July change

When  you don't really go anywhere or spend a ton of money, you tend to not get a bunch of change.

This month is small: 1 roll of toonies or $50

I took that to the bank earlier this week and added that to my 'Back to School' fund.

That  $500 goal is now met using only the random change I get when I spend my jar money.

I love that I didn't even have to budget for it.

Not sure what I will target the change jar # for, for the remaining 6 months of 2017. There does have to be a focus or it will just get frittered away. Based on my trends, this could be anywhere from $300 to $600 dollars.

I have some pondering to do.

RRSP takes a hit

Well the Canadian and world market certainly hasn't been kind to my ethical bonds and dividends.


My last RRSP statement left me with a small gain and a balance of $14 176.55.

My statement arrived today and it is now sitting at $13 851.09

Ouch

That is a hit of $325.46... more than my small gain the quarter before.

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get :-)

July snowflakes

Ahh sweet payday was yesterday. A chance for me to reset my jars, start on a fresh month spreadsheet and update my goals and plans.

I managed to snowflake $170 of my jar money this month. Mostly from groceries. I credit a good part of it from it being too hot to really want to eat much.

I managed this even with my voraciously appetited (have I made a new word?) children coming home to visit.

I saved $100 of this and set it aside for my trip to Costco yesterday when I was in the city for my medical appt. Nothing exciting. Toilet paper, laundry soap and a massive bag of chocolate chips that will do for baking for a long time. It also got several pouches ( I miss the super large cans) of Goodhost ice tea mix that DS takes back to the US  with him, and a big box of Tim Hortons Kcups for DS's roommate. A little gift from his Canadian mom. It was nice to have that set aside to buy those things without worry or guilt.

The $70 I have tucked aside. When I get a hundred dollars, I go to the bank and swap it for a $100 bill. Not sure of my plans for the few of those I have tucked in the home safe, but it's nice to have it ready if something comes up.

I will also have the change yet to be taken to the bank to add to that.

Every little bit...

Please hold

Both of my credit cards expire at the start of August. The new ones finally arrived and thus begins the activation sequence and updating billing info.

A necessary evil since I choose to have CCs...since I choose to use them for some of my automatic billing. yes it gets paid off immediately. Balance free since 2009 baby!!

So to activate them there was an online feature for that. Slick. Usually you have to call. Except the webpage kept freezing and then it got grumpy saying I had too many wrong answers. So I had to call.


I was on hold with BMO FOR 47 minutes before I got to the poorly named 'customer service'.
I then had to go through a lengthy process of proving who I was. This included a series of 'So what was your last purchase and how much...ok and then before that, how much, and then before that'. I had to log in to my account to get the exact dollars and cents. Finally my MC was activated.

Then I consulted my list of preauthorized transactions to set about changing that info so that the billing cycle was not interrupted.

Netflix was easy. Log in, change info and boom. done

Next was my landline and cell phone provider (same company). Again I got to sit on hold forever until I got a lady who was doing her 'first time' change of info. I told her I had two cell phones and a landline to update info. After I gave her my info for my cell and we did the 'prove who you are' dance, apparently she closed all the windows so then to do my landline, we had to do the verification all over again. awesome.

The last one I did was my satellite provider. On hold again. The man answering ...... asked a lot of really stupid questions. We did the verification dance. Then he asked why I wanted to change my billing info. I said that my CC expired and I needed to provide the new info on it. Why would you want to do that??? he asked. I blinked. Seriously? says jolie.... because as of August my number is no longer valid and I would like to continue service.  You should have done this online, he says. I point out the spot online where it says 'to update your credit card info you must call...'   No gold star for him.

So let's tally up the time:


Online activation attempt time - 20 minutes
BMO on hold - 47 minutes
BMO verification process - 11 minutes
Netflix  - 2 minutes
Phones  on hold 37 minutes
Phones verification - 16 minutes
Satellite on hold 32 minutes
Satellite verification 9 minutes.

total time invested ... 2 hours 54 minutes

That's a lot of time.

When you get paid once a month

I am always fascinated by how people with different pay cycles arrange their budget and paying bills.  Even within a household with 2 people, there may be different cycles.

Ex - DS2 works for the provincial government. He gets paid every other Friday

Ex - 2 DS1  works for a municipal government. He gets paid a small amount in the middle of the month (about $300), and gets the balance of his money at the end of the month. No clue on the logic of this one.

Ex - DH works for a municipal government and his pay period mirrors DS2's

As for me, I work for a provincial government and get paid once a month. Technically, I am only paid for 10 months of work. That would give me bigger paychecks during the school year, but leave me two months where there are NO paychecks. That scares the crap out of me.

As a full time employee, I can request they pay once a month x 12 months. This gives me smaller monthly cheques during the school year, but I still get 2 full pay cheques  in the summer ( I just noticed I have used both pay check and pay cheque in the same blog entry)

This works for me and gives me psychological peace of mind for the routine.

Getting paid once a month takes a bit of organizing to make sure you don't run out of money before you run out of month.

Somewhere back in the first year of my blogging, I decided to create 'mini paydays' within the month for my variable expenses (jar money). This would refresh my grocery, spending, gas and entertainment money each week.

The trouble is, that months are not 4 perfectly even 7 day groupings.

Below are pics of two pay cycles and how I create 'mini paydays' to mimic a weeky reset of my variable expenses.


So you can see that my actual monthly payday is the 25th of each month. In June, that fell on a weekend, so the money entered my account on the 23rd. I literally moved it temporarily into my savings until the 25th.

On my actual payday I withdraw my $280 from my checking account and that is my variable spending for the week.

(This will NOT let me left justify my text between pictures for love or money. Super annoying)

So you can see that I have created three additional 'paydays' to simulate a weekly payday. If I had simply gone one week to one week to one week my jar refill would have been sunday to sunday to sunday which would have left my month 'done' on the 23rd of July. That leaves unaccounted days. Survivable, but it did not feel comfortable to me. I tried.

So instead I 'added' a day to each weekly pay. June 25 to midnight of July 2 is 8 days. Then I added a day to the next weekly pay. June 3 to midnight of July 10. Another 8 days. I am now in line to have Tuesday pretend paydays on the 11th and 18th until my next real payday on the Tuesday the 25th.

This only added a day to each of 2 weeks. Not even noticeable.

Real payday on July 25th and everything resets.

Pretend weekly payday is August 2 (so another 8 day week). etc

As I said before I tried the Friday to Friday to Friday to Friday and just had to live with the extra days at the end of the month. I tried this for about 6 months. I always felt stressed about those extra days.

Then I came up with this plan and now, 7 + years later, I still use it.

I get my calendar at Christmas and spend a half hour  over coffee putting little stars on my actual payday and the following three pretend paydays, for the whole year.  Now my whole year is mapped out and ready to go.

I do actually think of those pretend paydays as paydays for my variable expenses. While my husband isn't on board, he does accept that when I say I have no grocery money left this week, he knows there is more money in the account for the next week, but that I am not willing to part with it until I hit my star day. He sees that it is working.

I no longer dread the last week of a pay month where most people have spend everything and have next to nothing in their account. I know that I have the same amount of money for groceries, or gas each week and I don't have to panic.

It may sound complicated but it is ridiculously easy to set up and was super easy to get used to. It is predictable and I know that I have $ coming to me every 7 or 8 days to refill the money jars.


I credit this system as one of the reasons I have remained mostly successful on this budget for 7 plus years.

Did that make sense? any questions??

Too hot to cook

I am not one who does well in heat. The past 10 days it has been 27C plus here. Not blistering by any standard, but it overwhelms me, gives me a headache, lethargic. all that fun stuff.

I may be home for the summer but DH is not. When he gets home, naturally he is hungry but neither of us want to cook anything in the house and heat up my poor lil non AC house.

It's just the two of us most of the time. We certainly don't need big meals and we aren't really punching a 'have to eat at ____ clock' schedule. Sometimes we just pick and graze.

We have been using the BBQ a fair bit - burgers, chops, the occasional steak or kabob.

I pulled out my beloved crockpot and enlisted it to help us through this heat.

Our garage is attached and is basically an extended storage facility. I have our two small freezers in there and they make a perfect makeshift counter top.

The crockpot has saved us a few times this summer. Crockpot lasagna. Crockpot shredded salsa chicken for tortillas. Yesterday I put a roast in there and made a Beef Dip (French Dip)

You definitely can feel the heat it adds when I got out into the garage so I am glad it is not in the house. You get the benefit of the delicious food, the great smells without the heat.

Pair this with fresh fruit or a salad and we are good to go.

Off the bookshelf

I grabbed this book last week when I was at the library. Never read anything by this author before. Not completely sure what made me grab it. Let's compare it to 'an impulse buy next to the register'.

While it didn't leave me gripping the edge of the pages, it was a pleasant summer read to enjoy, curled up, on my patio. I rated it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads....that's about a B for me.

My Italian Bulldozer

I have a confession....

.....and it's hard for me to admit.

I am kind of getting used to empty nest.

shhhh! I know. pure craziness.

I am not over missing them.

I am not over not having a do over for so many parts of their childhood I know I could have done better at.

I am not over being a much more important part of my sons' lives.

but I am getting used to them coming and going, and, I kind of like the idea that when they are not here, my time is purely MY time. super selfish thought, I know.

I can get up when I want. go to bed when I want. I don't have to feel guilty about not giving them more 'summer fun' (that one was the most difficult for me). I can make supper, or not.

I never thought I would even start to feel this way.

It's interesting.

July Goals

Well here we are a third through the month and I have finally gotten around to posting my summer goals. I have had them jotted down on one of my many little notepads.

They are quiet goals - reflective of my diminished health conditions. Most times I am at peace with that. Most times :-)

• clean out 'the paperwork' bin.  Summer is when I like to go through and get rid of the previous  year's documents... bills, statements, insurance forms etc. Keeping what is needed and shredding what is no longer necessary. It's amazing how much paper that tub can hold, but it has proven invaluable. More than once I have needed something from there and it makes me so happy to be able to find it.

• Read Read Read Read. I need to rediscover the joy of losing myself in a book, preferably while sitting outside at my little patio and getting some sunshine. Some will be for personal pleasure. Some will be YA books that I can recommend to my students. Some will be professional development books.

• Walk Walk Walk. Ok I don't do well in heat and we are in the middle of a long heat stretch. That means I need to get my butt out of bed earlier so I can walk before the heat comes. My walks are short....the longest is 30 min or just under 2K. Those are always risky colitis walks. But heck even if I can get out for a 2 x 2 (two blocks down, 2 over, return home) a couple times  a day, it is something. I need the walks for so many reasons..health...weight...forcing myself to leave my 'safe zone'.  I will admit to being 'lame' and using pokemon go app to encourage that. Noooo I don't go battle and such but the walking 'hatches' eggs and it is oddly motivating for me. Rather like my Nike walk app but, animated. If it gets me moving, then I'm game. Hatching four 5K eggs a week means I am walking 20K a week at least. That's not impossible.

• Fitbit 10, 000 Steps. This piggybacks off the above bullet. I have no problem getting that many steps during a work day, but summer doesn't provide that for me, so I have to provide it for myself

• My computer room. I rarely use the room anymore. I use my laptop instead. I am surprised that desktop hasn't died yet. That room is a storage room for all things now that the boys are not around to pit in down there. I could probably get rid of 20 bags of stuff just from that room, and it's 4 x 8 feet, with a closet. DH needs a place to study for his next waterworks course he has to take for work and it's cool down there. A good motivator.

• Make a tentative money plan for the rest of 2017. I have some money goals left. I have college for DS1. I have a trip down to see DS in October. And of course I have the ever mountain college LOC to hack and whittle away at.  I know that as soon as I make a plan, Murphy will wander by to dip his finger in the plans and swirl away, but if I don't plan, it's hard to make goals.

• Lose 6 lbs. I started off this summer 20 lbs lighter than last July 1. Of course that was a super high for me. I figured I would use the 'loss' to springboard a push to lose a bit. I have college gear I bought with my son's team on it and as it is his last year there, it would be nice to fit it before he is done :-)  

• Delve into Ancestry. I splurged for a one month membership with international access. This will give me a chance to peek at the usually inaccessible sources that pop up, usually from USA or UK. A good part of my family on my dad's side moved to Canada from Upstate New York and I have found some great pics of the ancestors. On my paternal grandfather's side, thanks to the work of a genealogist, we can trace to Bern Switzerland in the early 1300s. It's pretty darn cool. I find it amazing how the surname as evolved over the years. Some of it, in part, due to poor spelling of the census takers throughout the years. 

You will notice there aren't any traditional summer activities on here. No go here, do this, celebrate that. no camping.   Have to regain my strength first.

Where the money stands

as of July 8th

Here comes the debt. As mentioned last month the LOC took a kicking to pay for DS's summer classes.

One more year left of college.

Debt
Mortgage - $12 717.74
College LOC - $22 693.51

Total Debt - $35 411.25



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200 
RRSP -$13 473
Back to School 2017 - $450
XMAS 2017 - $700
Plates 2017 - $700
Summer - $500

New...I have $1500 waiting to go in the RRSP when I get a chance to do the paperwork at the bank.

My 9th Blog-o-versary

Last Thursday one of my colleagues wandered down to visit me on Teacher Work Day while we were getting marks in for report cards.

I can't recall how the conversation started but I remember clearly her words "of course to someone like you who reached a financial epiphany about 8 years ago...."

This colleague has known me for over 15 years. She knew me when I had two young kids, no permanent teaching contract and no clue about money.

She was a fountain of all kinds of advice when I was asking about RRSPs, RESPs and TFSAs. She was excited for me when I 'found' Gail vax Oxlade and started to turn my life around.

She was.,,,,,.dare I say..........proud of me. And that meant the world to me.

It was also validation for ME on how far I have come. I shudder to think of what kind of screw up I would be if I hadn't started to make sense of money.

There would be none of the savings vehicles I mentioned above.

I would undoubtedly have credit card debt.

I would still be living paycheck to paycheck, anxiously waiting for that next pay period.

I would still be holding my breath as I swiped my debit card, not having a clue if there would be enough money to pay for my purchases.

I have NO clue, none, of how I would have gotten my boys through college.

and on the other side....

I would have no clue how good it feels to plan ahead and have the money when  insurance is due, or Christmas comes around.

I wouldn't know the fun of saving up....of anticipating a goal or a purchase.

I wouldn't have that sense of satisfaction about paying down debt.

I wouldn't have the freedom of knowing that for the most part, I control my money.

I wouldn't have the joy of following so many wonderful blogs over the years.

I wouldn't have over 3000 1300 (holy misread batman) entries that chronicle the (boring) details of my journey.


It has not been an easy journey. Lots of ups. Lots of downs. but it has been an amazing one.

All I had to do was take one step, to start.

thank you

a new favourite blog

I have long had a deep curiosity of life in New York City.

Never been there. Would love to go.  I find this odd fascination with the city and love books set there. Super weird, I know.

I stumbled across this wonderful blog called Tracy's New York Life.


I think what I love most about it is the focus on the little neighbourhoods. As a small town girl I think of NY as this massive overwhelming metropolis. I love that she reminds me that even in a city this size, there is still a sense of neighbourhood. Of community.

Being Robbed? nope

I got up this morning about 4:30 to use the bathroom and noticed that our back  yard gate was open. It's never open. never.  

I immediately flashed back to years ago when I saw our old gate open as well as our shed and things like our new lawnmower gone.

I went out to investigate and found DH out in the back alley working on the fence. 

He had got up to let the cat out about 3:30 AM and couldn't sleep so he figured he would go out and get a start. It was super hot yesterday while he was working on it and there was a cool breeze.

I thought about making a cup of coffee and curling up out there with a book, but then I figured sleep was more fun, so back to bed I went.

He's still out there 4 hours later.

He'll sleep tonight :-) (ok probably about 10 AM

A quiet Canada Day

Ok I am attempting this post under the 'other me' I made as admin since I am locked out of my primary yahoo email for this account.   Sure hope this works so that I don't lose my blog.


Canada Day was super quiet for me. While another me dreams of a busy one filled with activity and people, the realist in me knows that I am far from well enough to make that happen.

DH went up to the Scout camp to get our canoe we had left there. His brother is coming home from BC and borrowing it for a canoe trip on the Churchill.  6 hours of driving return trip for DH

DS1 is off to Banff with his inlaws. I think they spent Canada Day in Edmonton yesterday. The little ones are super excited to spend to get a road trip with 'uncle'. I am chuckling as I picture him keeping them amused in the vehicles, watching out for them in the parks and sharing a tent with a few of them :-)

DS2 was working for the holiday weekend. I got a text from him late Friday saying he had had to work late at the park and it was an incredibly busy enforcement day for him. I suspect Canada Day was just as bad.

My parents left to go up to the lake to spend a  week with my sister.

So it was just me and my cat for the day. I was at peace with this and enjoyed the day. I managed two lovely little walks (anything more than down the street and back is huge for me colitis-wise). It's a bit like playing Russian roulette. sorry TMI.  It felt empowering to be out and know that I am getting fresh air and exercise and that commune with nature and the community I get.

The morning started with a cup of coffee out in my yard, listening to the birds and rejoicing in the fact that I can shut my alarm off for awhile.

I spent a few panicked hours realizing the troubles that darn yahoo lock out may cause. I attempted to move my blog to a new blogger but it would not upload from the file saved on my computer.  Getting this second personality approved as admin may be the life saver I need.

I spent a delightful 2 hours outside reading with my partner in crime asleep on the chair beside me. She's  at least 13 years old so I know my time with her is less rather than more. My book wasn't the greatest but I vow to push through as rekindle my devouring and love for books. This is my current read...

I realized, when I started, it was book 3 of a series which could be why I didn't click with it as I had hoped. Ah well.

I spent an hour to the continued work of Thompson's water seal on my fence. It's amazing how it revitalizes the look of my lovely cedar fence, which was turning a bit grey.

I got two loads of laundry in and listened to it flap in the breeze while I was reading. That sound is so incredibly therapeutic. Like waves on a shoreline.

I started up my WW again thanks to a summer gift from my mom.

I enjoyed fruit, knowing I was staying close to home, in case. mmmmm I missed it.

I cleaned up a dreaded pile of clothing in my room of things that might/used to/haven't in a long time fit me clothes.  Refound 3 shirts and a pair of jean capris that now fit me, that I didn't realize. I missed those jean capris.

I curled up for the Canada Day Roughrider football game, my heart breaking at the last kick that hit the post, creating a loss. We really need a win. So cool to see the new stadium.

I topped the evening off with our community fireworks. A wonderful end to a very quiet Canada Day.

Tech help- needed

Ok wise internet folk

Here's the pickle.

two weeks ago I discovered I couldn't get into my yahoo emails.

I have four of them for different parts of my life

When I went to log in it would not accept my password. It would then take me to the 'recovery email' click and get a code

Yahoo Email A - recovery email no longer existed. Eventually it let me answer security questions. I got in and changed my pw and my recovery email to a new legit one

Yahoo Email B - would not take password. Had yahoo email A as a back up so eventually I got in

Yahoo email C - I had deleted this email about four months ago as I no longer used it.

Yahoo email D - which is the one for this blog. Won't accept my password.  Recovery email is yahoo email  C - which no longer exists and I can't get into.

I am scared to log out of my blogger account as it is hooked up to yahoo email D..which I can't get into.

I am scared that internet gods will log me out of this blog and then I can never get back in because yahoo email D is inaccessible.


SO...... what should I do?

I don't want to lose 9 years of blog entries and your wonderful replies.

Do I set up a new yahoo and then figure out how to back up this blog to that email?


CAN I save all the blog entries from this blog in an easy to transport/export/teleport fashion?

I have never did a back up

I have never moved blog entries.

My knowledge of that is super low.


Thoughts? tips? advice???

UPDATE -  I tried creating a new yahoo email and getting it added as admin as a back up in case things go to pot with this. It might have worked. not sure. I hate being tech illiterate :-)

Happy Canada Day!

Wishing everyone a safe celebration full of smiles, laughter, nature and loved ones.