Where the money stands

as of July 3

Debt

Mortgage - $0 

College LOC - $0

Total Debt - Zero. Still feels weird to write it. Don't want to say it too loudly or Murphy will find me

Planned Savings

TFSA - $9900

RRSP - $14 262

TFSA 2020 - $600

Back to School - $500

Summer 2020 - $300 - 

Christmas 2020 - $500

I usually save $1000 for Summer fun money but I honestly don't think I will go past the $300 I have right now. Fewer places to go is part of it.

Honestly I think there are so many little jobs to do around the house this year. This will be my first summer since 2017 where I didn't have caregiver duties.  And I have a lot of work on me.

I need to get that TFSA done, Christmas, and start RRSP 2020 before I find it December.

Debt Free Day

I'm not even sure what to write.

It's here.

This day has never happened before in my adult life.

No. Debt.

No mortgage.

No loans.

No car payments.

No credit card debt.

No line of credit balance.

Just regular everyday life bills. And boy don't they add up? :-)

Grateful for perseverance that kept me going these past years. Even with highs and lows.

Grateful to all the blogs out there who showed me the way.

Grateful to all of you who have cheered me along the way.

Reflections on 2019 money

To be honest, the intensive focus on debt reduction was much less for me in 2019. Just too many other things going on.  I probably could have done a lot better at attacking this if all this with dad and the new house hadn't been a part of the year. But it was and so I take it at what it is.... small progress.


Here is a peek at the past years' numbers that now, are just the mortgage:

December 2009 - $70 771.99
December 2010 - $52 410.25 (down $18 361.74)
December 2011 - $40 055.29 (down $12 354.96)
December 2012 - $35 921.04 (down $4 134.25)
December 2013 - $25 925.49 (down $9 995.55)
December 2014 - $22 494.06 (down $3431.43)
December 2015 - $18 837.12 (down $3656.94)
December 2016 - $15 009.96 (down $3827.16)
December 2017 - $11 055.48 (down $3954.48)
December 2018 - $6969.94 (down $4085.94)

The two debts, including the College LOC past were:

Debt 2016
Mortgage - $15 009.96
College LOC - $13 245.16

Total Debt - $28 255.12

Debt 2017
Mortgage - $11 055.48
College LOC - $21 343.00

Total Debt - $32 398.48 


Debt 2018 

Mortgage - $6969.94

College LOC - $14 700

Total Debt - $21 669.94

Debt 2019
Mortgage - $2756.00
College LOC - $6800.00

Total Debt - $9 556.00

My goal last year was to get the LOC down to between $7000 and 8000 so I consider that a win.

The mortgage should be paid off in 2020. I will have to remind my husband that we need to set aside $ for property tax as it has been included in the mortgage payment.

There is no mortgage on the new house. So if we end up selling the old house that money can be used to wipe out all debt and put money towards our retirement.


I don't want to get too happy about things as Murphy tends to hear those sorts of thoughts and starts his own plan.

College, LOC and TFSA, oh my!

So most of my money goals for the year have been met. Plates (insurance), RRSP, Christmas is almost done, Summer etc.

The only goal I haven't started yet is my TFSA savings of $1000. Interest on this is paltry. Super paltry.

Interest on my college LOC however, is not paltry.

I was putting $500 a month down on the LOC, and saving a comparable amount for College. My LOC is close to being maxed out. Yes they would give me more, but I really don't want it to come to that.

This is DS1's last year of college. It will cost. Money will be needed. Usually I am putting  a chunk on my LOC and a chunk into college savings, along with a chunk that goes to my rotating money goals (see First paragraph).

I really really really want to avoid putting more money on the LOC. I would rather jiggle the amounts around to put a base amount on the LOC and a larger amount into College (and the dreaded Canadian to US dollar conversion).

The dollar is at about 77 cents right now which is not great but better than the 71 cents it was earlier this year.

I think I will drop the worry about the $1000 TFSA goal and focus instead on the college/LOC for the rest of 2017.

My change jar $ was going towards my Back to School fund and that is now met. Thank goodness. I start in 2 weeks.

For the rest of 2017 I will put my change jar $ towards TFSA 2018. This is a pretty low stress way of slowly building it.

I know...It's a lot of thinking out loud. But that's my plan for now. for now. Til Murphy or someone finds me and whaps me upside the head.

Where the money stands

as of Feb 7th

yes this one hurts a bit quite a bit with the added money on the LOC. I will whittle it away as I have done before while I make plans for the Summer School tuition and living expenses, the fall one and January of 2018.

Debt
Mortgage - $14 361.28
College LOC - $18 093

Total Debt - $32 454.28



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8200
RRSP -$13 473
Back to School 2017 - $150
XMAS 2017 - $500
Plates 2017 - $1300

I also put away money every month towards flights, college, my annual fees (insurance, tax filing etc) my next trip to see DS...things like that

2015 - a quick glance

This was  a really wonky year for money. Debt was at the forefront. More specifically, college money x 2 children.

The debt numbers for this year really only reflect the mortgage.

December 2009 - $70 771.99
December 2010 - $52 410.25 (down $18 361.74)
December 2011 - $40 055.29 (down $12 354.96)
December 2012 - $35 921.04 (down $4 134.25)
December 2013 - $25 925.49 (down $9 995.55)
December 2014 - $22 494.06 (down $3431.43)
December 2015 - $18 837.12 (down $3656.94)

The rest of the debt for my world is the college LOC which has been up and down and up and down. I know where it is at, but I would have to do math to find out exactly how much I added and how much I paid off. It is going to continue to be in flux for at least 2.5 more years.

 I have to say that this is the first year that the weight  of debt and impending expenses have weighed on my like it did back prior to July 2008 when I started this blog. The tailspin of the Canadian vs US dollar certainly is  a big factor.  Adding a second child to college didn't help.

I have 2.5  years left of DS1's time in College and 1.5 of DS2's course. Not sure if DS2 will take classes after that.

I suspect that I will just have to work to survive this time and regroup when it's all over.  Neither can apply as a single independent until they have been out of High School for four years. Apparently DH and I make too much money for them to qualify for anything now.

Like Dory, I will have to just keep swimming, just keep swimming, and hope the boys appreciate this when it's all over.

2014 - a quick glance

Looking at the numbers, I have done the poorest job of debt reduction in 2014, out of the years I have been blogging.

And if we wanted to get technical, the debt is really up. Not included in that 2014 number is the LOC  for DS's college expenses, which is setting at a bit under $8 600. So technically, I am UP $5200ish.

It also doesn't include DH's truck loan, but I have never included it as I do not pay it off.

Debts December 2009 - $70 771.99
December 2010 - $52 410.25 (down $18 361.74)
December 2011 - $40 055.29 (down $12 354.96)
December 2012 - $35 921.04 (down $4 134.25)
December 2013 - $25 925.49 (down $9 995.55)
December 2014 - $22 494.06 (down $3431.43)

The only thing on the debt amount just above is the mortgage. I don't anticipate this  number will change a whole lot as I do not plan to put anything extra on it. I have one child in college now and as of the fall of  2015 I will have two. 

My focus must must must be on finding a way to reduce expenses to get through the next four college years.

Despite this doom and gloom prospect, I rejoice in the fact that I started this blog in 2008 and I started becoming money AWARE. I would not have had any of the successes or planning I have now, without that start then.

So if you are reading this, and just starting out, or just thinking about starting out, please DO. You will be so happy you did. I know I am.

Where the money stands...

as of October 7th

Debts
Mortgage - $23 074.89

**Total Debt - $23 074.89


Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $5000
RESP - $19 100
RRSP - $8000 
DS2's trip -$2200
Plates 2014 - $1200
XMAS - $1000


Total debt does not include the college debt.

Where does the money stand?

as of September 6th

Debts
Mortgage - $23 365.14

**Total Debt - $23 365.14


Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $5000
RESP - $19 300
RRSP - $8000 
DS2's trip -$1956
Plates 2014 - $1200
XMAS - $500
 

Ok so this past month a lot of money moved around in a lot of directions.  The 'college' savings was morphed into a US $ account here in town so that it is ready when I need it.  I need to keep a watch on the exchange rate and plan when I will add more to it. There is a fee every time I do it so I want to do larger amounts a few times  a year rather than smaller amounts, more often.

** with regards to total debt... there is still the LOC. I had zeroed it out after I paid off DS2's car, but I am using this line as the 'loan' for DS1's college now.  That number will be in flux pretty much all the time. Take out a chunk against the LOC and then pay it back bit by bit each month. Repeat for semester 2.  I decided not to keep a running tally of this on here. Just a personal decision. Right now it is under $10 000 and should keep going down over the course of the year. I have a set amount I am paying off each month and snowflakes are going against it.

June change

I rolled up my change over the weekend to take to the bank this coming week.

 It was not bad...
1 roll of toonies $50
2 rolls of quarters $20
1 roll of dimes $5
for a grand total of $75

This money is going towards paying off the LOC debt from buying DS2's replacement vehicle.

New wheels = new debt

I tapped back into my LOC when I was buying DS2's car.  I wrote a cheque for the car, then went home and transferred that amount from my LOC to my chequing account.

I will say this for SGI ( our provincial insurance), they are very quick at processing. I had the cheque for the payout of the old car, in my mailbox before the week was out. That went straight to the bank and I applied it back to my LOC. Remaining balance - $2000.

I will have to halt my funding of my savings/planned spending schedule to redirect the cash to the LOC until I have it paid off.

I dislike that all this has happened, but I know his accident was completely unavoidable. Darn icy roads.

I am grateful that I have this LOC to access for emergencies.

Catching up

Yes I have been a bad blogger. Perhaps my mojo is fading. More likely is the busyness of the month left me drained.

So....what's new?

Well with mom, her surgery is over. She had to have 3 lymph nodes removed from her neck and almost 4 weeks later we are still waiting  to find out if there is more cancer. It is a rough time waiting longer than the 2 weeks promised for this kind of news. She also had to have part of her ear removed as there were cancer cells there, below the mole she had had removed. Makes me see Skin Cancer in a whole new light. She has been very brave through this, but is still scared.  We are trying to fashion scarves so she can go out without folks staring.

With sister, her MS is getting worse. She has also had some serious issues with her gall bladder and is weak weak weak. Any meds she takes for it reacts with the symptoms of her MS and gives her massive hives, the size of golf balls. She is very sad a lot. She can't get out to do anything and doesn't even have the energy to do things around the house. Another of my sisters is semi retired so she is coming home to help decorate for Christmas.

With school, it has been insanely busy. With a completely new marking system (1-4) instead of percentages or A, B, C, it means a whole new style of teaching and assessment. Along with teaching the students and parents what it all means, we are learning it ourselves. There is  a lot of resistance and confusion about it. Added to that was a whole new computer system for marking that has had at it all many glitches. Interviews were different as well. What it all translated to was time....outside of classtime, to learn a whole new grade curriculum in 7 subjects and to do and to meet. In November I was spending approximately 20 hours a week doing school work in the evenings and weekends. I am hoping I will become more efficient as the year progresses. It's a lot of time I am giving up away from my family. We have had a few staff in our district leave the profession this year - they are amazing teachers and do great things in the classroom, but weighed the pros and cons of the time they lose with their little ones every night and weekend, and family won.

With DS1, we have decided on a college. We had form after form to fill in and ship off to the States. He is very excited about going down to play his beloved game, but we have yet to pick his classes lol. It was not a full scholarship. Those are less common than apparently they were a few years ago. I am stressed about how much money I will need to find over four years to meet the rest of the commitment, as we as the basics of what he will need there. We will figure out the first year and after that I am afraid he needs to start exploring student loans. I feel very guilty about having  a 'personal finance blog' and knowing these monstrous costs coming.

I have decided to keep the money in the RESP for DS2. It's a family plan so we can shift it back and forth between kids as far as I know. While it's great there is $15 000 there, it won't go far if I used it for US college tuition. I want to be sure I have money to give DS2.

Winter is here with a vengeance. It started right after Halloween with a super freezing rain storm covered up by a big snow dump.  I hope this winter is not as long as last year. I can't do another almost 7 month winter (October 16 to May 6th last year)

And that's my world. :-)

I laugh as I put "unplanned expenses" as a label here. It isn't like I didn't know my kids would be going to College. I simply didn't start saving soon enough. When they were first born I had no job and DH's job was low paying and I couldn't, but even, say 10 years ago, if I had understood budgets and planning, I COULD have started.    Lesson to be learned for new folks out there - really think about money and what it can do for you, in the present and in the possible future.

I did it!!

Well folks! I did it.

After 2 years (and a wee bit), the LOC is back at $0.

I opened it here as a precaution when there were work difficulties. I didn't tap into it til later in the summer. On it is a bit of $ for a WHL  hockey camp flight, some of the money for DS's trip to Italy last year, and the money I 'borrowed' to buy DS2's car last fall as the rates were cheaper than a loan.

I was so close to paying this off a few times and then chit happens.

It is a good reminder to me that Life. Always. Happens. and I have to keep up my planning and saving for these things so that life doesn't pull me into debt.

I have an LOC now at zero, but with the power to tap into $15 000. I hope I plan better and smarter so I don't use it, but it is good to know it is there.

I had to laugh as I read in Money Sense last month that 'in your 40s' you should have an LOC like I have ready there, before you start to head into retirement. I guess I AM getting to be 'that age'

Thank you all so much for your support as I marched on towards getting this credit debt gone.  It helped on those days when I just wanted to say 'to heck with it all' and not put money down.

Boo yah!!! (with new details)

That's right. I said it. With all of the attitude and head tilt that comes with such an expression.

I'd like to direct your attention to my sidebar for my Line of Credit over ---->

More details to come later today on the why and how but it's time for Teaching Jolie to kick it into gear with her darlings.

*************************************************

Ok so here is what happened. My income tax refund came through. I was expecting $1300ish and DH, about the same amount. So I open up my cheque and I see it is for $2500. I blink. Then I panic. Now remember, this is the first year I have done my taxes myself using a program, instead of having someone do them for me at H and R Block.  

My mind is scrambling trying to figure out what is up. Then I wonder - I am getting back about what DH and I were supposed to get together. Did I click something wrong and I am getting the whole return?????  So we check his. Nope. He has the amount he was supposed to get. hmmmmm

There is some 'adjustment statement' on the first page of mine that says something about Saskatchewan credit readjustment blabity blah. We check DH's to see if he has the same thing. Nope

I am giddy but worried. I go downstairs to get the forms I printed out from my program to confirm mine says $1300 ish. yes

My overwhelming fear is that this is a mistake by Revenue Canada and down the road they are going to want it back.

So I call the Revenue Canada office and say that I have a question about my return as it doesn't match what my program says.  After all the ID process he checks and says - wait - you are getting back more than what your claim says. YES, says I. The man laughs. We don't get many calls like this.

So we go through my return and I read what my adjustment thingie says and he says my new return amount is correct.   I say "what are the odds that down the road someone else is going to say it's a mistake and want half of it back?". He laughs and says "everything I see on here is correct. Enjoy your money."

It really felt too good to be true.

Originally, I had planned to put $1000 of my return as my EF/TFSA, which I haven't added to in three years. But this amount, would bring my LOC down soooo much and put me soooo close to being done.

I waffled most of Monday night.  I decided that I would put it on my LOC. Then, if something happened down the road and they did want the money back, I could reaccess the LOC. If I bought something with it, I'd just be out money.

So off I went to the bank and plunked the whole thing down.  And now, I have just a bit under $600 left to pay. 

I didn't want to keep it too long as the universe (and Mr Murphy) often hear when people have extra cash, and they find a way to spend it for them. I am hoping I avoided that.

I am cautiously optimistic, that barring unexpected surprises, the LOC will be done with my end of June paycheque.

fingers crossed!!!

January change

January was  good month for change in the good ole jar !!

As I had mentioned in December, there wasn't quite enough of anything to roll a full roll of anything. yes I know I could taken the jar and tossed it in the change counter at the bank, but if you know me, you know I love the physicality of rolling the change.

I knew January would be bigger because I was going back to pure jars and cash, with no CC or debit use for purchases. Anytime I get change, it goes into the jar and boy it sure adds up.

I had a lovely roll of toonies, a roll of loonies, 2 rolls of quarters, and a roll of dimes.

That's right, a big total of $100 in change. I won't get that big of one again this year I suspect :-)

I took this money and happily applied it to my Line of Credit. I am aching to get this balance down into the $4000s and then beyond and with this $100, I did it :-)

Thanks change!! I really appreciate the snowflake you made!

PS - I also had 2 rolls of pennies, but having that $1 all on it's own bugged the heck out of my anal retentive personality. I just couldn't put $101 in there. I know, I know, I have issues. My pennies will wait until they bring me to a $5 amount or can join with a couple rolls of nickels to balance out. With our government no longer making the penny and phasing it out, I wonder how long it will be that I will be collecting them and taking them in?

2012 - a quick glance

This quick glance has been a wee tradition I have done last year, in 2010,  with a base comparison of 2009 numbers. I have included all four sets of numbers in this post to see the comparisons.

For dates, I am using information from the start of December for each  year.

Debts
December 2009 - $70 771.99
December 2010 - $52 410.25
December 2011 - $40 055.29
December 2012 - $35 921.04

So this year my debt went down $4134.25. I am not happy about this one. Last year debt went down by $12 000. Very big difference. Life choices have prompted this smaller than hoped for decrease. One being DS1's Italy trip that I did not save properly for. The second was for the unexpected purchase of a used vehicle  after DS's was totalled. We would have bought this car eventually but that would have gone on 2013's numbers. If I had not purchased the car, the debt would have been reduced by at least $8500.

 This debt number for 2012 even includes the fact that I paid off my vehicle early.  I really did not do a good job at all. It needs to change. I have two kids going off to university in the next couple years and I need to fix the bad habits.

Savings
December 2009 - $2 225
December 2010 - $10 640
December 2011 - $13 250
December 2012 - $18 245
This includes RRSP, RESP, and TFSA. This does not include my pension.

So there it is in a nutshell. It's a good visual for me that I need to do better at debt reduction.  It is my hope that my debt goes down by $8000+ for 2013.

Good thing I checked

I was checking my online accounts where my savings, LOC, TFSA etc are hosted. I hadn't been in since the end of November to be honest to check because I hadn't done anything since then.

My LOC was wrong. That is one of the benefits of being on track with money and debt, I guess, because I noticed the error right away. I was in debt $400 more on that account than I should have been.

I took a bit to look over the accounts and to try to think of a reason why it would be off. The info tag beside the latest LOC was a withdrawl of $200 which I know I did not do.

I gave the branch a quick call and had them access my account while we tried to figure things out.  The last transaction was on the 27th of November. I know I went there that day with 2 cheques to put in. I then moved money to my long term savings account and also paid $200 d own on my LOC.

The lady on the other end of the phone was very helpful. We concluded that the teller that day did not do my principal payment of $200 against the loan properly. Instead, she took $200 OUT on my LOC and moved it to my chequing there. That was why my chequing had an extra $400 in it.

She then moved the original $200 back into my LOC and made the $200 payment against it, and all was balanced again in my world.

She also made a note to the teller who did the transaction that she had not done a 'principal payment properly so she would know for the future.

The only thing they could not do is fix the extra bit of interest that money cost me on the LOC. There is no way of really proving what I asked for originally. So that will cost me a couple dollars in interest.

I usually get a receipt there, and check to be sure it says principal payment and then go home and check to be sure the balance online matches my own spreadsheet.  For some reason I did not this time.

Good lesson for me, I guess. I will make sure I check everytime now.

Catching up

It's been a whirlwind two weeks and things have been crazy busy. I am sure you all have those chunks of time too, or perhaps it is like that for you all of the time.

Report cards were handed out Friday so that is a huge relief. The district changed a few ways we are reporting part way through the marking period so it was a big shift to a different way of thinking and a very different way of recording. It takes a whack of time to pull it all together to give parents the best information about their student progress. Interviews will be this coming week so it will be another time busy week here for work.

We have a few dumps of snow here. Everytime there is a big one I can't help but be thankful I don't have my old van. Driving through snow in that one forced snow up and underneathe, blocking and plugging the alternator belt and basically making the steering inoperable. I was stranded about a dozen times with that problem. I've had a different vehicle for going on four winters now, but I still get that panic trigger when I drive in snow, until I remember I no longer have the van. Funny how something like that stays with you. I appreciate you, new vehicle who is designed differently underneathe and doesn't have this problem.

Gas prices have dropped a bit in the past 10 days. Funny how when you have been stuck at $1.299/Liter for a long time, suddenly being at $1.199 doesn't look so bad.

DS2 has had fewer hours at work and he is grateful for that. The restaurant will be super busy from now until after the New Year and he was feeling overwhelmed. He will miss the bigger paycheck though.  I watched him proudly as he marched with his troop last weekend for Remembrance Day.

DS1 has been busy with his team. I don't see him as much as I like, but I guess that is part of the letting go. I think of all the other members of his team who are billeted here and their family is a province or two away, and I guess I can't complain. He's been going over to help grandpa work on his car. DS doesn't know a thing about car repair so every single thing he is doing is a brand new learning experience. I love that. I also love that he gets time with grandpa. Dad hasn't been well and we have less time with him left, than more. It's good for DS to realize that there is a boatload of time and money and work that goes into fixing the results of this no fault accident.

Speaking of no fault accident, we got our papers from insurance. A charge from the insurance company of close to $300 for the no fault accident along with 8 points against DS's license. We can appeal this and we will be. There was a $25 fee to launch the appeal which DH paid. DS and I will do the appeal with the highway traffic board via phone conference this coming week. I have taken a half day of personal time to do that. While DS has to run the phone call, he still wanted his mother there. Neither of us have been in this situation before so it will be a new experience. The charges and points could be completely voided, or not. I guess we shall see how it goes. 

I am still waiting for the last couple cheques to come in for insurance refund and at that point I will know how much I am 'out' for this whole accident. Funny how 20 seconds of glare ice can cost so much. At least everyone was physically safe though.