury is still out on the latter. The kink in that hose is DH, who fights it tooth and nail. He is not exactly on board the 'understanding your money' train.  I have to pick my battles.

Anyhoo....back to the messing with my own mind. 

I overpay those bills each month by a few dollars. The satellite bill is fairly constant, except for it's too frequent price hikes. The other two bills have their base price and then can increase if there are long distance calls made on either.   By budgeting this little overpaying, it gives me a bit of self created cushion so that the odd call here or there doesnt' throw my budget out of whack. Currently, we do not make enough LD calls to merit the use of adding that 'package' onto our regular bills.

So I over pay by a couple dollars and a small surplus gets created. Should a month come with LD charges, then no worries. Like, say the month where DS1 was being wooed by all those US colleges. Those calls came in to him either on his cell or on the house phone. It added up, but there was room.

So at the end of the calendar year I skim off this self created surprlus and voila! It becomes a snowflake. A very nice snowflake.

So after those three bills were paid today, $120 was skimmed off and made a lovely snowflake that went to the bank and was added onto what I am saving for my TFSA.

I know there are a lot of big ways folks have trimmed their budget to create more cash flow. Here is a smaller way I am trying to make change.

Where the money stands

Well here we go for our first progress update of 2014. I am still filled with the hope and promise of the new year.  My goals are to snowflake my @ss off to meet my savings goals as fast as possible.

Debts
Mortgage - $25 646.27

Total Debt - $25 646.27


Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $3075 in the plan and $500 ready to be added to the plan.
RESP - $16 200
RRSP - $7600 
DS2's trip -$1140
Plates 2014 - $800
College Savings - $900



It was a good month. I got a nice head start on my TFSA/EF and on the Vehicle Insurance (plates). It only takes one Murphy visit and things go astray. For all I know (or anyone else reading) Murphy could visit one of us tomorrow.

First snowflakes of 2014

Each year DH's sister and her husband forego traditional gifts and give us lottery scratchers for a present. There were some for each of us this year. I spent some time last night scratching them, making a mess with those little shavings.

Some of them are fairly straightforward and it's easy to see if you have won or lost. Others have a lot more pieces to them and missing one thing could mean the difference between thinking you lost, and actually winning.

You used to have to rely purely on yourself, but in the past couple years they have put in the bar code scanner so that you can check via machine. I have done this in the past and found $2 here or there I would have missed otherwise.

Today I took them to the machine to scan and came away with  my first snowflakes of 2014.

$40 made it's way into my 'snowflake' wallet and onto my snowflake jar list. When the wallet hits $100, I take it to the bank and put it towards my target.

My target is $2000 on my TFSA. I will save up a $1000, then do the paperwork for the transfer, and then repeat when I get the second $2000

2014 Aspirations

I love the start of a new year. Resting before you is a meadow covered in freshly fallen snow. Untouched.  Limitless possibilities. Once you make a mark, it is there and cannot be erased without leaving a scuff mark...an impression that something was done there.

Each step is only one step. One piece of a journey. But together those steps show the canvas of your year showing a clear, determined path - or a wandering - or even a backtrack when one realizes they are not on the right path.

I found this website while looking for ideas for wall art and was amazed at the patterns this gentleman makes. Below is an example of his work along with a link to an article on his work. Simon definitely had to think of the big picture before he began. Plot and plan and visualize. This undoubtedly was not his first attempt at such art, and many a design had to lie in stasis until the winds blew across it, or fresh snow fell.

Simon Beck

 

I use this visual to draw a comparison to how I wish to spend this coming year. You definitely need to have a plan before you start. There is no delete button when walking through the snow, and while you CAN backtrack, it does leave the impressions of those journey experiences.

 

You can start out, thinking something is a great idea, a great piece to your journey, but when you actually begin, you find things hidden under the snow that force you to change your plans. And it's ok for plans to change. That is truly the way life evolves. 

 

So that is my mantra for 2014. Have a plan. Begin the journey. Expect to learn things along the way that alter your course for good or for bad. Refocus. Keep moving. Enjoy the moments of the walk.

 

 

2014 Aspirations - Planned Savings

 

TFSA - $2000

 

RRSP - $2000

 

RESP - $2400

 

DS2's Trip - $2000

 

Summer 2014 - $1000

 

Back to School - $1000

 

Christmas 2014 - $1400

 

Vehicle Plates - $1200

 

 

2014 Aspirations - Experiences

 

embrace the past at ancestry.ca

 

feed your love of reading

 

move move move more to feel great

 

get more weight off your body

 

take a road trip to rediscover the past or explore the future

 

work smarter, not harder

(use the time you are given)

 

make conscious efforts to focus on the positive

 

notice the beauty of simple, small moments

 

shut off the tv more and turn on the music

 

 

Here I come 2014!

(feel free to check out more details on my Goals 2014 page)