Woot $ news

So as of today, I am mortgage free!

I am flashing back to an episode of MASH where Colonel Potter learns his wife has scrimped to pay off the mortgage. She then sends him the mortgage paper and he has a little ceremony to burn it.

Well it wasn't quite that dramatic.

We were down to $2000 ish on the mortgage. There was enough in the buffer they build for our 2020 property tax to pay this off with a little extra left over. The trick - I would have to save between now and June 30 to have the money to pay our property tax.

Compared to many of you our taxes are lower which is due to living in a small house in a small town in the middle of the prairie.

DH and I had done the calculations and we figured we could do it. Redirect the mortgage payments and use the bit of left over and voila!

I signed the necessary papers and they would have the documents mailed to me. Much less exciting than Colonel Potter but still.

I am now the owner of two houses with no mortgage. Just tons of work to be done and the bills that go to maintain it.

Sending DS back to College....

...is not cheap.

Here is a list of a few things that he and I split the cost on to get him back to hockey country.

• $50 for windshield replacement. Big rock chip on his way here in the spring that cracked in all directions. Package policy pays for all but the deductible of $50
• $55 new wipers for the windshield. They were tattered and needed replacing
• $100 oil change. Synthetic oil will last him for most of his year down there. who knew synthetic was so costly?
• $85 suit cleaning. Now he is all freshly pressed for their 'must wear' suits. Grandma was super excited to iron his dress shirts.
• $7 car wash before he goes. DH insisted on it. I am thinking it's going to pick up a bug or two in the 17 hour drive
• $140 US  DS is breaking the drive up in two. He loses an hour due to time change en route and found himself beyond exhausted last year. Hotel we use at the break point was booked. And all the neighbouring hotels. Something exciting must be happening in that city tomorrow night. After 14 phone calls we gave up and took one that costs way too much.

and that doesn't factor in any of the actual COLLEGE costs :-)

One more year

snowflakey January

For all the different good and bad that January brought, the snowflakes were the best.

January always brings that sense of renewed focus....of paying attention to the little things...of that drive to meet goals and make the best of the new year.

This January paid off in spades.

Grocery savings was my biggest friend. We  had stocked heavily for the boys return home... Freezer, pantry and fridge. Added to that was the wealth of leftovers that we got from both my mom and my sister after the Christmas meals. Mostly my sister. She continued to send over all the bits and pieces from her Christmas grocery purchases.

We had wonderful leftovers of turkey and ham that turned into soups and stews, quesadillas and 'ham'n'eggers. The wealth of fruit was devoured and then froze for smoothies. Veggies made their way as side dishes and salads and into omelets and more.

I was able to snowflake $300 of my grocery money during the month of January. I have it sitting right now in 3 pretty $100 bills, unsure right now of where to focus my effort. I won't spend them in that form, but if I had left them in my main account, or if I had gotten them in $20s they would have been siphoned away bit by bit.

Cooking for 2 really can get creative sometimes and we consciously work to repurpose leftovers in a way we aren't getting bored.

I hope the inertia of January pushes forward, for awhile.

Week 2 of holidays - appointments and paperwork oh my

In a sharp contrast to week 1 of holidays, week 2 was much busier, with more appointments and a ton of money put out.

Last Friday I finally upgraded my old IPhone4. It had been failing for over a year. The little round home button only worked sometimes. Texts were getting lost. The battery was draining at ridiculous rates.I had upgraded my IOS as much as it would let me but most of my apps needed a higher IOS to work (banking, fitbit, WW, news etc) It served me well though. Not one crack or scratch on it.

They finally reduced the 'cost' of a 2 year plan to $0 for a 5S so off I went. They tried to talk me into a 6S but that was $268 and I was not willing to pay that. I ended up paying just under $100 in total. $25 for the activation fee and the rest for a vehicle charger and an otter box. I used $50 from my VISA reward points to pay off half of the fees, and the other $50 I had saved up so the device didn't cost me anything. We shall see how much it changes my bill. My old plan was grandfathered in as long as I had the old device. They transferred all my contacts and pictures for me so that was a bonus.

DS1 came home from camping Sunday with tooth  news. He had a massive toothache which turned out to be  infected wisdom teeth on the top and bottom of his left jaw. It had been a long time since I had  him at the dentist. Bad me. Our actual dentist wasn't at the clinic anymore. He had retired. I know getting through on the phone is tough so I went in person at 8 AM Monday morning and got DS an apt for Tuesday to get things checked out...and booked myself in for a long overdue checkup and cleaning as well. DS needs three additional appointments to take care of the mess in his mouth. Good times.

Better still was the fact that he was no longer covered under DH's health care plan. Once you are 21 you age out unless you send in documentation that the kid is in college. I did it for my plan but DH did not for his. So I sent DH off to his HR rep on Tuesday to get DS added back in. The HR was new and didn't know............. much. I had to go in to explain what needed to be done and gave him the paperwork he needed to send off for proof.  Even though DS was covered under my plan, he has to go through DH's first, as DH's birthday comes first in the calendar year. My plan will refuse to cover until DS is re-added to DH's plan.

So I paid $176 outright and we have to wait til the plan is fixed and then we can start the paperwork. First to DH's plan and when that cheque comes back with whatever % of coverage, then I submit the rest to my plan. It is time consuming.

On Tuesday, DS and I headed to the dentist and then off to the city to get his passport renewed. I prefer going in person in case there are any problems on the form. We can fix them immediately. They do dozens a day there so they are well versed in what is needed. That cost $160 plus $22 for passport pics. I paid half and DS paid half.  Assuming he doesn't lose it or have it stolen, his next renewal is when he is 31 so I think he can handle that on his own then :-)

Wednesday was a double dentist day. Our cat is very sick and needed two teeth extracted. For those who aren't pet parents or who don't like cats, this will not be an expense that makes sense to you. For us, she has been part of our family for 10 years this fall and while I didn't like paying the cost, I did. We go on frugal for gas and groceries and any and all extra money went to this cost. Just under $700.  The next morning she was already her old self, happy and purring and rolling on our laps.  My dentist appointment and cleaning was $159. Not great news - 2 cavities, so back I go on the 26th to get those taken care of. I paid up front for it and the dentist office sent it straight off to my insurance, which will cover all of it. Hopefully that cheque arrives soon.

Last Sunday I had all the children home. It was great. I cooked DS's favourite meal and baked muffins and cookies for them both to take back with them for work. DS1's 'mother in law' won't take any $ for keeping him there, so I send things like laundry soap, TP, cookies and muffins and meals ready to go in the crock pot.

There was little reading this week. Lots more 'running around' and taking care of forms. I spent little time on my patio but we did have a fire one night and I got to relax there, watching it.  I walked though colitis was not very cooperative.  I watched what I ate. I lost weight. It was a very different week than week 1, but it was a good week.

US money decision

Our dollar is dropping and is rumoured to not improve in health until at least after xmas.

I needed money for tuition and money for living expenses so I had to bite the bullet and borrow money on my LOC and take the hit converting Canadian dollars to US.

I went in a couple weeks ago and went through the paperwork of getting the limit of my LOC raised to $25 000. The good news is my credit score is still very high. She was surprised and impressed.

I then borrowed tappd into that LOC from $8000 to $20 000.

I then converted that $12 000 Canadian to US and took an evil hit on the exchange

Why oh why did I not convert last Aug when the dollar was at 91 cents?

I now have, counting the bit I had before, just over $10 000 US.

DS1's tuition was posted yesterday. $9400 US. We have to wait until Sept to find out how much of that will get covered by the scholarship. I am guessing I will be paying around $4500 of that.


DS went with me to the bank yesterday to convert his summer earnings to US dollars. It made the dollar exchange much more real for him, thinking of how much money, how many hours of work, disappeard to make that conversion.

Now to work on paying down that LOC

Definition of Sadness

1 Canadian dollar equals

 

77 cents USD

 

I will be the first to admit that I understand only so much of how our dollar exchange goes up and down. I read. Honest I do :-)

 

All I know is that one of my daily routines is to check where the dollar is at, and this rate makes me sad.

 

At the start of August, 2014 when I was getting DS1 ready to go down to the States, the rate was 91 cents. I should have borrowed on my line of credit to get a ton. How naïve I was.

 

A quick scan of the last year history shows that today is the lowest it's been since I started paying attention regularly.

 

Here's hoping it gets back up a little higher before he leaves for school. I have tuition money to convert and Semester 1 $.

 

 

Good karma

Since DS2 was accepted into his program, we have been casually looking for places for him to live in his new city.  It's not a housing area we are familiar with so it took some learning to figure out where the boundaries are for 'good side/bad side' of town.

Rent is expensive there. There is no on campus housing unless you are low income or single parent with dependents.  A friend of DS1's is there and they searched forever and ended up with a teeny, old apartment for $800 a month.  That's a pile of cash.

At one point I had even considered buying a condo for him. If I am going to pay $800 to $1000 for a place I might as well build some equity. There wasn't anything available on the safe side of town that wasn't super big or super expensive so that went out the window.

We had a good lead when a family we know mentioned that they still have a 2 bedroom house in the city and that their younger son would be living there while he went to school. Cost would be $500 a month, which is a heck of a lot better than $800..or more. DS2 knows this young man from a few years ago, so it wouldn't be living with a total stranger. We called them last weekend and learned that their son is on a waiting list for school right now. Not actually accepted. That meant that they wouldn't know if he would be living there for awhile...maybe late Aug or early Sept. They weren't willing to give DS the spot until they knew. So that was out.

Here is where the good karma comes into play.

Sister 3's mother and father in law live here in town. Father in law passed away just after Christmas. He was in his 90s. Mother in law is late 70s or early 80s.   Sister's brother in law was looking for someone to shovel her drive and sidewalks since none of their family live in town anymore.  DS2 stepped up and took care of it from Jan to end of April. Sister's brother in law was very grateful.

Here's where family dynamics get hard to follow. Sister's brother in law's mother in law lives in DS2's new city. She rents out a basement suite. The brother in law recommended DS2 as a good kid who stepped up to help someone who wasn't family.  We called this lady a few days ago and she said he could have it if he wanted. We were quoted $500 from the brother in law. 

DH drove up and picked up DS from his camp and they drove in to meet this lady. She is 75. They had to wait a bit for her as she was busy at the High School  helping the Forest Fire evacuees. She loved DS on sight.

The suite is old. Not smelly old but décor old. It comes furnished. There is a new flatscreen TV. She is buying a new bed for DS after her current renter moves out, as the bed is getting old. She gave it to us for $325 a month, utilities included (just not wifi)

DS2 was excited. It's not fancy, but neither is he.  and $325 is an amazing deal.

I paid more for one room in a basement suite when I went to college and that was in 1989.

Good karma.

Has to be.

(now to find $325 a month in my budget)

Looking out for yourself

You really are the only one who cares about what you buy, what you pay for and the service you get.

I keep trying to teach my children that, and I keep relearning that lesson myself.

We have long had problems with our internet provider about constant, strong signal in the house. I have had them come out to explore and change modems and everything else in between.  Reality is that there is something blocking signal in my old, tiny, 850 square foot house.  Tons of lead and asbestos, no doubt.  The other providers I have spoken with have said that while they would love my business, it doesn't sound like it is a provider issue, but an interference issue.

Anyways, a friend of mine who is a line man for our provider, gave me a login to check my signal strength (between 1 and 10). The couple times he checked it, it was at a 3, and things were a bit better when he boosted it to a 7.

I tried the log in on Saturday but couldn't figure out what 'password' I was needing as it wasn't my wifi password.

So I called. I got the usual..have you tried this, have you tried that, and ended up with a very surly man telling me that it is an interference problem and there is nothing the provider can do. He suggested finding a person who can come in to locate the interference on a structural level ($$$$).

I was getting quiet, which meant I was annoyed, when he said, "Have you considered upgrading the high speed plan you are on. I see you have many devices trying to use 5 Mbps".

My response " We did upgrade back in 2012...Jan or Feb to the next level up, and it did nothing."

(Now why do I know Jan or Feb 2012??? Well it was when I had my last bad bout of colitis and I was home a lot and had time for a someone to come to my house between the hours of 8 AM and 4 PM, because I was actually home. A quick look at my blog tells me I did it in Feb. Thank you blog, for that documentation!)

I hear some clicking and hear a 'Hmm"

Well this is odd, says he, It says that you upgraded from the classic plan to the plus plan back in 2012, and you being charged for that, but  your line actually reads that you are on the classic plan.

So the request to upgrade went in, got as far as being added to my account, but NEVER made it to the actual line.

All this time I have been on 1.5 Mbps and paying $10 extra a month for 5 Mbsp.

He immediately changed it to the plan I thought I was on. I asked him to be sure he made note of what he just discovered and what he did in my file. He then transferred me to billing.

I explained what happened to the new person and I hear her clicking through my file. No, she says, you asked for the upgrade in 2012 and you HAVE the upgrade.

No, says I, the gentleman just said....and he just did....

We did this a couple times back and forth with her being adamant I was wrong.

Look, I say, do you seriously think I would just make up these random dates and details. I don't even know what Mbps stands for! He said he would make a note in my file.

One more click and I hear 'OH!"

Thank god I had him make the note and that he actually did it (because I have experienced this in the past where they don't actually make the note.

So I am due for a credit. She has to talk to her manager about it as it is larger than $100.

After a few minutes on hold, I learn that my credit is $440. $10 a month plus tax for 3+ years.

Wow!

So assuming that they actually credit me properly, it should show up on my next bill. That would mean that my phone/internet bill will be free to me until December. $95  a month for internet and the landline my husband refuses to give up.

I will be happy to take that $95 a month and apply it to some other savings goal or college fees or my college LOC.

It was a long 45 minute phone call with very unexpected results.

Lesson: Know what you are paying for and if you actually are getting what you pay for.

Lesson: Document EVERYTHING

I had forgotten...

how much he eats.

Feeding that athlete engine is not cheap. And he eats often.

 He is missing home cooked meals so I have been trying to fill that hole :-)   We definitely go through far more staples with four in the house than we do with three. Ok technically it's four and  a half. The girlfriend is here for the weekend. He will be spending time there too in the weekends to come so her mom can feed him. She has five kids so she knows lol

In the meantime, I need to look at flyers and figure out what is on sale this week. The grocery  budget is taking a kicking.

Nevertheless,

It's good to have him home.

Ok I take it back

I had to run to Walmart this morning and was feeling colitis strong so I thought I would do a quick price comparison of a few of the items I bought at Shoppers yesterday to their cost at Walmart.

Scanning my Shoppers bill, I saw that pretty much everything I bought WAS on sale. I don't have the original prices on my receipt so I can't do an authentic reg cost to reg cost comparison.

I didn't do the Kleenex or the Shoppers brand cleaner or my book and one other thing that escapes me at the moment.

Here is the breakdown below. The first price is Shoppers and the second is Walmart.

Fiber 1 cereal  - $3.99  vs $4.97
Swiffer dust cleaners -  $4.99 vs $4.99
L'Oreal Shampoo -  $3.99 vs $3.92
Covergirl -    $12.99 vs $16.46
Folgers K cups $6.99 vs $11.99
Huggies  - $34.99 vs $33.99
Huggies Wipes - $4.99 vs $3.99

Total for these items at Shoppers - $72.93
Total for these items at Walmart - $80.31

Holy wow. I found this interesting.  Since my bill yesterday said I saved $25, the regular priced costs is approximately $97. Definitely not cheaper if the items were not on sale.

I bought Gel at Walmart. $3.99 instead of Shoppers' price of $4.99

I thought my foundation yesterday was $19.97 but the bill said $12.99. Must be a change in the line coming that it was on sale. I should go back and get another one. $7 savings per item is a good deal to me.

Anyways, for those who care, that is my learning experience this morning.

Contract Settled

Well we have been without a contract for a year and a half now. Over the months there were two votes which were not accepted by the majority, so the bodies went to conciliation. It was a whole lot of "we are having meetings" without anything real details coming to us.

 Nothing changed work wise. There was no job action. I appreciated that both parties agreed to media blackouts. I really hate when it gets to each side publicly slamming the other. The whole story never quite seems to be heard that way.

So about two weeks ago, apparently our contract was settled. The two sides felt they had done as much work as they could and it was simply accepted by our governing body. It honestly feels very weird not having a vote.  I am not saying it was good or bad.....just weird.

Our raise is less than 2% each year and will officially appear on our paychecks at the end of March. The raise does not meet currently cost of living estimates for our province. (does anyone's?)  It will be interesting to see what the net is, after deductions. Deductions are approximately 42% of my cheque (taxes, CPP, EI, membership fees, and our money that comes off our cheque to go into our pension plan).

My hope is that the net takes me back up to where I was two years ago, before all the deductions  increased.

As for the backpay, we will get that at the end of April. There is one full school year (10 months) plus the 6 months of this school year. Again, no real clue what that net will be after deductions.

Of course this meant a small windfall was coming into our house. You know what that means.................. Murphy came! (with a vengeance)

To be continued....

Equalized payments...thoughts?

So after the massive Natural Gas bill last month, it is clear something needs to be done. Surpise high bills are not fun.

Here are the options I have come up with:
1) Calling in an actual reading each month. Usually there are four actual readings each year, and the rest are estimates.  For some reason, the actuals DH called in for January and April did not get into the system. He spoke to a person, not a machine and gave the numbers, but they never made it in. That contributed to the scary bill. The company has no explanation for why the numbers never got in the system.  So I could call in each month on the 17th and each bill would become an actual bill. This would eliminate surprises  every three months. The amount owing would always be different though as we would use a different amount each month. So each month would be a mini surprise.

2) Setting up equalized payments. When I talked to a rep this morning, we could start equalized payments immediately. Based on our yearly use, they suggested $75 which does not seem out of line with my spreadsheet. At the end of a year, if it was too low a payment, they would increase our monthly equalized. If it was too high...decrease. There would not a balloon payment at the end of the year if they estimate was way off.

I honestly am leaning towards equalized. It is a set amount each month and would force encourage DH to budget and make it ever so much easier. On the months the gas is low, say $35, he doesn't 'save' anything for the months he KNOWS are going to be higher. We have six months of winter here usually. Then those winter bills come and he is suddenly surprised, and doesn't have all the extra cash to pay it and struggles and stresses.

Anyone have experience with equalized and want to weigh in on my options here?

Up goes the vehicle insurance

My vehicle insurance starts a new cycle at the end of each July. I was watching for the letter in the mail and it arrived on July 30. That is really annoying given that the 30th is my renewal date. It usually comes a week or so earlier as the reminder.

I was dismayed to see, that like everything else, this bill has gone up. It was previously just under $94 a month and now it has gone up to just under $100 a month. A $6 monthly increase or $72 for the year. This is the basic policy required by all registered vehicles in SK. This doesn't include the extended package policy I get that has more comprehensive coverage and a smaller deductible.

Looking back to my 2012 entry, it jacked up almost $10 a month then.

I will have a lot of rejigging to do on the budget once I get DS down to college and I figure out the actual numbers for my monthly budget. It is causing me anticipatory stress to be sure.

One pay cheque away

I have been putting off writing this entry, mostly hoping things would get better and it wouldn't be a stressor.  Close your eyes and wish for it to go away and it will, right???

Money is not going well for us these days.

In mid June, DH hurt his back at work. He was in and out of emergency, off work for quite a while and even now is only on half days.  His boss is saying there is no possible way it could have happened at work and has put some pretty negative feedback in his reports to Workman's Compensation.

DH brought home a net wage of $286 for the month of July. It's been 6 weeks since he was hurt and there is still no progress on his WCB case. We called Monday and his case worker was out and the girl we spoke to told us brand new information ....his case is in dispute as 'questionable'.

This has taken a big  hit to DH, both financially and emotionally. He is a hard worker and can always be counted on. His boss, whom we thought he had a good relationship with, is being a real jerk about this. Some of the things he has said to DH have been very hurtful. Liar. Old. Useless. Pansy

I really would like to push on this, but DH doesnt' want to rock the boat. We both realize that if he causes a stink they would find a way to 'let him go' at some point. DH doesn't really have a whole lot of skills and would have a very tough time finding employment I think.

He usually brings home just under $1100 net every two weeks. Not a whole lot. We divide up the bills 70/30. His bills from our joint life are the mortgage $600, Electricity and Natural Gas. He also has his vehicle payment, his truck insurance, fuel etc etc.

Needless to say, $288 would not go a long way.

He is stressed and depressed, angry and moody.

In the past he has resisted any conversations about budget and expenses and any attempts escalate quickly into fights.

He hit a huge emotional low on Monday after he found out his case was in dispute.  I paid the electric and gas bills for him. The gas bill is just for furnace and water heater and obviously the furnace hasn't been used in quite some time. Apparently they have been very low estimating usage and there is no record of DHs phone calls when we were asked to call in actual readings.  So July became a catch up month to the tune of $386. I called and they went over our usage etc, but the bill stands as accurate.  It was the straw, for DH. It will transfer money tomorrow to cover the mortgage on Aug 1. So that is $1000 gone out of my budget which would have gone towards college, DS's trip. RRSP savings etc etc.

 It's  a team thing and I am not going to let a payment go by without paying it, but I am worried as this may go on for quite some time. It has brought home how incredibly close we are to living paycheck to paycheck.

Murphy loves the summer too!

And Murphy has arrived.

My front passenger tire has been having issues the past 6 months. Leaking air. We go and get a patch and it just doesnt' quite hold, but enough that I could put off thinking for awhile. Then it would start to leak again. Lather, rinse repeat.

So I guess it was time to face reality and know that 2 new tires are needed for the front. Silly me, I never realized that if you have issues with 1, the set needs to be replaced so that there is equal traction and such. My dad looked at me like I was an airhead when I explained that this was brand new information.

The 'life happens' mantra  hit in when we went to the campgroun for supper last night. Just as we were leaving a truck pulling a fifth wheel pulled in for the night. Two of his tires on the fifth wheel were in shreds and he was limping in. He said he has 2 spares but in their journey from Winnipeg that day, 2 other tires on his fifth wheel had gone too and he was already using the spares. What are they odds that four tires would go in one day. Murphy really likes this guy. He asked about tire shops  and we gave him the flyers we had for prices and phone numbers. He was very appreciative.

I really don't want to be  on a roadtrip and have a tire go kablooey (that has GOT to be a real word).

So tire shopping we went. I know I should have regular tires and winter tires, especially for our neck of the woods, but 4 tires x 2 seasons x 4 vehicles....the cost makes me nauseated.  So all wheel tires is what we went went. I shopped prices at the four or five places we have around here and found the one with the best rate, who had them in stock and could do them today.

2 all wheel tread tires in the mid price range were $207.99 each for a total of $415. Add on the labour and taxes and it brought me up to $513.82 to have them installed and balanced.

OW!!

My vehicle is 5 years old last month and these are the original tires. I had them all rotated as per schedule. Not sure honestly how long tires are supposed to last. I guess that is something new for me to learn. I need to start saving for 2 more tires for the back before winter

He's eating me out of house and home

It's true. He is. His brother is close behind.

It's budget change time in the MoneyTree household.

Since DS1 started with his team, his eating has gone up exponentially. Lean proteins. Good carbs. And anything else he can get his hands on.  He's working out (on ice, gym, dryland, yoga) about 4 hours a day. Some of it is very intense and some of it less so. Game days he is 'moving' even more, though in a lot of different ways.

Our schedules are not comingling a lot. I am gone in the morning before he gets up. He has 2 hours of practice then a fast lunch while he goes to his afternoon classes. Then he's hungry again right after school, then again at supper. Evenings is another work out. I usually see him at supper and then sometimes when he gets home in the evenings. With my going to bed early from fatigue, I am often asleep when he comes home.

As far as I can figure, I have been at $170 a week for grocery and household items since Sept of 2010. Before that I was $160 a week for a couple years.  It's time for a big jump to match our inflated SK prices and the increased food consumption.  Milk has gone up almost $1.50 /4L (gallon). With gas's rise, so has everything that has to be transported, which is almost everything. On the household side, TP and Kleenex have gone up. Very little is left in the jars anymore, if ever. I know for those in the US, your prices are sooooo much less than they are up here. When I see commercials for sales at your grocery stores like Kroger or even at Target, boy are the prices different.

The food often needs to be ready when they get home from school. Sometimes his window before he has to leave for a game is too tight to prepare a proper supper. The crock pot has been coming out again.  It's a pity he is allergic to seafood and all his smelly fishy friends.  So it's a lot of chicken breast and pasta with broccolli before  games.  It's a lot of prep of things like whole grain muffins for the road trip snacks.

So I sat for awhile with the budget yesterday and tinkered and tinkered. The planned savings will have to slow down a bit as will the LOC repayment. I am boosting my groceries/household jar money by $50 a week.  I am also boosting gas money by $10 a week as we are nearing $1.30 a Liter. So much more gas is used in the winter.

I can't start it until end of October paycheque so I have a couple weeks to muddle through until then. I will try it for the month of November and then re-evaluate to see if I bumped it too much or too little, or if I am using the grocery money wisely.

The gas budget I haven't changed since I started doing the jars in 2009.

How often do you change your budget to adjust for life changes or inflation?

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.

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.

The depth of consumer loyalty

I was on my way over to the school this morning to get some correcting and prep work done for the week ahead. My vehicle was low on fuel. Periliously low. The happy little fuel indicator said I had about 50 KM left. I don't put a whole lot of trust in those but they do give a nice estimate. I stopped at my regular gas station. I have been going to this station since it opened in 1985 and I was the first 'gas jockey' hired. I was 15.

There are two fuel stations in my wee town and in our sister community about 5 Km away, there are about 8ish.  We are very much the little sister of the family and most of our shopping places exist in the larger of the two communities.

Now I go to my regular station out of a sense of habit and loyalty. I also go because it support my Air Miles Card, which I got when I was first a driver. When I am at home, I support this station for probably 99% of my fuel purchases.

I pulled in this morning and thought 'ohh they got a new sign'. Then I took a closer look and realized that the new sign was there because they had switched companies. awwww. I honestly didn't know if this company took AirMiles but I needed gas so stop I did.

For the record, our gas went up across all the stations and is now at $1.329 per litre. sigh.  I put in $50, which is my gas budget for the week. How much did that get me? 3/4 of a tank. Very sad to see, especially since that first 1/4 is the largest part of the tank, based on the shape.

I went in and asked if they still took airmiles and they said no. They are now with Aeroplan. A fine points card I am sure but not the one I use.

I said I was very sad to hear this and that this possibly was my last tank of gas at their station. We are a three car family so that means a loss of business of 3 tanks every 10 days or so, for this station. I told them that, kindly. I have no idea why the companies changed and I know it's not their fault, but I felt it was important to know why they would likely be losing my business.

I know there is one other Shell Station in our sister community. I now have to decide if I want to support my own community and add yet another card to my wallet, or if I will stick with the one I have and fuel up elsewhere. That station is on the far side of the city and really not on my direct path but another 3 minutes would get me there. It's not horribly out of the way but it would require me to be more aware of when I need fuel.

In the big picture of life I know this is not a huge decision. It does make me go hmmmmm

Scary/happy bill

Back in December, I wrote of my grumpy day. It was a day of great confusion and frustration with product and customer service with our phone company.

Today arrives my first bill with the new phone combined with my phone. Boy those bills are sure confusing. For two phones it took six pages to spit out the charges. There was no long distance on there nor is there an itemized list of texts as texting comes free with the plan.

It shows doubles of most everything since the bill was pro-rated for the less than full month plus the current month.  I am trying to figure out what a 'normal' bill month will be but with the prorated piece I honestly won't be able to piece it together based on this month. Since the bills adds the one time activation charge of $25 I know that I can subtract at least $25 for the amount. Then, too, will come the % of tax that was added because of the $25.  Perhaps also some of those 'pro rated plus regular charge' items will be less since it will just be a regular  month??

There are lots of CR (credit listed along the list) but I suspect most of those come with the signing on of a new phone. 

A most pleasant surprise was the $10 Credit labelled 'adjustment'. As I looked more closely at page 4, I see that  I see that adjustment means....'good PR'. Someone gave me a credit for all the troubles I went through. How nice. I highly doubt it was any of the ladies I dealt with in person. My best guess is that the nice lady I spoke to at head office the next day gifted me with it. She was amazing to deal with and I told her so more than once that day.  How lovely to receive a credit.

Total 'new' charges was $154.25. Subtract the $25 for sign up and the % of tax that goes with it, my regular bill comes to around $127 for the two phones. Will be interesting to see how close I am.