A wonderful Monday

 So many wonderful non exciting things happened today.

It started off with  early morning coffee outside in my back yard beside the pond. The sound of the birds and the water moving was such a positive therapeutic launch of the day.

I had enough energy to go do a bit of grocery shopping and get the mail. There was enough mental focus to go through my finances and update my monthly spreadsheet and double check the planned savings accounts. 

I settled down to start my first book of the summer The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser. I am having trouble settling in to read for longer chunks of time, but I am hoping that will come.

After supper was grass cutting and taking care of my flowers, and just enjoying being outside.

The day ended with a glass of wine on the deck as sunset. 

T - 24 until no more landline

I know. I am probably light years behind the rest of you on this.

I will throw DH under the bus for this. He was the holdout. I have been wanting to do this for a few years.

Now the only people who call the landline are DH's sister (why she doesn't use his cell phone I have no idea), and spam callers.

I may have to consider getting voice mail on my cell phone as I do not have that currently. We shall see.

My net savings on the removal of the landline is about $24.00

The customer sales representative said cheekily "What will you do with your windfall?"

My also cheeky answer "Put it in my travel fund since everyone is travelling these days :-)

There is a bit of awwwww at cancelling a number I have had since 1991.

Not nearly so much as it hurt to cancel my mom and dad's landline last fall after 48 years of that number existing. I cried during that cancellation.

quite the phones we had over the years from a partyline at the farm to cells.

Happy 12th Blogoversary to me

wow. 12 years. 

When I started this little guy off I didn't know what would be come of it or where it would lead me. 

Let's face it...I can be a little commitment flakey. 

This blog was the catalyst for so many great things in my life

I made a budget that actually worked...and stuck to me most of the time.

I thought ahead to my money needs instead of reacting on the fly. What Christmas again? Didn't we just have one of those last year?

I was able to use the solid base of a plan to help flex through the life changes I had. 

This got me through my kids in school, through their college and beyond.

This blog gave my stability when so many other areas of my life were going to sh*t.

This blog gave me the freedom to plan and see those plans through, and flexibility when plans went awry.

This blog let me meet people of like minds who inspired me through the sharing of their worlds. 

Thank you to all of you, long time readers and newer, for caring.

Change this month

I haven't been able to go to the bank in person since I signed off our mortgage papers in early April.

I also didn't spend a lot via cash and didn't have a lot of change to take care of.

Today I deposited

• 1 roll toonies
• 1 roll loonies
• 1 roll quarters
• 3 rolls of dimes

The $100 will go towards my TFSA savings. Time to get back at my other goals now that the LOC is done.

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.

Where the money stands

as of June 2

I seem to have missed a couple of these.

And I miss going to the bank to drop off my change. They are now closed except for emergencies.

Not a lot of progress here, except for the mortgage being gone gone gone.

Debt

Mortgage - $0 baby

College LOC - $1500.00

Total Debt - $1500

Planned Savings

TFSA - $9900

RRSP - $14 262

TFSA 2020 - $500

Back to School - $500

Summer 2020 - $300

Christmas 2020 - $500

I am definitely behind on my savings. I have been working off the LOC instead.

We are getting close to that being gone too.

a Lull Day

If I didn't think too hard, it could almost be Easter Break . Friday off, long weekend. No work duties.

I wandered for a good hour this morning, in my own home. I needed to shake it off. Do something. Do anything.

I baked a few batches of cookies and muffins, definitely appreciating my kitchen aid. The smell of baking was calming in a weird way. And I didn't eat a ton of cookie dough. Score!

I looked at my school pile and had to put it in a room to try to forget it for awhile. We weren't sure exactly what we were supposed to do, so give it a few days. A response team was meeting provincially and then would trickle the information down.

DS would call every few hours and update us. He and his buddy took turns driving four hour shifts while the other slept. Their grandiose ideas of stopping and enjoying the drive were out the window. They only stopped for fuel, snacks and a pee break, but each stop things felt a little more like 'this shit is real' as signs started appearing with guidelines for safety.

They are slowly making their way through the 33 hour drive.

confessions

Since I started this blog in 2008, one of my most proud accomplishments was my organization of the household paperwork. I proudly set up my blue filing tub with labels and things were filed dutifully.

I was on top of it.

Need my last Credit rating? no problem

Need that MC statement for those tires I bought? here ya go

The last year everything in my world fell apart, including my filing.

Now bills still got paid, but there was more than one occasion where I was paying off my MC and I accidentally sent the money to my VISA, without realizing until it was too late.

Then I wasn't able to find papers - bills, the house transfer papers - the receipt for the new water heater to prove it was still under warrantee.

The more exhausted and stressful my world became, the worse the paper work organizing was. Things got shoved. On top of the fridge. In drawers.

And then moving when I was so sick did not help matters. Things were shoved in boxes and bags and laundry baskets.

Nor did having two power bills, two water bills, two phone bills for two different houses.

and yes I still get paper bills, and I will until I feel I have things under control.

All this online with different account numbers and different passwords because they have different requirements is overwhelming.

and I didn't have the brain energy to focus long enough to begin, without also feeling overwhelmed. I would say this is a product of the grief and depression.

Slowly, as I start to find me again, I am finding paperwork.

I started by emptying everything out of my filing tub and sorting into piles. Then I shredded the things I no longer need.  The night before last I made new labels for the tubs.

Power bills for each house, water bills, tax, etc

And then I began getting paper sorted and into the correct piles.

With each pile done, I felt more and more in control and could literally feel the stress leave my body bit by bit.

I called DH downstairs to the office to proudly show off the clean desk ( mom's desk) and went through where everything is kept so he knows too.

With each box I slowly unpack I find bits here and there and I stop and get those filed right away so I know where everything is.

Taxes forms are coming in for all of us and for dad's estate and I don't want to misplace a thing.

I may be taking a long time to unpack but it's a fine line juggling what was left here from mom and dad and putting my stuff in where it feels right so that the blend they wanted, eventually happens.

It felt really good to see that sorted and organized bill tub.

January change

$100 in change went to the bank this month.

I put it towards my back to school fund. Once I get it up to $500 then any change rolled goes towards my TFSA.

A new addition

Things were tough over Christmas with mom and my cat gone, and my son in Europe. The house was just empty. We had talked about getting another pet and waffled about the when and the how.

DS2 was determined to get one from the shelter and one that was older, or had been there a long time. He also said that statistically, black cats were the least adopted.


Come home yesterday from the city for my infusion and I was curled up on my bed scrolling through Facebook. I saw the  ad from the Humane Society for one of their residents. Two years old this summer and he's lived his whole life in a cage there.

I messaged my husband and said "can you pick me up something on your way home from work?"

Sure, he said. So I sent him the post about the cat.

I was prepared for him to say no, as usual.

He said, "I'll meet you there"

Apparently he and DS2 had been talking for a few weeks about getting me a new pet.

I cried the whole way over, so happy to get a pet.

It was so sad there. So many pets without homes. So many pets living in cages. Broke my heart.

We did the paperwork and homeward bound we were with our new family member.

He is a gorgeous all black cat and is curled up on the couch between me and DS. He rode well in the car and we spent about 15 minutes in my room with him getting him used to the space, smell and sounds and then let him wander around.

The first thing we did after that was facetime DS1 and his gf so they could meet the new family member. They are so excited.

I slept better last night than I had in weeks, knowing there was a furry family member in the house.

The change jar

I feel like my change jar didn't get a lot of love this year. There were a lot of months where I had nothing to roll (or not enough for a full roll).  But in a year with so many pieces missing, the months that I DID roll gave me a sense of comfortable nostalgia.

I used the change  jar to fund my back to school money and some of my TFSA. It was a wonderfully passive way to repurpose money that  may not be seen as significant.

Here are my past years' contributions:

2012 -$549.50
2013 - $980
2014 - $512
2015 - $642
2016 - $825
2017 - $970

So for this tumultuous year..

January - $100
February - $90
March  - $0
April - $0
May - $100
June - $100
July - $50
August - $100
September - $100
October - $100
November - $100
December - $0

For a 2018 total of $840.

Not my highest, but definitely impactful.

October change

Seemed to be a big month for toonies and loonies

1 roll of toonies
2 rolls of loonies

$100 was put towards the college LOC

September change

I had the change, I swear I did.

Then we were hosting a volleyball tournament at the school and the float we are given for the canteen is never enough of the right denominations. If you have a couple people come buy with $20 bills, your change goes quickly away.

 So I took my toonies and loonies (and some $5s I got from the bank, and VOILA! when the canteen was low, I had money to swap out to save the day.

So I did not take my change to the bank for my monthly change visit. I took 6 - $20 bills instead.

My 'change' for the month goes towards my TFSA and I am hoping to actually ADD to it this year.

July change

....was the usual $100

• 1 roll toonies
• 1 roll loonies
• 2 rolls quarters
• 1 roll dimes

I had already cashed in the 'bonus change' from the garage sale

Murphy listens

You know that urban legend gossip that Facebook listens to your conversations and the 'ads' that pop up reflect your conversations???  (I totally agree with this by the way).

Know what else listens to your conversations? Murphy.

No sooner had the garage sale money been applied to the college loc, than my washing machine, my 23 year old machine, gives it up.  We have done little fixes to it over the years. a pump. a hose clamp.

This one was the final straw. It ended with the machine barfing out 2 inches of water across the floor of my laundry room. It was done.

Luckily I have been tucking little bits of money away over the past few years for the moment when I would need a new pair. We went down to our local furniture store and within 15 min the old units were gone and the new ones were installed and a load of towels was going.

This unexpected expense wiped out my emergency appliance replacement fund. It would have been nice to have the garage sale money to offset it.

I will have to begin the little bits of cash here and there to restock it in case something else decides to go. It was sure nice having that money there, ready to go, though.

End of the school year

There were times when I didn't know if I would make it.

There were times when I wondered if my parents would be alive at the end of the school year.

I looked forward to this day for a long while....just something to keep working towards so that I could just..................... be.

It was a tough year with student deaths and a lot of chaos at work.

It was a long 6 month C journey with mom and a long month after she was gone.

I pushed aside grieving to get through the end of the school year.

And now it's here.

Time to rest.

Time to think.

Time to pray and heal.

Time to be with dad.

Time to declutter and take care of a very neglected house and a very neglected me.

I laid down for a moment when I got home and I literally was asleep in under 60 seconds.

It's that kind of tired.

me time

Me time certainly hasn't been copious lately. Not really even existent to be truthful.

I have two weeks left of work for the year and I am holding on by a thread.

I carved some me time this past week.

Wednesday, I used a gift certificate my staff gave me and went for a pedicure. I haven't gone since September last year. I swear I am two feet shorter than I was before with all the dead skin. It was nice to visit with a friend while I went and just..........sit.

Friday night after visiting my dad for a couple hours I came home to find DS1 cleaning. Like deep root drawer by drawer cleaning. It made mama so happy. He brought a lot of stuff home from college and before he tried putting it away he went drawer by drawer and made serious toss, recycle and keep piles. There is so much room in his room now, in his closet and in his storage cupboard downstairs. It was pretty exciting.

We celebrated by using money from my entertainment jar, ordering pizza and making a salad to go with it. It made me want to be off work to keep cleaning and tossing and sorting at home.

That evening we sat around our first fire in the backyard. So good having all three kids there with us, just talking...about the past...about the future in Europe and just.......being.

It definitely was rejuvenating and so necessary.

We made supper at dad's last night so he had food cooked in his own house and company to go with it. Tonight we are taking him out to the lake to my sister's campsite for a Father's Day supper.

With all the stress of mom's illness and passing, dad's health and Sister 1 and 3s variety pack of meltdowns about mom and the funeral and ............stuff...........I have to work extra hard to find peace of mind.

I am still not sleeping, and my colitis is a hot mess.

But I will take the me time I am giving myself.

March change

(back dating this as it's going to bug me if it's not IN March)

A quick round of change for the month sent $100 to my Back to School Goal, which is now at $400/$500

I had :

• 1 roll toonies $50
• 1 roll loonies $25
• 1 roll of quarters $10
• 3 rolls of dimes $15 

I had found 2 spare rolls of dimes under some shirts in the drawer where I keep my rolled coin.

One interesting thing was that this time, the bank teller opened up my room of toonies and took a peek at what was inside. I said "this is new" and she said that ppl have been coming in with loonies inside the toonie packs trying to cheat the system.  Sad.

February Change

Well I am off today to see DS in the States for the weekend. It's his Senior Night this Sat so it will be super bitter sweet that this is probably my last time in his amazing city, and at his rink.

Not sure what the future holds for him next, but he certainly has had amazing memories made in his College Town.


I will head to the bank before we go to the city to catch our flight.

My change for the month totaled $100 and it goes towards my Back to School Target.

I have:
 

• 1 roll of toonies - $50
• 1 roll of loonies - $25
• 1 roll of quarters - $10
• 1 roll of dimes - $5
• 5 rolls of nickels - $10

I checked my 'change' blog logs and the last time I had my $10 worth of nickels to take in was June of 2017. So it took 8 months to acquire 200 nickels.  Interesting fact that probably no one cares about lol

January Change

I am off this morning to the city for an appointment with my specialist.  It's a 3 hour round trip, plus $60 in gas,  plus 20 min of parking and another ---- minutes of waiting, for a 10 min appointment.

I really appreciate having a specialist. Taking a day off of work and the cost and time it takes to do so is not a fun part.

Before I head out I will stop at the bank to deposit my coins for the month. This will go towards my Back to School goal of $500

I had:

• 1 roll of toonies - $50
• 1 roll of loonies - $25
• 1 roll of dimes - $5
• 2 rolls of quarters - $20

for a total of $100. 1/5th of my back to school goal.